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Lifeline gets a lore update in Apex Legends Stories from the Outlands: Family Business

On Tuesday, Respawn Entertainment released the latest Stories from the Outlands cinematic short for Apex Legends. This Stories form the Outlands entry, entitled “Family Business,” is focused on the game’s resident medic, Ajay “Lifeline” Che. The short comes just after a leak revealed that the combat medic is getting buffed in the 13.1 update patch.

“Family Business” takes us into Lifeline’s (and Octane’s) past, when she’s running away from her parents and the Che family as a whole. The Ches are notorious war profiteers in the Apex Legends universe, and Lifeline was desperate to find a way to separate herself from that legacy. This cinematic drops us into her life right as she’s severing ties. After hanging up on a phone call with her mother, Lifeline sees an ad for Chevrex Inc., whose tagline is “keeping you safe.” This is implied to be her inspiration for joining the Frontier Corps and becoming a field medic.

We flash forward to a scene of her saving one of her Frontier Corps comrades, and it’s implied that the two have romantic feelings of some kind brewing between them. Still, Lifeline’s family is a sore point for the other medic, as he cannot forgive what the Ches have done to the people of the Outlands. In a bid to try and do more for her cause and prove that she’s not the monster her parents are, Lifeline gets back in touch with her childhood friend, Octavio “Octane” Silva. Octane’s father owns Silva Pharmaceuticals, and could in theory have an in there to get the Frontier Corps more supplies.

It turns out that Octane’s “in” is actually a heist. He and Lifeline break into Silva Pharmaceuticals, stealing as many medications as they can and showing off the serum Octane will eventually use in the Apex arena. After using violence to subdue the guards, Lifeline is once again worried that she’s not any better than her parents, but doesn’t have time to dwell on it. She and Octane make a daring, wingsuit escape and return to the Frontier Corps base from earlier.

Just after they manage to drop off the medicine, Octane’s father and Lifeline’s mother enter the base and demand that Lifeline return. She tries to stay hidden at first, but after her comrade aims a gun at her mother, she decides enough is enough and steps out. Though they agree that Lifeline will return home in exchange for the safety of the people there, her mother tries to double cross her and kill everyone to teach her a lesson. But thinking quickly, Octane turns his livestream feed on. Lifeline jumps on board without hesitation and the two make it clear that anything that happens from that point will be seen by all of the Outlands. Unwilling to deal with the optics of a viral execution video in a hospital, the two parents take their leave. Unfortunately, Lifeline’s colleague is unwilling to trust her again now that he knows her last name.

Stories from the Outlands: Family Business ends with Octane questioning what Lifeline will do the next time the hospital runs out of supplies. An ad for the Apex Games plays in the background, and Lifeline says, “Whatever it takes.”

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