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The transport hummed as it flew from the new Olympus arena down towards the populated areas of Psamathe. Inside of the hull the legends were either standing or sitting to pass the time. They had already been patched up after the series of matches they had gone through those first couple of days. Bangalore was standing by one of the windows watching as they approached the planet. With two wins and three top five placements, she was quite pleased with herself and those she got as squadmates. Dark brown eyes wandered to the dropship in front that was taking the rest of the contestants to the temporary sleeping quarters. Why the legends weren’t also on the dropship had already set off a couple of alarms in Bangalore’s mind. Standard protocol was to be taken in and out of the arena by dropship, and that hadn’t changed once, not even after all these seasons. However, when they had left the med bay on Olympus, this fancier transport had been waiting for just the legends. With the stalker guards and official looking pilots employed by the Syndicate, Bangalore’s battle weary mind hadn’t thought anything of it at first. Perhaps the Syndicate was putting more efforts in how they treated their money makers? Brown eyes narrowed as the dropship’s trajectory changed, but theirs did not. No, something was off.
Lavish buildings, efficient transport systems, and flourishing gardens passed them by as their transport headed to an unknown destination. If it weren’t for the unease slowly crawling up her spine she might have enjoyed the view. It certainly was a change of pace from the molten frozen land of Talos, and the dry mountains of Solace.
Octane’s ever energetic body danced about in the corner of Bangalore’s eyes, drawing her attention towards him and the legend he was standing next to. Legs ran in place as he continuously pestered Lifeline, speaking in a surprisingly hushed tone. Normally he would be yelling at the top of his lungs about anything and everything that came to his mind. Lifeline per usual was closed off towards him, Bangalore could almost hear whatever indifferent and scolding words she tossed back when he wore on her too much. However, even with Lifeline’s usual cool and collected attitude Bangalore couldn’t help but notice how she was constantly rubbing the top of her D.O.C. and the tension in her shoulders. The combat medic only behaved like that when she was nervous. Bangalore didn’t want to get caught staring, so she returned her focus to the scene outside her window. A billboard flew by, advertising something from a pharmaceutical company. In just a couple of minutes a second one flew by, yet this time she was able to catch the name.
Silva Pharmaceuticals.
With the bit of rest since the last match and less adrenaline flowing through her veins, Bangalore was starting to put the pieces together. From what little Bangalore knew of Lifeline and Octane was that there was some tension between them and their respective families. And while she hadn’t bothered to look into who their families were, or where they lived, somehow she knew that the Silva on the billboard was not just another family with the same last name. Dark Brown eyes quickly searched the skies for the dropship only to discover that it was long gone. Great, there went any chance they had at possibly signaling it and transferring over to it. Smoke canisters rattled against her armor as she walked over to Lifeline and Octane. Hushed conversation halted the instant she came within a couple meters, only furthering her suspicions that something was amiss.
“Looks like we’re taking a scenic route, huh?” Bangalore spoke first, arms casually crossed over her chest.
Lifeline didn’t say anything, just shrugged, mirrored Bangalore’s action, and focused on a spot to her side. Octane danced about looking back and forth between the two of them before leaning in towards Lifeline as he rapidly tapped her arm.
“Che, do you-”
While it seemed that Octane was trying to speak so only Lifeline could hear, Bangalore could still catch his words before Lifeline cut him off.
“Ain’t nothin’ to do about it, so what if we take a scenic route,” Lifeline spoke, her hazel eyes staring into Bangalore’s.
“But Che!”
“Quit yuh whinging Silva,” she finished as she walked away.
They both watched the combat medic for a moment.
“Oh man…” Octane groaned, his legs constantly bouncing up and down.
Guess Lifeline wasn’t going to be of any help, but perhaps Octane might be.
“You familiar with this part of Psamathe?”
“Familiar? How could I not?! It’s my-” he cut off, right as he realized what he was saying. “Gotta run Señora Mike!” he chuckled as he sprinted off after Lifeline.
