Scaling the Tower

A/N: I only own the clones. Everything else and the respective universe belongs to Bethesda and ID. Enjoy!

F sighed and looked around the room she had managed to find by sheer luck. It was one that she hadn't even recalled seeing in the numerous maps of the tower that she had memorized. Perhaps she should have explained that to the Doom Slayer before they parted ways, well more like when he ditched her and vanished. She hadn't even managed to climb 100 meters yet, but somehow the climb seemed to be taking forever. Looking around the room she found a few more shells for the shot gun she had picked up, and much to her surprise she found a few spare parts to an elite guard's armor laying around. (Perhaps adding some information about the Elite Guards?)

"Let's see what they've left behind…" F looked through the pieces and settled on a brace that appeared to be for the right arm, "Perfect, I don't think that wrist has healed correctly anyways."

Taking the brace she locked it around her right wrist and watched as the panel embedded into it come to life displaying various amounts of information. The first few parts showed the damage reports to the facility, and the number of causalities. Over 64,000 UAC employees had been killed, and for what purpose? The girl sighed and then looked through a few screens that seemed to contain maps, orders, and even other missions that (were given to) the elite guard personnel by the higher-ups.

"Interesting…." F whispering to herself as she) looked through the data and noticed she had an option to have VEGA connect to the device. She wouldn't mind the company and enabled the option to have the AI access her new piece of "armor" if it could be called that.

"Hello again F_01, how may I assist you?" VEGA chimed.

F rolled her eyes, "Just call me F. Forget about the 01. VEGA, what can you tell me about my current location on route to my destination?"

"You're about a third of the way up the tower. You still have roughly 200 meters before you can access the nearest elevator. The Doom Slayer is currently about halfway up the tower, you certainly have a lot of ground to cover." VEGA chimed.

F sighed and looked around the doorway that led to the hallway and started to make her way down the corridor, "I'm sure his kill count is a lot greater too. This part of the building seems to be dead…"

"Figuratively or literally?" VEGA chiming in a question in an) attempt to humor the girl.

"Both." F retorted and pulled her shotgun up as she came into an open area, "Looks like this place is clear too."

"Demonic activity has been more predominant in the main parts of the building. This corridor isn't part of a main junction so its whereabouts may not be as well known. However, a stray demon or so may appear." VEGA spoke offering the girl some insight.

F nodded and continued to look around taking notice of how the open area was; like it almost set up like an arena. There were several tiers of platforms that seemed to move around after a few minutes of being idle. There were also a few half walls that could offer cover if she were to be engaged in a shootout, but the chances of that were very slim according to VEGA's information. Looking around a little more she started to get the feeling she was being watched and (had) just barely avoided a shot from a plasma rifle, "What the-" F muttered as she attempted to locate where the shot was fired from.

The answer became apparent once a figure stepped into view. "Hello sweet little F. I haven't seen you since we last met. It seems that despite all odds, you're still alive! But not for long." S laughed as he fired his plasma rifle at the girl once more.

F barely dodged the shot and slammed her back against one of the half walls, "Shit, why is he after me!?"

"You are subject to termination" VEGA spoke, "It could be he was sent to finish the job."

S cackled, enjoying himself as he threw a grenade to F's position which caused F to quickly leave her cover spot and become exposed. The older clone wasted no time charging up a stun blast with his rifle and shot the girl in her right shoulder, "There, that should slow you down some."

F growled and felt the right side of her body go numb, "What the hell did you just do!?"

"You see, the plasma rifle has this wonderful stun mod that I was given, so it allows me to stun whatever I shoot. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing I'm sure! Which is a shame because I doubt you can feel anything at all!" S laughed and fired at the girl once more.

F cursed under her breath and struggled to evade the attacks, however she had took notice that after so many shots the rifle seemed to have to go on a cooldown. Grabbing her shotgun even tighter she forced her body to move well enough so she could attempt to return fire. The longer she held the weapon she seemed to become more familiar with it, another feature she probably figured was inherited from the Doom Slayer himself. Trying to focus she cursed as she missed her shot at S and had to duck once more as he fired off another few rounds of plasma blasts. Once she heard the gun seize up once more she forced her half numb body to move and attempt to close the gap between herself and S.

"Gotcha" S laughed and shot her once more with a charged shot.

F let out a cry of pain and collapsed to the floor holding her side that had been numbed by the shot, "F-Fine… I surrender…!"

"Well that's a shame…" S sighed and jumped down from his position and landed in front of the partially frozen girl, "You truly are a failure, giving up already without putting up a fight. You're an insult to the man that helped create us!"

F laughed and looked at S dead in the eyes she muttered under her breath, "Gotcha."

Before S could demand what she was talking about F quickly pounced up as she still held her shotgun in the other hand, and jarred the butt of the stock into S's stomach. The older clone had been taken by surprise, letting out a groan of pain but that didn't' stop them from attempting to grab the girl. F was faster however and had managed to slide out of his reach. Despite the fact that she was still partially numb from the plasma blast, she had managed to outmaneuver her counterpart. S growled and pulled out his shotgun, a super shotgun at that, and started to shoot ahead of the girl as she moved about hoping to eventually land a hit.

"Hold still damn it!" S yelled and threw the gun aside.

F founder herself laughing at S's frustration and closed the gap between herself and S once more, "What's the matter? Can't the successful clone keep up? Who knew the failure had better speed!"

Her words seemed to infuriate the male counterpart as he grabbed her by the wrist and looked at her dead in the eyes, "Your existence ends here!"

"Are you really so sure about that?" F asked and slid the pistol she had been hiding on her side. Without breaking her stare down with S she carefully placed the pistol's barrel in one of the armor joints and fired it without much thought.

S let out a scream of pain as the shot made its way through his armor, and into his flesh. Letting go of the girl he backed off some and held his hand where she had shot him. To his dismay there seemed to be red liquid running down the wound, "W-What is this!? What have you done!?"

"What's the matter? Afraid of a little blood?" F asked wiping her brow.

S looked visibly shaken, "This isn't over! Once I find a way to overcome this… This weakness and you will die!"

F smirked and looked to her numb shoulder and noticed it was burned from the plasma shots she had taken earlier, "So the successful one is afraid of blood, funny they claimed that we would either faint our lose ourselves in it. Guess I know which you are now."

Without thinking too much of her own pain she used the pistol once more except on her burnt flesh and seemed to relish the fact that the clone they deemed successful was terrified of blood, but it appeared to only be their own blood.

"Stay away from me you freak!" S yelled and retreated summoning a few imps to attempt to finish the girl off.

F laughed and managed to shoot one of the imps thankful it dropped some ammo, and smashed her shot gun into the second one just to see what the feeling was like. Looking at her shoulder she winced slightly and looked at the brace on her wrist, "Okay time to find a health station."

"You are lucky to be alive after taking two stun shots from a plasma rifle." VEGA spoke.

F shrugged and located what she was looking for, "I have high endurance? Okay the station is right next to the elevator. How convenient. Hey Vega, is the data synced between several users or am I the only one who can see what's on my screen?"

"There are only three active users at this time. Yourself, Doctor Hayden, and-" VEGA started.

"Him…" F sighed thinking back to the Marine, "he's probably at the top of the tower by now."

"Actually he's stopped just before the last few floors. Perhaps he's waiting for you." VEGA spoke.

F rolled her eyes, "He's probably dead. I doubt he'd waste his time waiting for me."

'What if he is waiting for me though? I better quit wasting time and hurry. S slowed me down, but I think I found something to use against him now. Who knew the perfect clone had such a useful weakness'

=End=