#addc

[horseyneigh2002]

10. “No don’t cut me a smaller slice! I want the same portion you have!”

~Omie

This version of the prompt will be Borrower!Heather and Doomguy. I took a bit of liberty with the prompt, but I think you’d like it

Contains: Just some tiny shenanigans. 

Wordcount: 374

~~~

The Slayer and the other large-scale inhabitants of the Fortress had plenty of systems in place to make sure that the smallest residents were not in any danger. This included a small chime the borrowers could use to indicate where they were to the bigger inhabitants. 

He heard the chime ring out loud and clear and glanced down to see who had joined him in the kitchen. On the floor, near the base of the counter, stood Heather. She was one of the youngest borrowers here, a little thing he had taken from a human that had been keeping her like a pet in one of the quarentine zones. She was deaf, and only just learning sign, so conversations were slow, but steady between her and the others. 

She saw him look at her and waved the little device above her head, making it chime a few more times. 

With a chuckle, he bent down and let her climb on his hand to bring her up to the counter. He had been putting a sandwich together, and maybe she was hungry. 

Up on the counter, she slid onto the surface and almost immediately locked onto his sandwich. She looked up at him and made that soft little ‘ah’ noise and pointed at the sandwich. 

‘Hungry?’ He signed and got a big nod in return. 

The Slayer finished up making the sandwich and went to cut a little piece off for Heather, but she pushed at his hand, making a little squeak of protest. 

He tilted his head, but stopped to see what she wanted.

‘Bigger.’ She pointed at the sandwich. 

After a moment, he angled the knife to cut a little more off for Heather and looked back at her for confirmation. 

‘Bigger.’ She signed and pointed again. She made a little dividing motion with her hands. 

He paused and then shifted the knife to cut the sandwich in half. 

Heather bounced on her feet and nodded. 

The Slayer chuckled softly as he cut the sandwich in half and let the little girl claim her piece that was so much larger than her. She couldn’t eat that much, but she apparently had a point to make, he could wait before claiming what was left.

[melrynarts]

Some old artworks~~

[smolbugarts]

G/t Inktober Day 2 - Sugar Coffee

I couldn't think of a more fitting scene for this than Warren's coffee-induced adrenaline rush from @horseyneigh2002's Doom fanfic. Not really sugar-related, but close enough :)

Prompts are from @tiny-rook's prompt list!

[borrowedopportunity]

A little unpolished, but I needed to just get these on paper XD

John is 100% a mood.

Warren belongs to @horseyneigh2002

[guaizine]

#GettingClose by Guaizine featuring Simone | 2017

[horseyneigh2002]

A Divine, Defiant Community

Basically, Doomguy marries a borrower and starts a community in the sky.

Summary: It’s been a month since the Earth has been saved. The battle has been won. The crew of the Fortress had time to rest and relax, but the war against the forces of Hell continues to wage on.

There are still planets worth of people to save.

Samuel Hayden has his plans that he must put in motion, and he must bring the Slayer back into the fray no matter what it takes.

[Ao3 Link]

---

Chapter 2: Valen Meets the Crew

Summary: It is time to introduce Valen to the rest of the Fortress. All two other residents. 

Valen has some concerns with how his King has changed since he last was able to speak with him. 

Content Warnings: Very minor medical things done, some lore. If you find something that needs a tag, let me know

Word Count: 2.5K

---

Valen had not felt cool air on his skin in years. He had been exiled to Hell for so long that he stopped fully on the other side of the portal, unable to move with the cold air of the Fortress whispering across his skin. 

He did not know how long he stood there, eye closed, allowing the chill to seep into his skin. 

Eventually, Slayer shook his arm, and Valen opened his eye to take in the room. It looked like the old bases from Argent D’Nur, but there were many screens and computers around. A portal frame was up against the glass, and beyond the glass was a sieged planet and many stars and the blackness of space. Looking away from the glass, he could see the banners of the Night Sentinels strung up on the walls, and the mark of the Slayer painted onto the walls near them. 

“You found a Fortress.” The architecture looked much more familiar now. There had just been some major modifications to it. More technology, some looking like it was of the Maykers, some completely foreign to Valen, had been incorporated. But at its core it was a Fortress. 

‘Plenty of room for another.’ Slayer gestured around to the large, empty space. 

“Another?” His head tilted ever so slightly. 

A voice, smooth and calm, rang out from everywhere. “Hello, Commander Valen. I am VEGA. The cybernetic intelligence in charge of the Fortress’ upkeep.” 

Valen blinked. A Machine Spirit controlled the Slayer’s portal network. A Machine Spirit was the voice inside his communications. That must be who the Slayer signs to in his helmet. It is only befitting for a War King like the Slayer to have a Machine Spirit to keep the Fortress in check. He has more important things to focus on than upkeep for a Fortress. 

A few small metal creatures came buzzing into the room, and began to disassemble the Slayer’s armor. He held out his arms so the creatures could get to his sides and unlatch it from his undersuit. When he got a better look, they looked like rounder, sleeker versions of aerial drones back on Argent D’Nur. 

