Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hidden behind a boulder, Mirage peered out over a vast expanse of open space. It was the end of the third round, and he was down two teammates and nearly all of his medical supplies. Normally he would have had at least one teammate, but he had the amazing luck of having two rookie teammates. They thought they were hot shit and, despite the repeated warnings Mirage tried to give, dropped individually and died within moments of landing. So here he was, all alone, against the five remaining squads.

“Come on, Witt, your number one fan is watching. Show her your amazing, super awesome skills,” Mirage whispered. Show her she can be proud of you.

He glanced down to check over his weapons one last time. Both the Wingman and the Flatline had a full magazine with roughly forty extra heavy rounds, but he did not have any extra ammo for the Wingman.

“Alright, this is fine, I can so do this.”

After scanning the area around the boulder to confirm that nobody was around, Mirage sent a decoy into the open field. He watched as it ran across the field, hope building in his chest that no one was nearby. Just as he stepped out to run across the field himself, a loud chrrrakkk sounded in the air. Across the field, the decoy had taken a direct hit to the head and was fizzling out with a muffled “Bamboozled.”

Hastily ducking back behind the boulder, Mirage struggled to determine the source of the shot. He sent out another decoy, but in the other direction, and it ran to the ring's edge before halting and reverting to its default animations. Taking a quick look at his mini-map, he figured he had two workable plans. One option involved sprinting directly across the open field, hoping to find some to cover while evading the team watching the area. The second option is to skirt the relatively small mountain by going around it and coming in from behind. Given his supplies, he was more inclined toward option number two; however, due to the distance and the ring's impending movement in his direction, he would need to move quickly. Deciding that taking the long way was the safest, Mirage set out at a brisk pace around the mountain, occasionally sending decoys ahead to make sure there were no hidden enemies.

“Man, I need to hit the gym more often,” Mirage huffed.

He had no time, though, between the Games and running his bar. He surged forward, looking in the alarmingly small space between the mountain and the slowly approaching ring. He started to hear gunfire as he got closer to the edge. He moved cautiously, crouched, and peered around the corner. There was a small structure, and through the windows he could see the electric fences from Wattson and the dreadful canisters of Caustic's noxious gas. He had no idea how the game developers allowed them to team up on a constant basis. He could see them moving about inside, however, he could not see their third teammate.

‘Who was on their team?’ Mirage shrugged, “Eh, maybe they already died.”

He could see the squad they were fighting as he peeked around the building. Lifeline, Octane, and Fuse. Wonderful. Fuse sent his knuckle cluster at the door, which broke, but Wattson's pylon began to zap the exploding bits out of the air before they could get into the building. Octane threw his jump pad, and all three went flying closer to the building.

‘Maybe I could go in towards the end and finish the winning squad off while they are low,’ Mirage thought.

He could see Wattson and Caustic doing their best to fight back, even managing to take Octane out, but he doubted they would win. He watched as Wattson fell to Lifeline’s Volt, and Caustic was backed into the corner. He started to move forward, getting ready to take on Lifeline and Fuse, when he heard a feral roar.

“Oh, fuck!” 

Mirage scuttled backwards, hoping he hadn’t been seen. Now he remembered who was on Wattson and Caustic’s squad. It was Bloodhound.

Mirage risked a glance out at the building, but he didn't see anything or anyone.

‘I think I’ll take my happy ass back the way I came and go farther up,’ Mirage thought.

He turned around to do just that and met glowing red eyes. The hunter stalked slowly towards him, axe in their hand. Mirage scrambled backwards, reaching for his gun, but tripped and couldn’t do anything but raise his hands.

“He-hey Hound, or Bl-Bloodhound if you prefer that,” he stammered, cursing his speech impediment in his head.

The hunter tilted their head, making their charms and beads swing off their helmet. Mirage watched them swing and noticed that one of them was bright yellow.

Bloodhound spoke in a rough voice, “You’ve fought bravely, félagi.”

They raised their axe, and as they brought it down, all Mirage could think was, ‘Odd choice in color for a hunter.’

