Nothing on Remnant could prepare Braylon for the return of a threat he thought gone. That voice, a voice only a robot could have, shocked him like a bucket of cold water and not just because he knew to whom it belonged, but also because his mind went into panic mode, going through dozens scenarios, each worse than last, some not directly connected with the current situation, but with a threat he thought standing in the backstage and laughing. A threat that had a face, a voice, a personality. A threat he wished dead the moment he thought of it.

Braylon reached the exit. He opened the door. Nothing. No sign of danger, as far as he saw. He took a step forward, then two. Still nothing. This was good, it meant he could reach the van and go away, although running won't make a difference. It was a predator, one of those that run after its prey until they kill it. He was unprepared, it caught him off-guard, so much that he never expected for the building on the other side of the street to explode into rubble showers and dust clouds. While he covered his eyes with his hand, on instinct, he could see a large silhouette slowly walking forward.

"Greetings, Vault Hunter."

Seconds later, the robot appeared in its full glory. It was the same as he remembered, tall and with an aura of danger. There weren't any signs of rust or dented metal or anything like that. It looked as perfect as the day they first met.

"Odatron.*" It didn't respond. He tried his best to mask his emotions. "Thought I would never see you again. I guess our mutual acquaintance didn't do as I ordered him to."

"My creator forcefully shut down my motoric functions, leaving me active but unable to move. I started reprogramming not long after."

"He told me you were shut down completely." Braylon frowned.

"Once active, I cannot be deactivated."

"And how exactly did you come here? Does he have his fingers in this?"

"Negative. I came on my own."

"How?"

"Information classified. Reason: none of your concern."

"Figures." Braylon prepared himself for any nasty surprises he could receive from Odatron. "So what now?"

"Now, Vault Hunter, I want you to understand the actions that will soon follow. I was able to reprogram myself, thus successfully removing anything I saw unfit and replacing it with new features. There is one program I am unable to uninstall until executed completely."

"Which is?"

"Extermination of all Vault Hunters."

"Great." He grumbled.

"I will execute that program, then I will be free."

"We'll see about that."

(Prototype 2 – Murder Your Maker)

"Combat protocols operational. Engaging target."

Odatron fired a red laser beam from his visor. Braylon crouched to avoid being hit, but received multiple blue beams fired from the tips of Odatron's fingers. His Shield was down.

"Fuck!" Braylon cursed as he avoided another red beam by running into the building. "I need to go all out. But what can I do?" The wall exploded when Braylon went upstairs. "Guns can't harm him and lasers bounce off. Maybe Nukem or Fornax? Or..." A red beam pierced the floor, missing his feet by few centimetres. "Damn it!" Odatron suddenly appeared, breaking the floor into pieces that flew everywhere. One of his arms became a cylindrical cannon, which he pointed at the Vault Hunter's chest. A sonic boom sent Braylon flying through the wall and down on the street.

Braylon materialized Nukem and fired at the building. A flash of white light, a deafening explosion and a good portion of the building crashed down, enveloping the street with smoke. "It can't be that easy."

"Reminder: during our last encounter" the robot began from somewhere around him "you required assistance from many other Vault Hunters. Back then, your probability of survival was minimal."

"I changed from back then." Said Braylon as he continuously spun around. "I grew up."

Braylon saw a holographic blade quickly approaching his face. Time slowed down as he barely dodged the attack that would end his life. But now he knew where Odatron was, so he materialized Holo Sabre and tried to stab the robot but an Aspis slammed it away. Suddenly, his Shield was hit with blue beams, before he was kicked with a metallic leg. There was a loud crack in his body as he flew out of the smoke cloud, bouncing on the road like a rock on water.

"Fu… fucking hell… that hurt..."

Several ribs were broken, along with multiple fractures in his right arm. He felt something burning inside his chest, probably due to internal bleeding or something like that. After puking a bit of blood for two times in a row, he weakly got up. Braylon saw Odatron slowly coming out from the still-present smoke cloud. Fighting him in such a state was unthinkable, so he retreated into the closest alleyway. Going around the corner, he sat down, leaning his back to a wall and breathing heavily.

"Still human." Braylon coughed more blood. "Despite everything. I am still human. No way I am going to make it."