As the drones buzzed around the Slayer, Valen spotted another creature nearby. Perched atop one of the consoles was a very small creature Valen momentarily mistook for a parasite that clung to the more powerful demons of Hell. Upon fully gazing at the creature, he could tell this was not the case. It looked like an Argenta, but very, very small. 

“Slayer.” Valen spoke, and the tiny creature scuttled backwards, like it had just noticed Valen. “Is there a pest problem on the Fortress?”

The Slayer turned to look at Valen, an eyebrow raised, and then his own gaze flickered to the tiny creature on the console. His scowl deepened and he planted himself between Valen and the tiny creature. ‘W-A-R-R-E-N. Not pest. Mine. Lover.’

“Lover?!” Valen blurted out before he could remember to hold his tongue. 

The Great Slayer nodded firmly. ‘Lover. Mine.’

It was more surprising than anything else to Valen. While he was with the Night Sentinels, he refused to take a lover, or even a personal courtesan he was entitled to with his status as a War King. Plenty had tried to win the Great Slayer’s favor but he had rejected each of them. Even those with high status. So what was so different about this tiny creature?

“John?” A tiny, timid voice sounded behind the Slayer. He immediately turned and gathered the little creature up in his hands. “Is that… Valen?” 

The Great Slayer nodded and turned to face Valen,the little creature seated in the palm of his hand, its own hands resting on the top of one of his fingers. 

Now Valen could get a better look at the creature. Long light brown hair was tied back into a low bundle, pale skin, bright eyes, a loose brown outer layer over a grey under layer that clung tighter to its body, dark grey pants, and leather boots covered its feet. There was a bag resting beside it in the Slayer’s hands. 

“Warren.” He put a fist over his heart and bowed his head. “I apologize for my remarks. I was unaware of your relationship to my King.” 

“It’s okay. You aren’t the first to think I’m a rodent.” He cleared his throat and shifted to be sitting up more. “It’s nice to meet you, Valen. Are you… moving in with us?”

“If my King allows me to stay, I will fight by his side.” He glanced up, and the Slayer nodded his head. 

Warren glanced between them for a moment, and then stood up. “Wait, King? You’re a King?” 

Slayer nodded softly, and lifted Warren closer to his face. He brought the creature over to his shoulder, but the little thing stubbornly clung to his fingers. 

“Oh, no, you stink.” Warren kicked at the Slayer. “I’m not getting any closer until you take a shower.” 

The Slayer huffed air through his nose at Warren and then set him back on top of the console. He turned back to Valen. ‘Decontamination shower. And then Vega can give you medical clearance.’ 

“I promise you, I am well.”

‘Not a suggestion. Follow.’ And the Slayer turned on his heel and gestured for Valen to follow him. 

He had no choice but to obey his King. A twisting hallway later, they were passing rows of barrack doors. At the end was a large communal bath area and other facilities. They looked largely unused, and that would make sense. There were private facilities and bedrooms that his King would be using, not to mention Machine Spirits do not need a place to be clean. Warren, as small as he was, would be in danger if he attempted to use a full decontamination shower.   

One of the round drones buzzed in with several kinds of folded cloth, settled it on one of the shelving units, and then buzzed off. 

“I brought towels and fresh changes of clothes for each of you. Once you are clean, I expect both of you in medical for a check up.” The machine spirit’s voice came from one of the speakers in the wall. “Afterwards, I am sure that both of you would appreciate a meal.” 

The Slayer nodded and began to strip from his undersuit, exposing the layers underneath. 

Valen had to work to remove his layers. First were his weapons, his hammer, named Hellbreaker, his knives, stashed in little places around his armor. Then his gauntlet was removed, and Valen began to unwrap the bandages and leather strips from around his flesh arm. Removing the lens that protected and augmented his damaged eye was tricky, but doable. Now he could remove the plates of armor itself. 

His armor was much less compared to his King, but it was substantial. It had to be in order for him to survive what Hell threw at him during his exile. It was the prototype for his King’s preator armor. What he built on to assure his King would be able to overcome the forces of Hell. 

The Slayer waved a hand to his good eye. ‘Need help?’ His top was completely stripped bare, showing his chest covered in scars of all kinds, some more faded than others. 

“I can manage, my liege.” 

He made an exaggerated eye rolling motion and walked over. He started to unhook the plates of armor on his back and legs. ‘Vega helps me when I ask. I will help you.’

Valen made a soft humming noise, but mostly just focused on getting his armor off. It had been very long since he had last been able to properly decontaminate himself with anything besides fire. It went much faster with another set of hands assisting removing the plates, and within a minute or so, Valen was only in his undersuit. That he could remove on his own. 

Finally, he wanted to remove his prosthetic arm so he could clean the socket. 

It only took undoing a handful of safety latches for the arm to go limp, and a good twist at the bicep had it coming free. 

There was a startled noise from the Slayer. Valen looked up and saw his king staring at the now detached limb. 

‘When did that happen?’

“After I created your armor, my King.” Valen stepped into the decontamination shower and it came on almost instantly. Warm water blasted into his skin, and dragged a soft moan out of him involuntarily. 

