Chapter Text
When Arson awoke, it was almost 7:45 a.m. It was nearly time for Ajay to come in and check on Arson's injuries. Arson realized she had woken up on her side with metal, skeletal arms wrapped around her stomach and chest, pulling her into the large metal frame behind her. Arson smiled, knowing that it was just Revenant. She turned and looked at his face. His eyes were dark but then flashed red. Revenant was in a reboot. Now was the scary part. Would he come back all at once, or would his genuine emotions load faster than logic? Arson took a deep breath, waiting for the tight grapple on her body.
"Skinsuit?"
All at once. Thank whatever force was above.
"Yeah?"
"Your heart rate spiked," Revenant spoke, pulling her closer to him, placing a hand on her throat, directly above her pulse.
"Ah- Y-Yeah. I guess it has." Arson involuntarily stuttered.
"Scared I'd hurt you mid-reboot?"
"If your genuine, unfiltered emotions run before your logic, I must brace myself for the incoming harsh and sharp grasp," Arson explained, craning her head back to look at him, "And you might want to let go. Ajay will be here soon."
Revenant looked up at the clock. It was 7:55 a.m.
Revenant slowly moved out of the bed before opening a vent and crawling through it after putting the grate back on it.
The day proceeded as usual. Ajay released Arson from the medical ward, and Arson conversed more with the other legends but avoided Loba, Horizon, and Caustic. Arson made sure to remain undetected by Whitney and Shadow Revenant. Soon enough, the next day arrived, indicating the final day of the Legends' visit to Shadowfall. Arson sighed and adjusted her jump pack, fastened around her waist, and her gun holster, which was situated on her chest but missing the actual firearm holster. Additionally, two smaller holsters are on the accessory's lower portion, which might have been intended for long, slim blades. Arson proceeded to the lounge, where she was taken aback to find it unoccupied.
Arson sat on the couch in the lounge, wondering where everyone had gone. She awaited them to start the game, but the room was empty. She checked her watch and realized she was on time, as always. Nervously patting her hands on her thighs, she brushed her hair and covered the right side of her face. Suddenly, she noticed a black mist with orange electricity climbing up her legs. Startled, she kicked at it like vermin, but it covered her body and transported her to a glass container like a laboratory experiment. Fearful, she looked around the cylinder, remembering the torturous exercises from Hammond to expand her supernatural abilities—all that training to hold her breath for almost an hour and a half.
"Welcome Legends!" Shadow Revenat's voice rang in her ears, "Today, each of you will begin in different sectors of Olympus. You must collaborate and support each other to ensure everyone's survival. Those who are separated or harmed by my shadows will face... dire consequences."
With a chilling laugh emanating from Shadow Revenant, the cylindrical platform began to ascend. Arson quickly grasped the sides as the glass turned metal, peering at the starry night sky of Shadowfall's Olympus. As the platform clicked into place, Arson confidently stepped off and surveyed her surroundings, realizing that she had arrived in the Gardens area of the arena. Without hesitation, she sprinted towards one of the many nearby loot bins. After opening one, a shadow of Maggie spawned beside Arson and lunged towards her. But Arson swiftly grabbed the forearm of the Mastiff in the container and swung it into the skull of the Shadow, instantly killing it. She readjusted the Mastiff in her left arm and grabbed the light ammo, shield battery, and level 3 shotgun bolt from the container with newfound confidence.
Arson quickly found extra attachments and an R-99. She defeated some Shadows and moved from Gardens to Solar Array to stay ahead of the competition. Arson then happily hopped into a trident and drove away. While on the road, Arson saw a raven flying above and recognized it as Arthur. She slowed the trident down and extended Her right arm for the bird to perch on. Arthur landed on Arson's arm and rubbed their beak gently on her heavily scarred skin.
"Is Hound in trouble, Arthur?" She asked.
Arthur gently cooed as he flew, landed on Arson's right shoulder, and started grooming her hair. Arson turned around and noticed some shadows in the distance, quickly approaching her.
