Loba x Revenant - Pursuing the killer

Ch. 15 - The room

All the legends were set and ready to head off to the arena, they were all standing in the lobby where crypto connected his laptop to the big screen television that as hypothesized, was a monitor all this time.
Crypto managed to enter the data base, launching the needed terminal commands to start up the apex games again; by tweaking some more code, he managed to get everyone inside the arena with all their belongings in hand.

But once they were teleported there... all of them noticed how odd looking it was. The sky was dark and eerie noises could be heard from the distance. The monsters were free.
Loba was the first to move forward, courageously leading the group soon followed by Revenant, then Wattson, Mirage and the others. Bloodhound was cautiously checking their surroundings and making sure the area was clear before proceeding. They moved forward cautiously and got ready to fight in case they ran into something.

Revenant was leading the other legends to a secret base under the arena, it was at the edge of the map and it would have taken a bit to get there, but that wouldn't have stopped them.
But as they were stealthily moving through the arena in group, suddenly Bloodhound stopped in their tracks and signaled the team to slow down.
"Shh... I sense movement."
And they were right, in front of them, a giant monster peeked out behind one of the buildings, growling as they walked from one building to the other, seemingly not noticing the party.
The legends exchanged some worried looks and only resumed their travel when they were absolutely sure the monster was gone.

But alas, the monster attacked from behind.

It suddenly pounced on Bangalore, who in response began to rumble with the beastly creature. But all the noise that the monster made only attracted more of his type to join the fight.
One after the other, more monsters of two distinct colors attacked them. They had to use their guns there was no other choice.

Everyone was panicking, Lifeline rushed in to help Bangalore with the big beast, soon to be followed by Bloodhound and Gibraltar. Caustic and Wattson were doing their best in trying to keep the monsters at bay, with little to no success in doing so.
Mirage who always seemed so chirpy and happy was yelling out to his wounded friends, throwing himself between the monsters and getting his decoys to help the wounded soldier out. The one that got attacked was Octane.

Although he lived for the thrill he did not expect to be downed so easily, his vision was getting more and more blurry as those sharp claws tore into his flesh, leaving him panting for air. And then, he saw Wattson arrive.
She took care of him by pulling him out of the battle while Mirage and his decoys took care of the monster.
He felt himself waver for a moment but then came back to his senses. That was not the first time she saved him.

But the battle was not over yet, as everyone was deep into fight, wraith's portal suddenly appeared.
"Quick! Get inside!"
All the legends managed to rush in and were now teleported into a small sheltered area in which they could hide from the beasts.
"Woah... that was... so close," said Mirage as his decoys were successfully eliminated.
"Tell me about it... we have to be careful."
Lifeline was tending to everyone's wounds with Wattson as the legends were preparing for the next battle.
They knew it wasn't going to be easy.

Fight after fight they only got weaker and weaker, not only were the beasts getting stronger and far more numerous, but it felt like they were stepping right into their den... until,
"There, we need to go down that cliff."
The cliff was right before them, only a few feet away. They were closer than expected. They were at the edge of the map.
"Are you crazy? That means game over for all of us!"
"Trust me, there's a ledge there."

Revenant was the first to jump, and to everyone's surprise, when they looked over he was still alive and standing on a ledge, ready to jump off to the next one.
One by one, they prepared to jump off as well, that was, until they heard growling behind them.
Slowly, the creatures were advancing in a pack, pushing the party to the edge of the cliff, there was no time to plan this out, they had to jump and fast.

They barely made it as the last person got off the cliff just a second before the monsters could bite at them, but they all safely made it to the secret underground room that Revenant mentioned.
They walked in, admiring the surroundings as it seemed like he knew exactly where he was heading.
Loba put a hand on his shoulder, he stopped in his tracks before she turned on a switch, which revealed thousands of simulacrums all lined up and hanging from the ceiling like puppets on cloth hangers.

"Look..."
She pointed to the left and there he saw glass cylinders containing the heads of all those other simulacrums who were currently turned off.
He walked to the control panel that he knew a bit too well at this point, and searched for his own head. It was empty.

Crypto approached from behind, Revenant did not notice him at first as he was deep into thought on why his head wasn't there. Did it mean he was fully human now?
He plugged in his laptop and began typing. Not only was the monitor connected to all the other simulacrums. But it was connected to the other legends too.

"I can... send you all back to the real world. Away from the syndicate and everything."
All the legends were facing him with a certain hope in their eyes. They could go home soon. Crypto smiled, quickly typing away on his laptop.
A few moments later, a few capsules appeared like those that kept the simulacrums, but these ones were empty.
"Who'd like to go first?"

The only response was silence, but then, Gibraltar, wraith, Bangalore and pathfinder entered the first four capsules, all very nervous but knowing that they had to break the ice.
Crypto typed again and suddenly, they were gone. The rest of the legends stared in awe as Mirage, Caustic, Octane and Bloodhunter entered the next four. Then it was Lifeline, Loba, Wattson and Revenant.
"We'll see you on the other side, Crypto."
"Call me Tae Joon Park, Miss Andrade."
"Of course, Tae Joon."
Loba hugged him, this time it was a legit hug. They stayed still for a long time and then, they too, have disappeared.

Crypto slowly felt his knees buckle, his smile drop and slid down on the floor beneath him, leaning against the monitor, finally letting out a sigh.
"Hah... fuck."

The void was only getting closer to the lobby, soon it would have destroyed any connection to the Apex Games. The arena too, was going to get destroyed. If not killed by monsters, then he would be consumed by the void. He had no way to return home. That was it.

That was Crypto's sacrifice.