Chapter Text
It was another morning at the complex: A harsh wake up by the klaxon call on the drop ship; The mediocre-but-hot breakfast provided by MRVNs. Crypto’s head began to clear from his late night just as he sat in the communal dining area.
He looked at the tray, inspected each item, turned the fruit over. And looked at the safety seal on his water.
The water bottle had indeed been opened.
Prepared, not paranoid.
He checked the entire way through his meal a second time and decided that none of it was worth risking. Damn. The sweet potato hash looked good too. He sighed and pushed the tray an inch or so away, and had already thought of those ration bars he stored in his belongings… better than nothing, he supposed. Soon he heard footsteps. Here came Mirage with his own breakfast ,tray a full bite already in his mouth. He swallowed with a grimace and a cough. Crypto eyed him, worried; if his fuckbuddy choked to death he’d surely be mournful.
Mirage put his tray down fast and grabbed for Cryptos drink- and in a panic, downed half the bottle. Crypto stood, flew really, to his feet. He took a handful of Mirages shirt as he studied his face.
“Witt, wait don’t-” he pleaded softly, then he saw Mirages throat bobbing. He swallowed the tampered water with a terrified look in his eyes.
“I’m sorry man, it-it was stuck! I was gonna choke!” Mirage defended himself, sounding fully apologetic. Crypto felt the eyes on them both, making a scene in the common area? That was for idiots, like Octane and well… Mirage.
Crypto let go of his shirt and swiped the bottle, hurrying to his room, behind him he called out, “be more careful, Witt. ”
In the privacy of his quarters, Crypto almost lost his composure, he felt a hot burning in his eyes, and a cold lighting in his chest. If that water was tampered with, and the meal was provided by The Syndicate, and it was given to Crypto specifically- he could have been poisoned, ingested a neurotoxin, dosed with an allergen. But it was Mirage who drank half the bottle. Please no, he begged to no one in particular.
He chewed his bottom lip. He waited for Hack to test a sample. He listened out for any noise that could be a handsome engineer collapsing and or dying. Three little beeps sounded off and-
Sodium pentothal.
He scoffed out loud, laughing to himself. He read and re-read the readout. “Commonly thought to be an effective truth serum of sorts. Many users report an ease of their inhibitions when it comes to discussing secrets”
He peeked his head around the door of his quarters, and carefully observed Mirage. He was chatting to Gibraltar and Bloodhound. They both laughed as something he’d said, and his face turned red and his eyes widened- almost as if...
He said something he didn’t intend to.
Oh no.
Crypto took his time reading up on the effects of the drug. If they got to their proper target, then the only real danger would be speaking, which he rarely did. He had been only speaking with Loba, for various information trades - almost business like- Lifeline, and Mirage. The last two barely counted as conversation partners, seeing as most of their vocabulary was just repetitive “yes,”-es escorted by moans. The syndicate must assuredly be spying on those three. He could assume from there they were expecting some sort of confession? Or enough sound bites to create a fake one…
They didn’t know him that well. Neither of the other legends, physical relationship or not- knew his real name. And he was almost certain Mirage didn't even know his fake name. He breathed a sigh of relief. The dosing seemed ill informed and sloppy, part of him was convinced the Syndicate was getting desperate, or better, threatened by him. Maybe he’s closer to answers than he thought?
He plugged into his computer. Within the next hour he’d already backtracked the footage at the complex, found the agent responsible for the attempted dosing, and put a tail on him for a later date. He folded his hands against his head, and sighed out loud, stretching his shoulders. He supposed he’d had to sit and wait for the next opportunity to pay them a visit.
“What the hell is wrong with them?” He heard Bangalore stomping angrily into the main cabin. “Im down there training, in the right time slot and everything. Next thing i know im shipped back here and told to get ready for the game today??” By this time all the legends aboard the ship were now clustering together in the common space.
“There… is no game today? Right?” Gibraltar questioned, “Drop time is tomorrow?” The room is half nodding, half running for their contracts.
“Thank god no one else remembered either…” Mirage sounds off. “Hate when I forget stuff.” He nodded to the entire roster before him.
Crypto turned to his computer and pulled up the Syndicate broadcast - now displaying a pre-game show, over-enthusiastic announcers all bickering over the Legends chances. He called out to the room “Look at this.” He ignored the incredulous looks from Legends who had probably never heard his voice outside of the arena. The entire cabin turned to look at his monitor.
The countdown in the corner displayed that First Drop is just under 30 minutes.