Life is meant to die, and Caustic was long accustomed to the feeling of warmth leaving his body. Death phased him by, as he died enough times in the games for each of his own deaths to merge together in a garbled mess of memories. They were a of little note- they did not directly contribute to his research. Deaths caused by his own mistakes, however, did. Mistakes were only made by the petulant insects that surrounded him.
What had he done wrong in his last match? What could they have possibly done to outmatch him?
No. He had been severely injured by the time Bangalore's squad attacked him, and Octane had put a Wingman through his skull. Poor circumstances. He should have just use his NOX grenade, maybe it would have given him enough cover to heal but- no.
He'd dwell on his mistakes later.

Being here, though, was a mistake. This couldn't possibly be his mistake, though. It had to be Wraith's, definitely. They had been trapped in a house, Bangalore's Rolling Thunder locking them inside and the fool was so insistent to find a way out. The third ring was coming and Wraith knew they would be trapped in the ring. Dying in such a way was... pointless. Wraith had begun to place a portal, and he opened the door for her to let her provide an escape route. When she placed the other end of the portal, she had screamed into the comms to not go through. He heard her screams with disinterest, as she came back through and grabbed onto Caustic, her knife going through his NOX grenade, spewing the toxic gas everywhere. He tried to push her away, going through the portal together, and Wraith attempting to phase while holding onto him.

Now... he was here, and this was definitely a mistake. It was not his own mistake, however. He was merely an asset to the consequences and was now subject to this new experiment. He noted, immediately, the weight of his heavy gear and gas tanks absent from him. Caustic let himself take a large, wheezing inhale as he sucked in fresh air, head arching backwards into the night air, opening blue, glowing eyes, and exhaled the familiar green of his NOX gas. It leaked out of his mouth like the vicious toxin it was, dancing and perpetuating in the air, staying near the ground until finally disappearing into the air. He stood, finding himself with four legs, briefly closing his mouth, green continuing to smoke out of his nose. He rolled his shoulders, accustoming himself to this body. It was large, black wolf. He would need a mirror to better assess himself, but current observations would do for now. It wasn't his own, certainly, but it was now.

"Wraith?" His voice was a deep baritone, and her name was said with a leak of anger. Had she escaped him, or been separated from him? No matter. He would scold her later for this distraction. This, whatever it was, was an obstacle to his work and a waste of time. Maybe if he killed himself, he would revive in the respawn chamber and he could resume the work on his magnum opus. That could be a risk, however. If Wraith's portal had somehow dragged him to a different dimension, then he could not respawn. He lifted each of his toes, looking down, and counting them- six. He noted the two leftmost digits on his left paw were stumped at his plantar ball.

He stared into the night air for a moment, then searched his surroundings. He was in a jungle, his brain making note of the various fauna and their compounds. So much to notate, but only if it furthered his goal of escape. Glowing eyes wandered to the nearby structure next- it was obviously built by whoever lived here. He sucked in air through his nose. Lived here currently. Caustic let his jaw hang open, the green gas spewing from within and dissipating into the air. The wolf's eyes stared at the spiked structure, counting each of the heads and noting their various states of decay.

"Hm..." He let out a wheezing cough. "Savages."

A new, temporary priority. A new experiment. Survive.

// No need to match!

Science and death were unapologetic, as was Caustic. His mouth remained parted open, green gas leaking out of it like the smoke of an engine. Strange, indeed. He wondered if it still possessed its toxic, destructive qualities. His likely hypothesis? Wraith stabbing his NOX grenade as he went through the portal must have mixed the chemical into his body. He could not let it build within himself, so it had to escape through his facial orifices.
As for why he was turned into a canis lupus upon arrival... data was unavailable.
A strange world surrounded him now, and Caustic recalled the current experiment- to survive. This was merely a detour from his true passion, and he should be able to resume his studies in the games in weeks time.
Food. Shelter. Water. After that, a means to contact the Apex Games and get out of here. The latter would be far more difficult. Off of first impressions, the society here was not much further than the stone age. More obstacles, more variables.
His ears ticked instinctively to a noise, Caustic could identify them as a set of small pawsteps, and he let his head turn in the direction of the sound. Cold, blue eyes narrowed at the child. The Pitt? More data- conclusion, it was the group of savages here. They must be in bad shape if they let a scrawny child alone in the woods. Primitive society needed children to work the moment they could hold tools, and further their goal of survival.
Not advanced at all.
His eyes redirected to the heads for a moment. They were for show, and Caustic had seen bodies in far more mutilated states by his own hands. Humbert's eyes bleeding as he asphyxiated on his beautiful gas. Skin peeling from bones, coughing, the screams of Legends as they begged for the end.

