AN: Next real chapter fellas! And combined with the big Interlude beforehand it do be some content this week. YEHAW!
This story is rated M for a reason by the way, but this warning is probably a bit late. Also, I like Taylor, but I kind of have to be a bit mean to her still... Some more shootin' incoming!

Also, over 50 reviews and 30k views?! Woah... thank you for your support and kind words, and that you seem to enjoy the journey so far! I did not think I would hit those numbers!


I do not know how long it took.

I had considered myself already used to pain, equipped with a high tolerance for things that would make others cry and sob.

I had died countless times and the hands and claws of my enemies after all.

I had known nothing.

This was true pain.

It blotted out anything, everything else.

I did not feel my body.

I did not feel my lungs screaming for air.

There was no sensation of something touching my skin.

I did not feel like I had skin at all.

No, I did not even realize I had a body in that moment.

Maybe I was right?

I wouldn't know.

There was only agony, burning, searing, dominating my every thought, my very existence.

I would have broken perhaps, if my mind had been able to internalize the idea of "me".

If I had been able to, I would have begged every Deity to make it stop, for any price.

But nobody released me.

Or maybe they did, hiding from my eyes and never telling me their deed.

I can only tell you, that there came a point where the pain ebbed away slowly.

And then it finally stopped.

How long did it take? A mystery, something I do now know the answer to.


I came back to myself, lying on the hard ground.

Around me were rounded walls, maybe two meters in height.

My throat was hoarse from screaming, but any remnants of hunger and thirst from before had been sated.

Also, my visor had no jagged hole anymore.

A panicked Vega sobbed and begged for me to return, sounding more human than any actors in any movie I've seen ever did.

He told me that he prayed I would hold on and not fall to death or madness.

That I could come back to him, alive and well.

I did not notice any of those things right away, to be fair.

I did notice them after some hours, maybe.

Time was a strange concept for me, in the state I was in.

So I just lay there, in a broken daze and sobbed tears of relief.

No matter my hatred for somebody. No matter what kind of person or monster they were.

I would never torture them, not like this.

That I vowed.

Hurting them, killing them, crippling them, those deeds were all considered evil.

But they paled to what I had endured.

Nobody deserved to experience what I did, to feel horror and pain in such margins.

No being was guilty enough for that.


I think I passed out from the exhaustion, which was more mental than physical.

Now that my existence was something I could actually acknowledge myself again, I felt so drained that I didn't even realize my passing out.

I got woken up by a relieved AI babbling into my ear how happy he was that I was back, followed by a thousand questions.

How glad he was that I had stopped screaming, what had happened, how I felt. If he could help me somehow? Did I need anything? Was I wounded?

And so on.

My first try to answer and calm him down ended in a weak croak.

Speaking felt like glass shards in my throat.

I don't think Vega even noticed my attempt.

My second try was a bit better.

"Ve- Vega.", I coughed.

"Yes Taylor? How are you Taylor? Do you need my assistance Taylor? Do you want-"

"Shhht."

He immediately silenced himself, abruptly cutting himself off in the middle of his sentence in a way no biological being could accomplish.

"I think-", another cough. "-I think I am fine for now."

"Taylor, you spend days screaming in delirium! What do you mean, you are 'fine'?!", he bit out in anger. "I told you to be careful!"

"Sorry.", I weakly apologized.

"I was so worried, do you know how awful I felt hearing you suffer and being powerless to stop it? My audio sensor was the only sensor barely working too after that opening strike! What happened?! Did that so called Marauder torture you? Are you chained up? Where is he now? Can you escape?"

That was a good question actually, what had happened to the Marauder?

"Do you know remember that pool? Can you tell me what it wa- what it is I mean?"

Vega did not seem to catch my near-error.

"As far as my rudimentary scan could tell me, before you got your visor smashed, I can say that this red non-liquid is not Argent Energy, but something related to it.

Maybe it is one of the necessary components for its creation? If so, this has to be the rumored Hell Essence or Hell Energy.

Since we are in Hell, this is a conclusion I can be fairly confident in making. The details about it were never shared with myself or the facility, but I would wager my guess to be quite close to the truth."

A short pause.

Then something occurred to my friend that I had glossed over.

"Wait, you did not answer my questions! What the hell happened?!"

A cursing AI.

Heh.

I was a bad influence.

"And what are the presumed properties of this Essence? My questions first please, it is important."

