“Despite the destructive effect that Hell’s metaphysics have on ordinary matter and information, the UAC has found and studied the ruins of several mortal civilizations consumed by the Infernal Realm. Some are terrestrial and human (familiar or not) while others are extraterrestrial and literally alien, but the most enigmatic is that of the people of Argent D’Nur, the race of the Argenta. Argent D’Nur was an extraterrestrial kingdom that flourished at an inconclusive point in the past; their remarkably well-preserved relics and remains have been found on planetary bodies clearly native to our universe which were absorbed into Hell. What’s most astonishing – or terrifying – is that the Argenta were undeniably human. A monoculture with little genetic diversity, but normal members of the Homo Sapiens species, bearing striking resemblance to Earth humans of European descent. Indeed, Argent D’Nur is unusually similar to historical European societies of the High Middle Ages. Their most elite warriors, the Night Sentinels, were virtually identical to the famed Knights Templar. Despite their austere civilization, the Argenta were anything but primitive, having developed spaceflight, plasma-powered weaponry, even interdimensional drives, all thanks to a native mastery of sorcery. No evidence of Argenta presence in our Solar System exists, and despite their extensive historical records no conclusive origin to their civilization can be found. The very existence of Argent D’Nur is both one of great intrigue and great concern.”

- UAC Report File ‘Argent D’Nur’ 1/2; dated 2104

E1M4: Extreme Prejudice

The Marine sprinted past corpses lying in the service corridor leading out of the Foundry as he headed for the Argent Facility. Environmental suits hanging on the walls swayed softly with the air pumping through the atmospheric cyclers.

“Untethered crossdimensional activity is a frequent occurrence outside of the Base, so it is recommended that workers buddy up when journeying onto the Martian surface,” pestered the holographic Spokeswoman.

‘Untethered crossdimensional activity.’ Yeah, such phenomena tended to happen near interdimensional rifts that were intentionally, and foolishly, kept open.

But that wasn’t important. With his Suit’s Resonators back online, he allowed the modulating tones to focus his thoughts and quiet his mind. He moved in sync with the beat, allowing himself to walk along a stable rhythm.

He entered the airlock that led to the surface and waited as the atmosphere cycled and the gravity field decreased.

The airlock opened onto the surface, which was shrouded beneath the haze of a Martian sandstorm. The atmosphere was far too thin for the winds to blow with any semblance of force, but they were picking up a thick veil of brown Martian dust, which reduced the Marine’s visibility to almost nothing.

He sighed and looked at his environment. Above him he could make out the blue glow of an automated hovercraft’s engines as it zoomed off into the hazy distance. Green light poles marked a path to the Marine’s left, presumably towards the proper Facility. And looming overhead roughly a kilometer away was the blazing Argent Tower, the scarlet beam soaring into the Martian sky and focusing into a-

The Marine recoiled as his eyes burned. The image of the pure Argent beam had suddenly seared into his vision and left his eyes stinging. Flashing after-images of red, black, and white danced across his mind. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

As soon as it came the pain vanished, and the Marine stood in wonder as his once murky visual field of brown and orange was replaced by a sharp and netherly one. The surrounding landscape and structures appeared as monochromatic but crystalline reflections of themselves, clearly visible through the storm. Made all the more remarkable by the fact that the Marine still had his eyes closed.

His Clearsight was back. That was most fortunate.

The Marine opened his eyes, losing visibility again in the murky haze of dust and dirt. He closed them and focused, and as the droning of the storm faded the shadowy image of the environment appeared once more. He could not see his HUD, as that was projected directly onto his helmet’s visor, and Clearsight lacked the range and acuity of the Marine’s normal vision, but that didn’t matter.

He stood on a cargo loading dock beneath a pair of buildings on the edge of a deep ravine. The Argent Tower blazed brightly in the distance, the beam focusing into a roiling vortex that swirled overhead. The vortex was already crackling with arcane energy, and considering the storm of dry Martian dust, it probably wouldn’t be long before lightning started striking.

“The Argent Facility contains two energy induction filters that must be disengaged, along with a primary processor we have to shut down. If we don’t cut power off to the Argent Tower within the next fourteen minutes, the energy overload will rip the Fracture wide open.”

The two HUD markers appeared on his left, in the direction that the green light poles guided along a narrow passageway to a low installation. A fleeting red shape darted into the open airlock and vanished.

Green means go.

The Marine leapt over the gap and hurried towards the Facility. His Clearsight marked a curious object lying on the floor beside the Facility entrance.

Fourteen minutes was more than enough time, he thought as he picked the item up.

It was a mining tool. Clearly not a weapon but rather an industrial implement. The Marine could sense willful intent imprinted on the tool; fear, anguish, desperation. Crackling flashes cast shadows from twisted monstrosities whose roars echoed across the hostile caverns, limbs and heads flying off to roll away into dark recesses. The tool’s previous user had survived the initial Lazarus blast, and they’d put up one hell of a fight.

The Marine switched to normal vision to read the message on his HUD.

211-V PLASMA CUTTER ACQUIRED

MUNITION TYPE – PLASMA CELLS

PRIMARY FIRE – SEMIAUTOMATIC SHOT, CHARGE TO BOOST POWER

SECONDARY FIRE – ROTATE CUTTING PLANE BETWEEN HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL

There had been survivors, thought the Marine. He’d expected all the people to have died from exposure to the Lazarus Wave or reanimated as Possessed, but at least one of them survived. Who knows? Maybe they just got lucky. Or unlucky.

He wondered how many had survived the initial attack. He wondered how many of these could survive the demonic infestation and evacuate the planet.

But most importantly, he wondered as he passed through the gate into the Argent Facility, what would Hayden and the computer do about them?

* * *

I fell through a smothering fog that felt so thick as if crushing me. Dreadful figures rushed by and snapped at me, but I fell out of the fog and landed on a hard surface.

The ground was pitch-black but mottled with abstract ember patterns that beat and spread across its surface. Warm fluid splashed at my feet, and I was glad it was too dark to see what I was standing in.

Indeed, I could scarcely see a thing. Tall spine-like structures punctured through the ground at short intervals, casting me in their shadow. It almost looked like a forest. A wretched wind swept harshly above the spikes, but down at my level this was reduced to a rank miasma that stung my arms and legs. I wondered if the only reason I wasn’t suffocating was because of my upgrades.

A bolt of lightning speared across the wicked sky, and I covered my ears as the peal of thunder shook the world and felt as if splitting my head open, grimacing as my eyes stung with the blinding flash.

‘Hellish’ was the only word that came to mind.

“Colonel, where am I?”

“A long way from home, soldier. I’m tracking you now, but I can’t find any portals near your position.”

A new sound rolled across that hellscape; a low mournful bale that sent shivers down my spine. Hushed chittering echoed from deeper within that forest, and I thought I could see distant eyes glint within that darkness. I wasn’t alone.

“Go. Find shelter, see if you find a way out, and stay moving. Hell devours the indolent.”

I took my bronze dagger firmly in my hand and rushed away from those sounds and into the forest.

* * *

The tram decelerated as it approached Excavation Mine Seven’s station, and Ruby addressed the team as they grabbed their packs and weapons.

“All right, here’s the plan. This mine will have a control facility located somewhere in it. If we reach it, we can find alternate transport to the Spaceport, so the goal is to get there as quickly and quietly as possible.

Most of the mine is outdoors with a lot of active machinery, so sound transmission won’t be an issue but line of sight will. This place is mostly automated, so I don’t expect high enemy concentration, but stay alert regardless.”

The lieutenant interjected.

“What’s our plan of action if we are attacked?”

“Shoot anything that jumps at you, but our priority is to avoid encounters to begin with. We’re jumping into enemy territory here; we have nowhere to fall back to, so reaching the control facility is critical. And watch your heads. We have armor and med packs, but splattered brains can’t be fixed, and you don’t want to rupture your helmets, right?”

“Yes, Agent.”

“Reeves, do you know your way around this mine?”

“Of course I do.”

“Copy that. You’re up front with me. Find us a route that keeps us as much out of sight as possible. Service corridors, ventilation ducts, anything to avoid surveillance or setting off alarms.

Hiro, I want you on that X-Glass 24/7. Monitor all enemy movement in our vicinity. Anything gets within a hundred meters, you let me know.”

“Gotcha.”

The tram stopped at the station, and with a soft ding the doors slid open. The station was empty.

“…Deep breaths. Stay cool. Remember, we’re a team. The only way we make it out is together.”

Ruby clenched her pulse rifle and flicked off the safety.

“Hiro, we good to go?”

The gunslinger synced his helmet to the scope of his vortex rifle, using its x-ray feature to scan for hidden enemies.

“Coast is clear.”

“…Move out.”

* * *

The interior of the Argent Facility was completely dark, with only the odd sparking wire casting a faint light, but the Marine could navigate just fine thanks to his Clearsight. Littered appliances, dust contamination from the faulty airlock, and a circle of bloody headless skeletons hanging by ropes of sinew above a pool of gore, illuminated by the fiery pentagrammic sigil on the floor below. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“…AAAAAAAAA…”

What in the bloody nine circles was that?

