Bleed, Patch, And Keep Moving - An Apex Legends Story

Chapter 68 - Fight Or Fright

The hum of the transport ship wasn't as welcoming as it used to be. The details for the Halloween event were pretty vague. All of the Legends were dressed up for the event, but it was nothing that they picked out for themselves. All their costumes were provided by Apex. The costumes were more or less mandated for them to wear. Ajay was wearing a costume called Green Widow. She was a tone of green with orange and black clothing and cobweb lined skin. The event that they were playing tonight was called Fight or Fright. Besides not having teams and being back in Kings Canyon during the night, that was all they were told.

Ajay noticed that MRVN was the only one that wasn't wearing a costume. She wasn't the only one that noticed because Makoa beat her to the question, "Hey MRVN, where's your costume?" MRVN looked around, "Did you guys all come from a children's party?" Makoa laughed and smacked MRVN on the back, "You don't have a costume for the Halloween event?" MRVN tapped his screen but it was blank, "I am Octane's legs." MRVN began running in place. Makoa and Octavio laughed at MRVN. "Break a leg MRVN. Mine are made of steel." MRVN clapped at Octavio's joke.

The only thing that made the situation better for Ajay was a gift from Apex given to her from Blisk. She knew it had to be some backhanded gift though. It was a set of drumsticks with all of her Lifeline traits painted on them. They were called shock sticks because they could apparently shock any Legend she struck with them. She was told that she could use them in place of a weapon or her fists but the damage was pretty minimal. She held the brightly colored shock sticks in her hands and began drumming in the air around her. It was a skill that she would never forget from the band that she used to play in ages ago; she almost missed playing.

Ajay decided that for once she would not be the last one out of the transport ship. As the ramp opened she hopped out and that's when she heard the ominous laugh that struck her to the core. She swallowed hard as she heard the announcer's voice and laugh, "It's the same voice from my apartment." Her right shoulder ached and her body cried in agony as she landed on the roof of Market. She wondered if Crypto heard it too or he had ever heard it. She shook her head and hoped down into market. She collected level one body armor, a level one backpack, and a Ghostly Graveyard R301. She didn't hear it, so she didn't expect it when she was stuck down by a Ghouls and Ghost Peacekeeper by Wattson on the other end of it.

Her eyes burned as she opened them. Her body twitched when she stretched out her arms and looked at them. Her arms were black and orange tinged. Her skin looked like smoke was lingering from it. She tried to talk but she could not get out the words. Instead her words came out in the form of a screech noise. The ominous voice rang through her ears. "Time for a second chance in the shadows." She evaluated her HUD and the only thing she could do was melee and jump. She grasped her head in pain as she tilted her head inwards towards her chest. She heard the voice in head again "Join me in the shadows. Let me watch your face while you go. Put on your mask and go kill them my little Judge Jury Executioner. Kill them all." The voice echoed a laugh into her core. Lifeline just stood there as the voice laughed in her head. She was paralyzed with fear. "When it all goes dark, you don't wake up anywhere else."

It wasn't long before the match was over and Ajay was sitting in the transport ship. She held her head in her hands, hutched over herself in the same seat that she always sat in. It didn't take long for the ship to land. Everyone exited the ship except for Octavio, "Che?" He knelt down in front of her. Ajay rocked back and forth. "Che, what's wrong?" Octavio pulled her hands from her face to find tears pouring from her eyes. "Che..." He pulled Ajay to her feet and held her tightly. Ajay cried into Octavio for a few minutes before she regained some of her composure. As they walked out of the ship the hot air hit her face and she sank to her knees and lost it, throwing up all over the ground.