(Book One of the ❝Stories and Legends of the Apex Predators❞ Series)
Mirage, the self-proclaimed jokester of the legends, has some serious thinking to do. After a love confession from Wraith ends with heartbreak on her end, Mirage begins to question...
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Crypto and Mirage slowly and sneakily made their way down the hill and under the bridge, trying to avoid getting caught by Mad Maggie and Bloodhound in Fragment.
A door was already opened in a nearby building, but the duo took their chances and entered, shutting it behind them.
"So if Maggie wasn't the one who shot your drone, who was it?" Mirage pondered. "Oh, if it's that 'Castle guy, I get first dibs on him!"
"We won't know until I can get another drone," huffed Crypto. "But now we know at least three other people are with us. We don't know who shot at us or if they're with anyone. All we know, it could be someone soloing or their teammate died."
"Right..." Mirage walked to the staircase and set one of his decoys up so they would get a heads-up if someone was searching for them. Almost immediately, the room filled with smoke. "Hey, uh, I think I know who shot down your drone."
With an eye roll, Crypto grabbed his Wingman and rushed out of the building with Mirage following close behind him. They jumped down from the second-floor balcony onto Fuse's death box on the broken road. They looked up and saw Maggie's wrecking ball coming straight for them.
"They need more of me," chuckled Mirage nervously as he used his ultimate ability. Both teams were confused, with Bloodhound and Maggie arguing over who was real and Bangalore desperately shooting each one in the hopes of hitting the correct Mirage.
That's when Newcastle emerged from the settling smoke to reveal himself as Bangalore's partner. He launched himself in the air to build his walls, alerting Maggie and Bloodhound of his presence. They gave up on Mirage and began attacking Newcastle and Bangalore. Crypto and Mirage took the opportunity to escape.
They ducked over the corner, finally being able to breathe as they were safe... for now. They looked at one another before embracing and sharing a quick, yet heartful kiss. When they parted, they looked into one another's eyes until they heard someone clear their throat. When they turned, they saw Octane, pointing an R-301 at them.
"Don't move, amigos," he spoke, fidgeting from his stim addiction and hyperactivity. "I just wanna get to that respawn beacon on the other side of this building." He moved around them as slowly as he could, which was about the average person's typical walking speed if they weren't being cautious like he was trying to do. "Don't shoot, or you're dead meat. Got that? No intentes nada." He walked backward until he was on the other side of the building before using a stim and running off.
"We gotta get out of here," commented Mirage. "It's full of crazies."
"Agreed." Crypto nodded. "I don't want to take any chances of him coming back and shooting us dead."
With the sounds of the dropship behind them, Crypto and Mirage rushed off to the next ring by Climatizer. They safely slid down the snow-covered hill and jumped onto the ziplines that would take them to the top of the machine.
"Looks like Bloodhound killed Bangalore and that new guy," spoke Mirage, looking at the banners that hung from all sides of their new-age colosseum.
Crypto sent out his drone. "I'm gonna keep track of them and Maggie. The two of them, along with Octane and his partner, are the only ones left."
"Purple shields, don't fail us now."
Crypto exhaled a laugh. "Yeogi huimang." His not-so-delighted laugh caused Mirage's heart to flutter. So this was what it's like being happy with someone. "Oh no."
Mirage froze. "W-What?"
"They're coming--Bloodhound and Maggie. They haven't given up on us."
"Shit." The two ducked down just after Mirage sent out a decoy. "So what's the plan?"
Crypto shrugged. "Stay crouched here until they find us, then fight and hopefully not die."
"Not the best plan, but I don't have anything better so guess it's what we're doing."
They watched from their safe distance, using the sights of their weapons to keep an eye on the team so they wouldn't detect Crypto's drone and estimate where it was they were hiding out. Though they couldn't hear what was going on, it was clear they were having a conflict. As the two argued, Bloodhound set off their scanner, thus alerting them and Maggie of Crypto and Mirage's location. They looked up and immediately took for the zipline. Crypto and Mirage prepared their guns as the hunter and the warlord took their places in front of them. It was a standoff, each person's gun being pointed at the other and no words were exchanged.
Maggie spit on the ground. "Think you can run from me, aye? Should've stayed home today, mate because I'm not dyin' just to please the syndicate." She shot her Mastiff, causing Crypto to begin to bleed out.
"No!" Mirage exclaimed, pointing his CAR S.M.G. at both Bloodhound and Mad Maggie. He closed his eyes and looked away, putting his finger on the trigger and pressing down.
But someone else got shot. When he opened his eyes, it was Seer, Octane's partner for the match, who had stood in front of him. He didn't get downed, however, and shot Bloodhound down with a Volt. It was short-lived, unfortunately, as Maggie shot her drill directly at him, causing him to fall off the balcony.
"We came to help as a thank you for letting me respawn him," Octane explained, dodging shotgun bullets left and right like it was nothing. "Hurry! Matarla!"
Mirage fumbled with his gun, but shot it, only for no bullets to come out,
Fuck...
Maggie turned around, and with a swift punch, Mirage fell. He survived long enough to see that wrecking ball coming at him once more.
