AN: There be SHOOTIN'! This is the biggest one yet! :P
I may or may not play a bit fast and loose with Doom mechanics here, but I have no regrets. Fanfiction and AU and all that.
Also, one of the reasons I put the Fortress in this story IS indeed the possibility of using it for the things one review mentioned; but that is not planned until the Worm and Doom plot have been more or less finished.

So no additional crossovers, at least not for quite some time.

Now, back to our beloved murder Queen, Taylor Hebert!

YEHAAW


Chapter 8

I found myself in a city of some sort, or at least what was left of it.

It must have been an impressive sight in its prime, because I still found myself awed just by the remains I could find.

High walls streaked into the sky, enclosing the town fully. The giant, shimmering gate still stood strong, the tooth of time not strong enough to break it down.

A fierce battle had raged here, countless years ago.

That much was obvious.

Parts of the protective barriers had holes in them, perhaps smashed by oversized weapons or by the power of focused explosions.

Debris and rubble littered the ground, bend and broken tools of war mixed into them.

It reminded me a bit of the test-side from UAC facility, with one stark difference:

There were no bodies or skeletons to be found.


Climbing through one of the many holes giving me an opportunity to do so, my eyes fell on a city that had been pulled straight out of a novel. Mostly still intact buildings of impressive proportions, huddled together, connected by elegant roads that the returning vegetation had only partly claimed. Over my head, I could see multiple bridges in the sky, allowing quick travel between different buildings directly. The style of some of the constructions reminded me strongly of the Fortress of Doom I had just left behind.

I even spotted something closely resembling the lanterns that had lightened up the bridge.

A common architect?

A giant statue, displaying a Warrior standing in a resting position, sword poised towards the ground, bucket helmet on their head, dominated the center of the city. It was taller than any of the other buildings – who kept a respectful distance only to this one structure – and could probably be seen from any point in the city with ease.

"We have scriptures of these fighters, talking about an order of Sentinels. The UAC had no success in finding proof of their existence. Until now, that is.", Vega broke the silence.

"Does that information help us out in any way?"

"I am sure you have noticed the similarities in design. If those people created the Fortress, or at least helped, I am sure they had a power source at least capable, if not specifically designed, to sustain those and similar structures."

"So I am looking for some sort of generator or something? What if I miss it?"

And how would I carry it, if it proved to be of similar size than for example the generator in the UAC?

"If you get close enough, I will be able to superficially scan it. We will not miss something that provides more energy than any human power plant, don't worry."

(Sort of) reassured, I made my way towards one of the buildings. I had no real strategy for exploration, but I had to start somewhere, right?

Why did I always have to search for stuff?

While walking around?

I was already bored and pissed off.


Of course, the moment I stepped inside of the first fucking building, a creature resembling a snake with a humanoid upper body screeched angrily at me.

It's bony body twisted and slithered away from me, an ugly snake that had grown a pair of arms.

Or some sort of amateur-Medusa.

Following it swiftly, but still keeping a wary eye on my surroundings, my paranoia was quickly rewarded, as one of the statues lining the walls demonstrated the demons ability to hide in plain sight.

Its greyish skin had allowed it to blend in and escape my gaze until it moved.

It looked like an Imps ashen corpse, the claws it poised to strike small and agile.

Turning and firing at the ambusher, I could see from the corner of my eyes, that the snake demon was returning with surprising speed, trying to use my distraction against me.

And it was not alone.

Cursing, as many of the demons I was already familiar with poured in from every possible angle, I started hastily making myself some space.

None of the bigger specimen had shown up, so these things were mostly cannon fodder and a waste of ammunition to boot.

But they could still kill me.

And I still enjoyed myself, admittedly.

Kicking a bloody corpse away from me, I put away the shotgun in favor of my chainsaw and sliced the snake-thing open lengthwise, from its ugly, horned head to the tip of its tail.

The creature gave a decidedly female scream and understandably stopped moving after that. I had already moved on to the next attacker.

Crushing skulls with my bare hands, stomping on bodies too frail to survive the kick of my boots, I slaughtered myself through every single one of those idiots.

I was not even here for them?!

Some I sawed to shreds, some simply got their neck snapped. It was over before I had a chance to really get into it.

A pity.

And that set the tone for the next tedious hours of exploration.


The occasional ambush was the only thing breaking the monotony of my search for an unusually shaped needle in a haystack made out of alien space-houses.

I only used my (quickly running out) ammunition if stronger demons made an appearance, or if I needed to dispatch a foe quickly. My fists and my chainsaw did the rest of the work. The prior excitement about setting foot into an alien city got quickly overshadowed.

