Archive of Our Own ^beta

If it didn't expend the Syndicate's enforced limits on the equipment she was allowed to use in the Games, Ash would have definitely trained her rat to assist her in some way- searching for supplies, perhaps, or even detecting enemies (something that she had had a particular knack for, in the days when Syndicate officials would come around to her headquarters to bother her exactly when she was trying to oversee her Arenas in peace).

Despite her general inexperience, Vantage had the right idea; training her bat to help her aim her jump pack in order to gain a better vantage point.

It's almost as if that's why she called herself that...

Leigh had been irritatingly loud today.

"Okay! There's some marks way over there- it's on your maps." Vantage chirped, stepping back from the survey beacon that she'd been scanning.

"Shall we?" Their third teammate- Ballistic- asked, gesturing towards the location of the squad's next victims.

Ash nodded. "Let's go."

"Are you not concerned for your bat's safety? This is a bloodsport." Ash mused as she and her squad sloshed their way across Storm Point's beach.

"Nope! When I made the Syndicate people let me bring Echo into the Games,  I also made them give him tiny, super-tough shields so that he doesn't get hurt."

"I see." Ash knew that Leigh would become extremely distressed if anything happened to the rat, but she could not imagine that she herself would react particularly rationally, either. She was useful to train, so her safety was in her best interest. Anything that disrupted that would no doubt be a significant inconvenience for her.

"Hang on." Vantage said suddenly, squinting through her lens. "I see them. There's... just two of them. Pathfinder and Conduit. Pretty sure their third is dead, so that's good news for us!"

"We'll take out Conduit first." Ash decided. "And then we shall deal with the MRVN."

"That won't be a problem, as long as he isn't a better fighter than he was a butler." Ballistic muttered under his breath.

Ash did not want to question that statement, as thinking about the MRVN for too long made her feel irritated.

The two assault Legends advanced- Vantage hung back to snipe from a distance. But it seemed as though Conduit had already seen them coming, as she suddenly threw out her energy barricade, surrounding their entire squad. Ash heard a splintering sound as her shields were compromised.

To make matters worse, the MRVN used his silly zipline to sail right over their heads... and directly towards Vantage, who was still focused solely on her scope.

"We need to retreat!" Ballistic yelled while aiming his smart bullet at Conduit. The impact revealed that she had red shields- one didn't need to be an excellent mathematician to realise that Ash's squad was at a serious disadvantage.

She sent her snare whirling towards the MRVN, but it wasn't enough to make Vantage notice the danger she was in until she'd already been downed. Ash and Ballistic shot down the MRVN; then the former scooped up Vantage and swiftly cut a phase tear to far out of harm's way.

Ballistic sat himself down on a slightly damp rock and began to recharge his shields.

"I'm just not used to all this newfangled technology- it was a lot simpler in my day." He complained, more to himself than anyone.

Ash rolled her eyes as she went about finding a revival kit for Vantage- but he wasn't entirely wrong. She couldn't pretend not to be intrigued by the Titan battery that apparently powered Conduit's equipment. And it made sense for a former Thunderdome competitor to be dismissive of their more technologically advanced peers when it came to bloodsports- she'd heard Blisk complain about the Legends "only caring about the fame" enough times to understand that.

Vantage's bat was nestled up next to her as she sat slumped against the cliff face, clutching her side.

This is why they shouldn't let kids compete in bloodsports!

(The horror in Leigh's tone was ironic, considering what Ash remembered her doing at Vantage's age- and younger.)

With the type of precision one can only really achieve when they have an extremely in-depth interest in melee weapons, Ash stabbed Vantage with the revival kit. She gasped as though she was resurfacing from water and blinked rapidly a few times.

"You should improve your focus." Ash noted. "Skill alone isn't enough to keep you alive."

"Funny." Vantage said groggily. "My mom's always saying pretty much that exact thing."

"Then perhaps you should listen."

"Mm-hm..." She responded vaguely.

Ash turned away to focus on recharging her own shields. Of course Vantage was nowhere near to her responsibility, but she would be doing herself a disservice if she didn't pass on any of her experience to her- because the girl definitely had potential. That much was obvious.