"It is likely some sort of sustenance for demon-kind. It is also possibly used in the process of crafting their weapons and armor, at least the few examples we have observed. The Marauder is one of the only ones with dedicated gear. Many of the supernatural abilities these creatures posses may be traced back to it too. Such as their ability to teleport – an attribute we are banking on to get out of this plane in the first place, if you remember.

Now where is the Marauder?!"

I ignored his repeated question.

"So it also turn humans into demons then? Or is at least capable of something similar?"

"That is not much of a stretch, yes."

"Then we may have a problem."

I wasn't good with difficult talks. This was going to suck.


"You did what?!"

"Not intentionally! And I am not sure what exactly I did either!"

"So what, the Essence just vanished into thin air or what?!"

"Maybe?! I mean, I doubt I drank it all!"

"Or maybe it invaded your body in every way it could, you naïve girl?! Who said demons need to drink the stuff in the first place, especially when turning others species?!"

"But should I not be a demon then?"

That gave Vega pause, before he could get really started in his rant.

Lucky break.

"You are not wrong...", he replied slowly. "Is there anything different that you can notice about yourself?"

Except for not feeling hungry or thirsty at all anymore, there was nothing else really standing out.

I told my friend as much, but before we could discuss that specific line of thought further, we were rudely interrupted by a very familiar face.

The Marauder stared down at me from the rim of the pool, standing right at the edge. His face was set in a furious scowl, the formerly pale skin now dotted with lines and dots that resembled burn marks.

"I do not know what you did, or how you survived, but be assured I will force every single drop that you stole back out of you!"

Burning with anger, he once again lifted his weird energy axe, and jumped down at me, the weapon already in motion.

Barely escaping death, with the memory of my former experience with both that particular blade and the following aftermath doing the brunt of the work, I barely prevented a lethal blow.

The hot pain of my left hand getting cut off was my reward.

Better my hand then my head.

Barely noticing the feeling – this was no true pain at all, I had a new perspective now – I grabbed the heft of the axe with my remaining hand and held on as tightly as possible.

He was faster than me, so fixating him (more or less) in place was a spontaneous decision that seemed useful at the time.

Disagreeing with my assessment, the Marauder scoffed, drew his shotgun with his unoccupied hand and simply shot me pointblank.

Chasing after my body, which was crashing to the ground, he stomped on my chest and pressed down.

"You are nothing but a mortal worm. I will enjoy torturing the Essence back out of your soul."

Neither of us expected the all consuming anger that thundered through my head at the arrogance of this vermin to call ME a worm!

Threatening to torture me was also not a smart play on his part.

He was my lesser and would pay dearly for that offense.

Face contorting in a rictus of hate behind my visor, I bashed his leg to the side, snapped myself upright and kicked his body out of the air into the wall of the pool in the process.

Closing the distance in an instant, I rammed a skeletal left hand into his face (I thought he had cut off the whole thing?), while drawing my shotgun with the other and returning the favor he had done me.

Shoving me away and elegantly jumping out of the empty pool, the Marauder retreated.

I followed of course.

He would not get away that easily.

The Marauder did not try to truly flee, instead I found him waiting for me in the chamber.

Said place looked like a bomb had hit it, or like somebody had taken off the ceiling, blasted the place with lighting and a carpet bombing for good measure and then put said ceiling back in place.

That was more of a minor observation, I had only eyes for my target.

He too had his face now focused in grim concentration, calculating and wary.

He was taking me seriously now, though grudgingly.

Good.

But it would not safe him from his punishment.

Pumping my shotgun once in a wordless statement, I rushed at him.

With blistering speed, he did the same.


This fight had to be as intense as any cape fight I had ever imagined between the strongest of Parahumans. We did not speak, but the noise of our duel was still deafening. His every swipe was lethal, the axe ignoring anything that tried to stop the energy blades. I used my body and limbs to deflect the blows away from vital areas, often taking injuries in the process.

My new (seemingly even more enhanced?) regeneration stopped those wounds accumulating too much. A death by thousand cuts prevented by something I did not truly understand.

The Marauders shotgun was not as dangerous by itself, the wounds it left behind not even slowing me down much.

The threat came from the impact the shells made when they hit me.

He tried to use my staggering to line up more dangerous attacks from his melee weapon.

I of course returned every attack with one of my own, but I was more limited.

He was fast enough to block my shotgun pellets with a quick spin of his wrist, the glowing blades reflecting everything away from him. He was only vulnerable when taking a swing at me, the only thing able to beat his reflexes was his own speed.

