Rapido!

Chapter 3

Octavio unlocked his door and headed inside his room. It was a smaller place, considering the Apex organization didn't have a lot of money at the moment. He walked into his couch and TV against the back wall, and his kitchen and counter to the left, above the counter was some cabinet space. To his right from there was a small hallway that had three doors to the left, right and straight ahead, the left being a bathroom, the right being the bedroom, and straight ahead being the closet. He showered to get all of the sweat off of him, and then dressed in sweatshirts and a hoodie. He sat down to watch some TV but realized he was hungry, so he ordered some food and drove down to the restaurant. While eating back at his apartment, he checked his phone to see if there was any news about the games. Social media was mostly filled with the first victors' pictures and stories written about them, their fan base was growing fast. He scrolled a bit further to find out there was also news of his 'cowardice', when he saw this he chucked his phone and sighed. He wanted to talk to someone, so he decided to get up and head over to Mirage's place. He put his mask and a beanie on but decided to leave his goggles. He knocked on the door,

"Heyo! What's going on Octopus?"

"Dude, it's-"

"No, no! Don't tell me... Octagon!"

"Nope." Octavio frowned.

"Uh... Oct- eh... Octane?"

"Si Amigo."

"Aha! I knew I'd get it! So what's up?"

Octane shook his head and leaned in to check inside, "You mentioned a drink earlier?"

Mirage drew in a sharp breath, "Yeaaaaah, I'm not quite unpacked yet uh... how about I bring the drinks to your place huh?"

"No problemo."

Mirage ran inside and went to the counter, Octavio looked inside and saw that Mirage's room was the same layout as his, just with some boxes in the middle of the room, "Alright, let's head out!" Mirage ran past while carrying at least half a dozen cans of beer with him. They arrived inside and Mirage looked around, "Nice, nice, very cozy- hey, hey! Food!" He beelined for the spicy chicken quesadillas that Octane hadn't finished.

"Wha, du! Whas in is?" He coughed with a huge bite of quesadilla in his mouth.

"Spicy chicken with medium salsa, what's the matter Amigo? Too spicy?" Octavio smirked.

"You- I-" Mirage finished his bite and swallowed, "I happen to be the best spice eating champion ever. We'll have to do a pepper contest sometime soon!"

"I've got pepperoncini, jalapeno, ghost, and habanero peppers in my cabinet right now." Octavio pointed a thumb to the kitchen.

"Uh, sure what the heck."

Mirage took a seat on the couch and Octavio got the peppers and sat down as well, putting a glass of milk in between them, "Ok, first pepperoncini!" They both ate the pepper whole and neither even looked at the milk. They next took the jalapenos and ate them. Mirage could feel the sweats coming, Octavio didn't feel a thing. Mirage reached for the Ghost pepper, "No, wait Amigo, we have to let our mouths cool down so we can feel the burn of the peppers."

"Oh." Mirage nodded, "Ok, well in the meantime, tell me about your high ground issue."

Octane spent the next ten minutes explaining the situation and what happened, when he finished Mirage nodded, "I see... you were totally running away."

"I was not!" Octavio threw an empty beer can at him, "Alright, tell me why the train was late."

"Oh, ok, prepare to be amazed... So I got to the station early of course I'm never late. So I decided to make a bet with the conductor, we bet that the last Legend would show up late, and who it would be. Naturally I was spot on, and he got pissed. So I won the money!"

"I see." Octavio said, "Now where is this money?"

"Uh... back at my place."

"How much did you win?"

"Uh... about uh... well hey! That's none of your business!"

Octavio grinned behind his mask, "You didn't win any money, or make a bet, you were late to the train."

"I was no- Ok you know what... fine it was me who made the train late, I met this girl and we had some lunch together and I forgot about the train. But they could have given me a warning or something! I do have a phone!"

Octavio shook his head, "Whatever, time for the ghost pepper."

"Hey, I may have been late for the train, but you were running from the fight."

"I was not! Really! You can't win a one against three at the same height as the other team!"

"Fine, whatever." Mirage said, and they both ate the ghost pepper. Six seconds after eating it Mirage spat it out, "Dude! That's hot! Wha- ah!" He reached for the milk and chugged it. Octavio was rolling on the floor with laughter. "Dude, not cool. Yech!"

"Sorry Amigo, but... ahahahahahahahaha!"

"Wow, real mature."

"Sorry, but your face! It was priceless! And I won too! Whoo hoo! Damn, I should have made a bet..."

"Well at least you can win something. Can't seem to even get a kill in the games."

Octavio rolled his eyes. They continued to talk for another 4 hours, drinking beer and cracking jokes, and for a little bit watched the news, and then Mirage left at around two in the morning. Octavio went out a few minutes later to get an energy drink, he had become somewhat addicted to them. He had just grabbed it from the vending machine when he realized he wasn't alone, Wraith was next to him getting something at the other machine.

"Whoa, I didn't see you there Amiga! What are you doing up so late?"

She put the cash into the machine, "Can't sleep."

"Ah, I see, same here man. It's been a long two day- you're buying iced coffee from a vending machine at three in the morning?"

She looked at him for one moment, "And you are drinking an energy drink at three?"

"True." He responded, and took a big drink, "How are you liking the games? The city? The atmosphere?"

Wraith stopped, she was about to leave and she looked slightly annoyed that he had stopped her, "It's fine. The area is nice. The fame is annoying."

"Si, I could see that." He shrugged, "But you kinda like a little huh?"

"No." She said and started to walk away, "I'm not here for fame, I'm looking for answers..."

"You are... what?" He called out but she didn't look back. Octavio shrugged and took another sip of his drink. He supposed that not everyone was here for the same reason, but Wraith seemed like she didn't fit in the Apex games atmosphere. He walked back to his room and laid on his bed, looking through his phone at the news. The most interesting thing was that there were 2 more, "Legends'' joining the Apex games. They were being chosen in the next few weeks. He didn't really care, just more people to stand in the way of his success. He put his phone away and fell asleep about an hour later, the energy drink kept him up. He woke up early and decided to go on a run. He got ready and headed out. About halfway through his run he chose to take a detour. As he was passing an old building, he saw a small group of people gathered together and looking suspicious. As he went to cross the street a semi truck came through. He reached into his pocket of the one stim he carried for his runs but was too late.