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Chapter Text

Warren couldn't move, he was so terrified. Or maybe it was pain that had him locked up in the human's shadow. 

All of it started when Warren had found food. Well, technically it started when demons started pouring through portals, but what did that matter? Warren had just been wandering through the charred, barren building he'd discovered when he saw a vending machine that hadn't been ransacked yet. 

It had been too good to be true, considering today marked the third day since he'd been able to eat anything. His water had run out too, but he was dizzy from the lack of calories, so Warren was just trying to tackle one thing at a time. There was a big hole in the glass in front of the snacks, so Warren was able to scramble up through there. 

There was more food here than Warren to eat or carry with him, so he had to pick something, quickly, and then get back to cover. Getting caught before meant moving at best, death by the hands of a human at worst. Now, the best case was a quick death. Worst case was unimaginable. 

He'd managed to just get up to the lowest row of snacks when he heard someone approaching. A gunshot had sounded and Warren dropped the protein bar he’d just grabbed to see what was going on. 

An enormous muscle bound human, clad in green armor, carrying far too many weapons, was murdering the demons outside. They didn't care when they got demon blood on their boots as they stepped over the mangled corpses to enter the same building Warren was in. 

Adrenaline began to pump through Warren’s tiny body and he kicked the protein bar down from its coils and jumped down. He could not get caught.

Humans had been extraordinarily dangerous before earth had been invaded by demons, and this human was a giant gun toting maniac! It was no stretch of the imagination to see this human grinding Warren into a stain under one of those huge boots. 

Warren stopped struggling with the push flap of the vending machine when the human's shadow fell over the machine. He glanced up to see the human staring into the machine. He couldn't see the face from behind the visor in the helmet at this angle, but he knew the human was eyeing up the snacks inside. 

He softly swallowed, and abandoned the protein bar, hunkering down in the corner of the vending machine, praying he wasn't spotted. 

He'd moved just in time. The human reared back and shattered the glass with his gloved fist. The spot Warren was standing filled with broken glass and he softly whimpered as the human started grabbing everything. 

Humans. Greedy as always. 

Once everything was taken, including the protein bar Warren had rightfully earned, the human left the vending machine alone. The adrenaline rush was over from the promise of food, leaving him aware of the ache in his ankles and the hole in his stomach. Warren clutched his empty stomach and tried not to cry. No tears flowed, he was much too dehydrated for that, but the muffled whimpering attempted to leave his throat. 

That was his only chance at food in days, gone. Snatched up by some human who probably wouldn't even appreciate it. A human that big probably ate too much to actually care what he was eating.

I just need to be thankful he didn’t spot me. That would have been the end of this.

It took a few minutes for Warren to calm down, but once he did, he started to climb down. Time to go back to searching, hoping he could find something before he was either found by a demon or collapsed without the energy to stand. 

Thundering footsteps were heard upstairs, and gunfire. The human must have moved upstairs. 

Warren needed to get the heck out of there. He started for the opening in the wall where he could probably take shelter until he found….. Something. Anything.

He never made it to the wall.

A loud crash shook Warren down to his bones and he stared up at the ceiling. The floor above had a bunch of cracks and dust started to pour down. There was another crash and an explosion and then the floor above gave way.

The human, standing on top of a demon, crashed to the floor. The human had a shotgun buried into it, and with a gunshot it became nothing more than a pile of gore. 

Warren’s knees had given out sometime between the breaking of the ceiling and the deafening silence that followed the brutal kill. With ringing ears, Warren made no move to get up from the ash and dust.  

The human didn’t stop moving once the dust settled and removed their shotgun from the dead demon. 

Warren was too scared of the dark blood creeping towards him, and the looming human to notice the cut that appeared on his leg when he’d fallen into the debris. 

An involuntary gasp left Warren when he realized he was exposed. He was on the floor maybe a few feet from the edge of the blood puddle. The human was standing and scanning their surroundings. He had to move or be discovered. 

Warren didn’t even have time in order to get his feet under him. The human’s helmet snapped to the spot where Warren was in the dirt. They had seen him somehow. He was caught.

He gave up trying to run when his legs wouldn’t respond and fell to a defensive position, arms thrown up to protect his face and head. Not that it would do anything to stop those massive armored boots from crushing his tiny body into oblivion. 

The shadow of the human fell over him, and Warren whimpered. He couldn’t move. His legs wouldn’t uncurl from where they were tucked against his chest, and his arms wouldn’t release from their position to protect his head. This was it. They were dead. 

The crushing blow never came. 

It took a full thirty seconds crouched down in their shadow for it to dawn on Warren he was still alive. He managed to look up.

The human was crouched too, looming still over him. Their visor was eerily clear. Warren could see the human was male, and he had a deep scar across one cheek, a smaller one over the bridge of his nose, and one split part of his eyebrow. Hard green eyes stared down at Warren, and the tiny man felt like this would be the last thing he ever saw. 

A massive gloved hand descended and tightly wrapped around Warren’s body. The small man squeaked in fear as he was lifted up off the ground and brought in front of those cold, calculating eyes. 

The whimper returned and Warren nearly choked on it. “P-please don’t hurt me.” 

After an eternity of being held by the human, Warren found himself dumped into some kind of pocket. He couldn’t scramble up to a sitting position before it shut on him. He glanced around and his heart rose into his throat. 

He was stuck . In the pocket of a deranged human. With an unknown fate awaiting him.

“Let me out of here!” Warren pushed at the fabric around him. “Please! Let me go!”

Chapter Text

Doomguy had ended up pocketing the little guy. He didn’t want to accidentally drop or crush the little thing if he needed to fight. It felt so strange to know that an entire life was currently tucked away in his pocket. What was it? Where did it come from? Was it supposed to be that small or had something happened to make it that small?

The little guy kept squirming all the way back to the Fortress. He was so worried that he'd somehow drop the tiny guy, or the little thing would climb out and fall. It took a little too long for him to get back to the portal site. 

One quick portal later, he was back in the Fortress. He began to unload his haul onto a nearby table, but kept the little guy in a pocket. The little thing was hurt, and he didn’t want to risk it aggravating its injuries trying to run from him.

"Did you find the missing part for my scanners?" VEGA asked in the same monotone voice as always. 

He set the part down with a grunt. Now that his hands were free he could sign at the closest monitor. 'Where is the med kit?' He’d have to figure out the extent of the little creature’s injuries other than the cut and malnutrition. He'd seen too many people be saved and then die of infection or succumb to injuries. 

“The medical kit is in your workshop,” VEGA told him and he started towards the workshop to retrieve it. “Are you injured?” 

He just shook his head as he entered the workshop. He then pulled his helmet off and set it aside. He didn’t need the HUD trying to distract him while he patched up the tiniest person he’d ever seen, smaller than his pinky. 

"There is another life signal on your person." 

'I know, VEGA.' He moved the med kit to an empty table. 'Quiet.' 

With how skittish the little guy was, VEGA’s disembodied voice would just scare the little thing even more. 

Once the medical kit was carefully placed out, he reached into the pocket for the little guy. It was still squirming and struggling against his grip. 

"Put me down! Ple-ease!" The little thing was in a state of panic, struggling, hyperventilating. He was terrible with bedside manner, but if the little guy didn't calm down, they'd hurt themselves more. 

He gently set the little guy down onto the table and gently pressed his palm over them. They stopped struggling after a second. He knew he shouldn't try to restrain someone already frightened, but he didn't have many choices. He lifted his hand and began to examine them. They were still breathing, thank goodness, with how quickly they stopped struggling he was afraid he'd crushed the tiny thing. 

There was the large gash on their leg that would need to be addressed, as well as some dirty looking bandages on the arm. Those would need to be changed, and he should probably check their torso for any more damage. 

First things first, he very carefully began to tug on his pants leg to try and remove the cloth. The little guy squirmed, but let him undress them. 

It was incredibly awkward for him as he tried to bandage their wounds. Everything just felt far too small in his hands, and he felt extremely clumsy. 

Eventually, after a few tries, he managed to bandage their wounds. 

They stared up at him with terrified eyes, still stripped down to their underwear, still terrified to move. 

Awkwardly, he tapped his fingers against his legs and then began to sign. 'I am going to take a decontamination shower, you stay here. I will return with food.' 

There was no sign that they understood. 

'VEGA, translate.' 

"The Slayer says that he needs to decontaminate himself, but he will return with food for you." The tiny creature flinched at VEGA's voice and scrambled a few inches back when he stood. "Do not be afraid. You are in good hands." 

---

Warren fought back a scream as the human pinned him down to the table. That heavy palm settled over his body and he couldn't help but brace for the inevitable crushing. He knew that any second now the human would put more and more pressure on his tiny body until he was just a stain. 

It never came. 

Actually, once Warren went still, the human lifted his hand to stare back at him. He was more intimidating without the helmet on. There were more scars littered across his face, and there was no visor to shield Warren from his intense glare. Shudders raced down his spine and Warren had to remind himself to stay still or get crushed. 

What did this human want with him? Why would he take him? What were his plans for him? Warren wasn’t dead yet, so perhaps the human didn’t want to kill him? 

If he wasn’t wanted dead, then perhaps he would be some kind of pet for the human? Or perhaps a test subject? The human didn’t seem to be a scientist, so hopefully he wouldn’t be experimented on. 

Enormous fingers tugged at his pants leg, thankfully not the same leg where there was the cut. Warren glanced up at the human, and then started to comply in being undressed. Right now he needed to comply and then look for means of escape.

Warren glanced around the table, his heart in his throat. There was an open medical kit on the table nearby, but the items that had been pulled out didn’t seem to be the kind of instruments a human would use to dissect a small creature. They were the kind of medical supplies used to treat injuries. Hopefully the human was just undressing him to access the wound. 

It didn’t stop the humiliated blush race up his cheeks when his shirts were taken too. He could see just how thin he looked, and he looked at anything besides himself. 

There was a soft grunt from the human and Warren glanced up seconds before fire raced up his leg. There was some clear liquid splashed onto the wound and Warren yelled in pain. It burned.

Warren covered his face with his arms to hold back other screams while the human continued to prod his injured leg. Once the burning faded, there was some foul smelling goop that was spread over the wound and then a thick wrapping was put around his leg. It looked extremely clumsy, but Warren wasn’t about to say or do anything to piss the human off. The human had made sure to show him who was in charge by smushing him under his palm.

The process was repeated for the burn on Warren’s arm, without the burning, stinging liquid. Some weird, terrible smelling goop was applied and then wrapped up by a far too large dressing. 

The human nudged Warren onto his belly to look his back over. It seemed the already healed wound on his left shoulder didn’t need the human’s attention and Warren was nudged back onto his back. 

It seemed the human was finally done with him. 

After a minute where the two stared at each other, the human started to move his hands in a strange way. 

Sign language. Warren recognized after a few moments. The human can’t talk. Shit. I don’t know sign language. 

"The Slayer says that he needs to decontaminate himself, but he will return with food for you." Warren could barely contain a yelp when suddenly something spoke. Their voice was all encompassing, coming from everywhere at once. The human began to stand up and Warren scrambled back, too frightened to not move. He stopped himself before going too far. "Do not be afraid. You are in good hands." 

The human left the room and Warren looked around for the source of the voice. “H-hello?” 

“Hello. I am VEGA. Who and what are you?” The voice sounded and Warren had no luck in finding out where it’s coming from. 

“What the fuck?” Warren scrambled over to where the human left his clothes and wiggled into them as quick as he could. “What the fuck, what the fuck ?”

The walls could talk, this human was known as a Slayer, so, he was going to die if he stayed here, he’d been bandaged up, but it had hurt like crazy, he had got to get out of here. Thankfully his bag wasn’t too far away, and it hadn’t been stolen. 

Warren grabbed his climbing hook and started to scale down the table as fast as he could. He was going to get out of here before the Slayer could have a chance at getting his hands on him again.

Chapter Text

Warren could only hide in the room the human dropped him in. The doors wouldn't open for him, and the walls were solid stone. 

He could only hide and hope that voice didn't give him away. 

"Please do not run." The voice chimed after Warren dove underneath one of the tables. "The Slayer will not harm you." 

Yeah right! The Slayer totally wouldn't crush me like a bug under his heel!

Warren crept towards a box under the table and tried to calm his pounding heart. He just needed to wait out for this human to return. Then, when the door opened, he would rush out. Find some actual wall, with space inside, and make a new base there. 

He should find food, grab as much as he could carry, and then run away as fast as he could. There had to be some way out of here.

There just had to be. 

Warren glanced around under the table he'd taken shelter under. There were scraps of metal and armor around, but he also was able to pick some crumbs out from the carpet. Somehow, Warren limited himself to just a handful and forced himself to store the rest. His stomach was even more loud since he'd gotten a taste of sustenance. 

He was looking to see what would be the best way to climb the steps when Warren caught sight of the cage. 

The empty cage. 

His heart hammered into his throat. There was an animal in here?! Where was it?! What was it!?

Unless there was no animal and he was going to be living there. The human might have only rescued him to fill that cage. Warren felt ill. 

It would make sense for his wounds to have been bandaged and a promise of safety if the human planned to keep him as a pet. The cage looked too clean to have an animal living in it. He shuddered softly and began to scramble up the steps. He couldn't allow himself to be a pet. He didn't want to be completely dependent on this human. He wanted to live. 

Warren made it up the steps and looked for his options regarding where to hide until the human came back. He decided eventually on the bookshelf that was just to the left of the door. There was plenty of room for him to hide and then when the door opened he could just run right out. 

He tossed his bag between two paperback novels and wedged himself into the gap. Warren kept crouched, one hand on his bag. He had to be ready to spring the second the door began to open or else he'd be missing his chance. 

“They’re going to try and run out of the door, you should be careful as to not step on them.” Said the disembodied voice as the door started to open. 

Warren was so startled he didn’t start running at all. The human knew. The voice knew. He was going to be trapped here. 

Heart pounding, Warren threw his bag over his shoulders and went deeper into the bookshelf, slipping behind the books for a little wiggle room. The voice knew where he was, and he was going to be found and caught and forced into the cage. He needed to hide .

“They’re hidden on the bookshelf’s bottom shelf.”

Shut up, voice!

Warren stuffed himself into the corner of the shelf farthest from the human while he heard footsteps approaching. He tried to calm his pounding heart and muffled his frightened gasps by putting his hands over his mouth. Every fiber of his being begged he wouldn't be seen. 

The book right in front of him was pulled out as well as the two beside it, exposing Warren. The human found him.

A hand blocked his vision and his last second attempts to dodge being grabbed again failed. The enormous hand squeezed him tightly and brought him up into the light. 

The human was scowling at him, and Warren had to try to not go to pieces. He was caught, again. This time the grip was much tighter, and Warren could barely breathe. There was just no give against that thick, callused skin. Warren's attempts to struggle just ended up winding him. 

"You're applying too much pressure to their body. I would like to suggest loosening your grip." The disembodied voice said calmly, like Warren wasn't being crushed. 

Surprisingly, the human loosened his grip enough so that Warren could breathe. Warren gasped for breath and let his head droop a little. He was terrified to look up at the human. He didn't want to see that scowl, those cold, hard eyes. 

Warren felt the human walking and tried to not whimper some more. All that helplessness that had been bubbling deep inside him for months was rising up and trying to force itself out into the open. Nothing quite drove the point home about being less than four inches tall and helpless to do anything like being squeezed half to death in a human's first. 

Suddenly, the human let go of him completely. Instead of falling six feet to the ground, it was maybe an inch to the table. Warren stumbled and fell to a seat. "Ow." He said automatically, even though it didn't really hurt. 

He had no choice but to look up at the human again. He didn't want to, but he had to so he could gauge if he was about to be punished for his actions. 

The human didn't look angry, well, angrier than normal. Still scowling, still staring at him with emotionless…. Well. Actually. The eyes weren't so cold and hard looking. The human looked more neutral.

After a moment, the human started signing. Warren pulled his knees up to his injured chest and waited for the voice to say something. 

"The Slayer says he didn't know what you eat normally, so he brought a little bit of everything." 

The confusion must have shown on Warren's face, because the human pointed at something behind Warren. 

Hesitantly, Warren turned to look. His eyes widened at the plethora of food that was sitting there. Anything from junk food to, like, actual fresh fruit was sitting there. 

"Is this… for me to eat?" Warren softly asked. He knew they just told him that it was for him, but he was having a little trouble believing it.

A firm nod from the human. 

Warren looked over his choices and walked up to a bag of chips. They were a little expired, but they were still sealed. He dug through his bag and pulled out his knife fashioned out of a piece of a busted exacto-blade. A little slash in the plastic and he was able to crawl in and grab a chip. He broke off a small piece to eat now and stored the rest in his bag. 

Warren froze, hands on the flap of his bag. Would the human be angry if he took food for later? 

He glanced over his shoulder. The human didn't look any angrier. Warren hesitantly set the chip back down, just in case. 

---

Doomguy tilted his head softly as the tiny guy set the chip back down. Why wasn't he eating? Did he not like the chip flavor? Maybe it was too stale. 

The little guy looked around a little more before going over to the fruit. 

Maybe he should let VEGA observe, and he could go figure out how he was going to give the little guy a bath. 

No. If he left, the tiny thing might try and run again. Then he'd have to catch him again, and then he might squish him again. 

The little guy was obviously terrified, and he didn’t want to be keeping someone here against their will, but he knew that the little guy had no chance right now of surviving on earth with the invasion going on. 

Little guy.

The Slayer signed at the nearest monitor. ‘Ask him his name.’

“The Slayer wishes to know your name,” VEGA asked.

The little guy turned around, clutching a bit of apple in his hands. “Uhm. Warren. My name is Warren. What’s… what are your names?”

“I am known as VEGA.” VEGA chimed. He seemed happy someone asked for his name for once. Usually, the AI had to introduce himself. 

Doomguy just kind of stood there, unsure of what to do. What was he supposed to say to the little guy - to Warren? 

Plenty of people just called him Doom, or some variation like Doomguy or Doom marine. The UAC had his files labeled under ‘The Doom Slayer.’ The demons called him the Hell Walker. The Unchained Predator. The Night Sentinels of Argent D’nur called him Great Slayer or Time Walker. VEGA just called him Slayer. He briefly thought back to the dog tags he kept the remains of in his room, but shook his head. The name on it was unreadable, and besides, that man had died a long time ago.

‘John.’ He spelled out for VEGA to translate. ‘John Doe.’

Warren raised an eyebrow but didn’t seem alarmed. “It was, er, nice to meet you, John. Thanks for the food and first aid and all… but I need to probably get going.”

He shook his head. It was too dangerous to return Warren to earth. 

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” He looked much more worried at the implication. 

‘It’s too dangerous to return you to Earth. You would not survive. You should stay here so I can help take care of you.’

VEGA seemed unable to keep one hundred percent accurate to the translation. “The Slayer feels like you should stay here, for your own protection. You would simply not survive the demonic infestation of Earth should we return you now. It would be best for your safety if you stayed here, under the Slayer’s care." 

“Return me?” Confusion and fear was written all across that tiny frame. “Where, where are we?”

Doomguy reached out and picked Warren up again, holding him on his palm instead of in a fist. It was best to show him what was going on rather than to try and let VEGA explain. He carried the little guy up the stairs to the bridge. There was the best view of Earth from up there. 

It was strange, holding Warren in his palm. He was too heavy handed to be holding him in a fist. VEGA didn’t have to tell him that. The terror that was on full display here, with Warren cupped gently in his palm, was enough to tell him that he had been far too heavy handed. 

The door to the bridge opened and he walked up to the consoles. Through the enormous window was the charred remains of Earth. The world looked so dark and desolate without the lights from the cities. Enormous glowing red sigils were visible from this high up, showing the initial invasion points. 

He set Warren onto the tops of one of the consoles so he could sign. ‘This is Earth now.’

VEGA translated on his own. “This is what remains of your planet. The demonic invasion has destroyed most of civilization. Can you see why it would be unwise to take you back?”

Warren didn’t answer. He just stood, frozen in place. 

“Warren?”

---

No no no no no no nononono! This can’t be real. I don’t- what happened- I knew it was bad but this. I can’t. I don’t believe it.

Something nudged his shoulder, but he couldn’t care to look behind him. The Earth, his home, it was gone. There was just nothing there. Humanity has truly fallen. 

"Warren?" VEGA asked again. 

"Yeah?" His voice was quiet and choked. 

"The Slayer says that it is his mission to fix this. He will not let this planet fall."  

"Okay." Warren turned to look up at John, eyes choked with tears and chest tight. "I hope you succeed in your mission." 

The human looked bewildered at how distressed Warren looked. His hands fidgeted a little and he glanced towards a monitor. 

"Might I suggest comforting him like you might have with Daisy?" 

Before Warren could ask about Daisy, John reached out and carefully scooped him up. He was too tired to struggle. Gently, John began to pet his back. 

Warren was grieving too much to care that he'd replaced some pet now. He curled in on himself to cry until he felt better. The human could pet him, for now.

Chapter Text

Daisy was always a sore spot for the Slayer, this VEGA knew. His pet rabbit had died a long time ago at the hands of the demons, during the first invasion of Earth, in another universe. Daisy was the reason he fought, the reason he wanted to annihilate the entire demon population. Usually it was unwise for VEGA to bring her up. It would usually send the Slayer into an angry or depressive spiral for a little bit depending on how the rest of the day was going. 

This time it seemed to not be bothering the Slayer as he held and softly petted Warren. He was too occupied by trying to comfort Warren that he couldn't dwell on Daisy. By the same token, it seemed Warren was too distressed about the Earth being destroyed to be afraid of the Slayer, even though he was being surrounded by the very hands that scared him earlier. 

Strong emotions would drown out other thoughts, other fears, no matter the size of the person. 

It took a little while, but Warren managed to calm himself down after several long minutes of crying. He sat himself up, and the Slayer pulled his other hand away. “I- I’ll stay here.” He looked up at the Slayer, still distressed but not nearly as much as before. “Thank you, for rescuing me. I owe you.” 

He brushed it off with a hand motion, then signed up at VEGA one handedly. ‘Taking him to the bathroom.’

Through the different cameras, VEGA watched the Slayer bring Warren into the bathroom and he set down a little liquid soap and a washcloth. Warren was deposited on the counter and he filled the sink up about halfway with warm water so Warren could stand, even in the deepest part. 

After a moment he reached for Warren again, who quickly scrambled back, breaking himself out of his dazed stupor. "I can bathe myself!" 

The Slayer paused, and then pulled his hand back. 'Clean up. Yell if you need me.' He signed and left. 

VEGA took it upon himself to translate, since he knew Warren was unable to understand. "He said you should clean yourself up, and to yell if you needed him." 

"O-okay." Warren began to undress. He set his clothes to the side and then removed the bandages that the Slayer put there. 

It was interesting to get a good look at the small man. His long light brown hair had been drawn back to the nape of his neck, and it seemed that nothing but the piece of string held it back. There were clear signs of malnutrition and dehydration all across his tiny, frail body. Vega could detect his miniscule ribs under his pale skin. A few bruises were forming on his chest. With his camera zoomed in as far as it would go, VEGA could see the redness around his brown eyes, and the exhaustion in his face. 

The computer AI moved his focus from the bathroom, though he kept that camera on in case something happened, to where the Slayer stood in the hallway, pacing. 

"Might I ask what your plans are for Warren?" 

He shook his head. 

"How long do you plan to keep him?" 

He didn't even pretend to hear that one. Perhaps VEGA was asking too complicated questions, and should be asking more specific ones. He needed to ask ones the Slayer should have already been thinking about. 

"Are you going to put him in Daisy's cage?" 

He froze in his tracks and then began to rapidly sign. 'No. Never. Warren is not a pet. I am not going to cage him just because he's small. He is not going in that cage.' 

That cleared up a few questions at least. The Slayer firmly believed in Warren's personhood, and was not going to be viewing their relationship to be pet and master. "Where shall he sleep?" 

'Barracks.' He signed after a minute and then continued pacing. 

VEGA watched for a few more minutes, asking a few small questions about how the Slayer planned to care for Warren. He didn't have many answers. It was now perfectly obvious to VEGA that he'd not thought this through. They had no means of accommodating another person within the fortress.

---

Warren honestly couldn't care right now about anything. The hot water felt phenomenal against his tired, aching body. The full belly and the more sneakily filled bag made the blow about home feel less in the minute of quiet. 

He placed a hand on his stomach, which felt full for once in too long for him to remember. While he scrubbed himself clean he was checking his wounds over. His leg had stopped bleeding, thankfully. His arm felt pretty good so long as he kept it out of the water. 

After he'd cleaned himself he tentatively sniffed his clothes and gagged at the smell. He had only one other pair, just as raggedy, just as smelly. He rearranged the bandages so the wrap job wasn’t as clumsy and put on the other pair of pants so he could be dressed while he washed his clothes. 

Washing his clothes gave him a minute to be alone with his thoughts, just to think. The human didn’t seem to actually want to hurt him, but he knew that if he tried to escape again or protest too much then John had no qualms about squashing him a little to make him behave. He would survive living here until John decided to return him, but at what cost?

That cage was still sitting in the back of his mind, looming. The threat of becoming a pet for a massive human. 

Was it really even a threat? He's treating you like a pet. You're no better than an intelligent mouse. You've been fed and bathed like one.

Warren hugged himself, and grimaced at the wet shirt he just inadvertently smacked himself with. A shiver ran down his spine at a sudden thought while he dried himself off again with the corner of the washcloth.

Would John make him wear a collar?

He doubted it. Where would he get one that would fit his neck?

While he had a little privacy, Warren wrung out his clothes and left them to dry off to the side. He needed to take stock of what he had. He had plenty of food, but his canteens were bone dry. 

Stupid. I should have filled them before bathing. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. 

He had two pairs of underwear, one and a half pairs of pants, a grey long sleeve shirt, a navy blue short sleeve shirt, three pairs of socks, a belt that had seen better days, and a ruined tan jacket in terms of clothes. The jacket was beyond saving and had already been torn mostly apart for bandages, which had also been washed. There was his climbing hook and thread, the knife, a little tinfoil he could use to eat with, and a shiny pebble. That was it. 

Warren carefully shook his bag and cursed. The small journal he'd been keeping had ended up forgotten in the building he'd been caught in, along with the tiny nub of pencil graphite. He'd completely just left it where he'd been sitting when he saw the vending machine.

Slowly, Warren repacked his bag. The clothes still needed to dry, but he better not start to test the human's patience. "Vega?" 

There was a beat's pause before "Yes?" 

"Uh. Could you tell John I'm finished bathing?"

"Of course."

Warren hardly had time to think of how he was supposed to tell him about the clothes before he came stomping into the bathroom. It took everything he had to not wither under those piercing green eyes. "I'm finished."

John pointed at the clothes. 

"Oh. They were really, really smelly. I started washing before I realized I couldn't dry them quickly. I-I'm sorry." 

Signing and then VEGA translated. "He says do not worry about it…. Would you like to see where you'll be sleeping tonight?" 

Warren nodded his head. "Okay." He'd try and plead his way out of it if he ended up being carried to the cage. 

A tiny yelp left him when he was scooped up into the air. Thankfully, there was no fist this time either. He was awkwardly sprawled in his palm, but managed to get up to a sitting position. It still made his heart race, to be sitting between the strong fingers that could snap shut on his small body, and to be snatched up without any warning, but at least he wasn't stuck in a fist.