It had been so long since he had been able to truly clean himself. Harsh soap rubbed through his little remaining hair and against his scarred, mangled body felt like a blessing. 

He thanked the Wraiths that the Slayer chose to respond to his beacon. That his King felt him fit to battle once more by his side, and allowed him into his Fortress. 

~

The clothes that the machine spirit, Vega, had brought them, were a little tighter fitting than the Argenta wore. The pants were of a very soft material, held up by drawstrings, and more form fitting than most pants. The Slayer had called them ‘Sweatpants.’ The shirt given had odd sleeves, stopping only halfway down the bicep and the main part stopped at their hips. His prosthetic arm snagged the soft fabric and odd maneuvering of the sleeves had to be done to assure it would not tear the garment. The Slayer put on a larger shirt over it, with a pocket in the fronts, sleeves that ended at his wrists, and a hood that he kept down. A ‘hoodie’ he had called it. 

No shoes were given, and when Valen went to retrieve his undersuit to put over this layer, the Slayer stopped him. ‘No need. I don’t wear armor here if I don’t want to. Vega will take weapons and armor to the armory, and will clean them for you.’ 

That had certainly given Valen pause, even as he put on socks that had little rubber pads at the bottom to stop them from slipping. No shoes were given either. How much had his King changed that he wasn’t constantly wearing his armor? 

Had taking a lover truly changed him so much? Had the deaths of the Khan Mayker and the Icon of Sin tricked him into thinking their fight was over? 

Valen held his tongue for now, following him to the medical bay. 

Vega, the machine spirit, scanned both of them, and immediately cleared the Slayer for injuries. It took its time scanning Valen, undoubtedly cataloguing all that it found for him for later reference. After a few long moments, Vega spoke up. 

“You are severely malnourished, and showing signs of chronic dehydration. There is no current infection in your body, but your immune system looks like it is compromised from your time in Hell. There is an injection that I would like to give you to help your immune system stabilize.” 

Valen nodded, and a drone buzzed around the medical bay for a few moments. 

What was concerning about the medical bay in this Fortress was the lack of stasis pods. There were no sign of stasis fluid production either. He could see spots on the wall where stasis pods clearly existed once, but they had been removed at some point and now metal racks of supplies were in front of it. 

While the drone buzzed around, he turned to his King. “Were there no stasis pods in this Fortress when you conquered it?” 

He shrugged in response. ‘Yes, there were. But the machine that made stasis fluid was broken, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Vega and I tore them out for more storage.’

“I see.” Valen would have to see if he could get the machine running again. Stasis fluid would be imperative for repairing critical injuries in the future. If more numbers were added to the Slayer’s army, they would need to be able to treat many of them at once. 

The drone that had been buzzing around finally approached Valen and plunged a needle into his bicep. After a moment, it buzzed away. “You will experience a little bit of soreness and minor swelling in the area of injection. I will monitor to assure you do not experience any major side effects.” 

The Slayer grinned and signed up to the ceiling. ‘Anything else?’

“I am preparing a meal in the kitchen with Warren. I recommend eating and having water with electrolytes to assist in recovery for Valen.” 

‘Good.’ He looked to Valen and gestured for him to follow. 

As Valen followed behind him, he studied his King. He acted so differently than when they had reunited in hell such a short while ago. His shoulders were slumped instead of kept square. His lips would twitch up in a smile much more often. His gait had changed simply by removing his armor. There was still sureness and strength in his actions, but a strange change in his footsteps. He stepped lighter, footsteps much quieter, his heel struck the floor first, before the rest of his foot, and his weight rocked forward onto the rest of his foot instead of all at once. 

When they entered the kitchen, there was already something cooking, and the little man, Warren, was near it, piloting a modified drone around the kitchen. There were reigns attached to the sides, and he could see some of the handholds that had been molded into the body of the drone. 

“Hey, guys!” Warren spoke up, and landed the drone on the small table that had been shoved in the corner of the room. “Vega and I started some space potatoes and veg!” 

Slayer immediately went over and picked up the tiny man in his hands, nuzzling deeply into his miniscule body. Valen briefly mistook the small squeals for a scream of pain, but when the Slayer lifted his head from his hands, the little man was unharmed, and laughing. 

“If you’re done kissing on me, I could use some help getting into the canned meat so we can feed your friend.” Warren pushed his hands against the Slayer’s digits. “I’m sure he’s hungry after being trapped in hell for so long, and I’m starved.” 

The Slayer brought the little man up and tucked him between the downed hood and his neck. ‘Sit, Valen.’ He signed once his hands were free. ‘Vega will bring you something to drink. I will cook.’ 

He did as instructed, and couldn’t help himself watch his King prepare a meal with the tiny man on his shoulder. 

Having a lover like this certainly changed the Slayer. This was no longer the Unchained Predator, the Great Slayer that demons had so feared. He did not doubt his King. Never. But… something had changed inside of him. And Valen had no clue what it would mean for the planet Hell currently ravaged. 