In the end, it was not much different than my excurses through the UAC facility, or my clearing of the demon hive, only with the added challenge of only having short ranged options to kill people with.

And that I was searching for a specific thing, which I did not have any familiarity with.

Which made things more boring, I was already used to this sort of bloodshed.

I kind off hoped for something like another Marauder to appear.

But then I remembered how that fight went at first and I controlled myself.

My confidence fighting those kind of foes had definitely taken a hit.

It did not matter that I won in the end; if more than one Marauder appeared for example I would strongly consider fleeing.

Also, winning did not make me forgot the experience that had been diving into the Hell Essence.

Not fun.


After I picked up the fifth random object to scan, Vega explained slightly exasperated to me me, that he would notify me about more interesting finds and I was just supposed to carefully clear the individual buildings.

How was I supposed to know that those aliens – or Sentinels, or however they called themselves – enjoyed or preferred strange, deformed cooking pots?

It had been glowing, it could have been our power source!

I was not sorry!

The short timeframe I had to work with did not make things easier or more relaxed.

Giving up on clearing every building - I was running out of time - I instead decided to look for some sort of sign.

If the note from the seemingly all-knowing stalker send me here, then I could succeed at this task.

I was sure about that.

To give myself a better overview, I scaled one of the highest sky bridges. I did not have enough time to scour every building, so I was looking for the (in a past age) best defended one, or maybe one that was otherwise marked.

To make a long story short:

The fucking statue had an access point between its feet, right behind the sword. It was covered AND mostly overgrown with vines. So it was very well hidden because of that, me noticing it a sheer stroke of luck.

But even I had luck sometimes.

Take that universe!


After breaking open the entrance, I found myself in a small chamber. The only thing inside was a tablet made of stone or something that looked similar at least, hanging on the wall.

Below it was a cylindrical shaped object.

It was made of some sort of metal, a grid or cage of strong material locking a crystal core tight, clinging to it. The metal linings looked like they had melted into the crystal itself. I had no idea if that was by design, or if the passing of time had simply damaged it. The inside was glowing in an eerie blue, enough to light the whole chamber.

The thing looked small at first glance, but as I closed the distance I realized that both it and the tablet were simply oversized, with the tablet being as big as my torso.

A trick of perspective.

"I think we have found what we came for, Vega."

If this was not the power source we were looking for, then those Sentinels were high on crack and I would refuse to use anything they had their hand in making.

Then I added wearily:

"And I found another metal note too. Because of course."

It had been wedged between glowing-space-magic-thing and wall.

How or why?

Eh.

I could not even bring myself to be angry, I was more resigned to that particular fate now.

There were worse things than to stumble over the clues of a modern day treasure hunt.

"I agree, the energy readings are off the chart – and this seems to be in a mostly intact state too! Well done! I will translate the note after we are finished here."

"Now the question is, how do I transport it? This is bigger than I am!"

"Do you think you can lift it? I can open the portal inside the chamber and you just shove it through."

Simple but effective.

For some reason my mind had jumped to some other ordeal that I had to endure to get this thing to my new base.

But there was actually no need for that.

Time to cosplay as a strong-woman.


I could indeed move it, it was big, true, but I was strong enough to break steel with ease. Or demon bones.

Heaving the power source into the gateway to the Fortress, I also grabbed the Tablet and followed it.

"Vega, where do I need to put this thing?", I asked once I was on the bridge again.

"If you go up the stairs, there will be a circle shaped marking on the ground. It is close to where you said you first came in, so you should not be able to miss it."

Finding said spot, Vega did something and the ground folded back a bit. Unclasping whatever mechanism was holding the trapdoor open further, I spotted an empty chamber, just barely big enough to fit the alien battery-thing inside.

Carefully, with steady hands, I lowered the big glowstick until it rested snugly in place. Lowering the trapdoor again, I pressed down with force until it made a loud clack.

Instantly afterwards, the whole station started humming ominously. I heard a whoosh and turned around to see visible rays of energy shooting down designated pipes. Many of the deactivated things that could be found in this room – and that had mostly made an impression of just being futuristic tables on me – not had energy beams shooting to the ceiling.

I had seen something like this before, on a tiny scale with the storage-stick. That had been fantastic to look at, but this was just truly on another level.

"Power has been restored to nearly 90% percent!"

"Wait, there is still stuff missing?"

"Now that I can use more processing power without fearing to run out of juice, so to speak, I can tell you a bit more about this place. And yes, this is still not fully operational."

"Alright, hit me with it then."

"As I said before, this Place is called the Fortress of Doom. It was intended as a base of operation for the order of the Night Sentinels, one of which we just looted something from. Well, we looted it from between his feet, but still."

