Yang slowly woke up, her body aching all over. That was intense, she thought, reflecting on the previous battle. On the one hand? She had felt unstoppable. The music playing from the Slayer's suit, stirring something primal in her, making her fight on. Not to mention that every time his chainsaw came out, ammo got refilled. But the after effects were something else. Passing out like she had never slept, and waking up and feeling every hit she took.
But as she woke up, her thoughts shifted. She was in a sleeping bag, laying on a metal floor, inside what made her think of a castle. Or rather, what a castle might look like if it was mixed with high technology. She was in a control room, with the rest of her team, JNPR, CFVY, and the 3 girls of DMND all sleeping around her. "Where are we?" She asked out loud.
The view out the main window provided her answer. Along with the hologram in the center of the room. "Wait...we're in space?" She asks, loud enough that everyone else was starting to stir.
"Oh fuck. Why do I hurt all over?" Coco asks with a groan as she gets up. "There better be some aspirin around here."
"Language!" Ruby yells as she gets up, and everyone one by one notices Yang staring out the main window, as well as looking around.
"Gods, we're in space!" Nora exclaims. "In space, in an old castle of some sort."
"Welcome everyone to the Fortress of Doom," Marion says with a chuckle. "The Slayer's private base." All eyes turned to her, Nixera, and Daisy.
"Wait...have you three been up here before?" Weiss asks, hands on her hips.
"Yes we have. I almost died," Daisy says grimly. "The LAST thing you want to do, is go outside. And we can show you the doors that lead outside. There's nothing out there. Nothing to breathe that is. Your Aura will flare up though, I think he mentioned once it was about air pressure."
"We've been around this place," Nixera says. "There really isn't much to see, but we'll show you around anyway," she continues, Marion and Daisy joining her. "And we can't say we know the whole thing ourselves."
"But there's one room you all should see. Which is likely where the big guy himself is," Daisy says as they give the tour. Though, as said, there wasn't much to see. Just empty rooms. Though some key things were the command center where they had started out in, as well as the doors that led to the towers, which Daisy was quick to explain were the doors NOT to go out of.
Though one of the big shocks came when they found the Slayer's personal quarters, and they looked around. "This is a man cave," Pyrrha notices. "Big guy like him and he has...figurines," she notices with a chuckle as she explores that shelf, but turned around due to her attention being diverted.
"Slept well?" The Slayer asked, helmet on his desk, Penny coming up behind him. "Go on, look your fill," he says, Velvet taking plenty of pictures. "Then you all meet me in the command center," he says, tossing the Wraith Crystal in his hand. Nearly everyone leaves, slowly, Velvet looking up at the painting the Slayer has.
"That's adorable," she says, Daisy coming up behind her. "Big strong guy, and here he's posing with his pet rabbit," she smiles, but as she turns around, sees the old cage and rabbit food. "But where...oh," she says to herself, having a realization.
"Yeah, I don't think his rabbit's got the happiest backstory," Daisy says, running her hands over the cage. Why does all this feel familiar somehow? She thought, as she and Velvet ran upstairs to the control room.
"Now that everyone's here," the Slayer says, "I can tell you what Penny and I have learned. It seems the Fortress will get powered up, and not just in the conventional sense," he explains, tapping on the primary ops screen. "In theory, all I have to do is raise the celestial locator, and..." he does so, dropping the crystal in the dish, before lowering it.
The effects were immediate, energy crackling all around the Fortress, as the touch screen updates. "Power levels: 100%," the screen reads, but there's more. "Restructuring Generators: Online. Local exotic energy sources detected. Scans indicate non-functionality. Further information needed."
"'Local exotic energy sources?' What does that mean...wait, Dust!" Weiss says. "But how do we give it the 'further information?'"
"Wait...what if we give it what it asks for?" Ren comments. "Open that thing again." The Slayer taps the screen, nodding, and once the pedestal rises, Ren drops in a Dust crystal.
"Good idea," the Slayer says as the pedestal lowers again, and the screen updates. "Scanning...Scanning...Scan complete. Configuring energy field to enable exotic energy source use." The Fortress took on a strange glow, as if energy was filling it up, before settling down.
"I think all the Dust works again!" Marion says, pulling out a crystal, once again emitting energy.
"Hey...what's a 'restructuring generator?'" Blake asks, looking at the screen.
"I...have no idea," the Slayer says, tapping it for more info. There was a notice on the screen. "Port tower walkway in need of repair," with a button to tap for that. Once the Slayer taps it, the lights dimmed, and the Slayer saw how on the screen, the broken walkway towards the port tower seemed to...dissolve. And then it reformed, into a complete walkway. "What the..." came a collective gasp from everyone.
