Back in his corner of the cargo hold, Flynn tinkered with the Praetor suit's right gauntlet. Successfully installing his new omni-tool, attaching the small chip beneath the plates in a spot where it wouldn't get damaged in a fight.
Slipping the gauntlet back on, the slayer activated it; the bright orange, holographic display covered his arm from and to elbow. A synchronization bar appeared on his HUD as the device linked with the armor, a list of all the omni-tool's features appearing right after.
The one he chose was meant for combat, with a few cyberware applications as well incase a more delicate touch was needed to get into a terminal or through a door. He may not do 'subtle' or 'delicate' but he was still more than just brute strength.
As he went through his omni-tool's programs, Flynn thought back to his time with VEGA. The former UAC AI had been there after Samuel Hayden's betrayal after he closed the Well, providing digital support in battle and being the voice in his ear that kept him on track while he tore through the demons.
He wished he'd been able to thank the AI for all that he had done before he was forced to leave him on Urdak.
Flynn shook his head, choosing not to dwell those thoughts. Bringing his omni-tool up, he pressed a few keys on the interface, finishing the initial set up before shutting it down when he saw the time.
He still needed to meet up with everyone else in the briefing room...that was a long discussion on the horizon he wasn't looking forward to.
With everything that was revealed from the Consort, in addition to everything else that's happened since he arrived in this universe, it was easy to deduce that everyone wanted to interrogate him for one reason or another.
The slayer wasn't surprised though. It wasn't like he was trying to hide what he was. There was no point in it. And it was only a matter of time before his past came back in some way. At least it hadn't been demons coming in out of nowhere.
With a deep exhale, Flynn made his way to the elevator. A plan already forming in his mind for what he would be walking into. Whether they believed him or not didn't matter to him in the slightest…
Because he had more than enough evidence to back it up.
X
"Wait, let me see if I'm getting this right." said Garrus as he and the other members of the ground team were gathered in the briefing room. The others having finished what they had been told in the meeting with the Consort back on the Citadel. "The Consort, one of the most influential Asari on the Citadel, claims that Flynn is some kind of ageless warrior that once saved their species eons ago, and has since been a repetitive figure in their religious texts?"
"That's pretty much it in a nutshell." replied Kaidan. "She was very adamant about meeting him, and the way she and the other Asari were acting was strange. Like they were either afraid of him...or were praying to him."
"What she was saying was odd as well." Tali threw in, " 'A Darkness on the horizon'...you don't think she was talking about the Reapers, do you?"
Jane sighed, her own thoughts in a whirlwind. "I have no idea. The Council won't believe anything about the Reapers and we're still just figuring it out ourselves. But Sha'ira sounded as though she believed it completely."
The Commander looked over at Liara, who had been silent since the meeting began. "Liara," she said, snapping the young Asari's attention to her, "Do you want to weigh in? You seemed to know a great deal about this as well."
Liara nodded, "It is as the Consort had said. The tale about the Slayer has been passed down from mother to daughter in our culture just as much as the scriptures of Athame. It was always foretold that should the Slayer ever return, then something horrible was drawing near. Something that would cause the extinction of all, and our salvation would lie with him, like it had long ago."
Ashley scoffed, "Oh come on. You can't really be buying this BS."
The Asari Maiden shot the Gunnery Chief a rather harsh look, "You are a woman of religion yourself, Chief Williams. I ask that you not insult the religion of my people on the basis you find it unbelievable."
The human woman looked to be ready to throw back a scathing retort but was cut off by Shepard. "She's right, Ash. Whether or not we believe it, it is obviously something of importance to Liara's people. Respect it."
Ashley slumped back in her seat, but glared at the blue woman across from her.
The door to the briefing room opened and the one they were all talking about made his appearance. Walking over to his seat next to Liara and sat down with everyone staring at him. No one said anything as he looked at each of them.
"Flynn, glad you could make it." Jane said finally. "We just finished catching Garrus and Wrex up with what had happened back on the Citadel."
The slayer sat motionless as she continued, "This mission is too important with so many innocent people hanging in the balance. We need to know that we can all trust each other when out in the field. And since you've come aboard, there are too many question marks floating around you."
"She means we can't trust you." Ashley interrupted, shrinking back when the Commander glared at her.
"You've been a big help thus far, and I have no doubts that you can help us deal with Saren and the Geth. But we need to understand more. The things you do, the weapons and armor you use, none of it makes sense or seems remotely human despite the contrary." Jane pressed on, hinting toward the anomalies Chakwas pointed out from his medical examination.
