A Soldier's Journey
01: A soldier's work is never done
Date started: 05-25-2019 A.D.
Date finished: 05-29-2019 A.D.
Date last edited: 05-29-2019 A.D.
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[-][The Devil's Domain/June 30th, 2140/Unknown Time][-]
How long had he been squaring off against this… thing? Has it been minutes? Or have hours passed them by already? Fuck, time flows differently in this place.
In the span of a single day, everything had gone to shit. The attack on the Mars Facility as he was doing cargo duty in one of the hangars of one of the many outposts, the mayhem of fighting through the very forces of Hell just to reunite with his fellow Marines, being the sole survivor in the escape to Earth, the walk to L.A., the massive urban war in L.A., securing the portal to Hell, invading Hell with all remaining UAC forces, the City of Dis, the Peak of the Gods, all of them culminating into one final confrontation.
Damn, his gut hurts just thinking about it. Oh wait, that was the burns on his stomach. From those giant, fuck-off fireballs this thing would spam at him. His heavy-duty combat armor was a mess, the ballistic-woven bodysuit underneath tattered and the composite plates cracked or broken. His limbs weren't in any good shape either, his legs tired from constantly bobbing and weaving through the countless demons it would spawn and his arms tired from constantly carrying the Black Hole Generator and from brutalizing weaker demons every chance he got. His helmet was in bad shape, too, the visor cracked open for one of his eyes to be revealed to the outside world.
His dance partner wasn't so hot either, its arms were broken from the gravitational pull from previous 'black holes' launched at those specific body parts. Its wings were beyond saving, destroyed by a few well-placed Excavator charges to their joints and blown all the way deeper into Hell. Its face, the ugliest face he'd ever seen amongst these bastards, was broken too with most of its horns destroyed and only one milky white eye open. The other had been gouged out by his MIXOM Ogretooth Chainsaw. Speaking of which, the repurposed lumbering tool was still stuck in that thing's eye-socket, the weapon too deep to pull out in time when the thing took a swipe at him and took off a good portion of its own face in the process.
Around him were bodies of the slain demons. Different species of Imps, Hell-Knights, Pinkies, Revenants, Cacodemons, Hell-Barons, Arachnopods, Mancubi, Elementals, and Viles were decorating the large cavern with their entrails, organs, and blood.
Glancing to his weapon's frame, he could see that it had enough energy left for one final shot. He HAD to make it count.
All his other ammunitions have been spent fighting this bastard to begin with anyways. Rightfully wasted upon each and every demon it would spawn to aid it. There was still a small percentage of ammunition for each type of weapon he had, but would they dent this thing as much?
Behind his helmet, his mouth split in to a mad smile, showing his teeth. Aiming the massive prototype weapon, he yells out.
"EAT SHIT AND DIE, MOTHERFUCKER!"
The thing roared out its response, a bright orange glow coming from its mouth. The Marine's own weapon started glowing too, this one being a dark purple color.
Opening its maw, the Icon of Sin fired out one last inferno. And from the tip of the massive prototype came out an orb of dark matter.
The two projectiles barely touched one another as they passed by. The massive ball of hellfire collided with the Marine, just as the smaller ball of dark matter collided with the Icon of Sin. The impact sent the Marine flying back and crashing into one of the dark obsidian pillars of the creature's lair before falling onto his front, unmoving.
The antimatter projectile struck the Icon right where it hurts the most: Its' pentagram-decorated opening revealing the fiery depths within the creature. The creature's remaining eye widened in realization, but it was too late. The projectile exploded, its core quickly sucking in anything within its vicinity with strong gravitational pull. The Icon of Sin roared its last as the pseudo black hole ripped its head apart and disintegrated any parts that came too close to the core. Without a sentience to control it, the inferno within the creature erupted from the various wounds and openings decorating its body.
From its back, from its sides, even from its arms and wings, the creature's body exploded. The massive ball of hellfire illuminating the cavern and creating a massive pillar of smoke as the creature's body parts flew off into many directions.
The Icon of Sin, the ruler of Hell since the beginning, the big boss of every demon that exists, was dead. At the hands of one belonging to a species it had deemed inferior.
The Marine's body remained unmoving, blood pooling from his open wounds. His breathing was shallow and lowering in volume. He was dying.
"Feh, like it'd matter," he thought to himself bitterly as he did nothing but stare at the dark, cold dirt of the now quiet cavern. If he could, he would reach for his portable medkit. Thing is, the damn thing's supply ran dry at the beginning of the fight.
