Chapter 2
A few hours pass on a silent and still Yggdrasil Station. Wraith, sits in the windowsill of her room in her grey tank top with a red Apex Games logo and ripped jeans. Her arms crossed on top of her knees. She stares blankly down at the planet below, sure this will be the last place she will step foot on. Not knowing if she has control of her power enough to make it through the next day. She's trained hard, focused on her power and has a handle on it enough to see the nearest Future. Her eyes slowly fall to her crossed arms. She tries to think about the positive outcomes that can take place if executed properly. For her, there's a small sliver of hope that she and Pathfinder will find a third and win. She closes her eyes and when she does, all the dark ideas start flowing through. She begins to see small snippets of what could be the first day of the games. She sees death, despair and darkness on every corner of the map. Wraith begins to sweat and twitch at every Vision she sees.
Her breath grows heavy as the visions fill with bodies on sand & grass cover with blood, surge even more violently. Then before all of it can overwhelm her, an anxious knock hits her door. This sudden startle Snaps her out of her daydream and forces her to wake. As Wraith's eyes open, you can see them glowing with the light of the void, as if she was building up energy. She gets up slowly and reaches for the button. She stops for a moment then closes her eyes. That's when strange voices flood her mind. The voices stop when she gives a labored sigh. As she opens the door, she greets them without even looking at them.
"Hello Henry" She says sarcastically.
As the door opens fully, she sees Henry standing there. His arms crossed and stance stern, as if he was ready to give her a harsh scolding. Before she could invite him in, he brushes pass her. Pushing her slightly to the side, he walks over to her window. He stares down to Solace. There's a short silence between the two until Henry finally lets it out.
"Do you have any idea what you're getting into?" He says as he turns to her.
"You see this, this isn't a Battleground. This is a graveyard" he says turning to her. "And you're jumping from 5000 feet in the air, into a into a 6-foot hole in the ground!"
Wraith knows everything he's about to say, even without using the voices. Henry tends to go on rants whenever Wraith does something dangerous. This time she understands that he might be right. The possiblity of her death is great, in her mind, everything has a risk when it comes to finding out her truth, but also could lead to rewards. Wraith has spent every minute since she first stepped out of that facility she came from, trying to get back to herself. Trying to understand her powers, the world she was brought into and how to survive in it. It took a few years to master the level of control she has now, which is a testament to how finicky the Void can really be. He continues to berate her obvious lack of care for her predicament.
"...and look at you. You don't even have the decency to look me in my eyes when I'm trying to help you!" She looks up to his eyes after letting her mind wonder in the past for a moment.
"I know what this means. I know I will probably end up failing my mission and dead alongside MRVN," she pauses for a brief moment. "But I could never forgive myself if I don't try." She walks pass him to the window. Wraith looks down at Solace, pointing to it. "They finally open the island fully to be explored and the last place I could find any answers is right there! You have no idea how much it pains me to look every year for a few days and have to give up because I'm pushed back or taken out!" Wraith turns around and fericyly approaches Henry. "I haven't physically been there in so long. This is a chance to be there, actually. A chance to use my power to it's fullest and not just rely on some useless conduit on my wrist."
Henry just stands there in silence, face covered with anger and disillusion.
"I want this, it's the only way I can do this. Instead of a doll of me, it'll actually be me. Me and the voices that'llguide me the right way."
"Unless they kill you first." Henry interjects under his breath. He turns away from her to exit the room. Before he leaves, he stops.
"Don't expect my help. If you choose this then you and Path are on your own."
Theres a heavy silence that falls over the two of them. The room fills with the background noise of technology bouncing off one wall and into another. The small, colorfull lights around the room cascade across them. The large space between them gets large and large, yet they do not move. After waiting for a response to no avail, he turns his head forward and opens the door. He calmly walks out into the hall and stands as the door closes. Soon after it seals, you can hear him shuffle away like a wounded lion. A strong stride and hurt pride.