Flynn remained as still as a statue. The rest of the team wondered if he was even going to answer the Commander. Then he stood up and walked to the front of the room, reaching up and removing his helmet that he sat on the terminal beside him.
Other than Liara and Shepard, this was the first time the team had seen his face. Ashley and Kaidan were actually surprised that he was indeed human beneath the armor, or at least looked human. Tali, Garrus and Wrex took note of the scars that were visible, and the piercing look in his eyes.
The Krogan mercenary has seen eyes like those before. The eyes of a warrior who had only ever seen battle throughout most of his life.
Activating his new omni-tool, the slayer waved it over the viewport. Causing it to darken and become a view screen before he began typing at a rapid pace;
I am not from this universe.
The words that appeared on the screen were blunt and were typed out with no hesitation.
"Uh...what?" Tali said, voicing everyone's confusion.
I come from an alternate version of Earth that came under attack by demons from Hell. I was brought here just after stopping the invasion.
The briefing room filled with silence before Ashley stood up, "Skipper, this guys out of his fucking mind! I think I speak for everyone when I say-"
Whatever she was going to say was cut off when the view screen came to life. The slayer kept typing on his omni-tool, unhindered by the obvious disbelief behind him as he accessed the audio and visual recordings from the Praetor suit and displayed them.
Onscreen, the interior of what looked like a spaceship with a large window that showed a planet in view. The three humans immediately recognized it as Earth from the continents that could be seen...but they also saw something horribly wrong.
The atmosphere was darker in some places. And there were glowing crimson lines running through the surface forming shapes...one of which was the unmistakable mark of a large pentagram that covered a third of a continent.
While the ream was coming to grips with what they were seeing, they began to hear what sounded like radio transmissions coming from one of the consoles;
"Can't hold 'em off!"
"I can hear them coming...NO!"
"Fall back! NOW!"
"They're killing everyone!"
"They're everywhere!
"Transmitting from HZ 1556."
"...casualties range in the billions."
"They're breaking in!"
"...we must pray now, brothers...Pray that HE is watching."
"Please, anyone, if you can hear me, if you're out there…"
It was a choreography of terror. Soldiers, civilians, reporters, even priests could be heard through the transmissions as whatever was ravaging the planet continued its onslaught. The ground team showed various emotions ranging from terror and anger at seeing and hearing what was happening before their eyes.
The camera angle moved about the control room, revealing it to be from someone's perspective, Flynn's, as he gathered his equipment and weapons. The broadcasts still playing in the background when he looked at a digital map of the planet with a cursor moving about.
"Attempting to acquire the Hell Priest's signal." a male, digital voice spoke.
Tali's back straightened, her shock deepening when she thought about who, or more precisely what, the voice belonged to.
"We have the Hell Priest's signal locked in. The target is marked, but the signal will not hold for long."
The slayer finished getting what he needed, the broadcasts still playing, fueling his growing fury;
"...nearly 60% of our planet has been consumed by the invaders..."
"For it is HE that they fear, not man or his armies. They fear the mark of the Beast."
"Is anyone left!"
A pedestal with a stone orb with a familiar mark etched into it lowered, a long bridge opening and shifting into a ring at the end. A glowing blue portal opened inside it just as one last transmission echoed.
"Somebody! P-P-Please! Please help us!"
The video paused, Flynn turned to look at the team and saw the sheer horror on their faces from the first few seconds alone.
Do I have your attention now? He signed with his face showing no emotion.
Jane broke the spell first, swallowing the dry lump in her throat. "What...What is this?"
Video footage of what I went through before coming here. I will explain what I can along the way. But you will see things that will change the way you look at things. The slayer signed before bringing up his omni-tool and began playing the footage again.
The team watched as Flynn appeared in what could only be described as a torture barge made of wood and rusted metal. Instruments of torture were everywhere and fresh blood could be seen painting the walls and floors.
Then they saw THEM. The emaciated, lumbering forms of zombies covered in pentagrams carved into their flesh attacked only to be viciously cut down. The farther in he went, the paler the team got, even more so when they saw the cages…
Packed full of human bodies that were mutilated beyond recognition. Some of them reaching out between the bars at the slayer as he passed in a desperate plea to be saved. But he continued on unhindered, killing more of the undead that got in his way.