"Maybe… it's… for the… best…" he blinked multiple times, consciousness fading from the rapid loss of blood. "Daisy," his mind wandered to his dead daughter, imagining her clutching her rabbit, Daisy the 2nd, as she gave him the biggest, most innocent smile he'd ever seen before finally closing his eyes for good.
"Daddy's coming… home… now…" the Marine exhaled his last breath, his body finally going limp.
That day, Corporal Flynn Taggert of the 93rd Battalion of the UAC Private Military Force has died. He was just another casualty in the horrendous war between the UAC and the forces of Hell itself.
Unbeknownst to him, his work wasn't over. A Marine's work is never done. His body began to glow dull red, flashing in and out of existence before finally disappearing from this dimension.
It had left nothing of his body behind but his own XR8 Command Helmet to fall into the dirt face first.
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[Few Hours Later]
"C'mon, c'mon," a female voice spoke as the speaker rushed towards the cavern, picking up the pace as she saw the large opening. Behind her were a few Marines and a support helicopter.
The speaker was a Mexican-American woman, 6 feet 4 inches/193.04 centimeters in height with the build of a runner. Her bodysuit clung to her body nicely and gave her enough room to effectively maneuver, with her grayish green combat armor being worn on top of it. She was missing her helmet, revealing her youthful face to the outside world. Her hair was short, pale white despite her youthful appearance. Her eyes were an interesting shade of yellow, a side-effect of gene therapy and augments needed for specialized Marines amongst UAC ranks. Slung over her back was her UAC M3 Railgun as it's more commonly referred to as.
Right now, her face was showing worry as she strained her body's augments to quickly dash across the hellish battlefield to reach the cavern.
"Crash!" her companion's voice reached her ears, but she didn't slow down.
The woman's companion was a large man of African descent, 7 feet 3 inches/220.98 centimeters in height and built like a truck. A dull orange armored combat vest was worn over his gray synthetic ballistic-woven bodysuit, with gray combat pant adorned with composite plates the same color as his combat vest for added protection. His helmet was also dull orange, its visor being a seaweed green color. In one hand, he carried his MIXOM Perforator Nailgun as he ran after Crash.
"Crash, you get too far ahead, and none of us are coming to save your ass!" he called out once more, his voice strained with fatigue while the other Marines stayed behind at a constant pace. The support chopper was already packed as it was, occupied by a medical team and a few security details. Plus, the terrain was too soft for their main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers to move through. There was also the fact that most of their air support is still all the way back at the base of the portal, being towed through and unmanned for the time being.
In short, they were screwed if they faced off against something like a Cyberdemon or a Spider Mastermind.
"We can't slow down!" she exclaimed, her eyes never leaving the sight of the cavern and the still present pillar of smoke. "Any more time wasted and we lose Flynn!"
"What good does reaching him do if we're too spent to fend off any stragglers?!" he exclaimed back, gritting his teeth as he felt his own body's augments falter slightly from being strained to such an extent.
As much as he wanted to find his brother in arms, he had to be realistic here. Flynn knew the risks of going in alone, despite the others wanting a piece of the action. Given how he's survived incredible odds before, it made sense that he'd be the first to charge into the fray, fuck those bastards up, and come out on top with a few wounds here and there. He always knew how to deal with every single demon that they'd face.
But this was the biggest demon out there. Quite possibly the strongest too, even more so compared to the Overlords. Then again, this was Flynn motherfucking Taggert that they were talking about. Unsure, Phobos chased after Crash, with the other UAC Marines followed close behind.
"C'mon, haul your asses!" Crash bellowed out as she neared the opening of the infernal cavern, the helicopter flying overhead.
Crash saw the face of the walls. Too steep to climb, she'll have to rely on the chopper to head in and extract Flynn.
"Crash!" Phobos' raised voice reached her ears, making her turn to him as the large African-American man caught up with her. In his other hand were pairs of harnesses. Each of them connected to a few lateral thrusters.
"Hey, big guy, what took you so long?" She playfully teased as he stopped to catch his breath.
Phobos grunted before handing her one of the harnesses and strapping the other one over his combat armor. "If you'd slow down, I'd have given you this earlier."
"Why didn't you just use those to catch up?"
"First of all, these things are on limited fuel. Second, you were going too fast. Look at you," he gestured to her slightly shaking legs, "you've strained your augments. So did the rest of us."
Crash sighed in response. "Sorry, Phobos, I've just been itching to get back on the field after being discharged from sick bay," she said, strapping the harness over her combat armor as well as she looked up to the outer walls of the cavern again. Using the internal magnifier in her helmet's visor, the Mexican woman could see multiple indents on the outer walls, too far from one another to climb without any equipment. But, if they use the lateral thrusters and timing them with their jumps, they could scale up the outer walls.