Ah, so things with that Cryptid guy didn't work out?

"The last I heard, he's been busy assisting Andrade and the other Simulacrum in... whatever they have been doing recently."

So that's a no? Leigh laughed, and a flash of static ran through Ash's audio sensors. God, he actually picked helping that idiot over learning from you- not that I blame him.

Ash did not respond. Instead, she turned back to face her teammates.

"Vantage, are there any nearby survey beacons?"

She dutifully checked her map.

"...Yeah. Pretty much right above us, actually!"

"Good."

Vantage got up as though she hadn't been dangerously close to bleeding out a couple of minutes ago and effortlessly used her jump pack to hop through the air onto the cliff's edge. A few seconds later, red markers appeared on Ash's map; right on the other side of the cliff.

"Even if it's the same squad, I highly doubt they'll have regained their ultimates yet." Ballistic pointed out.

"Correct." Ash said.

"I'll go see who they are." Vantage called down to them. "Meet you guys over there!"

The rat was getting restless, so Ash fed her some cheese to keep her busy as she and Ballistic walked around the cliff face. That reminded her- she had to take the rat to her routine checkup at Suotamo's Veterinarian's later.

"This is exactly why I didn't want my son to get involved with the Games." Ballistic said. Ash didn't particularly want to engage him in conversation, so she just nodded and increased her pace.

It was, in fact, Conduit's squad again. The MRVN came swinging at them again, and was quickly stopped in his tracks by Ash's snare. Despite their earlier strategy, Ballistic couldn't pass up the chance to shoot him to the point of incapacitation, while Ash moved on to deal with Conduit.

"I'm gonna move over there; get a better shot on her." Vantage announced over the squad's comms. Ash heard a shrill whistle as the bat flew towards a nearby building.

Meanwhile, Conduit boosted her own shields as Ash approached, but instead of facing her head-on she aimed her G7 towards where Vantage was following her bat's path through the air.

She missed.

It took Ash a second to figure out what had fallen to the ground. Her first clue was Conduit freezing, all combat forgotten.

"Oh, shit." She said, dashing towards the site of the crash. "Is he OK? I'm so-"

Ash quickly shot her down and ran over to investigate while Conduit's body was teleported back to the Dropship.

Vantage was kneeling on the ground- there was mud on her jacket- cradling something in her hands.

"Perhaps the technicians failed to take into account the energy barricade in regards to your bat's shield." Ash hypothesised as she came closer.

"I- he's alive, but-" Vantage's voice cracked.

"Is only his wing injured?" Ash peered at the bat. This was most unfortunate- Vantage was attached to the bat, so his injury would affect her performance for the rest of the match.

She nodded. "Yeah, but- he's never been hurt like this before. I- I don't know how to help him..."

"He needs to be taken to a Veterinarian. There is one in Suotamo."

"Oh."

If Vantage's bat had never been injured before, it was likely that she had never had to take it to a Veterinarian at all. This would would ultimately be detrimental to her skill as a sniper.

Come on... I can tell you're considering it. Don't you remember when we were her age? Ratticus? Trying to take him to the Vet's without knowing what we were doing was terrifying.

"A ridiculous name for a rat." Ash muttered, quietly enough that Vantage wouldn't overhear- not that she was paying attention to anything but her bat at the present moment.

She could see the memory that Leigh was forcing her to watch at the edges of her vision. She would do it- if only to make her shut up for once.

"Vantage." Ash said clearly. The girl looked up- her eyes looked red, and there were tears running down her face. (Crying was such a messy affair.) "I am taking my rat to have a checkup at the Veterinarian's after this match."

Vantage looked at her blankly.

"You may come with me, and I will assist you in arranging an appointment for your bat to be healed." She clarified.

"Oh! Yes. That would be really good."

Ash nodded curtly. "Then we will reconvene after this match ends. Don't be late."

"Alright!"

Vantage gently put her bat into her backpack, and the squad made their way to the next ring.

Aren't you sweet? I knew you had it in you!