Blue eyes turned back to the fox child. A test subject perhaps? A small amount of softness came to his hardened expression, as he imagined blowing his gas into her face, just to see if it would work. It would not take long for life to leave her.
Caustic's eyes renarrowed. This girl could be useful to him in other ways. Data was currently inconclusive on the population of the Pitt, and dying to the hands of savage animals, just to be another head at their border, was a waste of his precious time.

Caustic stayed where he was. He didn't want to make the girl panic by getting too close to her. Another wheezing cough left him. As of now, he needed this girl, and perhaps this group was his fastest way to a means of survival. However, if this group decided to expel him, he would leave before they attempted to murder him, and figure it out himself. Maybe find a different group, too. If this one existed, surely there had to be more?
"The Pitt?" Cough. Wheeze. "And how could I-" Cough. "Make myself welcomed?"

In the jungle's shadows, the vulpine's hazel gaze glinted.  Their golden hue sparked in the darkness, resting ahead curiously.  An observer first, Gael simply watched Juno and listened as the trespasser spoke in turn.

Kydobi moved forward next with an answer and the faerie decided to step out of the darkness.  Remaining silent, he simply perked his ears in mild interest.

Caustic felt he could use the locals here to expedite his survival. His ears perked and head tilted upwards as the Panthera onca approached. The wolf found himself moving his paws to square himself, tail holding steady. The wolf aimed to make himself look larger. Confusion passed over Caustic's brain as he felt himself make this motion, for it was not his own, it was instinctual yet unfamiliar to his human consciousness.
Blue eyes slowly left the fox, visions of her choking on the delicious green gas leaving his thoughts as they took to meet the panthera's gaze. He was a protector. Maybe he held some place of power here. No, Caustic was expecting too much. Too many assumptions, distractions from the truth, first impressions.
Their impression of him had to be good. Blue eyes glanced to the jaguar's paws and jaws, before re-meeting his gaze with a hard, thick stare. Being mauled to death by teeth and claws was much slower than a body being ripped to shreds by bullets, knives, or bombardments.
There was only one beautiful way to die, as long as Caustic could observe it.

His worth? Caustic was an Apex Legend. A champion. Each opponent in the ring was a test subject to Caustic's grand experiment and magnum opus of his work. Each version of his NOX gas was perfected upon the last. He was a genius, and anyone alive would be blessed to possess even a tenth of Caustic's genius. Caustic was a member of a blood-sport and had come out victorious more than once, over fifty-seven other combatants time and time again. Caustic was familiar with death and blood, as it covered his hands and was ingrained into his DNA.

He would have to relearn, more time wasted, more work. This body, his temporary prison, had to be tuned to battle and survival. Eyes back to the panthera, more pawsteps, someone hiding. Hiding from him. Good. Caustic's mouth closed briefly, green forcing its way out of his nostril and disappearing between intaked breath.
"Caustic." Green smoke spilled out as he spoke his name. Caustic was the champion. Caustic had punched Mirage in the face. Caustic had choked Octane until YOU ARE THE CHAMPION flashed across the arena screens. Nox had disappeared in the flames of his labs, and Caustic had reemerged in the Apex Games. An Apex Legend, a predator.

"I am a scientist."

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The sound of buzzing made Caustic's ears flick forward and his legs spread out, as if in preparation to dash away. Gaea had been home to many large creatures, venomous and poisonous alike. The buzzing ceased, and Caustic watched as a large reptilian insect stepped from the trees. The planets of the Outlands were home to all kinds of biodiversity, and Gaea had many jungle creatures. Caustic's original gas was created from the poison of spiders from the planet.
Same gas he used to kill Humbert. Ha.
Caustic's haunches reared, gas pluming from his mouth as the hybrid appeared. It seemed none of the others had a reaction to it. Was it a pet of some kind? The wolf re-squared his shoulders and sat down, as if to give some impression of being approachable. He watched the dragon (he would have to give it a proper name later, study it-) sit behind the Panthera who had yet to introduce himself.

Maybe, in some mental battle of wits, the two brutes were testing the waters. Caustic could hide his brutality, easy, as long as he was granted privacy and he didn't have to start asking permission to experiment. His work was more important to him than killing or violence, as long as he was able to experiment, take living subjects, and be left alone, they wouldn't have any problems. Caustic considered himself a genius, and automatically the being of highest intellect in any room. His gaze glanced to the insect. Especially this room. He doubted the bug had higher thoughts. Eyes back to the jaguar.
"Chemistry. Biology too, but that is a given. It's a rather simple subject." That was the vaguest Caustic could be. They didn't need to know what he did with such knowledge. If asked, he would give the jaguar another vague half-truth. Poison was Caustic's specialty, and would do anything for the pursuit of his perfect poison. Lost two fingers- now toes- over it. "And all of you are...?" Pleasant exchanges, how exhausting.

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