It wasn't long before he encountered new enemies. Some looked like human soldiers, their armor bloodied and right arms fused to a cannon-like gun that shot red energy. Others were human-like in shape, red-skinned covered in spikes with sharp teeth and claws with glowing eyes that summon fireballs that they were able to throw.
They watched as the slayer shot, punched, ripped and tore his way through the enemies. When the last one fell, he kicked a set of double doors open and entered a large chamber with several furnaces along the walls and hooks dangling from the ceiling.
"You!" Flynn snapped his attention to the left and saw a lanky man in priest robes holding a staff attempting to flee.
The slayer was across the room, the pale-skinned, red-eyed man now clamped in his grip. Scratching desperately at the large gauntlet clamped on his throat.
"My soul...remains guarded!" the priest rasped. "You can't…" he trailed off when Flynn held up a large, glowing coin that faded into the air. The priest's attempts to escape became much more panicked before with one sharp pull, he ripped the smaller man's head from his body.
The room began to shake violently, the slayer pocketed the severed head and ran for an open balcony on the other side of the room. Leaping over the railing and landing on the ground below. Looking up to see the massive form of a titan as it had finished setting the torture barge it had been carrying down before turning and lumbering off elsewhere.
It was here, that those watching the footage saw what could only be described as a true, honest to god, Hell on Earth;
Buildings crumbling to their foundations with tentacle-like growths weaving through them, covered in hellion symbols with fires raging out of control. The ground was ripped apart with deep fissures with rivers of magma running through them. The sky was the color of blood, red flashes of lightning cracking above.
"S-Stop." Shepard's voice was spoken softly, but loud enough that Fynn paused the footage again. Looking back to see more than a few pale faces. Even Wrex looked a little disturbed at what they had seen thus far.
Ashley sat in her chair, a cross on her dog tag chain clasped tightly in her hand as she muttered something under her breath. More than likely prayers she'd known most of her life.
Kaidan, Garrus, Tali and Liara looked physically ill. So much blood and mutilation wasn't what they had been expecting.
As for the Commander...none of the images would be leaving her mind anytime soon. To see Earth like this, to see humanity being subjugated like this. It was unfathomable. The sheer amount of destruction and death they had seen from the last few minutes alone was already more than she had seen in her time in the Alliance.
"Why didn't you help them?" Ashley said in a quivering voice, still clutching her cross. "The ones in the cages…"
They were too far gone. Flynn signed back. The only hope for Earth and the survivors of humanity was to find the heart of the invasion, and rip it out.
"What the fuck happened?" said Shepard, coming to grip with what they had seen. "What caused this?"
The slayer began to explain everything to the best of his abilities. How he had once been a soldier on Earth, discharged for punching his CO and assigned to security duty on Phobos. He also went into detail about the UAC, and their advancements in various technological fields.
Then he told about the invasion. How Hell had used the corporations on technology to infiltrate Phobos and how he became the last one standing to fight against them. A fight that took him across Mars' biggest moon and even into Hell itself, and by the end had managed to stop the invasion and make his way back to Earth.
Only to find his home in ruins, his family and friends dead, by the demons who had made it planetside while he'd been fighting on Phobos. His battle against Hell continued once more, until he faced down the biggest demon he'd ever encountered...and killed it. Stopping the demons in their tracks and saving the Earth.
Flynn continued to say that after a few years, another incursion happened on a UAC space station. Bringing him back into the fray until he managed to kill the Mother of Demons, and made his choice to stay in Hell.
"WHAT?!" Ashley screamed in utter horror, "Y-You stayed...in HELL?! Why?!"
They would just keep trying. The slayer signed. They'd never stop. I stayed behind to keep that from happening again.
Jane and Liara remembered his scars, and finally realized how he had gotten them. The denizens of Hell had attempted to tear him apart, but in the end he persevered.
"What happened after?" asked the Commander.
I don't know how long I was there. Hard to tell with death around every corner. I remember getting badly wounded and waking up on another world ruled by a warrior society called the Argentians. I was brought before their leadership who saw something in me and put me in an arena with their new recruits to be tested.
"Trial by combat. Sounds like my kind of people." commented Wrex.
Flynn explained his time among the Argentians. How they were a society that valued strength and honor who worshiped a celestial race of beings called the Maykrs. Proving himself to both King Novik and the leader of the Maykrs and being brought into their fold.