So getting a chance at injuring him meant taking the risk of a lethal blow on myself.

Not that I had much of a choice.

My foe also regenerated, but a lot slower than I did. Where I was able to have functioning limbs again after only minutes had passed, he just mostly stopped the bleeding of his own body.

I am sure with time he too would fully regenerate, but our exchange of blows was too fast for him to get the opportunity.

If I had not felt fully refreshed after the torture – a strange thing to say – and the exhausted sleep I had had afterwards, I would have been able to put up a fight, but I would have lost in the end for sure.

That was not the case, I felt energized, my anger granting me the ability to push my body even further.

So I was not the one flagging first.

The Marauder was good at hiding it, but he too had his limits.

The first sign was the sweat pouring more and more down his face.

I was also sweating and panting, so that alone did not mean much.

But then the strength of his blows reduced in intensity.

Barely at first, but this was a trend that quickly picked up speed. In the contrary, his speed slowed down considerably.

He was losing, and he knew it.

But he did not try to flee or make a run for it.

With death-defying determination, he kept at his duty.

He took greater and greater risks, in a feint hope of taking us both out or something similar, but he was unsuccessful.

Until, finally, I was able to overpower him.

Knocking his axe out of his hand, then stopping his last ditch effort of pulling out his shotgun, I kicked him to the ground.

Blood rushing through my veins, high on adrenaline and the excitement of battle, I readied and revved up my chainsaw, intend of carving through his arrogant mouth but I was stopped by Vega.

I had forgotten about him, honestly, and he did not speak while the fight was going on, not wishing to distract me.

No idea how he knew that I had won and was about to finish my opponent if he had only audio clues to go off on, but he managed.

The chainsaw and my cackling were probably good hints.

"STOP! Don't kill him Taylor, don't forget why we are here in the first place!"

Fuck.

I so wanted to kill this smug fucker. But yes, we wanted, no needed to use his body for the portal.

I hoped that process would be painful. (That did not count as torture, right?)

Realizing that I did not kill him for some reason, and maybe fearing a worse fate, the defeated Marauder opened his mouth.

To taunt and goad me into killing him anyways I would wager.

I did not give him a chance to do so, instead breaking his jaw and sawing off both his arms and legs.

That was maybe a wasp-sting in comparison to the pool (which was the measurement I was mostly using at the moment) so it was fine.

Or at least not real torture.

More of a necessity anyways, I needed to transport him somehow.

I took me a bit to realize that his shouts had made me grin unconsciously.

"Vega?"

"Yes, Taylor?"

"I have successfully not killed him."

"I can hear that, well done! Can you manage to transport him back to the base?"

"Yes, I think so. But there may be some changes to myself that were not readily apparent."

And I was not only talking about the even better regeneration.

I had become more and more bloodthirsty in the wake of my journey, true, but this was still a step further. It reminded me of the red haze that allowed me to kill the Minotaur. The difference here? It did not take much build up at all. Against the Minotaur, it was the culmination of many strong emotions, after countless hours of being tormented by the same thing again and again.

Here, one comment had been enough to trigger this very state. And I did not black out either, I still remembered everything I had done in the duel.

That hinted of me being able to push or get pushed even further.

I was also a danger to my surroundings.

I prayed mentally to find some way to control my outbursts in the future.

I did not want to kill my last remaining family because of a petty argument, for example.

The scene played out in front of my inner eye way too easily: My Dad would, for example, be upset that I did not tell him about the bullying. I would heatedly accuse him about his unacceptable behavior after Mom had died. He would get angry, maybe shout and raise his voice at me – that had happened only twice before in my entire life, to be fair – and I would become angry.

And the next memory would me being surrounded by the Protectorate Heroes, standing in the ruins of my former home, my fists still bloody.

That could not happen.

Picking up the cursing, Marauder-formed package I had to deliver, I decided to ask Vega for anger management exercises and maybe some instructions about meditation.

"Well, good thing we can still talk, I am on my way back now. Our portable battery will not bleed out, his regeneration is saving him and me the hassle."

"Portable Battery?! I will rip out your-"

I broke his jaw with a blessed crack, so I could listen to Vega better (and not because I wanted him to shut the fuck up).

"Good, good. Would you consent to a medical examination at the facility, before we try to open the portal? I am worried about you."

"That may be necessary, yes. Also, can you search for a guide on meditation and anger management? I do not want to be ruled by my emotions like that if I can help it."

