A startling conclusion to the animated online series Kill Code raises several significant questions
The last in a series of animated Apex Legends shorts called Kill Code, which centers on Loba and Revenant’s individual quests for vengeance, has been released by Respawn. The last episode, titled Kill Code: Part 4, features some incredibly bizarre turns, such as the passing of Torres “Duardo” Silva, the CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals, the head of the Mercenary Syndicate, and the grandfather of Octane.
Revenant and Loba decided to put their differences aside and work together to face Torres Silva in the previous installment, which was a very brief mini-episode named A Life For A Life.
Torres Silva had recently obtained Revenant’s source code and was using it to drastically alter Revenant, causing him to be “reborn” with new abilities back in Season 18. Respawn eventually disclosed the true reason for those changes with the release of Kill Code: Part 4.
Lifeline, Mad Maggie, Valkyrie, Loba, and Revenant surreptitiously bugged Octane with a GPS tracker and then tracked their fellow legend to the place where Torres was holding Revenant’s head. The strategy was straightforward: take Torres by surprise, use Revenant to intimidate him into giving up, obtain the source code (presented as a jar containing Revenant’s human head, a la Futurama), and allow Loba to destroy it because Revenant is programmed to be incapable of hurting himself. By doing this, both legends would get what they desired: Loba would exact revenge on Revenant for killing her family, and Revenant would finally be able to rest in peace after 359 years of suffering at the hands of his own death.
Everything is going great in the beginning: the legends enter the facility without setting off any alarms, and although Octane is annoyed that Lifeline put a GPS tracker on him to locate his grandfather’s hiding place, most of the proceedings go smoothly. Torres tries to reason, but he doesn’t get very far before Revenant closes the distance with his newfound Shadow Pounce skill and puts a hand around Silva’s throat. After scaring Torres into giving up, Revenant goes after his source code, picking up the glass jar holding his head off the shelf, and throwing it across the room to Loba, who tries breaking it with the Black Market spear’s sharpened tip.
The cunning CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals, realizing he has lost the advantage, has made Revenant an alluring offer.
Telling the undead assassin, “I respect a man’s right to control his destiny,” is Torres’ statement. “I can hand you that authority. What if, however, you had so much more?”
Torres points to the ceiling of the building to indicate that he has constructed his own Revenant factory. The hundreds of robotic shells in this factory, however, aren’t intended for Revenant to respawn into whenever his current shell is destroyed, in contrast to the Revenant factories seen in earlier animated Apex shorts. Rather, Torres has raised an army of simultaneous-acting Revenants.
“They will fear you again,” Torres told him. “All you have to do… is live.”
It seems Revenant plans to take Torres up on this offer, as the moment Loba’s spear manages to shatter the jar containing Revenant’s head/source code, the murderbot appears behind her, yanking her weapon from her hands and kicking her away from the jar. Once he picks it up, all of the other Revenant shells come to life at once, dropping down from their storage mechanisms on the ceiling.
“Soon, we’ll have all we ever wanted, Mr. Cross,” Torres says, addressing Revenant by his given human surname. “A total command over everything.”
Revenant though has other plans. .” I only wanted control over me,” the simulacrum replies.
Revenant seems to have a favorite finishing move when, a half-second later, one of the extra shells appears behind Torres and impales him on its metal arm. After it knocks him to the ground, a swarm of additional Revenant shells rush in to finish the job, repeatedly impaling him in a way that is so violent that his body isn’t visible on screen.
The legends start to flee as the Revenant shells start to break free from the facility. Octane is too shocked by the death of his family member to flee, so Lifeline makes it a point to save him. The army of Revenants tries to stop the legends as they approach their ship, damaging it and almost bringing it to a crash.
When the robotic stowaways are eventually freed from the ship by the legends, Loba notices that Revenant is standing in the center of the army of killer robots, holding his source code, and staring back at her. His artificial eyes change from their characteristic golden glow to a menacing shade of red in a close-up of his faceplate.
This episode has some very important ramifications. The Mercenary Syndicate no longer has a leader, and Torres Silva, Apex’s main adversary, has been defeated. However, Silva was also collaborating closely with Cherisse Che, the mother of Lifeline and owner of the armaments company Chevrex. It’s possible that in Silva’s absence, she will step in to fill the void and take charge of the Syndicate herself.
However, Revenant’s metamorphosis is even more intriguing. Even with the improvements Silva gave him, his life is agonizing, and he has stated emphatically that he still wants to pass away. His abrupt about-face and the sinister shift in the color of his eyes could suggest that, even in Silva’s absence, Revenant might still be able to command his army of clones but might lose control over his own behavior.
He has been around since Season 4, so it’s not like he’s actually attempted to kill a playable character. It makes little sense for him to send all of his extra shells after the other legends now that he has his source code, which is what he originally desired. It’s plausible that some of the “improvements” Silva bestowed upon him resulted in a reduction of his free will.
Despite the conclusion of the Kill Code, it is evident that Revenant and Loba’s story is not yet finished, and the consequences of what happened in Kill Code: Part 4 will probably be felt for several seasons to come. Experience director Aaron Rutledge of Apex Legends told GameSpot that when the developers were asked what they were most looking forward to in the Season 19 previews, they said, “Season 20.”