“…AAAAAAAAA…”

Was that…screaming? It sounded like a man’s yell, not in pain or terror but…abandon? And it wasn’t stopping either. Whoever or whatever was making that sound did so without stopping to catch their breath. Most peculiar.

The sound grew louder as the Marine headed towards the first induction filter. The exit airlock was damaged, with only the malfunctioning exterior gate shut to separate the interior of the installation from the poisonous Martian environment. Whatever was making that sound was precisely on the other side. The Marine dug his hands into the faulty gate and pried it open, briefly catching sight of a headless corpse with two flaming skulls in its aloft hands before the screaming entity exploded in the Marine’s face, throwing him to the ground with the force of the blast. 86 HEALTH.

Those weren’t supposed to be here.

A sulky Marine picked himself up and rushed into the sandstorm as the soft tones produced by his Resonators intensified into warbling riffs. His plasma cutter’s blue aiming lasers swept through the dust and settled on the lesser demons alerted to the Marine’s presence. POW POW! POW! POW! POW! The imps and soldiers standing outside were swiftly decapitated by precise plasma pulses. Thanks to his Clearsight, he could shoot perfectly fine even through the thick dust, the demons appearing as bright red silhouettes in the Marine’s otherwise greyscale visual field.

He rushed past the decapitated bodies into a large flat clearing, outside the facility containing the first induction filter. The area was occupied by a crowd of lesser demons which immediately turned onto the Marine as soon as he beheld their red outlines. Despite them being too distant to perceive him at all through the dust, he knew it was because of his Clearsight. If he could psychically sense them, so could they to him.

Switching back to normal sight, the Marine paid close attention to the sounds traveling through the hazy battlefield, even through the thin atmosphere and howling storm. A dark imp screeched behind him, a Possessed soldier vocalized at his ten o’clock, and a flamer zombie fired up its flamethrower straight ahead.

“…AAAAAAAAA…”

First things first.

The Marine quickly switched to his shotgun and fired a shrapnel shot in the direction of the headless kamikaze rapidly approaching from the right. An explosion ensued, followed by the gore of several demons splashing onto the rocky soil. A crackling blue fireball curved through the dust towards the Marine, and he dodged it as he shot the dark imp who’d thrown it. The glow of rolling flames blossomed through the haze up ahead, and the Marine quickly rolled out of the way before the flames fell upon him. He aimed his shotgun towards the source of the fire stream and pulled the trigger, staying clear of the explosion as the flamer zombie perished.

A new sound pierced through the storm to the Marine’s left, a savage hiss that echoed through the clearing, just as he caught sight of a flaming horned skull soaring through the dust towards him. He darted out of the Lost Soul’s path before it mauled him and shot it, watching it crumble and fade away in a flurry of ash and embers.

The Marine spotted the eye glow of several Lost Souls floating near the Facility entrance, and he backed away to restore his HEALTH. He could see up ahead the shadow of a possessed soldier, easy picking. He charged toward it, raised his fists and- BANG! The soldier released a burning blast of buckshot at the Marine. 78 HEALTH. Through the pain and rage, the Marine saw the double-barreled shotgun in the soldier’s hand. Furious, he backed away and fired his plasma cutter, severing the monster’s arms and its grip on the weapon with a single well-placed shot before drawing close again, hoping to bait it to attack again. Sure enough, the disarmed zombie lunged at the Marine to bite him, but he swiftly raised his Bracer and blocked the attack, staggering the zombie before breaking off its exposed arm bone and driving the sharp end through its head. 88 HEALTH, 12 ARMOR.

The Marine activated his Clearsight again. Equipping his assault rifle as the demons once more sensed his presence, the Marine first eliminated the swarm of Lost Souls before they fell upon him. He Rampaged towards a squad of soldiers while shooting at a pack of dark imps, focusing a Blood Punch with his free hand. POWW! With 102 HEALTH and 29 ARMOR, the Marine confidently switched to the rocket launcher. BANG! BANG! BANG! Soldier and imp body parts flew across the clearing in every possible direction.

The hulking shape of a Hell Knight slammed into the ground in front of the Marine. Quickly switching to the phase rifle before another counterproductive event occured, he unloaded a stream of plasmoids unto the Hell Knight before noticing another manifest not far behind. He threw a frag grenade at his feet and fell back to put distance between himself and the demons, dodging their fireballs before the grenade explosion faltered them. Stacked beside the Facility was a pallet of barrels. Most appeared red in his Clearsight, the explosive variety, but a single barrel below them appeared blue. The Marine rushed towards the jack and grabbed the blue barrel, slinging it at the Hell Knights before shooting it. Instead of exploding in flame, the barrel released a powerful discharge of electricity that stopped the demons where they stood, writhing in pain as electricity arced across their bodies. Presumably that barrel had been some kind of industrial capacitor.

The Marine grabbed his rocket launcher and fired his last two rockets at the nearest Hell Knight before the stunning effect wore off. The heavily wounded monster turned to the Marine in pure malice, leaping high into the air and-

KA-POW!

Just in time.

A bolt of scarlet lightning descended from above and struck the soaring Hell Knight, instantly vaporizing it. The energy vortex above the Argent Tower was intensifying, crimson lightning spreading across the dry dust picked up by the windstorm.

He equipped the phase rifle and fired at the last Hell Knight. He charged to release the fatal heat blast when he sensed a lightning bolt about to strike right at his position. Thinking fast, he rushed out of the way before the bolt of Argent lightning fell on him. The storm was getting stronger, and he was entirely covered in metal. He fell back towards the Facility while keeping clear of the Hell Knight’s equally fast fireballs.

The Marine hopped onto a ramp leading into the Facility when he got that same feeling again. Another one was coming, but this time he could use it to his advantage. With the Hell Knight too far for a proximity mine, he switched to his EMG and quick-fired a stun shot. As the Hell Knight writhed in electrified agony, the Marine raised his gaze to the heavens, eyeing the churning vortex of Argent energy. The lightning bolt descended onto the Marine with the speed of a blazing devil, but even faster still he raised his Bracer and skillfully caught the bolt in the palm of his hand. Clenching his fist to contain the raging energy, the Marine turned to the Hell Knight just as the stun effect wore off, releasing the bolt and disintegrating the demon where it stood.

Without stopping to admire his skill, he hurried into the facility and continued into an adjacent room, where his HUD marked a thick pipe-like apparatus attached to the far wall besides a series of monitors. A cylindrical component, presumably the filter itself, jutted out from the machinery.

“We are only temporarily disabling the Tower,” Hayden clarified.

No they weren’t.

“You need to remove each lens indivi-”

Hayden stopped when he heard the sound of breaking glass and metal, product of the Marine promptly and furiously stomping on the protruding filter, the delicate machinery shattering and spilling on the floor.

“Warning. Energy contamination detected,” spoke the automated facility voice.

“Destroying the production of Argent Energy isn’t necessary,” Hayden expressed in a tone that sounded as through gritted teeth, but the Marine wasn’t paying attention.

“Oh Raging One, I beseech thee, calm your righteous fury!” Implored the Deag priest, hunched over in supplication and from a back once broken. “The Elixir is a most treasured resource for Argent D’Nur! It is the source of our great civilization’s power! It sustains our Warpers’ sorceries, feeds our Sentinels’ weapons, fuels our mighty Atlan warriors!”

It had also opened Hellgates directly into Argent D’Nur and corrupted their once honorable people. Led them into temptation. Delivered them into evil.

But he was not in the mood to argue. He stowed his super shotgun onto his back and simply cracked his knuckles.

“Please! You cannot do this!”

He set his eyes on the distant Elixir Foundry as he prepared to charge.

“Nooooo!”

With a booming shockwave he blazed at terrible speed towards the looming infernal tower. He clenched his hand into a fist and…

Hayden was wrong.

It was not only necessary, it was imperative.

* * *

I moved from behind one tree-like spike to another, constantly looking over my shoulders as I strained to look for potential threats. So far, I hadn’t come across any. Scarlet lightning savagely flashed in the distance while that same foul wind continued to blow. A haunting foghorn-like bellow echoed across the wretched landscape.

“Colonel, you pick anything up yet?”

“Not yet, soldier. You’re literally in the middle of nowhere.”

“What exactly am I looking for?”

“At this point, literally anything. But portals come in a lot of shapes. You remember the teleporters back at the base?”

I…did. I actually remembered: Those creepy blue pods that supposedly broke a person up into all their particles and reassembled them at the other end. UAC had them all over their off-Earth colonies. Rumor was they were built from artifacts found on Mars’s moons way back before…before what?

“Yeah, that’s one example. But Hell’s reality is unstable. It shouldn’t be long before you come across some type of rift.”

Something hissed nearby, and I briefly glimpsed at a gnarled shape before it darted behind cover. It was close.

“Colonel,” I muttered while backing away, “I’m stranded in uncharted territory and the natives aren’t looking too friendly. I don’t know how much longer I can last.”