Despite being treated as an outsider by the people, he had proven himself time and again. But his biggest moment was when Hell attacked the Argentian people, how they sent a powerful demon to level one of their greatest cities before he was approached by a Maykr known as the Seraphim, who granted him divine power to strike back against the demons.
With this new power, Flynn had routed the invasion, killed the titan, and was heralded as a champion by the Sentinel worlds. And in the years that followed, the newly named Slayer fought across countless worlds with an elite platoon of warriors known as the Night Sentinels.
Until they were betrayed by the Deag Priests and the Khan Maykr herself. Making a deal with the demons and causing a devastating rift among the Argentians. The following civil war among the Sentinel worlds and making it easier for the demons.
The team listened with a growing sense of foreboding as Flynn went on about a mission he and the Night Sentinels went on to end the war with Hell. Only to discover they had been betrayed by one of their own. The heart of the Argentians' worlds fell, and they were trapped in Hell. How he watched the men that served with him dying one by one until only he remained, becoming lost in his rage and fury which led to his capture and imprisonment in a cursed sarcophagus.
"Damn...they had to drop a mountain on you to capture you?" asked Garrus.
"Rage can be a hell of a motivator." Wrex threw in, impressed with the slayer's brutality and resolve.
Flynn nodded to the Krogan's assessment before he spoke about being trapped for an untold amount of time before waking up back on Mars. Having been discovered by the UAC in another dimension and in the thick of yet another invasion that he fought and ended it at its source, before being betrayed by Doctor Samuel Hayden and sent to parts unknown. Finding his way back to Earth just as it came under siege by Hell's forces.
After a couple hours of explanation, the team sat in silence and took in so much information.
"Goddess…" Liara whispered in awe, "If what you say is true...then you truly are the Slayer that saved my people eons ago."
Flynn nodded. I don't remember bits and pieces. My only focus was killing demons wherever they popped up. But I do remember helping a civilization of blue-skinned women before moving on to another battle.
Jane rubbed her face, turning her attention to the viewscreen that was still paused during the discussion.
Flynn's story was way too detailed, way too in depth to be fabricated. But the more analytical part of her mind needed to see it for herself.
"This footage, does it lead to the moment you appeared here in our universe?" she asked the slayer, receiving a nod. "Play it."
He didn't need to be told twice and resumed where it had left off. The team prepared themselves for what was coming, and were not disappointed as the slayer fought his way through the hellscape that had formerly been Earth. Killing his way through an array of monsters, some of which had extensive cybernetic enhancements, until he reached the top floor of a large citadel-like structure where the remaining two priests were having counsel.
"The Khan Maykr is present as this gathering." said VEGA as the lift ascended. "When outside her domain, she is by all accounts indestructible."
The platform stopped on the top floor where the two remaining Hell Priests were waiting.
Deag Ranak noticed him first, "H...How can this be? No man can pass through the gate! It is-" Flynn tossed the head of the Priest he had killed to the floor between them. The sight causing them to recoil in fear.
"T-This changes nothing!" Deag Grav tried to act brave as the slayer stalked around them, like the deadly predator that he was.
"The sacrament of this world to the great Khan Maykr will be made." Ranak stated, "And the energy will be restored once again."
"As is written, from the souls of the non-believers!" Grav added.
"You will not save them from their judgement!"
Flynn turned, glared through his visor and wracked the pump on his shotgun. The two Priests hissed before vanishing from their pedestals in flashes of golden light. A third pedestal flared just before a 30-foot celestial being in white/gold armor appeared hovering above the floor.
"You go too far this time." The Khan Maykr admonished the slayer, "You cannot intervene. This is humanity's chance to repent, to give service to us."
Turning on his heel, Flynn began walking away. VEGA opening a portal while the Maykr leader kept speaking. "You cannot resist the will of the Khan Maykr...For it was you who was meant to enforce it."
"Why are they doing this?" asked Tali, still trying to come to grips with what they were all witnessing.
The Khan Maykr's world, Urdak, was dying. They need Argent energy to keep their civilization thriving, so the Maykrs formed an unholy alliance with Hell to harvest the souls of mortals to create the energy needed to keep their realm from falling to ruin. Flynn signed.
"...Spirits." Garrus muttered in horrified disbelief.
Jane clenched her fists. All of that destruction and death, just to harvest innocent people for a power source?!
The footage continued, showing the slayer going to the Sentinel world of Exulta to acquire a Celestial Locator to help him track down the remaining Hell Priests. Which led to a sudden meeting with the apparition of King Novik who tried to warn him against his mission or risk bringing down Heaven's wrath upon him before telling him the people of Earth were no longer his people to save.
