The Doom Slayer-U.A.C Mars Facility

I watched helpless in the invisible bounds as the fucking cyborg Hayden took The Crucible and rambled on and on about how he could continue his work, I only half-payed attention. I pulled and struggled against the energy that kept me still, to my increasing rage and frustration the binds didn't budge. I hated this feeling of helplessness with every fiber of my being.

Hayden continued his bullshit, "I am not the villain in this story. I do what I do because there is no choice…" Just then a feminine voice on the intercom spoke.

"Rerouting tether coordinates complete!" I struggled and pulled more as I realized that Hayden planned on sending me back to Hell. Although it didn't matter much in the long run, he was going to open up another portal sooner or later, and I was going to go back through that portal and kick his metallic ass when it happens.

I scowled under my helmet as Hayden continued to speak. "Our time is up. I can't kill you-Damn right you can't-but I won't have you standing in our way." He activated The Crucible, like he even knew how to use it properly. The tether display in my visor lit up as Hayden continued to speak, "Until we see each other again…" He began to walk off as I felt the tether activate and blue overtake my vision…

The Doom Slayer-The Glowing Sea

The tethering device felt the same as it did the last few times, like being stabbed with hundreds of red-hot needles all over your body in the span of a millisecond. Although it was over in just a few seconds.

I was unceremoniously dumped onto hard concrete and could hear wind whistling and thunder booming all around me. I rolled over onto my back and stared at the...green sky?...strange. I've been to most if not all the regions and versions of Hell, a green sky was new to me. No matter, it became apparent I was in a new version of hell as I sat up and looked around me. I was surrounded by ruins, piles of charred concrete and twisted rebar, equally charred human skeletons clutching other human skeletons sitting against one semi-intact wall to my left. I stood up and walked out of the ruined structure to get my bearings in this new Hell.

The ruins sat atop a cliff overlooking the wasteland that would become my new stomping grounds for maybe the next few hundred years. Lightning flashed and spasmed every few seconds, the wind whistled through the ruins, ther-

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP

My thoughts were interrupted by the stomping of what I could only assume was a demon far below me at the base of the cliff. Squelching and tearing sounds rose up from the ground below as the demon tore into a carcass it had been dragging with its claws. I leaped over the edge onto the demon's head. Its hunched position made it so my full weight crashed upon its head and pushed downwards onto the blood-smeared ground. Its jaw made a sickening crunch sound as it made contact with a rock.

In pain and surprise, the demon shook me off from its head and turned to face me. It made a pathetic attempt to intimidate me with a roar but failed miserably with its broken jaw which hung down limply and dripped blood.

The demon's gaping maw made the perfect target for one of my favorite weapons. I pulled out the gauss cannon and tried to take aim but had to throw myself backward as the demon tried to swipe at me with its claws.

'You have lost knee privileges' I fired a shot into the armored knee of the demon, the steel flechette easily piercing the armor and going straight through, shattering the bone and embedding itself in a rock. Causing the demon to roar pathetically and fall onto its slashing arms. Smirking under my visor, I equipped siege mode and took aim into its mouth. The charged flechette went straight through its brain and out into the sky killing it instantly.

'What a shame, I didn't get to glory kill it…' I thought to myself. I walked up to the demon and inspected it while I had this little bit of quiet before I'll inevitably be rushed by twenty imps at once. After all, it's always important to know your enemy, especially if they're new.

The demon was large, if its legs could straighten and it stood on its hind legs it could easily reach the height of a Baron of Hell. If it wasn't permanently hunched-over it could stand even taller. Although its immense height, it had a relatively light build. Armor and muscle were placed evenly along the limbs. The back and spine of the demon was heavily armored and covered in spikes.

'Hmmm...this one will be annoyi-aha!' I thought to myself as I flipped the demon over and saw its weaker underbelly. I guessed the weaker scales here could easily be pierced by the .50 caliber rounds of my heavy assault rifle, as well as anything stronger. It had a weak spot, every demon has a weak spot.

'Hmmm...it's getting...darker? Huh, I guess this Hell has some pattern..?' The landscape was rapidly darkening. That was fine, I needed to move on anyway.

I started traveling West, my visor's compass guiding me. I walked over, through, and around ruins encountering many human and animal bones alike along the way, nothing new. There were pink creatures the size of dogs who could dig and used that to flank me. They died easily with the EMG pistol. I was inspecting a partially sunken and destroyed skyscraper in the distance when my helmet's speakers crackled to life out of nowhere. Static filled my ears and surprisingly, the voice of an old friend...although heavily distorted.

=Attemmmmp-ting rebooooooOOOot...fAilEd!= =InsuFficient poooOowWEr!= =AttemmPTing To FiNd AllllterNate SouRRRRce...Success!= =Alternate source found.= =Attempting reboot…complete!= =System operating at three-percent efficiency.= =Rebooting personality core…complete!=

"Hello. I am VEGA, the sentient intelligence assigned to Mars."

It was nice to hear from VEGA, he didn't deserve to die for that prick Hayden. Not to mention he sacrificed himself in order to stop the invasion without even mentioning the backup chip. That's selflessness for a greater good.

"Normally, your suit's systems aren't complex enough to support me, Slayer. Although I managed to speak to you now by temporarily decommissioning my secondary and tertiary processors to inform you that I've detected a power source that could potentially support me. I've marked it on your HUD."

The mark was close, just a few hundred yards to my right. Since I had no pressing concerns and VEGA was useful to me I went to check it out. Just a few minutes later I found the mark in the form of an extremely old shack…