"When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead. He touched me with his right hand and said, 'Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last'." -Revelation 1:17

The princess of Hell opened her eyes, seeing that she was back at the control bridge of the Fortress of Doom, but the Doom Slayer himself was not with her.

"William?" Charlie asked, hearing her voice echo across the entire Fortress. No reply.

Charlie went about exploring the Fortress, looking for the Slayer. She checked the armory, the demon prison, even a chamber that had a giant Night Sentinel mech, but the Doom Slayer was nowhere to be found.

After walking for nearly half an hour, Charlie came across a secret corridor, and stepped down the stairs, approaching a door that slowly unlocked when she stepped towards it. Inside, Charlie looked in awe, as it was the most casually of areas in the fortress.

The right wall was decorated with a few odd looking guitar instruments, with a demon skull with horns placed above them. In the left corner was a barrel, filled with more weapons. To the left were models of the Doom Slayer's more modernized weapons, though they were displayed only. In the center of the room was an older design of the Doom Slayer's armor, held up by chains, and in front of it were several computer monitors. Just to the right of them was an old computer from the 1990s era, with an old vinyl record player sitting next to it.

Charlie was about to step forward, towards the armor, when she heard someone clear their throat, and she whirled around, finding the Doom Slayer sitting in a fancy metal throne, tinkering with one of the ice blast projectiles from his shoulder cannon, which now looked like a dark blue missile, and larger than the other grenades. His helmet laid by his feet, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

"William." Charlie said softly, taking off her helmet and stepping out of the Praetor armor. "What are you working on?"

"A more powerful version of the ice blast." Vega's voice sounded from the helmet. "One that will freeze more than just the demons, and the environment around them." After fiddling with the object for a little longer, the Slayer apparently finished the design, and pocketed it in the quantum pouch.

"But that's not why you were looking for him, were you?"

"No." Charlie admitted, her eyes drifting off to the bookshelf next to the throne, catching glimpses of several books. Nuka Cola. Vault Dweller's Survival Guide. The Spear of Destiny. Demon Farm. 1984 Dead Demons. And The Caco In the Rye, just to name a few.

Charlie glanced upwards, seeing a human skull wearing a rusted yellow helmet, with a red ray gun right next to it.

"Is that someone you knew?" Charlie asked, shuddering. The Doom Slayer nodded.

"My father, Billy Blaze." William spoke softly, as he looked up at her. "But that wasn't who you were going to ask about." Charlie nodded, and braced herself for what she was going to ask.

"That demon we fought in Taras Nabad." Charlie told him. "When he spoke to you, it sounded like you knew each other."

"I do know him." William confirmed. "He's my brother."

Charlie's mouth hung open, and the Doom Slayer sighed, before explaining.

"I have a brother named Stan Blazkowicz. He and I were twins." William revealed. "We were both marines for the UAC, and fought Hell side by side. We both became part of the Night Sentinels, but they chose me to lead them, over him. Stan became embittered with hatred towards me, and joined the forces of Hell. I thought I had killed him, but now… he has become a demon, corrupted by Hell. He is a near perfect embodiment of all seven Deadly Sins. All that he is now is a Marauder."

"Is that why you prefer to work alone?" Charlie asked. The Doom Slayer looked at her and nodded sadly.

"The last person I trusted was him, and he broke that bond." William sighed, thinking of one of the better memories of Stan. One where he was surrounded by ancient demons, grabbing his arms and throwing fireballs at him, while Stan was running towards him across the shores of Hell. "...Until I met you."

"You can't give up on him." Charlie said softly. "I know I've changed since meeting you, but I still believe in redemption."

The Doom Slayer smiled, and pulled her in close for a kiss. As their lips locked together, Charlie closed her eyes, and time seemed to slow down.

Eventually, the kiss was broken off when Samuel Hayden cleared his throat, signalling they still had a mission to save humanity.

"We still need to stop the Khan Maykr from resurrecting the Icon of Sin." Hayden reminded them.

"Yes, of course." Charlie quickly said, and the Doom Slayer nodded, putting his helmet back on. They walked out onto the bridge.

"Urdak is the Maykr's home world." Hayden explained. "It is not accessible to anyone. No human or Sentinel has ever set foot in their dimension. However, you can use the Maykr's Argent factory in Nekravol to pass through the void. Once there, you cannot leave on your own, but Vega can create an exit portal for you. So you must bring Vega through the void with you."

"Understood. I am detaching myself from the mainframe now." an external drive was released from the monitors, which the Doom Slayer took. Hayden opened up a portal, and the Doom Slayer and Charlie walked through it, trusting each other with their lives.


A/N: So a little bit of explanation, the reason why I changed the Marauder's backstory a bit was to give the Doom Slayer a foil, and to make it personal. I would've liked it if the enemy actually challenged the Slayer in the game, and he does, but they fight all the time. After you fight one of them at the end of the ARC Complex, at least two or three show up every mission afterwards, and it becomes stale. So I decided to change it so that the Marauder is the Doom Slayer's actual brother. The name I got from Doom RPG, and I got the idea from the first game's original cover art, where behind the Doomguy fighting off demons is another marine running to catch up to him.