"You mean the giant statue? They were not actually that big, right?"

"No, they were or are close to human proportions. Their whereabouts are unknown. The Data-banks are not up to date at all. The latest entry suggest that they mostly finished this place, but were stopped from putting it into operation. The remains of the City we just came back from suggest an attack by Hells forces."

"So they build a superweapon, but got ran over before it was operational? Figures...", I muttered.

That was a classic scenario, but in stories usually and not real life.

Until now, I guessed.

"Yes, something like that. The energy source we looted is one of the smallest 'Sentinel Power Cores', which means we now have a name for the blue power and the other resource needed for the creation of Argent Energy."

"Wait, one of the smallest? What did they use them for?!"

"Well, to power their 'Atlans', which seem to be mobile battle-stations of some sort. Just imagine a giant mech."

"Of course they used giant mechs. A bit dramatic.", I snorted amused.

I was not jealous.

No sir, not me.

"The slot where you installed the core is an emergency option, a last way to get the station moving, so to speak. It was supposed to be powered by multiple fully sized cores, a dozen to be exact."

"How many do we have?"

"We have six, so half capacity. That would be more than enough, but they slowly unload if they are in permanent use. The basic idea was to create a sort of recycling loop, with half being in use while the other half slowly recharged. None were intended to ever fully deplete."

"So we will run out of power if we do not get more cores?"

"Yes, eventually. The core you brought was filled to the maximum, we have a few months at the very least. More, if we use the energy sparingly. All six cores still have some power left, the 'standby mode' of the station bought a lot of time for us."

Flipping the metal-plate between my hands, I added:

"And I am sure our next destination just has some of those probably very rare things."

"It is not out of the question."

Vega liked the mysterious benefactor more than I did, he was holding back laughter on my expense I knew it.

The smug little shit.

"But before you go: There are multiple fabricators installed. They take a lot of power, but I will be able to craft you some ammo. Also, there seems to be a private quarter on the second deck. Why you don't go and check the place out with your own eyes? I will notify you when I have a reasonable amount of firepower prepared."

"Wait, there are personal quarters?!"

I had my own room?!

I hoped it was kick-ass.

And if it was not, I would loot stuff until it was.


Excited, I left the bridge, taking down the stairs to the side.

"It is just directly under the bridge! Have fun!"

Impatiently waiting for the – admittedly cool – doors to open and let me in, I stepped inside.

The space was quite generous, but it was not furnished much.

It was parted into two levels, a design choice that was obviously favored by the creators. You could traverse the two with symmetrical stairs on both sides of the room, tight against the walls. The center had a thick wall, acting as a railing.

The higher level had only empty weapon racks and shelves. A few steps down showed me a similar layout for the bottom level. The front opened up into space, clear glass (?) giving a great view – just like on the bridge above. There were multiple tables in front of said glass, a metal chair with a skull motif inviting me to sit down. The other walls, that were not made out of the transparent material, had multiple shelves and racks. They were all empty.

I did not really mind, I could already imagine filling the space with trinkets and trophies. Maybe some books directly to the right of the entrance, with a comfortable armchair? A small, cozy, reading corner? Or maybe put it to the right after going down to the lower level? There was an empty framework on the lower level too, leaning against the railing and flanked by the two sets of stairs.

I could remove it for a bed maybe?

I did still not feel a real need to sleep (had not really, since the pool), but it was good to stay in the habit. Just because it was not necessarily demanded from my body did not mean I had to forgo the experience.

Also, there could be side-effects in the long term, if I never rested.

I liked sleeping, or just lying in a comfy bed, sue me.

Another thing was missing.

One of the things you do not realize the value of until none are in reach.

"Vega, is there a bathroom?"

"Ah, yeah, but not inside the quarters. If you leave them and go through the first door on the left, there should be a small bathroom. At least following the blueprint. A training room is supposed to be on the opposite side."

The AI was correct.

The bathroom was equipped with both a shower, a big tub – more of a Jacuzzi actually – and a toilet with sink and mirror. It was something that some eccentric rich guy on Earth Beth could probably get build without much difficulty. It did not look very alien if you understand me, just exotic. The contrast between the more simple station, only adorned with some statues, banners and the now visible lines of blue energy and this bathroom was a bit strange, but I shook it off.

Leaving the room and looking for the mentioned place to train, I asked Vega the more pressing question than the design choices:

"Why is this bathroom made for only one person maybe two, same with the quarters? You said this was supposed to be a battle-station?"

"Yes, but it was meant for a commanding Officer or just someone of very high rank. It is also described as bigger than other Fortresses, not that we have anything to compare this one with."