"There is nothing sweet about this." Ash hissed, hanging back from her teammates. "If the bat is not healed, the girl will never improve as a sniper. Her potential would be wasted. That is my only motivation."

Hmm... sure. Keep telling yourself that.

Thankfully, that last jab seemed to take the last of Leigh's energy for now. If Ash could sigh, she would've done so in relief.

As she'd expected, they didn't win. Though the outcome wasn't surprising, considering the disadvantage that her squad had acquired.

After Ash sat through her mandatory repairs (she would finish the job herself later), she went to go find Vantage. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be anywhere on the Dropship: not the medical bay, nor any of the social rooms.

After a few sweeps of the Dropship, Ash headed outside to see if Vantage had already left. It would have been easier if she was on the group chat that the rest of the Legends apparently had, but Ash didn't bother herself with such things.

She found her leaning against a wall outside where the Dropship was parked. The bat had been given a bandage for his wing, and she cradled him in her arms like a bundle of cloth.

"Everyone inside kept asking Echo how he was and it was stressing him out. So we came out here." She explained.

"Understandable. For bloodsport competitors, our colleagues can be strangely... emotional."

"It is weird sometimes." Vantage agreed. "But they're mostly nice. Y'know, you should come to some of Mirage's parties! They're really fun. The music's good as well."

"That will not be necessary." It was clear that she was stalling for time, as she was rocking on her heels slightly. "We are wasting time- this way."

Ash nodded towards the direction of the transport station that would take them into Suotamo, and Vantage dutifully followed behind her as she started to walk over. Unfortunately, she also kept up a constant stream of chatter.

"How come I never see you hang out with any of the Legends, anyway? Even Revenant goes to parties sometimes. Okay, so, I've never actually seen him there, but apparently he goes?"

"I have better uses of my time. Besides, I feel no obligation to attend social activities with people that I am paid to fight, when I could spend that time improving my skills instead."

"But you're friends with Horizon, right?"

"What-- would give you that impression?"

It was easier to separate Leigh's residual emotions from her own these days, but her presence still became more difficult to deal with whenever the woman was mentioned. The static that distorted her voice like a cough was a common symptom of this.

"She called you 'dear' like, the whole match the last time I was on a team with you guys. That means she has to like you a lot, right?"

"That was sarcasm."

"Oh. So she doesn't like you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Somers may be a particularly competent Physicist, but she is incapable of letting go of the past. Why don't you ask her why she dislikes me the next time you see her?"

"Okay, sure!"

Ash made a mental note to give her a lesson on interpreting sarcasm after she'd mastered being focused.

After a while, Vantage fell into silence. This was a relief, and gave Ash the motivation to march even quicker over to the transport station- they were late enough already.

"We will have to wait for the next transport now." Ash said, nodding towards the timetable in the station that revealed that they had just missed the one she had been planning to catch. Before the match she had planned her timings exactly, but Vantage's bat was an unexpected variable that had now delayed her entire day.

"How long will that be?"

"About ten minutes, provided there are no delays."

Vantage slumped down onto a nearby bench and produced some earphones from a pocket on her coat. She was still holding the bat, and appeared to be stroking his ears.

Ash preferred to stand. Passing the time wasn't an issue for her- being patient was one of her specialties. The only thing that irritated her was a repeated thumping sound on the floor: after swivelling her head back towards Vantage, she realised that she was furiously tapping her foot. (whether it was due to the music, her apparent nerves, or a combination of both was anyone's guess.) Beginning to slightly regret her decision, Ash resolved just to shut out the noise as best she could until the transport arrived.

The transport trip was quick, and Vantage was thankfully just as quiet- her foot tapping was muffled by the carpeted floor. Gaea had one of the best funded public transport systems in the Outlands, and Ash could just about tolerate the people in order to take advantage of the efficiency whenever she had to visit Suotamo.

"So, where's the Vet's?" Vantage asked as they left the transport, removing her earphones. Her eyes widened as she walked through the city.

"Just this way." Ash pointed straight ahead. "Don't get distracted."

"Right!"