“Well, you’re a soldier, do something! I’m on the other side of the damn cosmos! There’s only so much I can do!”

Before I could reply, a screeching figure rushed out from behind a spike and charged at me. Its screech was like fingernails on a chalkboard. I reflexively shot it with my missiles and blasted it to oblivion, but other creatures screeched all around me.

“Damn it!”

I extended my spear and sprung into action. I dashed out of one creature’s path and leapt above another one as it charged, but found I had limited space to maneuver in that enclosed forest. I struck a towering spine and winced as something clawed at my back.

“AAAAH!”

I swung my spear at the darkness, lashing blindly hoping to catch something with the bronze tip. I must have hit something, because a slimy tentacle fell to the ground and squirmed violently as the creature retreated. I lobbed volley after volley of homing missiles into the shadows, knowing those would hit their mark, but in that cramped volume I got caught in their blasts. Before long, my overshield turned red.

A serrated tentacle whipped out of the shadows and struck at my chest, and with a surging blast the field surrounding my body dispelled.

My overshield had broken.

“John, look out!”

A chittering beast darted between the spikes towards me. I skewered it with my spear as it leapt, but it remained alive and lashed at me in a flurry of writhing tentacles. I yelled as the razor-sharp appendages cleaved through my chassis. I hoisted the impaled creature into the air and slammed it on the ground, forcing the impaled spear through its body and slicing its head in half. The tentacles finally dropped to the floor.

“…OOOOOOHHHHHH!!”

That foghorn sound. It came from behind, and…above.

I turned and froze in abject terror as I struggled to comprehend what I was looking at.

Towering above the forest of spikes was a hideous and grotesquely emaciated beast the likes of which I could have never imagined even in my wildest nightmares. It was almost like a man, a man with freakishly long arms and legs walking on all fours across the hellscape, stepping impossibly light and delicately for something its size. It was skeletal in appearance, needle-like bones piercing through its thin skin, and its head was horrendously disfigured. A mass of tentacles hung from its face, writhing and squirming in the wind, and even through the darkness I could see the malicious glint from its beady black eyes.

It was staring right at me.

“Run! Get the hell out of there! RUN!”

Colonel Johnson’s voice snapped me out of my terror-induced daze. I saw the lowly beasts slink back into the forest and decided to follow their example. I collapsed my spear and bolted off into the shadows.

* * *

The team sneaked across the mine hurriedly yet discretely, staying close to the great machines scattered across the rusty Martian surface. Most of them remained in operation, whirring and chugging along despite the certain death of all their operators.

Ruby was tense. She did not feel comfortable out in the open given the crisis, much less with her hearing reduced to nothing. Mars’s thin atmosphere was barely conducive to sound by itself, but the cacophony of industry drowned out all other noise, leaving her and the other survivors to depend on sight alone.

Oddly enough, the mine was completely uninhabited. She had expected light demonic presence, but not even Hiro with his X-Glass had detected even a single living (or unliving) being ever since they set foot in the mine. And this was what concerned Ruby the most.

She forced herself to calm down and focus.

Remember what you said: sound transmission isn’t an issue. If you can’t hear them coming, neither can they.

Besides, if the mine is uninhabited, that just means clear sailing for us. We’re not seeing anything because there’s nothing there. What more do you want, Taylor?

“Agent,” Reeve’s voice buzzed over the radio. “We have to go through that gate.”

Ruby turned to where the engineer pointed. Roughly twenty meters away stood a gate through a tall electrified fence. The gate itself was a force-field checkpoint but was currently deactivated.

“Okay, let’s go.”

The team split in two to keep from drawing attention, as they had been doing since entering the mine. Ruby moved ahead with Reeves, while the other three brought up the rear.

Ruby and Reeves darted quickly through the gate, and the others moved to follow when Ruby noticed the lights on the gate blink to life.

“Run! This gate is about to close!”

The three men broke into a sprint but it was too late. The force field flashed into being between the gate pillars and Rogers bounced hard off the blue beehive barrier.

They were cut off.

“What’s the meaning of this?” The lieutenant yelled as he angrily picked himself off the ground. “What the hell is happening?”

Ruby turned to Reeves, whose body posture suggested bewilderment.

“I don’t…I don’t know. These gates are supposed to stay open during the day to let cargo through. Someone must have reprogrammed it.”

“What the hell does that mean?! Someone MANUALLY shut this gate?!”

Romero put his hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder.

“Nobody’s saying that. Maybe we should fall back and-”

“Get your damn hands off me, you filthy mercen-!”

Ruby had had enough.

“QUIET!!”

Silence immediately followed. Ruby waited a few moments to ensure she had everyone’s attention before continuing.

“This is just a setback. Obviously, we have to find a way to regroup. Reeves, are there other routes to the control facility?”

“Of course. If they go through that building,” she said while pointing to an adjacent installation, “an underground service tunnel will drop them on this side of the fence.”

“Sounds good. You three get to that building. Reeves will guide you through while the two of us continue forward. If you run into any roadblocks, we’ll help you out once we reach the control facility.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Romero remarked while heading in that direction. “Mr. Harrison, stay close.”

“Right behind you, kiddo.”

Rogers remained at the gate.

“Lieutenant, you have the comm. I trust those two to you. Get them back safe. All of you. If we don’t work together, none of us are getting off this rock.”

The soldier looked on a few more moments before nodding in agreement.

“Copy that,” he said before falling back to catch up with the others.

“I want constant reports!” Ruby called out at the lieutenant.

“Yes, Agent!”

“Amanda, let’s go.”

Ruby let the engineer take the lead before discretely switching her radio to a private channel.

“Hiro, you copy?”

“Taylor, what’s wrong?”

“This is a private channel. Listen, I want you to keep an eye on Rogers. Do as he says, but let me know if starts acting strange.”

“You think he’s turning?”

“It might be just the stress, but the situation isn’t a favorable one. Especially not for him.”

“What should I do in case…you know?”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”

* * *

The Marine strutted across a walkway leading towards the second induction filter, keeping sight and foresight keen for stray lightning bolts. His senses were sharp but not omniscient, and Hell had the tendency to make things unclear. Reaching the gate to the filter facility, he instead turned left onto a path leading across a precipitous rocky ledge. Staying clear of the cliff’s edge, he walked up to the object of his interest: a runestone suspended a few centimeters off the ground. This one appeared as liquid cast into solid form, a thick black fluid viscously bubbling and steaming, with an inscribed crimson sigil glowing in its center. He recognized the symbol.

The Marine warily touched the rune, feeling the “stone’s” distinct warmness and noticing its surface ripple with the contact.

RUNE ACQUIRED – BOILING BLOOD

DAMAGE TAKEN WILL BE RECIPROCATED BACK UNTO THE WORLD

The Marine equipped the rune, feeling the familiar symbol flash in his mind. Runecraft wasn’t his specialty though, and he knew he couldn’t sustain too many runes simultaneously, especially in his weakened state.

The runestone floated beside a cargo crate with a dead soldier reclined on it, the remains of their head scattered behind them from a self-inflicted gunshot, but the Marine stared at the culprit weapon still clenched in their hands, an old break-action double barreled shotgun.

…old hands reached for the fireplace mantle…

…grabbed the firearm, reminder of lives saved and lives lost…

…gently passed it to his own…

“…fight evil, wherever and however it may appear…”

…a gift, a promise, a curse…

That’s not important, the Marine thought as he forced himself to focus. His own super shotgun had been a tool of unparalleled destructive power, before which this one could never compare. However, with his stored arsenal inaccessible, he might as well just take it.

SUPER SHOTGUN ACQUIRED

MUNITION TYPE – SHELLS

PRIMARY FIRE – PIERCING BUCKSHOT BLAST

SECONDARY FIRE – EXPLOSIVE SLUG

Well, at least until he could recover the one in his storage matrix, this one would have to do.

…He still had his own super shotgun, right?

Walking towards the facility gate as he brought up his Suit’s directory, the Marine searched for the firearm in his weapon cache.

ERROR: NO RESULTS FOUND

The Marine made no physical reaction as he entered the empty installation, a spacious multi-tiered installation cast in the blue glow of tall coolant tanks. He merely breathed in, loaded two shells into his new weapon, and waited for the demons to warp in.

He threw a grenade to his left, lightly tossed a proximity mine behind him, and launched another grenade high into the air in front. A squad of soldiers apparated in but promptly disappeared in a surge of flame and gibs as the first grenade exploded at their feet. Another flamer zombie manifested behind the Marine but exploded as it stepped onto the mine, and he simply charged towards where the next demon was going to appear at.

He threw a grenade to his left, lightly tossed a proximity mine behind him, and launched another grenade high into the air in front. A squad of soldiers apparated in but promptly disappeared in a surge of flame and gibs as the first grenade exploded at their feet. Another flamer zombie manifested behind the Marine but exploded as it stepped onto the mine, and he strafed out of the firing path of the coilgun soldier that had just manifested. Rampaging towards the zombie, he blocked the bolt with his Bracer before raising his super shotgun and turning the demon into fine red paste. The spent shells twirled through the air as the Marine turned to where another Hell Knight had just warped in. The slugs struck the tall coolant tanks, and the Marine noticed cracks appear on the glassy surface as a fresh wave of Hellish beasts warped into the room. Two of them made high squealing noise, much to the Marine’s displeasure.