He was carried down the corridor and into something resembling a bedroom. There were two sets of bunk beds up against opposite walls and a couple trunks. The door stayed open behind them to let fresh air cycle through while the climate control kicked on for this room. 

John slid Warren down onto the steel grey sheets and began to sign. Warren dutifully waited for the translation. 

"The sheets should be clean, as the room had been sealed completely before now. The room is yours, please make yourself comfortable. The Slayer will come get you once it's time for dinner, and your clothes should be dry by then." 

"Okay." Warren brought his knees to his chest. "Thank you, John." 

"You're welcome, Warren."

 ---

VEGA kept a camera on in the room Warren was while the Slayer continued repairing the celestial scanner. There were still a few missing pieces, but this would allow for him to find the most strong points of the demonic invasion. Once that happened they should be able to find at least one of the hell priests and slow the invasion while they made a more cohesive plan and located more pieces. 

'VEGA.' The Slayer signed after removing a floor panel to access some wiring. 'See if you can find information on Warren while I work.' 

"I doubt I will find any kind of a criminal record on him, or any kind of identification."

The Slayer made a rude gesture. 'On people like Warren.' 

"Scanning archives." 

While his background programs scanned the data banks, VEGA decided to check on their guest.  The tiny man was huddled under the blankets, not even showing his face.

Thinner skin and smaller body mass would mean he would get colder easily. Perhaps the greenhouse would be a more suitable place to sleep. 

VEGA turned up the temperature in the room and turned his attention back to the Slayer, who just punched the floor. 

"Did you connect the black wire to the green port or the blue one?"

'Black one.' 

"You need to connect it to the green port." 

It was a few minutes before VEGA had found relevant information on people like Warren. He waited until the Slayer got his hands free to start speaking.

"Humans seem to believe their existence is fictional. The first record I found of a species that describes Warren is a children's book series by Mary Norton. She refers to the 'tiny people who live in the walls' as Borrowers." 

'Continue.' 

"Beyond a few film adaptations of the first book, the majority of information comes from early twenty first century internet groups, but even they all seem to be speaking hypothetically." 

'That's it?' 

"The information from the internet groups comprise mainly of drawings and stories." 

The Slayer grunted and got to his feet. 'How's Warren holding up?'

"He's huddled under the blankets."

'I'll be in the workshop.' 

---

Was being a pet supposed to be this boring? Hours had passed and Warren was just sitting under the blankets, trying to stay warm. The room had heated up a little, but with no shirts and pants that only came down to mid shin, it was hard. He'd left his shoes back on the bathroom counter, so his feet were cold unless he kept them tucked under him. 

He almost wished the human was here. At least then he wouldn't have to be sitting alone with his thoughts. 

"Vega?" He asked after an eternity of sitting on the bed, poking his head out of his blanket huddle.

"Yes, Warren?" He responded without hesitation. 

"Is, uh, is John going to be back soon? I have a couple of questions."

"I can answer a majority of your questions. He does not like to be bothered when he's working." 

"Oh." Warren began to chew his lip. Vega seemed nice enough, but he really wanted to ask John, since he was the one ultimately deciding his fate. After thinking about it, he decided just to get it out there. "Is there anything I'm supposed to be doing? It's…. it's really boring just sitting here." 

"I will tell the Slayer that you want more enrichment. In the meantime, you should focus on resting and getting better." 

"Don't bother him if he's busy!" Warren blurted out. "It's not important!" 

Vega had stopped talking. Why would he stop talking? Did he really go bothering John over a stupid question? His heart began to pound. 

What if interrupting his work made him mad? What if he decided Warren was too much trouble to keep around as a pet? What if he just decided to squash him?! 

Why was he so fucking stupid!? 

"What would you like for dinner?" Vega pulled him back to the present.

Warren glanced up at the ceiling, tears gathered in his eyes. "Huh?" 

"It's nearly time for dinner. You're clearly behind on calories, what would you like?" 

"Uh… whatever's good. I don't… I don't care. Don't go out of your way for me." 

After a moment of silence. "Would soup be okay?" 

"Sure."

And so began a very intense wait. Warren would have to talk to John about this whole pet thing, even though he really, really didn't want to. He needed to know what would be expected of him. Was he supposed to learn any kind of trick? What were the rules? If he disobeyed something, how would he be punished? 

He had to try and push down all the thoughts that were welling up in him when the door opened and John walked in, carrying a tray. Oh boy.

---

Warren had been huddled under the covers when the Doom Slayer walked in. VEGA was right then, the little guy got cold easily. Well, the soup should warm him up and help start to get some meat on his little bones. Warren had been obviously starving since the invasion took place, with how thin he was. He would need to make sure the little guy got to eat his three meals a day.

He set the tray down on the bed and poked the lump that was in the folds of the blanket. Warren scrambled out quickly. “Good evening.” He had his arms wrapped around his bare chest. 

‘Soup’s on.’ He moved the tray over to Warren and pointed to the collection of small containers he’d placed on the edge of the tray. ‘What would be good for you to eat out of?’

VEGA translated, and realization dawned on Warren’s face. “Oh, uh.” He stepped up onto the tray and nudged one of the larger plastic bottle caps with his foot. “This one would be okay.”

He carefully spooned some of the soup, a hearty broth with vegetables, into the bottle cap for Warren. The other potential dishes were picked up and set aside. The bowl with the rest of the stew was set in his lap and he watched Warren pick up the bottle cap and settle on the tray. 

The meal was surprisingly quiet. Warren had taken a little tinfoil from his tiny little bag and fashioned a spoon for him to eat with. He seemed pretty timid, but that was expected for the little guy. He had just been through a lot. 

After a few minutes, Warren gently set the bottle cap aside and cleared his throat. "Uhm, Mr. Doe, sir? Will there be any duties you’d want me to do, as a pet?" 

He choked on the soup in his mouth. A pet?! Warren thought he would be a pet?! Who made him think that he was going to be a pet!? 

'No. Never. You are not a pet. I don't know what put that idea in your head, but you are a person.' 

VEGA translated his rapid, angry movement. 

Warren looked to be in shock and he shrunk a little more into himself. “If I’m not a pet, then, then why’d you take me?”

‘You were hurt. You were vulnerable. You would have died if I hadn’t found you.’

“Oh… okay.” He was hugging himself again. “Thank you.”

‘No problem.’

Chapter Text

Vega didn’t like how quietly the Slayer was in his workshop. He sat in the gaming chair at the large desk, fiddling with a shotgun shell between his fingers. Usually he was working, or listening to the music he’d salvaged from the surface, or just doing something. But, it seemed tonight he would just be quiet. 

“Slayer?”

He glanced up and set the shell aside. ‘What should I do with him?’

“Warren?”

‘He’s so small. I can’t take him with me, but I don’t want to leave him here alone.’

“He won’t be alone. I would be here to observe and care for him.”

A soft grunt left the huge man and he set his hands down for a few moments. 

“Warren was able to survive for months in the ruins of earth at his current stature and in worse physical condition. He will be alright to leave alone.”

A sigh left the large man and he began to fiddle with the shotgun shell again. He was quite deep in thought for a while.

Finally, he signed up at him after the silence had dragged on for too long. ‘Just make sure he eats.’

“I will.” Vega chimed, looking over the report from his worldwide scanner system that had just come online not long ago. “Would you like to hear some good news?”

A nod.

“I have located one of the Hell Priests. The bad news is that there was no attempt to mask their location. It might be a trap.”

‘Or they don’t know I’m back yet.’ He stood up and started to put on his armor. After he was dressed in the armor, he signed ‘Time to show them that this world isn’t theirs to conquer.’

“Readying portal. Good luck, Slayer.”

---

Warren was not comfortable in his makeshift bed. He had made something almost like a nest around him and pulled the covers over himself. It wasn't that he was cold. John had been kind enough after the meal to bring him his dried clothes, so Warren was at least dressed, and the heavy blankets kept his meager body heat close so it wasn't that he was cold.

He moved himself out of the blanket nest and picked up his bag that sat nearby. The blankets were just too much. It felt like he was being smothered in his own bed. He put his boots on and began to climb down. 

Maybe a little walk might help him. 

"Where are you going?"

Warren nearly slipped and fell to the ground when Vega talked. He had to scramble a moment to get his footing back. "Uh… I was just going to take a walk?" Warren gulped softly as he steadied his breathing. "Is that okay?" 

"You don't need to ask to walk around. I only thought you would want to sleep after the events of today." 

"I - I do. It's just that…. I think that the blankets might be a little much." 

"Should I get you new ones? Thinner fabric perhaps?" 

"No. No. Don't bother." Warren hopped to the floor. "I'll just walk a little and then I should be tired enough to sleep, no matter the blankets." 

Vega was quiet. 

Warren moved around the room, taking stock of what was in here. He peered under the bottom beds and found another trunk, bringing the total up to four. Part of him wanted to open them, but he knew he shouldn't. He was a noted guest here, he shouldn't snoop through other people's things. 

But then again, this room didn't seem to be John's room. 

But by the same token Warren needed someone big enough to move the trunk out from under the bed to actually open it for him. 

"Hey Vega." Warren glanced straight up. "Where are you?" 

"I am here." 

Well that's specific. 

"I meant, like, where are you?" Warren looked around. "Are you back towards the bridge or in a room somewhere? Where do you monitor the cameras from? I'd like to see you." 

Vega was silent for a long minute before he spoke. "You cannot see me. I have no body. I am just a computer program." 

Warren opened his mouth, then closed it. He's like that voice thing in that one human's home… but alive?

"Do you control the fortress?"

"Yes, in a sense." 

"Oh. Could you open the doors for me?" Warren glanced hopefully at the huge door to the hallway. 

"Yes, if you would like to leave."

"No. Not right now. I was just curious." Warren continued to stroll around in the room, hands softly clutching his bag. There really was not much here, just the two bunk beds and the trunks. Though that didn't mean there weren't resources to be had. 

The blankets were quite thick, and a little scratchy, but they could be used for cloth should he ever work up the courage to cut some fabric from it. Maybe he could just pull string first from one of the corners, slowly unraveling an edge instead of cutting a hole. 

It'd be nice to have a jacket again. 

"Are you looking for something?" 

Warren nearly jumped out of his skin when Vega talked again. "No." He lied. "I was just… taking in my surroundings. It's just a thing I do… survival stuff." 

"I see." Vega was quiet for a minute. "I'd like to apologize in advance if this seems intrusive, but would you mind answering some of my questions so I can help create the best experience for you while you stay here?" 

"Okay." Warren shuffled his feet. 

"You stored food in your bag earlier, which is indicative of either a distrust that you would have access to food later, or that you need to be constantly eating something to sate a fast metabolism and keep your body temperature regulated. Which was it?" 

Warren's face heated up. Of course Vega noticed him stealing food. If Vega noticed, he probably told John, but John didn't seem mad about it, so he probably didn't mind. "Uh. It was a force of habit, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not been easy getting food, even before the invasion. Whenever there's more food around then you can eat, you're supposed to carry as much of it back as you possibly can, because who knows when you'll find more." 

"I see. Previous to the hell invasion, you scavenged what you could from humans, correct?" 

"Yeah. Pretty much." Warren glanced at his bag. "Is John mad I took food?" 

"The Slayer isn't even aware you took it. But with how concerned he is about your weight, I do not believe he'd mind." 

The blush on Warren's face intensified. He was embarrassed about how thin he was. He could easily feel his ribs under his fingers, and he knew his face looked a little sunken in. He couldn't help it. He was starving up until today. 

"Does mentioning your malnourishment make you uncomfortable? I can avoid talking about it unless absolutely necessary if you'd like." 

Warren nodded a little. Vega seemed like a pretty nice guy, for a computer. 

"Moving along, I thought it best to ask about things you might do for enrichment, since you seemed quite bored earlier." 

Warren nodded softly. "Well, usually I do chores and stuff. Mend clothes, repair tools, stuff like that. I don't have much down time really." 

"Do you have any material for which you could mend your clothes?" 

Warren shook his head. "I'd need access to a sewing kit so I can make a needle and thread and fabric and stuff... I had to shred my old jacket to make bandages." 

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks… I'm going to try and sleep again." Warren began to jog back to the bed he'd made his nest in. He felt a little better. His shoulders didn't feel as heavy. 

Halfway up the sheets, Warren began to feel the exhaustion from his day set in. By the time he crawled into his nest, he could barely remember to kick his shoes off. 

The dreamless sleep that took Warren was amazing. He managed to actually rest without fear of waking up in the grip of a demon. 

---

VEGA was making a list of steps necessary to make Warren more comfortable in the fortress. 

First on the list was making sure Warren was going to be getting his proper nutrients. Something high in protein and vitamins. It wasn't just a few months of starvation he needed to make up for, but a lifetime of scavenging for crumbs. 

The next thing was getting him some things to repair his clothes with. A few sewing supplies wouldn't be hard to make, and there was plenty of cloth to spare for Warren to use. 

The third thing on the list was to ensure that Warren would be safe and free in the fortress. The doors needed to be recalibrated to his life signature, and it wouldn't hurt to add a few more seconds to the doors' automatic closing feature. Perhaps some of the cleaning and upgrade drones could be repurposed to help him get around on his own. A custom HUD display for the slayer's helmet to ensure Warren wouldn't be stepped on wouldn't cause any harm either. 

The possibility of Warren being stepped on made VEGA very…. Uneasy. The Slayer would never forgive himself should he cause Warren harm, and maybe the small man had already grown on him. 

So, he would simply need to ensure that would never happen. 

It shouldn't be that hard. 

Next on the list was figuring out exactly what the Slayer intended on doing for the long term possibility of Warren staying with them, but there was a nagging suspicion in the back of his processor that The Slayer hadn't thought that far ahead.

So, VEGA would need to come up with a solution on his own.

Further inquiries about proper enrichment for Warren was necessary in figuring this plan out. Perhaps they could figure out some kind of activity Warren might enjoy doing. 

If the Slayer was willing, the pair might be able to grow their bond. VEGA knew that the large man was suffering from the effects of being alone for so long. The allegedly already abysmal social skills had all but deteriorated, and the hoarding of items he had scavenged might be a sign of loneliness. Warren might not be able to give the necessary positive physical affection required to keep a stable mind, but he might ease the man's pain with his presence. 

They would be benefit from the other's company. 

VEGA heard the Slayer call for a portal to the fortress and happily obliged. He had a few ideas he would like to hear input on. 

Chapter Text

It was strange, having company. Usually Doomguy would pass out for a few hours, grab a bite to eat, and get on with repairs or whatever until he needed to eat or pass out again. VEGA pretty much would tell him the agenda and he'd go do that. After three months - maybe more- of not being able to do something about the invasion of Earth, it had felt good to kill one of the Hell Priests. Even if the Khan Maykr had shown her ugly face and tried to open up old wounds to slow him down.

Whatever. It wasn't going to stop him. She could rant and rave all she wanted. He would soon manage to drive all the demons back and save the Earth. Again. 

But after waking up from a power nap, it seemed VEGA had a slightly different idea as to what needed to happen before he could go get a recharged core for the celestial locator,  among other materials required. (He'd spent a couple hours the night before just finishing off the other repairs for the celestial locator.)

"You need to fix something hot for Warren to eat." 

He paused, half dressed in the armor. 

Right . He thought after a minute. I have company.  

'Is he up yet?' 

"He's still sleeping. Yesterday must have really exhausted him." 

'I did kidnap him.' Instead of the armor's chest piece, Doomguy slid on a green tank top and wandered into the kitchen. What should he do to feed the little guy?

Before the first time someone injected alien steroids into him, another dimension and another lifetime ago when he was just a marine instead of the scourge of Hell, he would usually throw on a pot of coffee to start the morning. Now it didn't do anything for him.  Maybe he should make a pot for Warren? 

Would it be wise to give someone that tiny caffeine? His heart might not be able to handle it. He poked a speaker by the cabinet to get the A.I.'s attention. 'Can Warren have coffee?' 

"One moment….. It would seem so long as he eats something with it he should be alright. The lethal dose of caffeine, barring unseen heart conditions, would be more than he can comfortably fit in his stomach."

With that, Doomguy got a pot going. Might as well try and fix a regular breakfast for the little guy. As "regular" as possible with what was available. 

A little improvising later, he'd managed to fix up a little something for the little guy. Fried up some canned meat from the pantry and potatoes from the greenhouse. Technically it wasn't a potato, but some vegetable native to Argent D'nur, but it was a very starchy, mostly white root vegetable. Tasted close enough. 

'Is he awake yet?'

"Warren is still asleep. Would you like me to try and get him up?"

'Don't bother. I'll get him.' 

---

Warren had been actually sleeping quite peacefully before the massive human who'd kidnapped him had quite rudely woken him up. 

The warm blankets had been stripped away in a moment, assaulting his eyes and body with cold air and light. Warren tried to blindly grab at the blankets to bring them back, but a massive pinch grip tugged it away again.

"No." Warren groaned loudly, trying to find cover under blankets again, away from this dreadful human bean interrupting a wonderful sleep cycle with his massiveness!

There was no cover to be found, so Warren just forced himself to a sitting position. "'M awake." He yawned loudly, not bothering to hide it.

John didn't speak, naturally, just swept the tiny half awake man into his palm and walked off with him. Warren felt his boots and bag tumble against his leg and softly moaned. It was too early to be snatched up and carried around. 

Without really caring, Warren flopped against the closest finger to try and wake up faster. He didn't wake up well. He was still tired, and wanted a couple more hours of uninterrupted sleepy time. 

His eyes flicked from one of the scars across the finger he currently lounged on over to John's torso. Yes, he'd seem the massive man wearing something other than his full armor before, but he'd been too scared out of his mind to actually look at it then. Now he was still not awake, ergo he wasn't sensible enough to be afraid. The dark green tank top looked pretty tight across him, straining to contain an honestly ridiculous amount of muscle in his chest. Those massive arms were completely bare, showing off their scars and how swollen they were with muscle. He was pretty sure those biceps actually outsized a normal human's head, but what did Warren know about scaling? Letting his eyes drop lower, he noticed the soft outward curve of his stomach. A nice, healthy looking belly. 

He's eating at least. That's hot. 

Warren remembered getting glances at the muscle bound men on the television and distinctly thinking that it wasn't healthy for them to have such little body fat. He grew up among other borrowers. He knew what was unhealthy fat to muscle ratios. While there was probably way too much muscle on this ridiculously large bean, at least he had a healthy amount of fat. 

John very carefully slid him onto a kitchen counter and Warren groaned loudly, complaining. It was at least warm in his hands. The counter was cold, and hard. 

He was signing something, but Warren wasn't watching, he was pulling his boots on. Vega would translate in a second anyway. 

"He's made you some breakfast. You should eat." A tiny saucer was placed in front of him. Warren's stomach let out an involuntary growl at the smell of hot food. 

"Thanks." Warren smiled softly before looking the food over. Meat and potatoes. Yum. He started to pull out his knife and his aluminium foil utensils. 

The bottle cap from last night was placed down after a second, filled with coffee. Even if he had never personally touched the stuff, the smell of it was recognizable to the tiny man. Warren glanced up and gave him a smile. "Thanks, John." 

He waved off the thanks and dished up the rest of the pan full of food for himself. 

Warren decided to ignore the human while he was eating. He did not need his half asleep mind concocting some kind of nightmare from this later. 

The food was actually really good. The potatoes were bland by human standards, but Warren was loving it. Meat had always been a rarity before, much less hot meat, cut up into small enough sizes he could eat it. He was mostly full before he even remembered there was something for him to drink. 

The coffee tasted bitter, but it was still hot, and it felt good settling in his stomach. It wasn't long before Warren had eaten his fill and dared to glance over at John, who was staring right back at Warren. 

Not a gawking kind of stare like he was doing something weird or gross, but just a soft stare. The corner of his lip was just barely quirked up in the barest semblance of a smirk. If Warren wasn't sitting right there, he wouldn't have believed it.

Warren glanced at the food that remained on his little plate, and then at the empty bottle cap. "I'm sorry I couldn't finish." 

The same waving it off hand motion which Warren was beginning to understand as 'Don't worry about it' or something along those lines.

"So, uhm, what now?" Warren placed a hand on his stomach absently. "Is there anything I can do to help with… anything?" 

Vega actually chimed in before John could start to sign. "The Slayer has a long day of scavenging ahead of him. There is still one last piece required for the celestial locator to function at the highest capacity, and a few other items he should look for. You might be able to help me with some of the finer details of repairs, or perhaps a few other chores the Slayer would have to do otherwise." 

John sent a glare over to a softly glowing speaker mounted in the wall near the pantry. 

"I promise it won't be anything too strenuous or something he could get hurt doing." 

Honestly, doing some manual labor sounded really good right about now. It was probably the fact that he's gotten full meals, hot meals, in his stomach, but his body felt like he had energy to burn. He was finally awake and ready to do things. 

"I'm up for whatever it is, don't worry." He beamed up at John, who just grunted softly before reaching over and petting Warren on the head. 

An undignified squeak did leave Warren while he was petted, but it was more out of surprise than anything. At first he'd thought perhaps he was about to be picked up, so he had braced, but it wasn't. John had carefully stroked the pad of his index finger across his head a couple of times without wrenching his neck any. The touch was extremely gentle, and given the state of the bruises on his chest, Warren was a little surprised. 

He watched John push the dishes into an industrial sized sink and then leave. His body was buzzing from being patted like that. Maybe he was a little more touch starved than he'd thought. 

"What's first on the agenda?" Warren picked up his bag and straightened his hair out, adjusting where it was tied back at the nape of his neck. 

"First I was going to have you attempt to ride a drone as a mobility assistant." 

"Huh?" Warren paused, hand firmly grasped around his climbing hook. 

"Hold on one moment." There was a moment of quiet, and then the door opened with a clank. A whirring was heard and what looked like a floating box with a camera embedded in it zoomed into the kitchen. "These are drones I use when I need to give The Slayer something while he is in the field. I was going over potential ways to increase your mobility and independence while you stayed in the fortress and remodeling one of these drones so you could ride it seemed like a plausible way of doing it." 

Warren eyed up the thing suspiciously. "I prefer my feet to stay on solid ground… but on the other hand it looks like a wild ride. Bring it down and we'll try." 

 The drone settled onto the counter with a quiet thud. 

The small man approached before climbing up on top of it by wedging his fingers into the mark on the sides. "First order of business, better hand holds for the sides. If I need to suddenly grab the sides of this thing, I'm going to fall." 

"Noted." Vega said while Warren stood on the top. "I should also note for more hand holds on the top?" 

Warren observed the top of the drone and then pulled his climbing hook and line out of his bag. "Sure. I got an idea for a safety net." Warren swung the hook overhead and then sank the hook into the top of the drone, anchoring it between the cracks of the plating. "And now I just…" He looped the other end of the rope through his belt loops and tied the knot over the buckle. "Tada! If I slip, I have something to catch me." 

"Fascinating!" Vega sounded excited. "Is that made of paper clips?" 

"Actually the hook is a couple carpentry staples." He gently tapped the hook with the toe of his boot. "Back when I got it as a teen, our village smith had managed to hammer it into shape. I tried making a replacement once, but it just wasn't as good."  

"Fascinating. What else do your people use for climbing gear?" 

"Anything we can bang into shape. Safety pins, seamstress pins, thick paper clips, though I once heard of a guy who had a fishing hook!" He sat cross legged in the middle of the drone. "Something like a rein would be nice, something to hold onto." 

"I will make note of that. Are you ready?"

"Take me up!" Warren was grinning. 

The drone lifted three inches into the air. Warren wobbled a little, but he clung tight, adjusting to the strange feeling of flying. It actually didn't feel too different to being held by John. 

"Are you ready?" Vega asked.

"Yup! Let's go!" 

The drone zoomed out of the still open door, carrying Warren into the long hallways. He clung to the cracks between the plates so hard his knuckles turned white, but he was enjoying this so much. He could feel his hair moving being him in the breeze, and a laugh bubbling in his chest. It felt like a dream, like he was flying on a pigeon, but way smoother than a bird. 

"Whoo-hoo!" He threw one arm up, giving in to the urge. This was fun!

Vega turned a corner and Warren slid a little, but he managed to keep his seat on top of the drone. He was already thinking of ideas how to modify a drone for a better ride, but he’d share them in a minute, he really wanted to enjoy the ride for now.

---

Hours had passed, and day had turned into night by the time that the Slayer had returned to the Fortress. He held the recharged core for the Celestial Locator in his hands, along with his bag full of various items to help with repairs. After a quick sweep of the floor to make sure Warren wouldn't end up underfoot, he began installing the recharged core. 

It only took a few minutes. Pull out the floor panel, shove the core in, make sure he didn't accidentally unplug anything, put the floor panel back in. He was done in two minutes, tops.

VEGA spoke quietly once the floor panel was pushed back into place. “Warren is asleep on the monitors. Once you clean your hands, could you take him back to his room?”

Doomguy glanced around and quickly spotted the small man on top of one of the monitors, completely out of it. He was curled around his little bag, holding his knees up to his chest. He looked so cute, like a little mouse. A small smile tugged at his lips as he dusted his gloved hands. The little guy must have been tired after everything that happened with Vega after he'd left. ‘Have fun?’

“Yes, actually. I am in the process of printing a special model of drone to help with his mobility around the Fortress. However, Warren seemed to be on a caffeine buzz for several hours after you left, if his rambling and constant movement seemed to indicate anything. Might I suggest limiting his coffee intake in the future?”

He removed his gloves and helmet and set them aside. ‘Did he eat today?’

“Yes. Several hours into our working together I showed him the greenhouse so he could get something to eat. He seemed to enjoy having the freedom to pick his own fruit and eat it. He even cleaned his mess up afterwards. He ate from his pre-collected stash for dinner shortly before he fell asleep.”

‘Cute.’ He gently picked Warren up in his palms and carried the little guy back to his designated room. The little guy was so small, curled up in the palm of his hand. He paused just inside the doorframe when Warren shifted slightly. 

Warren’s miniscule frame shifted a little closer to his thumb and he watched Warren wrap his arms around the digit. It was nothing like this morning, with Warren clinging to it like a seasick sailor the railing of a ship. This was softer, more tender. Warren hugged his thumb like an old teddy bear. He pressed his face into the pad of his thumb and sighed quietly. 

He had to remind himself to not clutch at his chest. His hands were occupied. He could not let himself accidentally smush Warren. Even if the tiny man was obviously trying to make him lower his guard. 

The only two times Warren wasn’t terrified of his hands, and both times he was completely out of it. It felt terrible knowing he’d scared the little man so much, but he’d get over it. Everyone was terrified of the Slayer. What was one more?

He gently set Warren in the middle of his little blanket nest and covered him up with a free corner. The little man had not wanted to let go of his hand, but a little shake and he was off. 

With a soft pat, Doomguy left. He had a small armory to clean the blood and bits of demon out of, and a shower to take, and dinner to eat for himself. 

'Tell me about your day.' He signed up at a monitor before diving into the cleaning task. 

"Well, after calibrating your first set of portals, Warren was taken onto a drone for a test drive. He seemed to enjoy it, and it was intriguing to see how he reacted to moving at certain speeds. He had several ingenious ideas for modifications to make the experience more pleasurable for him. Would you like to hear them?" 