"The pendant."

"What?"

"Use the pendant's power."

"What power?"

"Turn your head right." He did, barely noticing three people standing near a burning barrel. "Kill them all as mercilessly as possible."

"Why? What happens?"

"You might get the help you want so much."

His eyes widened. "No way. What happened back there… that was..."

"Yes. The pendant's power. Kill them all in a row and you will receive the gift of power for a brief amount of time."

One of them approached Braylon, asking him if he was alright.

"Fuck that. I was aware of what happened back there with all those people. I am not going to do it again. I am not going to sacrifice innocents for this."

"Innocents?" The voice laughed. "I thought you already learned that there are no innocents."

"You alright? Hello?"

He looked at the man, muttered an apology, took his Energy Pistol and fired at the man's knee, before firing at the remaining two, negating them a chance to save themselves. The man in front of him pleaded for his life, tears ran down his cheeks as he bumbled something about a family. He was reluctant to pull the trigger.

"Do it, slave. It is the only way for you to continue this battle. Remember that there are entire worlds at stake. Can the loss of a life be compared to that? The history of your whole kind was built on death. Why change that now?"

The Vault Hunter gritted his teeth. When the metallic footsteps were close enough for him to hear, he yelled angrily, killing all three of them. His pendant shone brightly as every injury healed itself, every drop of blood evaporated. The familiar rush of energy came back to him. Holstering the Pistol, he got up and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Motherfucker! I am gonna tear you apart until there is nothing left of you!"

A metallic hand broke through the wall in front of him, followed by its owner. Braylon grabbed said hand, spun around and pulled it until Odatron crashed through the other wall like a wrecking ball. Unfortunately for him, Odatron managed to grab and throw him inside the same ruins of a building which used to be restaurant. He crashed through several rotten tables and rusty chairs. It didn't matter at the moment. Pain was alien to him in that frenzied state.

Odatron stood up, ignoring the look of hatred directed at him.

"I am detecting a strange energy emanating from you. Unable to replicate it. Further testing required."

"Test this!" Braylon grabbed a nearby table and threw it at Odatron, who destroyed it with a laser beam from his visor. The same beam traveled towards the Vault Hunter. He raised his arms in front of his face, letting the Shield absorb all the damage. After he put his arms down, he saw Odatron ready to bring down a fist like a hammer. Jumping aside, Braylon let Odatron's fist go through the floor, replying with an uppercut that brought Odatron's head upwards with a metallic clang. A left hook, a right hook, then a cross. Odatron flew several meters away before falling down.

"Fucking come on! Stop going soft on me!"

Braylon materialized Holo Sabre and ran towards the robot. He replied by forming grills on his chest, used to release a powerful wind at the Vault Hunter, slowing him down. Odatron stood up and sprayed Braylon with Slag that came out from one of his palms. He then removed the grills and digistructed a large buzz axe, similar to those used by Psychos on Pandora.

What followed was a deadly dance between Braylon and Odatron, the former repeatedly dodging attacks of the latter while trying to shake off the purple substance from himself. The buzz axe, when failing to hit its intended target, sliced through the dusty furniture. Whenever Braylon would counterattack, the Aspis was there to block it. Eventually, through his frenzy, Braylon thought it would be a good idea to use Dust.

He took the steam Dust crystal and threw it at Odatron, who shot it with a laser beam. The crystal exploded like a smoke bomb, blinding the robot for a few seconds, time precious enough for Braylon to grab him by the waist and charge forward until they hit a wall. He kicked away a hand that shot lasers and punched the robot's head two times. The other hand suddenly showed up, now a sonic cannon. He found himself sailing at high speed out of the ruins and falling on top of a roof of a tall building. Said roof collapsed and Braylon fell, each time his back hitting the new ground only for it to crumble, for three times, until he reached the bottom. His eyes were fixated on the ceiling, now in his normal state once again.

"Well, that plan went to shit." He thought. "But at least I know he has no clue what Dust is. I can use that against him." Standing up, he examined his whereabouts while his PDA began pumping drugs and super-drugs in his body to numb the pain, stress and physical trauma. "Fuck. Once the drugs wear off, I'm gonna be a wreck. I must end this now." One of the walls came crashing down due to a Deathtrap. "Good thing Huntsmen aren't around. God knows what would that tin can be capable of if he copied their gimmicks."

