"That's the craziest plan I've ever heard! I mean it too. I think Elliott could have come up with something even less crazy than that!" Wraith exclaimed at Leadflare, who was staring at her with a passive stance.

"You told me to get into the hot seat, and I am," he responded monotonously. "You two are great for surprise attacks, plus if I find a DMR, or any sniper really, I can take key shots."

"What about when you get snuck up on?" Wraith questioned.

"I have guns, I have my fists. I didn't lose too horribly to you, but I also know you took it easy on me," he replied, looking back at the holo-map in front of him. Thermal Station was going to get popular, not to mention that there are only six squads left, but only fifteen people left. That leads Leadflare to believe that there is a solo and a duo roaming around. Furthermore, he noticed that the squads left contained all the Legends. Fourteen out of Fourteen remained.

Leadflare smirked under his covering, "This will certainly be fun."

"Fun for whom, might I ask?" Wattson inquired, checking over her pylon on her back.

"It could be fun for all of us if you let yourself have fun. Not everything is meant to be taken seriously," Leadflare said, voice severely detached. Without saying anything else, he got up, pinged two spots for the both of them, and leaped away to get into his pseudo sniper's nest.

Before he reached his spot though, he ran through Reactor to find more supplies and a sniper rifle. Lady Luck must have been shining down upon him because he found a Sentinal and various attachments. The only thing he did not find was tons of ammo. He only has twenty-one bullets, which in some fights, isn't enough. However, it's all he's got, and he will have to make his shots count.

Not the first time he had to make them count either. When he got up into his perch, just overlooking Thermal Station, he checked to make sure he was inside the next ring. It was at that moment that memories started to assault his brain, of one of those times where he had to take the shot. He looked down to see his hands trembling. He hears their voices, asking why. He wonders what it would take to be free of them all. There was one option, but he was too much of a coward to actually do it.

Not when his heart was still trying to forge a new path.


"You know, chérie, he's right," Wattson said out of the blue while the girlfriends were moseying on down to the five buildings that overlooked Thermal Station. With a look of confusion from Wraith, she continued, "This plan of his is definitely… out there, but it does have merit. You did see his accuracy reports, right?"

Wait, those exist? Wraith thought.

Seeing she didn't know, Wattson rolled her eyes, yet still was keeping an eye on her surroundings, "With snipers, he has a 93% accuracy rating out of the thirty total shots he took. Not to mention, they were the important shots."

"93%?" Skepticism crept into the Voidwalker's tone, even Bangalore isn't that accurate with snipers, and she's former IMC.

With an enthusiastic nod from the defender, "Oui, he must have real steady hands, wouldn't you agree?"

Narrowing her eyes at her girlfriend, who is far from innocent, the double entendre clicked in Wraith's head who looked away with a light blush on her cheeks. The giggle that emitted from Wattson signified that she won this verbal bout. "And how would you know? Unless you've been snooping around…"

"Uhm, I-uh, n-no. I hav-"

"Next time, invite me along," Wraith smirked at Wattson, who had a fierce blush cover her cheeks.

"Wraith!" Wattson squealed softly, in order to not broadcast her location.

"As much as you think I'm accurate, could you two focus?" Leadflare's voice came through the comms, with trace amounts of amusement. Both females awkwardly cleared their throats before a sniper shot rang out, "Target hit, Wattson's eleven." Another shot, "New target, white shields, cracked, Wraith's two."

Wraith immediately turned her R-301 on to the second target, while Wattson's respectfully put hers on the first target. Two more sniper shots and the audible sound of a shield being broken rang out with a callout of him moving up. Wraith rushed her target and she rounded the corner to see Mirage pulling a shield cell out, but dropped it in surprise as Wraith riddled him with bullets. He was knocked. "Sorry Mirage, you were in the way."

He coughed before looking up, "At least you seem to be having extreme amounts of fun with the newbie, am I right?"

Wraith's fist to his head was her response.

Wattson's target was some poor sucker who got caught off guard. She knocked them, and as a result, finished them, recharging her shields. A neat feature that the advisors added in.

