It was done. At least for now. Earth was safe. The Icon of Sin, dead, again. Though his Crusade against Hell would be Eternal, at this moment, the Doom Slayer could take a break. Catch up on his reading. Play some of his games. His backlog was getting long. And the one zombie he had found playing with his figures was now off floating in space. Normally he might shove the head into the spine, but this was his space castle. And more importantly, his private room. He had no desire to make an unneeded mess. Moreso, he had expansion plans. Only 1 room was for living, the rest was for business. Well, the Ripatorium was a gray area.
He was walking around the Fortress of Doom, mainly the reward rooms, wondering how they'd be repurposed, if at all. The problem is they're all on the small side, he thought to himself. Except the towers. Those are plenty big, The problem there is vacuum exposure. He was continuing to ponder about renovations, and mentally list other chores like sharpening the Doomblade, when he heard the voice of his on again, off again, ally, Dr. Hayden.
"We are receiving a signal, coming from Hell itself. It appears to be a distress call." Odd, thought the Slayer, Who would even be there, and how would they have the technology required to contact this ship? He made his way to the bridge, to check on the primary mission monitor. The signal seemed to be a garbled mess, despite Hayden's best efforts to clean it up. The only thing that was clear, was its origins. Not just that it's from Hell, but where in Hell it was coming from. "The portal has been configured to get as close as possible," the doctor said over the ship's speakers, even as the Slayer made his way to the activation stone.
Well, this might be interesting, he thought once he stepped through the portal, glancing around at all the stone, lava, and Argent energy crackling everywhere. I'm back he thought to himself, mostly as if taunting the demons, as he felt his rage building from his hatred of the dark realm and all it stood for. Soon enough, there was what could've been a temple or something, and the place was overrun with all manner of imps, cacodemons, zombies, pinkies, and more. In other words, a workout. Even now, the Praetor suit was starting to blare heavy metal in his ears, fully pumping him up for the slaughter about to come. One chambering of a shell in his shotgun and he was in business. Be it feeding a cacodemon a grenade then ripping its eye out here, chainsawing a zombie for ammo there, or a mass flame belch for armor, as would be popularly said, killing was his business, and business was good.
Eventually, the last demon's blood was spilled, and this fight, for now, was over. A gate opened up, but to the Slayer's surprise, what was beyond looked...surprisingly human. A girl with white hair, horns, glasses, a tail, and a red and black suit. "Name's Pandemonica." She says in a tired voice, not glancing at first. "How may I...serve...y-you?" She says, slowing, and stuttering, upon seeing the nightmare of Hell in front of her. Demons look like this? I've never seen one that could talk, he thinks, giving the shotgun a pump. But then the demon girl does something unexpected. She puts up her hands, each with a white handkerchief. A sign of surrender.
Odd, thought the Slayer. No demon has ever surrendered. They all fight to the death. "I give up!" the demon girl says, still scared out of her wits. "Let me live, and I'll help you. Go team D-d-doom S-s-slayer." She stammers out, continuing, "there's more of us. More taking the 'can't beat them, join them' path. But the other demons are all holding us captive." She explains. She wants to help? Well, she's not trying to kill me, and the Fortress IS quite big. And empty. He thinks to himself. Not sure what she can do for me, but one thing at a time.
He responds only by lowering his shotgun, and offering his hand, which she nervously took. "Thank you, I promise I'll make it worth your while." "An interesting development." Dr. Hayden says in his slightly monotone voice. The Slayer felt the tingling at his back, the one that meant a portal was opened. "Continue on along the obvious path," Pandemonica says, "and you should eventually reach all of us. I'd warn you about what's ahead but..." she trails off, looking over the Slayer, green armor barely containing the raging man within, then steps through the portal.
Multiple demons, switching sides? The Slayer thought. This is an interesting development. And I have the space. Though remodelling, and furniture, are both needed. He continues in his head, as he heads through the open gate. If this mission was a rescue one, he wouldn't mind. Even he got lonely sometimes. VEGA wasn't much of a talker, and besides, lacked a face. But having a crew onboard the Fortress, a support group, might be interesting. The Slayer allowed himself a small smile. It would be nice. He thought.