Chapter Text

Mirage woke with a start. His head was pounding from the drugs they used to make sure the Legends didn’t die permanently. He glanced up at the TV in his room and watched as the final match of the games played out on the screen. Wattson and Caustic were once again setting their traps around the open floor and ziplines of Cage. He noticed that Bloodhound was crouched, scanning the area with their sniper. When the camera went in for the dramatic close-up of the Hunter, his eyes were drawn to the bright yellow charm swaying from their helmet. It was a simple circle that seemed to have been carved from wood and painted a startling shade of yellow, much like Mirage's own suit.

The camera’s panned to the other team, an unlucky duo made up of Crypto and Gibraltar. Mirage noticed that their third was a random who was already dead. The duo seemed to be conversing on the hill, overlooking Cage. Crypto gestured to his drone, and Gibraltar nodded while grabbing his own ultimate. Crypto crouched down behind, and a little screen could be barely seen in front of his eyes. Suddenly his drone was flying into a window below where the opposing squads traps were.

A large electrical dome exploded out from inside the building where the drone went, and all the traps were shattered. As soon as Crypto gave the signal, Gibraltar launched his ultimate toward Cage.

"Watch out! I'm opening the skies," bellowed Gibraltar with a laugh. 

The camera went back to Bloodhound’s team, and they could all be seen scrambling to get in the building to escape the explosion raining down. Crypto and Gibraltar came into shot as they stormed inside, hoping to get the enemy while they were recovering. 

Mirage gripped at his bedsheets as his eyes followed the action on the screen. He had to give it to them; the play by Crypto and Gibraltar was good. He wondered who would pull through with the win. On screen, he could see the two successfully take down Wattson; however, Caustic had started throwing down his gas canisters. They erupted, and the noxious green gas spread out, making Crypto and Gibraltar heave with coughs. A close look revealed their watery eyes, each possessing a desperate undertone. Mirage grimaced; he knew how painful that gas was on the lungs. 

As a final stand, Crypto and Gibraltar raised their weapons to end Caustic; however, a familiar growling roar filled the air. Bloodhound came out from behind in their red-eyed might and pointed a heavy-looking peacekeeper at the two. At such close range, it only took two shots to down Gibraltar. Crypto scrambled to fire at the mighty Hunter, but in his haste he forgot Caustic, who, although wounded, managed to gun him down as well. 

Trumpets blared on screen as Caustic and Bloodhound were shown as the victors. Bloodhound knelt beside the two bodies and said a quick prayer before standing and nodding at the camera, yellow charm once again catching Mirage’s eye. Caustic just stood their impassively, only staring at the camera from behind his mask. He gave Mirage the creeps.

Mirage cheered for the Hunter’s victory. Maybe next match they could be on the same team. Bloodhound was a strong competitor, and Mirage knew that if they paired the Hunter’s prowess with his own super awesome abilities, they would for sure win. 

Before he knew it, the next round of games had arrived. Mirage was semi-excited has he chatted with Wraith on the airship. His knee nervously bounced up and down, much to the annoyance of Wraith. Suddenly a cool, female voice blared over the speakers.

"Legends, please make your way to the tv screens. The announcement of teams will begin momentarily."

Mirage and Wraith made their way over to the large screens, Mirage grumbling that the teams should be released before they were on their way to the games. Apparently the overseers thought that would be to much of an advantage to the teams, and that it would take the drama of people getting paired with teammates they don't like.

"So, think we will be together?" Mirage asked Wraith.

She looked him over with a raised eyebrow, "I suppose that wouldn't be to bad."

"I know rig-"

"If you could keep that big mouth of yours shut."

Mirage placed his hand on his chest, affronted. "Excuse me, my mouth is just fine the way it is, thank you!"

Wraith rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen. Mirage glanced up, searching for his own handsome face. Lifeline, Octane, and Horizon. Crypto, Ash, and Bangalore. Wraith, Loba, and Revenant. 

'Yeesh, I would hate to be with those two,' Mirage thought, glancing at Wraith out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to be calm, but he could see the annoyance in her eyes. Loba and Revenant get along like water and oil mix. Getting to the end of the list, Mirage finally found his name. Mirage, Caustic, and Bloodhound. 

Mirage scanned the gathered legends, looking for his teammates. He saw Caustic leaned in the back corner, scowling darkly at the screen and winced. 'Well, at least Bloodhound is cool,' he thought. 

