Chapter 82 - 82 Olivia Pierce and the Taggarts

Flynn and I continue making our way through the facility, picking up survivors wherever we could until we reached the Argent Tower.

The structure that siphons Argent energy from hell through a fracture that connects to the demonic realm.

Along the way we picked up a few weapons which I had Genesis devour. A heavy assault rifle, capable of firing .50 Caliber FMJ rounds.

The Super Shotgun, a double barreled shotgun that allows for unmatched destructive capability in close range, but is useless beyond forty meters.

The Gauss Cannon. An erroneously named, handheld rail gun. It allows for precise, long range, destructive capability that knows no match.

A plasma rifle. Capable of firing superheated plasma balls, the size of ping pong balls that deal both thermal and impact damage.

By the time we made it to the Argent Tower, we had gathered a group of over 80 surviving UAC guards and trained specialists and about 15 scientists or other non-combatant personel.

"What are you working on?" Flynn asks as he watches me carve runes in a metal disk the size of a palm.

"This disk is separated into ten slices, each representing a storage space of about two meters by two, by two for a total of eight cubic meters.

You can store weapons and ammunition inside and quickly access them whenever you need. I call it the weapon wheel."

"That's great. With this I won't have to discard perfectly good weapons. Can I have one of everything? With loads of ammo on top."

As I finish the final rune along the edge, the carvings shine a faint blue light for a second, indicating a successful creation. I then fill it with copies of the weapons I've had Genesis devour, along with enough ammunition to last quite a while.

I toss the disk over to Flynn. "Here, I already filled it up."

"So, how do I...?" Flynn asks as he fiddles with it until he presses one of the slices with his left index finger and a Chaingun appears in his right hand. It's a large machine gun with four sets of three rotating barrels each, for a total of twelve barrels, shooting up to a thousand .50 Caliber tungsten rounds per minute.

"Oh hoho, yes! This will come in handy. Hey Fenris, let's go. I want to try this baby out on a Hell Knight." Flynn says excitedly.

"Well, here's your chance." I say as I point ahead of us, to a room where two Revenants, five Hell Knights and an Arch-Vile are waiting for us next to a large pile of human remains.

The Revenant is dangerous because of their shoulder mounted turrets and thrusters that can launch them into the air and allow them to hover.

The Arch-Vile is a unique demon. It can summon other demons from hell by utilizing hellfire. It also uses hellfire as a weapon. From a distance it will launch fire balls. But come too close and it will summon a lake of hellfire around itself.

I had already devoured a sample of both the Hell Knight and Arch-Vile, while I had Genesis devour the Revenant's weapons. The Arch-Vile's methods are completely magical in nature and being curious, I wanted to try it for myself.

I raise my hands as they're both clad in hellfire and suddenly a Baron of Hell appears before me from a circle of flames.

It looks at me without moving a muscle, until I point at the group of demons lying in wait. "Tear them apart." On my command, the Baron doesn't hesitate as it runs at the group of demons and starts fighting them.

Suddenly I feel a Super Shotgun barrel pressed to the side of my head.

"Explain. What are you?" Flynn says as he looks at me angrily.

"I'm not a demon if that's what you mean. But you should really take that Shotgun out of my face before I get mad. We still have things to do and not a lot of time to do it." I say as I watch my Baron kill the Revenants and three of the Hell Knights before it's killed by the Arch-Vile.

As Flynn lowers the shotgun, I take out a Gauss Canon and aim at the Arch-Vile's head. I fire and watch its skull explode.

I step forward and as the first Hell Knight jumps at me from over ten meters away, I step to the side and spin around as I bury the heel of my foot inside its face. I slam the foot down on the ground, stomping through the Hell Knight's skull.

The second one, tries to tackle me, as I casually punch it in the face, pulverizing its head.

"Why was he using guns untill now if he can do that?" One of the UAC guards whispers to another.

"Clearly you're not an American. Guns are fun." I answer him.

As we're about to go inside the Argent Tower, I can see Olivia Pierce walking away with an Argent Acc.u.mulator, which is capable of tearing a hole through the dimensional barrier, which would allow demons to pour through, completely unhindered.

"Flynn, get everyone to the other side of the tower and take the train to the research facility where Dr. Hayden is waiting. I'll stop Olivia from giving the demon hordes unlimited access to Mars."

Before Flynn can even respond, I turn into energy particles and appear next to Olivia. I grab her by the throat as I take the Argent Acc.u.mulator from her.

"You're too late, they're already on earth. Did you think I was the only one?" Olivia says with a smug smile on her face. "Finally I'll get what I am owed. They'll make me a god."

"No, they won't. They don't have that ability. They could merge you with a powerful, ancient demon. But it would not be godhood.

Tell me, Olivia. Why did you want this?"

"I am weak. My body, it has failed me. It has left me broken and in pain." Olivia says with tears running down her cheeks. "But my mind did not fail me. My mind always remained strong. I wanted a better body, one that would be on par with my mind. And I wanted time. Time to figure out the secrets of the universe and unravel its mysteries."

"The demons can not grant you this. Break your covenant with hell and swear to serve me in perpetuity. Do this and I will grant you a body that will never falter. It is your only chance for redemption." I say as a test. The moment I came within range of her, I noticed that her mind had been corrupted by hell energy.