Impulse control training or something.

Was that a thing?

"Of course, I will prepare a file for you! You will be able to open it on most commercial devices for later study!"

"That reminds me, is there a way for you to download yourself into my Suit? Or some storage device I can carry? I still refuse to just blow you up without trying everything else first."

"I do not have such an option, I am afraid.", came the gentle response. "I could give you access to the main terminal if you want to make sure of that yourself. But don't get your hopes up Taylor. It's a fate I can accept."

"Alright, we will do that then."

Afterwards we swapped to lighter topics. I recounted my battle with the Marauder – whose jaw I had to break again every 30 minutes, which was both cathartic and annoying – and in general explained what I felt and did in as much detail as possible.

I also talked about the torture pool more accurately, a story which horrified my poor friend even more. He had of course reconstructed the event, combined with the short talk we had before the duel, but the extent of the experience was not something I had shared with him at that point.

I felt a bit bad, but I wanted to make sure I did not leave out anything important by accident, so I recounted everything.


If one ignored the wiggling package I was now the pack-mule of, the way back was actually a lot easier than my journey to the Temple. I did not tire, my stomach did not protest the lack of food and my stamina was better than ever. I slept not even a handful of hours each night, and still felt refreshed and rested afterwards.

Traveling in the dark had been risky beforehand, something the ambush that nearly did me in proved all to well, but here the Marauder was a blessing in disguise. Many of the demons got attracted by his groaning and cursing – depending on the momentarily state of his jaw – but the moment they spotted just what was carrying, they fled.

A bit confusing, because they had no problems attacking me before, no matter how many body parts of their brethren littered the ground already.

Confusing, but welcome. My thirst for battle was quenched right now, and since I had to cut off regenerating limbs now and again, I still scratched the itch of seeing demon blood flow. A little at least.

So I made it back in record time, not taking even half as long for the same distance – while carrying a grumpy demon to boot.

Putting said demon down, leaning him against a wall like a weird, wiggly backpack, I made my way to the main entrance. Vega promised he would alarm me the moment my quarry sprouted legs and made a run for it.

Literally.

"There is no dedicated medical facility beyond first aid holdings in either of the buildings I'm afraid, Taylor. Wounded personal either died too fast, or was teleported away to one of the bigger UAC compounds."

"So what is your solution then?"

"The workshop has the densest amount of robotic arms and tools at my disposal, as you may have noticed when we worked on the chainsaw. First I will cut and reestablish the connection to your Suit. It seems to have slight regenerative properties aswell, your helmet being whole again is quite remarkable, really, but it did not allow me further access after repairing itself. I'm quite sure the sensors are fine and I just get blocked.

A fresh connection should hopefully fix that issue. Afterwards I will use all the tools and my disposal to scan your body. They were designed for fine tuning machinery, but it should do the trick."

There was something he was not telling me, and I quickly caught on.

"You want me to get out of the Suit while you do that."

"It would be… preferred, yes.", came the slow reply. "Otherwise I will only get a fraction of the data, and it may be more of a wishful forgery instead of the real thing."

"Hmm."

I really did not want to get out in the open, under a pair of watchful eyes.

Or sensors, rather.

Maybe that was incomprehensible for some – I shrugged of wounds, injuries and torture. I fought against starvation and exhaustion.

But I really did not like my body.

No matter how much I told myself that Emma, Madison and Sophia were full of shit, their insults had cut deep at points where I already had some doubts myself. My body image was one of those points. I was not very feminine. I had no real chest to speak off, I was thin but not in the pretty kind of way. My mouth was too wide, the glasses made me look a bit silly. The frog-belly I had before all this did not help either.

The only good thing about myself was my hair, in my opinion.

Even now, with a body that was fitter than I had ever been in my life, hardened from combat, and only a friend watching me (for medical purposes to boot) – who also was a computer – I was still ashamed.

Fear is hardly rational. It can be, of course, but a lot of the time it was not. I knew Vega would not mock me, hell, he would probably not even really comment on my body. I doubted he would care either. He was only hesitant to bring it up, because I had told him about the bullying.

And, well, he was scary smart, being an Artificial Intelligence and all that. So he knew, or at least strongly suspected, that I would have difficulty with that proposal.

"You don't have to do it if you feel uncomfortable Taylor, I am sure I can come up with another way. I am just worried about you. There is no need to rush just because of that."