He would need to discuss the further plan of action against Hell with his King. To assure himself that his King was still the same man who had spent so long in this siege against Hell. Valen would never abandon his side, no matter if there was a plan or not. 

Valen would simply just need to remind his King what needed to be done.

[horseyneigh2002]

A Divine, Defiant Community - 5

Basically, Doomguy marries a borrower and starts a community in the sky.

Summary: It’s been a month since the Earth has been saved. The battle has been won. The crew of the Fortress had time to rest and relax, but the war against the forces of Hell continues to wage on.

There are still planets worth of people to save.

Samuel Hayden has his plans that he must put in motion, and he must bring the Slayer back into the fray no matter what it takes.

[Ao3 Link]

---

Chapter 5: Securing a Titan’s Corpse

Summary: The Slayer and Valen need to secure the death site of the Icon of Sin and assure it is never getting back up. They run into people in the death site of the Icon of Sin, and a face that the Slayer is all too familiar with.

Content Warnings: Violence, blood, and minor gore. Dead humans and dead demons. Unwilling drug usage and human sacrifice. Humans die, are dead, and we interact with their corpses.

Word Count: 2.6K

---

The surface felt… cold. 

An odd wind whipped around wrecked buildings, biting at the exposed skin on both Valen and the Slayer. Before the Icon of Sin had been brought here by the Maykers, it had been one of the few places mostly untouched by the demonic invasion. Even now, there was not much sign of hell. 

At most, there were sparse swaths of hellgrowth that the Slayer tore down with a single fiery explosive. Not a single gore nest in sight. No demons either. 

It was far too quiet, not a voice, not a single distant noise. All that made noise was the odd winds and the footsteps of the two men.

“What strange buildings.” Valen broke the prolonged silence as they passed what had been a mostly glass skyscraper. The top portion was missing, presumably crashed somewhere on the ground during the Icon’s attack. “No fortifications at all. Only windows.” 

‘Office building.’ The Slayer signed and then pointed to the sign above the large entrance doors. ‘Where businesses made money.’ 

Valen made a noise of understanding and judgment as they continued to walk what had once been bustling streets. The further they went, the more the buildings became rubble, the more the roads were completely busted up. Less signs of human life, and more signs that there had been demons in the area. Nothing as serious as a gore nest, but the telltale signs of demons marking territory began to be more frequent.

Suddenly the road and buildings just stopped. The Slayer and Valen rounded a corner to find that the man made structures had simply ceased being around. Before the men was a large, steep drop, at least forty feet straight down. A massive pit had appeared where there had once been a city. 

Down in that pit, in the distance, was the body of the Icon of Sin. From this distance they could see it was still very much dead. Its body was still in a massive sprawl from where it had landed. 

When the odd wind began to blow once more, it carried the smell of Hell with it. 

Something else was here. 

The Slayer had his super shotgun in his hands in an instant, raised and prepared to fire. His eyes narrowed as he began to search for any demonic life that could be on the approach. Valen pulled a knife from his hip and began to carve a sigil into the ground between them. 

“We shall put a ring of precautionary sigils around this pit, and then we shall enter and exterminate all hellgrowth within.” 

He grunted and lowered his shotgun to quickly sign one-handedly. ‘Vey, did you get that?’

“Understood, Slayer. One moment.” 

A glowing blue portal ripped open in the sky above the pair, and many of Vega’s drones spilled out of the portal. They swarmed above the men until the portal closed. One broke off and floated down to the pair. 

“May I have an unobstructed view of the completed sigil, Valen?” 

He blinked at the drone and then shuffled backwards to show the sigil he had carved. Many carefully placed lines and words in Argenta, carved deep into the remaining asphalt, contained in a ring. “Place them around the pit every five paces, facing the Icon. Once completed, it should drive… everything away from this place. Anything within will not leave.” 

“Understood.” Vega’s drone scanned the sigil for a long minute before rejoining the other drones. A glow flashed among the drones, and then they scattered quickly. Two drones began to carve into the asphalt five paces on both sides of the sigil Valen had carved. “The drones shall complete the outermost ring.”

“Very well.” Valen stood and put his knife back on his hip. “My King, we should begin the extermination.” 

The Slayer nodded and then took a running leap into the pit. 

“My King!” Valen ran to the edge of the pit and looked down. 

His King had landed at the bottom of the pit, cracking the stone around his feet. He waved to Valen and gestured for him to follow. 

Valen took a step back from the edge and had to take a moment to take a deep breath. His King had acted like this back on Argent D’nur. Always leaping from tall ledges into depths that would have grievously injured lesser beings.

Carefully, Valen lowered himself from the ledge of the pit and stuck a knife in the near vertical side of the pit. He let himself be pulled down the edge, a controlled slide down instead of the blind leap his King had taken.

In the bottom of the pit, the stink of hell was stronger. Certainly something was down here, and it was not the Icon of Sin’s remains. A dead titan, even one this powerful, smelled different than this. This was the stench of a developing gore nest, of demons trying to create a portal between realms. 

“We must act quickly.” 

The Slayer grunted in agreement. 