Braylon, once spotted by Odatron's minion, picked up a large piece of concrete to avoid being impaled by the metallic claws. After that, he materialized Orphan Maker and blew its head off. Our Vault Hunter took the temporary peace to go out in the street, since fighting Odatron in closed areas isn't a good idea.

"...Dangerous, but it could probably work. Probably." Materializing Fornax, Braylon used the only battery he had at his disposal. Turning around, he saw Odatron standing down the street, releasing a swarm of tiny rockets from his back. The rockets hit a wall he used as a cover. Braylon pressed the trigger, letting Fornax to create a ray he would use against Odatron. "Ten percent… fifteen percent… come on, go faster you damn thing!"

Silence reigned supreme for several minutes. Then, a metallic hand stabbed through the wall, making Braylon fall on the ground, surprised. The hand retreated, allowing Odatron to bring down the wall.

"Hiding from me is pointless, Vault Hunter."

Twenty-five percent. He needed at least double of that just to make sure it would work. Braylon threw the ice Dust crystal at Odatron's feet and shot it with the Energy Pistol, trapping his legs in ice. He knew it would work poorly but he didn't care. Every chance to acquire more precious time would be welcome.

Running away, he checked Fornax. It was at thirty percent. The business end of the plasma weapon shone enough to illuminate a room far better than any light bulb ever could. It also meant he would attract a lot of attention from pretty much everyone. The locals were smart enough to know that whatever he carried in his arms was something they shouldn't see in action, so they ran away. Even the gang members were intimidated.

"Getting too hot in here. I better do this quick… forty percent."

Explosions could be heard in the distance. Odatron wasn't exactly one to care for his surroundings, Braylon thought. He would destroy everything in his path just to reach his target. This was de facto good for him, as it meant he would get even more time to charge Fornax, possibly even more than fifty percent.

Odatron appeared once again, several meters away from him. He was holding a person by the head, his hand large enough for such a thing. The person held a weapon of some kind. It dropped to the ground as soon as Odatron decided to twist his hand more than he should.

The red visor turned to Braylon, his target. Being watched by that always felt unnerving for our teenager. Braylon tensed as Odatron dropped the corpse and turned, index finger aimed at him.

"Explanation: I am merely doing what I was programmed to do."

"Aren't we all?" A green laser beam fired from the finger. Braylon crouched, letting the laser hit something behind him. He pointed Fornax at Odatron and released the trigger.

Next few minutes became a blur. Braylon had to close his eyes to avoid being blinded by the explosive light that was released from his gun. Even then, he saw white as opposed to inky darkness. Fornax trembled in his hands, so he had to hold it tight. When the light died down, Braylon opened his eyes. Odatron, unmoving, had a hole in his chest. But despite the powerful attack, it was only as large as a human fist. It was still a victory for Braylon because he was skeptical about the probabilities of success. Surviving a hit from the Nukem was something not many could brag about.

"Now!"

Braylon grabbed the two remaining Dust crystals, fire and lightning. Scratching them against each other, he placed the crystals inside the hole and ran for cover. The explosion that happened was the final nail in the coffin for Odatron, who shook violently before falling down.

"Unbelievable. I truly did it!" He wanted to laugh, to express his happiness, but he knew better. "I can only thank my fucking luck for having stuff he had no information on, though. Real, fucking luck for once." Sighing, he went closer. "Knowing that son of a whore, I doubt this will be the last of you. Maybe I won't be able to stop your return, but I know how to prolong it."

Several hours were spent cutting Odatron into pieces with Holo Ripper, loading them into the van, changing clothes and driving the van into the river. Later that day, Braylon returned to the shop owner, acquired his payment and returned to Beacon. The drugs wore off as soon as the Bullhead reached Beacon.

For a moment, he thought he was really good at acting normal. But then he began sweating, feeling nauseous and dizzy. He went straight for his room before anyone could stop him, be they student or teacher. His condition worsened with each minute, to the point that he suffered a breakdown the moment he closed the door. He began panicking, hallucinating, yelling incoherently.