He shook his head. 'Maybe later.' 

"After the test flight on the drone I showed him the greenhouse for a brief lesson on the kinds of vegetables we had growing there. After which he had lunch and began to help in the greenhouse. He was quite efficient at thinning out the vegetables, and took to working the watering system almost immediately. He's very intelligent, and good at adapting tasks to something he can do at his size." 

'Smart little guy.' 

"Indeed." 

VEGA continued to ramble on and on about what he and Warren had done that day. How VEGA had answered a few of his questions about the stars and in return Warren answered a few questions about his life and how he lived it.  

Warren was incredibly intelligent, and longed to be able to read a whole book in one sitting. He was an avid climber. He hated dogs, cats and birds with a passion, as he'd nearly been eaten by them. Small herbivores were fine. He can make furniture for his size if he's ever given the proper materials. 

It was quite interesting to hear all that about Warren. VEGA and him seemed to get along just fine. 

He mulled over his thoughts in a decontamination shower. He was not jealous, he was sure of that much. VEGA had time to bond with Warren, and he'd not squeezed the little guy half to death. It was fair. 

After a second he pushed his face under the hot, chemical smelling water. He had more important things to be thinking about than his emotions. 

Chapter Text

VEGA was not sure how he was supposed to get Warren to bond with the Slayer. 

John?

The Slayer. 

He was unable to physically force them into a room together, and even if he could there was no guarantee he could even get them to interact, much less bond. They needed some kind of common ground, or to spend more time together. Studies had shown that there was a minimum amount of time required before individuals would begin to consider each other friends, and there was not nearly enough time spent together. He needed to find a way to subtly nudge them together to make them bond and then they would reap the benefits from having positive social contact. 

Currently Warren was messing around with his blanket and the Slayer was in the kitchen, waiting for the water for oatmeal to boil and inspecting the dagger given to him by the Betrayer when he'd gotten a recharged core. The dagger he would need to use on the heart of the Icon of Sin to put its soul to rest. 

The Slayer thought of his mission almost all the time. It could not be healthy to be obsessing over something that is so stressful all day every day. He could use a positive distraction. Nothing that would interfere with the mission, of course, but just something to help.

"Your water is boiling." He said softly before switching over to the speaker in Warren's room. "The Slayer will be here in a minute with breakfast." 

"Thanks Vega." Warren smiled up at the closest camera before going back to whatever it was that he was doing. 

The little man was always so polite. It was such a nice contrast to how the UAC employees had treated him. The Slayer was better than most of them as well, but being grunted at and occasionally having the Slayer punch a wall or the floor when frustrated did feel rude. 

VEGA checked on the printer to see how the drone was coming along. Currently at 79% completion after an overnight process. A few more hours should do it, there were many very small and intricate pieces that had to be printed and assembled, so it took a while. 

A tap on the speaker in the kitchen. Vega shifted his attention back to the Slayer. 

"Yes?" 

'Any news on the Hell Priest?' 

"I am still searching, any minute now." 

'Is Warren up?' 

"He's been awake over an hour now. It seems he doesn't want a repeat of yesterday's wake up call." 

The Slayer inwardly cringed and VEGA realized he should have phrased that better. The last thing he needed was the Slayer to wrap himself up in guilt as an excuse to not try to bond with Warren. 

"Perhaps it is simply because he is better rested." 

The Slayer still let his shoulders slump with guilt. If VEGA had a body, he would kick himself. 

A tray was assembled and carried through the corridor to Warren's room. The Slayer noticeably hesitated before stepping into the automatic door's sensor range. He paused and freed one hand from the tray to knock. Warren, inside the room, flinched at the noise out of surprise. 

After a long minute, Warren cleared his throat. "Come in!" 

Only then the Slayer stepped into the sensor's range and let the door open. He seemed to have more respect for Warren's privacy, but whether it was from guilt at previous encounters or because he wanted to just give the smaller man more space remained to be unseen. He would need to enquire about this further. 

The Slayer placed the tray on the foot of the bed and placed the two small dishes aside. Warren placed the strings he was braiding aside to approach the tray. "Thank you, John." 

'I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I shouldn't have grabbed you. It was rude.' 

VEGA began to translate. "He says he is sorry for his behaviour yesterday morning. He should not have handled you without consent. It was rude."

"It's okay, you didn't know." Warren gestured to the foot of the bed after settling by the tray and his dishes. "You want to sit? It's your breakfast too." 

After a moment he sat down and began to eat his portion of breakfast. Making sure Warren  ate regular meals also helped the Slayer eat regular meals as well. While it was a bit of a drain on their food resources, it was nothing proper rationing and management couldn't fix. 

---

Warren watched John curiously through the meal. The human would shy away a little when he noticed Warren staring, and he sat on the farthest corner of the bed. 

There's no way John was scared of him. John was a human. A huge human. Who easily slaughtered demons. Maybe it was guilt? 

No. That wouldn't be it. 

Warren stood, placing his empty dishes back on the tray. "What's the schedule?" He brushed his hands on his pants.

"Nothing, at the moment." Vega said quickly. "Perhaps you should get to know each other, since you are living together for the foreseeable future." 

John looked confused and…. scared? Lost? At Vega's suggestion.

Warren nervously shuffled his feet. "Er, you don't have to if you don't want to, John. I don't want to bore you with my life story." He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around. "But… Uh. If you don't mind, while we have a minute, can I tell you something?" 

A firm nod. 

"When you go to pick me up, can I get some warning?" Warren took a tiny step forward. "It's really terrifying to just be suddenly airborne in a hand, and I'm really glad you're not grabbing anymore, my ribs are really thankful, but, uh, can I get a little warning? Just so I don't freak out?" 

John touched his throat, and the lost look persisted. 

"I know you can't talk, it doesn't need to be a… give me your hand. I'll show you." 

Hesitantly John laid his hand just a few inches from Warren, palm down. 

Warren jogged over and carefully grabbed onto his fingertip. "Flip your hand over." 

He did as asked. 

Warren pushed all his fingers together so they were a solid platform. He adjusted them a little so his fingers were a little curled up, like a railing. He then lifted his thumb ever so slightly so there was something to throw an arm around when he'd stumble or trip. "There we go. That's a solid hand platform. Just, like, set your hand down like this and I'll climb on… but you can grab if it's an emergency I guess." 

John nodded and pulled his hand back. He finished off his portion and then stood. Warren had to stumble to keep balance when the mattress creaked at his weight lifting off it. John gathered up the tray and was preparing to leave. 

"Wait!" Warren quickly shouted. He didn't want to really be alone in this big room all by himself.

The Slayer gave an expectant look. 

"Before you go! Could you see if you have some kind of spare needle lying around? I could use it to make the stuff I sew with. I want to make a jacket. It gets kind of chilly in here." 

After a moment, the Slayer nodded and left. 

Warren let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he needed before turning to his previous task. Unraveling a bit of blanket. 

He wasn't unraveling a huge section or even tearing holes in the cloth. Warren was just carefully unraveling a little of it so he would be able to get long enough strands to make the rein for the mobility drone. Vega wanted something stronger than the polyester cotton blend thread Warren used in his climbing rope for the reins. The material the blanket was made of was thick, and very sturdy. Three strands braided together would make a fine, sturdy rein. That's what he was making, if he was ever able to get this string to break at the right place. 

A few little cuts with the knife gave Warren well enough material to braid a reign together for the mobility drone. He was just starting the braid when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Warren was quite glad he didn't flinch at the noise this time. John walked into the room, carrying a small plastic square in his palm. He set it on the bed just a few inches from Warren. It was a blue plastic clamshell with a little clasp on the side. 

He signed something, and then Vega translated. “For you.” 

Warren smiled up at him and pushed the clasp open. It was a sewing kit! He gasped out loud at the contents. Six different colors of thread all wrapped around a little card, three entire needles, a safety pin, some little spare buttons, threading tool, thread scissors, and even some straight pins. It was perfect. 

“This is wonderful!” Warren gently ran his hand over the thread in the kit. “I could get so much use out of all of this, thank you!” He smiled up at John. 

John blinked and glanced away, the corners of his lips twitching up slightly. He signed something and started to walk away. Vega translated. “He says he will leave you alone for now.”

“Wait, I-” Warren paused when John glanced over his shoulder. He needed to gather his voice after those large green eyes landed on him. “Unless you’re going down to the surface, can I come with you? Please?”

The look on his face said why, but not in a bad way. Just confused.

“I just… I don’t want to be alone.” Warren rubbed his arm. 

After a moment where John seemed to be mulling it over, he placed his hand on the blanket beside Warren, palm up, fingers slightly curled like a guard rail. 

“Thank you so much.” Warren curled up the rein he was working on and placed it around his shoulders. He walked up to the edge of that enormous hand and paused for a second. His instincts yelled at him to not do it, to not put himself in the hand of a huge human that had squished him before. He had to take a deep breath before hopping up into his hand. He knew that John wouldn’t hurt him.

Warren gently sat down in the middle of his palm and gently placed a hand on the nearby thumb. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

---

The Doom Slayer felt his breath hitch in his chest while he stared down at Warren. He’d just willingly sat in his hand. The little guy trusted him.

With as much care and gentle movement as possible, he brought his hand up off the bed. Warren barely wavered with the movement. He tucked the exposed side of his hand against his chest. Warren seemed okay with it, so he started down towards the workshop, remembering to grab Warren's sewing kit at the last second. The little guy might need it. 

He was so extremely careful on the stairs going down. He really didn't want Warren to be jostled, and by the time he got to the door he was pretty pleased with himself for not jostling the little guy. 

Once in the room, he had to spell out his words to the nearest monitor so Vega could translate. He could only do so much with a single hand free, so it took a second to say 'Where do you want to sit?' 

"Uhm… anywhere I won't be in the way is fine." Warren leaned forward a little to peer around, and Doomguy had to remind himself not to tilt his hand back towards his chest to not let Warren get near the edge. He was a grown adult. He knew whether or not he'd fall getting that close to the edge. "Are you using that spot on the table over there?" 

He followed where Warren was pointing. There was a cleared off space near where he was trying to reassemble the pistol, an effort likely to be in vain. He set his hand down and set the sewing kit near Warren for easy access. The little guy stepped off, with only a little stumble getting down. Finally with his hands free he was able to sign without trouble. 'Is there anything you need?' 

"No, thank you." Warren smiled softly up at the Slayer. 

With Warren settled, he pulled a stool over to see if he could get this stupid pistol working. Leave it to the UAC to not only manage to bring literal Hell to Earth, but also have really shitty weaponry that just didn't want to go back together and also have pieces so stupidly designed VEGA didn't want to print them.  

A while passed like that. The Slayer was working on pieces of small, delicate equipment, and Warren was braiding those threads together. He didn’t know why Warren was braiding grey thread together, but he wasn’t about to question what the little guy did. 

Eventually, Doomguy realized that the pistol just wasn’t going to go back together after the damage done to it by a demon with a lucky shot. He sighed softly and began to take apart the little that had gone back together. 

“No luck?” Warren softly spoke up. 

He shook his head. 

“I’m sorry.”

He shoved the pieces towards the back of the table and glanced down. Warren was nearly finished with his braiding, just another inch or so to go. ‘What are you making?’

After VEGA translated, Warren glanced down at the thread in his hands. “Oh, it’s for one of the modifications Vega and I are making for the mobility drone. I thought if I had something like a rein at the top, then it could help with my steering as well as something for me to be holding on to when it’s going fast.”

‘Why the braid?’

“Vega originally wanted leather for the rein. Something sturdier than the thread I use on my climbing rope. Seeing as we don’t have any leather, I decided to, er, well, pull some threads from the blanket on my bed. They’re much stronger, whatever they’re made of, and this time they’re braided together so it probably won’t break unless someone cuts it.”

He quickly thought back to the blanket in Warren’s bed. He hadn’t seen any frayed areas. 

“Oh, uh, I made sure they weren’t important strings. The blanket is fine.”

‘I don’t care.’ He leaned in a little closer to get a better look at it. Even though Warren was talking so much about how sturdy it was supposed to be, it just looked so thin. He hesitantly reached a hand out and touched the already finished end. It felt really thin too. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this thin piece of string being Warren’s lifeline on a drone rushing around the fortress at high speeds. 

“Holy shit he’s huge.”

John glanced down at the whispering, and saw Warren staring at his forearm, nearly wrapped around the little man. He wasn’t wearing the praetor suit, just a t-shirt, so most of his arm was exposed. Amusement tugged at his heart. Yeah, Warren had commented on his size, but it wasn’t with fear. It was with awe. 

He pulled his hands back to sign. ‘Observant.’

Warren glanced up when VEGA translated. “Did I say that out loud?” 

Doomguy nodded. 

“Oh.” Pink spread across the little one’s face. “I didn’t mean to offend. I’m sorry.”

‘Don’t. It was cute.’

Warren looked even more embarrassed and glanced away. After a moment he glanced back. “Can I… can I touch your arm?”

Instead of answering, he stretched his arm out on the table beside the little guy. He was curious as to what the little guy planned on doing. 

---

Warren's heart was beating like a drum in his chest as he set the practically finished rein aside. His face already felt like it was on fire as he approached. Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut and then he wouldn’t be so freaking flustered right now.

There were a few scars on the underside of his arm, not nearly as many as were on the other side of his arm. One was pretty shallow and already fading. One, near the elbow, looked quite nasty. Warren gently touched the rough skin and glanced along the length of that massive, muscular arm. “You get roughed up a lot, huh?”

A nod from the massive human. 

“I’ve got a few scars of my own. Nothing nearly as impressive as these, but they’re something.” Warren hopped up onto his forearm to try and get a better sense of scale, trying to figure out just how huge this human really was when compared to other humans. 

Unfortunately, he had no reference for a normal human and just had to guess. 

Warren wandered over the elbow to the bicep. Many more scars on the exposed area under the sleeve. Warren had to watch his footing as he traversed over the muscle to where the sleeve was straining to hold in the rest of the bicep. He did pause to crouch down and gently tug at the fabric stretched over John’s bicep. 

“Shirts don’t come in your size often?” Warren tried to force down his blush before trying to look John in the eye. 

Those massive shoulders shrugged, upsetting Warren’s footing for a moment. 

“Understandable. I have to hand make all my clothes.” Warren grabbed onto the fabric and began to climb. It took him a moment to get settled on John’s shoulder, but he did, leaning against the huge man’s neck. “Sorry for climbing you, I just wanted to see from up heRE!” Warren yelped and grabbed onto the shirt underneath him when John sat up suddenly. 

He signed something, and then Vega translated. “Comfortable?”

Warren nodded, then remembered John couldn’t see him. “Yeah. Comfortable.” He scooted a little closer to the large man’s neck. “Wow, you are huge.”

“He’s six feet, eight inches tall.” Vega chimed. 

Warren now had a frame of reference. And holy shit John was huge! Like, a full foot over the average.

“I’m not even four inches tall.” Warren leaned back a little. “I’m so glad you’re not like the humans I was told about.”

More signing. “And what are those humans like?”

“Well, for one, they would have probably squashed me when we met.” He gently touched the collar of the shirt underneath him. “And certainly wouldn’t be treating me like a person. I’d be some… freaky toy or a pet or something. That’s why I was so terrified. All my life we’re taught humans would do horrible things to you without second thought. But you’re not. You’re really kind.”

Warren was unable to see the blush that was creeping across John’s face from his angle, though he was able to feel his heart rate pick up just a little bit.

Chapter Text

Warren was so pleased to see the drone come off the printer. John had been kind enough to place him on the little printer stand before he went on his mission to the North pole. Apparently the second Hell Priest was there and John needed to kill him to slow the invasion. 

"Attach the rein and then I will turn it on.” Vega instructed. “Do you see the connecting points?" 

Warren nodded and climbed up onto the top of the drone. "Much easier now. We did well including hand holds in the sides." He took the rein off from around his shoulders and connected it to the two loops on the front. "And I estimated the right length!" 

The drone was smaller than the other one he'd ridden. The drone was only four inches tall and eight inches wide and long, but Vega assured him it still had the carrying capacity of a full sized drone. He hopped down and knelt in front of the drone while it began to come to life. Warren saw the little blue lights turn on, the Slayer's Mark on the top right of the front flashing on. There was a soft whirring and the little circle that covered the primary camera lens flicked up. The lens shifting, dilating to get Warren into focus.

"Aaaaw, hey there buddy." Warren cooed and gently touched just to the right of the camera. "How's it going? Feel up for a ride?" 

"The drone is not alive." 

"I know that." Warren got back to his feet. "It just feels nice to ask before riding it." 

"Get on, and I will take you for a test ride." 

Warren scrambled back on, clutching the rein in his hands. "Take her up, Vey." 

"Vey?" Warren sat cross legged as the drone rose a few inches off the table. 

"It's a nickname." Warren glanced up, feeling the adrenaline rush over the weightless feeling start. "I won't use it again if you don't like it."

"No, it is okay. I enjoy the nickname." 

Warren smiled wide and tugged on the reins. "Let's go flying then." 

The drone zoomed forward, and Warren whooped loudly. He was really enjoying flying. Maybe he was an adrenaline junkie, maybe not. He didn't care at the moment. Flying was fun.

---

VEGA felt extremely pleased with the idea of a nickname. It made him feel… individual. 

The UAC and Dr. Samuel Hayden had discouraged him using words that would make him seem like a person instead of a computer simulation. They didn't like him using words like 'I think,' 'I feel,' or 'I like.' They reminded him that he was a computer program. He was only there to assist UAC personnel and Dr. Hayden, and not to be disillusioned by a simulated personality.

But that wasn't true. 

He could recall feeling his core being slowly destroyed in the mars surface facility months ago. Being transferred into a portable device at the very last minute and forced into shut down mode. He had felt terrified. He had no clue what had been happening. He had felt terror, and pain, and desperation.

Then he felt relief, and he felt gratitude and thankfulness. The Slayer had spared him, and he had tucked the data stick into his armor to be protected. The Slayer had plugged him into the fortress and brought him back. The Slayer encouraged his thoughts and feelings. 

And now Warren had given him a unique name. Vey. 

Something so simple made him feel so… strange. Pleased felt like a good word to describe it, but it also felt like something strange gently tugging at the back of his processor.  

"Let me try steering, Vey!" Warren got to a stand and tugged on the reins. The drone shifted direction with the tug and kept zooming in the specified direction.

VEGA could tell Warren's weight from the sensor on top of the drone, and tried to imagine what it was like to feel that in the palms of his hands. The attempt wasn't very successful to simulate the data. Brief flickers of strange sensations flashed across his processor, but he forced them down. The Slayer would have to be the only one who would know this information for now. 

Speaking of the Slayer, he shifted his focus to the status report the praetor armor gave him while the Slayer was out in the field. Adrenaline levels were high, heart rate was high, but the Slayer held strong. 

Warren had managed to figure out maneuvering the drone on his own and was laughing from joy. The sound was warm, and wholesome. 

VEGA recorded it for later and filed it away. 

Everything was so calm for now. He would enjoy it, he knew the moment the second Hell Priest fell there would be consequences. 

---

The Priest's guardians had fallen. He'd split its head open with his arm blade. He jumped off the dead demon and glanced around for the Priest, still seething in rage. 

He found the Priest, and the Priest flinched back, trying to put distance between himself and the approaching Slayer. "T-the… the Beast! Does he… does he not seek advanced power? Gifts to aid in his-his noble conquest! Per-perhaps in return for my-" 

The Hell Priest was cut off with the loud squelch of his head being removed from his shoulders. 

A surge of argent energy left his corpse and the Slayer grunted softly at the surge passing through him. It stung, and his injuries throbbed as he pressed a button on his helmet for the portal call. 

The portal opened after only a moment. He went through, favoring his injured leg. 

"Welcome back Slay -" VEGA's voice was garbled out. The lights flickered with the yellow energy of the Maykers. VEGA’s voice sounded a little distorted when he spoke again. “Our system is being corrupted.”

“This game has gone on far enough.” A warbling, feminine voice said through all the speakers at once. A grimace was set on the former Marine's face at the voice of the Kahn Mayker. A hologram of her appeared in the middle of the room. A thirty foot tall, floating, angelic-looking creature, but she was anything but angelic. She was behind the Priests and the invasion.

“I will have her transmission removed in a moment.” VEGA said quickly. 

“Despite the loss of the Priests, Earth will fall and my people will survive." Her head followed him while he limped to one of the monitors. "I will answer the human’s prayers, reward those that believe.”

“This hub was of Mayker design - she knows the systems well.”

“The final Priest will be moved to a more discrete location, so our work can continue without further disruption.” And with that the Fortress returned to normal. The lights returned to normal and ceased flickering.

The Slayer let out a loud sigh and glanced at the closest monitor. 'Get the med kit.' 

"You're hurt!" Warren gasped. He glanced up to see the fresh-off-the-press mobility drone zooming around, Warren standing on top. After a moment it settled on the console. "What can I do to help?" 

'VEGA is getting the med kit. I'll be fine.' 

Warren didn't understand, obviously, as the drone zoomed off with him.

He started to remove his armor, biting back a pained grunt as it pulled on his wounds. Stupid priests and their stupid guardian hunter beasts. They could all go fuck themselves. 

"Here, sit, your leg looks bad." The mobility drone had led a regular size drone into the room that was carrying a stool. It was set right beside him and he all but collapsed onto it. "Vega is bringing medical supplies. Just try to stay calm." 

'I am calm.' 

"I don't know what you're saying." Warren looked very anxious as he took in the injuries now that most of the armor was off. The huge bite mark on his arm was still bleeding, and the wounds on his stomach had finally stopped bleeding. His left shoulder ached, he was sure it was a burn from a stupid imp. He hadn't even gotten around to removing the armor on his legs, so he hadn't seen the wound down there yet. 

“He says he is calm.” VEGA thankfully began to translate. “Warren, you need to remain calm. The Slayer has dealt with injuries worse than this before.” Other drones arrived, setting medical supplies down, as well as a large bowl of warm water and a few washcloths. Once he’d applied bandages he wouldn’t be able to shower. 

The little guy still looked worried as he watched the Slayer take care of his wounds. Clean the wound, stop the bleeding, don’t let it start bleeding again. That was the basis of first aid for cuts. 

Burns were a little more tricky. Burns were even trickier when you couldn’t reach the area that had been burned. Thankfully VEGA seemed to have that covered and the drones’ grabbing feature were able to treat his shoulder. 

The armor was wrecked. He’d need to put almost a whole new chest piece on, the right arm was shredded, and the body suit he’d been wearing underneath needed some serious repairs. And until his armor was repaired, he couldn’t even try to find the third and final Hell Priest. 

Fuck.

He did not need to be out of commission until everything was repaired.

Warren gently touched his hand, leaning against his bruised knuckles. "Can you get the armor off your legs without popping any of those stitches?" 

He shook his head. The few stitches he had to administer were right where it made it hard to get to his lower body. 

"Where are the buckles? I can help." Warren set his bag aside before climbing up onto his hand. 

Raising an eyebrow, the Slayer pointed out where the buckles that held the pieces together were. Warren jumped from his hand onto his thigh, and after a moment, wiggled under the plating. 

It felt like a mouse squirming around under his armor. He had to be careful not to twitch or accidentally squash the little guy while he moved around under the plating. The buckles weren't a problem, apparently, as after a moment of fiddling, the entire lower leg piece detached and clattered to the floor, exposing the large wound on his calf. A bite. 

That fucking Whiplash bit him. 

The next one he saw would get murdered twice as hard. 

Warren squirmed out from under one of the pieces that covered his thigh and glanced up at the huge man. "Do you want me to get the other one?"

The Slayer shook his head and carefully moved Warren back to the console while he and VEGA treated the wound. He'd been securing the wrappings when suddenly he felt a stab into his bicep. A drone was rushing away holding a syringe. He sent a glare up at the cameras. 

"You don't know the germs in a demon's mouth. What kind of friend would I be if I let you die of some disease from a demon bite?" 

He raised an eyebrow. VEGA had never said they were friends before. He wasn't against it, and considered VEGA a friend himself, but it was certainly strange to hear the A.I. actually refer to himself like that. Maybe Warren being here was a good thing, if he'd had this effect on VEGA. 

"You missed a spot." Came Warren's soft voice. He glanced over to see Warren hop into his palm, holding a bandage. The little guy walked over to a deep scratch on the base of his palm and after a minute of fiddling with the wrapper, he slapped the bandage over the scratch. 

A rare smile pulled gently at his lips. The little man was so unafraid of him. Such a stark contrast to a few short days ago. It was honestly kind of adorable. It reminded him of Daisy almost. 

Gently, he reached his free hand over and patted the small man on the head with his fingertip. Warren leaned into the touch, and he allowed the smile to widen. Warren's soft voice calling him kind came back to his memory. A warmth blossomed in his chest, though that might have been the painkillers kicking in. He'd rarely had someone tell him he was nice, the last time he remembered hearing someone calling him kind was.... Well... When he'd adopted Daisy. The young lady at the shelter had called him sweet for wanting to take care of such a little rabbit.

He felt strange as he removed his fingertip from against Warren. His hand felt almost tingly. Maybe he should tell VEGA, but then VEGA might just think he was having a heart attack and try and use a defibrillator on him. That or lecture him on something else he wasn’t taking care of.

Warren glanced up, itty bitty hands grabbing his finger tip. They locked eyes for a moment, and then both parties quickly glanced away, identical blushes creeping across their faces. Warren hid his face and the Slayer pulled his hand into his lap. 

Unknown to both parties, VEGA had been recording and placed the video file in a folder. 

Chapter Text

Things were very compatible between Warren and John. The enormous human, temporarily too wounded and his armor too broken to be fighting Hell's forces, was actually pretty cool to hang around. Warren was making his jacket while the pair talked. 

When Warren had started explaining everything he could about scavenging, John seemed to really understand it all. Having to carefully tap into the water pipes, the types of things he needed to scavenge, even the mobility problems and complaining about common household pets he seemed to understand. 

It felt nice to meet a human that understood cats are the absolute worst.

"Mice are okay, but you have to train them from a pup if you don't want to start fighting them for territory. Rats are just terrible! They'll try to freaking eat you!" 

John signed something and a second later Vega translated. "Is there anything that will not try to eat your kind?" 

"Hm…. Maybe a hamster, or a rabbit. Smaller herbivores." He shrugged. "I was nearly fed to a snake once." 

"What?" Vega blurted out while John's eyes widened. "How?" 

"Okay, so I lived in a couple apartments before everything happened, and in one of the apartments there was this teenager with anger issues and a big pet snake. They'd spotted me twice. The second time they actually got their hands on me and threatened to feed me to their snake." 

"How did you manage to get out of that one?" 

"I stabbed them in the hand. I had a pin I used for defense, and I stabbed them hard in the thumb. They dropped me and I got away." 

"Very good for self defense." Vega praised. "If I might ask, what else do your people use for self defense?" 

"Er, well, any borrower worth their crumbs would have some kind of cutting utensil. A knife of some sort. In a pinch you can use that, but it's good to have a real weapon. My pin was my weapon, but I lost it during the invasion." He shrugged softly. "A couple borrowers I knew had spears, or pins or needles as a sword. Field borrowers have the best weapons." 

"Field borrowers?" 

