The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 31: Eye of the Storm

                                 -PART FOUR: INTO THE CITY OF THE DAMNED-

"Come on, Harper, can you do it or not?" Jack asked, staring intently into the glass case mounted on the wall before him.

"Yeah, I can do it if you shut up for two minutes," Harper muttered in reply as he worked the console to Jack's left. "You really want it that badly?"

"Yes," Jack replied immediately.

"It'd be easier if you let me just go find the security keycard or something."

"We don't have a lot of time and you've already invested half an hour into this. Look, if you can't do it then just-"

"I can do it!"

He still hadn't taken his eyes from the thing resting in the glass case. He'd noticed it when passing the local security chief's office while on his way back from the bathroom. Whoever this office belonged to was probably ripped in half somewhere, like most of Haydenfield's staff, and he didn't have time to go find the guy's PDA or keycard or his hand if that's what was needed. He'd gone and grabbed the first tech he could find after trying and failing to break the lockout on the hardened case, and that was Harper.

The man was in better condition after getting torn up by the battle to shut down the Firewall, but he was clearly down for the count in terms of fighting for the time being.

Jack heard a door open behind him and glanced back briefly over his shoulder. Jennifer walked in, an amused look on her face. "Still at it?"

"Almost there," Harper muttered.

"Any way I can convince you to give that to me?" Jennifer asked, walking over to Jack, glancing into the case, then looking at him intensely. "Anything I can do? Kyra might not be around anymore but I've seen some of the looks you've been getting from the other ladies..."

"I...uh..." Jack glanced over at Harper, who was still staring intently at the screen, though now it seemed with more forced concentration, deliberately not looking up. He looked back at the weapon inside the case. "If there was more time before we headed back into the city, that would work. But there isn't. Not even for a fast, uh, encounter. So no, unfortunately. Sorry, babe."

She sighed. "You owe me."

"Fair deal," he said.

"I got it!" Harper declared.

At the same moment, the case chimed and then popped open. Jack exhaled sharply as he reached in and then carefully extracted the weapon held within.

It was a DX-50 'Juggernaut' Double-Barreled Shotgun.

It was raw power. Not on the same level as, say, a plasma rifle, but it was definitely power you could hold in two hands. And it was clear that the previous own had taken good care of it. The double-barrel shone under the lights of the security office, black and chrome and beautiful. Jack cracked it open, fed two shells into the barrels, and snapped it shut.

"God, that's satisfying," he muttered, hefting it and looking down the sights.

"Lucky," Jennifer replied.

"Very," he agreed, then turned away from her. "Double-check the holster, will you?"

"Now you're just rubbing my face in it," she muttered, but she checked the holster he'd found and had Harper attach to the back of his armor. "Looks good. Put the gun in it." He slipped the shotgun into the back holster so that the handle was over his shoulder. "Yeah, looks good."

"Thanks." He practiced quick-drawing it a few times, then nodded to himself and put it back. He'd already salvaged all the shells he could find in the office. "Thanks, Harper."