One day, Octavio Silva was bored. In fact, he was bored most days. Son of the preoccupied CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals and wanting for nothing in life, he entertained himself by performing death-defying stunts and posting holovids of them for his fans to gawk over. He decided to set the course record for a nearby Gauntlet by launching himself across the finish line – using a grenade.

As he lay in triage hours later, the doctors informed him that the damage done to his legs meant his daredevil days were over. That didn’t sit well with Octavio, who turned to an old friend for help: Ajay Che, who he guilted into forging an order to replace his legs with bionic ones. Suddenly able to repair his limbs at a moment’s notice, Octavio decided petty online stunts weren’t enough: the ultimate adrenaline rush, the Apex Games, was calling. Since then, despite learning the man he thought was his father is his grandfather and new head of the Syndicate and the Games, he’s worked to become an Apex Champion by doing the most incredible, death-defying moves anyone’s ever seen. Maybe in the arena, he won’t be so bored.

Nicolas Roye