"So I just got myself a literal personal space station? Like some sort of rich Overlord?"

"Congratulations, Miss President."

Grinning, more because of the joking tone my friend had adopted than because of said joke, I gave a quick look inside the training room.

Honestly, it was plain and unadorned: Machines obviously for lifting weights in different forms, a bar to do pull ups on, a punching bag that looked a bit too solid to use for a normal human. Nothing too exciting.

I kind of wanted to see if the weights I had at my disposal were enough to challenge me a bit – and if that even helped me at all, maybe my strength was more or less fixed and did not change with working out? I had never heard of a brute that could boost themselves with lifting weights - but I stopped myself.

Now was not the time.

"What is behind these other doors? They are locked."

"They are just designated as storage rooms, maybe the is not anything inside at all."

"Hmm, alright. And the lower level?"

There was still a way down, after all.

"There is an elevator to something called the 'Ripatorium', some sort of fighting pit and prison combined. There is also a cargo bay and workshop.

I have spotted a damaged Atlan in a big framework. It seems it was supposed to be repaired but they did not have the time."

One of those big mechs, an alien war-machine, was in the cargo bay?!

Screw the weird arena-fetish the previous owners of this thing had (not that I could judge)!

Big Mech had priority!

"Damaged or not, I have to see this!"

Hurrying into the third deck, the lowest level that was not a prison – why would I want to imprison anybody? Well, maybe the Trio. Hmm... Stop getting disctracted! – I came face to face with a big Suit.

Like really big.

BIG MECH!

It was a giant, slightly different version of the Praetor Suit I was wearing.

The thing had two giant horns, the face-plate gave the impression of a mechanical skull, teeth bared. It was beautiful.

This was a tool for killing.

No, not killing, for war.

I had to make it serviceable, I had never wanted to pilot something this badly.

Cars? Who needs cars?! Planes, Ships, Tanks – who gave a shit about that lame stuff?

This was the machine I did not know I needed.

And now I had it!

"Vega, how do we repair this thing?"

"You want to make it usable again? I admire your enthusiasm, but… Well this is no easy task."

"I don't need it right now, but I will pilot this beauty one day."

"Alright, I will make a list of necessary tools and materials. The Fortress has a lot of high end technology installed, with enough time I am sure the sensors and fabricators combined will help us succeed."

"Wonderful! I can't wait for this thing to move out of its own power!"

If those Sentinel Energy Cores were supposed to power those wonderful feats of engineering, that explained their size. The one I had looted would maybe allow the eyes to glow with full power, and that was it.

"So we need even more Cores."

"I will keep a metaphorical eye out, but collecting a dozen or more will be a nearly impossible task. Doubly so if you want to stop this Atlan from running out of energy mid-combat. That was a common problem if you had to push them to their limits."

"Right, when you fully deplete a core it stays empty, right?"

"Correct. We can maybe install some emergency supply, but the base problem can not be fixed. Sentinel Energy is just simply not powerful enough for sustained use like that."

"What about Argent Energy?"

The AI paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"If we knew the process how to synthesize it... And had both components in large enough amounts… And had a way to store it similar to how the Argent Energy Cells of the UAC did… It IS and option.", came the slow reply.

"But that is not something done fast or easy. Maybe we will never be able to do it.", he warned me, not wanting to get my hopes up.

"Maybe, but we should keep it in mind as a possible future option."

"We can do that of course.", agreed my friend.

It wasn't like I expected to have this fixed by tomorrow or anything.


Returning to the bridge I grabbed the not-previously-there floating boxes in one of the fabricators at the side.

There also was a "present" Vega had promised me, which I had been curious about: Next to the ammunition floated a pair of sparkly new glasses. I was touched.

To be honest, I had kind of forgotten about my old, battered pair. My vision was not the best with them anymore, after all the different catastrophes and obstacles, but I had gotten so used to it that I did not even notice. Swapping them out – and god, the change the new pair made I definitely noticed – I thanked my friend profusely.

"No problem Taylor. I just wanted to do something nice to you."

I would get him a present too, somehow. Getting something he could use and especially surprising him would be tough, especially because he was always watching more or less through my eyes and would immediately notice.

Turning to the fabricator again, I looked up. It was placed directly in front of one of the Sentinel (?) statues, which was gazing down at me like it beckoned me to take its offerings.

So I could kill and slaughter in its name.

I was maybe being a bit dramatic, but the grand gesturing of both my foes and environment had started to rub off on me.

There could be worse quirks.

Right?

If being dramatic helped me to remain mostly in control of my bubbling anger, I did not mind it.

