A/N: Sometimes it just takes a while to find the inspiration to pick up a project again. Knowing people are reading it helps too (I don't want to leave anyone hanging if I can help it).

Chapter 10 – Split

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" snapped Audrey Manning as a base-wide alert went out due to incursions in, of all places, Secondary Artifact Storage. "What could they possibly want from there?"

Two blood-splattered soldiers demanded their commander's attention.

"Ma'am, the labs have been breached. All the outer doors are unlocked!"

"What do you think is going to happen when there's a demonic explosion from the inside?" she barked back, before realizing anyone with full access to Delta Labs would have in their hands advanced technologies she'd only heard rumors about, such as a stealth starship.

Manning almost threw her MG-88 out of frustration after hearing new orders. With Hell pouring into the UAC's most advanced research facility, some suit wanted people to defend Secondary Artifact Storage?

May Hell take you, Elliot Swann!

Valla snapped the other woman out of her rage by pointing out that the existence of other statues like hers might both give the demons a reason to invade there and be something worth protecting.

"If this is what I think it is" said Valla, "you'll need all the help you can get. Come, the hunt continues!"

Meanwhile, screams echoed through Secondary Artifact Storage. A member of the janitorial staff had been trying to shoo people (mostly students doing homework and kids staring at the monster stone statues) away so he could clean said statues. His last words were masked by the shriek of revenants and the pounding footstep of hell knights.

Fireballs crashed into Artifact S527124, "Man With Beasts," not causing any noticeable damage. Rockets swirled toward it from the shoulders of revenants, while imps scratched and bit at the imposing structure. Blood from the slain janitor splattered over the figure's boots. Like S231510114, "Woman With Crossbows," color and texture seeped slowly back into stone. The ceremonial skull Nazeebo held in one hand once again swung back and forth as white returned to his eyes.

"Have I died?" he wondered aloud. "This is not what I was led to believe the Mbwiru Eikura would be like."

"Eeeek!"

Several frightened students backed away—while Nazeebo probably rated among the kindest of the Nephalem, his appearance suggested otherwise with a huge mask, skull-in-hand, and a terrifying menagerie of beasts at his side. It only took him a single glance to realize the demons who'd cast him to stone not only lived on in a different form but were rampaging throughout…wherever he was.

"Please, stand behind me."

His nonthreatening tone creeped the students out more than a horde of fetishes or pack of revenant dogs. Nevertheless, they complied seeing as this newcomer wanted to protect them from the very things that had slaughtered one of their own very recently.

"Rise, gargantuan!"

From the ground came a monstrous thing none could identify. Its massive arms swung at the demons, so nobody complained. Its roars shook the whole compound, and its great bulk made it roughly the size of a hell knight.

"Did something escape the zoo?" demanded Sergeant Manning, arriving in Secondary Artifact Storage with Valla and a squad. It didn't take the newcomers long to figure out what was making the ruckus.

"Something else from your time, I presume?" asked Manning, firing her machine gun at a hell knight but trying to avoid hitting the source of the noise.

"A gargantuan" answered Valla. "That must mean Nazeebo is alive."

"Spread out!" barked Manning. "Find civilians, researchers, janitorial staff, anyone who's not cleared for combat, and get them out of here!"

Moments later, a call for "the woman in red."

She'd known this was coming, but didn't want to think about it. It would be the only time Valla ever recalled a Barbarian dying in such a pitiful, pathetic manner—slain not by a worthy foe but by the treachery of the so-called "Angels" who were supposed to be a bulwark against demonic forces.

"Do not… Do not leave me to wander" pleaded Sonya.

Valla didn't have it in her to sully her fellow Nephalem's last moments with the knowledge that Arreat had likely been lost to time (if not demons).

"Do not worry, friend. I shall bury you."

Manning didn't care that it appeared this woman couldn't be saved—nobody got left behind.

"MEDIC!"

It ended up taking four soldiers to heft the woman who Valla referred to as "Sonya."

"Clear a path and cover fire!" yelled one of the medivacs. "Hell knights obstructing evacuation!"

A storm of lead crashed into the two demons. Slammed by metal, pierced by crossbows, and slashed up courtesy Nazeebo's gargantuan, the monstrosities faded into red mist.

[…]

Malcolm Betruger engaged Lunar Ghost's Windrunner NOPS and Whisperwind cloak once clear of the ship's berth. Solar Control had been built so long ago that it was no longer close to any of Mars City's main facilities, instead requiring a trek many kilometers into the "wilderness." A quick check of civilian space control showed no mention of an "unauthorized departure," and while Ghost lacked the hardware to decrypt military channels there were also no missiles being flung his way. Good.

It helped that hangers for Ghost weren't exactly in a public area, so no prying eyes would spot his thievery.

He grabbed some gear he'd need—a maneuvering pack. Sans specialized landing cradle, Betruger would have to put Ghost in hover and very carefully exit/enter via rather unconventional means. A miss would result in getting torn apart by the space-warping properties of the NOPS.

Digging through many compartments, he was able to locate safety goggles. Their lenses would enable "seeing" where space-warps became dangerous and thus, be able to avoid passing through them.

"Ah, science. Always documenting everything" he laughed.

Poring over decades-old datapads (having scrounged batteries from three different units) Betruger struggled to work with a clunky command-line interface clearly designed by engineers for engineers. Though, to be fair, he'd rather have trouble here at Solar Control than entering/exiting Lunar Ghost (his jump down had been uneventful, even, he dared think, fun). Machines linked to StarFire satellites didn't even use a normal operating system—instead, some kind of specialized distro built only for scientific use that had been further modified to interface with proprietary software by the long-ago bankrupt manufacturer.

satcontrol –optimize

"Please specify which satellite (valid digits 1-6, all)."

satcontrol –optimize all

"Syntax error. Try satcontrol /? for help."

Thump. Fist met console as Betruger read that all parameters needed to have "-" in front of them.

satcontrol –optimize –all

"Error in unit(s) 1, 3, 4 prevents optimization of entire array. Please retry."

Unable to contain his annoyance, Betruger chucked a drained power cell across the room.

Instead of firing up the remaining three not listed as having errors, he deliberately tried to optimize satellite #2 in order to figure out what was wrong. In theory, three of the ancient birds would be enough to power his portal generators, but he wanted a margin of safety in case someone became wise to his scheme.

"Looks like I'm going to have to play technician…"

More manuals. Thankfully for him, the need to actually go to Satellite 4 was alleviated when he discovered that each satellite played host to modified Sentry Bots equipped with welding and repair tools instead of weapons. Betruger didn't know why he felt rushed—nobody saw him leave, nobody paid attention to Solar Control, and consequently, there should be no urgency to his task. Perhaps it was just the excitement of finally achieving his goal as a servant to the Lord of Pride.

"I will bring back the master from the realm to which he was banished!"