While the drones worked diligently above, the pair made their way towards the hulking remains of the Icon of Sin, silent, weapons at the ready, just waiting for something to appear that they could shoot. 

According to Vega, the developing gore nest was very close to the body of the Icon of Sin. 

When they finally managed to get close enough to the Icon of Sin, they could hear voices. A single human voice that carried on the wind. 

“Soon the Gods will walk amongst us once again! Only then shall we truly find salvation! 

The Slayer paused. It was coming from the other side of the Icon of Sin, and that voice was so familiar. His mind conjured up a blue holographic woman in a UAC uniform, spouting propaganda and the praises of hell. 

There was no way she was somehow still alive after all of this. 

Not only alive but actively worshipping the body of the Icon of Sin. 

Valen looked at the Slayer with wide eyes as they began to round the body. They could still hear her yammering as they made their way around the far arm, crouching behind the fallen hand of the Icon for cover. 

“We are so blessed to bear witness to the rise of a God! Our bodies and souls are a small price to pay to raise the Icon of Sin from its defeat!” 

Able to survey what was happening, anger lit in the Slayer’s chest. A cluster of humans and demons were around the Icon of Sin’s side, a tyrant and two marauders from what they could see for the demons. For the humans, there was in fact the hologram propaganda lady from the UAC. She was wearing a large robe that obscured her figure, but it was certainly her voice coming from the only standing human form. The other human figures were split into two little groups. One was down on their knees, listening to the woman in the robe. Another was in a cluster against the Icon of Sin. The tyrant stood over them. 

The marauders were standing guard. 

Behind the worshiping humans, between the marauders with their weapons, there was a mound of hellgrowth in the shape of a very early gore nest. Twisted bodies and a piece of the Icon of Sin weakly pulsing with hell energy. 

A deep growl rumbled in the Slayer’s chest. 

A tyrant demon… here on Earth. He knew what tyrants were when the UAC hadn’t turned them into half metal shambling husks of themselves. Tyrants were slavers, once the invasion reached such a peak, they would search for survivors to offer the high-ranking demons of hell. Drag whole humans and souls alike to the deepest depths for twisted purposes of the demons who were in charge.

“My King, we cannot rush in.” Valen whispered. “There might be more marauders in wait. We are lucky the gore nest is not complete or else their reinforcements would already be here.”

‘I have an idea.’ He stowed the super shotgun and pulled the heavy cannon from his back. One of the weapon modifications he had made for it allowed it to basically become the heaviest sniper rifle in existence. ‘I’ll kill tyrant. You keep marauders busy until I can get them.’

Valen nodded and readied his hammer. 

The Slayer edged around the cover the Icon of Sin’s hand gave for them to get a better angle on the tyrant. He saw it wasn’t just standing over one of the groups of humans, but it was draining them of their energy one by one, feeding the energy into the Icon of Sin by one of the open wounds, slowly healing it. 

He raised the heavy cannon up and took a good long moment to line up his shot. 

With the sight pointed right at the back of the demon’s head, between its horns, he pulled the trigger. 

The tyrant’s head exploded and its body crumpled forward, against the Icon of Sin. 

Instantly the marauders were onto them. One summoned the spirits of its hounds that raced towards them with a howl, the other began to leap towards the Slayer with its sword drawn and a hellish screech on its lips. 

He squeezed the trigger and the demon that summoned the hounds dropped dead, chest now sporting a massive hole through it. The hounds vanished in a blast of argent energy. 

Valen rushed past and intercepted the second marauder with his hammer. 

“Traitors!” The marauder bellowed and tried to attack, but Valen was quick, rolling to the side to dodge. With the marauder focused on Valen, the Slayer easily put a shot into its center mass. 

As the demons turned to death ash and hellfire, the Slayer waited for any backup. 

None came. 

With Valen at his back, the Slayer approached the humans. He was able to get a good look at the lady in the robes now. It was certainly that blue holographic face that the UAC used for their propaganda. He just had no idea how she was still alive and on her feet after all this time. 

“You!” She snarled and actually approached him, fists clenched at her sides and a deep scowl on her face. “You ruined everything! You slaughtered this perfect being! You monster!” She actually even swung at the Slayer. 

He caught her fist in his hand. 

“Release me!” She kicked at him, but he barely felt it through his armor. “I am the hell’s profit! You have no right to touch me!” 

Valen peered at her, and glanced to the Slayer. “This is a human?” 

‘Not a good one.’ He signed with his free hand and then grabbed her shoulder. He spun her around and pinned her arm to her lower back, arching her back and twisting her arm in its socket, not hard enough to break it, but enough to cause her to squeal in pain. 

He frog-marched her over to the other surviving humans, and they lifted their heads at the noise she was making. 

Every face looked vacant, distant, like they weren’t really there. 

“They have been drugged.” Valen observed. 

“Of course they’ve been drugged!” The lady squirmed in the Slayer’s grip. “I needed to prepare them for transformation. For my master to use them for healing a god!”

The Slayer hefted the lady up and then threw her aside as hard as he could. She bounced twice in the dirt before falling still. She was groaning and shifting in the dust, so she was fine. But she had shut up and was somewhere else so that’s all that mattered. 