Leadflare, after having broken the third shields, rushed over to their position, sniper rifle on his back, pistols at the ready. He leaped over the cargo container in front of him and found the poor soul, soon-to-be victim, fumbling with their weapon before Leadflare gunned them down with thirty bullets, give or take five bullets.

After seeing a death box appear, Leadflare promptly looted and scooted over to his other squadmates. Wattson was clapping in joy as she lifted a Kraber out of it, with a thoughtful expression on her face soon after. She looked around before spotting Leadflare. "Mon ami! Kraber?"

The newblood tilted his head in contemplation, but eventually said, "If you want it, take it." She found it first, she decides if she wants it or not. There was a reason he avoided Krabers. Another piece of the past, creeping up like a poison ivy rash. Looking to his arm, he noticed the syringe was full, so opening a pocket on his jacket, he pulled an empty one and replaced it.

He checked another pocket and found two filled ones, "Wraith, did you ever give Wattson the adrenaline?"

The skirmisher appeared from behind a chain link fence, patting her pockets, "Nope, forgot to in the heat of the moment."

The defender looked slightly upset that he didn't want it, but hoisted it on her back, replacing her P2020 that he had this entire time. Leadflare walked over to the younger woman and held out his adrenaline. "Quoi?"

"In case you need to stay awake or mitigate pain, but do not inject all at once, or you'll bounce off the walls and crash hard," Leadflare instructed before doing the opposite with his and injecting it all at once. His senses were now beginning to shift into overdrive, the one downside of this hyperfocus was the tunnel vision. He has focused so much on one thing, that he sometimes fails to notice his surroundings.

"But what ab-"

"Do as I say, not as I do. It's my own adrenaline, it doesn't affect me like it affects you," he gently chided.

"Alright, two squads left," Wraith said, checking the map. The ring had just recently closed, so the squad was right before a zipline that took them to Central Thermal Station.

"Well, this has certainly been interesting," Wattson commented brightly, leaning on the shorter woman. The sudden fatigue and labor that has gone into the game are starting to catch up with the trio. To make matters even better, it was turning into night.

Even Leadflare knew what this meant, he had to take off his glasses. His hand hesitated as he reached for them. The trembling came back and it was obvious to anyone with eyes. Honestly, how did he even get in? He knew his mental state was less than stellar, but at least it wasn't Revenant's level of insanity. Not to mention the good doctor. His sunglasses, which double as his ultimate usage, now off his face, he relied on his own accuracy.

Not to say he cannot shoot without them, far from it, it just makes it easier to account for other external factors like wind, elevation, and leading of his targets. His oddly-colored eyes seemed to have caught some light because he caught his two squadmates giving him a look. With a raised eyebrow shot in their direction, they both looked away, and with the ever-increasing cover of night, he didn't see the blushes. Then he blushed, realizing after the fact that they were staring at him for no other reason because they can.

Lifeline was right, I caught the attention of Dark Sparks. Don't they know they caught my attention as well?

"If you had to hazard a guess as to where the last squad was right now, where would you think to look?" Leadflare asked, staring intently at the train station close by, looking through his sniper scope, granted it was only a 'Ranger' class HCOG scope.

What he didn't see was the combatant climbing from below, down on the rock face, until he felt something off and leaking. Looking down, he saw the beady orange eyes of Revenant in his totem-mode. "Got you, skinsuit."

Leadflare did not have time to react as he passed out before he could feel anything else.


That mistake cost Eliza and Ezra almost everything. There was destruction and chaos everywhere. The planet of Troy was certainly not with the IMC or Militia, but they certainly harbored both sides after the war.

Their grandparent's diner was destroyed, and… they were still inside when that fucking thing landed on it. An Atlas chassis has crashed into it, rendering the diner into rubble. Its beady eye looked up and locked eyes with him and Eliza. It was then that Eliza started pushing him away. "Move Ezra, move!"

Ezra's eyes were still on the Titan as it pulled its weapon from its back. An XO-16 Chaingun, and it was winding up. The fear that he was feeling was wide enough to plug the street. Ezra finally got his feet moving again and started to book it to anywhere that wasn't there.

