Doom Story Update

2k words

***

Andreas shook his head, Sharrya chuckling as they continued through the courtyard. There were no civilians about, they had been evacuated to the lower levels for safety, and Andreas thought that was a good thing. The soldiers were getting jumpy just from escort duty, he could imagine the reaction from the women and children would be far worse, and how could it not be? A Baroness of Hell had made it through the walls, and the question of whether she was up to no god or not was up in the air. They’d have to keep an eye on her. More specifically, he would have to keep an eye on her. He knew her better than anyone else, and perhaps for reasons that weren’t polite to say out loud.

They proceeded to the western sections of the Rallypoint, Sharrya examining the buildings as they went. She was more fascinated than perturbed for a prisoner, he saw.

At the northwestern corner of the Rallypoint, the party crammed into the service lift leading down to the labs. Half of the guards went first, followed by Sharrya, Andreas and the rest of the men stepping onto the metal grating last. The lift was wide and strong enough to accommodate the mech, but not with the Baroness straining it at the same time, Andreas leaving the suit behind and in the care of a passing engineer.

As the gates closed and the lift sank below the surface, Andreas feared that if there was any moment for Sharrya to try anything, it was now, with over a dozen humans sharing the same tiny space with a heavy-class demon, but she proved his worries were in vain, as all the resistance she produced came from a small tapping of her hoof.

“How’s it feel, Baroness?” Eva asked suddenly.

“How’s what feel, flying microwave?” she shot back.

“To be defeated, to have finally met your match, to know you’re going to answer for all you’ve done?”

Sharrya chewed her lower lip, considering her answer.

“Liberating. The burden one bears from leading a conquest is a heavy one, and I do not miss its weight. Perhaps the shock of defeat hasn’t quite set in yet, but my mind seems unusually clear now that the war machine is out of my control.”

“Maybe you can use this time to reflect,” Andreas added in . “Like in the movies where the bad guy learns to be humble.”

“Moo-vie?” Sharrya asked. “What in the Hell-gods’ names in that?”

He was going to ask if she was serious, but thought that would be a stupid question, so he explained it. His description reminded him of the time he’d had this exact same conversation with Eva, back when they’d first met. Eva’s creators hadn’t for whatever reason taught her about shows and movies, and he spoke with the same passion now as he did back then.

“So it is like a theatre act, only projected onto a screen?” Sharrya asked. “Intriguing. I should like to know what makes such a thing possible.”

“You’re missing out,” Andreas said. “I can’t believe you’ve been across time and space and never seen a TV.”

The doors parted before long, the soldiers moving out backwards as they trained their weapons on the Baroness, Sharrya moving out after a prod from Andreas’ glove.

The scientist that had made sure the Argent shards he’d delivered were in working order, Selena, was sat at the reception desk, just as before. The all-clear must have been called, because she had a glazed look in her eyes as she stared away at her monitor, giving the band of newcomers the barest flicker of a glance.

“So this is where you plan to cage me? I’ve seen worse,” Sharrya mused, sweeping her gaze until it settled on Selena. “Fetch the head torturer, clerk, let us get on with this.”

It took two seconds for Selena to finally register the group, a hand shooting to her mouth as she looked upon the Baroness. She flashed to her feet, and she almost did go and get the torturer until her brain caught up with her actions.

“S-Seargent Andreas?” she asked, her voice trembling ass he looked to the once person she recognised. “W-What is that… thing... doing in my lab?”

“She gave up after the fighting was done,” Andreas explained.

“I prefer if you said mortally wounded to submission,” Sharrya interrupted. “Sounds better.”

Andreas ignored her. “Commander wants her put under lock and key until we figure out what to do with her. “

“I wish I had gotten a little warning,” Selena muttered, her hand falling to her chest. “Scared the daylights out of me.”

“It was a last-minute kind of thing,” he added.

“Well then, it’s not like we’re wanting for space,” Selena said, picking up a datapad and moving round the desk. “Follow me.”

She led the soldiers and their charge through the containment cells, the same ward Andreas had examined on his last visit. Selena bent over the retinal scanner, and there was a satisfying beep as the doors unlocked, Sharrya ducking through the arch while the rest of them walked through.

Sharrya turned her snout up at the large tubes lining the left wall, pausing briefly to look over their demonic occupants. The imp with the scratched glass casing stopped its frazzled swiping the instant it spotted the Baroness, looking at her with a kind of amazed reverence. The whiplash coiled its serpentine body into a tight spring, its yellow eyes tracking Sharrya’s own.

The Baroness walked beyond the containers like she was examining an art gallery, the shackles on her wrists creaking as she gestured. “I can see you’ve made incisions on these poor fellows, mostly on the skull and spine. How do they still live?”

“Repairing any damaged tissue is a top priority,” Selena said, speaking with a kind of casualness that surprised Andreas. She must converse with demons all the time. “Having functional neurological pathways ensures more accurate test data.”

