The air carried with it a cold, dreadful chill - its howls whispering through the yard of rusted trains. Creatures scuttering through the darkness joined the chorus of the darkness with their high squeaks and rapid footsteps.

The small ones were sent running back to the shadows as a piercing light flicked on amidst the black, it's good shining on the few bits of metal that hadn't been rusted to uselessness. The masked man carefully made his way over dips and trips in the terrain, almost stumbling to the ground when his foot got caught on a track.

"Ugh…" Marcus groaned, wiping a spot of gunk off of his already muddied shoes "Just what the hell is all this stuff?" He muttered, the faint scarlet light his mask radiated illuminating his shoe "Nevermind." The former Overwatch agent shook his head, aiming his torch back toward the train in front of him "Well, then...what do you have?" Reaching into his duffel bag, he procured a crowbar covered in dry blood and other kinds of dirt. The shattering of glass pierced the moment of silence like a gunshot, Marcus hauling himself through the broken window and into the abandoned train.

Almost immediately he was hit by the stench of rotting flesh. Had he not adjusted to this stench by now, the mask would probably not stay on his face for much longer. Nevertheless, he drove the crowbar into the floor, tearing up a metal plate and dropping it atop the nearby rotting corpse of...whatever that thing was. Sliding the mask up to the top of his head, Marcus gripped the torch between his teeth, tightened his gloves and reached into the floor, metal groaning and creaking as anything that caught the scavenger's eye was ripped out of position.

KATHUNK!

A loud, heavy impact made Marcus immediately bolt up, the light from the torch illuminating the door to the next carriage. The doorway between then had been obstructed by a large, twisted chunk of metal.

"The critters musta knocked something over…" He shrugged before returning to shoving his hand into the train's metallic organs. A few minutes passed of Marcus moving from spot to spot, plundering parts from the carriage...until heavy footsteps began to boom throughout the darkness. Slamming the flooring back into position, Marcus was immediately up on his feet, mask on his face and crowbar at the ready. The thunderous bangs only got closer and stronger, the carriage starting to rumble with every step the approaching thing took.

Dead silence.

The few seconds of quiet were interrupted by a screech of metal as the twisted chunk was pushed up from it's resting spot, sparks flying as it grinded against the train. Marcus made direct eye contact with a tall, fairly muscular man with skin a familiar colour of sickly green, the sclera of his eyes a glowing yellow with purple irises. His body cloaked in a grand coat of black, red and blue, an eruption of hair as white as snow coming from his head, so spiky you could cut yourself just by running a finger along the tip. The two stared at each other for a few moments, the silence returning for those brief moments. Once again it was broken by the heavy stomps of the green-skinned man as he began marching toward Marcus, the entire carriage now shaking with his booming footsteps. Slowly shuffling away from the encroaching evil, Marcus released a wild "YERAGH!" swinging the crowbar straight into the man's shoulder. He choked on his own breath when the man simply caught it without even batting an eye, proceeding to twist it in on itself. His cold eyes bore into Marcus as he tilted his head with a cocked eyebrow, curling his lip to reveal sharp fangs drenched in some kind of liquid. Before Marcus knew it, the man flung the crowbar across the carriage, the masked man's hands still clutching onto it - he slammed into the metallic wall with a loud WHAM before dropping to the floor, his head a blur. Groaning as he struggled to his feet, Marcus hurled the crowbar with all his might his damaged arm could muster. It simply bounced off the man with no grandeur, his marching only getting stronger. Gripping the handle of the door, Marcus scrambled to pull it open, the aged metal groaning and screeching as it was pulled from its resting spot. Forcing his way through the smallest opening of the door he could, Marcus yanked the door back into position - the two of them staring at each other through the glass as Marcus gasped for breath, reaching through his duffel bag to find something, anything.

The villainous, silent man broke eye contact from Marcus, focusing on something behind him. Marcus whirled around, being met with a dime a dozen Sanitized Octoling, Octoshot aimed at his head. Finally, Marcus' hand landed on what he had been looking for "You never learn." He scoffed, yanking out a pistol from within his bag, the gunshot lasting for a good few seconds after the bullet impacted right between the Octoling's eyes.

Yet they didn't fall.

Slowly lowering the gun, Marcus could only feel dread wash over him as the Octoling's blood erupting from the bullet hole, spewing out like a fountain and painting the walls a deep sea green. The Octoling's face burst open to reveal bony appendages laced in muscle and tendons, their arms splitting apart into skinny legs with dagger-like ends, the rest of their body twisting and contorting into an indescribable mass of writhing guts, skin and muscle. Looking over his shoulder, Marcus only saw the man giving him a blank stare, hand already prepared to rip the door wide open.