And yes, although I was quite pleased with my new home away from home and things were working out at the moment, I still felt the potential in me to simply smash things in a sudden, violent tantrum.

That constant reminder made keeping my temper under wraps easier, ironically.

"I also have blueprints here for other weaponry. One of them is designated as 'Super Shotgun', something I am sure you appreciate."

That did sound very tempting, yes.

"What is the problem with making it? Otherwise you would just build it and present it to me as another gift, I know you."

"I can't simply fabricate it with the Sentinel Energy. Unlike the ammunition, this one actually needs dedicated raw materials. I wanted to suggest cannibalizing the defective Atlan, but your desire to have it repaired nipped that idea in the bud."

"But whatever the Atlan is made of would work to build the Shotgun?"

"Yes, it is not optimal but serviceable."

"You said those things were used as tools of war, so that means finding other defect ones should not be too hard, right?"

"True, the chance of finding some of the broken ones lying around is not too small. The UAC found some remains too, they used it as a baseline to create Mechs fur humans. Or at least they planned to, I am not very up to date, you see. "

"Alright, lets search for some after following the note. I am curious."

I was also hopeful to get the coordinates to Earth Bet.

With energy mostly restored, the way back should be finally in reach.

Or at least close.

"Understood. This marked spot is once again located in Hell."

"Then lets fuck up some demons."

Stepping through the portal – having a personal Teleporter was very convenient, no more trekking through a dead desert or something – I found myself in a frozen wasteland.

This was getting stupid.

Honestly, was Hell just different colored wastelands lined up at each other?

There was ice and snow everywhere, the clear sky illuminated only glaciers and jagged edges of frozen water.

"Now, why are we here? What are we supposed to find?"

"Go a bit more north, I did not send you too close to the location. I was afraid of dropping you into a nest of demons or something similar."

"Alright."

Making my way over the white fields, I realized I did not feel cold.

I noticed the change in temperature, do not get me wrong, and I knew my Suit had some isolating properties. But those only worked for a limited amount of time – I still vividly remembered the heat in the UAC facility, the realistic fear of being cooked in my Suit like an oversized lobster in its armor.

So freezing to death should have been a concern.

But I did not feel truly cold. It was more like walking through a stiff breeze, but in summer, so it was more of a relief than an annoyance.

"Vega, you have full access to my Suit again, right? Is my body temperature dropping? Can you monitor my health? I feel like I am unable to feel things like I should."

I had read somewhere, that the final stage of freezing to death was feeling pleasantly warm.

Better safe than sorry.

"It is still at the high level usual for you. I do not think you are in any direct danger."

"But then why did I feel the heat in the burning facility with such ease before?"

"Maybe whatever transformation or changes the Hell Essence forced upon your body are not finished?"

"So I may still turn into a demon? That's hopefully only my paranoia talking..."

"You have not noticed any further direct changes to yourself or personality, neither have I. There is no need to be alarmed yet."

"I trust you Vega, you are obviously more qualified than me. But tell me should things change, alright?"

"Of course Taylor."

Not that I truly thought he would hide something important from me.

After some time, the snowy hills and natural ice sculptures gave way to a giant disc of ice.

It was a lake. Or had been.

Now it was frozen through to the very ground. The middle of said former lake of course matched the coordinates.

So I carefully made my way across.

After I slipped and fell on my ass.

"So what now? I still don't see anything.", I snapped.

Vega was laughing at me again, and I pissed me off that he was teasing me like that.

Not pissing me off in a I-want-to-murder-you kind of way, more like when Emma had teased me over some silly crush I had on a character in a book or something.

When we were still friends.

"Yeah, because you are looking at the wrong spot Taylor. Look down."

Wiping away the tiny layer of snow that obscured a clear vision into the ice, I kneeled and peered down.

"Woah."

Locked in an eternal struggle of epic proportions, I could see multiple figures.

Atlans.

Big Mechs!

And not even a few of them, but a lot of them.

But their foes were just as giant, brutal and dangerous looking:

Demons of enormous size, outnumbering the mechs easily were wrestling and fighting with their adversaries.

Or they had been.

It was like a 3D-Painting of a small war.

"Those demons are Titans. They are the biggest class of demons, a biological siege engine of Hell. They are very, very hard to kill. The UAC files suggested that humanity as a whole has no tools powerful enough to do the job."

"Atlans are obviously one option. Why are they standing around like that?"

I could not fathom leaving a big beautiful mech I could call my own behind like this.

"I imagine they pushed their mechs to the limit, trying to defeat the Titans. I do not know what killed the Titans if the mechs ran out of power mid-battle."

"Well, lets find out! But how do I get down to them?"