In a few minutes, Crash, Phobos, and the other Marines were geared up and ready to scale the massive outer walls. It took them a while but they were able to finally reach the entrance of the cavern. By now, the intense smoke had subsided, revealing the smoldering battlefield that used to be the lair of the Big One.
"Christ, that smells like shit," one of the Marines commented as they rappelled down to the base of the cavern. The cold blood that flooded the bottom giving off a putrid stench, making them all cringe at the smell. They all marveled at the scene before them.
Hundreds of dead demons, all of which belonging to the most dangerous variations of each demon they have fought, decorated the place. Massive craters and stacks of smoke accented the grim scene as well. Body parts of the Big one decorated the inner walls and floors of the cavern, the beast obvious slain at last.
"Damn," Phobos muttered as he turned over one demon's corpse over to survey the damage to its front. It was heavily riddled with machinegun fire. Judging by the size of the holes, 14.5mmX114mm tungsten anti-materiel rounds were used. And he knew of one lucky bastard that can carry a weapon capable of firing those awesome cartridges.
"Looks like Flynn really fucked them up," he pointed out the obvious as his eyes scanned the entire battlefield.
"Yeah, so let's find him before more of those things show up." Crash replied before slowly traversing up the massive stone steps.
When she had reached the top of the steps, she was met with more dead demons, brutalized beyond recognition.
"Alright, spread out and check you sixes, there may be a few left." The other Marines nodded at Crash's words and complied, weapons trained in on anything not a UAC Marine.
Phobos, Nailgun in hands as he sweeps his area, felt his boot hit something. Looking down, his eyes widened upon recognition at what the object was.
An XR8 Command Helmet, Flynn's XR8 Command Helmet.
"Over here!" he hollered the other Marines over. In a flash, the other Marines had regrouped on his position, looking at the helmet in question.
"Shit, is that…" another soldier, Deimos, gently picked up the helmet to inspect it further. Once he was done, he sighed.
"Christ, it is," he muttered but it was loud enough for the others to hear.
"Dammit!" Crash punched a nearby corpse in anger. "Did you find his tags?" Phobos shook his head.
Silence filled the cavern, none of the Marines speaking up or making a sound.
None more so than Crash, her eyes distraught behind her visor and her entire face filled with sorrow.
It was always difficult to lose a brother in arms, especially one you have bonded the most with.
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[-]
[A quaint village/Outskirts of Vosk/Noon]
"Come on, Rana! Catch up already!"
"I'm going as fast as I can guys!"
A group of boys were seen running through the streets of the moderately sized village, laughing as they ran past some of the adults as they made their way to their destination. One of them in particular is a boy named Rana.
Though he is a boy, his appearance resembles a young girl, wearing a hairpiece and a turquoise bead necklace. He wears a purple dress, further giving the illusion that he is a girl rather than a boy. His black hair and baby blue eyes go well with his white skin.
"Rana!" a woman's voice called out, making one of them stop in their tracks to look at the woman.
The woman was of average, 5 feet 9 inches/173 centimeters in height, with an hourglass figure that sported some hard muscle showing that she isn't a stranger to heavy labor work and her skin was a shade of ivory. Her choice of attire is rather strange, consisting of a tight, apron-like dress colored dark purple with dull maroon and black trims while leaving the sides of her voluptuous breasts revealed. A black choker was on her neck with a bowtie-like decoration at the front. Knee-high boots covered her feet but left her upper legs exposed. Black gloves covered her hands which were holding a basket of goods from the market. Her youthful face was heart-shaped, complimented by her eyes which were a steely shade of blue, and her black hair was tied into a low-profile ponytail via a hairband made to look like a pink orchid. To finish off her look, a pair of round glasses adorned her face.
Rana recognized her as his mother, Cattleya Christensen nee Yuzuki. He smiled at the sight of her.
"Yes mom?" Cattleya walked up to him and knelt down to his eye level.
"Please be careful out there, okay? The woods at this time of year are when wolves and bears come out of hibernation." While most children would be annoyed that their mother would be worried for them, Rana simply nodded in response.
"Okay, mom, I will!" With that, Rana sprinted off to join his friends. Cattleya watched as he disappeared into the distance before standing up, her breasts giving a bit of a bounce as she did.
"Oh God," she spoke internally, looking at the sky as if to address the deity in question, "please protect Rana and his friends today." She turned on her heel and began to make her way back to her house.
