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

Chapter 4 - Drunk Nessie

The cool breeze again felt nice against Ajay's bare skin, just as it had felt earlier in the night. It wasn't too cold or too warm; it was just right. She looked down at the time on her phone. She was still early, by about five minutes. She gazed up into the sky. She could only make out a few stars as the soft glow from the city lights drowned out most of the clear night sky. HQ was one of the larger buildings in the city and took up most of the skyline.

The city was always pretty busy. Most of the people that inhabited the city worked for Apex directly or indirectly. If they knew, then they knew, and if they didn't, well then they didn't; like a secret club. They maintained the grounds for HQ and the arena, they took care of the transport ships, scouting and recruiting new Legends, advertisements, apparel, money, paperwork; the list went on. They made sure that the day-to-day operations were running smoothly. This little planet's economy ran off of how well Apex was doing.

The one perk that the Legends had going for them by working for Apex was the confidentiality agreement. No one knew who they were and they told no one a thing about Apex, not even where HQ was located. They also received a pretty hefty sign on bonus for housing. The same went for Ajay now that she was an official Legend. Any money she made from the arena was basically extra money. The apartment she was living in was actually free. There were certain living areas around the city that Blisk had negotiated in some contract, which gave the Legends free housing if it was available; luck was on her side. She used her money to pay for food and alcohol. The rest of her money went to those in need; as it always did.

The minutes started to melt away as Ajay was lost in her own thoughts. Warmth crept up into her face and then poured down the entirety of her body as the little white pill began to kick in. She was feeling a bit giddy and less concerned with medial thoughts. She lost track of the time and really didn't give a care to the world around her. She felt more free and was even laughing at small things that probably weren't even funny to others.

She felt as though hours had passed, so she decided to check her phone while she waited. She was surprised that only a matter of minutes had passed her by. She wasn't overly attached to her phone. She really didn't have anyone to talk to besides the other Legends and personnel from HQ. She did have a new text message from HQ which she proceeded to open and read:

Legends:

Congratulations on a job well done. Tomorrow you will find funds transferred to your account. Our televised ratings have been increasing within the past few weeks. With that being said we have decided to introduce a new Legend in the weeks to follow. Details will become available soon. Enjoy your days off and get some training in for the next battle on Saturday.

Work always communicated through text messages unless it was an emergency. She wondered who this new Legend would be. Often the release of information of a Legend would not be until the day before. HQ did not want any preparation from the other Legends before a match, at least that's what Anita had mentioned to her during their decent into Kings Canyon during their most recent match.

She hoped that this new Legend would be fun. Not that the current Legends were not fun, they just were not her kind of fun. She found herself dwelling too much on the past. Ajay found herself thinking about Silva again. She had been so busy lately, preparing for arena matches, that Silva had not crossed her mind, but now that she had some free time on her hands it seemed as though he was creeping through the tiny cracks of her thoughts more frequently. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush of the match that kicked up the past. The same rush she used to get when she was with him. She tried hard to put those thoughts to rest as she put her phone into her pocket.

When the other Legends finally arrived outside of HQ they found Ajay waiting for them. Makoa gave Ajay a smile and a small laugh with his hand on his belly. He found her walking toe-to-toe with her arms stretched out like she was walking on some kind of tight rope; she was even wobbling and staggering like she was about to fall. However, the tight rope was just an intentional seam in the concrete on the ground below her.