“At least I put down those who’s souls I plan to harvest.” Sharrya sighed dramatically. “But I guess I’m the monster here.”

They came to the last cell on the right side of the chamber, and for the first time since she’d been restrained, Sharrya hesitated. In the glass capsule opposite the door, the spirit demon floated with its pointed feet a few inches above the floor, the flaps of skin trailing from its spine wisping through the air behind it as though caught in a vacuum. Even without eyes, its crowned head regarded Sharrya curiously, and despite it hardly moving an inch, Sharrya froze up like a deer before oncoming headlights.

There was a sound of metal sliding on metal, and the containment cell door was parting, revealing its whitewashed contents. The floor was laid with tiles, the floors composed of plush cushioning that he recognised as soundproofing material. Andreas knew that the more temperamental demons could make quite the screech when they could. He could see no furniture, and no windows. He’d go crazy within the hour if he had to spend time in a cell like that.

“Inside, please,” Selena said, logging away at her datapad.

“Why do I get the one right next to this creature?” Sharrya demanded, gesturing at the spirit, who cocked its head one way. “It’s going to stare right into my window the whole time. Can I not have the next one over?”

“I’ve already logged you for cell six, I can’t undo it,” Selena replied. “Now go inside, please, I’d rather not have these men shoot up the place.”

“Ridiculous,” Sharrya grumbled, but she stepped into the cell when she remembered the many guns trained on her head. Andreas wondered why she was so reluctant, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

Some of the soldiers shared a sigh when Selena activated the electronic locks, and the cell door clunked back into place, sectioning them off from the Baroness. Her horns touched the ceiling, leaving her to hunch over slightly in order to move around, but the Baroness quickly grew bored when she realised there was nothing inside to occupy herself with.

The solders soon dismissed themselves, leaving Andreas and Eva alone with Selena, who had turned her attention to her datapad. Sharrya crept up the cell door and watched them silently. When she gave Andreas a small wave, he waved back.

“So what happens now?” he asked, Selena pushing her glasses up her nose.

“I’ll arrange for tighter security details in the ward, can’t take any chances with a Baroness. Once I’ve got her processed we’ll see what we can do about getting her on an operating table.”

Something simmered in his chest at that, a pang of worry, but he supressed it before it could bloom.

“What kinds of test will you be conducting?” Eva asked.

“Brain surgery, mostly, we’ll start mapping the neural pathways and see how much a Baron’s brain differentiates from the other demon classes, maybe figure out what makes them born leaders. After that we’ll open her up, take tissue samples, we can learn a lot from an autopsy.”

“You don’t want to interrogate her first?” Andreas asked. “She’s a prisoner of war, she might be willing to cooperate.”

“Two things,” Selena said. “First, prisoners of war do not extend to the demonic. And second, what would be the point of questioning her? I’ve never known a demon to give up its secrets willingly, and I’ve operated on over a hundred demons in my life. We can bypass the entire questioning process by going straight for the brain.”

“But this one communicates in English,” Eva replied. “How many demons have you processed that could do that?”

“None,” Selena replied. “but why would she comply? Every demon barring a few elite classes are completely expendable, and they know it.”

“Let me worry about that,” Andreas said. “I can think if a few ways to make her talk.”

“You?” Selena asked, as though he’d just suggested that he should run for president. “Do you have any experience in the study of the demonic, or training in interrogation techniques?”

“I’ve killed about eight-hundred demons, so I’m pretty familiar with their anatomy. Plus Sharrya’s got a thing for me, so...”

“A ‘thing’? What sort of thing? You mean a- vendetta, or-”

“What he’s trying to say,” Eva butted in. “is that he does have experience. His time in the special forces did include conduct after capture training. He knows how to handle both sides of a questioning scenario. I vouch for him.”

“Indeed?” Selena asked, considering the pair of them, then holding up her datapad once more. “I’d have to speak to Valeria first, of course, get her approval before we move forward. You really think you have something that could get her to talk?”

Both she and Eva turned to him, Andreas glancing over to see Sharrya was also watching him, probably trying to read their lips and follow the conversation.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes I do.”

-xXx-

That thirteen-hour nap he’d had on his first night in the Rallypoint had spoiled him for rest, and Andreas had taken to his room after checking with Valeria that she no longer needed his help with the defence. According to the Commander, the gen one mech was pushing deeper and deeper into the city, and rather than encountering heavier resistance, there was less, and the lack of Sharrya to coordinate their movements was turning Spain into a shooting gallery for humanity. For all intents and purposes, Andreas’ mission was a success.

With the skies cleared, dropships could be sent in from the fleet to pick up the Seargent and the surviving marines, and they would be whisked away to the next operation in ARC’s planetary defence. Apart from the pensive ARC pilots who wanted to make sure they wouldn’t be shot down on their way to pick up Andreas and the others, there was nothing keeping him in the Rallypoint.

Nothing except the Baroness, of course.