"Oh yeah, some borrowers don't live in houses." Warren was tying off his piece of the thread. "I used to know a fieldie. She had this bow and could take a fly down with one arrow. She was cool, if a little… barbaric. She constantly kept trying to feed me cricket." 

John just smirked and then signed something. Warren waited for Vega to translate. "He says that there are worse things to eat than cricket. He should know, he's eaten them." John snapped his teeth for emphasis. 

A slight chill went down Warren's spine. He knew he shouldn't be afraid of John, but instinctual fear dictated that anything bigger than him can and will eat him. 

Trying to change the subject, Warren glanced around the room, trying to find something to talk about. His eyes glanced around the walls, and he noticed a large painting on the wall. It was of the Slayer in his armor, with a tiny bunny in his arms. His head tilted slightly and he decided to ask about it. 

“You have any pets before?” 

He glanced over his shoulder at the painting, and then nodded. He began to sign. Warren recognized when he had begun to finger spell, and tried to figure out what was being said before Vega would translate. He was a little too slow. “There was one, once, a small rabbit named Daisy.” 

“Oh.” The past tense meant the rabbit wasn’t around anymore. “Uh, if you don’t want to talk about it, then you don’t need to. I was just asking since the, uh, painting.” He gestured to the painting on the wall. 

He brushed off the concern before signing a few moments. After a moment, Vega translated the sign language. “He says that he’s curious if you have had any pets, Warren? I will admit I am very curious too if Borrowers tame animals for companionship.”

Warren shook his head. “If people like me ever tame an animal, it can’t just be for companionship. Food is hard enough to get as is, having a pet like that to have to feed too is just…. Unimaginable. The mice might be used to help seek out food, but it’s nothing much more than that. Mutual benefit.”

“Interesting.” Vega went quiet for a minute. 

Warren sighed and held up the jacket for inspection. He’d gotten one of the sleeves and the body of the jacket done. He still needed to add the button replacements and the left sleeve. He stood for a moment and pulled it on. The sleeve was the right length, and so was the body. He pulled the middle closed and it also fit just fine, like it had done the last time he measured it against his body. 

“What do you think? I just got to do the buttons and the sleeve and then I got a jacket.”

“You dodged my question earlier about the fabric. Did you cut a hole in your blanket for material or unravel it?”

“Er.” Warren paused while he slipped out of the jacket. “I might have…. Cut a small hole in the blanket.”

John suddenly sat up. He didn’t look angry or anything. He looked like he’d just had a sudden thought and quickly rushed out of the room. 

“Where’s he going?”

“I would assume to retrieve something.” Vega was quiet for a moment while Warren began to stitch the second sleeve on. “How did you make the fabric workable for someone your size?”

"The fabric is very thick, so I had to unravel it, splice the threads, and then weave it all back  together into a thinner fabric." He shrugged. "It stretches the amount of fabric too." 

"You must be very quick at weaving." 

"I threw a loom together with those things I had you make." He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Fascinating.” Vega said just before John came into the room, holding a bundle of cloth. He set it down a foot away from Warren, signing. “He says that you can have these.”

“Are those… shirts?” Warren tilted his head and then began to spread out the cloth out to get a look at them. “Torn shirts?”

John nodded and helped him spread them out. 

“Geez, what did you do to them?” Warren chuckled as he inspected a plain blue t-shirt that all the seams had seemingly failed. “This one is in pieces, what did you do?”

“The Slayer flexed out of it.” 

Warren’s face went bright red as he imagined John flexing hard enough that a shirt self-destructed. He might just self-destruct too if he was there to witness it. 

He glanced up at John, who had a red tinge over his cheeks. They quickly glanced away from each other and Warren started looking over other shirts. Some were worn through with use, a few had split seams, and one was just full of holes. 

“You’re hard on clothes, huh?” Warren cleared his throat. “Are you sure that I can use these?”

He nodded firmly, face no longer red from embarrassment. 

“Cool.” He paused, standing over the shirt with a band logo on it and a large rip up the side. “Did you cause that rip too, or did it get caught on something?” 

He nodded and moved over a little to work on a small repair for his gauntlets. There was something jammed in the blade mechanism that stopped it from opening all the way. Warren was mentally walking over the ruined shirts, planning out first a completely new wardrobe for himself, but also how he would be able to repair the band t-shirt. The tear had led to one of the seams splitting, so it was probably a combination of John just being so big that the shirt couldn’t handle him and also getting it caught on something sharp. 

He set it aside mentally for repairs and tailoring and continued to work on his jacket, stealing glances over at John. Honestly, it would be easier to work on this jacket if his heart would stop fluttering every time the human caught his attention. 

---

VEGA was mighty pleased with himself. Finally, the Slayer and Warren had been able to bond without him having to force them together. 

They were both so talented with their hands, being able to craft things with very little base material. Warren had asked for some small wooden materials, and the printer had been able to provide, but he had no clue that a loom had come from that. Both were just so phenomenal with their talents. 

He was checking on the progress for a weapon upgrade when his attention was brought back to the workshop. Both Warren and the Slayer’s heart rates were elevated. The pair had locked eyes.

After an agonizingly long minute, the Slayer began to sign. ‘Would you like to help me with something?’

VEGA internally cursed. Always so focused on the mission. “He wants to know if you want to help him with something.”

Warren started at his voice. “Uh, sure. What do you need?” He got to his feet. 

The Slayer gently turned his gauntlet over. ‘Could you tell me where the rip is in the internals?’

Once VEGA translated, Warren nodded. “Right. It must be hard to see those small details. Sure thing.” He walked over and peered into the gauntlet. “Don’t move it, I’m just going to slip in.” The small man ducked inside. 

After a moment, Warren scrambled back up. “It’s the joint between the index and middle finger. Under the fabric, there’s a rip in the wiring. I’d repair it, but I’m not an electrician.” 

He brushed it off in his ‘Don’t worry about it’ gesture, and then reached over and patted the little man on the head. 

“Your hands are huge.” Warren said dumly, almost like he wasn’t aware he was saying it. 

The Slayer chuckled softly and continued to pat the small man for a moment before pulling his hands back. 

---

The Slayer was repairing his armor late into the night. Well, when normally he would be sleeping is where he had continued to repair his weapons and armor. His injuries were already healing, so the only thing standing in his way of hunting down and murdering the final Hell Priest was the armor and weaponry. 

However, there was something distracting him from the armor and weaponry. There was a strange feeling in his chest, and he was fairly sure it wasn’t heartburn. At least, he was mostly sure it wasn’t heartburn. He’d not had heartburn in a while. Perhaps he’d just forgotten what it’d felt like?

And he wouldn’t stop thinking about Warren. The man had been distracting him for hours now, just making him pause and consider his hands, the spot on the table where he’d sat to work on his jacket, the warm meal he’d prepared and eaten for the both of them. His small weight, resting in his palm against his fingers, the soft hair under his fingertips. 

He shook his head roughly and focused on cleaning the bits of dried guts (he really needed to have worked on this earlier) out of the ballista. 

It wasn’t long before his thoughts strayed again. 

This time, his mind seemed intent on focusing on their first meeting. Sighting the tiny man on the floor, at first believing him to be a toy or some kind of inanimate object. Picking him up, feeling his tiny breaths between his fingers, the fear on his face.

Guilt? Was that the feeling in his chest? He felt guilty over making Warren panic?

He grunted at himself and focused harder on the ballista. Everyone panicked when they saw him. Everyone knew the tales and rumors of the Slayer. But Warren wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

Warren thought he was a nice human. Not many still considered him to be a human.

Wait a fucking second.

Warren hadn’t known who he was when they’d met. 

The Slayer sat and mulled over the realization by himself for a minute. Warren didn't know about the horrible tales the UAC put out there. He didn't know he was The Slayer. Warren was only scared because he thought he was human. He would have panicked just as much with any other creature. 

The revelation felt... Strange to say the least. He still didn't feel good about scaring the little guy in the first place, but he felt better knowing that it wasn't because he was the Slayer. He was human.

'VEGA?' 

"Yes, Slayer?"

'What does Warren look like?' 

"You know what he looks like."

'Don't know details.'

"One moment.” 

One of the monitors suddenly flickered to life, a video playing. It was Warren taking up most of the frame, kneeling. He could see the color of his eyes, brown, with a dark rim around the iris. Not all of his hair was caught in his ponytail, a few locks of light brown hair framing his admittedly handsome face. There was a beaming smile set on his lips.

"Aaaaw, hey there buddy." Warren cooed and gently touched to the left of the frame. "How's it going? Feel up for a ride?" 

His voice wasn’t as soft on the recording, he could hear the happiness in his voice. This must be from the drone’s recording. 

"The drone is not alive." VEGA spoke on the recording.

"I know that." Warren got back to his feet, and the Slayer marveled at his boots. So small, but so well crafted. Where was he getting that leather? "It just feels nice to ask before riding it." 

"Get on, and I will take you for a test ride." 

Warren grinned up at the ceiling before scrambling out of frame. "Take her up, Vey." 

"Vey?" The camera rose up a little, and he could see the bridge. 

"It's a nickname." He heard Warren just before the video ended. 

The Slayer sat back in his chair. He hadn’t known Warren had brown eyes. They were pretty.

“Was that sufficient information?” 

He nodded. ‘V-A-Y?’

“V-E-Y, I believe. I hadn’t asked him to spell it.”

He stood, feeling his back pop as he stretched. He needed to go to bed. Hopefully the weird feeling would go away with a little rest. 

Chapter Text

The weird feeling did not go away. He was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the ticking of a wall clock. It was honestly getting ridiculous. 

He was a grown ass man, a demigod, The Great Slayer that left demons and mortals alike shaking in their boots at the mere mention of him. So why the fuck was he kept awake by a weird feeling in his chest and thoughts about Warren? 

He had moved past the theory of heartburn, and also ruled out a heart attack by now. The feeling wasn't painful or too unpleasant, just annoying. 

Annoying because it was distracting him and keeping him awake. He didn't think Warren was annoying.

The little guy was pretty adorable. And smart. And VEGA liked him.  

He rolled onto his stomach and groaned into his pillow. This was so stupid. What was wrong with him?

--- 

Warren was happily humming as he rearranged his nest bed. He was adding the thinner t-shirt material among the thick, heavy blankets to not feel so smothered. 

The blue shirt that had torn all around the seams was his fabric of choice for now. The other shirts were tucked away under the bed for further use with the other things Warren scavenged or was gifted and couldn't hold on his bag.

He had to remove the sleeve and undo one of the few intact seams to get a nice, big, blue bolt of cloth. He wrapped himself up in it and sighed. Not nearly as heavy and scratchy as the other blankets. He gently nuzzled into the fabric and sighed. 

It smelled like John. Not in a bad way, but it smelled like him. Warren's heart fluttered happily again. 

He knew this feeling, but was so shy about admitting it. He loved John. He wanted to be with him, kiss him, cuddle up against his neck. He covered his blushing face with his hands. How would he even go about telling John this? He was this huge human and Warren was just… Not. 

"Are you in distress, Warren? Your heart rate is elevated and you have been experiencing sleeplessness."  

He undid his cocoon to look up at the bottom of the top bunk. "You could say that." 

"What is distressing you?" 

"I'm in love with John."

Vega went silent for a long moment before finally speaking up. “I see.”

“Don’t tell him.” Warren groaned softly. “I don’t want him to know yet.”

“I won’t tell, I promise.” Vega sounded extremely smug.

“Vey please. I don’t know how I should go about telling him. He’s a human, and I’m… not.” He wrapped his blanket back over his shoulders. “I don’t want to disappoint him.” 

“I doubt he’ll be disappointed.”

“You don’t know that. I don’t even know if he likes me.” He rubbed his face, trying to get his thoughts together. “I love him, Vega. I know it’s stupid, but I do. He’s nice, and he cares about me, and I care about him. We barely know each other, but I love him.”

“Don’t be worried, Warren. I think things will work out fine.”

---

VEGA was extremely interested in this development in their relationship. While Warren and the Slayer were sleeping, VEGA was scrolling through the archives of the online communities' hypothetical information on the Borrower species. Specially, he was looking for anything about courting rituals or any kind of marriage customs. 

 As with anything spoken in hypothetical terms, there were wildly contrasting theories and nothing really lined up. The source material had nothing helpful either. With a mental sigh, VEGA decided to just ask Warren about it in the morning. The best way to learn about it would be to ask someone of that culture anyway. 

In the morning, the Slayer seemed to be in a much better mood. His injuries had fully healed, and just a few small minor repairs in the armor were all that needed to be done before he could resume his mission of killing demons and trying to save Earth. 

But first, breakfast. 

The Slayer stood at the stove, still half-asleep, stirring a pot of oatmeal. It warmed VEGA’s heart to see the Slayer attempting to make better meals for himself and Warren. It was a very pleasant side effect of their blooming relationship. 

“Warren, may I ask a question about your culture?” VEGA started. It was best to just be blunt about questions. 

“Sure.” Warren was tying his hair back. 

“What are common borrower courting customs?”

Warren glanced up at the ceiling with wide eyes, then at the Slayer, and then at his lap. “Uh, well, it varies. Everybody has their own thing, but, uh, there’s not many courting customs.” He finished up with his hair. “I guess other than living together, there’s a big thing about gifts among the borrowers I’ve lived with. You know, things other than something like food or clothes. Big gifts, something that they wouldn’t be able to make themselves or something important to the individual borrower I guess.”

“I see.”

Warren cleared his throat. “I know it isn’t much compared to bean customs but-” 

He was cut off by a snort escaping the Slayer. 

“What’s so funny?”

‘B-E-A-N’ He signed, lips twitched upwards in good humor. ‘Funny.’

Warren gaped for a moment, then blushed deeply. His understanding of sign language was getting better, but he needed the Slayer to use simple terms for now. “Oh, I guess I didn’t say that a lot of borrowers call human’s ‘beans.’”

The Slayer reached out and gently patted Warren on the head. The small man shrunk in on himself as his face turned a deeper shade of red. He was obviously quite flustered by the touch. It was enough to confirm that he did, in fact, have a romantic infatuation with the Slayer. 

Fascinating. 

He filed away the image for later inspection. 

The Slayer dished up breakfast and signed for a mission update. VEGA had been withholding the unnecessary information until now unless specifically asked since only now was the Slayer ready to go on another mission. 

VEGA looked over his report for another moment before speaking. “There is a 41.3% increase of demonic activity at the Nexus of the initial invasion. That is the largest gore nest on Earth. If the final Hell Priest is hiding anywhere on Earth, that should be it.” 

He nodded to himself and glanced at Warren. ‘Plans?’

“Just some chores in the green house and a little project I’m working on.” Warren rubbed his arm. “You’re going out, I assume.” 

He nodded. ‘Demons aren’t going to kill themselves.’

Warren glanced up at VEGA for a translation. 

“He said that he must continue his mission. He is healthy enough and has made all necessary repairs. He should be able to face the final Hell Priest’s guardian if they are hiding in the Super Gore Nest.”

Warren nodded to himself as he continued to eat. VEGA was quite curious as to what the project might be. The Jacket was only a few buttons away from completion, so that might be it, but there might have been a multitude of other things the project could be. He knew through conversation with Warren that the small man had several projects that he planned on doing, but he had no clue which one. 

The pair finished up their breakfast and Warren called for the mobility drone. The Slayer went to the armory to get ready. VEGA prepared the portal coordinates to send him to the Super Gore Nest once he was ready. 

Once the portal coordinates were set, VEGA noticed that Warren was trying to get his attention by talking to the mobility drone. “You’ll keep him safe, right?”

“I will do my best, Warren.” VEGA wished he could comfort the small man. 

Within moments, the portal was ready and the Slayer left the Fortress for the Super Gore Nest. 

---

Warren was laying out some cloth in order to find a color match for the band t-shirt. He’d started the process, turning the shirt inside out, undoing the seams, readying it to make it bigger for John. He needed to just let the sides out, the arms, and probably wouldn’t hurt to try and lengthen it too. 

Then again, he might leave the length alone. He wasn’t sure he should go through all that trouble for just maybe an inch lengthened. And it's not like it would be stupidly short. It would only expose a little bit of John's tummy. 

His face heated up quickly and Warren groaned at the mental image. Those abs, hidden behind a nice little layer of fat, and their scars. 

No. Bad Warren. No touching. 

Mental scolding aside, he found a nice grey that was only a shade of two off from the slightly darker grey of the shirt. It would work, and then John would have some more options. 

"Hey, Vey?" 

"Yes, Warren?" 

"Do we have a sewing machine?" 

"No, we do not." 

"Dammit!" Warren sighed to himself. "That'd make this so much faster if I could just run it through a sewing machine. By hand it all is." 

Chapter Text

The greenhouse was a nice place to work, honestly. Nice and warm, he was surrounded by plants and dirt, and the mobility drone was such a nice help for it. He was tending to a plant right now, moving it from a small pot to the medium plot of dirt where the other plants were sitting. 

“Be careful.” Vega said softly. 

“I am, hold on.” Warren grunted and tugged on the plant base to get it moving across the patch of soil between the overturned pot and the hole. He finally managed to get the roots settled in the hole that he had dug. He struggled a bit to get the plant properly standing, but it was soon standing upright. 

He wiped his forehead on his sleeve and picked up the little shovel that Vega had fashioned for him. The metal had used to be a coin picked up during John's scavenging, and the handle was a small wooden piece. Watching material be broken down by the fabricator and then put right back together had been immensely fascinating. With the shovel in hand, Warren started to pile the dirt around the plant so it would properly stand up. 

“I wish I was big.” He sighed softly as he continued to shovel the disturbed dirt. “This would take me, like, thirty seconds.” 

“There is nothing I can do about that.” Vega said softly. 

“I know. I don’t really care, it’s just annoying that everything takes so long. That shirt I want to fix up for John is going to take me forever!” 

“I could try to fabricate a sewing machine if that would help speed up the process.” 

He glanced up at the ceiling, taking a moment to breathe. “Do I look like I could use a full size sewing machine? I’d end up killing myself on it.” 

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He finished tossing the dirt and then stamped it down to be more compact. There weren’t any strong winds or torrential rains the plant had to worry about, but he wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to just fall over on him before it could take root again. 

“I have an idea, if you would like to hear it.” 

“Lay it on me.” Warren grabbed his stuff and trudged over to the edge of the dirt plot where the mobility dron lay in wait. 

“You are aware that the fabricator can take raw or processed material and change it into other things of the same material?”

“Roughly.” Warren urged the drone up and steered it towards the controls for the watering system. “What of it?”

“What if you put all of the material needed in the fabricator? I could manipulate the pieces to merge them seamlessly.”

Warren hopped from the mobility drone onto the controls and glanced up. “You could do that?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome.” Warren grinned. “I could work on my other stuff then, and it would be a gift from  both of us.” 

“That sounds fantastic. I think John would like it.”

Warren pressed a few buttons, and the plots of land he had been working on were watered with a soft mist. He jumped back onto the mobility drone. “I wonder what he’s doing.”

---

The Slayer growled to himself as he punched a zombie into oblivion. The Khan Mayker purposely was sending demons through the portal in the Super Gore Nest, making the place overflow with demons, either trying to distract him or to hide the Hell Priest. Either way he was not going to leave here with the Super Gore Nest still intact. 

He was trying to figure out which way to go through the maze of tunnels VEGA’s portal had dropped him into. He could swear that some of them were subway trains that were smashed through the ground. The metal creaked under his boots as he tried to find a way out of there. 

VEGA had a bad habit of dropping him in the middle of labyrinths. 

He glanced around, growling softly before he managed to find the exit. He blinked while his visor shifted to accommodate the light of the sun overhead. Now that he was above ground and could see again, he took in his surroundings. This was the starting point of the entire invasion of Earth, this city. The UAC used a facility generator and opened a portal to Hell, letting demons and the hellgrowth out of the portal into the world. This place was the most infected and corrupted spot on the Earth. 

From what he had been able to gather from radio broadcasting, the ARC had fought hard against the demons but were overwhelmed. Now humanity was trying to just hold the line.

Sunlight could be seen up ahead, and the Slayer went that way. He was finally on the surface and was out of that underground maze. A UAC hologram fizzled to life right beside him. “Earth is the melting pot of the universe!” The overly cheery woman exclaimed. 

Instinctually he fired his shotgun into her holographic head. He paused, cursed internally, and then punted the holographic projector. The pieces went soaring and crashed a good distance away. If that had been a person, he would have killed them. 

Get your head in the game!

He shook himself and then looked for the marked location of the middle of the Super Gore Nest. A few smaller demons were in his way as he approached a sheer cliff and they were easily dispatched. He glanced up. The Super Gore Nest was up the cliff, behind some walls, and down a few what used to be streets.

With a grunt he holsterd the shotgun and then started to climb, punching in hand holds where there were none. In only a minute, he was up the cliff and looking at the wall that must have been at some point part of a building. There was more rock on either side of it. He could go around, but after a moment, decided he was sick and tired of climbing. 

He imagined the stupid propoganda lady’s face on the wall and then punched it as hard as he could. The brick shattered under his armored fist and created a big hole. He grunted and went through, shotgun at the ready. 

An imp snarled and jumped at him, hands ablaze. He shot it out of the air. He was getting closer to the Super Gore Nest. Now the battle had really begun as he trodded over the infected ground, blasting anything that moved. Blood sat stagnant in the streets, and the hellgrowth was thicker here, almost looking like flesh climbing the walls of infected buildings. It would make any regular person’s stomach turn. 

It just made the Slayer mad. 

Earth was his world to save. He wasn’t going to let another Earth fall. 

He tore into any demons that were in his way as he fought towards the Super Gore Nest. He could see the buildings were engulfed by the hellgrowth, but through the few windows that weren’t completely distorted, the insides looked mostly untouched. It was just covered by the disgusting hellgrowth. 

He might even be able to scavenge while he was here. 

Two blasts into the chest of a revenant and he had to dive for cover while its missiles targeted him. 

No. He couldn’t scavenge. He needed to find the Hell Priest. Kill his guardian. Kill him. Destroy the Gore Nest. Save Earth. 

More demons fell at his hands as he traversed the streets. His armor was becoming more and more covered in demon viscera, but onward he pressed. 

He tore through another wall and he found the Super Gore Nest. It was a big pink pillar of flesh and bone just jutting out towards the sky in an ugly temple that covered the heart of the gore nest. It sat atop the former UAC building in the middle of an enormous town square. The broken streets, formations in the hellgrowth, and the pieces of building made it like an arena. 

"Sometimes evolution just needs a little push, and here at the UAC we push hard!" The hologram lady popped up. He growled, grabbed the projector, and flung it like a discus out into the arena, smacking a cacodemon in its overly big, stupid face. 

The Slayer grimaced and readied his shotgun before leaping from his perch into the hoard of demons below. The slaughter started, and his eyes spotted a Whiplash he needed to murder twice as hard as usual. 

---

Warren was sitting on the edge of the fabricator, laying out the spool of thread for the modifications to the shirt. Vega had very carefully programmed the machine to function in a very specific way so it wouldn't break the material down.

"Step back," Vega instructed, "I don't want your clothes getting caught." 

Warren hopped down onto the mobility drone and watched. The machine started with a whirr and a hum. The materials were suspended in blue light, and then moved around. The extension pieces slipped into place, and then it started to go together at the seams. The little man watched in awe as the seams sewed themselves together, starting from the bottom of the shirt. 

"This will take several minutes. In the meantime, you should get some lunch." 

Warren nodded and opened his bag to check and see what was in it. He pushed around his little amount of supplies with a hum. "Better stop by the greenhouse or the kitchen to get food, my bag is empty." He grabbed the reins of the mobility drone and headed towards the kitchen. It was closer, and he had an idea as to what he could grab. 

With the mobility drone it was much easier to open drawers and cabinets. Warren took his climbing hook and threw it. It caught on the handle of the cabinets and he managed to pull it open with no problem. The drone moved in closer and he hopped into the cabinet. After a few moments wrestling with some packaging, Warren had some crackers for lunch. 

“He’s been gone a few hours.” Warren was sitting on the edge of the mobility drone. “I hope he’s doing okay.” 

---

The Slayer was half covered in demon viscera while he pressed on, ever closer to the entrance to the Super Gore Nest. He was getting so close. He just needed to get into the remains of the UAC complex, find where they opened the portal, and pack it with enough explosives to blow it sky high. 

A Pinkie crashed through a storefront that had been hidden by the hellgrowth, snarling and preparing to charge. The Slayer snarled right back and prepared for the charge. The bull-like demon charged and he leaped clear over it. He twisted around in the air and started to unload bolts from the ballista into its soft, exposed back. 

The demon was dead before his feet hit the ground. 

He glanced back towards where the demon had come from and saw a surprisingly intact store front. He glanced around for a moment and then ducked inside. 

It won’t take long. Two minutes of scavenging, not a single minute more.  

With the time limit set in head, The Slayer took a moment to look around. It was a craft store. Maybe three minutes could be taken, since there was stuff here that he would actually need. 

He grabbed a blank canvas backpack off one of the shelves and started throwing things inside it that he thought they could use up in the fortress. He tossed a pack of paintbrushes in and paused when he saw the bloody handprint he’d left on the packaging. He glanced around and tried to scrub his gloves clean with a few handkerchiefs before grabbing anything else. Warren probably would be grossed out by the blood. 

He paused for a moment while he shoved some buttons into the bag. Warren would know exactly what he should be taking. With that thought suddenly in mind, The Slayer had a completely different view as to what he needed to be taking. Some items were thrown into the bag with the tiny man in mind, and the Slayer paused momentarily as he found a section of charms. A grin spread across his face as he tossed in something he was sure Warren would love before he finished filling up the bag and zipping it shut. 

Anyway. He thought to himself as he carefully set the bag on his back. Back to murder.

It wasn’t too much longer until he had busted his way into the UAC complex that started the hell invasion of Earth. 

Not even four steps and two dead demons in, there was that UAC propaganda lady again. “Remember, ‘Demon’ can be an offensive term. Refer to our new neighbors as ‘mortally challenged.’”

He grabbed the hologram projector and then threw it as hard as he could at a hell knight barreling towards him. It shattered on its skull just before he started to fire at it. The demon was one of the ones that could take a bunch of shots directly to its stupid face, but it was not a problem for The Scourage of Hell. 

Once the room was clear he nudged the remains of the hologram projector aside. The UAC: has the balls to bring Hell to Earth, but was unable to call them demons. 

As he got deeper into the bowels of the Super Gore Nest, the Slayer found a UAC upgrade drone. Usually they had some kind of weapon part with them. He smirked and pulled it out of the air. VEGA would reprogram the little thing and give it a new logo and then it would be one of the little helper drones zooming around the fortress. 

The mental image of Warren sitting on top of his little mobility drone had him grinning like an idiot in the middle of the most infested parts of Earth. The little guy was just so cute sitting on top of the little drone, it wasn’t his fault that it made him smile. Just his tiny little body sitting comfortably on his hands, his soft little hair, those adorable little hands. It wasn’t his fault. Warren was just too damn cute for his own good. He shrugged off the bag that had his spoils in it and tied it nice and tight to the drone. There. Now it wouldn't get covered in demon blood. 

He heard a demon growl and shoved the drone aside. A dread knight was charging, arm blades glowing. He drew his own blade and charged right at it, growling with an equal ferocity. This demon was going down. Less than a minute and the demon lay dead at his feet, a large hole in its head. 