"Wait," Marion says, turning towards the Slayer. "We can use this. You have plenty of spare rooms, right? Here...see if you can make a bathroom." The Slayer taps through the restructuring generator controls, and after some trial and error, was able to make a small bathroom, just a toilet and sink.
"Before anyone rushes off," he says, as some were getting ready to, "Let me double check the water. The main water on here helps cool the reactor, and therefore, might have things in it you all don't want," he explains, figuring out how to make a water purifier. After a few minutes, he gives the go ahead, and several of the students rush off.
"So what exactly IS your idea Marion?" He asks.
"We can use this place," she explains. "Think about it. This is the ultimate base, location-wise. It just has to become the ultimate base, in terms of what's here. Imagine..." she trails off. "Bedrooms, for everyone here. Maybe more. Bathrooms, and I mean proper bathrooms, with showers and everything. A bigger workshop, practice arena...and maybe a living room, kitchen...the works."
"Oh, prison cells. That'd be a great addition," Nixera adds. "After all, it means we can capture people of interest."
"Oh, and an infirmary too," Yang says. "Lots of painkillers. Seriously, do you know how much we all ache, after all that?" She asks.
"'Pain is weakness, leaving the body,'" the Slayer quotes. "Means I'll also have to train you all up. And I already have the Ripatorium. It just needs some...alterations. But those have to be done locally," he says as he punches in requests to the restructuring. "Now, be wary about how doors work here," he says as he expands some rooms and adds others. "Since there's a lot of glass, but I can change that. Oh, another idea," he says, and also covers the walkways to the towers, and fixing the holes in the starboard tower as well, frowning at some of the results on screen.
"What's wrong?" Weiss asks, coming back from the bathroom.
"Nothing much. Seems that we'll have to shop for furniture," he says, elaborating. "Well, that depends. I can have it generate beds, or rather the frames," he demonstrates, showing bunk beds of stone. "But anything with a cushion? Nope. Same for anything that can move. Electronics and the like, it can do, all hooked into the central server on here. Which means you'd have access to the entire cultural archives of Earth." Marion comes up to him.
"Hey, YOU are the reason Fiye Weapons has turned around. We've got plenty of Lien," she says, and upon the mention of money, the Slayer also adds a vault. "OH! Didn't you once say the air up here is better? Because of the excess filtration systems?" She asks, and the Slayer nods. "Then I have a request. I want Viri to move up here." The Slayer raises an eyebrow, but Marion continues. "Up here, NOTHING can get to her. And you can restructure this place so anywhere she might want to go...isn't in the way of anything important," she explains, and the Slayer smiles.
"I don't blame you," he chuckles as he cues in the order to the Restructuring Generator, everyone else getting back. "Ok everyone, listen up. I can restructure this place to be better. However, it seems for something this extensive? We'll have to leave while it does its thing. But that's ok, as it can't make furniture. Which means that if this is to become a true orbital base, shopping is required." Excited looks got exchanged, along with some talking about what they'd get. "No, I will not force you to get things that match the Fortress. I mean...there's parts of this place that are literally raw stone. How do you make something fit that?" He asks with a chuckle.
Penny then pipes up, after tapping controls on the comms terminal, showing news reports. Some of which gave passing mention of the Slayer as a criminal still at large, though it only shows him in his armor, and an overhead drone shot of him BFG'ing the Atlas mechs. But his segment didn't get as much screentime as the White Fang. "It's clear that they're still looking for you sir," Penny says. "But of course they don't know who you really are. And that since they haven't heard from you since that day, you're not as big a concern as the White Fang. So maybe you shouldn't go," she says.
"Fair enough. I wouldn't know what to get for you all anyway. Do I LOOK like I have taste in furniture?" He asks, chuckles going around the room.
"Oh, but there is an idea," Penny continues. "We can divide and conquer." All eyes turn to her. "Each team can go to a different store, which will be better because it won't draw as much attention. DMND can help pay for it, so you 3 will have to take some money with you," she continues, nodding towards the girls of DMND.
"Actually, I had another idea too," the Slayer says. "You 3 have PDD's right?" He asks, and they nod, and at that he taps more controls. "I'm linking them up now, with what you could say are admin privileges here. So as you get things...you can send them straight here." Everyone grinned and nodded with approval. "Besides, it seems that the command center's isolated, so you all can head off, and Penny and I can stay here to coordinate things."