Flynn had promptly ignored the ghost and continued. After that, the team got their first real look at Hell. Ashley had started gripping her cross so tightly her hands began to bleed as they saw the true visage of the dark, blood-drenched realm
They witnessed the meeting with Valen, the one who betrayed the Night Sentinels and Argent D'Nur to the demons, who provided the slayer with a power core for the locator. He then tossed a handle to his former ally, telling him that 'when his soul is at peace, so will mine'.
Returning to his fortress, and installing the locator to the main system, Flynn tracked Deag Ranak to a cultist base in the northern hemisphere of Earth.
Shepard and the others watched as he tore his way through the snow covered facility. Against increasingly bigger, stronger, and uglier enemies that he ripped through with a vengeance. The battle against the newly christened 'Doom Hunters' had them on the edge of their seats until he took them down.
Dropping the corpse of the third and final Doom Hunter, Flynn collected the glowing token that floated up from its body before turning to see Deag Ranak a couple feet away. Shuffling back and stuttering in fear.
"T-The Beast...does he...he not seek enhanced power? Gifts to aid him in his...noble conquest...perhaps in return for my-" the slayer's Doom Blade removed his head from his shoulders without hesitation. Blood spraying from his neck as his body collapsed to the ground.
Tossing the token onto the body, Flynn turned and went through the portal that opened for him courtesy of VEGA.
Wrex chuckled when the pleading Hell Priest was beheaded mid-begging. "The Pyjak actually thought begging would work?"
"Couldn't have happened to a better boshtet." growled Tali after seeing what the man had been doing.
On screen, after returning to his fortress to find it malfunctioning as the Khan Maykr warned him to end his crusade and stated that she had hidden the final priest where he couldn't be reached. Once she was out of the system, VEGA had told the slayer the only one who could help them find Deag Grav was Dr. Samuel Hayden.
The same man that had betrayed Flynn after ending the conflict on Mars.
With no other options, Flynn was teleported to the headquarters of ARC. The resistance that had been fighting against the invasion. Battling through the hordes that surrounded the facility and reaching the top of the HQ where the survivors had been waiting for his arrival;
The elevator doors opened to several scientists working around a central terminal where a familiar demonic artifact floated in the air.
One of the scientists approached him, stuttering in awe. "M..My...My god...umm, D...D...Doctor Hayden was convinced...um...that you would come here for this...eventually." the man managed to get out as the slayer reached out and took the demonic crucible that had been taken from him before. Stashing it away and heading to the adjacent door.
Ignoring the one scientists' rambling, he entered a wide open room where the survivors of the facility were evacuating. In a pod in the corner, the damaged upper-half of Hayden's robotic body was suspended by cables.
The same scientist came up and began to explain things, "We, ah...we don't know how to access his main cortex, it's all...alien, and we couldn't figure it out. We have to, ah, prepare for his careful extraction. We were given specific orders…"
Flynn reached out and yanked the body down. After what the bastard did to him, he couldn't care less at this point.
"His life signal is barely readable." said VEGA after scanning the doctor's remains.
"WARNING! DEMONIC PRESENCE THREAT LEVEL 5 ENTERING MAIN LABORATORY!" the facility's system reported just as a dark-red portal opened in the front of the room.
Stepping out of the portal, was a humanoid figure that matched Flynn in height and build. Skin as pale as stone wearing what had once been Sentinel armor with an Argent-Axe handle clenched in its right hand. A pair of glowing red eyes glared from beneath a large pair of black horns on its head.
"Opening the portal now." VEGA reported, portal opening behind the slayer who tossed Hayden's remains through as it closed right after.
"You were never one of us." the new demon rasped through the armor piece covering its mouth. The Argent-Axe igniting, blade dragging across the floor. "You were nothing but a usurper. A false idol. My eyes have been opened. Allow me help you to see, Slayer."
The two beings circled each other a moment before charging headon.
"What the hell is that?!" Kaidan exclaimed, "It looks...like you. Only in demon form."
Marauder. Flynn signed with a hard scowl. Former Sentinels that sided with the Priests and Khan Maykr. Twisted and corrupted to become their personal knights.
"And I thought things couldn't get worse." Muttered Shepard.