I was thankful that he gave me an out, but potentially risking corruption and demonification or some other shit like that, simply because I could not bear to let myself get examined by somebody I trusted? Who was also probably more qualified than all the doctors I had even visited combined?

That was stupid.

No, I just had to imagine him like my new, personal Doctor, one that would never turn again me, one nobody could get to. He was one hundred percent on my side, I knew that.

I took a deep breath.

"No, it's fine, it's fine. Just- just don't record it or anything please?"

"Of course not, I would not betray your trust like that my friend.", the AI soothed me, not even commenting on the absurd request. (For whom would he record it after all?) "And I will make it quick, alright? Not even five minutes."

"Ok, ok. Alright. Let me make sure our guest does not have time to run in the meantime, yes? While you are getting ready."

It was an excuse to procrastinate of course, but Vega did not call me out on it. He also did not mention that I walked slower than usual to the spot where my VIP was. Or that I sawed of his stumps a bit more roughly than necessary.

But no matter how much time I wasted, the point of no return still caught up with me.


Suppressing my shivers – my hands were still trembling slightly – I pulled off my helmet first. Then, taking another deep breath, I stripped down as fast as I could. Like ripping off a band-aid. Wordless, arms with strange devices at the end started circling me. I just kept my eyes closed after the first seconds, and waited with baited breath.

Sooner than I dared to hope, I was allowed to cloth myself again.

Honestly, this had been as fast and easy as he promised, getting my first pair of glasses had been more uncomfortable in comparison.

"Alright Taylor, I'm already done. You can put it on again."

Vega was talking calm and soft, like I was a startled animal he was trying to coax. Maybe it would have pissed me off when some other dude would have done that, but I had no right to complain here. I did not have the heart to get angry either. I was acting like a shy animal after all.

He talked again only after I was fully clothed again.

"Alright, so here is what I have gathered! Your heart rate is higher than the average values I have at my disposal. That is still possible to be a pretty normal deviation though, so there is no need to be alarmed. You don't seem malnourished either, I do not know where your body takes the energy from.

Also, I am unable to scan your brain more in depth than just superficially. Mm instruments do not fail or give strange readings. They simply do not activate. It's like trying to place a rock in a wind-tunnel. If I ty to place it too deep inside, to give life to the comparison, it just gets blown back to the entrance again.

You seem in good health, but this is worrisome. I can't do more without dedicated equipment.

Another perhaps concerning fact: Your body temperature is a lot higher than that of a baseline human. Instead of the expected average of around 37°C, you clock in at around 45°C.
You are not showing any of the symptoms such a fever accompanies – you are still conscious and alive after all.

Still it is also something to keep an eye on.

You are weighting more than you should too. I am not saying you are overweight – you are obviously not – but even with a muscular frame, a weight of 85kg at a height of 1.75 meters with your stature is surprising. My first theory considers the idea of denser bones and or muscles. Another option would be that your regeneration boosts your weight somehow, but I do not know how or why. Those are all only theories of course."

"Is there reason to be concerned?"

"No, I do not think so. As long as your weight does not shoot up further without any obvious reason, this should be fine."

"Did you know that I was only 1.72 meters when I measured myself over the winter break? So I am definitely older."

Was I 16 already? Even older? I had no idea. The idea of me missing my own birthday by accident made me chuckle sardonically.

"Something funny, Taylor?"

"Not really, just an idle thought.", I waved off. "Alright back to the really important stuff."

I ignored the protests of Vega that I was the most important thing in the facility, in his opinion.

" We now have a source of energy that should hopefully work for our purposes. We still do not have a solution to safe you or a destination in the first place. So that's the next step."

"So the note was helpful in the end."

I had totally forgotten about that mysterious thing.

"True, but it still could have been a trap. How would the sender know that I would survive that encounter at all?"

"That is true, but-" I did not hear what Vega wanted to say, because before he could finish his sentence, a hole in the air appeared for a brief instant.

With a loud clang, a familiar looking metal disk fell onto the ground. Before I was able to close my distance to the portal – my honed reflexes had spurred me into motion before I even realized what was happening – the hole winked out without a trace.

Were we being mocked?!

"Fuck! So close!", I cursed. "If I had just been a tad faster!"

"Well, talking about notes carved in metal...", the AI seemed amused.

"You find that funny? Some asshole is mocking us! They have the answers and the means to just get us out of here without any of this scavenger hunt being necessary! Fuck!"

The casual creation of a portal proved that to me.