"Way ahead of you Taylor, I am already fabricating a solution that should melt the ice. Quick and efficient. The bigger problem will be the water afterwards."

"I will just dive and swim, maybe we don't need to excavate anything big. If I can find it with your help and its not too large I can just bring it back to the surface."

"Where you not the one fearing to freeze to death?"

I grinned cheekily.

"True, but I have my trusty AI to look out for me."

With playful grumpiness another portal was opened next to me.

"Grab the canister from the fabricator, it should melt the ice with ease. So be careful not to saw off the branch you are sitting on, so to speak."

"You let me handle explosives without a word, but a bucket of acid and you are concerned? I will be careful, don't worry."

I ignored the muttered "I was afraid you would say that."

Watching the fluid work its way through the ice was fascinating.

Do you know those videos that are titled as being especially "satisfying" for some reason?

I never understood them.

But as I watched the ice get consumed and turned to water, my first idea was that this would make good content for such a video.

I kind of got the idea now.

The second idle thought considered how demons would react to this chemical. What would happen if they had to bathe in it?

Or if I force-fed it to them?

Stopping my imagination with some difficulty (that was not desiring torture, I just had scientific interest! Honest!) I poured some more solvent on the ice for good measure. I had to take multiple steps back afterwards, because of course the melting process was not just limited to going downwards.

Only mostly.

Gravity and shit.

After only a few minutes, bubbles started coming upwards, breaking the surface of the now very deep but not very wide lake. The solvent had reached some air-pockets beneath one of the Atlans.

"Alright, here it goes!"

With only slight hesitance, I jumped into the freezing water.

Honestly, it was colder, sure, but not enough to be truly uncomfortable. The Suit was liquid proof – now that I had no maniac hacking holes in it – and the air would hold for a few minutes at the very least.

Sinking down, I tried to look out for anything special or unusual.

Until now, every location of a note had a goal that was very obvious or self-explanatory. If that trend held, the significance of the object I was looking for should not be lost on me.

I should be unable to miss it.

"Do you think we are supposed to get the Cores out of the Atlans?"

"There are an awful lot of the things, honestly this has to be one of the biggest battles fought with Hell in general. But getting to the Cores is neither easy, nor a sure solution. Transporting them is not easy, as you have noticed, and they should all be empty anyways."

"But if they had just a tiny bit of power left, they should have regenerated a bit by now, right?"

"Only if they had something left. Even if you get a handful of those, they will still be not enough to get your Atlan ready. But," the AI confirmed, "if they are only mostly empty, installing them into the fortress should give us full capacity, if we fully sacrifice and drain the emergency Core you put in. At least with time the regeneration should outgrow our needs and restore the recycle circle the designers planned for."

"Alright, so we get those Cores no matter what. Does that mean I have to bring up every single mech to the surface?", I groaned.

"If you want to use them, yes. I don't think it will be possible for you to open up the different chambers while underwater like this."

"Alright", I grumbled, "but does that mean the note was just to give me busywork? Goddammit."

"Good things take time, right?"

Ass.

Vega had waaaay to much fun at my expense, honestly. But I did not truly mind, if he suppressed the damage his former lonely existence had likely done to him by cracking jokes, I would let him.

He was my friend, and I trusted him to not go too far.

Time to do some more manual labor.

Yay.


Getting the first mech to move in any way proved to be impossible for me. The water made it lighter, but it also stopped me from using my strength how I wanted it to.

Also, needing air every few minutes was a lot more irritating than I had expected.

So I would need a crane or something OR get all the water somewhere else.

As I was futilely trying to get this fucking thing to move, Vega interrupted me surprised.

"Taylor! Look at that one Titan!

Following the directions (that one Titan was not very helpful since he had nothing to point with) that the AI put on my Visor, I found myself face to face with one of the creatures. Up close it was even more massive, easily bigger than most buildings.

"What are you trying to show me?"

"Look at his forehead!"

Swimming closer, I noticed a pommel sticking straight up, out of the demons skull.

"Is that a sword?"

"Yes, but this can not be a normal sword! If they tried to use it against a demon of this power, against a Titan, then it has to have special properties. Maybe we are not supposed to collect the Atlans after all?"

No busywork?!

Greedily I grabbed for the sword handle, intend on pulling it out. But as my hand closed over it, I got stopped.

"WAIT!"

"Why, what is it?"

I immediately scanned my surroundings for some sort of swimming demon that I had somehow missed.

An ambush?

A missile?

But no, that was not what had gotten Vegas attention.

"The sword has an energy blade that is still activated, see?"