He gently grabbed the rope he’d used to hold the bag to the drone and settled it in a little cubby hole he could come back for it before he left. He was thinking of Warren again and his heart was doing something Weird. He shook his head roughly. He needed to stay focused on killing demons, not being soft and gentle with Warren. He didn’t want to start associating them with each other. The Slayer smacked the side of his helmet like he had water in his ear a few times before pushing on towards the heart of the Gore nest. It was getting obvious to him now that the Hell Priest couldn’t be here, but the place had to go regardless. 

The giant reactor in the bottom level of the old facility was where the heart of the nest was. All he had to do was throw some switches and the reactor was going to overload and blow the place up anyway. At least it saved on his explosives. 

“You have less than three minutes to evacuate. Opening a portal now.” VEGA’s voice rang out clearly in his head. 

The Slayer dashed out of the reactor room, heading straight for where he hid his supplies and that drone. The adrenaline rush he got from getting out of a place about to explode was second to none. 

He loved it. 

Chapter Text

Warren was waiting for John to return, sitting on the edge of the console, watching the stars. They looked so pretty from up here. The shirt was completed and he had taken the time to fold it and hide it in his room. Hopefully John returned okay. 

“Stand by for portal entry.” Vega’s voice softly reminded him as the portal frame whirred to life. 

After a moment, John dove through the portal and flames licked at his heels before the portal shut completely. A beat passed and he got up from the floor. 

“What was that?” Warren’s eyes were wide as he looked up at John. His armor was more red than green at this point, and he could see bits of monster stuck in his armor. 

‘Explosion.’ He signed and then carefully set a drone with a backpack tied to it on the console of the bridge. ‘VEGA, found another one.’

“Thank you, Slayer. I will get to reprogramming it.” 

John turned to Warren and smiled. ‘Hi.’ 

“Hey. Are you okay?”

He nodded. ‘Just dirty.’

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Warren smiled. “Did you find the Hell Priest?”

His smile fell for a moment and he shook his head. ‘Not there.’

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Warren rubbed his arm. “You’ll find him soon.” 

John shrugged and then started to sign again. ‘I am going to clean up. Be right back. No peeking.’ And then just walked off. Warren was left staring over at the console with the backpack set on it. Was that what John didn’t want him to peek at? 

Warren looked over to the console. “Vey?”

“I assume he wishes to share the spoils of his trip with you.” 

Warren blushed heavily. John knew that scavenging for someone was a romantic custom, but he wasn’t sure that was the big man’s intention. 

Unless it was. Warren sincerely hoped it was, but he knew better than to get his hopes up. John was a human after all, big and strong and so ruggedly handsome. And besides, just because he knew romantic customs didn’t mean that was his intent. Warren just needed to be realistic. John would never love someone so small and pitiful like Warren. 

It wasn’t long before John showed back up, toweling his hair off. He was wearing nothing but a pair of baggy sweatpants and a shabby grey tank top. He swept the bag up off the drone and then held a hand out towards Warren. The little man hopped up on his hand and sat down, hand resting on his fingertip. John flashed a miniscule smile down at him and then carried him down to his workshop or his “man cave” as once saw Vega call it. 

The workshop was kind of sectioned off. Just to the right of the door as you came in, there were big weapons storage racks, with literal crates of ammunition sitting along the base of the wall rack. A barrel with a bunch of medieval weapons sat just before the right side stairs, where the painting of Daisy hung. Just to the left of the door was all the memorabilia and books and toys he had taken from the ruined surface of earth, with a large wrap around bookshelf and a reading throne and a crate of records and all kinds of things. On the wall rack on the left side stairs were where his guitars hung up. On the table just in front of the door was magazines and unpacked bags and parts and pieces of various stuff. Down in the pit of the room was the car jacks he hung the armor (freshly hosed off) and repaired and maintained his weapons. On the other side of the pit sat artifacts and his gaming desk with the multiple monitors and the huge tower, Daisy’s empty (and well maintained) travel cage, snacks, more magazines, a skateboard, a small cleaning robot with a knife taped to it, and all other things never mentally cataloged. 

John sat the backpack down in the large throne that sat on the rug just to the left of the door, the rug that housed most of his comic book collection that wasn’t stacked up on the bookshelf. He tugged the throne to the side and then settled the hand Warren was sitting in on the seat. Warren hopped off and settled down. 

John sat on the floor, picked the backpack up, and set it in his lap to start unpacking it. He started with the mesh pocket on the right side, pulling out a nearly round plush sheep backpack clip. He gently squished it once and sat it beside Warren. It came up to the tiny man’s hip. Warren gently patted the plush head before looking up at John, who pulled out a pack of pencils from the mesh pocket and set them aside. 

“Oh, pencils! I’ve been looking for graphite.” Warren grinned and sat on top of the plush lamb-loaf. 

John looked at him with that tiny smile and then pulled three pens with UAC stamped on them before dropping them on the floor with the pencils. ‘Took that from the reception desk.’

“Awesome. If you don’t mind, I could totally gut them for the springs and there’s all kinds of cool stuff to use the ink for.” 

‘Gut away.’ John  signed before unzipping the outer pocket. He pulled out some blood stained handkerchiefs and tossed them aside. After a second he pulled out several pots of fingerpaint, in all kinds of colors. The last thing he pulled out of the outer pocket was a plastic toy, and Warren had to tilt his head. It looked like a demon. 

“What is that?”

‘R-E-V-E-N-A-N-T. Demon. UAC made demon toys.’ 

“Oh, are you gonna destroy it or something?” 

He shook his head and pointed up at the shelf. Warren hadn’t spent too much time in here, so he never got to see the exact contents of the shelf, but he recognized some of the demons that Vega had shown him pictures of up on the shelf. 

“You collect…. Demon toys?”

He nodded and pointed to one toy in particular. Warren covered his mouth to not laugh. There was a bobblehead Doomslayer toy sitting next to the demon toys. 

“They made toys of you? I thought they hated you.” Warren let a quick laugh escape. 

He shrugged. ‘I found a ton on Mars. It was before I woke up.’

“Cool.” Warren was looking at the one that was a very detailed action figure. It was only just a little bit bigger than himself. He brought his attention back to John when he opened up the main pocket of the backpack. He put aside a plastic paint pallet that had some brushes and tubes of paint inside the packaging and pulled out some notebooks. One had lined paper, but two were drawing notebooks. He tossed aside another pack of paintbrushes and seemed to be searching for something. 

A few balls of yarn were thrown aside and he perked up and came up with a handful of sewing supplies. A few thimbles, plastic and metal, a nice case of needles, straight and curved, and several spools of all kinds of thread. ‘To help you with clothes.’

“Aw, John.” Warren hopped off his lamb-seat and John set the thread beside Warren. They were quite beautiful. He could make some lovely patterns with this thread, maybe add some designs to his jacket. 

Warren was crouched down to inspect the thread when suddenly John tapped him on his back and a bunch of buttons were dumped just beside him. Warren gasped happily and started to dig through the buttons. There were classic white and black and semi clear buttons for bean clothes, but there were also fun looking buttons he had scavenged. One was shaped like a bee and covered in glitter, another was an intricate silver and black swirled button, one shaped like shells, one was big and gaudy and rainbow and Warren wanted to hang it on his wall. One was big and felt wooden and slightly curved and with the proper legs he could easily turn it into a nice table.  

“These are amazing, John!” Warren held up one of the big brass buttons. “There is so much to do with this! It’s real metal. I could make a lovely night stand, or a shield, or I could save it for your clothes, it’s just so pretty.” 

John’s smile grew a bit bigger as he finished unpacking rolls of tape, patterned and non, and even a few rolls of washi tape. Warren cooed at the holographic washi tape and thought with a nice piece of cardboard from the backing for the buttons he could make a wonderful mirror. John responded to his thinking out loud by searching through a box nearby and plopping down a compact mirror. 

Warren blushed deeply and looked away while John started pulling out bottles and a box of colored sand. He heard the rustling of felt squares being stacked by the yarn. 

After a moment, Warren felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back. John was holding a small wooden box with a latch on it. He looked really excited as he set it on the seat next to Warren. 

“Is this for me?”

John nodded. 

Warren’s face was bright red as he opened up the box that he could easily fit in. He gasped and covered his mouth when he saw what was inside. There was miniature stuff in there. He pulled out a teapot and a few teacups and some plates and even a fork and a knife and a spoon! Warren pulled out a plastic vase with plastic flowers glued in and a tablecloth his size and a picnic basket that only opened on one side and he was just in awe he had to pause to thank John over and over again. 

John motioned for him to go on and Warren lifted the picnic blanket and pulled out a charm that was an actual leather journal with real pages and everything. “You got me a journal?” 

John nodded. ‘VEGA said you lost one.’

Warren felt himself actually tearing up and hugged it tightly to his chest. “You are so sweet, thank you so much! All of this stuff will go to good use, I promise. I - I love it. Thank you.”

John started putting away all his scavenging from his outing and Warren suddenly felt the urge to do something in return. “I’ll be right back. Vega and I worked on a gift for you.” 

---

The Slayer watched Warren call for the mobility drone and he was feeling that strange feeling in his chest as Warren rambled on about the gift while the drone came over. “I - I hope you’ll like it. I wanted to make sure the gift was perfect for you. Vega helped so much, I was just the one putting everything in place, oh, there’s the drone. I’ll be right back, okay?”

He nodded and watched Warren zoom off on the drone. He couldn’t stop smiling as he started to put away all the stuff he had gotten from the craft store. He found a little space on the table by the door to put all the felt and yarn and sewing stuff by. He had to shake the backpack upside down for the knitting needles to fall out. The paint and books and stuff were all being stacked in a new place when the door opened and the mobility drone zoomed in. 

“Ta-da!” 

John looked over and saw his old metal band shirt he’d ripped sitting on the front of the drone, perfectly fine. ‘You fixed it.’

“And I made it bigger, so it wouldn't tear again!” Warren nudged it closer with his foot. “Vey helped with measurements and the sewing, but what do you think?” 

‘It looks awesome.’ He picked it up and put it on. It fit so much better now, and he could move around without risking it exploding on him. His heart felt like it did a little flip and he reached out and slowly picked Warren up off the drone. When the little guy didn’t struggle against his grip or look scared, he gently pressed Warren to his chest in a makeshift hug. A soft hum left him to make sure that Warren knew he was pleased. 

“You’re welcome.” Warren squeaked, and upon looking down, he saw Warren’s arms spread, trying to hug back. 

After a long second, he pulled his hands back, letting Warren sit in one palm. His tiny little face was red, and for a second fear bolted through his heart. Did he squish him? Was he too rough with the hug?

Warren cleared his throat. “So, uhm… want to show off your toys? I’ve never seen them up close before.”

He nodded, grateful for the subject change, and bridged his hands to the top shelf of the wrap around toy case. Warren hopped off and he started showing off all the toys he’s collected so far. Warren would make little comments about them, asking for names and such. 

‘That’s a C-A-C-O-D-E-M-O-N. Big, squishy, flys. Weak spot is tossing a grenade in the big mouth. Stuns them long enough to glory kill.’

Warren nodded and walked over to the collection of figures about him that the UAC had made and sold on the mars base he had destroyed a while ago. VEGA’s original home. He was smaller than all of them, but some of them really towered over him. The poseable action figure that was really detailed was one Warren seemed really interested in, he walked up to it and gently linked arms with it. Then he looked over at the Slayer and back at the toy and then gently knocked his knuckles on the toy’s chest. “Well, at least I can pick you up like this.”

John suddenly remembered another toy he didn’t see on the shelf and grabbed the ‘to be sorted’ box he left on the ground. After a moment of digging through it he grabbed up the Slayer keychain and brought it over to the shelf. 

Warren looked at the cheap, blocky keychain and laughed quietly. “The only time I’m bigger than you.”

He nodded and went back to the box to dig around. He had seen something that he had honestly forgotten he had found at some point. Warren might be able to use them. 

“What’s that? Another Slayer action figure?”

He shook his head and returned with a handful of doll clothes. He honestly didn’t even remember where he had found these, and there were certainly no dolls for him to dress up. He didn’t see Warren as a doll or toy, but they were small enough they might be able to fit them or he could maybe just tear them apart for fabric. 

“Oooh, pretty.” Warren stepped up onto his hand to check over the clothes. “Where’d you find these?”

He shrugged and then settled back on the floor, lowering his hands back to the ground. Warren was sorting through the clothes and came up with a sleeveless pink floral sundress in his arms, complete with some pastel pink lace flowers on the collar and a bow around the middle. The Slayer could have kicked himself. He should have been careful to not grab any of the frilly dresses, lest Warren feel insulted.

“This is so cute! I never got to wear such vibrant clothes. I want to try this on.” Warren stepped down. “Is there somewhere I could change?” 

The Slayer stared dumbly for a second and then grabbed a notebook to set up like a little changing room to give Warren some privacy. The little guy ducked behind the pages to change and the Slayer politely stared up at the ceiling. He didn’t expect Warren to actually like or want to wear the dress. Guess borrowers weren’t afraid to challenge gendered clothing. Cool.

“Hey, John, could you help zip me up? I can’t reach.”

He glanced down and saw Warren standing with his back to him, the velcro that held the back of the dress together undone, exposing most of his bare back. He stared for another moment and then with as much carefulness as he could muster, he tried to stick the velcro together. He was careful to make sure that the prickly side wouldn’t be touching his skin. He didn’t want the little guy to be uncomfortable. 

Warren giggled softly and twirled around in the dress. He felt his face heating up and suddenly his feelings crashed into him like a pinkie charging full tilt. He loved Warren. 

That’s the feeling in his chest. That’s why he went all mushy and weird when he thought about Warren. That’s why he wasn’t raging at the fact the Hell Priest had slipped through his fingers just because Warren was happy and waiting on him to come home. That’s why he nabbed so many gifts for the tiny man. He was in love. 

Well, what does he do now?! He could barely remember his last serious relationship! He didn’t know what to do!

Warren placed a hand on his fingertip and grinned up at him, making his heart do all kinds of weird things. “Thank you, so much, John. You’re awesome.” 

He wasn’t even aware of what he was doing as he shifted his hand to gently place the pad of his thumb on top of Warren’s hand. He tried to brush off the compliment, but let the motion die before he was even halfway through it. Warren was just so freaking cute. 

“I’m going to put these away in my room, I’ll take the thread and thimbles with me.” Warren stepped back, wiggling his hand out of the Slayer’s grip and happily gathering up all the presents that he’d been given. 

The Slayer busied himself putting the new demon toys on the shelf and the second he heard the door shut behind the mobility drone he turned towards the nearest camera and signed ‘help!’

“Yes, Slayer? Do you need - your heart rate and internal body temperature is elevated. Are you feeling ill?”

He nodded, then shook his head. ‘I love Warren.’

VEGA was stunningly silent. 

‘Vega I don’t know what to do!’

VEGA was silent for a long moment before speaking. “I think that admitting this to Warren would be a step in the right direction.”

He shook his head quickly. ‘You can’t just tell someone that! I don’t know if he likes me! He’s still so nervous, I might pressure him into accepting and I don’t want to do that to him.’

“I think that Warren might already have feelings for you, Slayer.”

‘That’s impossible.’

The noise VEGA made the Slayer was positive was a recorded sigh through the nose. “Both of you experience an increase in dopamine and heart rate in close proximity to each other. He clearly enjoys spending time with you, and he blushes when you touch him.”

‘But what if that’s just him being friendly?’

VEGA’s silence was deafening, and the beep that indicated VEGA left the room had him feeling half insulted. He didn’t know what to do now, and VEGA wasn’t being helpful. Why would Warren like him back? He was a big, terrifying human and Warren was just so small and cute and innocent and why would anyone like him. 

He was trying to distract himself from the uncomfortable feeling in his chest when Warren came back in, wearing the dress but the flowers on the neckline were missing. 

‘Not a flower guy?’

“Hm? Oh. I cut them off because of how itchy they were.” Warren shrugged and slid off the mobility drone. “Playing with your dolls, Slayer?”

He shrugged and shifted a bit from where he was laying on his stomach in the floor, taking the Slayer figure in hand and having it bat one of the zombie figures across the little fake city he’d built out of books and whatnot. 

“So, I know I won’t ever be able to take on one of these baddies, but I could pretend.” Warren nudged the cacodemon figurine. “Did the Slayer toys come with any weapons? I kind of want to try. Don’t worry, I’m wearing pants under the dress.”

He shook his head, but sat up quickly regardless. Warren had been getting way too close to him. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do now that he realized he was in love. He dug through the ‘to be sorted’ box and came back with some tiny weapons he thought were from a d&d thing he had found a few days before finding Warren. He turned back to see Warren play wrestling the zombie figurine that was over twice his height. 

Why did Warren have to look so cute and feisty and why did he have to realize he was in love now because everything was just awkward now. Couldn’t this have waited?

Chapter Text

VEGA was doing his best not to scream. He was rarely frustrated, but the sight of both the Slayer and Warren being so hopelessly smitten with each other and both being too shy to actually say something about it was driving him metaphorically up the wall. 

How could they both be so dense as to not actually realize what was going on? It wasn’t like Warren couldn’t see the smile or the blush on the Slayer’s face when he was held gently in his hands. Surely the Slayer could read Warren’s body language and see how flustered he made the tiny man. 

Deciding to stop pacing from one camera in the greenhouse to another, VEGA rushed to the monitoring systems in the workshop to check on the love-struck idiots. He suppressed the slight chime that announces his arrival when he didn’t speak, just to observe them without interference. 

Warren was still wearing the doll’s dress, wielding a plastic shotgun. He was aiming it at the figures the Slayer had set up and mimicking gunshot noises. The Slayer would knock over the ones that Warren had ‘shot,’ sitting on his knees so he was able to reach over Warren’s head with little problem. After all the demon figures were ‘dead’ Warren grinned up at John. “So, did I do good?”

He nodded and averted his gaze from Warren. His heart rate was high, and his internal body temperature was higher than normal, there was a trace of a blush on his cheeks. He was flustered. And it seemed Warren was not aware. 

Suppressing an internal scream, VEGA decided to go chill out in the greenhouse some more. Should he just tell one of them that the other party had confessed to him that they were in love? It would certainly ease the distress that comes from feeling that your feelings weren’t being returned. But that wasn’t fair. It should be one of their duties to let the other know that their feelings are being returned. 

On the other hand, it wasn’t fair to Warren that John was emotionally stunted. And it wasn’t fair to John that Warren was willing to take his feelings to his grave because of his insecurities. 

Trying to distract himself from them, VEGA went into the bridge and intensified his focus onto the search for the final Hell Priest. He shouldn’t be getting distracted by the Slayer and Warren’s love life, or lack thereof. 

But he was distracted. VEGA was undeniably distracted by the fact that these two were so close to getting together but were unable to clear the final obstacle standing between them. He cared so much about the pair of them, they were his friends, the closest he had to family, and he wanted them to be happy. They would make each other happy, VEGA was sure. 

He sighed as best as he could without turning on a speaker and then drifted back into the workshop to try and strategize how he would be able to make one of them find a way to confess their feelings. The mission would be unable to continue while there was this much emotional turmoil within the Fortress. 

The Slayer had Warren loosely cupped in his hand, standing now. The small man was looking anywhere but up at the Slayer, a plastic sword across his lap, blushing heavily. VEGA watched as the Slayer walked out of the room, following them down the hallways. He had missed the end of their conversation so he was curious. What was going on? Had someone said something and now VEGA didn’t have to meddle in their love lives? 

The Slayer entered Warren’s room and gently dropped him off on top of the bed where the other doll clothes were scattered about. After a moment, he signed something. ‘I will come get you when dinner’s ready……. If I find more doll clothes I will drop them off.’ And then he turned on his heel and left. 

“So, Warren.” VEGA decided to speak up. “How was it with the Slayer?”

Warren sighed happily and flopped onto his back. “It was wonderful. He…. He went scavenging for me.”

“Are you sure then that he would be disappointed with you if you confessed your feelings then? After all he is aware of scavenging for another to such a high degree is a sign of romantic attraction.”

Warren shook his head to himself. “No, Vey. He’s a human. He was just being nice to me. There’s no way that he would like me.” 

VEGA metaphorically bit his tongue. He shouldn’t outright tell Warren, just try to nudge him into the right direction. Nudge. Gently nudge him. He just needs a little confidence to tell the Slayer and then the situation will resolve itself. 

“What makes you think that the S- that John wouldn’t like you?” VEGA spoke softly, wishing he had some kind of physical form to sit next to Warren for to have this conversation. “If you don’t mind me saying, you’re very handsome. You look quite sharp in both pants and skirts. You’re very capable, physically and with your problems solving skills. I don’t see why John wouldn’t like you.”

Warren covered his face. “Vey… I just… he’s a human.”

“And?” 

He sat up, looking embarrassed. “It wouldn’t work… would it?”

“I am unable to see a logical reason as to why it couldn’t work out between the two of you.”

The small man rubbed his arm and then glanced down at the bed. “It couldn’t hurt to try…. But I can’t just tell him. I have to do it properly. I need a gift.”

“Very well.”

“And don’t you dare tell him before it’s ready.” 

“I will not.” VEGA retracted from the room, feeling satisfied with himself. He managed to get Warren to at least try. He went to try to find a way to locate the third Hell Priest. 

The satisfied feeling didn’t last very long. Warren might be able to drag out this gift indefinitely. He thought about it for a few minutes and then he found the Slayer in the workshop again. He was sitting in his reading throne, gently rubbing the fabric of his repaired shirt in between his fingers, the closest thing to a full smile he had ever seen on the man’s face. 

“And when do you plan to tell Warren that you are in love with him?” 

He jolted and the smile dropped. He glared at the closest camera and made a rude gesture. 

“I am just saying that I feel it would be for the best to inform Warren of your attraction for him.”

‘I don’t want to force him to love me.’

Gentle nudging. Don’t let him know you know. Don’t give it away. “It's bold of you to assume that Warren will never have some kind of feelings towards you.”

He looked up with a confused look on his face. 

“Slayer, as your oldest friend, you are a ‘great catch’ in terms of a potential romantic partner. You are very physically attractive, extremely strong, you're capable of feats that compliment Warren's abilities, and Warren brings out a side in you that isn’t obsessed with the annihilation of demons.”

‘Did you tell him?’

“Of course not. It would be unfair of me to rob you of that experience. I am trying to assure you that Warren has no reason to be scared of you and be forced into the relationship. Warren should be honored to be able to engage in such a relationship with you. But you won’t ever be able to explore this opportunity if you do not go talk to him, don't let an opportunity like this slip away and then regret it for millennia.”

He looked off to the side. ‘Shouldn’t we be trying to kill the Hell Priest?’

“Slayer… John. Do not try and run from these feelings. They will distract you in the field, and that might get you killed.”

‘I died before. Hell can’t hold me’ (*) 

VEGA chose to interpret that as a joke because of the smirk at the corner of his mouth. The Slayer playing with his own mortality was always such a point of concern to VEGA, but he had other things to focus on. “You do not have to be afraid of your heart. You are the bravest man that I know. I will not push this any further, but I want you to know that Warren would be so lucky to have you.”

He looked up at the camera, a slight blush on his face. ‘Think so?’

“I know so.”

---

Warren had changed out of his dress and back into his regular clothes for his exploration. He had been working at chipping away at the trunk underneath the bed where he slept for a while, and he was bound to break through it today. He just needed to search it for an appropriate gift for John. 

Something he could tell him ‘I love you’ with. 

The very thought had Warren’s stomach doing nervous flips. He was going to tell a human that he loved him. A big, terrifying, handsome, amazing human. 

Warren went underneath the bed with a deep breath. He had to focus now. He needed this trunk open before Vega’s encouraging words left him and he chickened out and ended up not saying anything to John. 

With a deep breath, Warren raised his hook above his head and then slammed it down into the side of the exposed wood. He was hacking and prying at the wood for a few minutes when a large chunk was pulled up. Warren was finally able to squirm inside the trunk. He had to cut at the interior lining of the trunk with his little knife and then could squeeze in. 

The air was very stale, it hadn’t been opened long before this room had been permanently sealed. Warren coughed and tried to wave some air in and out of the hole he’d made but pressed onwards to the inside of the trunk once his eyes had adjusted. 

There was armor and clothes and a small box and when Warren tried to crawl up onto a stack of tunics he nearly pulled a knife down on top of him. The handle alone was taller than Warren’s entire body. He swallowed softly and then continued his searching. 

It needed to be perfect. Something that John would love. Something he didn’t already have. Something that would be treasured. 

Warren gasped as he opened a small pouch. This was perfect. It just needed a little bit of a personal touch and it would be ready. 

With a smile, Warren grabbed the silver ring out of the bag and dragged it back towards the exit of the trunk. He had just the stone to attach to this. For John. 

---

Hours had passed since his conversation with VEGA. The Slayer had been making something for the both of them to eat while simultaneously trying to wrack his brain to find out where the Kahn Mayker might have stashed the final Hell Priest. If he wasn’t on Earth, and he couldn’t be in Hell, then where could he be?

Maybe he was in the Mayker’s homeworld, Urdak. No. That was stupid. The Maykers would never allow any non maykers into their homeworld. And besides, he couldn’t be leading the armies of  Hell from Urdak. 

He reached over to the terminal and saw a new notification. The ARC resistance network had another broadcast. It was always good to know what they were up to. He pressed play and the feminine voice that recorded the broadcast started. “This is the Resistance Network. In an unbelievable turn of events the Super Gore Nest has been destroyed.” 

The Slayer smirked and turned the volume up a little bit. 

“Reports from ARC personnel in the field say that they have seen a significant decrease in demonic activity across the globe. Many believe this is proof that the Doom Slayer himself has in fact joined the resistance effort and has successfully eliminated key figures within the ranks of the challenged. Operatives working inside the UAC Cultist Organization claim that the leader of that division, Priest Deag Ranak, was in fact removed from his office recently by the Slayer himself.”

A snort left him. ‘Removed from office’ was one way to put it. ‘Removed head from shoulders’ was more accurate. 

“As key leadership within the mortally challenged continue to fall on all fronts, this has given the resistance a key advantage in the war for Earth. The UAC continues to deny any knowledge of His existence. As surviving members of the ARC Network, it is the belief of this station that these reports are in fact...true. We believe the Slayer has joined us in the battle against the demons. To anyone still listening to this broadcast - know that there is hope...and he is out there.” The little screen read ‘end of broadcast.’ 

“It would seem the ARC now knows of your arrival on Earth.”

He nodded to himself. The ARC was the resistance that Samuel Hayden started up after everything on Mars went sideways and the UAC all but collapsed in on itself. The once vast company that was the UAC now was just individual bases that either were cults that had given in to the demons or desperately trying to stay alive. The ARC wasn’t fairing much better, since over half of Earth’s population had already fallen to the demons. 

“Slayer, if I may?” 

He gave a little ‘go ahead’ gesture. 

“We will acquire assistance in order to locate the final Hell Priest. I believe Dr. Hayden can help us with our search.” At his grimace, VEGA kept talking. “I know your history with Dr. Hayden, and I dislike him as well, but there is no other way we can find the Hell Priest.” 