With a screech, the mutated Octoling lunged for Marcus. Primal instinct took over as Marcus spun around to blast the freak, which released a horrendous screech as it reeled back. Ducking under its insectoid-like body, the scarlet electricity that crackled around Marcus' mask only grew in intensity, sweat dripping down his forehead beneath the covering of the mask.

The sharp-fanged man ripped the door out of its position, flinging it down the carriage behind him where it clattered to the ground. As he stepped into the next carriage, the mutant, through its cries of agonizing pain, shifted to allow him to pass. With the scream of a dragon, Marcus unloaded every bullet in the clip into the man as he approached, yet they didn't even scratch his skin. The mutant bounded over him, opening a mouth filled to the brim with an ungodly horde of bloody, fresh teeth As Marcus was about to blast a bullet right into the thing's gullet, the gun only gave him an empty click.

"Unfortunate." The green skinned man's hand grabbed Marcus by the throat, yanking him off his feet before hurling him through a window. The train Marcus impacted shook violently as man met metal face first, a large crack making its way down the right side of the mask. As soon as he hit the ground, Marcus crawled under the train, fumbling around in the duffel bag to find some more ammo, his fingers finally grasping onto a clip which he hastily slammed into the gun. The floor reeked of oil and a mixture of blood and...whatever the other thing was, Marcus didn't want to think about it.

"Nngh…" The pursuer grumbled "Of course he scampers off." He punched the center of the mutated Octoling "You. That way."

The Octoling scuttled off into the shadows as Marcus' other pursuer began pacing around the different trains, muttering things to himself in words Marcus knew no meaning of. The distant rumble of a passing train spread through the black, a cold chill rushing through the air.

?

Nothingness. No sensation, no sound, nothing. She couldn't even feel her own face. The darkness surrounded and consumed everywhere, everything. And just as she began to accept the void, hundreds, thousands, millions, all cried out at once. Pleas for release, the loving embrace of death, children crying out for their mothers, it was all she knew in that moment. With no body and no mind to yell back or resist, a victim to the endless abyss. Yet the shivering was horrifying. It rattled down to whatever core she had left. And now she could only give in, her screams of fear and begs for death being lost among the madness. And there was no end.

The Metro

Marcus jolted as the freakish Octoling slammed its foot into the ground mere inches away from his face. It froze on the spot, the fleshy core filling with bulges until dozens of eyes burst from the skin, coated in blood that splattered to the ground. The legs snapped, crunched and twisted as the freak bent down, it's glowing orange and blood red eyes meeting the glowing scarlet eyes of Marcus' mask. The masked man let out a blood curdling scream as he scrambled away from the creature as fast as his exhausted body let him, bashing his head against the underside of the carriage in his raw panic. Pushing himself up to his feet once he crawled free, hand clenching his throbbing head as he stumbled and tripped into the black. The beast released a scream of bloody murder as it tore its way through the train, chunks of metal being sent flying through the air, crashing against the trains, glass falling to the floor as dozens of windows were smashed to fine shards.

Fumbling through his pockets, Marcus' hands eventually gripped onto his torch, hastily pulling it out from its hiding spot and flicking it on. The light revealed all kinds of graffiti scattered across the wall in front of him, warning messages scattered throughout the general vulgarity that painted the concrete. "Too bad none of it's useful." Were the thoughts of the prisoner to the infinite expanse of the Metro. His thoughts wandered to the past. Gently reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the same picture of his family he had been looking at for god knows how long now. Did they think he abandoned them? Would they even forgive him for vanishing...if he even got out, that is.

"Missing someone?"

The sudden voice made Marcus jolt, drawing his pistol once more as he spun to face the source - he was back already, the tall, muscular dark clothes man cold eyes penetrating the layer of bravery Marcus held, dirt shifting as Marcus slid his foot back.

A sharp toothed grin formed on the man's lips as he called through his maniacal smirk "I wouldn't get too upset if I were you," he drew up his hand, fingers drenched in a dripping and glowing cyan liquid "Soon this world will be pure and your loving little family reunited."

The icy words sent a fire through Marcus' soul, he assumed a much more aggressive stance, turning the gun on its side as he retorted with a solid "Is that a threat?"

"Nghehehe…" The man chuckled "Oh, no, it's a promise." He put his dry hand to his chest "I, Marcus, am Daal-Wah-Nid, the CEO of the Metro." He bowed to Marcus before swiftly returning upright "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Kch." Marcus spat "Feeling ain't mutual."