Bangalore’s frown deepened. Dark brown eyes wandered to the window, only to catch sight of a series of skyscrapers and warehouses all bearing the logo for Silva Pharmaceuticals. Bingo. She didn’t need much more to take a gander at what was going on as their flight trajectory was headed right for them. Judging by the speed they were traveling at and the distance, she had a few minutes to turn things around at best. Bangalore scoped out the room and the legends inside of it, her gaze lingering on Lifeline and Octane for a moment. She didn’t have much out here in the Outlands in terms of family, but it was safe to say she genuinely cared about her fellow legends— well, half of them at least. Feet began to make their way towards another one of the other legends who was crouched down and staring at his screen. It wasn’t in her nature to stand by whenever someone she cared about might be put in some sort of trouble; plus she really hated it when people broke protocol.
“Hey,” she spoke up as she lightly kicked Crypto’s boot.
Unsurprisingly he greeted her with a glare.
“How long do you think it would take you to make those our friends over there?” she motioned with her head towards the six stalkers in the transport flanking each of the doors.
“Why?”
Bangalore dropped her volume as she leaned in a little. “You haven’t noticed we are off course? Thought you always were watching your back?”
His eyes widened slightly as he looked around; then began to fiddle with his electronics.
“Get those on our side STAT,” was all Bangalore said before she moved on to the next legends she needed to talk to.
Wattson, Wraith, Gibraltar, and Rampart were all sitting in a group talking. It only took a moment for Gibraltar to notice her approach.
“Come on over sista! We’re just blowing off some steam after all those matches,” he called out.
“Yeah mate come over! Ya missing my regaling story about how Mirage, Path, and I got here when we missed that rocket,” Rampart added.
Normally those two could get her to crack a little bit of a smile, but not while she was trying to avoid an unwanted family reunion and whatever else was in store for them at Silva Pharmaceuticals.
“Another time,” Bangalore firmly stated, “right now I need to know if I can count on y’all to make sure something doesn’t happen to the transport or anyone inside. Whether it be shield domes, anti artillery, or return fire,” she continued in a lower voice as she looked from Gibraltar to Wattson to Rampart.
The jovial atmosphere around them instantly shifted as their bodies tensed up. She could see the dozens of questions already on their lips, but there wasn’t time to answer them.
“Transport is off course and I’m going to go fix it. Don’t know if that will cause a stir, but-”
“Say no more!” Gibraltar reached up and patted her shoulder. “We got your back.”
“Thanks,” Bangalore nodded, a small appreciative smile forming on her lips.
With no more time to spare, she headed towards the last legend she needed to speak to before setting her plan into motion. Baby brown eyes glanced up from the handheld mirror as she approached the notorious thief.
“Andrade.”
“Sergeant.”
“I need a piece of information.”
The handheld mirror was closed with a snap and stored away. “Information comes at a price.”
Bangalore’s lips quirked down into her usual scowl. “Getting to rest in our temporary housing sooner than later will be your payment.”
A finely shaped eyebrow was raised up as Loba let out a scoff. Bangalore chose to ignore it and kept talking.
“I need the coordinates to our housing.”
“First of all, what makes you think I could get you those? And second of all, what makes you think I’d accept that as payment?” Loba said as she shifted in her seat and leaned back into it, one hand drumming its fingers on the head of her metal wolf cane.
Dark brown eyes narrowed. She really didn’t have the time for this banter, those pharmaceutical buildings were getting too close for comfort and Octane would soon be pinging off the walls from how anxious he was.
“You’ve done plenty of business here and I know you have contacts that were good enough to dig up dirt on most of us. Can’t see how hard it would be to find a building in the next minute or so.”
“And what do I get in return?”
“A longer night’s rest,” Bangalore firmly stated as she turned on her heel and headed towards the cockpit.
“We’ll see about that,” Loba hummed.
As Bangalore approached she stole a glance towards Crypto who gave her a single nod. Good, the stalkers had been taken care of, now she didn’t have to worry about a bunch of lead in her back. One quick inspection of the door to the cockpit was all she needed before raising a booted foot up to kick it. The lock broke with the singular hit and with one firm shove to the side it was out of the way. Bangalore dodged the anticipated shot and relieved the co-pilot of their p2020 before shoving them back into their seat.
“Any one of you ladies going to explain to me why we are gravely off course from our destination?” she growled out as she placed her gloved hands on the pilot’s and co-pilot’s shoulders.