"Lead me to them!" Arson spoke with the utmost urgency.
Arthur jumped off of her arm and soared into the sky. Arson turned the trident back on and drove off after Arthur. When she arrived at Solar Array by following Arthur, she saw Bloodhound, Mirage, and Ash fighting off Shadows. Arson laughed and put her Mastiff at an angle on the pedal so the trident would continue to drive. She jumped off the trident as it slammed into a few shadows and crashed into a wall. She pulled her flamethrower off her back and smiled wildly as she ran up to the trio surrounded by shadows and whistled, causing the shadows and trio to whip their heads to her.
"Come on, you moths! Just follow the large and hot light!" Arson yelled.
The shadows screeched and dashed at Arson, who pulled the trigger of the flamethrower, causing the barrel to burst into flames, enveloping the shadows that dared to get too close. A psychotic laugh left her lips as she burned shadows back into their pathetic black mist states. She sighed as she finally let go of the trigger, tossed the flamethrower over her shoulder, and turned to the legends. Ash holds a Prowler and Sentinel, Mirage has a Car SMG and Rampage, and finally, Bloodhound wields their trusty Charge Rifle and a Wingman.
"Ah! Félagi fighter!" Bloodhound exclaims at their savior.
Arson smiled at the sight of her friend and picked up a nearby peacekeeper from the ground. Arthur flew overhead before landing on Arson's right shoulder once more. Instead of preening her hair, he became curious about the giant pink tourniquet made of cloth, pecking at it slightly. Arson smiled and ran a finger under Arthur's chin.
"H-Hey, Arson! Thanks for the save!" Mirage exclaimed, giving her a nervous smile.
"It was sufficient," Ash replied coldly.
Arson eyed the unused Sentinel on Ash's back before looking back at Bloodhound.
"Do you want the damn thing?" Ash interrupts Arson's thought, "Give me your SMG, and you can have it."
Arson smiles and holds the R-99 and its ammunition out for Ash to take as Ash gives her the Sentinel and the sniper rounds along with a 2x-4x Variable AOG. Arson smiles and brushes her hand across the muzzle as Arthur flies back to Bloodhound.
Arson looks up at Ash with a hint of disgust in her voice. "Thanks."
"Your gratitude is acknowledged but not welcome, you Xian," Ash replies, checking the magazine of the submachine gun.
Arson growls and begins walking away from the group towards the Bonsai Plaza.
"He-Hey! Didn't Sha-Shadow Reven-Revenant say we need to cooper-coop... work together to survive?" Mirage spoke up, looking between the scarred fire wielder and the blue simulacrum.
"Mirage is accurate. We must stick together to ensure everyone's survival. Shadow Revenant clearly stated that" Bloodhound agreed, "We should stick together."
"Fine. Follow if you want to then. But you know who I'll be looking for." Arson replies.
"And I'm with you, vinur minn." Bloodhound nods and catches up to Arson.
Mirage looks nervously between Ash and Arson before seeing more shadows in the distance. He quickly ran over to the hunter and assassin, Ash not far behind. The group eventually made it to the Bonsai Plaza. Gunshots ran out in one of the towers, making the group look up. The loud noise of a silencer exploding and a warp bracelet being thrown from the top of the tower proved the two legends here. The warp bracelet lands, and Loba materializes from it and places it around her wrist. Arson ran up to Loba after she heard Revenant throw his second silencer was thrown.
"Is there anyone else but Revenant up there?"
"No. It was just me and Demonio." Loba says, reloading her 30-30 Repeater and Spitfire, "Come on! We have to get to Oasis."
"Not yet. We have to get Revenant." Arson replied, beginning to run to the building.
Loba grabs Arson's right arm, pulling her back, "No, Ella-demonio. We need-"
Arson punches Loba in the throat and kicks her away, sending her to the ground. Arson glares at her angrily. The other legends stop and stare in shock.