An unfortunate side effect of being a contestant in the most widely watched form of entertainment was that people tended to notice you wherever you went. While most of the other Legends could reduce this effect by simply not wearing their Games uniforms outside, Ash didn't have this advantage. To make matters worse, Vantage hadn't changed due to her panic about her bat.

"Walk faster." Ash said in a low voice. "You can sightsee later." She shot a withering glare back at someone who was staring at the pair as if they both had an extra head.

Vantage slowed slightly as they approached the doors of the building.

"This is it. What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing- I just-" She stared at her reflection in the glass door. "Okay."

Ash led the way into the front office.

"Oh, you must be Ash." The receptionist said as they entered. "You're here for your rat's checkup, right?"

"I am." Ash said, and looked back at Vantage. "I will arrange my appointment, and then you will arrange yours." She said quietly. "Understand?"

She turned back to the receptionist and filled out the form on the desk, making sure that Vantage could see. Honestly, she was surprised that nobody had instructed her on how to do as basic a task as this one yet.

The receptionist scanned the form as Ash handed it back to her. "Okay, that all looks in order- oh, hang on a second. You didn't put a last name down?"

"I did not. It's just Ash."

Ash deployed her second withering stare of the outing.

"U-uh, sure. Got it." The receptionist faltered, taking back the form. "Do you have a travel cage for... Rat?"

It was unlike Ash to forget something so essential. "No."

"Okay, uh, no problem! We have spares."  She pulled a small one from somewhere behind the desk. "There you go."

"Behave yourself." Ash said seriously to her rat as she directed her into the cage.

The receptionist smiled uncomfortably. "She'll be just fine."

"I know."

Ash walked over to the row of seats along one of the walls as Vantage stepped up to the desk. As her first move, she placed the bat down onto it.

"Okay, um-" the receptionist handed her a form, obviously taken aback, "-this is your first visit here, right?"

"Yep. Echo's wing got shot."

"I see. Well, don't worry- we can fix that very quickly. Do you have any medical records for Echo?"

Vantage stared at her blankly. "...No?"

"Right... we can deal with all that later- if you can just sit down over there with your friend, we'll take him to get his wing  patched up and he'll be back with you in no time."

Vantage kept staring at her. The receptionist looked like she was genuinely starting to regret several of her career choices.

"I'm coming with him."

"No, you are not." Then, softer, she said: "I understand that he's important to you, but you need to stay here. Health and safety reasons. I promise you, he will be in good hands."

"But-"

"Listen, Xiomara, arguing with me isn't going to do your bat any favours. You're in the Apex Games, right? Surely you know how good healing technology is these days?"

Vantage looked back at Ash helplessly. Ash shook her head.

"Fiiiine."

She gave her bat's ear one last gentle stroke, and then trudged over to sit directly next to Ash.

Ash was worried she'd start talking to her again, but thankfully she put her earphones back in instead, fidgeting with her hands now that her bat was gone.

If only medical technology was that good in my day. Leigh lamented. Then at least I wouldn't be stuck in your fucking head right now-

"You would not be alive 'right now' at all." Ash pointed out, confident that Vantage wouldn't hear her.

Well, obviously. She huffed. But you know what I mean. My retirement plan.... She sighed dramatically. It would've been great.

"Mm. Rotting away on some remote island until you fade into obscurity. How delightful."

Ash returned her attention to the real world as she saw an employee approach with the borrowed travel cage that housed her rat.

"Here she is! Absolutely nothing to worry about- and she was very well behaved."

The rat scampered out of the opened cage and onto Ash's arm, settling in her favourite place inside her hood.

"Thank you." Ash said.

She noticed Vantage's eyes on her after the employee left.

"So... how long have you had pet rats?"

Ash paused, considering how to answer. This was a grave error-

"Well-"

Vantage visibly flinched at the sudden jarring change of tone and expression.