“W-we’re not off course ma’am, just taking a short detour,” the pilot answered in a level enough voice to try and mask how much he was trembling.
“To Silva Pharmaceuticals right?” Bangalore adjusted her tone to a dangerously calm one.
Both the pilot and co-pilot shared a nervous glance but didn’t say anything.
“That’s what I was figuring,” Bangalore continued, “and given how much has happened since the schedule was distributed to us legends, I was certain that I might have just missed or forgotten a detail or two. But it turns out I hadn’t.” Her grip on their shoulders tightened. “You two are taking us to a location that we weren’t briefed and cleared on.”
“We were ordered by your manager to-” the pilot attempted to explain.
“I don’t give a damn, if we weren’t given any sort of heads up it’s not happening. Now are you two going to take us to our correct location or do I need to relieve you of your seats?”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but our orders were clear, we are to take all of the legends to meet with the CEO of-”
Bangalore didn’t wait for the pilot to finish before hauling him out of his seat and throwing him into the hull of the transport. The floor shifted underneath her as the transport suddenly began to dive without someone manning the controls. Several of the legends shouted out, taken by surprise as well. Bangalore didn’t even blink at the change in her terrain. Two movements later and the co-pilot had joined the pilot on the floor.
“G, Wattson! Secure them!” Bangalore ordered as she slipped into the pilot’s seat and gently pulled the transport up from the dive it was in.
She didn’t even need to look back to confirm what her ears could hear amongst the sudden commotion that had erupted. Hands eased the transport into a turn to direct them away from the looming skyscraper. A slight smirk formed on her lips as Wattson’s voice cheerfully created a fence, most likely to keep the pilots in place.
“That’s a happy fence, that’s a silly fence, and that’s a scary fence. Circuit complete!”
Sharp eyes quickly took in the cityscape she would be navigating. “Andrade! Where are those coordinates?!” Bangalore shouted out.
“So impatient,” Loba sighed as she casually strolled into the cockpit. “My contact is sending them as we speak.”
Bangalore pressed her lips into a line and kept her focus on the sky in front of her. So far no retaliation or vehicles in pursuit.
“Hi friends! It looks like you could use a co-pilot!” Pathfinder pipped up.
“Go ahead, set a course for me to follow as soon as Andrade gives you the coordinates, and make sure the algorithm includes correct movement through sky traffic so we don’t draw any unnecessary attention.”
“You got it friend!”
In moments Loba got word from her friend and they were headed towards the correct destination. Bangalore cleared her throat and activated the intercom.
“Attention Legends, this is your pilot Bangalore reminding you to have your jump kits strapped on and to be prepared for any sudden turbulence. The scenic route to our sleeping quarters has come to an end, making our ETA fifteen minutes.”
Thankfully no protests were made, not like she would have listened to them anyway, but it was a nice confirmation that everyone who cared was in agreement. Hands flexed as she swung the transport through a tight turn. Dark brown eyes darted from the various monitors to the sky in front of her, still nothing. A low chuckle was let out, they probably didn’t want to shoot their son out of the sky.
As the housing complex and the Apex dropship came into view, Bangalore finally felt the tension in her shoulders easing off. An announcement was made, informing everyone of their arrival and the beginning of the landing sequence. Switches were flipped, buttons pressed. It was all reflexive for Bangalore even if she hadn’t flown for a few years. The transport touched down as light as a feather and in moments the legends were disembarking. With the hacked stalkers flanking the two pilots, Bangalore took her position at the front and headed towards the buildings.
“Just what the hell is going on here!?” one of the Syndicate tightwads yelled as he stormed over to them.
Bangalore calmly approached him, and cornered him to one side of the passageway between the building and the landing pad.
“Head on in, I’ll deal with this,” she tossed over her shoulder to the other legends. Her gaze shifted to the man. “I’d like to know the answer to that myself.”
“Bangalore, Bangalore, Bangalore,” the man sighed, doing his best to keep the vein on the side of his head from bursting, “you have no idea what you just did. The CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals spent a LOT of money to arrange for the nice little dinner for all of you.”
“Well if they spent so much, then why couldn’t the Syndicate afford the few credits it would take to update our schedule?”