He switched to his rocket launcher and Rampaged with furious determination towards the Hell Knight. He rammed through the brick red boar-like demons and fired a rocket at the Hell Knight, missing but managing to catch it in the blast. The demon charged at him and the Slayer rushed back to maintain his distance just as a Pinky, a snarling beast the size of a bull, rammed into him with its armored face plate. As his ARMOR dropped to 9, the Marine’s body emanated a crackling wave of crimson energy, and the Pinky stumbled back as the wave burned through its body and scorched parts of its flesh off. Shaking its head to recover its bearings, the beast snarled at the Marine, who’d since leapt over the demon and fired a point-blank shotgun blast at the Pinky’s unarmored flank. The demon crumbled into a pile of singed flesh and bone on the floor, leaving behind only an echoing squeal and the faintest smell of cooked pork.

The Marine moved on and leapt high past the other Pinky and onto the building’s second level. A swarm of Lost Souls floated aimlessly in the upper rafters, turning their flaming eyes towards him as he entered their field of vision. He thinned their numbers with his assault rifle but one of them dodged his fire and snapped at him, crumbling apart as the Marine’s Boiling Blood rune returned the harm done unto it, but not before destroying his ARMOR. Furious, the Marine raised his Bracer to block another incoming Lost Soul. The creature struck the shield surrounding his forearm and dizzily spun for a split second before the Marine dug his fingers into the floating skull’s empty eye sockets and tore it in two. 115 HEALTH, 10 ARMOR.

He sprinted across the building’s second floor, using precision bolts to snipe at demons on the floor below. He downed a dark imp, a rocket zombie, an engineer zombie and three soldiers beside it. A coilgun zombie set its sights on him. He took careful aim and keenly headshot it, the demon exploding and killing two others nearby. He leapt off the second floor and landed hard on an unlucky imp, crushing its skull with his boot before switching back to the rocket launcher. He dodged a plasma soldier’s heat blast, a flamer’s fire stream, a dark imp’s speedy green fireballs, cleaving and punching his way through them to recover ARMOR and munitions. An engineer zombie shambled mindlessly ahead. He grabbed it by its embedded acetylene tank and glanced around for the Hell Knight, finding it tossing fireballs in his direction as it prepared to flank him. The Marine strafed to dodge the fireballs, hearing them tear through the Facility walls far behind. He threw the engineer at the Hell Knight, but it rushed away and the zombie exploded harmlessly against the wall. Something squealed behind the Marine, and he angrily focused a Blood Punch and eviscerated the rushing Pinky with a single blow. He switched to the EMG, brought a charged shot to full capacity, and pulled the trigger. The shot his its mark and the Hell Knight contorted in pain as the electrified plasma surged through its body. The Marine Rampaged towards it, effortlessly ramming through imps and soldiers in his path, reaching the Hell Knight just as the stun wore off. At such close range the demon attempted to slash at him with wicked claws, which he swiftly blocked with his Bracer. He leapt onto the staggered creature, grabbed its head with a vice-like grip, and twisted it off its shoulders.

Glancing at the cracked coolant tank, he switched to his rocket launcher and blasted the tank open. A wave of steaming liquid came down pouring onto the floor of the installation, spreading out across the chamber and catching all demons in their wake. The Marine leapt out of the path of the oncoming wave onto the second floor, watching the creatures freeze solid in agonized poses.

The digit under his Calibrator counter ticked up to nine.

The Marine leapt down onto the first floor’s railings, taking care to avoid the pools of steaming coolant as it ran off into collection drains. It probably wouldn’t hurt him but it might jam up his Suit’s joints.

Kicking down the gate to the filter room, he frowned as Hayden once again pestered over the comm line.

“You must stop, the Hell energy is unusable without the filters!”

The Marine hoped that was the case as he brought his foot down on the whirring apparatus, breaking it entirely off.

“Warning. Energy contamination at critical levels.”

Having destroyed the filter, the Marine proceeded to collect the supplies scattered throughout the room as Hayden continued to badger.

“What you are destroying is more valuable than you can possibly imagine. It is a perfect and unlimited energy...”

A set of electric batteries fully restocked his chainsaw while a large ammo crate brought his other weapons to full capacity. Box of grenades, box of mines. A tactical shield and discarded helmet lay in a corner; the Marine collected them to gain 30 ARMOR.

“…spent decades perfecting the technology. We combined their endless power with our science to…”

“Argent D’Nur has survived for centuries thanks to the blessings of our Wraiths, but now we will prosper, thanks to the Elixir that surges from our enemies! Our strength, our wisdom, our might is indomitable! The dark ones will cower before us!

You will not stop our progress! You, an outsider, a Traveler, have no say in the future of our people!

Now fall back in line with the other prisoners or I will-”

He’d had enough. First his super shotgun had been taken away, then he was chained up with other wayward travelers like a lowly criminal, and now this priest dared disregard his valid concerns and even insult him. He threw his sword down and bitterly approached the priest.

“Wait, what are doing? Stand back! Guards, kill this-

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!”

The Marine rolled his eyes. It was always the progress, always the future, always the hubris for having ‘outwitted’ and ‘mastered’ the powers of Hell. Never the demons that ravaged their worlds and left mountains of innocent corpses. Never the fact that they always played right into the dark ones’ hands, another pawn to be consumed when they outlived their utility.

So much for the future.

There was a curious little robot floating beside a control terminal, carrying a supply crate in tiny suspension brackets. The Marine walked over to it and grabbed the crate’s handle, softly pulling it. It didn’t let go.

He poked at the drone’s large unblinking eye, hoping to get some response as he tugged harder. It still wouldn’t release the supply crate.

The Marine swung the attached robot onto the wall, smashing it off but taking care not to damage the crate. He opened it to find a small three-pronged metallic device. He grabbed it and watched as after a few moments of processing, the Praetor Suit integrated it into his left hand.

STUN BOMB ACQUIRED

IDENTIFIED AS EQUIPMENT – SYNCHRONIZED TO EQUIPMENT MODULE

STUN BOMB WILL AUTOMATICALLY RECHARGE THROUGH EQUIPMENT CYCLER

NOTICE: MANUAL LAUNCH OF EQUIPMENT ITEMS IS STILL REQUIRED

His equipment launcher was still damaged. He’d have to repair it soon to free up his left hand during combat.

“…usable and safe! We solved an energy crisis the world had no answer for!

It works! You cannot do this!”

The Marine blew air out his nose in exasperation as he approached a relay terminal besides the destroyed filter. He wouldn’t be able to block Hayden’s transmissions, but perhaps he could drown out his irritating voice.

Moments later, arcane waveforms thrummed through the air once the Marine synced his Suit’s Resonators to the Facility speakers. Smirking, he exited back out through the door and elbowed a frozen dark imp out of sheer spite, listening to the cracking sounds as its body shattered into dark chunks on the floor behind him.

* * *

“…OOOOOOHHHHHH!!”

The tall monstrous beast mournfully bellowed in the distance, and I peered at it from behind the cover of a gnarled spike.

“Colonel, what the hell is that?”

“Looks like some type of Abherrant, big freakish monsters that haunt the infernal wastelands. They don’t listen to anyone but themselves, and even most demons stay out of their way. You should too. They’re raw manifestations of Hell’s chaos. There’s no telling what they can or might do.”

The creature somberly treaded across the spiked landscape, with seemingly no purpose or agency in mind. I quietly slinked away. Its calm demeanor terrified me, and even though my overshield had returned, my chassis was damaged. I had to leave this cursed place.

It felt as if the tree-spikes were growing thicker, and when I looked up I noticed their tops began to overlap, almost like scales forming a thick canopy.

“Wait wait wait, did you see that?”

I saw something, a flickering light that briefly glimpsed from behind a spine. I stepped back and saw something small and distinctly bright burn close by within the forest. After a moment of hesitation I cautiously ambled towards it.

“Be careful.”

The spines had grown close together and difficult to traverse, and I struggled to move past them. Before long I stepped onto a flat clearing and gaped at the sight before me.

It seemed to be a hideout for what I imagined had once been human soldiers. Mangled and contorted corpses lay on the ground in various degrees of deformity, dressed in some dark military uniform of ages past which appeared oddly familiar. I couldn’t describe it. Crates of equipment lay in disarray throughout the clearing, cast in the fiery yellow glow of a small object which floated about a meter off the ground. I put off analyzing the object to take a closer look at the strewn supplies.

Paper maps, scouting instruments, a bag of simple mechanic tools. Wrenches, saws, hammers and the like. Nothing which appeared modern or even electronic in nature.

How old is this stuff?

There were firearms in the crates. Ancient firearms. Pistols, machine guns, wooden rifles, I even discovered a fossil fuel flamethrower. Entirely metal, no composite materials anywhere.