‘I’ll look at the other ones. Check them.’ The slayer signed before going closer to the Icon of Sin. He needed to see if any of the people the tyrant were using as energy stores were alive. 

When he crouched down to look at the first person, it was clear they were dead. He was intimately aware of what a corpse looked like when it had been drained of its soul, but not yet turned into a zombie. And these all fit that criteria, even the ones he had to drag out from underneath the tyrant’s death-ashed corpse. Not a pulse, not a breath drawn, not a heart beat on any of them. 

All five were dead, and he would need to prepare their bodies in such a way they wouldn’t become zombies later. 

With a sigh he laid them all out and decided to go check on Valen. 

He had dragged all four of the other humans to be sitting up in a little circle, leaning against each other. Three women, one man, at least as far as the Slayer could tell. He was never really good at guessing other people’s genders. One of them looked young enough to be a teenager. If that. 

Valen’s fingers had a slight tremble as he tried to check them over for wounds, removing their tattered clothing as needed. Not many wounds could be found, mostly just injection marks and signs of old struggles. 

“Were any of the others alive?” 

He shook his head and gently put a hand under one of the women’s chin, tilting her head back to look at him. Her eyes looked glazed over, but her hands gently grasped his own. A whine left her throat, barely escaping her chapped lips. “Hail… hail… master.” 

Valen looked to his King. “We cannot leave them here.” 

He was about to shake his hands free of the woman’s grip for him to sign, but there was a loud scream. The lady in the robe, the former propaganda lady, was sprinting towards them all, holding a rock above her head, screeching like a banshee. 

The Slayer gently pushed the woman holding his hand away so he could deal with the former propaganda lady again, but Valen actually reacted first. He was on his feet in a flash, hammer in his hand, rushing to meet her. When the former propaganda lady tried to hit him with the rock, he swung the hammer. 

She dropped like a sack of bricks in the dirt, completely unmoving.

The Slayer winced and jogged over as Valen stepped towards where her body lay, hammer still held aloft.

“You willingly sacrificed your own kind for nothing.” Valen growled. “You will atone for your sins.” 

They arrived at her body at the same time, and it was immediately very clear that she was very dead. 

Her entire chest was caved in, blood pooling out of her mouth. Her robes and UAC uniform underneath was singed with the wraith energy that crackled along Valen’s hammer. 

“What?” Valen lowered his hammer, and looked to the Slayer with regret etched on every feature. “My King, I did not mean-”

‘Don’t worry about it.’ He gestured back to the other humans. ‘We have other humans to rescue. We’ll discuss this later.’ 

Valen hesitated, and then followed his king back to the other humans. They had plenty to do before they could take them back to the fortress. They needed to secure the Icon of Sin through etching symbols into its body, the drones needed to finish the exterior ring of sigils, they had to assure the husks the tyrant had killed were not going to turn to zombies, and most importantly they had to disassemble the gore nest before it could really become a proper gore nest. 

Finally, after at least an hour of labor and the drones coming in to assist, it was time to bring these humans somewhere safe. 

Each man grabbed two humans and carried them through a bright blue portal after the drones all filtered back in. Valen had very, very gently lifted each human up into his arms, watching them carefully in case he put too much pressure onto their fragile bodies. The last thing he wanted was to aid the demons in their extinction of the human species.

Hopefully Vega had the medical bay prepared for four new patients. 

[horseyneigh2002]

A Divine, Defiant Community - 4

Basically, Doomguy marries a borrower and starts a community in the sky.

Summary: It’s been a month since the Earth has been saved. The battle has been won. The crew of the Fortress had time to rest and relax, but the war against the forces of Hell continues to wage on.

There are still planets worth of people to save.

Samuel Hayden has his plans that he must put in motion, and he must bring the Slayer back into the fray no matter what it takes.

[Ao3 Link]

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Chapter 4: Motivation

Summary: Valen makes a really good point to his king. 

Content Warnings: Violence against demons and some mild angst.

Word Count: 2.3K

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‘Valen.’

He stood quickly when his King entered his room. 

‘Good. You’re already in your armor. Follow, I want to show you something.’ The Slayer gestured for him to follow behind. Valen followed in silence, noting that his King was wearing his praetor suit once more. And his gait had changed. That sure, solid, yet light footstep. 

The gait of a predator. Of the man who tore his way through the gladiatorial pits, who single-handedly turned the tide against the forces of Hell. 

‘I want to show you the r-i-p-a-t-o-r-i-u-m.’ He then made a tearing motion, closely followed by the sign for gladiator. 

“The ripatorium?” Valen pressed. 

‘Demon storage. Training.’ He took Valen down a staircase to a large lift that had a heavy blast door. 

Valen said nothing, and silently stood beside his King while the lift doors closed and they descended into the deepest part of the Fortress. As the lift’s shaft became clear, thick glass, Valen saw the remains of an Atlan. 