Daal-Wah-Nid sighed and shook his head "How unfortunate."

"Where's your pet?" Marcus thrust the gun forward, torch focused intently on Daal "Because I swear to god, if it's behind me…"

Daal simply shook his head and gestured to his right. Carefully shifting the torch, it revealed to Marcus the corpse of his former hunter, completely devoid of pigmentation, eyes shrivelled up like giant raisins and the same cyan liquid that was on Daal's hand seeping from a hole in the side of its head, the appendages that could be loosely described as it's legs twisted and snapped out of position "It was dying already. Pathetic little thing couldn't handle purity."

"Quit it with the cryptic crap!" Marcus raised his voice "What's this purity?"

"Human." Daal spoke in a casual tone as he pointed to Marcus "Tell me, did you ever hear of the Commander AI Project?"

Marcus stood upright, a blink of confusion fluttering over his eyes "How the hell do you know about that, that was classified information."

"Was it now?" Daal retorted "I thought only the higher ups of your little peace keeping organization were only supposed to know of the existence of the AI. And you…" He cackled, putting a hand to his chin "Weren't you just an Agent? Your armour fits the bill."

Marcus looked to the scrappy remains of his Overwatch gear, then back to Daal, simply glaring at him in return to the question.

"Haa...well, if there's one thing you didn't know, it was the goal of the project." Daal began, looking up to the ceiling "Should humanity be eradicated, the AI would move itself into an indestructible shell, waiting for the day it could bestow the knowledge and wisdom of humanity unto their successors."

Marcus tilted his head, cocking his eyebrow "And? What's this got to do with anything?"

"It failed." Daal put his head back down to face Marcus once more, keeping his hands behind his back "Unfortunately the successors of humanity proved utterly useless, even more obsessed with war than humans themselves, nothing but a species of stuck up brats." He moved his hand to his chest, smirking "I am that AI. I am Overwatch AI Commander Tartar."

"So that wasn't a codename…" Marcus thought, stroking his chin "So, where'd your new name come from, then? Thought you weren't cool enough?"

Daal shrugged "It is ancient tongue. I'd tell you what it means, but I feel you would not understand its meaning." He looked back up to the ceiling "It's a shame what came after humanity are such...imperfect fools. This…'freshness' that covers their society is nothing but a facade to control the populace through a thinly veiled form of propaganda. Did they even consider their acts when wiping out all life in Octo Valley through weaponizing a woman?" He paced back and forth as he spoke, occasionally glancing to Marcus with each question, a rush of cold air filling the underground yard that made his snow white hair sway "And what of you? You fell right into their trap, enough so that you-"

His sentence never finished as a loud KABLAM penetrated the silence the air held, a hole appearing in Daal's forehead in that instant, Marcus' pistol drawn with smoke floating up from the muzzle. He stood there, staring up at the ceiling with his fangs bared as blood trickled down his face, arms outstretched. It was like he was frozen in time in his fall from the gunshot.

"Never say that about my family." The human scowled, a burning fire in his eyes as he kept the gun trained on Daal.

Daal chuckled as he moved back to standing upright, his arms limp as he did, his face now drenched in his own blood "Ngheheheh, oh you foolish flesh bag. This body was made to be perfect by my own hand, a mere pea shooter like that won't be enough to kill me." His flesh twisted as it reformed anew over where the hole now once was "Now, we both know you don't belong in this time." He clenched his fists and tensed his body, a vicious green flame encompassing his body "Let me send you to where you belong!" With a thunderous scream he sent a tremendous shockwave of energy throughout the yard, sending the ancient trains flying into the air and flinging Marcus back, straight into a wall; the impact knocking dust and dirt from the wall and onto the floor, coating Marcus in a mixture of grey, black and brown powder. Coughing and spluttering as he got back to his feet, Marcus was met by a luminous cyan mist, his perspiration drenching his already battle damaged clothing as Daal-Wah-Nid's footsteps became audible once more, the intensity of the light only getting stronger with every step until the AI finally revealed itself among the mist, the right side of his body now glowing the same bright cyan that the blood of so many monsters and freaks the group had fought did, a perfect split of the two skins running down his body "When this body is totally purified it will become truly immortal, as will anything else that is affected by the purity. But for your little squid friends…" He chuckled as he suddenly lunged for Marcus, gripping his masked face in just one hand as he yanked him off the ground and into the air, his victim growling and struggling under his grip with his scarlet glow flashing to occasionally reveal his eye underneath the mask "I've run enough tests on specimens to confirm what happens to them when exposed to Purification. It isn't pretty~"

"Del...ta…" Marcus groaned, barely able to open his mouth from Daal's grip on his face "Where...is she…!?"