This is barely the tip of the iceberg. The slayer signed before they watched the fight between the two former Night Sentinels. Bullets and blows traded back and forth, but the Marauder was quickly losing ground. Chunks of flesh and armor getting blown off every passing second.
The slayer threw a hard punch that the Marauder caught, but Flynn twisted his arm and activated his Doom Blade. The weapon piercing through the demoni-Sentinel's eye socket and out the back of its head. The body collapsed and began to burn away like the countless demons before it as Flynn went through another portal that opened for him.
Appearing back in the fortress, he looked down at the upper-half of Hayden's body where it had been deposited through the first portal and picked it up.
"You have now destroyed 68% of Hell's occupying force. Without the Priests, the demons will not consume Earth as the Khan Maykr has planned." VEGA reported. "But there is still one Priest left and I have lost his signal. I can no longer locate him. Dr. Hayden will be able to find him."
Flynn placed the cyborg in a beam of light near the control room. Energy surged through the damaged frame as the lights around the room flickered. "Dr. Hayden is transferring himself into your ship's mainframe. The architecture is similar to his own. This will-" VEGA was suddenly cut off, and another familiar voice came through the fortress' speakers.
"The final Priest is hiding in Sentinel Prime. The Khan Maykr does not want him easily found. The only functional slip-gate to Sentinel Prime is in the core of Mars, in the lost city of Hebeth."
A hologram image of Mars appeared above the control room with the core highlighted. "I have marked its location for you, but getting there will take time. There is no easy way to access the core of Mars." the doctor concluded.
"WHAT?!" Jane, Kaidan and Ashley bellowed in shock.
"There's a city hidden INSIDE of Mars?! How?!" The Commander questioned.
"I think the real question is how he plans to get there." said Liara, no less shocked at the idea of a civilization being hidden within a planet's core. "This Dr. Hayden just said there was no way to get there."
Flynn just smirked as the footage continued.
The slayer approached one of the terminals and scoured the database. Locating a UAC facility on Phobos...and an image of a massive cannon appeared labeled BFG-10K.
"The BFG-10,000. Designed by Dr. Samuel Hayden as part of the anti-demon defense grid." the system reported.
"That's...a big gun…" Garrus commented.
"I understand." said VEGA, "Searching for coordinates to the BFG-10,000 now."
"Wait, why would he need to go to such a large...gun...emplacement…" Tali trailed off before something finally clicked. "Oh Keelah…"
Kaidan looked to come to the same conclusion, "He can't seriously be considering-"
"You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars." Hayden said. The slayer's response was to simply activate the portal when VEGA locked the coordinates in and stepped through it.
To those watching, they didn't want to believe what was about to happen. There was no way someone would be crazy enough to literally shot a HOLE into a planet...but they were proven wrong when they saw Flynn toss out the UAC guard in charge of the cannon and take control of it...target the red planet...and after VEGA released the safety locks, fired a massive blast of green energy into the Mars surface.
The following explosion cracked the red planet open, leaving a straight shot to its core.
Everyone turned as one to the slayer, jaws dropped. "You...You actually did it." Jane said in disbelief. "You shot a fucking hole through Mars!"
It was the only way to reach Hebeth, and by extension Deag Grav. There wasn't time for finesse. Flynn signed.
"One hell of a shot though." said Wrex in appreciation. After everyone came to grips with things thus far, they continued watching the slayer's journey.
Using a shuttle to get inside Mars to the demon-infested city and using the portal there to reach Sentinel Prime, the very place he had been brought into the Argentian society. Fighting through the ruins and taking on Grav's guardian in the very arena where Flynn had earned his place among them.
Once the savage beast was down, Flynn blew the head off the final Priest. Which in turn made him an enemy to the remaining Night Sentinels.
After returning to his ship, the Khan Maykr hacked and overloaded the systems. Telling him the place would be his tomb while she resurrected the Icon of Sin. The name alone caused a shiver to pass through the ground team.
Fighting off a small horde the Khan Maykr had left for him, Flynn used the demonic crucible to bring power back to the fortress. Rearming himself before taking a portal to Taras Nabad. The place where his legend began, to collect his sword.
The team was in awe when they watched him reforge the Crucible, then use it to cut down any demon in his path like a hot knife through butter. Once the task was completed, he returned to his fortress one last time. Collecting VEGA's chip from the main console before taking a portal back to Hell, to Nekravol, the City of the Damned.