"Hey, what about common rooms?" Ruby asks. "Anything that isn't a bedroom?"
"Those can be split up," Pyrrha suggests. "You guys can take the living room, or should we call it a lounge?" She asks, to which many nod. "Anyway, RWBY, you can do the lounge. CFVY, you guys can get kitchen stuff, and we can get...everything else. You got a laundry room cued up?" She asks, and the Slayer responds "Now I do," after a few control taps. "Yeah, that, and all the odds and ends."
"So, we'd need mattresses, pillows, and the like," Nora says, counting on her fingers. "Dishes and pots. And food! Hey speaking of...you've got a stove up here, right? Or this thing can make one?"
"Shouldn't be too hard to channel excess reactor heat. Here, you all go on ahead, and Penny and I can update you as need be. Regroup at Fiye Weapons, which is where I'll send you," he says, cueing up the coordinates.
Everyone one by one leaves, leaving Penny and the Slayer alone on the Fortress. "I'm surprised you didn't request a room for you sir," Penny says.
"As said, I don't need to sleep. And...it's better that I don't," he continues quietly, but Penny could tell something was up. A human may have missed it, but she could tell his pulse was elevated, his eyes wider, and more, enough to make her ask a question.
"Are you...afraid to sleep, sir?" She asks. There was only one logical reason to fear sleep as far as she knew. Nightmares. And if the Slayer's claims about his age are true, coupled with his experience...to Penny, there was only a logical outcome. He must have nightmares about his past.
The Slayer gives a defeated sigh, seeming vulnerable for the first time, having been found out. "I would want to say no, but...I get a feeling you've got lie detection in there," he says with a small smile. "And that logical brain of yours may have even figured it out. Haven't you?" He asks with a firm stare, to which Penny nods. "I have killed things. WORSE than any Grimm I've met. Things that would corrupt the soul, and would've consumed entire worlds, where I, and only I, can stop them. And sometimes...I've failed. It is because of me...the Night Sentinels took quite a beating. I've seen entire WORLDS, consumed by the forces of darkness. And I've lost those close to me as well. That shit stays with you. Even after all this time...however long I've lived. If I can avoid the nightmares? Good. Besides...thanks to some of what's happened to me? I don't NEED sleep, anymore than I need to eat. Though I DO eat sometimes. Because hey...pizza, snacks..."
Penny listened on, and in the middle of it, went up to him to give him a hug. "So despite what you claim to be, despite what many may think, despite what you've done...you're still human, deep down."
He hugs back with a smile. "Heh, I guess the demons never could truly kill Bill," he chuckles, his grip getting a bit tight. But Penny didn't mind, though she could tell some humans would likely be having breathing issues, but something he said made her wonder.
"Kill Bill?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Once upon a time, before I was the Doom Slayer, before I was the Hellwalker, the Unchained Predator, humanity's will to survive made manifest, before I was even Doomguy...well, according to a piece of paper that I'm sure no longer exists...I was William Joseph Blazkowicz III," he says with a small smile. "Blazin' Bill, I was called, back in my marine days."
Penny pondered it for a bit, and smiled. "You'll have to fill us in at some point. What all you've done. And while I can't speak for the others...I'm willing to be here for you," she says. Already, she was updating the teams back on Remnant. Not everything, but she decided that the slayer needed a pick-me-up. The Slayer WOULD get his own room, his own place. He would get a chance to be Bill again. And thanks to her connection to the Fortress, she was already browsing his personal logs, helmet cam footage, and more. And while she had only gotten a glimpse, what she had seen was horrifying.
Strange monsters attacking him, in strange high tech facilities. A giant creature that resembled a brain on a mechanical spider body. Some large creature's head in a wall, and more. But another thing that stuck out early on involved the audible anger, despair, and anguish. And it was all concentrated around a rabbit head, stuck on a spike. But then multiple things hit her at once. The empty cage in the Slayer's personal room. The painting on his wall. He does all this...for his pet? People had done far less, for closer connections.
"If you don't mind me asking sir," she asks. "I've been accessing your logs." She pauses to gauge the Slayer's reaction, to which he nods, mentioning how he'd tell the full story, someday. "Your rabbit was important to you, wasn't it?"
He stiffens, and Penny thought she saw his eyes water, just slightly. "Her name...was Daisy," he explains simply. Wait. THAT must be why he's overly protectful of THIS Daisy! Same name, rabbit faunus... It was only logical he'd get protective. It had been so long, and he still mourned his pet rabbit. Yes, we will DEFINITELY support him, help him remember good times again. She thought.