As she reached the door of her house, Cattleya felt a chill going down her spine. It made her shiver, the feeling lasting for a while before subsiding.
"What is this feeling?" she asked herself internally as she opened the door to her house. "I just hope this doesn't involve my sweet little boy. I've already lost Darling; I won't lose my only child!" With determination, Cattleya heads further into her home and into her armory that was linked to her weapon-smith shop.
Looking around, Cattleya's eyes land upon her signature weapon, Giant Slayer. Grabbing the sword by the grips, the massive blade, nearing 6 feet/182.88 centimeters in length, giving off a lustrous shine signifying that it had been constantly maintained, she looks out to the direction of where Rana and his friends were running off to.
"Don't worry, Darling," she strapped the massive sword to her back, walking down the streets.
"Our sweet little boy will be safe. I promise you that."
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Currently, Rana was playing catch with his friends in the woods. They were specifically in the part of the woods near one of the entrances to their village, with a nearby river acting as a landmark.
"You can't get me!" one of the boys teased as they dodged another attempt from another boy to catch them. Rana himself was busy circling around making use of the muscular strength he had gained from constantly helping his mother in the shop to gracefully get to hard-to-reach areas, much to the chagrin of the current 'it'.
"Oh come on, Rana! No fair!" the boy pouted as he tried to reach up to where Rana was, that being one of the taller stones in the river. As his hand grabbed part of the stone, it fell off with a loud crack, startling the boy.
The fallen piece had hit something hard, somehow stopping just a few inches from the more shallow parts of the river.
The boys looked to one another in confusion at the sight of the piece of stone seemingly floating above the water. Rana narrowed his eyes as he noticed that the water around the stone was taking an odd shape. It's almost as if…
To their collective surprise, the body of a giant of a man had suddenly appeared, lying face down and simply floating in the water, the small stone firmly atop the center of his back.
"H-hey! Mi-mister, are you alright?" Rana instinctively asked s he slid down the stone to check on the person. He was alive, but barely. His clothes were a mess, ripped and torn in places Rana didn't even know. Then there was that weird smell of his. It smells like burnt coal and… blood?
"Rana!" his mother's voice called out to him, making him and the other boys turn to see Cattleya rushing towards them, her sword strapped across her back. She came up to them in a hurry, making a bit of a splash as she jumped into the shallow water.
Where it would go up to their upper chests of the children, the water only reached to the middle of her thighs.
It was here that Cattleya also noticed the unconscious man lying face-first into the water, the body showing no signs of movement.
"Children, stay back," they were more than happy to oblige her words as Cattleya slowly approached the body.
Gently placing her hands on the man's body, she drags him out of the water and into the riverbank to turn the body over.
She analyzed the appearance of the man before her. He was massive, that was obvious. If standing, he'd be nearly two feet above her height. Hell, he'd almost be as tall has her Giant Slayer. His clothing was odd in her eyes. For his uppers consisted of an odd looking dark green vest with strange, small glass bulbs dimly lit suggesting they have a purpose. His shoulders were protected by strange looking pauldrons, also in the same color as his strange vest with the tiny bulbs. His arms were protected by muddy brown colored gauntlets of some kind, with fingerless gloves covering his hands and the back of the hand being protected by a metal plate. His lowers consisted of dark gray pants that were form fitting on the man's legs, protected by strange plates of an unknown metal which were the same color as the gauntlets. The boots of this man were strange as well, sporting odd looking bits of metal protruding out of them in odd ways. Underneath all of that, Cattleya could see a pitch black cloth of some sort fitting tightly around the man's body, accenting his features. She noted that faint blue lights ran across the odd texturing of the black cloth, specifically the thin lines of the cloth seemingly going in different directions.
Perhaps each piece of clothing serves a secondary function other than protection? Cattleya did not know the answer.
Regarding the physical appearance of the man, he was muscular. More than what Owen would sport, she reckons. His skin was a light shade of brown in contrast to her ivory-white skin. The man's face was rugged, sporting a light shadow of a once great beard and short hair, the hairs being dark brown in color. The man's face was adorned with various types of wounds you would normally find in battles. Running from the bridge of his nose and down to its tip was a strange looking gash; Cattleya would guess that is a claw mark of some creature of sort. Around his left cheek was pale flesh, burn wounds of sort but from what weapon Cattleya was stumped on. Going across the man's right eye was a trio of slash marks, probably from a claw-like weapon. And while she couldn't see the entire thing, there was a group of strange holes around the man's neck and that group went further down his body.