It was here, Shepard and the others saw the true horror behind the deal made between the demons and the Khan Maykr. The countless humans they saw packed almost impossibly together, being tortured beyond the breaking point...only to have their souls sucked out and transferred to Urdak for energy.
And whatever was left behind, was twisted and turned into new demons.
Hayden explaining the whole process through the slayer's comms along the way in detail making things even more terrifying.
"G-Goddess…" Liara covered her mouth, tears in her eyes as she saw such horrible suffering. To know that such a place exists anywhere was almost too much for her.
Ashley was faring no better, her head bowed with her cross pressed to her forehead as she prayed for all the innocent souls that didn't deserve such a fate.
Kaidan wasn't really a religious man, but seeing this...he started to question a lot of things. If this was truly what Hell was, he didn't know whether to take another shot at the bible the first chance he got, or prepare to fight tooth and nail to avoid going to a place like that.
Garrus was roughly the same, while at the same time praying that the people forced to endure such horror were given a quick death to spare them from more. He'd thought he'd seen evil while in C-Sec...he was wrong. By the Spirits themselves he was wrong.
In her seat, Tali was shivering. Doing her best to block out the screams of agony and torture infront of her. She had been hoping to learn so much on her pilgrimage. But not this. The existence of other universes was amazing, but to see something like this? It was too much. The young Quarian squeezed her eyes shut and cut the external audio of her helmet, not wanting to see or hear anymore.
There wasn't a lot that could unnerve Urdnot Wrex...but this? This broke the mold. The old Krogan had seen a lot of things in his long life, but the sheer evil he was witnessing altered the very fabric of what he believed. He always thought the Genophage was the worst kind of suffering he had seen, had he known that there was actually something far worse out there...
Shepard was gritting her teeth. How could such suffering be allowed? All those people...billions, forced to endure such horrors all so another realm could take their souls to power their home. And then pass it off as some kind of fucked up divine intervention.
The Commander didn't know who was more evil. The demons...or the Khan Maykr.
On screen, the slayer tore a path of death through the City of the Damned and to the heart of the soul factory. Destroying it in the process and cutting off the flow of Argent energy to Urdak while using the backlash to transport himself into the Maykr's homeworld.
From the fiery depths, to the surprisingly paradise-like realm Flynn found himself in now was a very sudden shift of perspective. The architecture was almost holy, in a way. Though it lost its appeal since the team knew what the one running such a world had done to others.
Maneuvering his way through Urdak's floating structures, the slayer found the Khan Maykr and several of her followers performing a ritual. A still beating heart sat on a pedestal in the middle of a glowing circle while the angel-like beings chanted.
And behind the Khan herself...stood a massive beast with a goat-like head covered in Maykr forged armor.
The Icon of Sin.
"You cannot stop the procession." the Khan Maykr said, her voice smug.
Flynn reached into his suit and pulled out the handle Valen had given him. Activating the small energy blade that extended from it before running into the ritual circle.
"We will not be able to control it!" the Khan pleaded in horror just as the slayer stabbed the heart. "NO!"
The heart began to beat really fast before exploding. The shockwave staggering everyone...then the Icon started moving. With the ritual broken, it was now free.
Breaking the pipes that held it, the titan roared loud enough to shake the heavens. Red energy crackled along its armored frame as it ensnared several Maykrs, syphoning their energy for itself as a portal opened behind it.
Turning its massive frame around, destroying the platform Flynn was standing in the process, it stepped through the gate and disappeared.
From that point on, the slayer had to fight not only the Maykr's, but demons that poured into the once holy city. The resurrection of the Icon of Sin in their home breaking the barrier that kept Hell out of their domain.
After plugging VEGA into the teleportation system, Flynn managed to establish a way for him to get back to Earth to stop the Icon. But there was one more obstacle in his way. The Khan Maykr herself.
The lift he was on halted when it reached the top floor, stepping out onto the floating platform that had a large view of the large open portal to Earth.
"For millennia we have survived. Made others sacrifice in the name of our prosperity, so that they may in turn find redemption." He glared up at the floating form of the Khan as she tried to justify the atrocities she committed. "Who are you, a human, once a mortal, to defy our traditions?"
Flynn raised his hand and flipped her the middle finger. The Khan Maykr scowled before gold energy surrounded her, her wings bursting from her back as the two prepared to end one another.
It was a tense fight, but the ground team was mentally cheering whenever the slayer delivered a powerful blood punch to the being responsible for so much suffering. And when it was over, they saw her true face beneath the supposed angelic facade.
