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

Chapter 121 - Losing Friends and Making Enemies

Everyone had already moved from the workshop except for Ajay. D.O.C. laid lifelessly in shambles on the makeshift workbench set towards the middle of the room. Her gaze shifted downward at her nearly destroyed, busted up bot as she tentatively moved closer. She was afraid. She was afraid that if she moved closer what she saw would be worse. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to help her best friend, well non-human friend. She was afraid she would lose D.O.C. forever and if she lost D.O.C. she would lose more of herself. She was afraid, terrified, of losing more of herself.

She didn't have much time to fix D.O.C. the right way or else she would have to miss the match. Matches were a contractual obligation that she had to fulfill. There was no exception for missing matches, at least none that would end without consequence. There was no wiggle room in her contract, Blisk already had it out for her, and she didn't want to risk getting her friends into trouble. She would not let the beef she had with Blisk become a problem for her friends. Eventually, she knew she would have to take care of it, or him.

Murmurs from the other room down the hall were muffled between the walls and words were hard to make out, but she had a sinking suspicion that the conversation was about her. Hyeon Kim had motioned everyone to a different room so that Ajay could fix her bot. Octavio had reluctantly followed only after she had forced him to leave. She needed to clear her head from all of the drama and focus on D.O.C. all while a massive time crunch loomed over her like a dark cloud waiting to engulf her the minute she gave up or broke down.

She pushed her thoughts away because it was only costing her time. She tried not to listen to what was going on in the other room, but it was hard to concentrate. She peered over all of the tools on the work bench. Desperately, she tried to concentrate on what was right in front of her. The workbench. The tools. D.O.C. Everything about this was wrong. It was all wrong, another intrusive thought invaded her brain, but she quickly pushed it down.

A long, deep breath escaped her pursed lips as she peered over the tools at her disposal. She reached her hand out, but at mid-motion her hand suddenly came to a halt. Standing there frozen, Ajay could not remember what she needed to fix her bot. The schematics were not clicking in her brain. She was now afraid that she had lost more of herself than she had realized. She wished that she would have just stayed there, in his playground, and finalized the deal they had made so long ago.

"Fuck!" She shouted as she picked up D.O.C. and threw the robot across the room. Tears of frustration fell from her cheeks as pieces of D.O.C. fell to the floor from the impact of wall. "Che.." Octavio's voice was quiet with a momentary pause. "We..." Again, another pause after a quiet one-word sentence that trailed off. She did not dare turn around as Octavio continued. She did not want him to see her like this or at all. She felt so small. So pathetic. So stupid.

"We have to book it to be on time for the match." Octavio's words sounded more normal, more like himself, but this time there was an underlying tone lingering. A tone that she could not decide was caring or scared. Ajay nodded and swiped tears from her face before she turned around and picked up the pieces of her bot, tucking them away into her backpack that she briefly noticed was on the floor by the entry way to the room. "Natalie had probably brought it with her when she came downstairs." She thought to herself.

The memory gaps were either getting worse, or she was so exhausted that she was just on autopilot. Either way, she needed to get going and stop thinking about things that she could not remember. She didn't have any more time to dwell on the 'what ifs'. So instead, she flung the backpack over her shoulder and exhaled out with a long, quiet sigh to silence her thoughts. She followed Octavio, who eventually led her to the others waiting to leave.

The ride to headquarters was quiet and uneventful. In fact, it felt like everyone was walking on eggshells around her or they were just tired. Either way, it didn't matter because she was busy trying to quiet the thoughts bubbling in the back of her mind. The car ride to HQ might have been uneventful however, the flight to the arena was a different story, entirely.

Once they all got into the dropship and situated, the ship took off. That was when Ajay decided that it would be the best time to have a chat with the newest member of their group. It really wasn't the best time, and it wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation, but she already knew that, and she didn't care. She knew she was being selfish, "But am I really if it's for the team?" It was at that point she decided not to dwell on her thoughts.

She looked at Loba, who was sitting across from her. "Ya a liar and thief." She didn't have to say Loba's name because everyone on the ship, including Loba, knew who Ajay was referring to. The ship hit some turbulence and without missing a beat Loba smiled as her semi-seductive voice floated from her full, red painted lips and began to fill the space, "I know what I came for. I'll get it one way or another." Her smile grew even wider as she finished the last word, letting the word linger longer than it should have.

Ajay continued to stare directly at Loba, "What DID ya come for?" She paused when she said 'DID' and let it linger as if she was debating what to say after that, or just maybe she was trying to get under Loba's skin. Small wisps of frustration and anger weaved through the few last words of her question. Loba didn't answer, she merely continued to smile and plaster a blank look across her perfect face.

Loba stared back at Ajay who was now unclipping the clips of her seatbelt as she stared right back at her stupid, beautiful face. She knew that beauty, death, and destruction were all not mutually exclusive, especially when it came to Loba. She used her beauty to leave a trail of bodies and destroyed anything in her path. "All the damage and pain that she had already done in just a short amount of time, and for what?"

"Uh Che?" Octavio chimed in, "We're not there yet." She brushed him off and placed a hand on the seat that Loba was still occupying. Her nails dug into the leather dangerously close to Loba's thighs. She stared straight into Loba's eyes hoping to find answers, compassion, a soul, something. She never found any of those things, instead she stared back, her own eyes vacant of anything but rage. Ajay moved her face right in front of Loba's, their faces almost touching. In a very low, precise tone of voice Ajay said, "I'm gonna kill ya." The words came out slow and threatening, hanging heavy in the tension-filled dropship.

It was now Anita who stepped in, "Okay killer. Save it for the match." Anita's voice was lighthearted but also worried and tired. Ajay sat back down in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest like a child who had just gotten in trouble. She didn't bother to buckle up. She didn't care; they would be in the arena soon. She continued to stare at Loba until the alert came through on the ship that they were close to the drop zone.