The Titan had caught up with him and grabbed him, more along the lines of plucking him and having him look into the eye. "What have we here?" the voice of the pilot came from the speakers. Ezra's hands grasped onto the top of the Titan's fist trying to squirm out, but the pressure tightened. "Tsk tsk, no leaving until I get the information I came here for."

The pressure was steadily increasing as Ezra felt the oxygen leaving him, he felt like he was going to pop open like a party popper in a few seconds. However, that changed when the Titan lurched forward and dropped him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him, and vision fading.

He didn't remember much after it, except waking up in the hospital and having Eliza break the news. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but only one came to mind.

"Why?"


Ezra woke with a gasp and wide frantic eyes. He immediately shut them as the blinding lights forced him to submit. His hands were free, but he felt resistance, and a voice, "Good, ya wakin' up. You gave dem' a great scare," the accent was familiar and somewhat scolding.

"A-Ajay?" Ezra asked, and his voice was hoarse. How long has it been?

A hum was his answer and the medic continued, "On da bright side, ya won. Not bad for da newblood."

"What happened?"

"Revenant climbed up da cliff and caught ya by surprise," Ajay said, going over to his side, checking his forehead, his eyes, and his face. Wait my face?

"Why is my mask off, Ajay?" Ezra's voice was tight, menacing, even if he was confined to a hospital bed.

The medic scoffed, "Ya think I'm going to check mah patient with a face covering? Ezra, I do not care what ya face looks like. Besides, they've healed well. You just lucky that I told Dark Sparks tah sit outside and wait for me. Otherwise, they would be here."

"Can I have my mask back then?" Ezra's voice was now visibility shaking, on the verge of cracking. He kept his mask on for a lot of reasons, and a lot of the time, it was a habit to have it with him. Sometimes, he didn't take it off to sleep.

The medic sighed, "Sure, but Ezra, a word of advice: You don't need to hide here. Everyone is here for a different reason and everyone's got a secret, just don't let it define ya." She handed him his cowl before leaving the room.

Thankfully, he put it on fast enough because as soon as she left, two more entered. Both Renee and Natalie, both of which changed out of their combat attire. Natalie was wearing faded jeans and an adorable Nessie cardigan. Renee was wearing sweatpants and a black tank top, and a bandage was across her forehead down to the left cheek. While there were no visual wounds on Natalie, she was cradling her stomach.

"Congrats you two," Ezra said, not looking at them. He had a feeling they were about to have an uncomfortable conversation.

"Hey, you did your part too, if I recall correctly, you had three kills, as one of them died later from bleeding out," Natalie said.

"We need to talk," Renee said, sitting on his left. Natalie took the right side. Ezra subconsciously tensed. "What happened that caused your panic attack?" Renee said right out of the gate.

"Renee!" Natalie hissed at her girlfriend. "Doudou, you said we would be delicate."

"Nat, you know that he will not open up if you skirt around the subject," Renee said as if they've already had this argument before.

Ezra groaned, "I have a right to privacy you know?"

"Not when you had a panic attack in front of us, Ezra," Natalie said gently. Ezra suppressed a shiver because of the subtle rolling of the 'r'. It did things to him, his heart rate monitor ratted him out, but thankfully they weren't paying attention to that machine.

Looking at Renee, "Remember when we sparred and I asked you about Titans?"

The skirmisher looked to Ezra, "Yes?"

"Try having one crashing into your grandparent's diner, subsequently killing them because the building blew up, to then having said Titan pick you up like a bug and slowly squeeze you," Ezra deadpanned.

Natalie held both hands to her mouth, eyes wide in horror. Renee seemed shocked too, but recovered faster, "Do you remember what happened afterward?" Ezra wanted to respond, truthfully he did, but he felt like they were digging for something.

Instead, he replied, "Why do you two care so much? I understand as a squadmate, but this? This feels too…" he trailed off as Natalie grabbed his hand, finally recovering herself.