"The girl?" Daal questioned, tilting his head "Oh yes, her, she was a nice girl in our conversations over the phone. Unfortunately I don't know where she is." His look of thought turned to pure malice as he glared into Marcus' eye "But I think Johnny caught her by now."

"RRGGH!" Marcus snarled, kicking Daal's cheek. The mad tyrant dropped him as he went to clutch his face, the smaller of the two immediately taking off past him and down past the remnants of the smashed up trains, letting out a gasp of relief as he saw a beam of light coming from a wall. Smashing through the barely opened door, Marcus didn't even think to look back as he dashed up the stairs, Daal's mad screams mere feet behind him. Erupting out onto the platform, Marcus could already hear the roar of the train coming down the tunnel, its lights flooding the darkness.

Daal burst onto the scene, his standard smirk plastered on his face "Nowhere to run, boy."

Marcus glanced to the approaching train, reaching into his bag once more and pulling out a flare "Thank god for contingency plans, huh?" He ripped the cap of the flare off, yanking the chord and the intense red light flooded the station, the resulting smoke being flushed down the tunnel as the train sped through only seconds later. Flipping his middle finger up at Daal, Marcus leapt off the platform, grabbing onto the back of the train at the last possible second and vanishing down into shadows of the tunnel with the vehicle, leaving behind a thick trail of red smoke in his wake. Dozens of small blue and purple tentacles appeared from the windows of the train, grabbing onto Marcus and slamming him into the back of the train, he wasted no time in pulling the back door open and bounding in as he dropped the flare and slammed the door shut behind him, falling to the floor with heavy gasps, C.Q Cumber dropping from the ceiling and landing with a wet splat next to him.

"You alright, bucko? Who even was that?" The conductor questioned as Marcus gasped for breath, slowly pushing himself up.

"Cumber, we're in deep shit now." Dusting himself off as he dropped the bag and removing his mask, Marcus wiped a spot of blood from his cheek "That guy, he's the head of all this. He made the sanitization and - he's got something worse coming."

Cumber gestured for Marcus to sit down as he hopped up to the seats, his human companion swiftly and tiredly doing so "What are we dealing with?"

"He calls it Purification - he didn't give any specifics." Marcus shook his head "And...he also knows that what it does to Inklings isn't pretty, whatever that is. And he hates them. He's an AI from my age, designed to give the 'successors of humanity' the knowledge they had...whatever that is. But I guess this perfectionist wasn't satisfied and now - now he wants to wipe the slate clean and start anew. That - that's what I gathered at least." He looked to Cumber "Any word from the sisters?"

"No. But we'll need to let them know ASAP if this is true." Cumber released a sigh "Come on, you need to lie down."

2 hours later…

"Aargh…" Marcus groaned as he forced his way out of the rubble of the tunnel, its twisted fragments practically fused with what remained of the train, the blood of numerous passengers coating the chunks of reinforced concrete and metal "Cumber!?" Marcus called out "Cumber, you alright!?" As his eyes scoured the wreck for any signs of the conductor, his gaze met a faint golden glint only a few feet away from him. His hands shaking as he wrenched the rubble off, he was met with Cumber's hat, the golden lining shattered and denim torn asunder, the owner of the headwear lying in a splattered mess of his own blood, internal organs and bright flesh, the few chunks of him that remained wheezing with each breath he could muster. Slowly turning himself to look up at Marcus, he barely got out a chuckle before going back to wheezing "Agh...hey, you alright?" Marcus nodded, reaching into a compartment in his armour for a second before he froze when Cumber's single "Don't." sounded, slowly looking back to his friend "I'm too far gone, boyo. You think I could survive having half my damn body blown off?"

"I…" Marcus sighed, covering his eyes with his hand "I'm sorry."

"No." Cumber shook his head "Don't be, kid. Part of the journey is-" He was interrupted by violent hacking and coughing before painfully resuming "the end...and all…" He lay back, part of his facial region seeming to contort into a smile "You're good kids, all of you." He held his hat up to Marcus "I believe in you."

As Marcus gently took the hat from Cumber's grasp, the sea cucumber's tentacle shrivelled up and returned to his body, the pool of blood under him slowly growing in size "Go on. Kick that little shit's ass." With one last wheeze, his body went from its vibrant blue and purple to a shrivelled up grey and black in seconds. Marcus clenched his fist before firmly placing Cumber's hat on his head and grabbed his mask once more. The cracked area fell from the rest of the mask, shattering on the floor beside Cumber. Wiping his eyes and firmly placing the mask on his face, Marcus' single revealed bloodshot eye glared down the tunnel as Deadf1sh revealed herself once more, chuckling to herself as a red glow emanated from within her. The tunnel shook once more as numerous heavy pounds and bangs sounded from the ceiling before a section of it smashed wide open, Rem and Ix dropping through and landing in front of Marcus, already in a battle stance.