Wraith stands in the center of her room, looking down at her feet. Her fists clenching as if she was fighting the urge to strike something. Being alone is easy for her cause even when she couldn't handle being around people, she always had Henry above all else. Now with him cutting ties and Elliott walking away from the team, all she has left to confide in are the voices that plague her mind. Each of those voices seem fleeting and hollow. No real emotion or care for anything other than self preservation. She can hear the voices building up as a response. They grow and grow filling her mind with negativity, hate and doubt. She shakingly whispers to herself, still looking down.
"...I don't want to die".
As Wraith finds herself in solidarity, Mirage drowns his sorrows with rum at the Storm Shock bar. Mirage usually finds comfort in bars. Not for the alchohol or the beauties serving them. It just reminds him of the days when he owned his owned bar. The days when the holo tech was just a nice trick to bring people in. It was also a nice icebreaker for "drunk chicks with low standards". After all this time, he still can't help but find peace within these walls. As Mirage sits on his stool, the thought of going home and running his bar again makes him smirk just a bit. That changes quickly as he remembers that choosing that life again means he might never get the chance to become an Apex Legend.
Mirage takes a big swig of his rum to numb himself even more, but when he leans his head back to down his drink, he notices a holoscreen with a promo for the new season.
"The Apex Games. The only way to survive is to be better. Last year your favorite Legends brought excitement and intensity to you live with our winners taking home the prize after the biggest upset in the history of the games."
Mirage puts down his glass slowly as they show the feature clip of him and his team losing last season. He hates watching that clip, mostly because it shows his worst side. When his team gets shot down, he himself takes his rifle and kills the last two in the ring, or so he thought. He gloats while standing over his kills like a winner. He holds his gun over hours head, slams it down and proceeds to dance over them like the vintage vids he'd watch when he was younger. He slides backwards dragging his feet along the ground. As he comes to a stop he points his finger in the air and kicks the body with a flair. As he raises his hands high in the air in Celebration, he creates a hologram of himself clapping and celebrating… himself. But with the idea that he won in his head nothing could stop him from feeling like a king. That is until a shot rings out from a high building a far distance away. His hologram disappears and he slowly looks down to see a shot to a side and he falls straight to the ground.
After seeing that scene Mirage looks into the mirror across from him to see a dirty, greasy, unkempt version of himself. He wears a dirty t-shirt and baggy pants with undone long haired draping down to his cheeks. This is the look of someone who's given up on everything. Mirage can only see the person who he strives not to be staring back at him in the mirror as if his reflection was judging him as badly as he's judging himself right now. In the background the trailer continues.
" this year will be even more exciting, because this year the stakes are high. This season, there will be no revives, no substitutes, just 100% action and adrenaline. This year all deaths are final. Tune in this season and join us on the Journey of becoming an Apex Predator."
The promotion for the games switch back to the Yggdrasil logo. Mirage looks down into an empty glass muttering to himself.
"Whatever. Just another crappy show I won't watch anyway" he says as he pushes the glass away. When Mirage raises his hand to get a refill, he is interrupted by a Henry. He stands next to Mirage with a look that could stop bloodhound in their tracks.
"Witt …" Henry says as he stands over Mirage.
Mirage looks to him, " Hey! Henry, looks like you get what you wanted" he says in jest. "They'll have to find someone to replace me but we both know they won't be as good looking and…" Henry cuts hom off.
"That's not why I'm here. I'm here because I reluctantly need a favor."
Mirage looks back at him in confusion and amazement. As if all of a sudden pigs flew, fish drove and hell has frozen over. After all this time he never thought he would ever here Henry ask for his help. Usually it's the opposite between these two but Mirage could tell something was bothering him. "Oh Yeah? What does the great and powerful Henry need from his favorite legend?".
