"So this is the afterlife?" he growled. "Not something to brag about"
Red-ish fog was the only thing in sight. He found himself floating as there was no sky or ground. He barely knew what was up and down. If this was the place you would go after you died, then all the pathetic religions had missed by a mile.
He somewhat remembered his supposed death.
.
Both his shotguns were ablaze as hellfire bullets sought their mark. She was as annoying as ever.
Fighting back with sprays of bullets from her pulse pistols, she blinked left and right, thus making her a very hard target to hit. He briefly got a lucky shot at her side, only to see her disappear and return as good as new. She buzzed around him like a small annoying fly.
This angered him greatly as he threw his empty weapons to draw a pair of new ones. He had hoped this would be an easy mission.
After having caught wind of the monkey's plan about launching a drone up into space, Talon immediately ordered a full scale attack on the watchpoint.
And so here he was, the harbinger of death leading the invasion, dealing with the time-jumping brit while the other forces advanced.
More of the brits bullets continued to hit him, causing him quite some pain. He growled, ignoring the pain, and instead took another shot at her. She blinked just in time to avoid it.
Thinking fast, he anticipated where she would show up. Quickly aiming his other shotgun upwards, she appeared right in front of the barrel. His gun sang, the bullets digging deep into her side.
She yelped in surprise and pain, sliding over the floor and leaving a red trail behind her. Her back hit the base of the rocket. She coughed up a bit of blood and looked up at the reaper, watching as he pulled out yet another pair of shotguns.
"Still having fun, b*tch?"
In an instant, her expression changed from pain to a smirk. She disappeared in a small light blue flash, rewinding her own time. Reaper then felt a barrage of shots hit his back.
"Ever get the feeling of deja vu?" her cheery voice taunted him.
Anger getting the better of him, he gathered shadowy mist around him, and he seemingly shot in every direction at once.
"Die! Die! DIE!"
Throwing more used weaponry to the side and rearming himself, he approached the, once again, injured agent. Leaning on a nearby pillar, she clutched her bleeding side and leg, being unable to blink as her accelerator needed to recharge.
He was finally going to get rid of her, never again was he going to hear her annoying voice or cheesy lines.
Seconds away from taking the shot, another one of Reapers old friends joined the fight.
Landing between the brit and the reaper, the primate let out a trembling roar, letting his skin take on a red color and his eyes glowing yellow.
Before Reaper had time to react, Winston threw a powerful swipe, sending the mercenary hurling towards the rocket. A painful growl escaped the reapers decaying lips, as his anger was reaching the boiling point.
"GRR, THAT'S IT! I'LL SLAUGHTER YOU ALL FO-"
He was interrupted by the sound of several alarms going off. Red lights blinked all around them, signalling something had gone very wrong.
Reaper took a glance at the rocket behind him. Much to the surprise of the three fighters, the rocket was starting the glow a burning red with several bullets holes decorating the surface. A large dent had damaged the rocket and was the center of the red glow.
Winston, sensing what was about the happen, grabbed his friend and used his jump packs to leap as far away from the area as possible.
Reaper was not about to let himself get caught in an explosion. Shifting into his wraith form, he made for his escape. At that moment, a flash of fire claimed his vision.
.
And the next thing he knew, he was floating in this god forsaken place. What was he supposed to do? Rot here forever? He had somehow kept his outfit on, but why?
This was where most people would break, would cry about how much they regretted the mistakes they made in life. The shadowy soldier however, only thought of how he could find a way back to annihilate the wretched Overwatch.
He was snapped back to reality, or whatever you would call this place, by a deep rumbling laughter. It seemed to shake and echo throughout this entire place.
"Gabriel Reyes" The voice called. It sounded like fire and ash, holding unspeakable evil.
The fog shifted around him, as if moved by an unseen hand, making way for someone or something. A being came into view. Sitting on a throne made from dark metal, with several skulls decorating its structure, was a creature of pure nightmare.
It had somewhat of a humanoid form, but its skin was red as blood. It was armed with horrific shoulderpads, the center of which was burning with hellish fire. A black steel belt and legguards, stopping just before hooved feet, glowed with red-ish runes, amplifying the creatures intimidating aura.
Muscle pumped arms ended in spiked wrist guards making way for clawed hands, each of the claw like nails looked big enough to impale even the monkey. A horned skull looking necklace, hanging in front of its muscular chest, held one eye above a gaping maw, screaming silent promises of suffering to all who would dare to defy this monster.
