#please dont make fun off my poor photoshop skills

[vulcannic]

"... according to our records, you were issued a flaming sword.”

Happy Halloween y’all!! 😇

[tksfandomhellhole]

Alright now this. This is the one I’ve been waiting for. This is the start to the (ongoing) series that makes me go “I NEED someone else to talk to about this.” Because boy do I have Plans™ that I really hope I follow through on

If I play my cards right the series may very well be the Apex of my apex fic career.

I also may have busted out my photoshop skills for it towards the end and it feels silly now but at least you can tell I had major fun with this

Fandom: Apex Legends (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Revenant (Apex Legends), Pathfinder (Apex Legends), Mirage | Elliott Witt Additional Tags: Minor headcanon for The Syndicate, Canon-Typical Violence Series: Part 1 of Infiltrating the Syndicate Summary:

Revenant is bored to death. Pathfinder would spend 10 minutes searching if you told him gullible was on the ceiling. And Mirage somehow gets roped into this.

What ensues ends up being more dangerous than any of them bargained for.

Revenant is bored out of his fucking mind.

Between being in this communal living space where he has to refrain from killing all these people he hates and rarely getting the chance to curbstomp some of them in the ring himself, being an apex legend is not all he imagined it to be.

Where's the death and action he was promised? He hasn't seen a match all day.

Even assholes need to pass the time somehow.

"Hello there, friend!"

Ugh, great. The smiling scrap heap is here.

"Go bother one of those skinbags you love talking to." He says, attempting to strike down the potential conversation before it starts.

The attempt goes unnoticed, as Pathfinder responds anyways. "I would! But they are all in the ring." The screen switches to a frowning face for effect.

If Revenant didn't have proof standing right in front of him, he'd think it was impossible for a robot to wear it's heart on their sleeve. It's not like they're supposed to have them in the first place.

It does give him an idea though. Maybe he can get some entertainment out of this after all.

"Really?" Revenant starts, feigning interest "Which of those skinbags do you consider your friends?"

"All of my teammates are my friends! They are very nice. I hope my creator gets to meet them one day."

"All of them? That's pretty strange considering half of them can't even stand you, including me."

"My friends don't like me...?" Pathfinder is visibly confused but still pauses to consider the thought, and Revenant knows it's working.

"Yea, in fact, I'm pretty sure that skinbag with the stupid hair and holograms has even told me he hates you." Even Revenant knows the scrap heap is partial to that skinbag in particular, as stupid as the idea of a robot harboring any sentiment at all is.

"Mirage? But he is the one who told me about the games! Mirage is my best friend."

"Hey, if you still wanna believe that it's your choice." Revenant says, before taking his leave. The bot may not believe him but the seeds of doubt have been placed, and knowing both parties far better than he'd ever like to, it's only a matter of time before things come to a head.

At this point anything is better than sitting here brainstorming the fastest way to kill himself so he doesn't have to put up with this a minute longer.

And as if on cue, the man of the hour returns to the lounge.

"Ah, Mirage!" Pathfinder calls out, intending to settle this the most logical way: by simply asking.

Before he gets the chance to respond though, another match begins, and Mirage finds himself on a drop platform getting ready to enter the next game.

Pathfinder doesn't have an issue with that of course, until he actually hears what Mirage is saying.

The platform is about to descend, taking their team out of earshot entirely, but not before Pathfinder hears Mirage say "At least I don't have to fight with that smiling robot" with a laugh.

Pathfinder continues to look at the spot where the platform descended crestfallen long after they've disappeared.

"See? What'd I tell ya." Revenant says with the biggest shiteating grin because holy shit this was way easier than he'd thought it would be.

"Oh... I see. I thought I was beginning to understand humans better since joining the Apex Games, but it seems I am still ignorant..."

Pathfinder remembers feeling this way once before; shortly after meeting Elliott for the first time and learning of how he was being tricked. Had he been tricked yet again? Were all humans just cruel? Is this what he was supposed to learn when his creator abandoned him?

He was beginning to suspect learning about the human race was not such a good idea afterall. He did not like being deceived but he also did not mind these things when he did not know any better.

