Doom: Hell's End

Chapter 7 - New Face

"Well..." Sniper said, finally breaking the silence. "Should we try to find the others?"

"I mean, it vould certainly help zhem get here faster," Medic replied solemnly.

Engie suddenly spoke. "Y'all go ahead with that. I'll secure the platform."

"Didn't you see vhat just happened? Now you vant to stay here? By yourself?!"

"C'mon Doc," the Texan put on a confident smile. "I'll be fine, honestly."

The German stared at Engie for a bit before facepalming and sighing. Then he looked up at Sniper and nodded towards the nearest catwalk.

"Let's go. I don't vant to be here longer zhan I have to."

Another unknown amount of time later...

Sniper was on edge now. Despite wandering around alone with Medic, they hadn't encountered any demons. It was more unsettling than having to constantly fight them off. Even Medic seemed unnerved.

"Vhere did zhey all go? Zhis place vas teeming vith zhem vhen ve vere last here."

"I don't know, Doc," Sniper replied, scanning the hallway with his flashlight. "Hopefully they went back to whatever wretched hellhole they came from."

Suddenly, Sniper began hearing a muffled cacophony of noises. It sounded like a mix of screaming and gunfire. He stopped in his tracks to pinpoint the sound's origin. It seemed to be coming from just a few hundred feet away. Sniper could now make out specific sounds from the mess of noises. 

The revving and rapid fire of a minigun. The whooshing of rockets mid-flight. Maybe it was the other mercs fighting off demons. Sniper hurried down the dark corridor. The sounds grew louder until they seemed to be coming from just behind the metal walls. Eventually, the duo came upon a taller, destroyed section of wall. A dim light shone through the gaping hole.

Stepping past the rubble, Sniper saw many large crates stacked against the walls. Dozens of demons stood with their backs to the duo. They seemed to be actively fighting something.

"Follow me, Doc," Sniper whispered. 

Since the two hadn't been noticed, Sniper leapt up onto one of the smaller crates and began quickly climbing up the tower of boxes, pulling Medic up with him. 

When they reached the top crate, Sniper scanned the chaos below with his rifle. The demons seemed to be throwing themselves at a specific spot. Suddenly, a figure rose from the horde. The person seemed to be a tall, muscular man wearing green, futuristic looking armor. 

Sniper watched as he landed on top of a large, fiery demon, turning its head into a bloody mess. Out of the corner of his eye, the Aussie spotted several flying demons swoop into view. Their malicious yellow eyes were fixed on the duo. Medic drew his crossbow while Sniper made sure his rifle was loaded and functioning. The battle that followed could only described as pure carnage. 

Many scenes of brutal bloodshed and Gargoyle attacks later...

Bang! Everything above the Archville's neck exploded into faint, red mist, and its headless body immediately disintegrated into nothing. Sniper chambered another round as Medic lobotomized the last flying demon with his crossbow. 

Looking down from their vantage point, the duo saw that the fight was practically over, save for a few Imps and a bloated, cyborg looking demon. Sniper deemed it safe enough to go down; so the two dropped down onto the blood stained steel floor. The Kiwi regretted it immediately as his brown dress shoes were drenched in blood.

"Bloody hell..." Sniper groaned. "My shoes are never gonna be the same."

Medic didn't seem to mind the fact his coat and shoes were more stained in blood than your average butcher. In fact, he seemed to revel in the bloodier look. 

"So much blood... It's beautiful!" Medic exclaimed manically.

"Calm down, Doc. There's barely any demons left to kill. Speaking of killing, ya wanna go talk to that...space marine?" Sniper gestured towards the armored man standing over the Archville's corpse.

"Of course! He vould make a great subject for my new medical trials!"

"...I have a feeling ya'd get yar spine ripped out..."

"Pfft," Medic scoffed. "As if I needed zhat. You vouldn't believe vhat I can survive vithout, mein friend."

"Whatever, let's just go talk to the guy."

They approached the man; walking slowly as to not provoke him. Sniper had his rifle at the ready just in case. As they got closer, he noticed how superhuman this guy looked. He was half a foot taller than Heavy, and sporting even bigger muscles. The armor didn't even seem to weigh him down. His arms were marred by various battle scars and healed wounds. 

When they were presumably within earshot, Sniper hesitantly called out, "Oi mate, you doin' alright?"

A deadly looking rifle materialized in the man's hands as he whipped around in milliseconds. Sniper didn't even get to blink. Much to his relief, the man immediately lowered his weapon. It seems he wasn't interested in obliterating humans.

The duo could feel his gaze through his darkened visor. It locked them in place. Medic didn't look or sound very inclined to speak, so Sniper had to keep talking. Probably for the best; his silver tongue might get them in more trouble. 

"That shield wieldin' bastard hit ya pretty hard," Sniper continued, pointing to Medic with his free hand. "He can fix that right up if ya'd like."

The stranger didn't move a muscle. Sniper felt like he was talking to a brick wall with the lack of responses he was getting. His anti-social self hated talking to strangers. 

"Hello," a monotone, robotic voice sounded.

"Uh, hi? Weren't aware ya were a robot."

"I am an artificial intelligence. You may call me VEGA. I speak for the man in this armor. He prefers to be called the Doom Slayer. He thinks you two seem harmless enough and would like to see what your friend can do."

Medic jumped as Sniper nodded towards the Doom Slayer. He hesitantly stepped forward and attached his Medigun's beam to the man. Immediately, his scars began disappearing while he watched his arms. His body was soon covered in a thin red mist. Eventually, Medic turned off his Medigun, awaiting his newest patient's reception. 

The Doom Slayer moved his free arm, inspecting it carefully. After a few quiet moments, he looked at the duo and gave a thumbs up. 

"The Doom Slayer appreciates your help," VEGA said. "He wants to know who you two are and why you are here."

"...ve're mercenaries hired by zhe UAC," Medic replied. "Ve've been surviving in zhis facility ever since zhe demons attacked."

"Mercenaries? That's a first. The UAC usually have their own soldiers, no?"

"Barely saw any in this facility; even before things went to shit," Sniper chimed in. "How about you? How'd you end up here?"

"Long story. A portal malfunctioned and put him here. He's trying to leave this place, just like you two."

"Strange. Anyways,  you wanna travel with us? We're trying to find our teammates."

VEGA didn't respond, but another thumbs up from the Doom Slayer answered that question.