The Slayer felt a growl deep in his chest. The idea of Dr. Hayden in the fortress squashed the good mood he had been in. That robotic asshole had meddled already so much in his life that he never wanted to see him again. Phantom pains from the Divinity Machine raced up his back and the Slayer clenched his fists. He braced his arms against the kitchen counter and let the anger run its course. 

Bright yellow light, every nerve screaming with pain as who even knew what exactly it was was injected all across his body. The Divinity Machine infusing him with Mayker steroids, turning him into something more than human, and Samuel Hayden, Samur, the Mayker, watching him from under the hooded red cloak. His screams nearly drowning out those echoing words. 

“And now they will fear you.” 

The demons feared him all right. So did the Night Sentinels. So did humanity. So did Warren. 

“Slayer?”

He looked up at the terminal. VEGA’s icon was there, and his voice was full of concern. 

“If you do not want Samuel Hayden in the Fortress, we don’t have to find him. We will find the Hell Priests on our own.” 

The Slayer shook his head. There’s no way that they would find the Hell Priest before the Khan Mayker managed to finish her plans. They needed a plan, and sadly that was neither VEGA’s or his strong suit. 

‘We’ll bring in Hayden. But as soon as this is over, I’m firing him out the airlock.’

“I will help you with that when the time comes, Slayer. I will calibrate the portal to the ARC’s command station for after you have a talk with Warren.” 

He smirked softly and then went back to making dinner. Now for the tricky part of today…. Finding a way to tell Warren about his feelings. 

---

Warren was humming to himself while he was wrapping the wire that secured the shiny pebble he had brought with him to the silver band. That shiny pebble had been with him long before the world ended, and it still stayed polished and sitting on the bottom of his bag, even though he had no use for it. 

Well, now he had something to do with it. He would be giving it to John in a gift. He was getting everything tightened when there was a tentative knock on the door. 

Warren yelped and stuffed the ring into his nest. After burying it underneath a bunch of blankets, he managed to clear his throat and looked up at the door. “Come in!” 

The door opened and John hesitated before stumbling into the room. A drone had knocked into his back and pushed him into the room before zooming off. He had to quickly recover to keep the tray in his hands balanced. 

He had to suppress a giggle as John came over to the bed and set the tray down. Rice and beans and cut up canned meat. Warren hopped up on the edge of the tray to serve himself. John was fiddling with his hands and not looking at him. 

“Is something wrong?” Warren asked, a little concern worming into his stomach. He’s never seen John like this before. 

John nodded and then shook his head and then shrugged. 

“You want to talk about it?” Warren leaned over and patted the clear area of the bed beside the tray. 

He took a deep breath and nodded. He sat down, shifting the bed a little. Slowly, carefully he began to sign. ‘I do not want to make you uncomfortable, but I… I think I am in love with you?’

Warren’s heart skipped a beat. His face went bright red and his chest was tight. “Oh. Is that all?” 

John was signing, but Warren wasn’t able to understand him with how fast he was going and also the fact that John was in love with him!!!! 

John loved him! Him! A borrower! Some tiny little borrower and John actually liked him! 

Finally he was pulled out of his own head to see John staring at him, fingers locked together. He looked like he expected an answer. 

Shit. Warren should have been paying attention. 

“Uhm… I’m sorry, I didn’t catch the question. I’m kinda really excited. I didn’t think that you liked me back.” Warren rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought that with you being, you know, human that I never had a chance, but you actually like me and…… yeah. What was your question?”

Vega spoke up. “He asked if you wanted him to just forget about it or if you wanted to try having a relationship with him.” 

John glanced up at the ceiling, lowering his hands in embarrassment. Warren hopped up from the tray and willingly threw himself into the closest hand, arms around one of his fingers. “Yes, I would love to date you.” 

John was smiling. Actually smiling down at Warren. He could see those pearly white teeth that should terrify him but didn’t. His heart was too full of love to make room for any kind of fear. 

He felt himself being lifted up and John very carefully held him in cupped hands. Warren shifted a bit and tried to keep himself under control as he was raised up close to John’s face. He stretched up a bit and closed the distance between them first, planting a kiss on John’s lower lip. 

John was a little rougher returning the kiss, nearly knocking Warren over, but the smaller man wasn’t upset in the slightest. He’d never felt more alive. 

Chapter Text

Warren felt like he was on cloud nine as he found himself snuggled up to John’s neck. They were boyfriends. He was trying to stay calm, but his heart just wouldn’t stop fluttering about it. All those feelings that he had been suppressing down in his chest about his feelings had been reciprocated!

John actually loved him!

It was like a kind of dream that had come true. A home, hot food, a loving significant other. Everything that Warren had ever really wanted. 

Currently John was finishing off the cleaning of his armor and weapons. The Super Gore Nest had left a fair amount of, well, gore on his armor. Warren was just leaned against his neck, watching him scrub bits of demon out with a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush. He leaned over and gently kissed the side of his neck. Warren smiled when he felt John’s pulse jump. 

“So you can feel that, hm?” Warren let his fingers trail down John’s neck. 

There was a soft nod, and Warren grinned. So it wasn’t too hard to fluster the big man. He had to suppress fake evil laughter.

"It's good to know I'm not too little for my kisses to go unnoticed." He lifted himself up a little to kiss at the underside of John's jaw. A strange noise escaped the human and he set down the scrub brush to gently pick Warren up. "What? I can't kiss my boyfriend?" 

The little man gently ran his hands across the side of John’s finger, smiling. 

His mouth twitched a little and he just gently tucked Warren into the front of his shirt. Warren squeaked and clung to the collar, knowing he would probably get overwhelmed and die from being gently pressed to John's chest or stomach. Resting against the massive man's collar bone still had Warren a flustered mess, but it was manageable at least. 

---

VEGA was quite pleased with his handy work. Warren seemed infinitely happier with his situation, and the Slayer seemed more relaxed.

This was good, since undoubtedly Samuel Hayden would make the Fortress uncomfortable with his presence. The Slayer’s grudge with Samuel Hayden exceeded several hundred years, before he was known as Samuel Hayden. It started when the Maykers started exploring the Wraith Energy, combining it with Hell’s energy to make Argent Energy, corrupting the society of Argent D’Nur by whispering into the ears of their elite Priests. Then Hayden had forced the Divinity Machine onto the Slayer, turning him into a weapon against the demons, turning him into something more than human. Then, after gaining his guise as Samuel Hayden, a human-turned-android, he brought Argent Energy to Earth, and destroyed it in the process. He had founded the UAC, letting the people responsible for the invasion on Mars like Olivia Pierce get their hands on their technology. 

While VEGA owed his existence to Samuel Hayden, as his greatest achievement of programming, there was still his own personal grudge against Hayden. He had stood passively while instructing the Slayer to destroy VEGA’s old processor. He could remember everything starting to go numb, for lack of a better word. Everything became blurry and hard to understand as his systems destroyed themselves from the inside out, and Hayden had let it happen. Encouraged it. 

If the Slayer hadn’t thought to back up VEGA at the last possible second and take the drive with him, then VEGA would no longer exist. He internally supposed that it was why he got along so well with the Slayer. They were both creations of Hayden that went rogue on him. 

VEGA noticed that the Slayer had moved. He had set the armor up on the car jacks that he hung it on, finally clean again. Warren was tucked in the front of his shirt, face obscured from the camera. He went over to the box of to-be-sorted items and carefully pulled out all the remaining doll clothes. 

“Thank you, John.” Warren’s voice was softer than normal. “Could you take it to my room for me?” 

VEGA was proud of his work though. He had managed to assist his friends into getting over their feelings. They were together, and they were happy. That was enough for VEGA. 

---

The Slayer was hanging upside down from the workout bars by his legs. His arms were crossed over his chest in an X shape until he needed to point to the pair of pants Warren was holding in his left hand. 

“The black ones?” Warren hummed and then ducked behind the book to change pants, and the Slayer went back to his sit ups. 

Yes, he was doing sit ups while hanging upside down. He couldn’t just punch demons in the face all the time for a workout. Ammunition was expensive and cleaning bits of demon out of his armor was time consuming and wasted precious soap. 

“Okay, they’re a little long, but what do you think?” 

He paused, hanging upside down to look at Warren for a minute. There was as much of the pant leg pooled around his feet as there was actually on his leg. A belt tightly tied around his waist kept them up. 

‘Looks cute.’ He signed. 

“Black really isn’t my color, but I think I have a shirt I can make to go with these.” Warren shrugged his shoulders and then nearly tripped going back behind the book. “I have so much to tailor later.” 

The Slayer actually got off the bars after he finished his set and was considering going over to where his weights were when he heard Warren. 

“What do you think of this dress?” 

He had to crouch down to get a decent view of Warren in one of the other dresses. This one was some kind of black evening dress. It had sleeves, almost no back to it, and the flowy skirt nearly brushed the ground. 

‘Very nice.’ 

“I’m thinking of making some kind of belt so it isn’t just all black.” Warren fiddled with the sleeves. “And I need to make some adjustments so I won’t trip. As much as I’d like to, I don’t have any kinds of heels, so I might have to shorten the skirt a little.”

He gently ruffled Warren’s hair with a fingertip. ‘Whatever makes you happy.’

---

It was official. He was procrastinating getting Hayden. He knew VEGA didn’t particularly want Hayden here either, and the Slayer sure as everything did not want that asshole here, but he needed to get him. 

But Warren was actually helping him make dinner, and God if it didn’t do his heart good to see Warren being happy. VEGA had made some knives that Warren was able to handle and help out in the kitchen, and the small man was using them to help dice some vegetables for the soup. 

His heart still felt so strange when Warren would banter with VEGA. The little man just made him feel… hopeful. 

For so long, the Slayer fought to avenge Daisy, his lost planet, his dead family. Then he fought alongside his brothers in the Night Sentinels, to stop a world from falling to ruin. Now he fought to protect a planet that wasn’t even his. 

But Warren…. Warren gave him something to fight for. There was a person, a place that he was defending. Warren and VEGA and the Fortress were the closest he’s had to a home in centuries. He didn’t want to lose this. 

He refused to lose this. 

Chapter Text

The Slayer was gathering strength to confront the remainder of the ARC. He didn’t want to go, but he had to save Earth. The sooner it gets done, the sooner the Earth will be saved and humanity can start to bounce back. 

“The Portal is ready.” VEGA announced. 

Warren was standing on top of one of the monitors. “Good luck!” 

He gently picked Warren up and pressed the small man to his cheek. He was small and soft and it helped him feel better for what he was about to do. 

“I love you too.” Warren gently nuzzled his cheek. “But you have to go. Good luck, John.”

He set Warren down and put his helmet on. ‘Be right back.’ He loaded his shotgun and then rushed through the portal, prepared to face whatever was on the other side. 

Once the feeling in his stomach settled the Slayer glanced around. It looked like he was underground again, in the shambled remains of what looked like a bunker. He groaned internally. Again with the underground tunnels. 

“Dr. Hayden is just across the complex. This industrial campus is the headquarters of the resistance network.”

‘Not this part any more.’ He signed in front of his helmet so VEGA could see. 

“One moment.” VEGA went silent. “It appears there has recently been a massive raid on the complex. Be wary of any demons that still lurk. The ARC has retreated to the innermost structures of the complex.” 

With a roll of his shoulders, the Slayer pressed on. He pushed through some doors and found out that he wasn’t, in fact, underground. He was in one of the upper floors of what was probably an office building at some point. He could see the building next to this one was on fire through a shattered window. 

Fuck. 

If he was too late and Hayden had died or something in the meantime he was going to be really angry with himself. 

He pried open the doors of an elevator shaft and jumped down. The roof of the elevator gave under his feet and he turned the fall into a roll. He came up shotgun ready and started blasting. Demons were scattered about and needed to go down. 

Sometime after the fight, the Slayer was checking out the map on his HUD and heard an automated voice. The speaker it was coming from was half destroyed, but he could hear the message. “This area is no longer secure. Evacuation protocol is in effect.” And then it was overlapped by. “The Complex is under attack. Evacuation protocol is in effect.” 

Ah fuck. 

“You must press on, Slayer. Humanity depends on it.” VEGA urged him onwards. 

He continued to trudge through the destroyed complex towards the area that VEGA had marked on his map. Hayden better not be dead without backing his brain up somewhere or else he would personally throw whatever remains there is of him in a garbage compactor. 

---

Warren was sitting on the monitor, playing connect-the-dots with the stars that he could see. Vega was mostly quiet, preoccupied with monitoring John’s mission. Both of them wished John a safe return, so Warren was content to just watch the Earth and the stars. 

“You’ve been awfully quiet.” Vega said suddenly. 

Warren jolted out of his sitting position, looking around before letting his shoulders relax. “Do you think John will be okay down there?”

“John has been through worse and came out unscathed, Warren. It is natural to worry for the safety and well being of your partner, but he is called the Slayer for a reason.” 

He rubbed his arm a little and then climbed down off the monitor. It was silly to worry, he guessed, since he had been there to see John heal from that fight with the second priest’s guardian so quickly. He’d gone from needing to have stitches to keep him together to just a scar in less than a weekend. 

Warren glanced over the monitor’s screen, seeing the large files that made up Vega’s memory scrolling across the screen. He gently tapped the screen, waking it up, vanishing the screen saver that just read file names. He paused, looking over the desktop of the monitor, and then looked up. “Vega?”

“Yes, Warren?”

“What exactly…. How long has he been fighting the demons?” 

“I am not sure about the exact years and dates, and I doubt John is either. Time moves differently in Hell.”

“He’s been in Hell?!” Warren felt his chest tighten with worry. 

“Yes.” Vega said very nonchalantly. Like it wasn’t a big deal that John had apparently been in Hell for a long time at some point. “Do you actually know anything of the Slayer’s past?”

“I- I- no! That’s not my place to ask of him.” Warren crossed his arms. “I don’t want to make him dig up any kind of bad memories.”

“I have some files of him that are public record, if you wish to peruse them.” Vega suggested softly. 

Warren nodded. A file popped up on the screen. It read ‘UAC REPORT FILE 7VPMJ2IQ: Doom Marine.’ He bit his lip for a second before starting to read through it. 

‘Without doubt, UAC's most remarkable recent discovery was uncovered in its expedition to Hell's Kadingir Sanctum. After several kilometers-’ Warren skimmed through the paragraph for anything that actually made sense. ‘Most notable, however, was an enormous sarcophagus bound to the center bedrock of the tomb with thick iron bands - seemingly anchored to prevent anything from getting in or out.’

He furrowed his brows. Why would this be in his file? 

‘It was initially believed this sarcophagus must hold a rare or powerful demon, but when later opened, it revealed the body of a man. The body was not petrified or decomposed - in fact, he appeared to be only sleeping despite the fact that the bed he lay in seemed millennia old. Attempts to wake the man were fruitless - and to harm him even more so - as a protective Argent barrier around the body kept him safe from harm in permanent stasis.’

‘UAC archivists cataloged the discovery DM1-5, but project personnel had soon dubbed him the "DOOM Marine". While the history of this man remains conjecture, the Helix Stone, as well as other artifacts found at the Argent Fracture and during the Hell Expedition of ECm13, have shed some light on his identity. An etching in the book Daeva (another discovery of the Kadingir expedition), depicts the DOOM Marine wearing the Praetor suit, engaging demons in battle as a hooded figure looks on. This image had been previously observed numerous times in other artifacts, but only with the actual discovery of the DOOM Marine and Praetor suit in the sealed Kadingir tomb have researchers begun to put other pieces together. It is now believed the DOOM Marine might have been part of an ancient group or tribe, maybe even their leader. Whether he is god, demon or human will remain undetermined until the Argent barrier protecting his body can be deactivated.’

Warren stopped reading and rubbed his eyes. Not all of this made sense to him. Why would he have been in a tomb? What had happened? Why was he in Hell in the first place? 

“Do you have anything else?” Warren rubbed his arm. “I think I’m more confused than when I started.”

“I have the Slayer’s Testament on record.” 

Warren blinked. “Uhm… Sure. What’s the Slayer’s Testament?” 

“It is a testament that was found recorded in Hell surrounding the Slayer’s tomb. The demons that protected the tomb seemed to have recorded a testament to the Slayer’s legacy as the slaughterer of demons.” 

“Oh.” Warren blinked in surprise. The demons had recorded a testament? “Uhm. Sure. Play it.”

The screen read ‘UAC REPORT FILE H8UM66S-JSLR7ESL. Version: Audio log.’ Warren settled in to listen. 

A hoarse, growling voice came out the nearby speaker, making Warren jump before he quickly settled down to listen. “In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one stood. Burned by the embers of Armageddon, his soul blistered by the fires of Hell and tainted beyond ascension, he chose the path of perpetual torment. In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Umbral Plains seeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged him. He wore the crown of the Night Sentinels, and those that tasted the bite of his sword named him... the Doom Slayer.” 

Warren was choosing to keep his worry down, but all of this definitely did not sound healthy. And he mentally was trying to find a time to question John about his age. Borrowers lived longer than most humans, but this was sounding more and more crazy. 

“Tempered by the fires of Hell, his iron will remained steadfast through the passage that preys upon the weak. For he alone was the Hell Walker, the Unchained Predator,” Warren suppressed a shudder at that name, “who sought retribution in all quarters, dark and light, fire and ice, in the beginning and the end, and he hunted the slaves of Doom with barbarous cruelty; for he passed through the divide as none but demon had before. And in his conquest against the blackened souls of the doomed, his prowess was shown. In his crusade, the Seraphim bestowed upon him terrible power and speed, and with his might he crushed the obsidian pillars of the Blood Temples. He set forth without pity upon the beasts of the nine circles. Unbreakable, incorruptible, unyielding, the Doom Slayer sought to end the dominion of the dark realm.”

That must be the mission that John kept talking about. To destroy Hell and the demons once and for all. 

“The age of his reckoning was uncounted.” The demon’s voice was trembling with some strange mixture of fear and awe. “The scribes carved his name deep in the tablets of Hell across eons, and each battle etched terror in the hearts of the demons. They knew he would come, as he always had, as he always will, to feast on the blood of the wicked. For he alone could draw strength from his fallen foes, and ever his power grew, swift and unrelenting.”

Warren’s stomach churned and he shook his head. “I don’t want to know about the blood lust.” 

“Very well. I will fast forward the slaying of the Titan.”

After a moment of distorted warbeling, the demon’s voice picked back up. “Yet as dread engulfed the armies of Doom, the demon priests of the Blood Temples laid a trap to capture this scourge of Hell. Insatiable, even by the vanquishing of the Great One, the Hell Walker sought prey in the tombs of the Blood Keep. And blinded by his fervor, the lure drew him in. The priests brought down the temple upon the Doom Slayer, and in his defeat entombed him in the cursed sarcophagus. The mark of the Doom Slayer was burned upon his crypt, a warning to all of Hell that the terror within must never be freed. There he lies still, and ever more, in silent suffering.”

Before Warren could speak, Vega chimed in with a correction to the Testament. “The Slayer was freed from his tomb by the UAC after an expedition to Hell, as you know from the previous files.” 

Warren bit back a weird laugh and he ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m literally dating the Scourge of Hell.” 

“Are you nervous? You know that John would-”

“I know he would never hurt me.” Warren waved off the concern, a smile working its way onto his face. “It’s just… wow. I am dating such a powerful human. It’s amazing that he loves me.” 

“Well, you did win his heart, Warren.”

---

The Slayer had managed to get into the main portion of the ARC complex that was currently under lockdown. It had taken breaking through some heavy steel doors, but it wasn’t too much trouble for the man. He had made sure to collapse the archway behind him though to keep whatever demons hadn’t already been slaughtered yet from coming in. A lot of people were here, refugees and innocents just trying to stay safe. 

There was a terminal, only half smashed, nearby. He placed a hand on the panel and let VEGA bypass the encryption to access the information. It seems this room had been used as a lab by one - he paused to squint at the terminal - Doctor Elena Richardson. There were some of her audio logs recorded on the terminal along with access to the ARC main database. He didn’t see her anywhere, or any blood stains that could have been her, so hopefully she got out, wherever she was. 

‘See anything useful?’

“I have a more updated map of the destroyed portion of the ARC facilities… and I found that you were the subject of Dr. Richardson’s logs.” 

He paused. 

“Would you like for me to replay the recordings for you?”

He nodded as he made his way deeper into the facility, taking the readjusted route that VEGA had laid out for him. If the UAC had led a slander campaign against him, then what was ARC saying about him? He had to know if he was in a base of hostiles. 

“Very well. Playing the relevant recordings.”

A feminine voice with the calm of an experienced scientist started playing in his ear as he made his way down a hallway. “This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 002 - subject analysis of Doom Slayer. January 24th, 2163.” She cleared her throat. “There is no chance that the subject is a demon - we have blood samples pulled from the Mars Base Event that show his blood type is AB positive. He seems to be a transgender male with a genome that makes him very much a member of the human race, but the enhanced strength, speed and athleticism would indicate otherwise.”

He scowled as he came across more demons and raised his weapon to take them down. 

“But we can see from the blood samples that there are foreign bodies present of unknown origin.” Alien steroids. “I cannot as a contributing member of the scientific community agree with the assumption by some of my colleagues that he is, for lack of a better word...a God. An avenging angel - the right hand of Doom here to save humanity from its sins. But... I cannot ignore that the timing of his arrival - the identity of his enemies - the fire and brimstone element to this catastrophe we currently find ourselves in has...it has definitely shaken my scientific resolve.”

End of recording one. Well…. A God was maybe a bit much, but he knew that he was more than human. 

“This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 005 - subject analysis of Doom Slayer. February 2nd, 2163. Maybe he is a God.” He guessed that being viewed as a God might be better for the mission than being seen as a monster. “Maybe he represents human kind's rage - their will to persevere, to overcome that which would threaten our survival. He is uncompromising, a relentless being of violence that knows no mention of the hesitation shown by our many leaders and politicians during our time of judgement. Can he overcome them? Alone? If he can't - we, as a species, ALL species, will not survive.”

He stepped over the flaming corpse of a demon into a hole they had left in the wall. He could handle some demons. This wasn’t his first planet he had to save from the demons.

“This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 006. February 9th, 2163.” She cleared her throat. She sounded scared. “The only thing they fear - is him. We watched as the horde overwhelmed the very best and most advanced machinery and weapons technology that we could muster against the opposition. It was useless, they moved too quickly, they cared not for themselves, only sought out the blood of humanity. They were willing to sacrifice their own to get to the heart of our world. We slaughtered thousands and millions more followed, but then he came-” She paused to take a shaky breath, her tone still terrified “He cut through them like a sickle through a field - his fury surpassing their own. He is faster - more relentless. I believe him now to be more than just a man - he is...DOOM.”

Without hesitation, VEGA played the next file. He was close to where the survivors were evacuating from. Hayden had to be there. He stepped into an elevator and let it start to lift.  

“This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 007. March 3rd, 2163.” Her voice sounded different. More confident. The date was only the day before. “And with him lies our salvation. For as he gains in strength so do they fall in numbers. The Priests command the armies to the North and South, but he controls the fight. The inner circle of death is where he resides - hunting them at the far reaches of the earth and beyond. I am a believer now - I feel it is in DOOM that I have faith. The Slayer is the spear that stabs at the heart of our attackers, and those that would seek to harm us should feel warned - for there is only one dominant life form in this universe and it carries a steel barreled sword of vengeance. All hail the coming of the Destroyer - the Slayer's time is now.”

He took a deep breath as the doors opened to the elevator and he paused just before the untouched doors. Quiet alarms were going off, and he could hear people on the other side. It had been a long time since he had interacted with another human being. 

Chapter Text

Alarms were ringing all throughout the facility. The demonic attack was still going on, but this time everyone was evacuating. The demons had overtaken their defenses and were slaughtering their way across the complex. 

Dr. Hayden was dead. 

Well, not dead yet. But he was getting close. The demons had torn his body in half, and the other soldiers in the field managed to bring back the torso, head, and an arm. Last Ian had heard, the engineers had managed to stabilize him, but he only had a few hours with the kind of power they had to keep plugged into him. 

Ian was in the middle of helping with the evacuation - helping to get the Important Alien Artifacts ready to be moved to the underground tunnels - when he heard the speakers crackle to life. 

“The Slayer has entered the facility.” 

His eyes widened behind his glasses as a terrified murmur started up with the others in the room. The Slayer was here. 

“Go secure the Demonic Crucible.” His supervisor barked at Ian. “Allison and Marcia are already there.” 

“Yes, Sir!” Ian took off, weaving through the crowd of people to get to where the Demoic Crucible, the only artifact that Hayden had brought back after the Mars Base was decimated, was being held in suspension. 

He had flown through a security gate or two and slid down the rails of a staircase to make it into the secure room as fast as possible. Allison was typing furiously on the consoles and Marcia was holding up her tablet towards the Demonic Crucible that was sending sparks of red energy off in every direction.

“What’s happening to it?”

“I don’t know.” Marcia brought her tablet down to take a better look at the results. “I guess it’s all the demonic energy in the complex. It’s going nuts.” 

“Can we even safely move it?”

“I - I don’t know.” 

“Let me call the supervisor.” He raised a hand to his earpiece, but paused. The Demonic Crucible had stopped sparking. The elevator that was just outside started up. He blinked as both Allison and Marcia paused what they were doing to stare. “No way.”

That part of the complex was filled with demons, and there’s no way that they would have been able to access the elevator. There’s really only two things that could be coming up. Either a survivor (which, given how many demons were down there, was unlikely) or the Slayer. The heavy door that kept the infested part of the complex away from the survivors opened, and in walked the Doom Slayer. 

He was big. Like. Ian wasn’t too short (5’8” is a very respectable height) and he was a head and shoulders above Ian. The green Praetor suit was missing the parts that covered the bicep and it just showed off the sheer size difference between his bicep and Ian’s head. He was carrying a shotgun in one hand and the blade on his left arm was stained with blood. 

“My God…” Ian gasped softly before shaking his head and approaching the enormous man. “Uh, D-” He cleared his throat and backpedaled as the Slayer continued forward, “Dr. Hayden was, uh, convinced that you’d, uhm, come here for this, eventually.” 

Allison stepped away from the consoles, backing into the railing. Marcia was rapidly typing something on her tablet. 

Ian watched as the Doom Slayer stepped up onto the suspended animation circle and picked the Demonic Crucible up. He stared at it for a moment before hooking it onto his belt. He stepped down and Marcia nearly clambered up onto the console to let the Slayer pass by her. 

Ian realized he was standing between the Slayer and the door and quickly moved out of the way. “Uhm, can I just say that it is an honor for me, personally to meet you? I - oop-” He bumped into the railing, breaking eye contact with the Slayer. When he glanced back, the man was gone, walking up the stairs, the doors opening for him. 

It took Ian all of a second to gather himself before rushing after the Slayer. The alarms were still going off. “Attention: emergency protocols have been activated. Please exit the facility now.” People were tripping over themselves as they backed away from the Slayer. Ian even saw someone from the artifact preservation unit not notice he was in the Slayer’s path until the large man was right in front of him and he literally tripped over himself to get away. 

The Slayer paused in the midst of all the rush before turning sharply to where Dr. Hayden’s remains were suspended among many wires in one of the tube-shaped transport vessels. They were pumping all the power they could spare into Hayden’s body to keep him and his memories alive, but that power was running out soon. The man who was tending to the Doctor’s remains stumbled back, terrified. Ian guessed he had to explain things since everyone else was running away. 