He looks ar Mirage in annoyance for a moment but it quickly turns to a look of submission as he readies himself for, in his mind, an act of complete humiliation. He pulls back the bar seat and sits a seat away from him. The bartender pours Mirage another drink. Mirage hands him his credits and reaches for his glass, but before he could drink, Henry grabs it. He takes one big gulp and lets out a muffled grunt.
"Yeah, bourbon will do that to you."
Henry looks into the reflection on the glass and finally asks his favor begrudgingly. "I… need you to go with Wraith and MRVN."
"Excuse me!?" Mirage says as he turns fully towards Henry.
"Look I know you have a lot to lose but-"
"Lose? I have everything to lose! It's called my life. Maybe if you had one, you would understand. Count me out."
Henry turns to him, "They need you!"
"If they needed me, she would come to me face to face. Not send her...her… what are you to her again?"
Henry gets a little more aggressive."I'm the guy who cares about her enough to stay. What the hell are you exactly?".
Mirage pushes his chair over and stands over Henry. "I'm the one that got them here".
"And yet here you are. Sitting here trying to plan on what you're going to tell your mother when you see her back home, huh? 'Sorry mom I was almost a winner, but you know. Shit happens.' That what you really want?". Mirage looks at him trying to find the words to deliver a striking comeback, but those exact words were all he could think about all day. How would he explain it. How can he explain how much of a coward he is, how much of a let down he is, but most importantly, how he couldn't earn the honor of Apex Predator for her and his brother's honor.
"She'd be happy that I'm alive."
"Ok, but would you be? This is not about just you. She needs you and you don't even understand the half of it!"
Silence falls between them. Mirage looks back behind him and sees that the entire bar is looking right at them. Their yelling match must've attracted their gazes because the only one not looking was older prospector looking man in the booth by the door. Mirage gets offended at the amount of attention that was locked on them. "What the hell are you lookin' at, huh?!". The bar freezes for a second and returns to their drinking and talking. Mirage turns back forward and sits down, "What do you want from me man? I want this, more that anything, but it's not worth my life."
Henry leans in closer to him "What if I guarentee you that couldn't happen?". He raises his eyebrows to show interest.
"Oh yeah? How are you going to save me doc? Does it involve a magic wand or prayer?". Mirage once again with the deflective witt.
"No but I have a plan, but for this, we have to trust each other.". Mirage never liked Henry, let alone trusted him. In normal circumstances, he'd get up and walk away, but he's so close to his dream and the money. He won't be walking away this time.
"You can really help me, how?"
Henry leans back in his seat. "I'll tell you, but first", he finishes his drink, "let me tell you what's really going on..."
While they figure out a plan, the other Legends prepare for the morning. They drink, plan, eat and get their estates in order. No one is ready for tomorrow. The fact that death is a possibility is a hard concept for anyone to grasp. That is, except for one legend who is actually looking forward to not just others death, but the possibility of his own. Caustic and his team can hardly hide their excitement for what's to come. Wraith, unable to rest soundly, begins to wonder where Mirage would end up. She can't understand why she's concerned at all for him. Whether it's due to har becoming attached to him because he was there long before anyone was, or if it's because she believes that without him, their chances of winning go from slim to none.
Pathfinder shared her worries about the outcome of tomorrow. Although he doesn't want to die before finding his creator, he would never abandon Wraith in a situation like this. Path finds himself thinking about how he met those two in the first place. It was a clear somber day with noises of the city and sounds of bugs fill the air. He came to Solace in hopes that he'd find more clues to where his creator went and who they even his stay he was enlisted as a "lost bot" and was taken in as a MRVN janitorial unit. One day he was ziplining high on the side of the building to clean the grim and filth off the windows, when suddenly he hears a shout from below. A man yelling at our favorite troublemaker Mirage.
Pathfinder zips down and slowly repels from the building. As he makes his decent, Mirage is being confronted aggressively by the large man. "Woah woah woah dude, like I said, she came on to me. I'm the victim here, you understand that right man?". He taps the man's shoulder as if to create some sort of understanding between them. This was a obvious mistake. The man begins to grabs him by the jacket and gets even angrier.