Two massive bat wings, adorned with spikes, sprouted from its back, spread wide to highlight the most terrifying part of the demon, its head.
Small spikes had grown in between its beard. Below its chin, a pair of what resembled tentacles reached all the way down to the necklace, both of which was decorated with rings. A similar pair of 'tentacles' was located below its pointy ears.
The face itself seemed human, but with a much more sinister and demonic side to it. The brow looked to be armored from its skull, with two backwards curling horns at its top.
Reaper stared wide eyes behind his mask at the creature in front of him. "Satan?"
The demon laughed again. "Flattering" it spoke. "But far from true"
"What are you then" he said, his voice a mix of surprise and annoyance, but far calmer than he had imagined.
The demon's burning eyes fixated on him as he curled one of his hands into a fist and rested his head on it. "Come now, Reyes, the answer should be obvious. Or are you really that stupid?" he said tauntingly, looking down at Reaper as if he was toy trying to entertain him.
Reaper growled, not liking being made a fool of. "A demon then"
"Correct" its lips twisting into a smirk, revealing sets of sharp teeth. He raising his head once again. "I AM KIL'JAEDEN" He bellowed, fire erupting all around him, enveloping everything around them in a raging inferno.
The small display gave Reaper the sense of watching his tongue around this creature. What other powers could this demon hold, he wondered.
"What do you want from me?" He asked, trying to sound unimpressed.
The flames died in an instant. Kil'jaeden leaned forward in his throne. "It's not entirely what i want from you, it's what we have to offer you"
Behind the skull mask, the former strike commander raised an eyebrow. "we?"
The demonlord spread his arms wider. The red fog fled in an instant, blown away by an unseen storm. More beings came into view. Much smaller than Kil'jaeden, but they were many.
Reaper found himself surrounded by the most horrific creatures imaginable. From small ugly burning imps, to towering bat winged, horned and hooved fiends. The demons roared at the mercenary, the next more terrifying than the last. Most people would scream and cower in fear.
But Reaper remained calm, almost seeming to challenge them all.
Too caught up in the hellish creature's angry howls, he never noticed Kil'jaeden leaning further from his throne, with a hand reaching for him.
Thousands of images suddenly flashed before his eyes. He saw the demons marching in countless numbers, destroying everyone and everything they touched in an all devouring inferno. They had conquered thousands upon thousands of worlds, eradicated hundreds of races in their burning crusade. They seemed endless, for each demon killed, a thousand more were ready to take its place.
Where once a forest would stand, now scorched wastelands covered everything.
Where once a mighty sea full of life would stand, now it was filled only with rotting corpses.
Reaper was thrown back in shock, the harbinger of death actually feeling the slightest of fear, something that had not happened in years.
Recovering from the shock, the decaying man once again faced the demonlord. "What the hell are you?"
"WE ARE THE BURNING LEGION" he spread his wings even wider, the surrounding demons roaring in union.
"What do you want from me" the reaper growled again, this time taking the matter deadly serious.
The demonlord settled down, the other demons following suit. "You do not care for anyone but yourself, correct?"
"Yes" it was true, he might have cared for his friends back in the glory days of Overwatch, but that was before his leadership was taken from him and given to the bastard Morrison. Before Overwatch betrayed him. Now after the Zürich incident, he did not care for anyone. Why should he?
The demon's lips once again turned into a grin. "Then here is an offer" he started. "I will send you back to your world. Once there, you will help with opening the way for us"
"So you can invade that world aswell?"
The grin evolved into a smirk. "Exactly" he leaned back in his throne. "And in return, you will join us and i will grant you power beyond your wildest dreams"
"And if i refuse?"
The demons demeanor changed immediately. Even the demons sensed their master's change as they slightly backed away. He narrowed his eyes to the mercenary. "Then you will suffer for eternity"
"Not entirely unexpected" he thought.
"The choice is simple, Reyes" The demonlord spoke. "You can either be tortured for centuries. Or you can join us and receive unimaginable power."
He leaned low this time, only a few meters away from the the former hero. "So what do you say, Reyes? Do we have a deal?"
Reaper needed no consideration. The answer to this question was as simple as the one he had asked in the beginning. Suffering, or doom the entire world by helping an unending army of demons finding their way to it and thereby granting him so called power beyond anything on Earth. He had already made his choice.
"Deal"
Chapter 2 coming soon.