This is…must be twentieth century.

One of the firearms caught my eye, something that looked like a bulky triple-barreled shotgun.

No way. It’s automatic.

“You know, you might be able to graft that onto your weapons platform.”

“What do you mean, Colonel?”

“Your missile launchers are mounted on a multi-purpose modular platform. Currently those are the only guns on it, but if you find other viable weapons, you could add those and freely switch between. Totally hands-free.”

“Get out of here.”

“Don’t believe me? Grab the other one in the crate and hold them up to your launchers. I’ll take it from there.”

I did as the Colonel said, grabbing another of the bulky firearms and holding them onto my launchers, facing forward. Immediately, the weapon system on my back pulled the guns out of my hands with buzzing noises. The guns spun and whirred in my field of vision, presumably as they were integrated into my system.

“All right, synchronize that…get rid of that…link the trigger to your brain…So, they appear to be miniaturized flak cannons. They fire a short-range burst of burning shrapnel at a decently fast rate. They even shoot incendiary blasts! Slower but pack a bigger punch.

Right, that’s done. Why don’t you try that out?”

The guns had been seamlessly fused into my weapon platforms. I signaled the firing function and watched as white-hot shrapnel loudly shot out the muzzles and sparked on the floor. Remembering Johnson’s comments, I turned towards a space in the clearing and cautiously fired an incendiary blast.

POWW!

“Damn!”

The amber blast surged through the darkness and scorched the rocky ground, leaving dwindling flames in its wake.

Okay, I can make this work. Lastly…

I sent a new signal, and the weapon mounts instantly switched to my default missile launchers. Switch, flak cannons.

Bitchin’.

“Hey Colonel, you said my weapon platform is multi-purpose, right? That means I can add even more guns to the mounts, right?”

“Looks that way. If I’m reading this correctly, it seems you can add… three more weapon systems to your platform.”

Nice. Now, just what exactly is that thing?

I turned to face the cryptic floating object which irradiated the entire arena and took a few tentative steps in its direction.

“Shit!”

There was a corpse immediately underneath it. Why hadn’t I seen it before? It was a creature lying on its back, the object floating above the gaping cavity in its chest. But it didn’t seem like the other beasts I’d previously encounters, it almost looked…human. Two arms, two legs, about the right proportions, but it didn’t wear any uniform and I could clearly see its dreadfully disfigured body, lying in sharp focus under the piercing yellow light.

It’s face- nope. Not looking at its face.

I stood before the object. It was a small, impeccably detailed sculpture, shaped as two spires twirling around each other. Likely made of bone. Narrow grooves and channels on its surface burned with arcane energy.

“You’re not actually going to touch that?”

“I’m lost in the middle of nowhere and I haven’t found anything in the…how long have I been here? This weird thing might be the way out.”

“Sure was for these poor fellows.”

“Couldn’t take the heat. But I think I can.”

I breathed deeply in and slowly reached out, my hand inching towards the object. I clenched my teeth, braced myself…and touched it. Nothing.

“Huh?”

It was hard and rough, warm even, but it didn’t seem to do anything.

“Well, so much for-”

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

The object had suddenly erupted in a bright swell of energy, filling the whole clearing with writhing yellow flames. I was suspended in the air, watching helplessly as the power coalesced and streamed into my body with a howling shriek.

“HOLY SHIIIIII-”

And just as suddenly it ended and I fell to the ground, panting in what was now a pitch-black clearing. The luminous object had vanished. My hands phosphoresced with pale yellow flames which soon faded to nothing. I felt…

Great. I felt spectacular. It felt as if there was great power pooled under my skin, just waiting to be released.

“Amazing…John! You’re not going to believe this! Your system is giving off crazy readings! That thing must have been a pyromancy totem! You’re generating combat-grade levels of Argent energy! You can focus it through a psionic channel to release a wave of Hellfire that burns enemies away!”

“Wh-what are you talking about? You mean like a spell?”

“Yes! A spell! Your system can deploy spells!”

“How do I use it?”

“Like this!”

Esoteric words and thoughts flashed through my mind. Before I realized it my hands rose to form a strange gesture in an outward motion, and a wave of vicious flames shot out in front of me at hellish speed. It spread through the clearing and the spine forest beyond, immolating the corpses and abandoned supplies to leave nothing but charred ashes in its wake.

“Siiiiiick.”

* * *

“The clearance code is eight-three-three-two. Follow that corridor to the end until you find a tunnel leading through the exposed bedrock. Take it all the way to the end, it’ll drop you on the other side of the fence. You won’t be able to open the other door from your side, but we’ll take care of that. Over.”

“Copy. We’re moving. Rogers out.”

Reeves glanced at the patiently waiting Ruby and resumed guiding her through the mine. The other group had safely reached the target building and were currently taking an underground tunnel to their side of the fence, while Ruby and Reeves had reached the primary control facility and were logging onto the system.

So far, no one had yet encountered any enemy forces.

Ruby stayed close to the engineer and kept her pulse rifle ready as Reeves logged onto a terminal. The facility buzzed and hummed with the operation of distant machinery, and faulty ceiling fixtures occasionally sparked onto the blood-streaked floor. Ruby felt skittish.

“It can’t be,” Reeves whispered.

“What is it?”

“The Argent Tower’s energy signatures are through the roof. It’s being overloaded with the energy pools of all four adjacent sectors.”

Ruby peered over the engineer’s shoulder onto the terminal. Indeed, all available monitors were being bombarded with warning messages.

WARNING: CRITICAL SYSTEMS MELTDOWN

CATEGORY THREE INTERDIMENSIONAL BREACH IN T – 8 MINUTES

Ruby knew the only ones who had such high-level clearance to the Argent Tower to do such a thing were Central Command. Hayden and Pierce.

No way. They’ve really gone and done it.

She glanced at another monitor at the edge of the terminal, a scanner for demonic presence throughout the Base. What it depicted astounded her: the main nexus of infestation centered around the Lazarus Labs, undoubtedly the source of the invasion, but thousands of demons from all across Mars were converging towards the Tower and the adjacent filtering facility. Something was drawing them there. Leaving the outer sectors of the Base, such as the mine where the team currently resided, completely uninhabited.

So that’s why. If this keeps up, we just might have a chance of reaching the Spaceport. But what happens when the countdown hits zero?

Ruby tapped the scanner monitor to run a diagnostic on the target region.

What the hell?

The key energy filters at the Argent Facility were being sabotaged. Both induction filters had already been destroyed, leaving only the third and final processor supplying energy to the Tower.

That’ll shut down the Tower for sure, but who’s doing that? Demons wouldn’t do that, they’d do everything to tear open a breach to their dimension. And they wouldn’t need such numbers to do so, they must be trying to stop whoever’s responsible.

Can’t be other survivors, I don’t think many others made it, and they’d never get past the lockdown or infestation. Hayden maybe? No, he’d never sabotage the energy production. Even a unit of assault droids would get taken out quickly, and that arrogant bastard would never do it himself. I bet that shiny prick’s holed up in his bunker.

But who-

…

Nah, couldn’t be.

“No one’s waiting for us at the Spaceport, is there?” Reeves asked in a tone that was more disappointed than afraid, snapping Ruby out of her trance.

Ruby was at a loss for words and debated how to answer before Romero’s transmission gratefully broke the silence.

“Red Team, this is Blue Team! We’ve reached the end of the service tunnel and are staring dead smack at a locked door! How about opening it up for us?”

The engineer gasped and replied to the sudden interruption.

“C-copy! This is Reeves! Opening the gate now!”

“Hiro, you there?” Ruby decisively asked.

“Taylor, still here! What’s up?”

“We’ve reached the control facility! The three of you get your asses over here as fast as you can! Don’t worry about any enemies! Just run!”

“Run? The hell are you talking about? Are we in trouble?”

“Not right now, but that’s the thing! The mine is empty! I’ll explain everything when you get here! Just hurry!”

“We’re moving!”

Ruby turned to Reeves. The engineer was sitting on the floor against the terminal, her HAR lying beside her, clearly lost in thought. Ruby walked towards her but said nothing.

“I never really wanted to come to Mars. I wanted to work in the aerospace industry back on Earth. My father worked on the cruisers arriving at the Houston Spaceport. He often would take me there as a kid, telling me about the adventures the colonists had in the Asteroid Belt or Saturn. Didn’t want to live in the frontier, just liked the ships.

But I…I had a falling out, with my mother. She works at Biodyne. She wanted an office job for me and, I didn’t. We crossed words and…I came to Mars. As far away from Earth and her as possible. Working on a restricted planet owned by a government-contracted megacorp? Never have to see her again. But I…

I didn’t really mean what I said. I was angry, she was angry, I shouldn’t have left things that way. I haven’t spoken to her in twenty years. And now…I don’t think I’ll get to say I’m sorry.”

Ruby remained silent. She kept standing by the terminal facing Reeves but made no reaction.

She then powered down her pulse rifle and lowered herself besides the engineer, likewise relaxing against the terminal.