"That's my wife asshole! You callin' my wife a lier? A whore!?" He says as Pathfinder touches down and retracts his line.
"Well I definitely wouldn't call her a lier…"
"You piece of…" before he could finish his sentence, Pathfinder interjects as he cocks his arm back for a strong swing. "Hello friends, is there a problem?". The man turns to see him standing over them like he was apart of the debacle.
"What? Get outta here before I smash you like a can, dick."
"I'm afraid I must interrupt the fun and ask you to release this pathetic beta male please."
Mirage looks over his shoulder to Pathfinder in offense. "Beta male?"
The man lets go of Mirage for a second and approaches him. Path puts his hands up to his chest with open hands.
"GET. AWAY. FROM. ME!" He exclaims to Pathfinder thinking that be enough to scare him off. Just as Mirage gets up, Wraith is seen walking up the street to them, unaware of the confrontation until she hears his yells. The large man turns from him only to be once again stopped by our friendly robot pal.
"I would advise you, if you continue to assault this poor defenseless weakling, I'll be forced to get involved myself."
Once again, Mirage is not too happy with the word choice. "Hey! I'm standing right here."
"Ok scrap heap, you wanna take his place, here you go!" he grabs Pathfinder's chest monitor and swings his hand back. Waith sees this and rushes forward. As his fist swings forward with unstoppable force, Pathfinder puts his hand out stops his punch with and open palm grab. Wraith stops in her tracks, Mirage turns back after trying to sneak away. The man becomes shocked at the sight of a robot with such speed. He cracks the man's wrist and pushes back on his arm. Trying to defend himself, the man swings with the other arm. Path sees this and blocks this with his arm. The sound of clanking metal on bone was enough to make passersby cringe. After he blocks the fist, the large man bellow's in pain, forcing Pathfinder to realise him. He takes a step back to regain his balance. The man yells with fury as he attacks him again, only to be met with the same hand grab following a swift metallic punch to the shoulder. As the robotic fist makes contact, a moderate pop is heard. It was like biting into the center of a Tootise Pop without a single lick. The man stumbles back trying to regain his footing and his composure. Once he regains his balance, you can see his anger grow. Every beat from his heart he feels in his shoulder. This just brings him to his boiling point. The man exclaims "That is it!" before he pulls out a standard military issue P2020 and aims it at Pathfinder.
Pathfinder looks at the man for a split second before grabbing the hand & gun. He puts his thumb between the trigger and the back of the guard so there wouldn't be an accident. Path pulls his hand away from his face and swings his arm around, swinging it upward into his elbow. This breaks the man's arm and forces him to drop the gun. When Pathfinder hears the sound of the gun dropping, he decides to end this spectacle quickly. Thinking about the most reasonable solution in this situation that minimizes harm, he decides to kick him in the side, through a thick window. He is now realizing that form of action may have been a bit too…rash.
"Sorry friend, but you were a bit aggressive." He says looking towards the window.
When he finishes his odd apology, Mirage walks up to him to thank him. "Oh man. Oh ho ho man! Thanks, thanks a bunch uhhh… what's your name?"
Pathfinder looks confused but has their perfect answer. "Hello, my designation is MRVN unit num…". Mirage cuts him off before he could name off his entire number.
"Yeah yeah MRVN got it," he looks towards the man now laying in glass. "Hey! I told you not to mess with me Haha. Anyway,how exactly do you know how to, you know, do that." He points to the large man.
"I am programmed with over 32 different combative and defensive techniques for any situation."
"So you're telling me you got more of that? Oh, oh my friend do I have the opportunity for you." I'm the distance you can hear digital sirens blaring. "Come, walk with me. Talk with me. Let's get the hell out of here."