And he hated every second of it.

It became so bad that his PDA had to create tranquilizers and sleep-inducing drugs. Even the strongest ones had a delayed reaction. Painful, yes, but still preferable to Hell. Everything was preferable to Hell. Even thinking about that place was avoided like the plague. With the passage of time he began feeling sleepy and calm, despite being stuck on the floor and, he was sure, on his vomit. He wished to avoid going to dreamland, where all kinds of horrors would take pleasure in tormenting him. That would imply he had a choice where he clearly didn't. Things were never as easy as they appear to be.

(Warhammer 40 000: Dawn of War – Chant)

Braylon was there, but not really there. He could see, but he couldn't move. The man in front of him wore a military uniform that resembled a fusion between medieval armor worn by knights and the French uniform during Napoleonic wars. This man, along with two others, was yelling at him in a language he never heard before, yet it strongly resembled French. From what he was able to see, they were all sitting in a wooden carriage.

One of the men looked out of the window. Braylon could hear the typical noise that can be heard during a battle, but he never saw what caused it. That changed when said man shook him by the shoulder and pointed at something outside. The carriage shook just as he reached the window.

According to the visual information he was able to gather, the carriage was on a road that led towards a forest-rich mountain. Red-and green-light shone brightly through the sea of black clouds, illuminating the battlefield below; an extensive valley, where trenches numbered in hundreds. Some were occupied with people who tried to fend off the invaders with firearms and bayonets. Others were destroyed by the enemy, the demons, with sorcery and brute force. It appeared that the demons had victory in their grasp, for the battlefield was littered with corpses and burning wrecks. Every now and then a brief light appeared at the horizon, as if someone played with fireworks, revealing columns of smoke large enough to be seen with the naked eye.

He heard some angry shouting, likely someone swearing as he, or the person he currently was, saw a Caconoid approaching the carriage. The primitive gun he held went off but it had no effect on the demon whatsoever. Likely the bullet was lost somewhere in its abominable flesh. Another attempt, same result. He could feel hopelessness radiating not just from himself, but from everything. It was like everyone knew the battle was lost, yet they kept fighting and dying.

The person returned inside and warned other passengers of the threat. They tried to kill it too, only to fail just like him. Then, the carriage shook violently as an explosion went off. He blinked and the scenery changed to him laying on the dirt. Raising his head, he saw the burning carriage not far away from. To his right, one soldier was devoured by the Caconoid as another was set on fire. It was such a shock to him, that he not only left his gun and ran deeper into the forest, he also urinated in his pants.

As he ran past countless trees, the horrifying sounds followed him. Baying, hissing, screaming. It all mixed together in a symphony that he wished he could forget. After running for what felt like half an hour, he reached a small clearing-turned-camp, where demons brutally murdered and tortured his fellow men. Some were boiling alive in giant pots, some hanged upside down, some were stitched together. He wanted to run again, but something heavy grabbed him. Turning around, he saw a Hell Knight roaring before punching his lights out.

Screaming loudly, our Vault Hunter woke up and immediately jumped on his legs. Beads of sweat ran down his face as his widened eyes scanned the room.

"Fuck… It happened again..."

It took a brief moment for his heart to calm down. After clearing the vomit and taking a shower, Braylon looked out of the window. It was nighttime. He decided to take a walk around Beacon, since he wasn't willing to go back to sleep any time soon. Passing through several hallways, Braylon reached the roof of the dormitories, sat down on a bench and watched the stars above.

The sight reminded him of his younger years, back in his reality. He remembered how his home planet, and later some tropical planets, had stunningly beautiful night skies. Trillions of stars would show up in areas where photopollution was absent. One big flaw on Pandora was the moon Elpis, which took a lot of space in the sky, much to the frustration of every stargazer that wasn't fighting for his life. It was also a humbling experience, considering the fact that many of them will never be visited by him.

Not that it mattered much, for as soon as he finds a solution to his problem, he will retire for life. He had enough of putting his life in thousand types of dangers, of "adventures". This one would be his last, his magnum opus, one that would hopefully be forgotten by the rest of the multiverse. He refused to go down in history as the man who started the End Times a little bit too early.