It was only the top half of an Atlan, the enormous mechanical beings piloted by the Night Sentinels, hanging suspended in the air by enormous chains and large mechanical latches. It was missing everything from its middle down, and one of its arms entirely. The other arm was missing from the elbow down. 

“Is that where your Machine Spirit came from?”

He shook his head. ‘I brought Vega from Mars. U-A-C base.’ 

“Does the Atlan live?”

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘No machine spirit. The internals work though.’

The lift came to a stop, and the heavy blast doors opened. Valen stepped out behind the Slayer. There was a decently long corridor, and he could see a few benches pushed against one wall, a small box of medical supplies, and a spear laying across a bench. 

‘Ripatorium is through there. A few small demons are trapped inside.’ The Slayer pointed to the other set of doors. Engravings of Mayker origin were carved into the doors, a language Valen could not read. There was also a control panel that certainly was a part of the Fortress. 

The Slayer poked the control panel a moment and the heavy doors swung open to reveal a small control room. In the days where this Fortress would serve Argent D’Nur, here is where the Night Sentinels would train for combat situations. In the control room were a few consoles, most showing the stage below, where a handful of low level demons were crawling about, and one that showed a lock for the circular lift in the middle of the floor. The Slayer disabled the lock and stepped onto the circular lift. 

Valen joined his king and readied Hellbreaker. The lift descended, and the final blast door opened. The Slayer charged ahead with his arm blade readied, leaping from the high shelf and down into the battle below. Valen followed suit after a moment of observing the terrain. 

It was modeled after a ruined Argenta city. Firm, stubborn, ivy and moss climbed the broken walls. A few possessed corpses, the slayer referred to them as zombies, shambled about among imps and gargoyles. Most demons were already focused on the Slayer, allowing Valen to approach from the flanks and pick them off.

An imp spotted Valen and lunged for him, teeth bared, hellfire flickering along its arms. He swung Hellbreaker and it knocked the imp into a nearby wall. Its body exploded into hellfire and death char. 

One by one, the demons fell to the combined might of the Slayer and Valen. 

It was good exercise for the pair, falling back into synchronization with how the other fought. There were some bumps, one getting clipped with the backswing of the other’s weapon, or moving to better vantage only to find the other already within the space, but it was nevertheless successful. 

Soon, all that remained was death char and piles of gore. The Slayer tore the head off the last demon and tossed it aside with an amused snort. 

His King had his back to Valen, wiping the demonic blood from his blade. 

A thought passed Valen’s mind, a reminder of his king’s apathy towards the planet below. What remained of Argent D’Nur flashed through Valen’s mind, and he gripped Hellbreaker much more tightly. Orphaned children having got fend for themselves against the demonic invasion. Farms and livestock slaughtered and overtaken by hellgrowth. Rivers tainted by the demonic infection. Death and destruction plaguing every inch of land, and his King he trusted so had merely shrugged at any suggestion of a plan. 

Before any other thought could pass Valen’s mind, he swung Hellbreaker at his King. 

The end of the warhammer connected with his King’s helmet, and toppled the man without hesitation. 

---

John had been surveying the ripatorium, seeing if there had been some demon that had crawled into some nook or cranny to hide, when he had been attacked. When he rolled up into a crouch to see what had attacked, he only saw Valen, holding his warhammer aloft. Like he had just finished a swing. 

Questions shot through his head. Why did Valen hit him? Had he just somehow missed Valen suggesting they spar? What was he doing? Was Valen not as trustworthy as John had thought? 

“There has been a change in you, Hell Walker.” Valen circled John, and John gritted his teeth. Valen knew his distaste for the title of ‘Hell Walker.’ “The King I knew would never have allowed himself to be taken by surprise.”

John growled and rose to his feet, jaw set hard under his helmet. Just what was Valen playing at? 

“Something has made you soft.” 

The Slayer leapt at his opponent. Valen rolled to the side, John hit the wall. 

“Is it Warren?” 

John lunged, catching one of Valen’s legs and bringing him to the ground. They struggled, and John leapt out of the way when Valen brought the hammer down onto where his head had been mere moments before. 

They faced each other, Valen’s hammer held aloft, John’s arm blade extended. 

“It is Warren, isn’t it?” Valen barked. “He has made you distracted. You hid away to pleasure him after your victory. You did not continue to strike when Hell was at its weakest. Your wounds healed and you merely stood by while another world continued to be ravaged by Hell. What kind of King… what kind of savior would allow that?” 

A growl ripped out of John’s chest before he could stop it. “I am not a savior!” He struck first, throwing Valen’s hammer into the opposite wall. 

“You broke your vow of silence?” Valen drew a dagger and rolled to evade another strike. “For what? A mortal?” 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He growled, and pounced. The dagger was knocked aside, and Valen was slammed into the wall. John tightly held Valen in place, one hand around his throat. He didn’t squeeze, but the threat was clear. 

“Then speak the truth, Slayer.” Valen snarled, unwavering despite his pinning. “Why do you hide away, in a fortress in the sky, when the world is being slaughtered right under your feet?” 

“I… I don’t know.” 

“Then fix it.” Valen hissed. “Get back to being the Great Slayer. Save this planet from its destruction. Become the King I remember you as.”