After that they were a team. They trained, worked, eaten, slept and breathed as a team for months until they were ready to finally sign up to join the Apex Games. Training was much different than beginning in the field. It was like everyone's personalities changed. They'd go from a tightly knit unit, to a gaggle of fools who got a few lucky wins. Mirage would be caught up in the cameras and fame that came with being a trickster he got fame and some cash, but only wins 2 out of 7 matches. Wraith would go cold. She wouldn't communicate unless one of her voices spoke first. She'd lead without word and leave the team on their own to be gunned down if it meant she could get ther jump on the competition. Lastly, Pathfinder had a tendency to try and put 'fun' first and surviving second. He tends to try and make friends on the field, which it's probably why he is popular amongst the other Legends. He makes himself an easy target and never thinks about winning, just fun. This group was and still remains the underdog. After all this time they've gotten better, but the underlying problems still persist.
After all this reflection on the past and their present issues, Path is now more nervous than before. He decides it's time to get some rest before heading down to Solace first thing. He steps onto his resting station and powers down for the remainder of the night.
As the night progresses he experiences this odd state of lucidity. Dream like, you'd call it. He gets flashes of strange images he can not recall the recordings of. One is of a tall bushy tree on a hillside then seeing static, transitions to a figure looking down on him. After that, another image of static transitioning to an image of loud booms and flashing leading to a quick flash of static and another image. This is wet, cold and dark streets. The sound of rain overpowers the surroundings. Then a loud scream stops the rain, triggering another round of even louder static. Pathfinder jerks awake to find himself alone. He can't help but recall the disturbing images he's seen. They have a familiarity with them. For some reason he feels fear, anguish, anxiety and all hitting at once. Emotions have never been easy for him, but these images triggered a flow of different emotions. Looking around he sees that 9 hours have passed. He steps off the station and hesitates to walk. Taking only small steps he makes his way across the room, walking past a mirror. He turns back and slowly walks back to his reflection. He can't help but stare at himself endlessly until he notices his chest screen was off. He tries to turn it on internally, but only gets flickers of static. He balls his fists and bangs on the screen causing it to flicker a few times. Looking closer in the static you can see the images he saw manifesting subtly in it. Although he is looking into the mirror, he doesn't see the dream manifesting in his static. The static disappears and shows his normal smiley face screen. Seeing everything is normal, Pathfinder leaves to make his way to the ship.
After a night of quiet contemplation and a hard talking with Henry, Wraith makes her way to board the ship to Solace City. She decided to take the long way around as a way to clear her head before jumping onto the madness. Seeing people buying and selling food, necessities and novelties with no cares put her somewhat at ease. The simple things around her are a kind of stress reliever. The smell of fry bread, the noise from one of Yggdrasil's many bars and the care free feelings around her make her head clear, but only give her a brief moment of peace.
As she walks by an old vendor, the smell of amazing food captures her attention. She turns to the window counter and looks at churro like food. It was like thick red dough twisted around with black sprinkles. The ends looked crisper thanks to its softer, fluffy center. The man standing at the counter pulls out a full one on a stick and holds it out. Wraith is taken aback at a hand coming at her in friendship and not with malice. She stares at his hand at first trying to process what's happening, but after looking at it for so long she focuses on the man behind the hand. He tilts his head and gives a warm, wrinkled smile. As if she'd just downed a shot, her chest files with warmth and face begins to become flushed. Wraith awkwardly grabbed it from his hand. He retracts and just keeps smiling. Wraith examines it to get a first impression. She normally doesn't indulge herself, but with impending doom looming on the horizon, now would be the time.
She puts it up to her mouth to bit, but moves her scarf out of the way first. After biting into it, she instantly she can't help but show her love of it. She begins cooing over the taste of it. The sweet yet bitter taste of the dough and sprinkles mixing gives a strangely overwhelming relief of her stress. She grins at the vendor and compliments hits food.