"Well there isn't really a lot to learn about skinbags I wouldn't trouble myself too greatly over it." Revenant begins panic backtracking because, yea, he was trying to stir tensions up a bit, but the scrap heap seems to be taking this far more personally than he thought possible, and he doesn't actually want to be the reason the bot figures out that most skinbags are terrible retched creatures- really, he should learn that on his own the hard way. Later. When he is far far away, and not right now, in front of him, where he can see how devastating this discovery is to the thing.

For a long moment, Revenant isn't even really sure if the machine has heard a word he just said, before Pathfinder suddenly snaps back to normal, in an almost jarring movement. "Well, I should get going now! See you later, friend." he says, and heads out of the lounge area, leaving Revenant more than a little confused.

---

Mirage had almost forgotten Pathfinder had been trying to ask him something earlier before he noticed he hadn't seen Path around since before that match.

That's strange, he thought to himself. Path was not the best at intentionally masking his presence,  so he should definitely have run into him by now, especially if there was a question still burning away at his mind. Pathfinder seemed to be an infinitely curious being.

There wasn't any harm in looking around at least. After asking "Path? You here?" to at least four different rooms, Lifeline finally took pity on him and pointed him in the right direction.

"Last I seen him, he was talking with Revenant. Ya better off asking him."

Stranger yet Mirage thinks, but decides not to jump the panic button just yet, heading over to where the robot in question idly twiddled with a knife.

"Revenant, was Pathfinder talking to you earlier?"

Revenant almost seems caught off guard by the question "Yea, what of it, skinsuit?" He bites out.

"Well, did you at least catch where he went after that? Cause he doesn't seem to be here."

If he didn't know any better, Mirage would say Revenant almost looks sheepish now, and given the context that's none too reassuring. Revenant says nothing and Mirage narrows his eyes in suspicion. "Wait, do you know something we don't?" Maybe it was just something robot related that non-robots wouldn't understand? Mirage didn't have any idea what the two could've possibly discussed that would make Revenant of all people clam up.

Revenant finally relents "Alright so I may have said somethings that set the walking quote machine off, but I didn't know the pathetic scrap heap was gonna run off like that."

"I'm sorry, did you say HE RAN OFF?" Mirage asks, internal alarm bells suddenly going off.

Revenant regains his edge with a smirk "Yeah, you might wanna go find him before he gets lost. He's about as smart as a toaster oven."

"Dammit!" Mirage yells, grabbing his gear on the way out.

---

“Stupid Revenant and stupid fast Pathfinder leaving without telling anyone. Seriously how did he get this far away already?" Mirage mutters to himself as he speed searches in the general direction he believes Pathfinder would have went. Maybe he should've enlisted Bloodhound's help before he left. At least they would be able to tell if someone had traveled this way recently.

It's dark out, and he's far from where the ship base docked. He hopes he finds something soon because he really doesn't want to be out here all night.

He's also starting to get paranoid, because he swears he heard some shuffling a few times that definitely wasn't his own, despite the fact no one is around.

Finally, he manages to spot the unmistakable  silhouette of Pathfinder up ahead.

"Path! What the hell are you doing out here?!" He yells, to stop the robot in it's tracks.

"Oh, hello Mirage! I have decided to quit the apex games."

Mirage takes only a moment to process this, before  asking, incredulous, "Are you dualsinal- delis- dil- are you out of your mind?!"

"I have been informed our friends do not like me, so it does not make sense to continue participating. I decided to continue looking for my creator elsewhere. It appears I am lost though!"

"Ok you're a robot, so you probably dont understand how ironic that is- but more importantly! Who told you that- wait, nevermind don't answer that, I already figured it out." Mirage says, putting two and two together. He sighs before continuing. "Okay, listen. Path. Nobody hates you buddy. Everyone thinks you're a valuable player to the games, and a valuable member to the teams. And, AND the games are still your best bet at finding your creator, not roaming the worlds blindly. So this is a very poor decision!"

"Then does this mean you don't hate me?"

"Hate you? Why would you think- Ok maybe I joke A LOT, but Path, you were the first person I even met in the games. If I hated you, you would definitely know by now."

