Apex Legends: Crypto

Prologue: Do Gods Bleed?

The voice of a thousand trumpets still rang in Mirage's ears as he winced back against a familiar flash of light. When the spots in his vision faded, he was greeted by resounding applause. To his left stood Bangalore, wearing an expression one would have after checking some arbitrary task off of a to-do list. Some would say she was arrogant, but those that fought alongside her knew it was deserved, and those that fought against her knew it would be unwise to voice that opinion. As the applause dwindled down, Mirage found a camera in the crowd, and cleared his voice. 

"Thank you, thank you. First and foremost, I'd like to thank the person on this team responsible for our victory, without whom, we'd have never made it to the second ring." He shot a glance towards Lifeline, who was hovering above the ground on her heal drone, legs crossed and grinning a half smile. When their eyes met, Lifeline couldn't help but preemptively roll hers. "And that person is me, Mirage!" Mirage's holosuit glowed bright blue before two exact copies of himself appeared. "And me!" the first added, as the second one began to spell out Mirage for the reporters.

"Alright, I think that's enough. The only thing you did was give me three idiots to save instead of one." Lifeline quipped, making Mirage lose his grin, but just for a moment.

"Jealousy is such a bad color on you. You should try yellow. It works for me, clearly." Mirage fired back, gesturing to his yellow holosuit, as his clones high fived and shouted "Burn!"

The fanfare, however, was over almost as quickly as it began. In mere moments, the day's victory became old news, and then ancient history. The media cleared out of the Hall of Legends, the modestly titled facility where all the game's participants lived and trained until the next game. The Legends dispersed, most of them licking their wounded egos and already leaning into a more rigorous training routine. 

The Hall was segmented into three areas: the training rooms, the workshop, and the barracks. So long as a champion maintains a respectable record, when eliminated or victorious, they're teleported back. So the only topic of discussion among the Legends was on the whereabouts of Octane.

"What do you mean 'He didn't come back?'" Lifeline was visibly distressed. She was deceptively small in stature, and a healer by trade, but assuming she was anything but a force to be reckoned with was a mistake you only made once. 

"Just what I said. He wasn't teleported here when he went down." Bangalore said. She knew what Octane meant to Lifeline. Anyone who knew them did. "There's no reason to panic. Temporal interference scrambles teleport coordinates all the time." Bangalore crashed on a futon. It wasn't true. It rarely happened, and the few times that it did, there were extenuating circumstances. As far as she could tell, there were none in this case, but that's not what Lifeline needed to hear at that moment. 

"And so what if it is that? Do you remember Arthur? He was found halfway up a mountain in the northern hemisphere, near dead of hypothermia. I'm going to the Game Masters and I'm demanding a full search and rescue team be deployed now!" Lifeline said with fire in her eyes so bright, Bangalore had to look away.

Bangalore leaned forward in her seat, resting her elbows on her knees. "I'm not saying he's going to be happy if he comes back -- " 

"If?"

"When. When he comes back, he'll be irritated, irritating, and craving a cot and a hot, but he'll be back. So get your head back in the game, okay?" Bangalore stood up, deciding they'd both feel a little better after a pick me up from the mess hall in the form of the galaxy's worst microbrew ale, courtesy of Caustic. "Come with me. They'll find him tomorrow. Tonight, we're victorious! Let's go find Mirage, assuming he isn't too busy flirting with himself again."

Lifeline followed Bangalore, and the two began walking towards the mess hall. Just as Bangalore reached for her ID badge to open the door,  the door opened itself. It was Mirage. He seemed gaunt, his walnut skin flushed pale. 

"It's Octane. They found him." Or rather, all that was left.