"Woah. This is really good. How much?" she asked the man, but he refused payment. He just shakes his head and continues to smile. She grins back and thanks him before heading towards the ship. As she makes her way through the crowd and venders,she enjoys her food. Without warning, Wraith unintentionally walks into the mysterious and terrifying Caustic. As they bump into each other, she steps back to keep her balance. He stands towering over her, staring through his black and gold mask. His white hair hanging down over the upper half of his face. Her eyes scanned him from boot to head, not noticing who it was until her eyes met his. He sweeps his hair back with a swift sweep. She looked up to him with growing concern in her eyes. Caustic, always being a sadist, wanted to take the opportunity to play his typical mind games on her as a way to sike out one of the only competitors he is cautious of. Behind him approaches his team comprised of the mad Titan and the savage Viper.
"Ahh the ever curious enigma portraying herself as a gothic warrior of old. I wonder, will you fall victim to the dogs or find yourself against the wolves in their den?"
Something in the way he speaks puts her on edge. She finds his calm yet intimidating tone menacing and full of malice. She regains her stance and tries to put on a front to show how little his threats faze her.
"You don't scare me" she says, feeling her steady confidence building stronger. Viper steps forward creepily, leaning past Caustic.
"We'll change that. Very soon.". His demeanor always puts everyone off. The way Viper makes his threats in such a poetic tone, could his Psychopathic tendencies be mixing with his higher intellect? Titan stays behind Caustic with his body turned away from the conversation.
"Don't we have somewhere better to be", he says turning is this gaze upon Wraith. You can hear his temper growing short in his tone. For the most part it's hard to tell whether or not that's eagerness to get into the ring or timidness to stepping into Kings Canyon.
"He's right. We have many other contingencies to plan for before the start.". And just like that caustic walks away. As he goes, Titan follows. Viper stands staring as he passes by her brushing her shoulder knocking her delicious treat out of her hand. Her anger boils over in her eyes and starts to shift. She turns to confront Viper about it is childish tactics, but when she turns, she's met with a wall of metal, otherwise known as Pathfinder. He stares at her blankly and she stares back in his big, red lenses.
"Are you ready, friend?" he says before they begin to make their way to the ship together. All the legends move into the large oversized ship. The ship was molded into squares, rectangles, and sharp edges. It was covered in advertisements surrounding the Apex logo on both sides of the haul. It may look clean outside, but inside is dingy and dirty. The smell of sweat, gas and must was overpowering. I guess being a Legend means you lose the will to be clean. All the Legends are separated into their own sections. Wraith sits looking intensely to the ground. The sounds of loud conversations pervade the air, but with her intense focus on her planning, it all just becomes background noise. After the intimidating shakedown from the terrible trio known as Caustic and his psychotic grunts, Wraith has been on edge. She looks up from her depressive stare to see Caustic staring at her. He leans against the metal beam with his arms crossed. He was always menacing, but ever since they announced the games becoming a legitimate killing spree, he's been more intense than before. It's as if this life or death situation has awakened something in him. Something dark.
He unfolds his arms and slowly walks back to the large group behind him and glances once more before melding into the crowd. His mind games have finally gotten to her. The pure animalistic look in his eyes, shakes her to her core. A cold chill spikes up her spin and sweat begins to build on her face. Her breathing gets heavier, as if the air was shallow. When she starts to think of the endless outcomes, her eyes grow white as pearls with blueish pulses around it. It's as if her powers are raging inside her, trying to come out. The sound of a pounding heart fills her ears like a drum being beaten ritualistically. Visions of bullet riddled bodies and bloody waters build in her mind. The voices begin to raise higher and higher until that's all she can hear.
'They're coming...Oh no….watchout... death is coming….it's coming….death...is…", all of a sudden the voice changes. It becomes deep and distorted. A vision of bright, raging eyes appears to her. A distorted male voice speaks to her and says "here" and forces her to snap out of it. When she comes to, Ajay Che stands over concerned.