"Can't you accept that we do care? We may act all high and mighty at times, and we may have a tendency to push boundaries, but we do have people to call family," Natalie said, still holding Ezra's hand. It was warm, and some pieces of Ezra didn't want her to let go.

Ezra just stared blankly ahead, just thinking. Renee took over, "Just think about it, would you? You are our squadmate for the season, so just try and adjust."

They both stood up and were about to leave the room, but Ezra spoke, "What happened after I was killed?"

Both ladies stopped, glanced at each other before they both said in unison, "He got what he deserved." There was a glint in their eyes, one that spoke far more truths than they did.

Once they left, he took off his mask and bundled himself under the covers. There were more pressing matters going on in his head.


Within the next six hours, Ezra was released from the medbay and with Ajay's permission, went to his room. He needed to speak to Eliza. He really needed advice. He was going through what one would normally call 'gay panic' except it was for two females.

With determined strides, he hoped that she would pick up. Honestly, he was worried, but not enough to warrant panic. His door opened and everything felt neat. He skipped dinner because he just wasn't hungry. Ezra won't be surprised if someone tries to visit him. Another piece of good news the next game wasn't for two weeks, so he had time to settle his woes.

Booting up his computer, he set for the video call and started calling. He was changing as he heard the message, "Hey, it's Eliza Steele and if you are calling about something that will waste my time, I will waste you. Now unless you are my baby brother, continue to pester this until I pick up. Otherwise, my declaration stands."

He hung up and tried again, this was something he desperately needed her opinion on. Hey, it's Eliza Steele and if you are calling about something that will waste my time, I will waste you. Now unless you are my baby brother, continue to pester this until I pick up. Otherwise, my declaration stands." Voicemail again.

So he tried again. And again. And again, until he gave up after the fifteenth attempt. Now, he was starting to worry. So, he shot a message to one of his old contacts to see if they can check up on Eliza. The last thing he needs is to be left all alone. It was bad enough the first time. The only reason he managed to stick around was because of Eliza, after what Ezra called the 'Day I would rather forget', he followed in his sister's footsteps. She was the one who had to care for him.

He found out the reason that Titan was after him. Apparently, his family has some nice dealings in the underworld of the Core Planets. The IMC couldn't touch those connections, and Eliza had filled him in on these after he recovered from the hospital. Yet, he refused to be the one who would kill needlessly.

Eliza wouldn't let him go without training him in defense though. So, that's what he did. During that time, he learned a lot, how to throw knives, how to parkour properly, and how to shoot a gun. Ezra chuckled as he remembered what happened the first time he used a jump kit. At least he was falling with style. Then, he met-

A knock at the door halted his thoughts, and then his computer rang, with a message from his contact. Deciding to read the message later, he donned his mask again and cracked the door open. It was just Natalie. "Hello?"

"Bon soir, mon ami. I brought you dinner since you weren't there. You and Renee have that in common," she giggled and it made her look carefree like she wasn't an Apex Legend.

Opening the door, Natalie was holding a tray that had burgers and fries. "Where did you-"

"Surprisingly enough, there is a takeout place not too far from here. Everyone decided to have a 'cheat' day after the game. It sort of became a tradition after the Hunt, so it is fairly new and well, as I said, you haven't eaten," she said with an increasing red face.

Ezra chuckled, grabbing the tray, and putting it on the desk. He noticed that there were four new messages as well. Later, first, get Natalie out in the politest way possible. "Thank you, by the way, for uhm… helping me with my panic attack. It was just… memories resurfaced…"

"Non, no, je comprend. I was ecstatic to help you," Natalie said with a cheesy grin, but it faltered, "Désolé, that was inappropriate."

"I don't mind the puns, Natalie. I appreciate you taking the time to help, and that's all there is to it," Ezra said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright? Renee too."

Just like that, Natalie's thousand-watt smile returned, "Okay, see you tomorrow Ezra!"

With that, he shut the door, and finally checked over those messages. Ezra would have lost his composure if not for Eliza's teachings. He needed to properly digest this.

Her birthday did not go as well, she ended up falling ill yesterday.