With clenched teeth, Arson firmly states, "Please refrain from touching me. This will be your only and final warning." She then swiftly approaches the building, runs inside, to the elevator, and securely grips the zipline, ascending to the top and landing on the open roof plaza. Following closely behind, Bloodhound also jumps off the zipline.
"Valkyrie, Crypto, Caustic, and Catalyst joined the others below. They... saw your outburst," They say, reading their wingman.
"And none of them are helping?" Arson asks.
The silence of Bloodhound is unsettling. Arson huffs and rushes down the hallway alongside Bloodhound, and they arrive at the center of the building, where they hear a grunt of pain from Revenant, whom a shadow of Fuse has taken down.
"I'm down. Someone's gonna pay for that. Damn, Girlie leaving me behind." He growls as Bloodhound fires a round into the Shadow's head.
Arson shoots a shadow of herself with her Peacekeeper and runs to Revenant, "Cover me, Hound!"
"Heard that!" They reply, firing another round into a shadow.
As Arson aids Revenant, she positions him on his back and promises, "I let you fall once. Never again." She retrieves a compact electronic device resembling a syringe and applies it to his metallic chest. The device delivers a jolt, and she assists him in rising by holding onto his arm.
Revenant huffs as he stands, readying his Prowler and Flatline, "Same goes for you, Whitney. My fault for getting you hurt so badly."
Arson chuckles as she reloads her Peacekeeper, "Don't worry about it. It reminds me of who we must eradicate."
"Oh, how right you are about that." Revenant growls sadistically as he reloads his Flatline.
Revenant points his Flatline down the hallway Arson and Bloodhound came from and mows down two Shadows before pulling out a phoenix kit, "Cover me. Need to use a Phoenix Kit."
Arson nodded and shot at the other Shadows, holding her burnt hand and smiling, "Following the fire." She then disperses into fire; a streak of flames goes through the four shadows before her and reappears behind them. The Shadows scream in pain as she whips around and fires the Peacekeeper into them.
"If we want to get out alive, we must vault." Bloodhound proclaims, pointing to an open window.
Arson observed Bloodhound's jump from the window and nodded. She then turned to Revenant, who effortlessly sliced through a Shadow with Dead Man's Curve. He quickly made his way towards the open window where Arson was waiting. She started running and jumped out of the building, with Revenant following closely behind her. However, he fell faster than her because he was made of heavy metal. His jump pack activated, and he landed safely on the ground. Arson, who was previously looking up, turned her head down and heard her jump pack roar to life, which cushioned her fall and made it gentler. She grunted as she stood up and shook her legs to eliminate the shock from the jump.
"Are you alright, Whitney?" Revenant asked, putting a hand on her burnt shoulder.
Arson twitches as his hand lands on her, "Yeah, just peachy."
Revenant nods and pulls a 4x-10x Digital Sniper Threat out of his backpack. Arson looked up at him happily. "Trade you?"
Without hesitation, Arson gleefully accepted the attachment and swiftly replaced her 2x-4x Variable AOG with the 4x-10x Digital Sniper Threat, attaching it to her Sentinel. Revenant chuckled at her enthusiastic response.
"Still a sniper lover, huh?" Revenant teased, taking the 2x-4x optic and attaching it to his Flatline.
Arson smiled and nodded, "Pulling the trigger and waiting during the blissful eternity, then seeing your victim's head explode and their body drop, is such a satisfying feeling."
Bloodhound coughs, catching the two off guard, "We should join our allies to take down the andskoti."
Arson smiles awkwardly as she looks at Bloodhound. Arson looks at the area where the group was previously. They had left, most likely to get ahead of them to make their way to Oasis; at least the trident wasn't gone so the trio could catch up. Revenant runs up to the trident and hops in the driver's seat.
"So what if I have a death wish and can't drive? Get in the car." He says.
"Like Sól upon her chariot - We ride," Bloodhound replies, hopping in the closest passenger side.