"You aight?" She says showing some sympathy. "You look like ya havin' some trouble". She reaches her hand out to hold her shoulder, but as she makes contact, Wraith pushes her hand away.
"I'm fine" Wraith snarls. "Why do you care?".
"I'm just tryina help. Ya look like you're about to spew." She stands up and crosses her slim but toned arms. Wraith looks back at her with daggers.
"I'm fine. Stop trying to play mind games."
Lifeline looks confused at the accusation. "What game? I'm a medic, 'member?" Wraith holds back all the animosity she has right now. She sees this ship as a cage filled to the brim with dangerous animals. Being locked in here with all these killers wouldn't shake her typically. Normally, Wraith can wear bravado on her chest like a necklace, but with the stakes being winning or a permanent dirt nap in a unmarked grave, she is understandably on edge.
"Whatever, just leave me alone Ajay." Before the announcement, everyone was generally ok with each other. After, most people just tend to detach from the others. Everyone forms their groups and small three man teams and have been sticking with them. Wraith knows that this time, no one is friendly. Everything has a means to an end and Wraith has no intention of being a pawn for anyone else's schemes.
"Fine" she says, taking it offensively. "I'll leave ya to ya own devices. Just tryina help.". She saunters away with a sassy sway in her hips and a bitter taste of Wraith's rejection following her like a stench. The stench of eagerness and contemptment mix to create the foul odor. It's either that or all the disgusting mercs who decided to take part in the competition. The only thing worse than the feeling of being surrounded by constant enemies. The only upside she has right now is actually walking towards her right now. The notorious oblivious, but lovable clanker, Pathfinder comes from beyond the crowd of bastards and gunslingers. In her eyes, he resembles a ray of bright blue light, breaking through a sea of dark clouds. He approaches her with a can of what can only be described as a thick, lime green drink with strange symbols on it.
"Here friend. A beverage to help you!" He says enthusiastically trying to lift what little spirits she has.
"Thanks Path." Warith says opening the can to get a drink, but instead gets her nose assaulted by a strong, pungent smell similar to a dead Leviathan after a few weeks. She fluttered back a bit. "...For the thought…" she says as she sits the can down next to her. Pathfinder stares at Wraith curiously, trying to figure what could be upsetting her. As usual, he can't understand anything about simple things like that.
All of a sudden there's a bang and a loud rattle around the ship. The crew, knowing that the turbulence might be a shock to some, make an announcement. A voice regularly heard throughout the host island of Apex Games, speaks through the ship's system. "Attention. We are entering the Solace atmosphere. Landing will take place in T-minus 30 Minutes." The passengers go quiet and the room gets tense with silence. With a shaking ship breaking through the atmosphere, the landing zone lights up with cheers and sounds of celebration.
The people of Solace City are always excited for the arrival of the competitors. To them it means an influx of revenue, especially in the lower district's. The mercs and gunslingers tend to go to the more grimy sections of the city for "fun". A few hours in Solace, meant enough cash spent to put multiple store owners in a whole new tax bracket. Not to mention the damage done during their layover. Most of these people tend to get a little over excited and destroy a lot of property. Not city wide destruction, but everyone knows what flys on Solace and what gets you thrown out of the competition.
A crowd stands around the enormous landing pad cheering and screaming for the legends. Getting closer to the ground gets everyone's blood pumping. The ship straightens up and begins to land. The thrusters burts on and off, trying to level itself. The crowd loses their minds at the excitement they felt about to see the legends most likely for the last time. A roaring engine shakes the ground and gives the people trembles in their chests. The ship descends to the ground, hitting concrete with a loud thump and rattle. Metal scrapping and clacking over power the cheers of the crowd.