The hell am I doing?

“Do you remember the Europa Rebellion back in ‘32?” She casually asked.

“Not really.”

“I was in it. Wide-eyed recruit fresh off the academy, eager to make a quick buck in corporate defense. Worked for Mixom back then. Our platoon sergeant was this decorated Mars vet, I think he served in the Phobos Firewall or something. Carl Johnson was his name.

Biggest asshole in the world, that son of a bitch. Strictest and most demanding bastard you’ve ever met. A hundred rules, follow the book, always with that duty and honor nonsense. Whenever someone broke one of his million rules, he’d force the whole platoon to dig two-cubic-meter ice blocks out with hand tools.”

Ruby laughed as she recalled those days.

“No reason! No reason at all, just chill out in a freezer for a few hours until you can’t feel your hands anymore just to dig up a big chunk of ice and dump it by the warehouse. Before long, we we’re building our very own Giant’s Causeway.”

She briefly chuckled before memories of that night flashed in her mind.

“One night, the rebels attacked out of nowhere. They managed to slip past our sensors and blew our base apart. Fire, and ice. Some sectors had been blown out into the vacuum. They hit our reactor, our hangar, our barracks. Lots of good soldiers died that night.

But there he was. He wasn’t like the other COs who fled to the bunkers. He stayed behind to search for his platoon during the attack. Alone, just his envirosuit and an old pistol. Heh, probably couldn’t fit those brass balls into a power armor. He’d even brought an SOS beacon and called for immediate evac on our position.

…Ten hours, pinned in our destroyed barracks, watching rebel ships swarm overhead. They must have been searching for something because they never came looking for us, but we couldn’t leave. Johnson stood guard all night, telling us it was gonna be all right. Some people had ripped envirosuits and lost limbs to exposure. Others had ruptured tanks and had to share air. Not all of us made it.”

…Where’s this coming from? Why am I telling a stranger my tragic backstory?

“Reinforcements didn’t arrive till morning. Our fighters stormed the skies but the rebels didn’t back down. Determined to fight to the last man. We rushed to the evac ships ducking under enemy fire, and the bastard kept fighting. He stood his ground trying to cover his platoon, making sure every last one made it to safety before he got on board. The last I ever saw of old Johnson was him shooting his pistol into the distance, enemy bolts soaring past, standing on the ice amidst the steam and smoke. Like something out of a movie. Heh, crazy son of a bitch.

If I ever met him again, first thing I’d do is sock him in his chiseled face for all those ice blocks. Second thing I’d do is thank him. Lastly, I’d invite him for a round of beers.

Wonder where he is today.”

…Damn. Must have really needed to get that out of my system.

Reeves had listened closely as the Elite Guard recounted her experiences. She sat quietly for a few moments before responding.

“I’m sorry for my previous behavior, Agent. I know I can be…difficult, and these circumstances are stressful, but that’s no excuse for how I acted. You’ve been nothing but helpful all this time, and you really saved our lives back at the Hospital. If it weren’t for you, I don’t think we could have made it. Most people here at the Base tend to look down on us simple engineers and technicians, but…

Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“…Are they really demons?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“I heard the rumors. Everyone knew Mars contained some interdimensional breach, and that weird things were happening here. The blockade, the industrial-military jurisdiction, Phobos quarantined, Deimos gone. We knew about the monsters, figuring they were just experiments gone wrong. But then we saw Dr. Pierce’s broadcast, the Wave hit, and I saw what it did to people. How they…

The rumors were true. They really do come from the other side.”

Ruby sighed and stood up, relogging onto the terminal.

“I think the living need not concern themselves with ‘the other side’. And we’re still living, aren’t we? Cheer up, Amanda. Fight’s not over yet.”

The engineer’s posture seemed to relax, if only a bit.

“I’m scared. Everything’s happening so quickly and I don’t know what’s going on. It feels like something big’s coming. Something evil.

Something we don’t stand a chance against.”

Ruby stopped typing on the computer to face the engineer.

“Amanda, listen. I’m going get you out of here. You're going to see your mother again, and you'll tell her everything you have to. I promise.”

Reeves said nothing after that, turning to blankly face the wall.

Meanwhile, Ruby continued to track the demonic forces amassing at the Argent Tower. Legions from every direction snaked towards the sector, no doubt swarming to open the gate to their world and stop whoever was trying to shut it down.

CATEGORY THREE INTERDIMENSIONAL BREACH IN T – 4 MINUTES

Good luck, whoever you are.

* * *

SO MANY DEMONS! WHY WERE THERE SO MANY?!

The Marine leapt from one rooftop to another as he shot rocket after rocket at the charging horde. Imps and Lost Souls chased after him as possessed soldiers fired their weapons from the ground. Thanks to his Rampage, the Marine managed to stay ahead the horde and their attacks but the clock kept ticking. He still had one last filter to shut down. With the dust storm blowing harder than ever he was forced to rely on his Clearsight, which in turn drew the legions advancing onto the Tower towards him instead.

He threw grenades behind while dropping mines at his feet. He reached the rooftop edge and jumped towards a cargo crane as he noticed a Hell Knight far below throwing fireballs at him. He switched to his plasma cutter and charged a shot before firing it at the Hell Knight’s shoulder, slicing the arm off at the bone. Still soaring, the Marine caught onto the crane and pulled it to topple the entire structure on top of the disarmed Hell Knight, shooting his assault rifle while riding the collapsing crane. Forty tons of steel crushed the Hell Knight into a bloody pulp as the Marine leapt off and broke his fall on a zombie's back.

Without stopping, he leapt onto a container suspended from another crane and fired his jump pack to reach another rooftop. A dark imp hot on his trail prepared to throw a homing blue fireball. The Marine jumped into the air as he spun, fleetingly lined the sights for a precision bolt, and blew the demon’s brains out before setting foot on the ground again and continuing without ever slowing down.

The rooftop edge was approaching. The Marine braced, leapt for the next building…and missed. The opposing rooftop was too far away and he fell towards a solid wall. Crashing through concrete and metal alike, the Marine hit the ground running and lobbed grenades within the building as he ran for a stairway headed upwards. A zombie scientist idly stood on the staircase with its back to the Marine. In a split second, the Marine brandished his chainsaw and passed through the zombie with it, bisecting it from skull to groin as he rushed by and collecting its gushing tissues to restock munitions.

Reaching the opposite wall, the Marine kept running and smashed through it, falling past a psionic emitter mounted on the exterior facility wall. Curiously, the emitter was transmitting the frequencies from the Praetor Suit’s Resonators, and he saw the chasing horde roil and thrash as they passed the emitter, forgetting the Marine as they furiously shred the speaker to pieces.

Of course! He had synchronized his Resonators to the Facility relay terminal, and the frequencies his Suit produced were disruptive to demonic minds! The Marine brought up the Suit link and pushed the volume sliders to full capacity.

At once, external emitters throughout the Facility erupted in a discordant cacophony of rancorous noise. It was too rough to be called ‘music.’ Too raw, too aggressive, too heavy, it was more like pure violence made sound.

The horde shrieked and flailed in agony as the pulsing waves hammered through their flesh and bone. Many dispersed into the canyon below or back towards the Tower, still crackling with power, while the rest continued after him.

It was more than enough.

Switching to his combat shotgun, the Marine shred the last few imps and Lost Souls with well-aimed shrapnel shots.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Fiery waves of Argent energy broad and sharp as swords sliced through the air by the Marine, missing him by a hair’s breadth, and the air churned with dark magic as the Summoner finally appeared. Lesser Hellspawn of the Archdemons; tall and lithe, their Argent wave attacks could raze buildings and bring fighter ships down.

He equipped the rocket launcher and fired a blast at the demon, which wisped away in a stream of flame and appeared again on the rooftop in front of him. He shot another rocket which struck the demon but exploded against the clear shield surrounding its body, leaving the demon lord unharmed.

The Marine did NOT have time for this.

He switched to the plasma rifle and shot a stream of plasmoids at the Summoner to bring down its shield, but this lobbed wave after wave of searing energy at the Marine and forced him backwards before raising its arms and opening a dozen summoning circles around it.

BOOM!

Something erupted through the ground at his feet, knocking him off the roof, and he crashed hard through a building before steading himself, cleaving a trough through the Martian soil as he faced his attacker.

It was a metallic Hell Knight, bearing steel plates grafted to its skin, thick robotic legs, and a UAC minigun instead of a right hand.

Not only were these people capturing demons, they were enhancing them as well. His rage surged as he considered the implications.

The Marine rushed away as the cyberknight spun up its minigun. He ducked under a storm of lead attempting to put distance between himself and the cybernetic monstrosity as the Summoner’s wave attacks sliced past him.

He equipped his rocket launcher again and fired a rocket at the cyberknight, which dashed out of its path and rushed after him.

Great, it was faster too.