If his scowl could deepen, it would have at the reminder. “I don’t want to be a king.” He released Valen and took a step back. 

“But you do want this world to survive. So fight for it. Or Hell will claim another world.” Valen retrieved his weapons slowly. “We have done great damage to their numbers. Their methods of repopulation. Humans obviously cannot handle these creatures. If we do not save them, Warren is going to become the last of his kind… the last of his planet.” 

John grunted and went to make a hundred percent sure that no more demons remained in the ripatorium before making his way back up to the lift to head back up to the rest of the Fortress. Valen followed in silence. 

While the pair made their way back through the elevators and staircases to the bridge, John was in thought. 

How long has it been since the death of the Icon of Sin? The Khan Mayker? 

Surely it could not have been very long. He wouldn’t abandon Earth for too long after he healed his wounds. He thought back through the morning, hadn’t that broadcast mentioned the date down below? 

He checked his gauntlet. Ah, there was the broadcast from this morning. He made sure that it would only play in his helmet before pressing play. 

“This is a broadcast of the Armored Response Coalition. This is the beginning of week five since the being known as the Doom Slayer was last seen-”

Five weeks?! 

It had been over a month!? 

He quickly shut off the recording and tried to not look like he had just realized he had basically lazed around for five weeks. Five whole weeks. And what had he done since killing the Icon of Sin? 

Clean the armory so he could actually store things outside of the peg board in his man cave. Help Warren in the greenhouse. Make a modification to the Super Shotgun. Scavenge… twice? He had only scavenged twice since killing the Icon Of Sin. 

“My King?” 

John glanced over at Valen. 

“What is the plan for reclaiming the planet?” 

‘I still don’t know…. But we are going to make one. Vey might have ideas.’

“If I might suggest a course of action… we must assure that none who worship the demons might attempt to revive the Icon of Sin. If the Icon is revived, it would ravage the planet until you managed to bring it down once and for all.” 

He nodded as they moved through the hallway towards the bridge. Vega would have an idea for how to do that. Vega always had an idea for stuff like that. 

---

Warren had heard a commotion on the bridge and decided to go see what it was about. When he had seen John last, he had been putting on his armor to go spar with Valen in the ripatorium. Maybe they were heading down to the surface to go fight more demons? 

As the mobility drone took him into the bridge, Warren became fairly sure that is what was going on. Valen and John both stood at consoles with coordinates marked on them, and Vega was in the middle of an explanation about something. 

“-Wraith sigils should keep those who wish to do harm away from the body.” Vega had some strange symbols flash across the consoles. “It would also repel scavenging creatures, should any come within the area. I do not yet know what consuming the Icon’s flesh might do to any of Earth's organisms that assist in decomposition.” 

John typed something into one of the consoles while Warren parked his mobility drone on top of the one on the end. 

“Carving wraith sigils into the Icon itself might be advantageous.” Vega seemingly agreed with whatever John had typed out. “I will research and prepare the recommended sigils.” 

Valen spotted Warren first, tilting his head in Warren’s direction. That mechanical lens thing over his eye shifted, focusing on his little body. It sent a shiver up his back, reminding him too much of that blank, camera-like stare of Dr. Hayden. Warren forced a smile to be polite, Valen was John’s friend after all. 

“So, do you two have a mission?” Warren tried to make polite conversation. 

Valen nodded sharply, but didn’t say anything. 

Warren had to jog over to a console closer to John so he could hear through the thick helmet. “What kind of mission are you two going to go on?” Warren finally asked when he felt he was close enough. “Vega and I are going to reorganize our supplies to recalculate for another hu- uh, Argenta on the fortress. If it’s supplies, we can quickly put a list together for you.” 

John glanced at Warren, and then gestured for him to come closer. Warren obeyed and John picked him up in one hand. After a moment of being held, Warren was deposited near the interface of the consoles. He could see John had a little text document set up. After  a moment, a  message was pasted into the document. 

‘The body of the Icon of Sin is not secured. If any U.A.C cultists are still kicking around, they might want to try and resurrect it. We can’t let that happen. Valen and I are gonna go secure it.’ 

“Oh. A fighting kind of mission.” Warren rested a hand on the back of John’s. “Please be safe.” 

John raised his hand slightly to nudge against Warren’s side. He quickly typed something into the document. ‘I’ll be safe.’

Warren stayed by his hands for a little bit while he and Valen and Vega finalized the plan for what would happen while they went down to secure the Icon’s death site. From what he could see, the plan was for them to go down there, kill any demons or anything infected by the hellgrowth that they could find, and carve some protective or preventative sigils into the area and into the body itself to make sure nothing would be able to raise the Icon of Sin back to life. 

He had no clue how something like that could just come back to life because of some people meddling with it, but Warren knew that this stuff was all way over his head. He had no clue how Hell worked and didn’t want to know. 

Soon they were preparing to leave through a portal. 

Warren blew a kiss to John, and John pretended to snatch it out of the air. When Valen made a noise of questioning, John rolled his eyes and shoved Valen through the portal.