"- I must've been around, uh, nine or so? The first one was a stray who kept following me around and eating my food, so I just ended up feeding it myself. It didn't live that long- rats generally don't, especially when the environment is so..." Ash tried to take advantage of the pause to regain control, but she was on a roll. "Anyway. You find rats everywhere in the Frontier, so I tamed the first few myself. It was fun training them, and they made good company- I'm sure you understand that with your.. Echo? It is Echo, right? Anyway. Then my life started to become more stable, so I bought fancy rats after that, since they're generally healthier, and I've kept doing that up until now. What about Echo? I've never seen a creature like him before."

This was ridiculous. This was absolutely ridiculous! How could Ash let herself lose control like that? In public? In front of one of her colleagues, no less?!

She mentally wrestled Leigh back under the surface of her consciousness. She'd have to handle her properly later, but for now she'd been trapped into a conversation.

"Oh, well, I started taking care of Echo after I killed his mom."

That shut Leigh up.

"Elaborate on that." Ash said quickly.

"I was hunting back when I was living on Págos. Uh, and that's when I met Echo! 'Cos I went into this prison ship, and he was there, and then when the ship attacked me and I got crushed by it and my mom had to call for help and got arrested, he went with me! Kinda like with you and your first rat, I was a reliable food source for him, and we've been friends ever since. Even when we went to a zoo and I thought he was gonna leave me to be with a mother bat, and then he didn't! That was a fun day. I got banned for life."

"I see." She responded, feeling relieved as her voice shifted back to normal. Though something told her Vantage wasn't done interrogating her yet.

"Hey, uh, Ash?" Vantage asked slowly, in a small voice. "Have any of your rats ever been hurt like Echo before?"

Ash did not want to share such a personal detail. Neither, thankfully, did Leigh. And yet...

"My fourth rat." She said, quietly. The memory was back, but Leigh wasn't forcing her to watch it this time. "I was around your age, and beginning official mercenary work for the first time. I was careless. And I did not know how to give him the medical care that he needed when I got him injured."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Ash shook her head. "Try as you might, some accidents are unavoidable. It is not a mistake that I will make again."

In fact, it wasn't a mistake that Ash had made at all. In the moment, she'd somehow forgotten that.

"Xiomara?" The receptionist called. Vantage's head snapped towards the front desk. "The healing process has gone well- Echo will be out in just a moment."

"Really?!"

"Yes. Though he won't be able to use it for a few days, so you'll have to make sure he stays inside. Alright?"

"He's gonna hate that." Vantage said. "But I'll try."

"Good. Oh, and you'll have to fill in some forms for him, but we can send those to you."

"Cool."

Ash realised that she could have left the minute her rat had been returned. But she believed in seeing things through, so she stayed in her seat until Vantage's bat was eventually brought out in a larger travel cage by an employee.

"He's asleep, so you'll have to take him home in this." They explained to her. "His wing will be as good as new in a few days- make sure he doesn't overexert himself in the meantime."

"I won't. Thanks for looking after him."

"No problem! We basically never get Págos bats around here- honestly, it was such a treat for us. Even when he tried to bite my colleague's fingers."

Vantage nodded. "Yeah, he does that sometimes."

Maybe there's a bit more of me in you than you thought. Leigh mused quietly from the back of her mind.

"I have no idea what you mean."

Oh, you know. This isn't gonna be the last time you give her some 'advice', is it?

"That depends entirely on if her focus improves or not."

Yeah, yeah. You just can't resist a bit of mentoring, can you?

Ash didn't have the energy to argue with her, and thankfully it seemed Leigh didn't either. It was always infuriating when she was right.

"Thanks, Ash." Vantage said as they left the building. "I'm just glad Echo is okay now."

Ash nodded. "You're fortunate that he is so resilient."

"Yeah. Well, he's from Págos- he has to be."

"Evidently."

"Well, I've gotta see my mom now. Bye!"

Vantage waved at her and walked off with a surprising amount of energy. Ash's rat rustled around inside her hood, reminding her of her presence.

"Yes." She said to the rat, as she walked to the grocery shop to pick up a selection of special cheeses. "It's time for more training. And then you will be rewarded."

She knew she had trained the rat well because that prompted her to settle down again, comfortable amongst the metal and wires that made up Ash's body.

Ash would never tell a soul, but she appreciated the rat's presence far more than she would ever care to articulate.