He held out his left hand and launched a stun bomb at the cyberknight, which winced and groaned as the electricity coursed through its metallic body. The Marine switched back to the rocket launcher. Three rockets hit their mark and blasted large chunks of its armor and flesh off but the monster remained standing. It quickly righted itself and charged at the Marine. He took to the air again and leapt onto a rooftop to gain space.

The cyberknight couldn’t fire its minigun on the move but it could still throw fireballs from its normal hand, fast and keen like tank shells. The Marine caught sight of a long cable hanging from a transport crane as the Summoner rose into the sky and focused crimson lightning throughout the roiling storm, preparing to bombard the area with a lightning barrage. He jumped through the air and caught the cable in his free hand, swinging around to kick the pouncing cyberknight off the roof.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

With a fierce howl the hovering Summoner swung its arms down and unleashed a volley of lightning strikes throughout the Argent Facility, crumbling buildings and vaporizing lesser demons caught in their path. Just in time, the Marine swung off the chain as a bolt of Argent lightning descended on him, raising his Bracer to catch the bolt in his fist. The grounded cyberknight only saw a flash of red light before the Marine brought his crackling fist down on its chest, and the monster exploded in a shower of flesh and metal as the released energy vaporized other nearby demons.

Acting quickly, the Marine spun around on his heel and raised his phase rifle at the suspended Summoner while it remained exposed in the air, successfully striking and weakening its shield with a plasmoid barrage. The demon lord wisped a distance away from the Marine and raised its arms to open more summoning circles, but he shot a rocket before tossing a grenade as he charged towards it. BOOM! BOOM! The demon lord faltered with both blasts as its shield finally broke, and the Marine dropkicked the demon before bringing the buzzing chainsaw across its neck, slicing its shrieking head off and restoring his munitions.

A distant rumbling brought his attention to the Tower. The vortex had grown larger and threatened to erupt as the energy kept accumulating. It was a matter of minutes now, but the horde was still too numerous. He needed something, anything to buy him time. With the demons still after him, the Marine brought up his automap as he scanned the environment for any resource he could use to his advantage.

There! A small fuel depot by the Facility outskirts, but how could he…There were still a number of security gates throughout the installation. Unopened security gates. The Marine had an idea.

He equipped his combat shotgun and headed towards the last energy filter. He stormed through the Facility until the marker appeared in sight, activating his stored Personal Teleporter and launching the circular beacon at the gate.

TELEPORTER BEACON DEPLOYED

The Marine then turned away towards the dispersed security gates. He reached one, a locked blue door guarding a vehicle hangar, and smashed through it. An alarm began to ring and demonic portals appeared around him, but the Marine continued onto the next gate. He crashed through the wall and broke through to another locked gate, this time yellow, and smashed through it as well. Another alarm rung and the horde chasing after the Marine grew even thicker. He shot several shrapnel blasts at the mob behind him to take out the nearest pursuers.

There was one more gate, a red one leading into a hydroponics compound, and he smashed through that one too. The sound of sirens faded behind the Marine, but the horde chasing after him remained deep and dark as night. He headed for the fuel depot.

With such numbers on his trail, the Marine found it difficult to avoid all their attacks. Railgun bolts and fireballs nicked him as rockets exploded at his heels. His ARMOR was gone and his HEALTH ticked worryingly low.

“…AAAAAA…”

This had to be a joke.

Headless kamikaze charged from the direction of the depot straight at him. He fired one shrapnel shot after another to clear them out of his path, staying clear of the explosions as their bodies burst into hellish flames.

Those weren’t even supposed to be here!

The fuel reservoirs loomed up ahead. The Marine soared onto the adjacent building rooftop, ran for the edge, and…

Jumped off.

The horde leapt after him, claws outstretched and teeth bared.

The Marine spun in the air as he fell towards the tank, extending a middle finger at the horde with a small metal ring hanging on it. Too late did the demons notice the grenade arcing down towards the fuel reservoirs. The Marine then vanished in a burst of particles, reappearing on the other side of the Facility where he’d thrown the teleporter beacon.

The explosion flashed on the horizon to rival even the brightness of the blazing Argent Tower.

26 HEALTH. Plenty to spare.

He broke into the installation and hurried towards the final filter, which was mounted in front of a large window to the Argent Tower.

“If stopping our energy production is what you want, then you need only destroy this last filter and Argent Energy will no longer exist in this solar system. We will be back at square one.”

The Marine approached the machine, taking a moment to admire the advanced and ingenious design before facing the Tower, which stood like an evil spear on the horizon. The cutting edge with which the UAC would pierce the heavens and strike down their enemies.

“Our orders were clear. Secure this sector.”

“Sarge, these people are civilians! They’re clean!”

“I SAY WHO’S CLEAN AND WHO ISN’T!”

The year was 2035. He and four other Space Marines had dropped behind insurgent lines aboard Prime Station, Earth’s oldest and largest orbital colony. They’d been scouting an urban sector when they found a group of civilians, tattered and bloodied, holed up in a bombed building. However, their platoon leader, a grizzled sergeant by the name of Mahonin, wasn’t buying it.

“Have you marines forgotten that we are at war at this very moment? At war against an enemy that would like nothing more than to crawl into our bedrooms and slit our throats as we sleep? An enemy that could be hiding in plain sight!”

“So let’s arrest them!” Yelled one of the soldiers, a young man still burdened with idealism. “Let’s cuff them and take them back to base! Have the law sort out who’s friendly and who’s a spy! We don’t have orders to kill innocent people!”

Mahonin stared at the man, his maroon eyes piercing through the soldier’s visor.

“We have orders to secure this sector. By any. Means. Necessary.

We kill them all.

God will sort them out.

But we will send them to Him.”

The captives cowered as they heard those words. The distressed soldier bent over and shook his head.

“I can’t do this. This is wrong.”

The sergeant grabbed the kid by his shoulders and pushed him to the wall.

“THAT WAS A DIRECT ORDER! YOU WILL OBEY A DIRECT ORDER FROM YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER! INSUBORDINATION IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH! I WILL SHOOT YOU MYSELF, DAMN IT, IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY!”

The sergeant dropped the man and turned to another of the soldiers standing at guard.

“You are soldiers, is that correct?”

“Yes, Sarge,” replied a stern woman’s voice.

The sergeant continued onto the next marine.

“And good soldiers follow orders. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Sarge,” came the man’s reply.

Mahonin walked up to the Marine.

“That means you know, what you have to do. Is that correct?”

Fight evil. Wherever and however it may appear.

The Marine nodded in agreement.

Mahonin’s gaze remained intense but he appeared satisfied. He strode towards the kid, who’d since picked himself off the ground.

“You will follow, any and all orders you receive. Is that correct?”

The young soldier hesitated, but heavily nodded.

“Yes. Sergeant.”

“Good. In formation, marines.”

The civilians exclaimed in terror. The squadron formed a semicircle around them, pinning them against the wall. Mahonin moved behind the squad, making sure all his soldiers followed orders.

The Marine stared at the captives. The sergeant was entirely right. For all they knew, all of them could be insurgent spies. Even the children, wide eyed in their innocence and hiding behind their parents, might have carried sensitive data or equipment across the border. Perhaps even bombs, hidden inside the toy soldier the young boy carried. A young fair-haired boy with imploring hazel eyes.

The Marine sighed. He was going to regret this.

“Ready!”

The soldiers gripped their weapons and so did he. He reached for his back and grabbed his sidearm, an old double-barreled shotgun. The others had likely closed their eyes behind their visors, that way they wouldn’t see their victims’ faces as they died. The Marine didn’t. He needed to see.

“Aim!”

Fire.

The last filter exploded.

Much like Mahonin’s head did.

The Marine remembered it all. He remembered Mahonin’s look of steeled determination fade into ghastly shock as the Marine aimed his shotgun squarely at the sergeant’s face.

The weight of the shotgun, the resistance of the trigger, the recoil of the blast.

Metal, glass, and luminous plasma glinted in the air, hitting the facility window and falling to the floor.

Bone, blood, and brain matter spewed out in an almost aesthetic manner. One of Mahonin’s eyeballs burst into clear fluid, the other flew back with the force of the blast. The remaining bottom half of his head was a sloughy mess of bloody cavities, his exposed tongue flopping limply. The rest landed amongst the rubble and debris, staining the ground a dark red. After a moment of pause, the sergeant’s body fell to its knees and landed face-down with a heavy thud.

The energy beaming from the Argent Tower flickered down and the vortex dissipated into the surrounding atmosphere. The Marine holstered his super shotgun onto his shoulder.

Everyone had been quiet. The other marines slowly lowered their weapons attempting to process what happened. The civilians looked on in horror, disgust, even relief. The young boy was gazing intently at the blood spurting from the stump where the sergeant’s head had once been. He probably was scarred for life.

Tough shit.

He gestured the captives to get the hell out of there. They did, and his fellow marines watched them flee before turning to face him. That was going to be a long night.

“You have no idea what you have just done,” growled Hayden in a low, furious tone.

Wrong again. He knew exactly what he had done now, as he did all those years ago.

“Where is she now, VEGA?”

“Well,” Hayden spoke dejectedly, “that’s it then. There’s nothing else to be done.”