"Really? This is great! I love you too, friend." Pathfinder exclaims, wrapping Mirage in a hug before he can object.

"Uh-huh, you're coming back and rejoining the games, that's great, now can we please go back? This place is starting to freak me out." Mirage says, pushing out of the hug.

Mirage begins to backtrack the way he came. "Alright, uhhh, I'm pretty sure it's this way, come on let's- ack!" The sound of a bullet whizzes by and Pathfinder and Mirage manage to get a glimpse of three armored figures coming from the direction it came from before dodging into cover behind a nearby rock.

"That's not good!" Mirage states, yelping when a spray of bullets flies past his head while attempting to assess the situation. "Path, how many crimes did you commit, since leaving the ship?!"

"I have not engaged in any illegal activities!" Pathfinder replies, similarly panicked.

"Well, It's a good thing I never leave the ship without my weapon holster!" Mirage says, pulling out a p2020 from his belt.

The three men converging on their position have spread out, attempting to cut them off on all sides.

"Alright, think fast Mirage, there's 3 guys flanking us, we have a robot with a grappling hook, me, and a single p2020. Totally doable."

Mirage straightens up suddenly and takes one last quick look over the cover before turning back to Pathfinder. "Follow my lead!"

Mirage dodges bullets as he runs out from behind the cover and sends out one of his decoys at the person flanking the left. They shoot the decoy and he loads a clip into their skull. In the same motion he swings back towards the center and heads for the remaining two enemies, activating  his decoy cloak.

Pathfinder takes the hint and uses the confusion to hook his grappling hook on an iron bar above the person flanking right, swinging into them at full force and knocking them out flat.

"You got bamboozled!" Mirage says, now dramatically posed behind the last guy. He takes aim and-

*click*

"Fuck." Mirage says, upon realizing his clip is empty. The man whips around to train his gun on him and Mirage instinctively stumbles a step back before-

The shadows twitch for a second and suddenly the man cries out in pain, robotic fingers protuding through him for only a moment before Revenant retracts his hand entirely and the man crumples to the floor.

"Revenant? What the hell are you doing here?" Mirage asks, relieved, not for the first time, that Revenant is on their side.

If you accused Revenant of being concerned about the trouble he may have inadvertantly gotten these two idiots into he'd brush you off, so instead he says "I was bored. Thought you guys might be up to something more entertaining. Looks like I was right."

"Well that was an uncomfortably close call. Do we have any idea who these wack jobs were?" Mirage asks approaching one on the ground to get a better look.

" ...Hey wait a minute, this is the Syndicate's symbol." He says, running his hands over a logo printed on the shoulder of their armor.

He picks up a boxy device from the person's holster and clicks the button. It boots up and displays a hologram with a dossier.

Mirage doesn't like being stressed, so he chooses to be offended instead. "Hey! Revenant's here too, why isn't he on the target list?"

"You think I got to be a hitman by being as loud and dumb as you two?" He responds, insulted.

Either way, this didn't bode well for any of them. "...Path, Rev, we-"

"I didn't consent to you giving me a nickname, skinbag." Revenant interrupts.

"You guys! We can't tell anyone about what happened here today."

"But Mirage, should we not notify our friends of-"

"No!" Mirage quickly grabs Pathfinder by the shoulders and shakes him for emphasis. "No. This stays between the three of us. We're already in enough trouble as it is, let's just go back to the ship and pretend nothing happened- And for the love of god, Path, don't try to quit the Apex Games again."

Pathfinder frowns at this turn of events but nods his head. "Understood."

Revenant simply gives a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement.

"We might not live to tell the tale next time..." Mirage adds under his breath, taking one last look at the mercenaries lying at their feet.

Was there even a guarantee they could return to the games without further issues? Only time could really tell.

One thing was for sure; Revenant got exactly what he asked for.

Things just got a hell of a lot more interesting around here.

Perhaps it was time he revisited the Syndicate, add some targets to his hitlist. No one's gonna tell him where he can and can't go.

And maybe, for once, he had two targets to protect instead.