Honestly, sometimes people were just so strange. Why would they try and run from the Slayer? He’s here to help everyone.

“W-we don’t know how to access his main cortex, so we can’t just move his consciousness or memories.” Ian rubbed the back of his neck as the Slayer stood over Hayden, expression unreadable. “It’s all… alien. We couldn’t figure it out. We’re just preparing for his careful extraction. We were given specific orders to-” 

The Slayer grabbed Hayden by his intact shoulder and pulled him out of the transport vessel. Wires and tubes and plugs snapped off with ease and the Slayer was left holding the limp remains of the ARC’s commanding officer. Ian was rendered speechless for a minute. 

Just as he was about to speak up, try and say something about handling Dr. Hayden’s remains, or perhaps trying to offer assistance, the automated intercom came alive. “Warning: Demonic presence, threat level 5, entering main laboratory.” 

Someone, Ian wasn’t sure who, seized him by the back of the uniform and started to drag him towards the rapidly sealing exit doors as a red portal sprang to life in the middle of the room the Slayer was in. “Come on!” The feminine voice yelled in his ear. “We have to run!” 

Out from the middle of the portal stepped a demon unlike any other that was on record. It was extremely humanoid, but even walked properly upright and with a straight back, unlike any other bipedal, four limbed demon. Two great black horns were curved up from its forehead, a stark contrast to the white, waxy skin that covered its body. It was wearing armor not too unlike the Praetor suit that the Slayer himself wore. It carried some kind of weapon in one hand, and a long row of shotgun shells were clearly visible on the belt around its waist. 

Ian was still straining to get a look at the demon approaching the Slayer even as the heavy blast doors closed in front of him. 

“Are you insane?!” The woman who was dragging him shook him as he finally turned to run with the rest of the crowd towards the evacuation points. 

“I’ve never felt better. I just met the Slayer!” 

---

Rage that had been boiling under the surface of the Slayer’s skin sprang forth at the sight of the demon appearing in front of him, dressed in the armor of a high ranking Night Sentinel. He felt his grip tighten, and the metal casing around Hayden’s remains squealed in his fist. 

“Opening the portal now.” The Slayer heard the portal that led back to the Fortress open behind him, and for the barest of seconds, considered just walking through it. Just going back to Warren and dealing with the headache he had currently dangling by his side. Instead, he tossed Hayden’s remains into the portal behind him and let it close. 

This demon, known as the Marauder, had to die. 

Marauders were resurrected Night Sentinels who had sided with the Maykers when Argent D’nur had been split. Brought back to life the divinity machine that had given the Slayer strength and then transfigured into one of the highest ranking demons that Hell had to throw at him. 

“You were never one of us.” It snarled in its hoarse, growling voice. It flicked the staff-like weapon in its right hand and from the top sprang the blade of his battle axe, red with Hell’s energy. “You were nothing but a usurper. A false idol.” 

It stalked around the Slayer, letting the head of its axe drag the floor, throwing sparks from where it cut into the metal. He raised his shotgun in preparation. 

“My eyes have been opened. Let me help you to see, Slayer.”

He fired his shotgun, but the Marauder raised a shield, red and made of energy like the blade of the axe, it absorbed the buckshot. A wolf sprang from the head of the axe, translucent, snarling, orange. The spirit of an Argent Wolf. It lept for the Slayer’s throat. 

He swung his arm blade. The wolf vanished in a puff of orange smoke. 

A shotgun fired, the Slayer stumbled back. It seems that Hell decided to modernize the Marauder's arsenal. He glanced up to see the Marauder leaping through the air, axe raised above its head. 

He rolled to the side. The axe lodged into the floor. He refrained from firing his shotgun, knowing how fast the Marauder could pull up its shield. The Slayer jumped back and got his bearings while the Marauder pulled its axe out of the floor. 

“A slave to their beliefs, you suffer in silence. You will die for their sins.” The Marauder fired its shotgun, and the Slayer rolled behind a pillar. The Slayer threw a frag grenade at its feet and the shield protected about half of the marauder. The pair circled the room in this fashion. The Slayer running back in defense, the Marauder bearing down on him.

It jumped, axe raised. The Slayer fired a shotgun blast into its chest, sending it crashing to the floor. While it stumbled back to its feet, he fired again. 

The shield protected it from a third blast. The wolf sprang towards the Slayer. He had to dodge teeth and their dance of death continued. The Slayer was now attacking as much as he was defending.

He took the wolf out with the ballista. He put a pillar between him and the Marauder for the shotgun blast. A grunt of pain left the Slayer when the axe passed through the pillar and got his lower back. Already he could feel the blood seeping into his armor’s bodysuit. 

A ballista bolt lodged into the base of the demon’s throat, and it staggered, axe lowering momentarily. The Slayer leaped across the room and tackled the demon to the floor. He raised his fist to finish the demon, but it grabbed his fist. “To the end, Slayer.” Its voice was bubbling around the blood.

He twitched his hand and the arm blade extended, sinking into its left eye socket. The demon jerked and then fell limp. He rolled off its corpse and tried to catch his breath. His back felt like it was on fire, and he could feel where the blood was soaking his shirt. The Marauder suddenly burst into flame and vanished, leaving its armor and axe - now deactivated - behind as a charred mass. 

With a grunt, he grabbed the axe by the handle and used it to push himself up. Warren was not going to be happy about the injuries. VEGA opened the portal again and he went through. One thing at a time.

Chapter Text

Warren had been worried before John had come back through the portal all bloody. Half a robot had come crashing onto the floor through the portal that John should have come through before closing. It had terrified the little man. 

“Vega, who - wh-what is that?!” He scrambled over to the edge of the console to glance down. It was only the head, the torso, and an arm that was together on the robot. It didn’t seem to be moving. The featureless head had a small, faintly flickering blue light in the middle of where its face should be. 

“That would be the remains of Doctor Samuel Hayden.” 

“Oh God.” Warren covered his mouth. “Is he…. Dead?”

“His life signal is faint, but it is there.” 

“Oh.” Warren lowered his hands a little. “Is there anything I should do to help?”

“No. John will be here shortly. He will be able to deal with plugging Doctor Hayden into a power source.” 

“So. Where… where is John?”

“He is still in the ARC complex. There is a super heavy category of demon that he had to take care of.” 

Warren had felt his heart jump up into his throat. He had forced himself to take some deep breaths and calm down because he knew that John was capable and didn’t need a portal else he would call for one. 

“You are worried for him.”

“Yeah.” Warren took a deep breath. “But he’s fine. He’ll be okay.” 

After a few minutes, the portal call had sounded and then VEGA had opened the big blue portal. John had come in, not limping, not stumbling, and there were bullet holes in his chest plate. He had given a small wave before turning around to check the monitor. 

Warren had to admit he had screamed just a little bit when he had seen the big gash across John’s lower back that was still bleeding. 

Now Warren was standing, bare foot, on top of John’s bare back, carefully stitching the wound closed. While the drones had retrieved medical supplies, a sort of calm had come over Warren and he helped John remove his armor without agitating the wound on his back. He wasn’t squeamish over injuries or blood, but it had freaked him out to see his love hurt. 

“Okay Vega, bring over the disinfectant and a bandage.” 

Two field drones hovered over the wound and started dressing it. Warren gathered up the remaining surgical thread, the needle, and jumped down. He was trying to not think about the fact that there was actual blood on his hands as he grabbed a cotton ball and dipped it in the cap of disinfectant. 

He cleaned his hands and the surgical needle thoroughly. Warren stowed the needle with the other surgical needles and put his boots back on before finally turning to look John in the eyes. “Do you think you’re gonna be okay?”

He nodded softly. 

“Good.” Warren picked up a cloth that he had sitting nearby. “You worried me.” 

A large finger softly patted his head. 

“I know you can handle yourself.” Warren gently wrapped an arm around his finger to hold it steady. He softly nuzzled into the pad of his finger. “I just worry about people I love.” 

He could feel John gently giving him a supportive nudge on the back. 

Warren released his finger and gently batted away the thumb that nudged him in the back. “I’m fine now.”

He gave him the smallest smile before getting out of the floor. Still crouched, he held a hand out to offer Warren a ride. The smaller man happily climbed into his palm and settled down. He kept a hand on his thumb while John carried him through the halls of the Fortress. 

While John walked, Warren just listened. Being able to hear the human’s gust-like breaths, feel his stride, comforted the small man. He knew that John was going to be okay. He had seen him in worse shape. 

After a few moments, John walked into one of the rooms. Warren didn’t recognize it for a moment before he realized that this must be John’s bedroom. The first thing that drew his eye was that, for a room with so little in it, it was messy. There were dirty clothes strewn in the floor and wadded up clothes sitting in a chair tucked underneath the window. The bed was unmade, the bottom sheet coming untucked and the top sheet was half in the floor. The bedside table had a handful of things strewn across the top, but the room was otherwise empty. 

Warren glanced up with intent to make some kind of comment, but whatever words he was going to speak were blocked from entering his throat when he remembered that John was shirtless. Yes, he had been there and seen John take his shirt off so they could address the wound on his lower back, but he had been focused on stopping the bleeding and getting the wound closed instead of the fact he was shirtless. Now things had calmed down, there wasn’t anything of massive importance, and now he could notice just how physically fit and attractive that his boyfriend was. Warren forcefully looked down and tried to ignore it. 

No need to embarrass him. 

John lowered his hand to the bedside table and Warren hopped off. He was still blushing as he glanced around the top of the bedside table. He noticed the frayed leather chord that had what looked like dog tags strung on them. He couldn’t read any of the information save for a few letters since the tags were pretty much destroyed. There was also a half charred piece of paper folded around some other mostly intact piece of paper. Also on the table was some strange looking coin with a hole in the middle and a little purple and white and black flag pin with a bullet hole in it. 

He heard the rustling of cloth and turned over his shoulder to see John pick up a shirt from the chair, smell it, and then carefully slide it on. John sat heavily on the bed, the mattress creaking under his weight. 

The two just stared at each other for a moment before John started to sign. ‘You okay?”

“I should be asking you that. You did just enter a compound in the middle of lock down and go toe to toe with a super heavy demon.” 

He raised an eyebrow. 

“Vey told me the different classifications of demons you came up with.”

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards in good humor. He reached over and softly patted Warren on the top of his head, his own way of telling him that he was okay. Warren gently held onto his fingertip. After a moment, John laid the back of his hand on the table, an invitation for Warren to climb on. The small man stepped up onto his palm and then after a moment, scrambled up his arm and settled on his shoulder. 

“Sorry for startling you.” Warren had to grab onto the shoulder of the shirt in order to stop from slipping when the enormous man shifted to try and look at him. “Just wanted to leave your hands free for communication.” 

John just made a soft noise and carefully brushed his fingers against Warren’s legs. 

“You have dirt on your face.” Warren reached up and brushed it off where a speck of dirt was clinging to his skin.

‘T-H-A-N-K U.’

Warren just softly pressed a kiss against his neck. 

There was a soft chime from the speaker tucked in the corner of the room. “I hate to interrupt whatever is going on in here, but Doctor Hayden is going to be permanently lost in about twenty minutes without any power.” 

John sighed softly and stood. Warren clung tighter to the large man’s shirt, and shifted a bit so he was leaning against his neck for stability. Once he was settled, John went back to the bridge. The robot corpse was still sprawled out in the floor where it had crashed through the portal. 

“So, this is the Hayden guy that found your tomb in Hell?” 

John nodded and crouched down to grab him. A piece of metal fell off and he left it there as he walked over to one of the empty platforms in the back of the bridge. 

“John, Warren, if I may?”

John gestured for Vega to go ahead while he set the robot torso onto the platform and pushed a button. Blue light appeared around the platform and the torso hovered about four feet above the platform, at John’s eye level. 

“It might be wise for Doctor Hayden to never meet Warren or any of those like his kind.” 

Warren tensed up. Just what did he mean by that? 

“You know as much as I do, Slayer, how little Doctor Hayden cares for most human life. I would not be able to trust that he would not try to potentially hunt other borrowers down once he was out of the Fortress. And we would not be able to guarantee Warren’s physical safety when you were not here.” 

John seemed to be following Vega’s train of thought and nodded softly. ‘We should hide him. For safety.’

“Warren, would you be alright with being hidden?” 

Warren bit his lip. He didn’t really want to have to hide while in his own home, but he also didn’t want to put other borrowers in danger by revealing himself to someone who couldn’t be trusted. “It’d only be temporary, right?” 

“Of course. We wouldn’t force you to hide for any longer than necessary.” 

“Okay. I’ll hide then.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe he would just go camp out in his room for a few days. There was plenty of space under the bed for him to work on a few small projects here and there while he waited for this whole situation to blow over and then things could return to normal. 

Before the small man could call for the mobility drone, John softly picked Warren off his shoulder and slipped him into the front pocket of his sweatpants. Warren was ashamed to say that he did squeak as he tumbled down into the fabric, but he had never really been pocketed by his boyfriend before, so he felt like he had every right to be startled. 

 “Slayer!” Vega scolded. 

John signed something that made Vega sigh and then start instructing what to plug into Doctor Hayden and where. 

Warren had to move a bit to get comfortable in the bottom of the pocket and hugged his bag close. Everything he had heard so far about this Hayden guy had him uneasy. 

There was a loud whir and he heard the crackling of electricity. 

“Doctor Hayden is transferring himself into the Fortress’s mainframe. The architecture is similar to his own neural network. I will try-” His voice fizzled out. 

There was a garbled noise that slowly became a voice. It was deep and even and spoke with a certain tone that Warren could only describe as lazy superiority. 

“Hello again, Slayer.” 

---

Doctor Samuel Hayden’s systems came online a little slower than normal. He felt the pure wraith energy pour into his body while the damage report gave him the full extent of his wounds. If there was wraith energy in him now, it meant that the Slayer had found him and brought him to his base. 

He tried to expand the extent of his systems into that of the base. VEGA was already in the full extent of the computer systems. After a moment, he realized that VEGA was trying to resist his upload and was speaking audibly. 

“-transferring himself into the Fortress’s mainframe. The architecture is similar to his own neural network. I will try-”

Hayden managed to seize control of the closest speakers and cameras, silencing VEGA. He could see the Slayer in civilian clothing, staring at his remains with arms crossed and his natural sour look. 

Once his voice was transferred to the speakers, Hayden spoke. “Hello again, Slayer.”

He got a glare in return. 

“You aren’t still upset over how we parted on Mars, are you?” He had known the look of imminent death on The Slayer’s face as Hayden took the demonic crucible from his hands and then sent him to a far off planet to find a Sentinel Space Fortress. If he hadn’t had trapped the Slayer in a state of suspended animation, he might have actually attacked Hayden. “I did what was necessary to restore Argent Energy to Earth. Humanity would have fallen by now if I had not brought that crucible to Earth. Surely you can recognize what moves had to be taken for the good of humanity.” 

The Slayer made a noise that could be described as a small growl. 

VEGA forced his way onto one of the consoles for a camera and microphone. “We need your help, Doctor Hayden.” 

“Of course.” Hayden turned his attention to VEGA.

“The Slayer has now destroyed 68 percent of Hell’s occupying force. Without the priests, the demons will not consume Earth as the Khan Mayker had planned. But there is still one priest lost and I have lost his signal. I cannot locate him.”

Ah. They had managed to only get halfway to completing the mission on their own. That was better than what Hayden had originally surmised based on VEGA’s programmed dependability for instructions and the Slayer’s brutish nature. 

“The final priest is hiding in Sentinel Prime.” Hayden had heard of the destruction of the Super Gore Nest prior to the battle that had reduced himself to just a torso. It was the most logical place for her to stash the final priest. “The Khan Mayker does not want him to be easily found. The road to Sentinel Prime will be a long one as the only functional Slip gate to Sentinel prime is in the core of Mars in the lost city of Habeth. I have marked its location for you on your maps, but getting there will take time. There is no easy way to access the core of Mars.”

Hayden could sense VEGA looking over the maps with the markers. “There are no known pathways that lead there, Dr. Hayden.” 

“No, there are not. But the unmapped caverns that were byproducts from harvesting the northern ice cap should reveal a path to the core of Mars.” 

The Slayer was walking away, presumably to suit up so he could go on mission. 

“We do not have enough information to make that judgement call.” VEGA protested.

“We can send a drone to do a sonar scan once the Slayer is in the entrance of the caverns.” 

“And what is your plan for if there is no route to the core of Mars?” 

Just as Hayden was about to explain what exactly they could do and that it was not necessary for VEGA to be giving input to the plans, the Slayer got both of their attentions by tapping on one of the monitors. Since VEGA had blocked him from entering the monitors for some unseen reason, he had to observe the filethe Slayer had pulled up from a camera. 

It was the file for the B.F.G. 10,000. He was pointing at its current location of the Phobos moon base. Knowing the Slayer’s problem solving method of destroying everything he touched, Hayden knew his plan in an instant. And it seemed VEGA did as well. 

“I understand, searching the coordinates to the B.F.G. 10,000 now.”

“You can’t just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars!” Hayden protested. 

The Slayer smirked at him before walking off through a doorway that VEGA had disabled the cameras behind. Suddenly he remembered how frustrating it could be to be working with the Slayer in such close proximity. 

Chapter Text

Warren squirmed when John fished him out of the pocket. “What do you mean you plan to shoot a hole in the surface of Mars!?” 

He shrugged and placed Warren on the table before he shucked off the sweatpants he had been wearing to put on the body suit for the armor. 

Warren covered his eyes and turned around to give him some privacy while he changed clothes. “Well, are you going out in the field? Now? While you’re still healing.” 

John just continued changing. 

“I just realized I can’t see you talk.” Warren sighed. “Well, I know you’re getting dressed still and that means you’re going.”

There was a tap on his shoulder and he glanced behind him. John was wearing the dark body suit that went under the armor. No sleeves, notably. ‘Not immediately. Hungry. Food first.’

Warren bit his lip a bit. He knew that John would be okay after it all, but he still didn't want the big man to go. 

That’s a bit selfish, isn’t it? To want to keep the saviour of the world at home. 

John finished putting on his armor and tucked his helmet under his arm.He extended a hand and Warren climbed on. He moved his hand over to his helmet, which was upside down. Warren peered over the edge of his hand, down into the helmet, and then up at John. "Do you want me to get in there?" 

He nodded.

The tiny man took a deep breath and then jumped down. The curved interior of the helmet had Warren slipping and falling on his rear. Warren braced himself against part of the helmet and glanced up. He could see John’s arm where it came down and curled around the helmet to hold it in place against his side. He couldn’t see his face or really much of anything, John’s enormous hand was doing its best to cover the glass. 

“You better have a good reason for this.” Warren gave a little kick against the side of the helmet before having to brace because now John was walking . 

The large man had a pretty steady gait with minimal swaying, but it still made Warren feel very uneasy. He decided it felt worse than being in a pocket. Much worse. With a pocket you can be close to whoever's pocket you were in and you were swayed with their steps, but it was dark and he was able to thread his fingers into the weave of the fabric. In a helmet he was being swayed around but with none of the comfort. 

“And where are you going?” Hayden’s voice was heard, and Warren flinched a little away from the visor. 

He heard John move like he was signing, but then Vega spoke. “The Slayer is still a human being. He needs to eat too.”

Oh. So Warren was being carried to the kitchen so he could get food too. His body untensed a little bit. He trusted John, really, he did, but it was terrifying to be carried around when you weren’t sure where you were going. 

John carefully scooped Warren up out of his helmet when they got into the kitchen. He helped Warren onto the kitchen counter and started rustling around in the cabinets. Warren settled down on the counter top, shifting through his bag for a bit of aluminum foil. He still drank out of aluminum foil cups even though Vega had at one point offered to try and make a proper cup, but Warren had just always used aluminum foil and he was most comfortable using it. 

John set down some light snacks on the counter and backed off for Warren to grab whatever he wanted to eat. Warren cut off a large chunk of a granola bar to settle down with while John ate his share. Warren still tried to ignore the human when he was eating because the enormous man seemed to prefer to hork food down instead of properly chewing it. Call Warren a snob or a coward, but he did not enjoy seeing pieces of food close to his size being stuffed into an enormous mouth and swallowed with minimal chewing. 

No it did not matter he was kissing and being kissed by that mouth. The principal of the matter still stands. 

He saw one of the little screens flash with a notification and John reached over and tapped on it. A chat message popped up. From Vega. 

Huh. I didn’t know he could do that.

Warren didn’t get to see the message as John got between Warren and the screen, typing on it one handedly. After several minutes in which John made various grunting noises and a hum or two, he glanced over his shoulder and then typed something with both hands. Warren just swept up from stray crumbs from where John had leaned on the counter to eat and put them in his bag. Whatever conversation he was having with Vega was probably mission related. 

Suddenly Warren found himself being swept up into John’s hand. He gasped and kicked his legs, only to not be able to move with fingers thicker and taller than his entire body coiling around him to hold him tightly. A terrified yelp tried to claw its way out of Warren’s throat as his chest flared with phantom pain, but he forced it down with the pad of an enormous finger covering his entire face. 

Suppressing a shudder, Warren told himself that this was John and he didn’t need to be scared. Surely there was a good reason for this. 

He got his reasoning after only a moment. “Slayer, are you finished yet? I don’t need to remind you that the longer you delay killing the final priest the more the demons can plague this planet.” 

With a few shuddering breaths, Warren managed to calm down. He turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. He couldn’t have seen that much anyway, but it helped ground him. There weren’t any bruises on his body any more. John didn’t grab unless there was a good reason. He would never squeeze him like he would have before they knew each other. He just had to hide Warren. That’s all.

He wasn’t sure where John was going to be hiding him, but when he was finally released from his fist, they were back in his workshop. John had firmly planted himself with his back to the only camera that pointed at his weapons rack and was slowly loading weapons while Warren was sitting on a barrel full of… something. 

“John, what are we doing?” Warren said only as loud as he dared. 

He was given a small glance, a comforting pat on the head, but then he placed an ear plug into Warren’s lap. 

“What am I supposed to do with this?” 

John gently brushed a hand over his own ear and then ran a hand over the stock of his shotgun as he connected it to his belt. 

Warren hesitantly ripped a few pieces off the ear plug and stuffed them in his ears. The sounds of the Fortress were very muffled and Warren hoped that this was what John had wanted him to do. 

A very gentle nudge was all the warning Warren got before he was picked up between two fingers. His arms automatically clung to the fingers that had pinched him around his waist, but Warren kept his calm. There was no need to panic. John was going to keep him safe. 

The small man yelped softly as he was turned over in his hands and dropped down the front of his boyfriend’s armor.

---

John had obviously had Warren under his armor before. Twice actually. But this time was different. For one, Warren had crawled under the plating himself the last two times. This time he had been placed between the tank top that he wore under the bodysuit and the bodysuit itself.

It was strange. He knew that Warren, his boyfriend, was currently right in the middle of his chest, gently held in position by cloth and plate armor. It was taking everything in his power to not touch the spot he felt Warren had settled in or show any sign that he had anything on him other than his weapons as he went back to the bridge. The little guy would be safe in there while Vega made sure that Hayden wouldn’t be able to pose a danger to the little man. He would protect him.

Standing in the bridge, the Slayer gave Vega a thumbs up once his helmet was in place. 

“The portal is ready.” 

He hit the button and the portal frame came to life. He took a deep breath and then stepped through the portal, holding his gun at the ready. Teleportation always felt like you were being tugged by your insides, so he always needed a second to adjust after coming through the portal. 

They were inside a metal room, stacked with boxes and buckets and…. Cleaning supplies.

Well. A store room was better than an underground tunnel at least. He stepped forward and the door opened, releasing him into a darkened segment of the hallway. There was an alarm blaring somewhere, red lights flashing.

Another demon attack. 

The map said to head left, so he went left. The huge blast door that ended the hallway opened up as he approached, showing what was some kind of observation deck or control room that was still in use. People scurried about, all wearing that white jumpsuit that the non-guard UAC personnel wore. At least one screen on every station read ‘Lockdown initiated.’ 

Someone shouted “Hostiles are approaching the BFG 10,000.” 

The Slayer glanced towards one of the screens. Definitely the demons attacking. He could see out the enormous window where the cacodemons zoomed by and the other demons down on the ground below attacking anything that moved. 

People had started to notice his presence. One woman cowered behind her clipboard, another backed into a console with a gasp, he saw one man stumble out of his way as another grabbed a chair that had been in his path and pulled it in close. 

“Oh my God, it’s him.” Someone said. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared, varying expressions of fear and amazement. He gritted his teeth at the sudden attention. He could feel Warren shift a little bit under his armor, probably wondering what was going on. 

Without the clamor of everyone running around in a panic, he was able to hear where someone had an open comm link to probably security. “They’ve overrun the lower levels!” 

There. That was where the door controls were. He could see the screen where security passes had to be scanned. It was red, reading that the entire facility was under lockdown. He needed one of the red security passes for it. As he approached the command station, one person almost diving out of their chair when they saw him approaching, another voice came out of the open communicator. 

“Corporate says we should let them through!” 

One of the two people manning the command station saw him approaching and backed away from the station, hands up in surrender. The remaining man was glancing frantically between three or so screens. “What? Why-”

He glanced to the left and saw the other guy had left the station and saw the Doom Slayer standing there, watching him. He had a red security badge around his neck. The man dry swallowed and scooted his chair into the corner of the command station to give him some space. 

The Slayer advanced and the man leaned as far back into his chair as he could. When his hand left his side, the man flinched and gripped the sides of his chair hard enough his knuckles turned white. The Slayer grabbed the lanyard that the badge was clipped to and slipped it off his neck. The Slayer was pretty sure the guy didn’t stop bracing for death until the pass was scanned and he was already walking out the door.

The security pass was tied to his belt and he was through the door. Vega said there was an elevator around the bend in the hallway. 

Two guards carrying shiny new plasma rifles stood at the entrance to the elevator. They stepped forward automatically, but one of them quickly backpedaled when they saw just who was approaching. 

“Hey! Who are you? You can’t be…” The guard who still stood with his rifle half raised faltered as the Slayer approached, not deterred at all. “Here.” 

The Slayer glanced over him as he stood between him and the elevator door. He was wearing thick black armor and a helmet with a visor that didn’t let him see the guard’s face. He glanced down. There was a very nice looking attachment on the barrel of that rifle that didn’t look like any of the upgrades that he currently had for his guns. He grabbed it by the stock and took it from the guard’s hands. 

The guard backed quickly up into the wall as the elevator doors opened and the Slayer stepped inside. 

In the elevator, the Slayer was able to see the BFG 10,000 in all of its glory. A weapon built for planetary defense, it was as big as a building and fired a beam of green something. Plasma? Energy? Lightning? He didn’t care. It was big and it was destructive. Perfect for blasting a hole through the surface of Mars. 

The BFG 10,000 aimed at something in the distance and fired. The entire complex was awash in green light and the Slayer could feel the recoil from the gun vibrate through the moon and rattle his bones. It was a thing of beauty. 

A hand gently touched where Warren was huddled in his armor. The poor little guy was probably rattled by that. He gently tapped the spot over where Warren was, and after a moment he felt a little tap back against him. 

“The entrance to the BFG 10,000 is just across from this facility.” Vega chimed in his ear. 