The Marine gauged the distance to the Argent Tower. It was about a kilometer away, with the peak another kilometer above the ground.

Ten minutes to cross two kilometers of densely infested demon territory?

He’d be there in nine.

* * *

I tramped resolutely yet cautiously across the forest of spines, keeping an eye on the grim Abherrant drearily striding in the distance. I kept my bronze dagger stored at my side, figuring my new spell would be more useful in that claustrophobic environment.

“John, I’m picking something up.”

“What is it, Colonel?”

“A stable channel in the local chaostream. A portal, ten o’clock.”

I headed in that direction, taking clear notice of the shadow that rushed behind a spine.

“Will that take me back to somewhere civilized?”

“Negative, soldier. Hell has…how to put it, tough security. Tall spiked fence all around the edge, keeping the big critters in. Good news for us honest people in our humble universe, bad news for the poor soul who ends up on the other side.

Fortunately for you, old fences tend to have the odd crack, big enough to let the sharp-eyed bug through. And I think I know of one that’ll drop you close to home. That’s your ticket out of here.”

Chittering noises echoed close by, and I readied myself for a confrontation.

“Won’t stop me from meeting other bugs along the way, I suppose?”

“Can’t have it all, soldier. Just be thankful you landed in the shallows with the minnows. The sharks can get rather big out in the open sea.”

What’s with the metaphors?

The figures crawled out of the shadows. They were horrible to look at: slimy tentacles, spikes piercing through their callous hide, a mass of dark gelatinous eyes, black fangs long and sharp like knives. Each one was as big as me.

“Can’t imagine what the sharks are like.”

I was surrounded. I spun my flak cannons in anticipation and held my hands at the ready, which erupted in ghostly yellow flames.

“Come on, come on, come on,” I whispered. “Come and get me, you sons of bitches.”

One of the creatures screeched at me, the sound like claws scratching on glass. I returned the challenge.

“RRRAAAHHH!”

The beast pounced at me. I punched it aside and tore it to shreds with blasts from my flak cannons.

The mob attacked and I released a wave of blazing Hellfire that spread throughout the clearing, noticing the spell consume some of the energy pooled within me. I shot at the beasts as they thrashed in flaming agony. Something roared within the forest. Something big.

I left the dying monsters behind and ran towards my destination.

“Colonel! How much farther to the portal?!”

“Just up ahead! But hurry! It won’t stay open forever!”

“Roger that!”

Montrous beasts leapt at me from the shadows. I ducked under their claws and shot at the ones standing in my way. I could hear the spines behind me crack and break as something smashed through them, and the ground began to quake.

“John!”

There was a great heaving lurch, and something incredibly large soared over me and landed on the ground in front, breaking through the thick and sharp spines like mere twigs. I skidded to a halt as I caught sight of bulging muscles and a gaping maw with countless needle-like teeth before a giant clawed hand slashed at me. I dashed out of the way and used my jump pack to soar over the spines. I hit the monster with a Flame Wave, which roared as the fire engulfed its body.

The energy’s almost gone. This spell must have limited uses.

The creature extended its split jaw and launched a mass of spiked tentacles from its throat. I ducked before they harpooned me and ran between the spines, hearing other tentacles stab into the ground behind me.

“ShitshitSHITSHITSHIT!”

The monster charged through the spines towards me, and I looked back in terror as it raised its hand and-

Eeee…

What the hell is that noise?

BOOM!

A bright flash of blue light descended from above and struck the monster, leaving behind a charred skeleton that crumbled to the floor.

A scarlet warship descended through the cloud cover, brutal and ruthless in presence, with a sound more dreadful than the deepest thunder. It looked similar to the ship I had escaped from.

Standing below it, however, I was truly able to behold its terrible majesty. It must have been at least…three hundred in length, enough to rival some of the UAC’s biggest cruisers. It had an odd hourglass shape that was heavier towards the front and slim in the middle, with several short fin-like wings giving it the form of some marine animal. Its ridged red surface was covered in point-defense cannons, a dozen metallic tentacles writhed from beneath, and a horrific helmed skull blazed from its bow. Definitely not human and definitely not friendly.

I heard the Abherrant bellow in the distance, dreary but with a chilling tone of malevolent rage. The Abherrant began to charge at the ship, moving terrifyingly quick and impossibly quiet despite its size. As I watched, the forest of spines began to quiver, like quills on the back of a…

What am I standing on?

There was a tumultuous maelstrom of arcane energy swirling up ahead in a flat clearing, but the whirlpool seemed to be dissipating away.

That must be the portal! It’s closing!

“Go! Just go!”

I ran for the vortex as fast as I could, hearing the Abherrant roar and the ship prepare to fire again.

“…OOOOOOHHHHHH!!”

Eeee…

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

An explosion shook the world behind me and I passed into the portal.

* * *

“Are you seeing this?”

“The Argent Tower. It’s…powering down…”

The third and final energy filter had been destroyed, along with Mars’s Argent production, but the Tower was shutting down. An interdimensional breach was avoided, at least for the moment.

Ruby brought up the security feed from the Argent Facility.

“You’re shittin’ me.”

It looked like a warzone. The Facility was charred and devastated, marked with the signs of intense battle. Bullet holes riddled the walls, craters smoked on the ground, building walls were blown out. The fuel depot was gone.

And the corpses!

The facility was littered with the ravaged corpses of countless demons. Zombies, imps, soldiers. Limbs and heads lay strewn about their dismembered bodies, and it seemed every available surface was splattered with thick black blood. As much as Ruby tried, she could not see the body of anything that might have been responsible for such destruction. There was the occasional human corpse but those were workers or lone guards, intact and clearly dead from the initial attack.

Is that…A DAMN DECAPITATED SUMMONER? I know demons will sometimes kill each other, but what the hell could kill a Summoner like that? The one time one of those bastards managed to exfiltrate here, Dr. Hayden himself ordered it nuked from orbit. I can’t even pronounce the type of payload they used.

But something just casually chopped the head off of it?

The feed to the last filter was still functional. She brought it up and rewound the recording to the time of the filter’s destruction.

Ruby pressed her gaze to the monitor, making sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

God have mercy.

“Taylor!”

Ruby turned to face the sound. Romero and the others were racing down the wall towards them.

“You made it!”

The three men hurried into the room, and Ruby clapped Rogers on the shoulder.

“Well done, lieutenant. Good to see you all in one piece.”

“Agent. What’s going on?”

“You’re not gonna believe this,” Ruby said as she approached the terminal. “The outer sectors of the Base, including this mine, are completely clear. The enemy has moved away from us and is amassing at the Argent Tower.”

“The Tower was being overloaded less than a minute ago,” Reeves spoke up. “It’s been shut down, but those things are still swarming there.”

“Correct.”

“Wait, what?” Rogers puzzledly asked. “The Tower…overloaded? Shut down? Why? Who the hell would do that?”

“Beats me,” Ruby replied honestly. “But now that the enemy has moved, that buys us some time and opens up other routes. I was considering taking a rover to the Spaceport, directly across the surface to circumvent the infested facilities, but now that those are clear we only have the lockdown to worry about.

There’s a working transport shuttle docked at the Helix Labs, about a click west of here. We’ll cross through the Argent extraction station next door to reach it, then we’ll man that shuttle and fly it straight to the Spaceport!”

“Extraction sites are awfully dangerous, Agent.” Harrison commented in concern. “Raw Argent plasma is exceedingly volatile, not to mention radioactive. Humans are not meant to be present in those facilities, particularly not during emergencies.”

“This whole Base is already a deathtrap, Christopher. Difference is, Argent plasma won’t hunt us down and bite our heads off. Besides, Helix contains the only viable shuttle in the entire sector, and we don’t know if the enemy will stay at the Tower. We have no choice.”

Romero sighed. “How far are we from that Spaceport?”

“Twenty clicks.”

“Twenty clicks of cold and poisonous Martian wasteland.”

Ruby nodded.

“Even unmanned facilities are designed to accommodate people.” Romero added. “If things go south, we’re better off within the Base rather than outside it.”

“Helix is a Level Three restricted installation. Do we have clearance into the labs?” Rogers hesitantly asked.

Ruby grinned.

“You’re looking at her.”

Romero was convinced. “I say we go for it. Ms. Reeves?”

“Works for me.”

“Lieutenant?”

“If you think we can pull it off, let’s do it.”

“Mr. Harrison?”

“Uggh, I’m too old to get cancer from radiation poisoning. Fine.”

“Right on. Ms. Reeves? Take us there.”

“Copy that.”

The team proceeded towards the facility exit, and Ruby began to follow before she slowed to a halt and looked back to face the monitors.

Somewhere out there was a Tower that had been seconds away from tearing a hole into a dimension of unfathomable power and horror, and somewhere out there was someone that had managed to stop it. Someone that was very much alive. Alive and slaughtering every demon in their path.

If it’s really you…I just hope you’re on our side.

* * *

KILLS - 75%

SECRETS - 7

TIME - 30:00