Arson smiles and runs up, sliding across the front of the trident and twirling around into the opposing passenger seat, "Let's go. Hopefully, we crash, see, and or become roadkill."
Revenant laughs and drives off through the top of the Plaza towards Hammond Labs and to the right towards estates.
As the trio kept driving upon arriving at the Estates, many shadows jumped out of one of the buildings and landed on them.
"Scatter!" Revenant yells, punching one Shadow off him and jumping out of the trident.
Arson and Bloodhound follow his actions and scatter away from the Shadow-infested trident. Arson gasps as one jumps on top of her, forcing them both to collapse to the ground. She brings her elbow back, connecting it with its jaw, pushing it off her. Arson quickly flips onto her back, pulls out her Sentinel, and fires, connecting the bullet with its head. She quickly scrambles to her feet and runs towards one of the middle buildings of the Estates, then climbs to the very top.
Arson sighs as she reaches the top and checks her Peacekeeper. Two shells left, and the Sentinel magazine has three shots left with 47 more rounds in her backpack. She pulls out the Sentinel again, crouching and resting her left cheek on the gun near the scope. Holding a gun with your left hand, let alone a sniper rifle wasn't the most comfortable thing to do, but after centuries of adjusting, Arson made it look like child's play. She aims at a Shadow rapidly approaching Bloodhound from behind and fires as a black and orange metal foot connects with the barrel, causing the gun to fling out of her hand and off the roof; the bullet connects with the Shadow's head anyway.
Arson looked at the assailant, predicting a Shadow, only to see Whitney in a more combat-suited outfit, but dorning Shadow Revenant's colors.
"You bitch, what did you do?" She snarls.
Maybe Whitney ultimately grew a brain and learned that Shadow Revenant sees her as disposable as anyone else. Arson pulls out her Peacekeeper, only to have it grabbed and removed from the situation. Whitney leans down and punches Arson square in the face, grabbing her by her leather holster and punching her again. Arson seizes Whitney's arm as she goes to hit her and knees her in her stomach, making her double over in pain, permitting Arson to crush her foot on the side of Whitney's metal knee. Before Arson moves away, Whitney reaches toward the base of Arson's holster, pulling a long black blade from one of the knife holsters that wasn't there before.
Arson backed away as the now-armed Whitney stood, knife tightly in hand. Arson took a long look at the dagger. It was a Sai, but the edge was covered in arcane symbols.
"I haven't accomplished anything, Whitney." Arson sighs and looks at her with a neutral expression.
"Liar, you have tried to scheme with Shadow Revenant behind my back," Whitney growls, her grip on the cutter tightening.
"Whitney, you frankly can't think Shadow Revenant cares about you, do you?" Arson asks, a slight empathetic expression on her face.
Whitney scoffs and looks on at Arson angrily.
"Whitney, trust me, people like Shadow Revenant don't care about anyone but themselves once they have acquired power over others. You worked for Hammond on your own accord and saw how they treated others. Shadow Revenant is the same way."
"Shut your mouth." Whitney growls.
"You know I am correct." Arson replies, "If you get into life-threatening danger, he won't come and save you. He never cared about you."
Whitney screams and lunges at Arson, the arm with the knife outstretched. Arson sidesteps, grabs her wrist, and twists it. Whitney growls and accidentally drops the knife. Arson boots the blade off the rooftop. That dagger wasn't covered in arcane symbols for nothing. Shadow Revenant had something up his sleeve. Whitney growls and tries to sweep her leg under Arson. Arson kicks her leg away and knees her in the stomach. Whitney grabs Arson's hair, tugs it, and pulls her to the ground. Arson yelps as her head connects with the curved edge of the building. Her head felt like it was rattling around her skull. Arson gasps as a weight lands on her stomach, and hands wrap around her throat. Arson grabs the wrists of the attacker, who is obviously Whitney.
There has to be a way to talk her out of this. Arson didn't want to kill Whitney without reasoning because Whitney was envious and misinformed. It felt... odd thinking about technically offing herself. Arson growls as her hands constrict around her throat. Whitney's grip tightened, causing Arson to hyperventilate.