Every second we have this conversation the hell energy tries to influence her. If she can break free from it, she lives. Otherwise, I'll just end her. I only had to give her a reason to want to break free.

Olivia's face contorts in a grimace of pain as she tries to fight. "Y-Yes, I s-swear. I'll s-serve you."

"Good enough." I send a pulse of aura through her mind, forcing out the hell energy and putting Olivia unconscious.

I bite her arm and grant her strength, speed, a healing factor and turn her into a werewolf. I even grant her her own aura to ensure no future hell energy corruptions. I then start tearing off her cybernetic augmentations as she heals. Her face clears up and becomes younger. Her posture straightens as her Scoliosis is cured and she gains a healthy muscle mass. 'Huh, looks like a younger, prettier Tilda Swinton... who's also n.a.k.e.d.'

She opens her eyes and stands up as she checks out her body. "There's no more pain." She says as tears stream down her cheeks. "Thank you."

I reach for her shoulder as a piece of Genesis jumps from my arm and covers her entire body. After a second or two, it reaches back to my arm as it reveals Olivia wearing a full body suit of armor based on my Spartan past.

"Now let's go join the rest. I'll tell you about your new abilities along the way."

"Hello, I'm Dr. Samuel Hayden. Please come in." Hayden says as Flynn, Olivia and I enter his office.

"Who's this?" Hayden asks as he looks to Olivia.

She takes off her helmet, but even then, Hayden doesn't recognize her. "It's me, Sam. Olivia."

"How? What happened?" Hayden asks, clearly surprised.

"I was shown the error of my ways and guided towards the light by my true master." She says as she gestures towards me. "To repent for what I've done, I will serve him forever and help him end the demon invasion."

"Fenris, you promised me answers. Who are you? What's going on?" Flynn asks, agitated.

"Well, the first thing you need to know, Flynn, is that this is not the solar system where you were born.

Imagine the universe as a bubble the size of my fist." I say as I hold out my fist. "It is not unique. There are others like it. Many in fact. Together they make up what we call the multiverse. Which, too, is not unique.

Imagine the multiverse being the size of this room. There are many of those as well. Within what is called the Omniverse.

You are from a different universe within this multiverse."

"This all sounds pretty convoluted. But you're saying that the hell I stayed in to prevent demons from invading earth is not the only hell?" Flynn asks.

"It is. In this multiverse there is only one hell, but there are two earths. You're from the other earth. There are also other universes containing different planets with life, such as Argent D'Nur." Samuel Hayden answers.

"This was all created by a god his people call the All-Maykr." I say as I point to Hayden. "He sent me here to fix the mess they've made. To end the demons. And you are going to help me do it."

"I just want to kill demons, I'm not interested in serving under you. So why should I?" Flynn asks.

"Because I can give you back your wife and daughter." I say.

"Don't! Don't promise me something you can't deliver! If I accept and you lied, I won't care how powerful you are. Somehow, some day I'd find a way to kill you." Flynn says angrily.

'Considering who he is, the Doom Slayer, I'm actually inclined to believe his threat.' I think to myself. "So, if I can deliver, you'll serve me just like her?" I ask as I point to Olivia.

"If you can give me back my family, yes, I will." Flynn says.

"Okay. Wait here, two seconds." I say as I raise my arm, take out my claws and create a tear through space and time while thinking of Houston, Texas, the Taggart residence a few days before demons invade earth in the year 2073.

"LET GO OF US!" Monica screams as she punches me again and again.

I step back through the portal and Flynn immediately falls to his knees as he takes off his helmet. "Little butterfly?"

Recognizing his voice, Monica and Daisy both calm down.

I let them go and Daisy runs at her dad and wraps her arms around his neck. "DADDY!"

I quickly step back through the portal before time tries to correct itself as I use some Necromancy to summon a zombie that looks like Daisy and give her a corpse that looks like Monica.

'Alright, timeline fixed.'

I step back through the portal and close it behind me.

As the Taggarts are having their reunion, I turn to Hayden. "Olivia told me there are already demons on earth. The invasion has begun."

"I guess I work for you now so what is your plan?" Hayden asks.

"We go to earth and assemble an army. We then guide humanity through this war against hell."

"What about VEGA? We can't just leave him here on Mars." Hayden says.

"I know he's the Father's consciousness, Seraphim. Don't ever try to manipulate me again. As far as I'm concerned he's exactly where he deserves to be." I say sternly. "We will go to Earth after we destroy this entire facility and all the demons in it."

Hayden, clearly unhappy about my decision, says nothing and walks to his desk. He pushes a button and a rectangular piece of glass pops out of his desk. He takes it and hands it to me. "If you change your mind, you can upload VEGA's consciousness onto this interface. You'd have to physically access his server to do so."

"Fenris?" Flynn says, trying to get my attention.

I take the interface from the Seraphim and turn around. "Yes?"

"Thank you. I will serve you. Olivia said you made her better and stronger and she's now virtually immortal, is that right?"

"No. If she gets decapitated or gets severe enough brain damage, she's dead. If she has her heart extracted or severely damaged, she's dead. Other than that, yes, she'll heal from anything, doesn't age and will never get sick."

"Can you do the same for me and my family?" Flynn asks.

"Yes, I can." I say as I take Flynn's arm, rip off his glove and bite down.