To them, she looked no different than a demon. She certainly acted like one.
Catapulting back to Earth, Flynn fought through several more hordes as he pursued the Icon of Sin from rooftop to rooftop until finally facing his old foe in one final battle.
Breaking its Maykr armor one piece at a time until its flesh was vulnerable. Then taking it apart until it was nearly a walking corpse. Everything leading up to the moment where he drove his Crucible into its exposed brain...only for the titan's body to go critical and on the verge of a meltdown.
With a clear danger visible, the slayer jumped through a portal that suddenly appeared...one that sent him through the air of Therum where he crashed into a mountain. Hours later, he found Liara, and then the rest of the team.
The viewscreen when dark as the footage came to an end. Flynn turned to the others, his face remained emotionless throughout the entire presentation. And that's how I ended up here. Any questions? He signed bluntly.
"...I need another drink." Wrex muttered, rubbing his headplate.
"I'll take the whole bar." Kaidan added, everyone else agreeing.
Jane rubbed her eyes, trying to will away the images that she was sure burned into her brain along with the Prothean beacon. Her green eyes locked onto Flynn's grey ones, thousands of questions on her mind, but she asked only one;
"Why did you decide to help us?"
Everyone looked at her confused, even the slayer who raised an eyebrow.
"After everything you've been through, everything you've done, why chose to help us with Saren and the Reapers? You said before you made it your mission to bring Hell to extinction. Compared to that, this mission is severely lacking to what you normally do." the Commander clarified.
Flynn crossed his arms and looked out the viewport. Thinking for a bit before answering. All I've ever done is fight. Ever since that first demon incursion eons ago, I've wanted to bring nothing but ruin to the demons that destroyed my life and the lives of others. Doom Slayer wasn't just a title I was given, it's what I am. A destroyer of things that only seek to destroy others.
He looked the Commander in the eye again, and she saw him for what he was. A warrior. An apex predator. A man who has seen and done so much for so long that it has been ingrained into his very soul.
Far as I am concerned, the Reapers are just mechanized demons. The slayer continued. Saren is their cult leader. And you've seen what I do to both. He grinned in a menacing way at the thought of getting his hands on their enemies. The grin faded after a moment before a half-smile replaced it. Besides. I could use a vacation. And it's been a while since I worked with a team I could trust.
Before anything else can be said, Joker took that moment to come on over the ship's PA; "Uh, Commander? Everything alright? You guys have been in there for a few hours."
Shepard sighed deeply, "Yeah, Joker. We're good."
"Arguably." Ashley muttered, releasing the death grip she had on her cross which was now stained with her blood with cuts on her palms.
The Commander didn't react to the Gunnery Chief's comment, "We'll be staying a little longer on the Citadel, Joker. Let the crew know they have some shoreleave."
"Aye, aye, Commander." replied the helmsman.
Flynn picked up his helmet and slipped it back on. If we have some more free time, it's been forever since I've had a good drink. He sighed as he walked out of the briefing room. Pausing at the threshold to look back at Jane. I'll be ready to go when you are. With that the door sealed behind him, leaving the ground team to their thoughts.
"I wasn't kidding about that drink." said Wrex as he stood up to leave as well.
"Right behind you, Wrex." said Garrus, on the Krogan's heel.
"Same." said Kaidan.
The Commander stood from her seat, "I think we could all use a drink after all that." The rest of the team agreed with her and all decided to meet up at Flux.
"Skipper," Ashley said after applying a little medi-gel to her wounded hands. "I...what do we do? After seeing all of that...knowing what HE is and what he does…"
Jane didn't know how to answer at first, things still being too fresh, but she did manage to say the one thing that summed things up perfectly.
"Like I said before, Ash. I'm just glad he's on our side." No one could refute that statement.
A/N: And so ends the longest chapter to date, though that may change at some point in the near future.
I had been seriously debating on how much I was going to have Flynn reveal to the Normandy crew, but after I started writing his reveal of the events throughout Doom Eternal I decided to go for broke. Really no point in keeping the slayer's true nature from the team when they will be seeing what he can do in person.
Now his past and the truth behind his strength and fury is out there. And the crew will have to not only handle the knowledge they have learned, but figure out what will be in store for them with the immortal bane of Hell along for the ride.
This chapter took a lot out of me, and I hope I've kept it up to snuff like the last few. Read, review and let me know what you think. And I'll be updating again before you know it!