“It’s much more nuanced than that in a way I don’t think you would understand,” he began, his condescending tone making Bangalore’s blood boil.
“I saw a discrepancy in our schedule and the destination of our craft and decided to do something about it. For all I knew we were being taken somewhere to be paraded around like toys for an entitled elite.”
The Syndicate representative’s expression turned sour. He knew that she knew that was exactly what was going to happen.
“My ass is being lit on fire right now because of you,” he took a step forward, desperately trying to capture control of the conversation.
“Then next time take the five seconds to update the schedule and maybe this whole thing could have been avoided,” Bangalore threw right back before he could start his next sentence.
Bangalore didn’t wait to see what was going to be said next. She was done with the conversation and just wanted to head to her room to get some sleep. Booted feet pivoted and began their fast pace down the walkway. A few minutes and an elevator ride later, Bangalore was walking down the hall looking for the door number that matched her housing details. Lips were quirked to the side upon seeing Lifeline resting against the wall next to the door that was supposedly hers. Bangalore halted a meter away from Lifeline and double checked the room number. Yep this was hers, so then why was Lifeline here? The combat medic had her arms crossed and wasn’t even facing her.
“Señora Mike for the win!”
Bangalore had only one split second to stick her arm out and block Octane from attempting to hug her or jump on her. He rushed to her other side only to be seized by the front of his shirt.
“I could just feeeel those pants wrapping around my legs and dragging me to a cramped dungeon! I owe you big time Señora Mike!”
“I don’t want anything from you,” Bangalore grumbled as she lightly shoved him away.
“Ha! Your loss then!” he said before racing away.
Bangalore could only shake her head as she watched him disappear. Dark brown eyes were drawn to the side as Lifeline also let out a sigh and shook her head. Hazel eyes glanced up at her.
“Thanks.”
It was a singular word, yet it carried a significant amount of weight. Octane wasn’t the only one Bangalore had inadvertently helped as there was a high probability that Lifeline’s parents were also going to be at that dinner.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Rest well,” Lifeline said as she pushed off the wall with her back and began to walk away.
“I don’t think that’s going to be the last time something like that gets pulled on us and I might not be able to handle it like today,” Bangalore quickly called out.
Lifeline spun around as she kept walking to briefly make eye contact with her. “I know, thanks for making it not be today.”
Bangalore stood there for a moment, letting herself fully process the last half hour of events now that some of the adrenaline had eased out of her system. The Syndicate was going to be really pissed at her, but she simply didn’t care.
“Who knew you had a soft spot under all that tough exterior?” the smooth voice came from Bangalore’s side as Loba strode up next to her.
It took everything she had to not jump after failing to notice Loba sneaking up on her.
“Well I did,” Loba smugly stated as she checked her appearance in her handheld mirror for a half of a second before snapping it closed.
Something clicked in Bangalore’s mind, Lifeline and Octane weren’t the only ones who knew they were off course.
“Why didn’t you do anything when you realized we were headed somewhere else?”
Baby brown eyes rolled as Loba pivoted so they were facing each other. “Please Sergeant, after the last time I tried to tell everyone what to do blew up in my face; I wasn’t about to try again. You were the optimal person to do something. They trust you.”
“That’s because I don’t have ulterior motives,” Bangalore grumbled.
“That’s not the only reason why, beautiful,” Loba smiled, her voice as smooth as silk.
Manicured nails briefly brushed along the side of Bangalore’s jaw making her pull back and glare at Loba for invading her personal space.
“What are you doing here Loba?” Muscular arms were folded across her chest.
A soft chuckle was let out. “I came here to discuss the matter of my payment, but I’ve decided that a few extra hours of sleep was well worth the trouble I went through to procure those coordinates.” The thief turned on her heel and began to walk away, her hips swaying back and forth. “A lady does need her beauty rest after all.”
Bangalore rolled her eyes before turning towards her door and slipping inside of her new home for the next few months. As she began to unpack a warm feeling settled in her chest. Even if Octane regularly annoyed her to the ends of the earth and she didn’t always get along with Lifeline, she had wanted to help them. Them and the other legends were probably going to be the closest thing to a family that she would ever get out here. And for the time being, she was ok with that.