eye of the storm.

Picture this: Archimedes Condominium building, towering above the city around it, standing far above the canyon wall. One figure, careening down the side, occasionally catching themselves on a small lip of the windows every few floors to turn himself into a new position as he hits maximum velocity. He checks himself out in the reflections, then flips around to get a selfie with his glass double in the background. Never once does he consider that the impending impact might actually kill him.

That was yesterday. When Octavio had woken up the next morning, it took him only a moment to realize what had happened. So, falling kills, here. Noted, but not necessarily a deterrent, especially given the ‘wake up the next morning’ respawn mechanic this city had going for it. A shower was had, clothes were found, and Octavio was soon off to locate breakfast (hopefully something quick, he had plans for the day).

Elevators should be considered inhumane torture devices. Shifting his weight around, Octavio watched the numbers tick down for what felt like hours. In truth, it was only a couple floors before the door opened up again (not even ground floor–ugh!). A petite woman stepped in and, for a brief moment, Octavio didn’t see anything wrong with the situation. What’s two friends riding an elevator together, right?

 Wattson chuckled to herself. She’ll have to try that one next time she’s in the arena. 

--

After a shower and some pep talks to herself, she was charged and ready to go! The engineer faced the elevator door on her floor, twiddling her fingers and humming to herself. Wow... these things take forever. The sound of elevator doors opening snapped her out of her brief trance as she stepped inside. What she would see next would shock her. Steel legs, green goggles, and a whole lot of energy.

“Mon dieu! Octane! You live here too?” 

The surprise nearly knocked the engineer off her feet. The elevator doors shut, as Wattson inquired further, unable to hide the grin plastered on her face.

Rumbling thunder and flashes of light in the clouds really only meant one thing.

Bloodhound could smell it in the air, feel it in the wind - a storm was coming, here in the wilderness of the Cotes Ward. The hunter had wandered from civilization and out towards the edges of the ward, and it was here where the weather had changed. They looked out to the building storm clouds, and smiled under their mask.

They reminded them of one of the other legends - Natalie, or Wattson, as everyone knew her. She was truly one of the lights of the games, and Bloodhound always found themselves at ease whenever she was near. She knew how to liven up a room with her jokes, which Bloodhound always managed to chuckle at.

How long would they find themselves here, they wondered. How long would it be before they saw any of their friends or comrades again? So far they had only seen Octane, and heard of Mirage being around. It was odd to have one legend here, but multiple…was certainly suspicious.

A sound from behind them causes them to whirl around, a hand reaching up to  activate the sonar on their goggles, their eyes widening as they see a warm figure ahead of them - a person. Behind them, a large horned creature was sneaking up.

“Watch out–!” They call out, surging forward with a loud growl, their head thrown back as a mysterious power surges through them. They take off with great speed, running on all fours towards the demon before diving into a roll and firing off a series of shots with their bb gun. It wasn’t much, but it managed to scare the creature off at least.

Breathing heavy, and with their goggles still glowing red, they turn around to look at the figure - familiar and coincidential.

The engineer wasn’t sure of how long she had been traversing through the wilderness of Cotes Ward. She had become so familiar with the battlefield back home, it irritated her that she had to learn everything all over again. She sighed. Where there’s difficulty, there’s opportunity. The thought managed to pull her out of whatever rut she was in, leaving her eager to learn more about where she was.  Deep crevices, rich of vegetation, and the sound of--wait. What was that?

The hunter’s warning echoed through the area, as the engineer turned to see a horrific horned beast. She gasped in fear, fumbling with the rather useless gun that was given to her. Wattson had none of her usual tech, and as such, was at an extreme disadvantage. She wouldn’t let herself die here though. Not without a fight. Both hands clasped over the gun’s grip as she pointed it straight at the beast in front of her. She took a step back, trying to take a deep breath. That was cut short by a rock near her feet, which sent her stumbling to the ground. 

She grunted in frustration, looking back at the beast, that was--gone. Oh. Heavy breaths soon replaced the sound of rustling leaves disturbed by the fleeing creature. Wattson could hardly contain herself once she realized who exactly had come to her rescue. She hastily picked herself up off the ground, a bright smile creeping over her face. Soon enough, the engineer was embracing the hunter tightly, grateful that a member of her family was finally here. 

She’s still thinking about that snake person (snerson just isn’t catching on) when something drops out of someone’s pocket. Makoto hadn’t been following the woman ahead of her, but it’s hard to miss something like that.

“Oh, hey, excuse me!” she calls, scooping the object up off the ground. “Miss, you dropped something!”

When the woman turns, Makoto bounds over to her. “Whew, good thing I saw that!” she laughs. “You wouldn’t want to lose your- Your, uh…”

When she finally looks at the object she’s retrieved, Makoto finds… a lime. This lady was just keeping limes in her pocket. There’s probably a perfectly fine explanation for it. It’s a snack for later, perhaps.

“Err, wouldn’t want to lose your citrus!” says Makoto, recovering as gracefully as she can. “I mean, gotta keep that scurvy away, right? You don’t wanna… get whatever scurvy does to you.”

“Well... that’s not good.”

She slipped her new (?) phone back in her jacket pocket, even though the interest she had in what appeared to be more...primitive tech was enticing.

Right. That’s what Wattson was the most uncomfortable about. Fences, pylons, even the Nessie charm on her favorite gun, all gone. Not all was lost; she could likely find a new way to create something similar. The thought filled her with a bit of excitement, but that had to wait. Someone was calling out to her. The engineer turned to face a woman...dressed like a squirrel? Oh, actually, that’s pretty cute! Wattson smiled back at the woman and took a peek at what she claimed the engineer had lost. Oh!

“Ah! I’ve seen this before!”

She took the lime from the stranger, eyeing it closely before continuing on with her statement. Ooh, this one had been on her mind for a while. What a good opportunity to try it.

“I’ve got a real...joule of an invention for you, hehe! If you create a hole in this, you can insert one bright LED inside. Then you can plug it into your computer and...voila! A lime light! I suppose I was going to try what I had seen in a video before ending up here.”

She paused for a bit before continuing.

Wattson: hehe i can spin