After they land, the large slanted door begins to lower slowly. When it opens, we see all the cocky and exaggerated Legends walk down ramp. They go first to get the spotlight and attention from the fans of the games. They are showered with shouts of praise and adoration like they would never see them again. Which, in this case, might be very true. The returning Legends are welcomed through town like celebrities. Being handed different gifts and culinary delicacies like fried flyer tail and kael deserts. It's like the world forgets its problems and focuses on their love for the games. Although the city suffers from rampant poverty, an increase in criminal activity by 20 percent in the last 2 years and constant corruption in local government that has been going on since only a few years of the city's founding, they still gather together for the Apex Games.
After everyone has gone through the crowd getting praises and gifts, Caustic's team walks through the crowd. They are met with thunderous and blood thirsty cheers. "Caustic! Caustic! Caustic! Caustic!", they all scream as his walk pompously past the crowd. In his mind they are all just mindless sheep, ripe for the slaughter. Wraith and Pathfinder on the other hand, wait for the crowds to follow the other contestants. As the crowd files back into the city, Path and Wraith finally emerge from the ship sloughing through the runway into the entrance of the city. A few people stuck around for them, but it wasn't for those two. They were looking for Mirage. His fans held up posters and clothing with Mirage logo on it. Passing by the fanatics was irritating for Wraith, especially when they began asking and demanding for Mirage. Wraith completely ignores the small crowd, walking through the streets to the nearest bar.
Meanwhile, Mirage has been home for a few hours and chose to spend his time out of the spotlight to visit his mother again. He walks into a home filled with photos of him and his family. The smile that comes over him staring at these photos is quickly washed over by sadness as he reminisces his days with his brothers. After all this time, they are still missing from the Frontier War. Mirage and his mother both hold out hope that one day they'll see them return. They put out their names & faces out to the world and beyond, but to no response.
Mirage is startled when he hears a voice from the other room. "Boys? Boys, is that you?", the voice says while rounding the corner.
"Oh! Oh...it's just you…" She says surprised that someone has entered her home without knocking.
"Yeah, that's one way to greet your son."
"Son...son...yes. Elliot! How are you, what are you doing here? Come here!" Mirage comes in to hug his mother.
"Sorry it's been a few days. Lots of stress this close to the games, really doesn't make room for free time, ya'know?" She stands in front of him smiling and offers to move to the other room.
"Come on, let's go into the kitchen for some coffee."
After they catch up on somethings and have mild conversation, Mirage starts drifting off in his mind. After a short blank silence she notices his troubled mind.
"Elliot, is something bothering you? It's not your brothers again, is it?"
Mirage snaps out of it and answers her, "No no, not that. Although I do have some promising leads, it's something else."
She reaches over and grabs his arm. "Tell me."
"Huh, well let's just say I've been given an opportunity to do something really cool, but...it has a lot of risk involved."
A look of worry washes over her face. It's as if she understands the "risk" without being told the full extent.
"Elliot, do you remember what I told you when you asked if I think you should join those horrendous games?"
Mirage looks down to his lap, "Heh, yeah. 'You can either sit on a bench or be who you're destined to be…'"
"Follow your dreams Elliot and don't look back. I meant it then and I mean it now kid. Believe it."
He smiles like he figured out all his problems with just a nice talk with his mom. He grabs her hand from across the table and thanks her for just caring.
"Thanks mom, really."
"Any time 'Mirage'." She says jokingly, as she stands to take his cup away to the counter. Before she could pour more coffee in their cups, Mirage looks to the screen on the wall and see what time it is. He jumps out of his seat in a hurry and starts gathering his things together.
"Sorry mom, I gotta go to ah...do a thing."
His mother looks confused. "Go? Well, what about your food?"
Mirage rushes out of the room for a moment and rushes back. Before he goes he decides to grab one of the pork chops on the plate behind her and kisses her goodbye. "Love you, see you soon."
"Elliot!" She yells to get his attention. Mirage turns back to her. "Say hi to your brothers for me at least!"
He pauses for a moment. Fighting back a frown and negative feelings, he grins and says, "Yeah mom. I'll tell 'em" as he rushes out the door.