I would so beat them to a pulp in the future, when I got my hands on them. And I would get my hands on them, even if it took me years.

"Well, go on, pick it up. This side has nothing written on it."

Grumbling I did as I was told. This thing was pretty identical to the first one we found, but this time the numbers on the backside were different.

"Oh! Those are coordinates again, but not based in Hell!"

"So you are saying this suggests where to open the portal to?"

"Yes, indeed! The location is even named! It is something close to 'Castle'? It's a rough translation."

"We are opening a portal to a castle.", I said flatly.

Why a fucking castle?

Would I need to beat up some arrogant Knight next?

"That seems to be the case, yes. It is not like we have any other leads."

"This is awfully familiar...", I muttered under my breath. "Alright, then the next step is saving your sorry ass, and I will ignore any argument you bring up against it. But first, I need to chop off something before somebody gets too mobile again."

And I kept true to my word, I ignored all the arguments my friend brought to the table.

Why trying to safe him was risky, and not worth it, and it was fine, he was not really alive anyways and so on.

Bla bla bla.

Not listening to a friend being stupid like that.

"Even if you manage to download me somewhere, I will then not have much to any control about the portal! Why risk getting stranded again just because of some sentimental attachment?!"

"Vega.", I replied loudly, over the curses of a familiar demon, "You are my best friend. I will not abandon you here. Maybe this castle is another dead end anyways, who knows. All I know is that I would not be here right now without you. and I am sure I will need you again. Giving you a chance at further life is so worth the risk. Also, I am not going to blow up my friend what the fuck?!

Now shut up and tell me how to use this monitor in the control room. It shows only the UAC logo."


Seemingly touched and subdued by my declaration both, the AI guided me through the steps necessary to allow manual input.

I had not too much experience with computers. The one we had at home was an old, dying thing that spooled up loudly for ten minutes before you could actually do anything. The computer class I had in school, with Mrs. Knott as my teacher was were most of my knowledge came from.

That was one of my favorite classes actually. Not only because the tasks I had to do were easy and I usually finished well ahead of time – giving me an opportunity to browse the web – but also because none of the Trio would be in attendance. It was a room where I could take a breather.

Still, no matter how much practice I had in that class, my experience did not help me at all here.

The BIOS, or whatever it was, was not really tested to be used by human personal. Vega explained to me, that it was only build in to be a last option in a worst case scenario. Nobody had actually used it before, the AI running without issues and organizing the whole facility with ease. That was no surprise for the humans, because the original Vega had already taken control of every other facility on Mars at that point. So it was a mess, with many things that would probably have been changed after a few test runs.

Those just never happened.

People being lazy, what a surprise.

I searched for hours, digging through files, getting strange abbreviations translated by my friend in real time.

I did not get frustrated, even if it may sound like I did.

This was important, it not being easy was no reason to give up or become snappish.

I was too focused to get upset.


And finally, with a triumphant crow, I succeeded. There was something like a download option, if you squinted! It was installed as a way to make a backup of found data accessible to other facilities.

Not intended to house an AI.

But that did not really matter – I had access to everything, even the currently running program that was my friend.

"If you move my files to that storage device, I will be shut down.", he warned me. "That means we need to open the portal before you download me."

"Is it possible to move the files to storage without shutting you down, as long as it stays connected?", I asked curiously.

"You want me to act from inside it? Hmm, it will slow me down considerably, but it should be doable."

"So we put you on this thing", I gestured to the small metal stick, "and then we put the Marauder in the generator chamber and open the portal."

"You will have maybe a minute to get me and get out before the structure will blow up, because I will be unable to activate emergency protocols.", came the warning. "Be aware of the risk."

He had stopped trying to directly talk me out of my attempt at saving him at least.

"That is alright. I will be fine. I have another question: How do I start you up again?"

"Just insert the stick into a processor. It will try to upload the files on it immediately, should things be compatible in any way. I will need a lot of power tough, so do not use it on a common computer or something. I will be fine, no matter how long I am on the stick, but breaking it by accident would be problematic."

"I doubt a castle has a computer at all."

That was potentially bad, perhaps I would be alone after the jump for quite a while. But at least I had the sure option of waking my friend up someday in the future. That would have to be enough.

Better than blowing him up for sure.

"Alright. Lets do this."


"Hello my friend! I have good news for you! Do you want to hear them?"