His eyes finally found Bloodhound's imposing figure, and he had to do a double take. Bloodhound still sported the bright yellow charm, but they had also acquired some new variations to their suit. Those variations being that their once red respirator was now the same alarmingly bright yellow as the charm... and as Mirage's own suit. 

Chapter Text

The ride the rest of the way to the arena was long and spent in silence. The normally talkative Mirage stood with his teammates, silently watching his friends turned opponents chat amongst their teams. Usually he would be making an effort to crack jokes and come up with a super awesome gameplan, however the first attempt he made was brutally shut down by Caustic. He did note that Bloodhound said nothing, just tilted their head and watched him. He would sometimes stop looking at the other teams to glance at the swaying yellow charm and mask.

‘I wonder how they managed to get the color changes made to their gear so quickly,’ Mirage wondered, eyes following the charm as Bloodhound polished their already pristine axe.

Usually it took him asking weeks in advance for permission from the overseers to change up his gear, unless they wanted a specific look from him of course.

The overhead speaker came on once again, "Attention Legends, we are now approaching arena World’s Edge. Please select you teams jumpmaster and prepare to drop.”

Mirage's eyes lit up at the mention of the arena map. There was a certain party ship there he particularly liked.

“Don’t worry guys, I have the per-perfect place in mind,” Mirage announced gleefully.

Bloodhound nodded their head at him and Caustic just straight up ignored him, which he took as a yes. Mirage selected himself as the jumpmaster and the team made their way to their designated jumping area. A countdown began overhead and their launch platforms slowly lowered down. Mirage snapped his goggles down to protect his eyes from the harsh winds and scanned the arena. He noticed the area he was aiming for was a little ways out of the ships path so they would have to descend carefully.

Mirage pointed to his desired landing location and shouted over the wind, “Isn’t she a beauty!”

The Mirage à Trois glowed with party lights in the distance, the shining disco lights a beacon for those who enjoyed a fun time. Mirage was particularly proud of the ship, having taken great care in engineering the holograms and designing the layout of the vessel. It was a memorial to his previous party ship, the Mirage Voyage. May she rest in peace.

As they grew closer with Mirage readied himself, the jumping never got any easier. He glanced over his landing gear one more time, just to be sure.

“Let’s do this!” he yelled as the squad threw themselves off the platform, wind rushing past them as they fell.

The fall was long but they made it safely on the ship. Caustic and Bloodhound immediately split to get weapons while Mirage took a moment to admire the ship and its fabulous artwork. He made his way to the glowing disco ball, jumping and punching it when it flashed gold. Some shield cells, a blue laser, and best of all a gold knockdown shield, fell from the ball. Mirage happily picked it up and equipped it.

“Guess who’s got some good g-gear,” he exclaimed over the comms, “this guy.”

He heard a grunt from Caustic and a soft huff from Bloodhound. ‘I know what they need,’ Mirage thought. He made his way to the console of the ship and punched a few buttons on it. Suddenly their was an explosion of confetti and music as large holograms of himself appeared, dancing with the music. He made his way to the center where his teammates stood, admiring his handy work along the way.

“I know you think that it was easy to get the holograms like that but you wouldn’t b-belive the amount of retakes I had to do to get the dancing right,” he started to explain excitedly, gesturing as he did so. However before he could continue explaining the intricacies of hologram technology he was cut off by an irate Caustic.

“If the other competitors didn’t know where we were before, they do now thanks to your idiotic tendencies,” he growled out before making his way to a zipline off the ship.

Mirage flinched and looked over to his other teammate expecting another annoyed reaction. He was surprised to see Bloodhound watching him, head tilted just slightly. Their goggle lenses showed no insight into their emotions however they didn’t seem tense.

They eventually spoke, “I think your technology is rather impressive. To make such a large yet decently accurate hologram of yourself must require great skill. Even I find them rather…distracting.”

Mirage stared with his mouth agape, “You really th-think so?”

The hunter nodded their head before making their way to the zipline to follow Caustic. Mirage gaped at their retreating back. ‘They think my technology is impressive,” he thought to himself. He felt his cheeks getting warm with a familiar heat.

“Come along félagi,” Bloodhound urged over the comms.

Maybe it was just Mirage but he swore there was a hint of amusement in their tone. Mirage shook himself out and checked to make sure he had adequate loot before he too made his way to the zipline.