"You will pay for this." Whitney growls, "Keep your paws on your own dimension's Kaleb."
Arson tries to claw at Whitney's face as she feels her windpipe squashed. Whitney leans her head back to stop her attempted assault. Arson coughs as her face slowly turns red, grabbing Whitney's metal wrists and pounding her fists against them. Arson glared at Whitney just in time to see a flying projectile lodge into Whitney's chest. The hands around Arson's neck retreated to the blade that Arson had previously kicked off the ledge.
Arson looked behind her to see Revenant was the individual who threw the blade before going back to taking down some Shadows. She whipped her head back to Whitney, who stared at the cutter in blemish. Whitney moved off of Arson to sit across from her. Arson sat up to meet Whitney's gaze. Whitney then scrutinized around in a stupor.
"Like I said. Shadow Revenant isn't coming to save you." Arson says gently.
"I... I don't understand... What did I do to upset him? He spared but afflicted me before putting me into his fucked up Shadow facility... I did everything he asked, everything to please him... What happened?" Whitney asks, gently touching the hold of the sai.
Arson looked at her sympathetically as she spoke. Whitney extended her hand for Arson. This scenario was familiar. Arson remembers comforting a few past enemies as they passed when they realized their bosses didn't honestly care for them. Most were young boys and girls forced into such work. Just children. Children who deserved better. It reminds her of twins running her revolution operations in her absence. She takes her hand gently.
"I... I'm... sorry. My own jealousy... I-I wanted what you and Kaleb had in your dimension... and Shadow Revenant was the only other technically living being around... I guess killing you would be enough to prove that. But just like normal, I'm a failure. A joke." Whitney spoke.
The two sat in a long silence.
"Do you want me to do anything to prevent you from..."
"No. Leave me here. This shall be my discipline for trusting others again. The blade will turn to ash once it exits my body. Revenant and Bloodhound have extinguished all of the Shadows by now. Just... get to the dropship. As much as he wants you here, he'll let you go. I'm sure of it. He isn't that petty." Whitney replies.
Arson nods, standing up after moving her hand away from Whitney's.
"Good Luck, Whitney Davis. Johann would be proud of you." Whitney spoke.
Arson nodded, turned her back to Whitney, and slid off the roof to the balcony below. Arson heard a distressing exclamation from Whitney, presuming she pulled the blade out of her chest to die quicker. As Arson descended the floors to mobilize with her team, she couldn't help but feel how fictitious that situation was.
Revenant and Bloodhound patiently waited at the northwestern exit of Estates. Hound held the Peacekeeper, and Revenant had her Sentinel. Arson smiles softly at the sight of her friends. She smiles, takes the Peacekeeper from Hound, and opens the shotgun to check the magazine. It's full.
"I realize you were low on shotgun ammo, félagi. I have scouted some for you." Hound explains, handing over the red boxes of shotgun ammunition.
"Thanks." Arson replies, taking the ammo graciously.
Revenant handed her the Sentinal that had also been restocked, but her original amount remained. Arson smiled and gave in a quiet thanks.
"We should get on to Oasis to escape this hellish paradise." Arson spoke.
"Heard that," Hound replied, beginning their jog to Oasis.
Arson smiled at Revenant before looking back towards Bloodhound and running after them. Revenant huffed and followed.
"Look, Fuse! We don't have time!" New Castle yelled over the whirling dropship, shooting a few shadows with an R-301.
"We have plenty of time! Just wait on 'em, eh?" Fuse spoke, firing a heavy round from his trusty 30-30.
"There!" Wattson yelled, lowering her Charge rifle and pointing to the trio approaching.
