The Slayer sat on the edge of his bed fiddling with his hands and trying to distract himself from this thoughts. Reaching up to his helmet, he fiddled with the straps that held it on his head. Maybe a walk would help. He stood up and started wandering around the fortress of Doom. He sighed as he waited for the doors of the fortress to open with a loud click.
Vega voice suddenly chimed in from the ceiling. "What seems to be wrong? I have done three checks of the fortress. There are no enemies. You are safe."
The Slayer sighed and slowly sat down on the floor with his back to the wall. He just shrugged and turned away from the sound of Vega's voice.
"Slayer look at me. Please?" Vega's voice had a worried tone to it.
He grumbled and looked up at the speaker in the ceiling. Shooting it a death glare as if to say, "what?"
"You haven't slept in two days and you haven't eaten a full meal in three days. Something is wrong with you. Something is bothering you. What is it?"
Slayer growled, angry at himself, and slouched over. His figure let out a shaky breath as tears dripped onto the inside of his visor. His voice was raspy and weak, "lonely."
Vega sighed and activated a cleaning bot. It slowly drove over to the Sayer and bumped into his leg. "I'm here for you."
He looked down at the bot and scooped it up into his arms. His whimpering got louder as he held the bot closer to him. Gently, he petted its sensors as if it was a cat.
Vega watched in pity. This man could take on armies of hell but he couldn't find the strength to eat. He made the cleaning bot scurry off his lap.
Slayer stood up and followed the bot as it slowly drove back to his room and entered his attached bathroom. It beeped as it reached the shower door. He nodded and took his armor off, getting a quick, cold shower.
As he went to put his armor back on the bot beeped again. It tried to lead him out of the showers buck naked. He paused for a second then followed it. He chuckled to himself who's gonna see him?
The bot led him along the sprawling hallways of the fortress to a long forgotten storage cupboard. It beeped loudly and bumped into the cupboard door. Vega enjoyed this game of beeping and using a physical form to communicate with the Slayer. It felt much more personal than simply speaking to a man who rarely responded.
He bent down covering his unmentionables with his hands. Confused, he looked at the bot then, he opened the little door. It wasn't much, just a few random bundles of clothes from his days in the past. An old marine uniform, some worn leather jacket with the name of a heavy metal band, and some pajamas with bunnies on them. He quietly chuckled to him self. He couldn't remember who gave them to him. Maybe an old marine buddy as a gag gift.
After slipping the pajamas on, he stood to walk back to his room. The bot refused to move and continued to beep at the cupboard. Slayer huffed and reached inside, pulling out a pair of matching pink bunny slippers. He bent down and put them on, feeling like an idiot but it did give him a little spark of happiness.
The bot let out a contented chip and escorted Slayer back to his room.
He waited in front of the door for it to click open. When it did he stepped back inside his room. The cleaning bot followed his letting out contented chirps. He picked it up and put it in bed with him. Laying on his side he slowly petted it's sensors. It was comforting having noise beside him. The clicks and whirrs of the motor within its covering lulled Slayer into a contented sleep.
A few hours later he woke with a start. Vega's voice echoed around the fortress calling him. "I believe a demon entered the fortress."
Slayer leaped out a bed sending the cleaning bot flying across the room. His voice roared out a single word, "DEMONS!"
Charging out of the room, he grabbed his heavy cannon off the wall. He loaded it, looked down the sights, and deemed it fit for combat whilst sprinting down the halls in his rabbit pyjamas wearing his iconic helmet.
Vega made an odd noise, "Well... I have a plan. I don't think you'll like it."
Slayer froze, knowing exactly what Vega was planning, and shook his head making it very clear the answer was a firm no.
"You are so lonely you've practically given up!" Vega was practically spitting venom into the great DoomSlayer's resolve, "Keep it as a pet of sorts. It will give you company and companionship!"
Slayer shook his head with a less certain no. It was a demon and demons are creatures of pure malice, not (he almost was sick at the very thought of it) pets.
Vega spat, "Fine then die alone acting high and mighty rather than keep your wicked ego and pride in check!" He shut off abruptly the red lights in the ceiling fading.
A second masculine voice spoke from the ceiling, "You know he's right..."
Slayer jumped. Ah yes... Dr. Samuel Hayden. After defeating the icon of sin, he didn't talk much. He almost forgot he was here... sharing Vega's interface. Mid-stride he froze down the hallway. The realization came crashing down on him. He had seen Slayer cry last night, run buck naked through the halls, and was currently starring at him in his decked-out bunny pajamas.
"Please, I've seen worse. Well maybe not as bad as the great Slayer crying his eyes out cause he's 'lonely.'" The doctor mocked.
Slayer grumbled and looked away from the speakers. His face was red with shame but luckily he didn't think Samuel could see him through his helmet.
"What are you going to cry 'again'?" He chucked from the safety of the forcefield he was in then, doubted its strength and nervously shut his trap.
Slayer turned and punched one of the walls. He let out a growling yell that sounded somewhat similar to "Vega!"
The red lights adorning the ceiling flicked back into existence. "I thought you didn't want my help."
He shrugged and lowered his heavy cannon, taking on a more relaxed stance.
Vega happily listed his whole plan to the Slayer, "Shoot it until it's staggered then instead of killing it knock it out."
Slayer grunted, confused, and edged around a corner.
Vega hummed, "Knocking out is where you hit its head hard enough to make it fall asleep. In your case a simple tap should be enough." Vega nervously watched the demon crazed demigod. Would he really be gentle enough to not smash its skull to pieces? Vega snapped out of his daydreaming and focused, "you're about to enter the room with the demon now."