"We got here as fast as we could." Ix glanced to Marcus, nodding.

Rem blinked, tilting her head "Deadf1sh...fancy seeing you here." She smirked "Was wondering where you pissed off to!"

"A fan?" Deadf1sh grinned "Well, you know what they say, ginger. Never meet your heroes!" Her legs braced for a lunge, only for a slash of lightning to run through her, the Octoling standing totally frozen on the spot for a moment before the glowing blood of the sanitized began trickling down from the middle of her body before she fell to the floor with a thud - at least, the two parts of herself that she now was, Jack standing behind where the DJ once stood with his sword coated in her blood.

"Hey." He nodded to them "Looks like that blast must've taken out the device she was using to keep me trapped." He reached into the pocket of Deadf1sh's jacket, pulling out a small remote "Bingo." It crackled as the cyborg crushed it in his hand "Now, then…" His sword vanished into the particles around his wrist as he suddenly dug his hand into the split remains of Deadf1sh's internal organs, the guts squelching and churning as Jack dug through her insides before finally clasping his metallic hand around something small and hard, tearing it out with enough force to coat himself in Deadf1sh's blood in the process, holding up a glowing red stone "BOOM!"

"That's one of the Gems! How did you-!?" Rem gasped, her jaw dropping.

Jack chuckled as he tossed the gem about, catching it with ease "Just a hunch, sweetie. That and I had a bone to pick with her anyway."

Ix stood upright and spun around, eyebrow raised "Hang on...where's Cumber?"

Marcus sighed and adjusted the hat he wore "...He didn't make it."

Silence fell on the group as they stared at the rubble, Rem putting her hands together as she stared down solemnly, taking a deep breath "Right." She nodded "Right…"

"He say anything?" Ix asked as she began to climb over the rubble towards a faint blue light, pulling out the Soul Gem from the carnage.

Marcus sighed "He believes in us." Was all he replied with, hands in his pockets.

"Hmm…" Ix nodded as she carefully made her way back "Oh...uh...about Delta."

"What about her?" Marcus asked, turning his head to Ix "Is she alright?"

Rem shook her head as she nervously adjusted her vest's collar and tightened her belt "We lost her."

"Lost her?" Jack moved closer to his daughter "What do you mean?"

Ix sighed "This giant wyvern...thing attacked her and we barely found her in time to save her." She crossed her arms and grit her teeth, muttering frustrations at herself "We managed to kill it but just as we did the floor under Delta gave way - we have no idea if she landed anywhere safe or…"

"If she's safe she'll find her way to us." Marcus said as firmly as he could "She's a smart kid."

Rem and Ix slowly nodded with a unified "Right."

"There's a station not too far down there." Jack pointed behind him, a faint light visible further down the tunnel "Go on, it's safer in there than it is down here." He walked past the rest of the group, standing at the edge of the rubble "I'll be right with you."

Marcus nodded and began to make his way down the tunnel, his breaths shaking and legs weak "Come on, girls."

As the other three walked off, Jack squatted down next to Cumber's resting place, removing another piece of rubble to reveal the man's dry body, the cyborg staring at it in silence before removing some of the particles that hovered around his wrists and placing them next to Cumber, where they immediately formed into a small, glowing blue and black flower. Swiftly moving back into an upright position, Jack saluted the fallen conductor before turning and running off to the light.

Marcus dropped to the solid floor of the platform after Rem pulled him up, exhausted and limp, he stared up at the ceiling with only his heavy breaths droned out by the loud whirs of the fans in the ceiling.

Rem's ears suddenly flicked under her hair, the woman hastily assuming her standard battle stance "Heads up, luvs. We got company. Seems like the blast attracted a lot of folk."

Just as Jack jumped up to the platform, a familiar black mass seeped its way from the grates and onto the floor, bubbling and churning as it formed itself into an oh so familiar shape, four crimson eyes appearing on his face as Johnny's menacing chuckle filled the room. His jaw unhinged as a purple glow encompassed him...and a shriek of a girl filled the air, a cold chill filling the entire body of every member of the group.

"No…" Ix muttered, eyes going wide.

A flaming aura immediately consumed Rem, who released a primal scream as she charged forward towards the living evil.

...What? Did you honestly think I would stop? That's the thing with me, I'm very stubborn.