Arson smiles as Bloodhounds kills another Shadow with Raven's Bite. As the trio reunited with the other legends, Bloodhound and Fuse hugged once Hound was safe in his arms. Valkyrie and Gibraltar were helping others onto the drop ship while Revenant, Bangalore, and New Castle were firing into the horde of Shadows. Arson turned to the four and aided in firing. She pulls out her flamethrower and fires into the herd in bursts, effectively pushing them back but lowering their health enough for her comrades to kill them. Bangalore and New Castle slowly retreated as Arson and Revenant stayed and sprayed.
"Come on, Whitney. Let's go." Revenant spoke, putting down his Flatline.
Arson nods and shuts off her flame thrower, causing Revenant to turn and run, Arson behind him. Finally, out of this dimension and back to the old one, no more Shadows, No more Shadow Revenant, no more--
"Whitney!"
That voice... Arson stopped dead in her tracks about 100 feet from the dropship; Revenant was about 20 feet from it. She turned to the sound and saw her again. Charlotte looked fearful as she ran towards her.
"Don't leave me, Whitney! Please!" Charlotte screamed.
"Whitney! Come on!" Revenant yelled, also seeing the dead woman walking.
All Arson could think of was to save her, protect her. She doesn't know what came over her, but she was already sprinting to Charlotte before she realized it.
"Whitney, you damn idiot! Get back here. You're gonna get yourself stuck here forever!" Revenant yelled.
"Whitney, please!"
"Whitney!"
Arson blinked, and Charlotte, in a black mist and orange crackles, formed back into Shadow Revenant with another dagger covered in arcane symbols. Arson looked in horror and tried to skid to a stop as she tried to stop her approach.
"Finally..." Shadow Revenant growled, raising the dagger above his head, "Some quality entertainment."
"Whitney!" Revenant yells.
As Shadow Revenant brings down the knife, a light blue metal arm appears behind him, grabs his shoulder, hops onto his back, and puts Shadow Revenant into a chokehold.
"I don't think so, you manipulative fuck!" Whitney growls angrily.
"Get off me!" Shadow Revenant growls, dropping the knife and scratching at Whitney's arm.
Arson looks on in shock. She's still alive?
"Go Arson! To the Dropship!" Whitney yells.
Arson turns and runs back to the dropship. To Revenant.
"Whitney!" Charlotte's voice calls again.
Arson freezes, fear on her face. She feels compelled to run back again. Why?
"No! Don't listen, Arso-" Whitney screams as Shadow Revenant grabs her hair and flips her over him, slamming her on her back into the ground.
Revenant runs up and soops Arson into his arms, "Come on, dearheart."
Dearheart... That word kept repeating in her head. It was familiar. Why was it familiar? Her thoughts were interrupted by Whitney's screams of agony as Revenant boarded the dropship, and the back of the dropship rose and closed. Then, immediately, a rush of emotion flowed through Arson. The need to protect Charlotte.
"Charlotte!" Arson screams, thrashing in Revenant's arms.
"Get her on her stomach! Now!" Revenant yells, struggling against Arson, trying to get her to the floor.
Fuse, Gibraltar, and New Castle rushed to his aid in helping her down. Fuse held her left arm while Gibby and Castle went to pin down her legs while Revenant held her right arm down.
"Now, what are we doing this for again?" Castle asks.
"Charlotte!" Arson screams again.
"This," Revenant says as he reaches and grabs Arson by the back of her neck.
Arson growls, and she struggles harder.
"Geez, demonio! We don't need to witness your screwed-up kinks!" Loba says in disgust.
Revenant digs his fingers into the back of her neck, cutting her flesh open. Arson screams in pain.
"Jesus, Rev! What the bloody hell are you doing?" Fuse asks in horror, but not letting Arson go.
"Noticed this little fucker when her back was turned," Revenant says with disgust as he grabs onto what he was looking for.
Revenant pulls at what he has in his fingers to pull out a long, black, writhing insect-like creature. Once the insect leaves the wound, Arson stops moving, aside from her breathing.
"Ajay. I'll let you work. Caustic, Horizon? I could use some assistance." Revenant says as he stands, grasping the mysterious live creature.