Getting my face close to the skull, I could make out a faint red outline coming out of the skull and disappearing into the handle.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"If its still activated after all this time, maybe removing it is a bad idea?"

"Do you think that would wake the thing up or something?", I asked sarcastically.

"Yes", came the serious reply (shutting me up in the process), "that is not as stupid as you make it out to be. As I said, Titans are truly hard to kill. If we somehow let them reanimate, I don't think you have the firepower to kill it."

I really wanted to ignore the advice - laser sword! - but Vega had not steered me wrong yet. So grudgingly I let go of the shiny new toy I was not allowed to take and turned back towards the mechs.

"So what do we do then? How do I get these things out of the water?"

"Let's return to the Fortress, I will search for a solution."

That was not very pleasing to hear, but I had no other options right now. And trying to futilely push something that would not budge was not my idea of a fun time, so I relented.

I was no Sisyphus, I could allow myself to take breaks.


I kept myself busy the next few days with trying to improve my Suit. Vega used the Data from the Sentinels to give me different options of improvement and what price I would have to pay for each of them. That could mean either materials out of my poor Atlan, less powerful armor in certain spots, or a reduced capabilities of my (not fully) endless ammunition pouches. They actually had a limit – the raid of the armory just barely did not reach said ceiling – and this limit would be pushed down further depending on the add-on I wanted to install.

The AI was multitasking of course, answering questions and giving suggestions while "working on something to fix this dilemma".

At the end I just only got some specialized thrusters installed. These would allow me faster movement on land and more maneuverability in air, liquids and open space. I also had the option of attaching a special grenade launcher to my left shoulder, but I refused for now.

Rocketboots that gave me a real-life double-jump were a must have of course.

The worst part about those upgrades was me having to cut down parts of my lovely mech, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that I had a lot of parts in close reach to replace the new holes with.

And to fix the old holes too, obviously.

I also visited the training room regularly. The weights used some sort of technology that made them a lot heavier on demand. They had to be charged with Sentinel Energy at a designated station first. The more energy was directed into them, the more they glowed blue and the heavier they became.

As an experiment, I charged them as much as possible, until the blue had been replaced by a whitish glow that nearly hurt to look at – through my visor, so very bright.

They did not budge, no matter what I tried. I could not even get them lifted from the charging station.

If I could truly improve myself this way, then I still had a way to go before this place gave no more challenge.

I even motivated myself to watch my body for changes in the bathroom. My excuse was to make sure I was not growing horns or hooves, and I did not tell Vega out of embarrassment.

The actual reason?

I kind of looked good now.

I definitely looked older. My mouth was still too wide, I still had no chests to speak off.

But what I had were lean, strong limbs, that moved and contorted with ease. When I tried to flex, muscles visibly showed up. They could be observed without me having really to try too. My hair had survived the punishment I kept inflicting on it, full and healthy.

I told myself I now truly looked like one of those amazon warriors. Without much development, and I still looked quite young, but I was proud of my body.

For the first time as far as I can remember.

It had not abandoned me, I had pushed it to the limit many, many times. I had worked hard for it, bled for it, died for it at first too.

A part of me just kept saying that I was being vain, but even so, what about it?

Emma did her makeup for hours, every day, and that was just fine for everybody.

Why should I feel ashamed of being proud of myself?

Nobody told a bodybuilder to stop showing off his muscles, that he was being silly for getting them in the first place.

I would return to Brockton Bay a changed person.

Gone was the meek, shy girl, still devastated by the damage her best friend had done to her.

I would stand tall and strong!

None of them could hold a candle to me!

My anger had empowered me to slay brutal fighters with my bare hands!

I was a battle-hardened warrior, a fighter with a body count bigger than any cape in my City!

And Brockton Bay had a lot of those!

Go me!


Pep talk over, I left the bathroom with a burning face.

Vega did not comment on it.

It was so much easier to believe these statements and declarations when I was alone and watching myself in the mirror.

Only time would tell if I could keep it up outside of the safety of these walls too.

The AI noticed my troubled mood, and decided to cheer me up with something that works on most people:

A present!

Again!

Best AI!

Said present was the so called 'solution' he had been working on. I found it floating in the fabricator that had spit out my ammunition previously.

I had a hard time imagining that I would ever become used to the sight of something floating in blue energy, ignoring gravity and physics. It looked a bit like the schematics of the launcher I had mentioned earlier, the one for my shoulder.

Except that Vega told me it was supposed to go on my left wrist, not my shoulder.

"This is the Doomblade!", he told me cheerfully. "The name seemed fitting with the theme the previous owners of this station used, so no, you can't change it!"

"Thank you for clarifying that so quickly.", I said dryly. "So it is a knife of some sort then?"