Slayer gripped his gun tighter and nodded. The door clicked open slowly. A flash of a scales and wings was huddled in the corner. It took every ounce of patience he has not to blow its head off right here and now.
"It's a gargoyle. Life signs are weak. I believe it is injured-" Vega was cut off by the gargoyle letting out a low growl.
The Slayer took a few steps closer and stoped when it growled again. He could get a good view of it. It's neck was ripped open and it's left shoulder was mangled. Slowly, he put down his gun and reached out his open palm to it. The gargoyle snapped at him and he drew back. He shot a I-told-you-so death glare at Vega.
"Perhaps you could... uhh... well you could... feed it! Yes, that's a wonderful idea!"
The Slayer nodded and walked to the kitchen, bringing back a small chunk of meat. He ripped it in half and tossed a chunk to the demon. It weakly raised its head and gave the meat an unsure sniff. It stabbed the meat with its arm blades and ate it. It hobbled over to him with its head hung low, weakly begging for more.
Slayer opened the palm of his hand and held out the rest of the meat. Standing still and barely breathing, he watched it slowly approached. After giving the slayer a few more quizzical looks it snatched the meat right out of his hand.
Vega laughed, "It looks like we have a new friend. Perhaps you might be able to lead to to the infirmary to tend to its wounds."
Slayer grumbled at Vega's cheerfulness. He wasn't ready to make this gargoyle... this demon part of his family yet. His voice came out as more of a growl than anything, "F-follow."
The demon tilted its head and trotted after him. Half way to the infirmary it let out a whimper and curled up in the middle of the hall way.
The slayer spun around and patted his leg, "Follow."
"It appears the demon is too weak to continue." Vega sounded worried.
The slayer solemnly nodded and aimed his gun at the demon's head.
Vega's voice came crashing over the loud speaker. "That is NOT what I meant! It's tired so you could carry it."
He glared at the nearest speaker then, sighed and walked back to the half asleep demon. The gargoyle was about the same height as him with large wings, making the whole endeavor much more awkward. Luckily, the demon wasn't nearly as heavy as the Slayer thought it would be. He carefully laid the demon across his broad shoulders and slowly walked to the infirmary.
"You'll have to clean the wound. That will be very unpleasant for both parties if you attempt to do it without sedation."
He gently laid the gargoyle on a bed and took out a needle filled with a clear liquid. The demon gave him a sideways glance and whimpered, hiding its face under its wings.
"Huh it appears it's afraid of needles." One of Vega's cameras descended from the ceiling to get a better look.
He grabbed an disinfectant wipes and gently cleaned a little square of of grime away on its arm. In a fast, smooth motion he injected it. The gargoyle let out a screech and tried to leap up, but he firmly held it down against the table. It's head slowly laid back down and its eyes rolled back into its head.
"Very good! Now let's begin. Firstly we will have to flush the wound with antiseptic."
The man nodded and grabbed some antiseptic out of the cupboard and gently flushed out the wound. The muscles in its shoulder were visible, skin and fat had been sheered right off of them. The wound on its neck seemed mostly superficial. Surprisingly for such a hulking monster of a man, the Slayer was tender and gentle against his one of his worse enemies.
Once it was finished Vega sent a small drone with bandages and began restocking the supplies in the room. "Here these are much stronger than the bandages we normally use. They will be much more suited for demons." Slayer let out a suspicious grunt and took them. Vega chimed in again, "They were developed by the UAC for healing demons."
The Slayer growled again. What was he doing? This was a demon not a pet. It shouldn't be healed it should get its face filled with lead. He grimaced under his helmet. Dealing with this thoughts all alone... he didn't know how much more of that he could take before he would finally go over the edge. Also, as much as he hated to admit it, he didn't want to let Vega down. Vega had become his friend over the time they spent together. It would be wrong to hurt Vega by ignoring his advice.
"You have to be fucking kidding me. You convinced the DoomSlayer, the bastard who is the demigod of killing demons, to keep one as a pet?!" Dr. Samuel Hayden's voice screamed at Vega.
"Well from my studies of human nature I've found that a pet can-" Vega was abruptly cut off by the doctor.
"Look at him! He's dressed in damn bunny themed night clothes. He's the DoomSlayer and you treat him like a little kid. You should be-" The time it was Vega's turn to cut the doctor off.
"He is my friend. He is under more stress then either of us could imagine. I'm trying my best to make sure he is ok and you're just being rude."
The slayer pressed a button on the outside of his helmet and muted their argument. It took a long time but he finally wrapped the demon's shoulder up in the special heavy duty gauze and unmuted his helmet.
The doctor's voice was full volume screeching through the loud speakers, "WELL AT LEAST I DIDNT GET A COMPUTER VIRUS BY 'ACCIDENTALLY' DOWNLOADING GAY PORN!"
Vega stuttered, "I-IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! It was disguised as... um... CLASSIFIED FLIES!"
Slayer quickly remuted his helmet and tried to purge his mind of the impure images he had just imagined. He vowed never to unmute his helmet halfway between one of their arguments... maybe he wouldn't unmute the helmet at all. Of course he'd still need to take it off to brush his teeth or Vega would yell at him.
The gargoyle lifted its head off the table, dazed and confused. it looked up at the speakers on the ceiling that were undoubtedly still arguing. The Slayer slowly reached down and hovered his hand above its head. It nervously looked at the fist that had killed countless demons. It sniffed it then mashed the top of its head into the hand, making some kind of happy screeching noise that he could hear even through his muted helmet. Jesus, this thing is loud...