If anything, the man could clearly overpower her husband and herself in a battle of raw strength. In a battle of wits, however, she is unsure as the man she is looking at is unconscious, although she has confidence that she and her husband could win against this man.
Placing two fingers onto the side of the man's neck, Cattleya could faintly feel a pulse. She sighed in relief, the man is alive at the very least. Turning to the boys, she spoke.
"How did you come upon this man?" her tone was one of curiosity and worry.
"He just appeared in front of us, miss," one of the boys answered. "While we were playing, he just appeared out of nowhere!" Turning back to the unconscious man, Cattleya began to think.
"Whoever this man is, he must have been in a horrid fight. Judging by how he supposedly appeared out of nowhere suggests that a mage was responsible for this," looking around, all Cattleya could see was the trees of the woods.
"I'm not even sure if she is responsible for this man's appearance." Cattleya then placed her hands onto the man's right arm, noting that even unconscious the arm was still firm and thick, not one bit even slightly relaxed at all. It made her wonder just what kind of fight exactly had he been in before appearing in the river.
Slinging that arm over her shoulder, she began to lift. God, he's heavy! Cattleya struggled for a bit before finally standing to her full height, the apparent weight of the large man putting a visible strain on her.
"Mom!" Rana rushed to his mother and began to lift another part of the large, unconscious man as well. Given that he only reaches up to her upper thigh and/or crotch, Rana could only lift one of the large man's legs. The other boys decided to join in and help the mother and son duo.
"Alright, children," Cattleya started, getting used to the weight of the man's limb on her shoulders. "On the count of three, we carry this man to the village." The boys nodded at her words, also straining at the weight of the large man on their bodies.
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three!" with that, they made their way towards the village. Given the weight of the man and how it's throwing them off-balance every now and then, it would take a while before they would reach the village.
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[Approximately an hour later]
The guardsmen watching the entrance took notice of Cattleya and the children returning, prompting them to open the gates. One of the guardsmen with a spotting glass took note of an extra individual. They noticed that the group was carrying a large man with them, in which they signaled for a messenger to send for the local healer.
"Cattleya!" one of her fellow weapon-smiths called out to her as they rushed over. Lending a hand, he lifts the other arm of the large unconscious man.
Once they stepped through the village entrance, Cattleya could see that the other residents were present.
"Where did you find this man?" one of them had asked the weapon-smith.
"The children found him. They claim to have seen him appear out of thin air, lying face-first into the water."
"What? But that's absurd! No man can simply just appear out of thin air!"
The other villagers also lend a hand with carrying the newcomer to the local healer. When they had taken a step into the steps leading to the local healer's house, the large man began to stir.
His eyes shot open and his limbs immediately shot out, startling the villagers and causing them to release him. Stumbling in his two steps, the man then rights himself before turning rapidly to the villagers.
Cattleya had her sword, Giant Slayer, out just in case this man wasn't what he seemed. She knew she'd be fast enough to cut him down, but there are the villagers and they may get hit by her massive sword.
They all froze when he had turned to them so quickly. Then the man spoke.
"Where the hell am I?"
[-]
So… This is uh… awkward. Yeah, another Doom Crossover rather than actually working on DOOM: Puer Infernalis, what the hell you are thinking, some of you may say.
This is really just the result of the goddamn plot bunny coming in late one night and having her way with me. Not fun, I tell you. Not fun.
So if you guys haven't guess already, this is a crossover between Doom, specifically Project Brutality v3.0 (Heard the full/complete version is to be released sometime after DOOM: Eternal so there's that to look forward to), and Queen's Blade. So this means no Argent Energy, no VEGA, no Samuel Hayden, no Olivia Pierce, and, sadly, no Praetor Suit.
It'll (Doom-wise) be based on the official lore of Project Brutality which can be found in the official Discord server, although certain creative liberties are taken as I would choose. (Thank fuck for the freedoms of writing fanfictions, eh?)
So if this, like DOOM: Puer Infernalis, gets a decent fanbase/support, I will continue this here story.
Now some may wonder when this chapter takes place in. Doom-wise, it takes place right after you (SPOLIERS) kill the Icon of Sin at the end of Extermination Day while Queen's Blade-wise it takes place two years prior to the main story of QB. Now does this mean we won't be seeing characters from the main story? You will, as the next chapter will most likely ('Most likely' because I am unsure whether or not this will get enough support) jump two years ahead and perhaps have Doomguy encounter Leina and Risty at some point (Again, 'most likely').
So be sure to review (Constructive criticism is welcome, flames are to be ignore, and regular reviews are OK), favorite and follow this story as that I am motivated to continue writing this side project.
See you guys later! Peace!