"Correct! A serrated edge made out of the same material and alloy the Super Shotgun is supposed to be build! Yes, I had you cut off more from the Atlan in the cargo bay than necessary for your own upgrades, sorry for the deception! But otherwise it would have been a pretty bad surprise."

"So it is very sharp then?", I ignored the part about my poor mech.

I would fix you, my baby!

No evil AI could touch you then!

"Correct! It should allow you to sever and pierce nearly any demonic flesh and bone! It should also work against the armor of the defective mechs."

"So the idea is that I cut them up and just collect the smaller pieces? Instead of trying to move everything at once?"

"Yes", my helper agreed, "That will of course damage many of the parts, including those that would have been usable otherwise, but it was the only fast solution I came up with. The amount of material itself should be enough to recreate the necessary parts here in the Fortress."

Well, if that was the next best option, sure why not.

"Alright, then beam me down, Scotty."

"Sure sure Taylor."


It was grueling work. Only a handful of Atlans were intact to begin with. The rest did not run out of power mid-battle, they just had been trashed by their adversaries.

Something that had been hard to see from a distance.

I only carved out the Cores – because they had the most charge – and left the probably rotting corpses inside their well deserved rest. Maybe that seemed callous of me, but if I freed them to give them a proper burial and then they would reanimate as demons? That would be even worse in my opinion.

I worked for a week straight or more, only coming back to the Fortress to drop off excavated parts. At night I used some sort of futuristic glowstick that Vega gave me, so I could mostly see in the dark waters. A handful of times I had to pour more of the ice-acid-solution inside the hole, to stop it from freezing over again.

The Titans were mostly rotting corpses. None of them had a sword in their heads, only the one Titan Vega had pointed out to me. I had not given up on getting that sword, but I would first clear everything else I could use.

If something bad happened, I wanted the loot to be safe.

The 'Doomblade' - I still did not like the name, but Vega had been serious when he told me that I could not change it – worked well enough. I still had to really saw with force to cut open the rust-free metal, but it did do its job.

I was a bit disappointed that no demons showed up to stop or hinder me. I wanted to test my new toy with some live-bait, so to speak.

Still, after countless days of work (I just could not be bothered to count them, but it had not been that many) I had gathered everything that we could still mostly use. The amount of scrap I had transported over the time was staggering.

Losing myself in my work stopped me from realizing just how much I had done.

It felt good to look back at it and be able to tell myself: "That is what you accomplished." The work itself had not been fun of course. But with my trusty companion at my side and the option to stop at any point, if I so desired, it was not too bad, in hindsight.

The only thing left was the Titan and the shiny sword in its head.

I really, really wanted that sword.

Something drew me to it, beckoning like a sirens call.

It probably was a bad idea, Vegas warning was still close to the forefront of my mind, but this was a bad idea I would still see through.

The desire to have a melee weapon that was not called "Doomblade" - ignoring my chainsaw – had nothing to do with it.

I swear.

I just wanted to further my knowledge or something.

"Alright. Here goes nothing."

Swimming in the cold depths, poised in front of the treasure I was about to loot, I firmly grabbed the heft of the weapon.

And pulled.

It did not give up its hold easily. I felt a bit like Arthur, pulling the sword out of the stone (or was it a lake? From some lady? It had been a while since my mother told me this particular tale).

Without my strength and the annoyance bubbling up because some stupid object was refusing me, I would not have been successful.

But I had both.

Slowly, fighting me every tiny step on the way, the glowing red blade emerged from the gigantic skull it had been forced into.

Until, with a mighty heave, the last part came free at least.

The water reacted to the blade like it surrounded a rod of red hot metal, bubbling, nearly boiling on contact. It was a fascinating spectacle.

Test-wise I neared the blade with my gloves, but I could feel no heat. It had red runes inscribed on its length, scripture that reminded me of a sight I had been subjected to before.

"Am I imagining things Vega, or does this look very similar to what the Marauder had? On his axe blade I mean?"

"They seems to share a common origin at the very least, yeah. They could be made by the same people or the same tools. Or maybe its just the material?"

Now that I had the weapon close in my hand, I could identify some symbols on the pommel too. But it was still a plain sword grip, made of some dark metal.

It felt good to hold, right, fitting for the gloves of the Suit.

A Suit that had shrunk to accommodate me.

This weapon had not shrunk, but it felt like it was made for me…?

Before I could ponder that strange line of thought in any deeper way I got rudely interrupted.

By a giant eye opening right in front of me.

The Titan was alive.


AN: Now, who could have seen that twist coming? I'm sure it was not completely obvious. *cough*