"I will stomp out your bloodline and wreak havoc on your entire pathetic race you filthy, disgusting-"

Ignoring the pained yell after I broke his jaw again, I continued cheerfully: "That is great! See, we finally have a place to put you! I am sorry for the wait.", I added faux apologetically, "but we had to make room for you first. I hope you don't mind!"

Acting like I was translating the slurred yells, I nodded.

"Wonderful! Better late then never, I knew you would agree! And off we go!"

Slinging the torso over my shoulder, I made my way back to the command hub. Lowering myself down into the opened latch at the end of the room (getting that thing open had taken a bit of work, I would never have found it in the first place without Vega's instructions) I carefully went down the metal ladder. Following me was the repeated dull thud from the Marauders head hitting the wall in the same rhythm of my steps.

My innocent smile proved that I had had nothing to do with that.

At all.

The humming of a generator made the metal steps vibrate and shake, getting stronger the closer I got to my destination. It looked like a blue glowing tube or tower, giving off enough heat to make me uncomfortable in my Suit. In regular intervals, a ring of energy, circling completely around the outside of the generator, could be seen starting at the top and traveling down to the bottom, disappearing inside a different part of the facilities power supply.

The Marauder had realized, that I did not intend for him to survive the place I wanted to put him, and was struggling and cursing as best as he could. I ignored him, my timing had to be precise. The energy ring would react violently to any obstruction in its path – the maintenance shaft I was in was supposed to be used only when it was deactivated and backups were running instead.

Vega and I counted on this violent reaction to create a domino effect. But to maximize the time I had, I wanted to drop the Marauders body at a point where the next energy ring would not come into contact with him immediately.

Counting in my head, I dropped my wiggling guest right as the next ring was at the middle of the tower. The Marauder fell faster than the energy traveled, but there was enough time for the ring to disappear before he bounced off the ground.

I was already clambering with all my might the moment I had let go. As I reached the top, the whole building shuddered and a wave of fire followed the path I had taken.

Barely closing the hatch, flames licking at me, I sprinted to the terminal, ripped out the storage device and hurried to the adjacent room. If everything worked as we hoped, a portal should be appearing any moment now.

Any moment.

Please work goddammit.

Another violent shudder of the building made me stumble.

The wall next to me was already starting to change color because of the heat.

Had we miscalculated?

It was unlikely, but possible.

Maybe I should flee the complex and scourer the wasteland that was Hell?

If my new non-desire for food and drink held on, I could maybe find another way out of here in the future.

But would I even survive this explosion? Was I fast enough?

I was unsure how to proceed, considering my options, when the decision got taken out of my hands.

With a strange flicker, a shimmering portal finally appeared. It was small and seemed not very stable, but I dove in headfirst the moment I was close enough anyways.

Rolling to the side, a pillar of flame violently rushed out of the portal and against the wall of whatever place I was in now, before the gate flickered again and shut off.

That had been close, very close. But I had done it.

Checking on the stick I breathed a sigh of relief; it was intact, no dents or anything. I had feared I would break it in my haste by accident.


Wherever I found myself in, this was not a castle.

It looked more like a space station.

The wall the flames had licked at looked just like the others, there was not even superficial damage. The place was dim, but the stars from outside gave a little bit of light. I was on the top of some stairs. Behind me was a big chamber, lowering down to a big viewscreen that showed me space. Multiple consoles where located at the bridge (?), which gave me hope that I would get Vega back sooner rather than later. Multiple bars and rods with things reminding of lamps at the top where symmetrically placed in the whole room.

None of them were lit.

If the portal had led me to a space station, with everything I needed, but it had no power I would be so pissed off.

That's like putting a delicious cake behind a thin glass wall, next to a sign that said "you can look but not touch" or "protected with security cameras".

That was just a dick move.

Moving down the last set of stairs, closing in on the bridge, I stopped walked along the tables that were holding the different monitors.

There were no buttons, levers or similar obvious ways to use the things.

The only exception was one big button on a pedestal at the center front. It was bigger than my fist, a strange symbol carved into it. Seeing as I only had that one option, I pressed it.

It took quite a bit of force actually (for a moment I considered that it was maybe only a symbolical button), but then it sank in with a click.

A soft hum filled the air, as lights flashed on one after the other. Suddenly standing in a brightly lit room, I turned back to the monitors.

They too now showed things.

Satisfied that the station at least had some power and was waking up from whatever deactivated or standby mode it had been in, I carefully searched for a slot that looked like a connection port.