"You can come out now. I know you are there." He said loudly and unexpectedly. Few minutes passed before he heard a reply. "How did you know I was hiding?" It was Blake.

He chuckled. "A lifetime of people trying to get a drop on you kinda does that."

If she picked up the clue, she didn't show it. As he continued looking the sky, he heard Blake sitting down next to him. "Do you like watching stars at night?"

"Sometimes. Why?"

"Ever thought about how one of those might be y… our next home?"

"There are bigger problems in the present that need to be addressed. Science fiction needs to wait."

Braylon smiled. "Science fiction..." He murmured, shaking his head. "And what these problems might be that they are so more important than what I asked?"

"Equality is far from existing in society. Even today, many Faunus are mistreated just because they are Faunus."

"Well, I have yet to see a Faunus earning that right." He knew he would draw her ire at him. Turning around proved that. "What? You seriously thought a dominant species would just give away its kingdom to the first neighbor it meets? Not exactly a different species, you Faunus. No need to bring that one up."

"We are not animals-"

"Technically-"

"Not the point!" She replied. "This hatred needs to be removed from society! Faunus are people too!"

"And Niggers dindunuffin!" He quipped. "Yet we see them ruining other lives every goddamn day, including theirs." He pointed a finger at her. "You want to remove hatred, Belladonna? Remove Ferals first."

She looked, and sounded, very offended.

"Why so triggered? Is it because… you are a Faunus too?" That surprised her. "Don't give me that look. Everyone who isn't as blind as a myopic mole can see that. Those eyes, the way you move… that sometimes-twitching bow."

Blake moved the topic from herself back to the Faunus. "You want to know why Faunus behave like that or join the White Fang? It is because of people like you who see nothing but their prejudice!"

"You think racism is born out of thin air? Get f… real, Belladonna! Everything happens for a reason and so does racism."

"That's a lie!"

"Ho ho!" He laughed. "I guess the reason why Jews were kicked out of every kingdom ever in almost every damn century was definitely because they were all antisemite. It must be that. Hundred percent. No reason whatsoever." He turned back to her. "And besides, the things you people care about, the things you try to change, it is all pointless anyways! Who gives a damn about equality when the world is going to end? Definitely not me, because I have more important things to do than go around crying "muh racism" or "my inequality"!" His eyes widened. "Now excuse me. I have to go." With that, he stood up and walked away.

"Fucking fuck! I was close to blowing my cover!"

"Serves you right when you decide to waste your time in pointless chit-chat, slave."

"Fuck off!"

When he walked towards his room, he noticed how people stood in one of the hallways. It was like they were looking at something. Curious, he reached the group and pushed some students away to see what was so important that it amassed so many people. That rabbit Faunus he helped earlier now lay on the floor. He thought she was unconscious until he saw a female student crying. It was then that he noticed something awfully familiar to him. Her skin was ashen gray and she looked like her fluids were sucked out. Braylon guessed the three holes in her chest, the size of a tennis ball, had something to do with it.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." He thought, realization dawning on him.

Saw the Doom Eternal gameplay. Really like how they put the original plasma rifle design in the game. Pretty good overall, though I don't like how the enemies all explode no matter what gun you are using. This would be good for shotgun and rocket launcher, but plasma doesn't make stuff go boom.
I also heard the developers will use a special engine (I think that's the name of the thing) where you can damage enemies with each shot in a sense that you can cripple them and such. A good example is the Mancubus in the gameplay. That is actually awesome.

Get ready! We are reaching the end of Volume 1 of both the story and the show!

PDA Biopedia:

*Entry #73: Vaultbuster Model MRF - Odatron

Type: Machine

Faction: None

Description: "A Boogeyman is a thing used by parents to scare their disobedient children. In my case, the Boogeyman is real. It is also the product of one brilliant, but ill, mind; that of Dr. Hellingen. Is there a better way to fight a Vault Hunter than a robot specifically designed for such a purpose? A robot with a bulletproof body, an ability to copy one's skills and an arsenal to boot? I won only because of Dust, something Odatron knew nothing about apparently, because he barely had any countermeasure against it. Thank God."