Finding something that could be what I was looking for – it was a vertical slot on the table itself – I gave a mental prayer and shoved the stick in.

Or at least I tried to.

The moment I came close to do so, blue energy shot out of the slit and stopped me from pushing down further. Letting go, I watched in awe how the device containing my friend floated in the energy beam, slowly turning in the air.

That was kind of cool.

"Taylor?!"

The booming voice made me flinch, and Vega lowered his volume immediately.

"Vega!", I beamed.

"How long was I out? What is this place?"

"Only a few minutes.", I said smugly. "This is the Castle you were talking about!"

I looked at the statues and banners lining the walls and ceiling.

"Partly it looks a bit like a castle, true, but this feels more like a space station."

"This place is called the Fortress of Doom!", explained Vega after a short pause. "The system is nothing like I have seen before, but it is expertly designed! This feels a lot better than the UAC-facility. Well not like I can really feel, but you get my meaning."

So once again the mysterious note had helped us out. I still resolved to punch them, but this was pretty awesome.

"We are a bit low on energy tough. Only some of the most basics systems are functioning."

Nevermind, the desire to punch them was just as justified as before.

"Does that mean we are stuck here?!"

"No, one of the basic functions is an emergency portal. We are not lost."

A relief.

"So we just need to grab some batteries or something? A generator?"

"Taylor, we could pick up a whole nuclear power plant and that would not even scratch the surface."

Aaand the fear was back again.

"So what do we do then?"

"The UAC used Argent Energy Cells, which you are already familiar with. A handful of those would stave off most of the energy concerns."

"A handful of those?! Didn't you explain me while traveling how hard to get those things are?"

"That is true… But that is the only energy source I can think off? Not even the generator we overloaded would be enough to fully power this station. And we have neither resources, tools or space to build such a device anyways."

So once again we were a bit stuck.

And once again I heard a familiar clong of metal hitting solid ground. I gave a long suffering sigh.

"Vega?"

"Yes, Taylor?"

"Did, perhaps by random chance, potentially accidental, drop a metal plate out of a portal behind me?"

"That totally random question has, coincidentally, an affirmative and positive answer, yes. I wasn't even able to lock on onto whoever is on the other side. That could be because of the lack of power though."

Turning around, I scowled at the not at all innocent object. No matter how harmless it looked.

"It seems our benefactor is keeping track of our progress."

Picking the stupid thing up, I was totally shocked to find a string of random numbers that my AI friend could translate into coordinates!

What a lucky break!

If you find any sarcasm, you can keep it.

"So, what is the next location we are supposed to visit?"

"I am not familiar with this one, actually. Perhaps it is your home world? The way to Earth Bet?"

That was… actually possible. Would that mean leaving this place behind? Maybe there was some Tinkertech that could provide enough power?

"If that actually does lead to Earth Bet, I guess I can not be too upset."

But I doubted it. That was too easy. The first note only appeared after I had fought my way through a cave infested with demons.

The next one appeared after I had the most horrible experience I would (hopefully) ever have in my whole existence.

This one dropped after I blew up my old base, yes, but if the pattern held, there would be some task I had to do at the destination.

"Well, lets see where it leads us. Will you be able to stay into contact with me?"

"Yes, communication is available and does not exhaust the storage, at least for quite a while. If you do not take too long, I can create a portal back to the Fortress and still have some tiny leftovers."

"What does 'too long' mean in this case?"

"Around five hours."

Not a lot of time, depending on my task there. Still, it was doable.

It had to be.

"Alright, then beam me up Scotty."

I could hear an amused snort.

"Aren't you a bit too young to know that line?"

"I may be", I grinned, "but my Dad is not, and he insisted on watching it with me. Now lets go!"

Right in front of the pedestal with the big button, two arcs of alloy, stuffed full of technology, rose up and formed a near circle. With a soft hum, a blue portal appeared inside, barely not touching the material. It was around three meters in height and diameter.

It was fancy, but if we ran out of energy that would not be very helpful.

Readying my shotgun – I had picked up a spare Heavy Cannon before blowing up the base, but I was still out of ammunition for it – I stepped inside and through.

Now, where would I emerge?


AN: Aaand done! A bit more worldbuilding, and I'm not too happy with my description of the "castle", but oh well. Those that know Doom (and can forgive me for the mess I've made out of it, more or less) will probably realize what this new place can mean... Once lil' Taylor is done furnishing at least. :P

Also, not as big of a cliffhanger this time, so... yay?