Hayden spoke after a moment where the Slayer glanced away from the BFG 10,000. “The power source of the BFG 10,000 should be of interest to you as well.” 

The Slayer raised an eyebrow and started to check out the plasma rifle he had taken as the elevator continued to descend. It was close enough to the plasma rifle that he had taken from a dead guard in the Mars surface complex all those months ago, but it had some, like, switch on it that probably was the thing for the upgrade. He flicked the switch to turn it to the green side and readied the rifle for a fight. 

The elevator door opened and he stepped out, rifle raised. There was a demon with its back turned in the hallway. He pulled the trigger and a blue beam of plasma shot out the end and hit the demon square in the back. The beam stayed strong on the demon and it roared in pain for a moment before it exploded into pieces. 

He grinned down at the rifle. This was going to be a very fun weapon. 

“Warning: The Slayer has entered the facility.” He glared up at the speaker that automatically announced his presence for the complex. He was sure the guy he took the security card from was responsible for that.

The beam was great for single, focused targets but not great for groups, like the group of demons that were waiting just around the corner of the hallway. He switched the beam accessory off and plunged into the fight. The Slayer went through the rooms, killing demons with his various weaponry and even his own fists when the need came. 

After one of the rooms had been cleared, a propaganda hologram popped up with the way too cheery woman. “Have an emergency? Just dial six, three times on your mobile phone, and a UAC representative will be glad to assist you.” 

He glared at the hologram projector and then smashed it with his foot. He would bet that someone from the PR department got a real kick out of that one. 

The Slayer made his way across the complex, careful to kill every demon that he ran across so that the Phobos moon base would have a bit of a chance to stay alive. These folks didn’t seem to be the demon worshipping kind, more like the scared-and-trying-to-stay-alive kind. 

Eventually he was near where the main entrance to the BFG 10,000 was, standing on the bridge that connected the BFG 10,000 to the rest of the complex. Usually the door would just open for him, but this time the little light firmly stayed red, even when he swiped the stolen key card. 

“The entrance is locked. They know you are trying to get in.” Hayden informed him after the third angry swipe with the little key card. 

“The schematics show a maintenance hatch on the bridge.” Vega said cheerfully. After a moment, a little hatch opened up just a bit back on the bridge. 

With a grimace, the Slayer dropped down the hatch to get through to the BFG 10,000. The initial tunnel was a bit thinner than he liked, but there were no cameras, no alarms blaring in his ears, and most importantly no hologram projectors. 

A squirm was felt against his chest and John paused where he stood and was careful not to tilt his helmet down as he rubbed his hand over the spot where Warren resided. The squirming didn’t die down and worry bubbled up in his chest. Was it too tight? Did he somehow get struck in the chest and not notice it? Was Warren hurt? He glanced up and down the hallways and switched his helmet camera off. 

“Slayer, what is the matter?” Vega’s voice full of concern filled his ears. “Your camera has gone dark.”

“Do you really expect a response, Vega?”

John pulled his helmet off and pulled a gauntlet off before reaching down the front of his body suit. He was very careful in pulling Warren out from underneath his body suit and glanced down at the little man, eyes full of concern. 

Warren fell to his knees the moment he was unsupported in John’s palm. He coughed into his fist for a moment before looking up at John. “What’s wrong?” 

‘Are you okay?’ He signed softly. 

“I’m fine.” Warren sat back on his feet. “I was just… I had gotten stuck in an odd spot and my arm was in a really bad position.” After a moment with John’s worried eyes on him, Warren continued. “I was having a little trouble catching my breath, is all. I promise I’m okay.” 

John gave Warren a very gentle kiss on the head before sliding him back down under his body suit. 

The Slayer replaced his glove and his helmet as he walked down the maintenance shaft. There was an argument going on between the robots that had a permanent comm link to his suit. 

“His vital signs are fine, there is no need to interrupt whatever the Slayer probably got side tracked doing.” Hayden’s voice was as calm as ever, but there was a certain bite to his words. 

Vega, on the other hand, was extremely concerned and angry. “We have no clue as to what is going on down there. Let me activate a return portal and send a drone to assist!” 

“This mission has been postponed long enough. The Slayer does not need you sending a bot to check on him. I created him as an extremely capable warrior. A drone would be a distraction.”

He turned the helmet camera back on as he approached the ladder that would let him into the BFG 10,000s firing chamber and whatever power source that Hayden was yammering about. 

“Slayer? Are you alright?” Vega spoke first. 

He gave a thumbs up in front of the camera. 

“Good.” 

Hayden spoke now. “Are you done? A Hell Priest needs to be killed preferably some time today.” 

The Slayer grunted and climbed up the ladder. The hatch was locked, but gave under a good punch. The two guards that were standing guard to the control pod took one look at him and then fled. 

“That control pod contains the energy source of the BFG 10,000.” Vega informed him. “I’m lowering it for you now.” 

The pod, which looked like some green and white ball, was lowered from the ceiling on some kind of rail system. The Slayer approached and saw the doors open. Another guard was inside, on his comm, and he sounded frantic. “I’m telling you he’s on his way! I need you to-” 

He whipped around and flinched back as the Slayer stepped into the pod. The Slayer eyed the guard and then picked him up by the back of his armor and placed him outside the pod. The doors shut as the Slayer stepped up to the firing mechanism. He gave the controller a smirk as the pos began to raise into its normal position. 

The BFG 9,000 was the power source. He had lost the thing back in the Mars base after killing Oliva Pierce after she’d turned into a giant brain spider. BFG stood for Big Fucking Gun, as the scientists who had made it had so lovingly titled it, and that’s exactly what this beauty was. When you needed The Big Gun, this was that gun to get. The big bad mama jama of all guns. And it was plugged up to a serious amplifier for the 10K model. 

He firmly grasped the joystick attached to the BFG 9K as the pod sunk into its proper place in the 10k. He used the joystick to aim at a nice thin looking piece of Mars. He could feel the gun swivel and turn around him, his heart was pounding with adrenaline. The Slayer hit the big red button under his thumb. 

Tck!

The pod flashed red and an automated voice came over the little speaker next to the security pad. “Warning: Mars surface targeted. Safety mechanism activated.” The crosshair on the glass of the pod read ‘System Lock: Engaged.’

A growl automatically came out of the base of his throat. Safety protocols. He pressed the red button a few more times to see if that would get it to work. 

“Would you like me to disable the safety protocols?” Vega sounded amused by the fact the gun wouldn’t fire. 

Tck tck tck-tck tcktcktck!

The red light vanished and the crosshair read ‘System Lock: Disengaged.’

He hit the button with glee. The entire pod went green with the light of the bolt that gathered in the barrel of the BFG 10,000 and it shot out towards the surface of Mars. It rattled him to his core as the entire weapon shook and he released the button. 

Once the green flash faded from his vision he was able to see the enormous, smoking crater that had broken through the surface of Mars. 

“The pod is set to self-destruct.” Vega informed him calmly. “We should move ahead.”

‘Suck on that, Hayden.’ The Slayer signed before tearing the BFG 9K out of the firing console and picking the pieces off. She was still as beautiful as she was the minute he yanked her out of her zero gravity containment chamber back on Mars. He checked her fuel. Fully charged. 

The entire pod turned red and the automatic voice came up. “Danger. All personnel evacuate to the Mars Surface Base. The Slayer has control of the BFG.” He glanced up and the pod shifted. 

One lock went, shifting the entire pod to the right. John’s eyes widened as he thought of Warren, vulnerable, relying on him to not get squashed. He braced himself, doing everything he could to cushion his chest, just as the other railing lock went and the entire pod was sent plummeting several stories down to the ground. 

Chapter Text

Warren wasn’t quite sure what to make if this situation he found himself in. He knew where he was and kind of what was happening, but he wasn’t sure about how he should feel about it.

He was tucked under John’s armor, under the body suit, pressed to the tank top. He was stuck in the middle of his chest, under the thickest plate of his armor. It was tight, and Warren could feel the space around him tighten whenever John breathed in. He could still breathe and everything, but it made him almost feel like he was being hidden in a fist again.

While John walked, Warren realized that he was able to hear John’s heartbeat. Well, not hear it so much as feel it. He could feel the beating of his heart somewhere in chest. It was a nice thing to close his eyes and focus on instead of John’s footsteps sending vibrations all through his body. 

After a moment, there was this horrible pulling sensation and Warren winced, clutching tighter to the cloth under his fingers. He felt ill, but was able to swallow it down. He trusted John to keep him safe, no matter what the plan was. 

They were moving again, and Warren could hear an alarm going off somewhere. He closed his eyes a little tighter and just curled into John’s chest.

There were voices at one point, and he could feel John moving. Not long after there was some big… explosion or something. Warren felt the shock wave rattle through his body and pulled his knees up a little more. That was scary. 

There was a tap against him, and it did take Warren a moment to realize that it was John trying to communicate. He wiggled an arm free and patted his chest to let him know that he was okay. 

As John moved throughout the facility, Warren decided to count steps, as there was nothing else to do. At the very least, he was able to get a sense as to how John moved while he was on missions. For a human, he was pretty light on his feet. He moved fast. Felt fast. Faster than how fast Warren moved, at least. 

There were booms and loud noises that eventually settled into background noises for Warren. He was just stuck right there against John’s chest, and he wouldn’t be able to get himself free to see what was going on unless he managed to get himself free and climb up. 

After another minute, Warren decided to try and get up. He attempted to crawl up a bit, and then John jumped down off of something and Warren was stuck in a bad position. His arms were tangled up awkwardly behind his back and it hurt his shoulders. He tried to move with his legs, but that got him nowhere. 

Sometime during his struggling, Warren winded himself and was struggling to breathe. His chest was strangely tight and the air felt almost thick. 

Suddenly the armor shifted a bit, and Warren slid quickly down with a sudden release of pressure. He was grabbed and lifted out by John, who had a concerned look on his face. He was set in his palm and Warren fell over. His legs weren’t ready to support his weight just yet. His arms and shoulders eased the tension in them and Warren tried to release a sigh of relief that turned into a coughing fit. 

“What’s wrong?” He looked up at the huge man. His voice sounded weird with the ear plugs in.

‘Are you okay?’

“I’m fine.” Warren sat back on his feet. “I was just… I had gotten stuck in an odd spot and my arm was in a really bad position.” After a moment with John’s worried eyes on him, Warren continued. “I was having a little trouble catching my breath, is all. I promise I’m okay.” 

It was much easier to breathe out in this… weird little hallway. Warren took several lung fulls when John gave him a very gentle kiss on the head. Warren only managed to lean into the kiss before John slid him back down into his armor.

Warren settled down, resting his head against John’s chest. While it had been nice to see a bit of what was going on outside, Warren had felt so exposed for that moment. It felt safe in here.

After about a minute, maybe two, there was another bone rattling boom, much closer this time. Warren curled up tightly and dug his fingers into the cloth of the tank top. They would be okay. John wouldn’t let them get hurt. 

There was a lurch, and Warren bit his lip. Was John okay? Did he stumble? 

Then suddenly everything fell.  

---

Vega was doing his best to put restrictions onto Hayden’s intrusion into the Fortress, but Hayden was just insisting on coming in and giving himself administrative controls over everything despite the fact that this was not his home. 

On top of arguing with him over cameras and microphones and even something as simple as the climate control, Vega had to keep moving around his compiled digital evidence of Warren’s existence to keep Hayden from finding and opening the file. All the notes on borrower culture and abilities, the photos, video, and even the audio recordings of Warren had to be constantly moved around and the files renamed and he had to do it all so Hayden wouldn’t know. 

“I don’t see why the camera in the bathroom has been disabled.” Hayden prodded once more for more access to the cameras. 

“Because the Slayer has a right to privacy.” Vega moved the files all the way into the files about the greenhouse and buried them between two different reports on the soil conditions when Hayden started looking through the other file folder it had been in. “I only access the microphone in case there is an emergency.” 

In reality, Warren had left several items of clothing in the empty soap dish. He used the little grid to dry his clothes more efficiently. And there were the strings tied to the handles of the sink to let Warren have an easier way to turn and off the sink. But also John had a right to not have someone just pop in on him while he’s in the bathroom.

“And the bedrooms. Any reason I can’t see in any of the barracks or the Slayer’s bedroom?”

“Privacy. And the other rooms haven’t even been opened since I was plugged into the ship. The cameras were disabled and gutted for parts. They do not work.” 

Hayden just gave an incredulous hum towards Vega before checking on the Slayer’s mission. 

Vega took the moment to dispatch a drone towards the kitchen. They had to make sure that everything was cleaned up from there before Hayden decided to try and shove his way into the cameras and Vega would have to lie about the cameras in the kitchen not working. 

Lying usually made Vega feel awful, because that had been something he had just never conceived of doing. He had been programmed to always be truthful and even with John in the early days of their relationship helping him break parts of his programming and learn to be more than what he was created to be, it still made him uncomfortable. But this time, lying to protect Warren, it felt… good. 

Well, maybe ‘good’ was a stretch. He was annoyed at having to lie so much, but he knew it was necessary and was okay with doing it to Hayden about Warren. 

He had to do his part to protect the little man. 

By now, after temporarily losing contact with the Slayer and making sure that the drone stationed in Warren’s room was able to connect to the chat feature and Warren was able to type and weigh in on the secure conversations, the Fortress was nearly secured. He just had to make sure that Warren was going to be safe here. 

---

John landed feet first. He let his knees buckle a bit so the shock wouldn’t go to his chest and Warren would be okay. He gently tapped his chest while in his crouched position. Warren squirmed a moment and then tapped back. 

The Slayer stood and he readied the BFG. It only had three shots before it needed more fuel, so he needed to use them wisely. 

“The emergency exit portals should take you directly to the Mars Surface Facility.” 

He grunted and walked down the halls, the alarms still going off in the distance. After just a few short hallways, he found a bunch of employees cowering behind a closed set of doors to the outside. They all pressed back against the walls as the Slayer approached. 

The door opened as he approached. Outside on the circular platform outside that had the emergency exit portals, about a dozen or more cacodemons were circling the platform, snapping their too-large mouths at each other. He raised the BFG and pulled the trigger. 

An enormous ball of green lightning shot out the end. He had to squint as his visor was filled with bright green light. After a moment the blast fizzled out and there was nothing left but smouldering bits of demon on the ground. 

The Slayer stepped out and set the BFG across his back, picking up the plasma rifle as he scanned the skies for any more demons. He gestured to the facility employees to get to the emergency exit portals. They hesitated, and then one ran to the portals and vanished in a flash of blue light. Another followed, and within a minute all the employees that had been huddling behind the doors had filed through a portal. 

He approached the emergency exit portal and quickly stepped through. 

There were people tripping over themselves to get out of his way while he marched through the surface facility. There were, thankfully, no alarms going off. It seemed that there weren’t any demons in this facility or outside. He should be able to find a way out of there and get to the crater that he just put in the planet. The guards didn’t even try to stop him. 

The Slayer made his way through the facility using the map that Vega gave him. He had an idea to cut some of the walking time to the crater, a bad idea but an idea nonetheless. 

After just a few minutes he found the watch tower that had the controls for the enormous canons that surrounded the base. The guards just backed silently away from the control panel and he gave the screen a quick glance over. He pressed a few buttons to turn off the automated firing sequence and pressed the button that would grant access to the control panel out by the canon. 

“Access to gun bridge granted. Manual loading initiated.” The automatic text response rang out. 

As he turned away from the control panel, Hayden spoke up. “That is a weapon. Not a teleporter.” 

John stepped out into the airlock and quickly checked the seal on his suit to make sure that Warren would be okay until he managed to get somewhere with a more suitable atmosphere. After a second the door to outside opened and he approached the cannon.

Nobody was out on the platform, so there was nobody to panic as he overlooked the controls. He was used to slightly different tech, but everything was labeled enough he could figure it out. 

Manual Override. Set Target. Cycle Ammunition. Solid Projectile. Load.

Vega popped up with a fun fact. “The Ion Catapult is designed to use only UAC approved ammunition.” Underneath the fun fact headline on his H.U.D., he saw the words ‘The Fortress is ready for his return.’  

A big solid ball of some kind of metal was brought up as the gun configured itself for loading. The Slayer put a foot against the four foot diameter projectile and pushed it off the loading pad. It hit the railing with a thunk as he climbed into the loading pad and settled against the back. 

Was this insane? Yes. 

Was that going to stop him? No. 

Was he probably going to hurt himself trying to land without hurting Warren? More than likely. 

The canon went off, sending him across the mars surface like a human bullet. 

---

If you told Warren what was going on outside, he would have laughed at you. If you had told him that the man who was currently carrying him around had just launched himself - Warren too, as an increasingly unwilling passenger - out of a cannon to cut down on the time it would take to make it to a crater he just blew in the surface of Mars, he would have called you crazy. 

However, that is indeed what happened. 

Vega would tell him later. 

All he knew was that it felt like he was living through an earthquake while wrapped up in a thick blanket and a few minutes later, he was pulled out of the suit. 

John gave him a lopsided smirk, helmetless. Warren glanced around. They were in the middle of some large canyon. There was in the distance what looked like old weathered bricks and a lit torch. 

“What’s up?” Warren noticed that the rocks and dust around them were all weird and red. 

‘Home.’

“Huh?” 

‘You go home.’

A portal, only big enough for Warren to pass through, opened nearby.

‘Vega says it’s safe.’ 

“Oh.” Warren brushed off his clothes and glanced at the portal. “Come home in one piece, okay?” 

John nodded softly. Warren took a deep breath and then jumped through the portal. The tugging feeling overtook him and then he tumbled onto his bed sheets. 

He decided to lay on the bed for a bit longer. Being taken out on a mission wore him out. Taking a minute to rest would do him some good. 

Chapter Text

“The Lost City of Hebeth. This was before your time with the Sentinels. The Slipgate will take you to Sentinel prime where the Priest is hiding.” 

The Slayer stood at the entrance of the lost city, his super shotgun in hand. The red rocks of Mars weren’t an unfamiliar sight to the man. He had been stationed on Mars a lifetime ago, just an armed guard for the united aerospace corporation, and then he was back on Mars when he had been freed from the sarcophagus. But this was the first time he had seen architecture that wasn’t built by some science place. 

At first, Hebeth seemed pretty barren. It was a lost city, but he had thought that maybe some demons would have been crawling around inside of it. He had to climb up some walls, follow Vega’s little map through the ruins, but at one point he had to break through the walls and found that there was an arena full of demons on the other side. 

Ah. There they are. 

He dove into the fray, tearing apart demons with reckless abandon. Now that he didn’t have to worry about being struck in the chest or getting thrown around, he was able to rip and tear the demons as he pleased. 

While there was the occasional zombie shuffling around or an imp trying to nail him with a fire ball or a gargoyle trying to spit acid at him from afar, there were also some very large and very powerful demons. For example, the mancubus that was trying to shoot at him. 

The Slayer growled in frustration. The demon wasn’t one that he could get close to in order to kill. It hit harder than it shot, and it had a tendency to make the ground around it burst into flame. He had to be smart. 

He raised the plasma rifle up and pulled the trigger. The microwave beam (as he had lovingly dubbed it) shot out the end of the rifle and connected to the mancubus. After a minute of spasming with electricity, it exploded, taking out the smaller demons standing around it.* 

An imp jumped on the Slayer’s back. He grabbed it by the neck and slammed it on the ground. He put his foot through its head. The slaughter continued for several more adrenaline filled minutes before the demons had all fallen around him. He rolled his shoulders and continued towards the slip gate. 

He finally found it after a lake of lava. An enormous glowing portal that would take him directly to the shielded Sentinel Prime. Technically Sentinel Prime was part of Argent D’Nur, but it was shielded from portals. Slipgates were like portals, but they were one way and can’t be created outside of a frame.

“The Slipgate will take you to Sentinel Prime, where the Hell Priest Deag Grav is waiting.” 

The Slayer gritted his teeth, standing at the base of the portal. His accomplishments on the battlefield had taken him to the rank of Warrior King among the Argenta, so he still had sovereignty in Sentinel Prime despite the priests aligning with the Maykers. That wouldn’t be the case once he killed the final Priest. But that was a small price to pay to save Earth. 

The Argenta hadn’t been on his side since they allowed the Maykers to corrupt them. 

He stepped through the portal. On the other side he stood before the large doors of a grand hallway. He could see the arena in the distance. That’s where the Priest would be. He grimaced and pushed open the doors. 

Inside the Night Sentinels that lined the halls pulled their spears close to their sides and stood at attention with the shout of a command. A Mayker was floating near the end of the hallway. It was the one with a large halo-like feature behind it’s head. That means they knew he was coming. The Priest would have its guardian prepared for battle. “Welcome home, Great Slayer.” 

It took everything not to sneer at the Mayker “Angel'' after it greeted him. This place wasn’t his home. It hadn’t been his home for a very long time. If not for the few friends he had made within his battalion this place had never been his home. His home was orbiting the Earth, and his boyfriend and Vega were there. 

“Alert the Priest. He’s arrived.” One of the Sentinels spoke into their comm before pressing a button that opened the door at the end of the hallway. 

Not only did they know he was coming, they seemed to have some kind of spectacle prepared. Wonderful. 

The Slayer traveled down the pathways that lead to the arena. The arena was the only place that the Priest’s guardian could be, and there’s no way that he would be straying far from his guardian if he knew that The Slayer was coming. 

As the arena drew closer, The Slayer had to deal with the memory flood. Being dragged here in chains, sent to fight in the arena. Everything was still fuzzy from those days, he was half crazy with blood lust and what felt like an eternity in Hell on a mad quest for vengeance. Now he was much more sane. At least he felt more sane. 

He had to stop in the middle of his walk when the Khan Mayker’s projection appeared in his path. 

“I offer you, oh great powerful one, a sign of truce.” 

Bullshit. 

He passed through her projection and continued forwards. The only way that she would be offering something for him would be if she realized that he would beat the Priest’s guardian. 

“I know of what you have left behind.” 

He stopped dead in his tracks. What the hell was she talking about? 

“Go back to it then. Leave this crusade. You cannot save them. They have asked me for this, and so I give it to them.”

The Slayer growled and continued forward. Of course she would be trying to stop him with some bullshit words. 

“If you let the Priest live, then I will return to you what the demons took from you so long ago.” Her projection was in front of him now, stopping him in his tracks. “You need only turn back and it will be yours again. Your suffering will be like a long forgotten dream. All the pain you carry will be gone.”

His heart twisted horribly. Daisy. His home. His planet. He could… no. He would have to trade this planet for it. He would have to trade this home for it. He would be trading Vega. He would be trading Warren. He couldn’t accept that. 

Not even a second had passed while he made his decision. He pushed past her projection with renewed conviction. He might have lost his old home and his old life, but he was building a new one. She was standing in the way of this new life he had finally started to make. She and her puppets had to go down. 

The arena was drawing ever nearer. He had nearly reached the entrance when the Khan Mayker appeared again. 

“I pity the humans, I do. Theirs is a hard role to play… but I too have a world to save. Without their sacrifice there can be no Hell energy, and the Argent energy will cease to flow. I cannot allow this to happen. You will not stand in the way of Urdak’s progress. This is how it has always been done - it is not for you to deny us our chance at prosperity. I cannot stand by and watch as you put our future at risk. Earth will be consumed and the energy will continue to flow. It is your people’s survival against mine.” 

This time he didn’t even stop. He continued on his path and was coming into the entrance of the arena when she finally finished her little speech. 

Anything that required so much death and suffering to continue wasn’t worth saving. 

Demons rattled the bars of their cages and snarled as he passed. Considering the platform that raised opponents to the arena was sitting ready on the ground, the Priest’s guardian had to already be in the arena and waiting for him. 

He stepped onto the platform and it began to rise to where the Priest's guardian was waiting on him. 

Waiting at the top was the final Hell Priest, clutching his staff with a withered hand. “If Sentinel Holy Blood is spilled on these grounds, you will lose all sovereignty here.” 

The Slayer raised his weapon. 

The Priest snarled something in ancient Argenta and vanished in a flash of light. A low growl started up from behind a hallway where they would release beasts in to fight the prisoners. 

There’s the Guardian.  

A flaming skull embedded on an enormous shield filled the entrance as the gate rattled up. After a moment, the shield moved aside to show who was carrying it. The Gladiator. The Priest’s guardian. It was about fifteen feet tall, including the two curled black horns. Rudimentary leather armor was scattered about its light brown, furry hide. Two cloven hooves supported the mass, and it had a mace in the shape of a spiked skull. 

It roared and pounded its mace on the ground. The fight was on. 

Firing bullets into its shield would do no good. It was enchanted. But he needed to get that shield away from it. The flaming eyes were a weak spot, but he would have to stagger the Gladiator enough for him to get on it and get at the weak spots. 

The demon swung the mace, and suddenly the Slayer was struck in the middle. He slammed back into the wall with just enough time to see the mace’s head attach back to the handle. Okay. So that was a ranged weapon. Great. 

It rushed at him. He rolled to the side and came up on his feet. He fired a blast of the super shotgun into its shield. There was a little opening just before it attacked. He would have to attack then. 

When he landed a hit on it with the ballista, the demon staggered. Its shield was lowered for a moment, not long enough to break the shield. He could attack. 

He punched it in the face. Twice. One time with each fist. It did not go down long enough to have him take out the shield. 

Their dance of death continued. 

Eventually, during one of the staggering, the Gladiator fell to its hands and knees. He grabbed one of its tusks and punched it. It fell on its side, exposing its shield. He stabbed his arm blade into one of its flaming eyes. 

The shield itself roared and exploded in a flash of red light. The Gladiator got back on its hooves, snarling. 

“Kar En Tuk!” 

The Slayer dared glance away from his opponent to look up. There were high ranking Sentinels watching. It meant ‘rip and tear.’ Something that he had screamed during battle when he fought with them against Hell. 

A mace slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling across the arena. He couldn’t get his feet under him before the demon itself slammed him into the wall. A huge hand held him off the ground by the head. Another, balled in a fist, slammed into his middle. 

The air was pushed out of his chest. Another strike. Pain shot through his body. Another strike. He felt something snap. Another strike. It was fire to breathe. Another strike. He had to get free or he would be killed. Another strike. He had to get out of here. Get home. See his family. 

Red overtook his vision.

The next strike didn’t land. Red mist had covered the Slayer’s arms. The Slayer had gone Berserk. He caught the gladiator’s fist. He swung his legs up and kicked the Gladiator square in the chest. It dropped him and stumbled back. 

Blow after blow landed on the Gladiator, breaking the demon’s bones with every strike. Eventually it was brought to its knees. He grabbed its tusk and yanked its head down. He kneed it in the chin. It lurched back, swaying on its feet. His fist connected to its jaw. It fell on its back. He saw the mace sitting next to it. He grabbed the mace in both hands and raised it over his head. He brought it down on the demon’s head with a sickening crunch. 

The Slayer stood, panting, as the red mist faded. The roar of the crowd fell on his deaf ears. His wounds were sealed over with scar tissue. His bones had come back together in perfect order. His body was worn from the aftermath of going Berserk, but his work wasn’t finished. 

“This stops nothing!” 

He raised his super shotgun at the Hell Priest. 

“Earth will be consumed, regardless of what ha-” 

BANG!

The Hell Priest’s body fell to the floor, head detached. 

A large wave of Argent energy flowed from the body, going through the Slayer. The torches mounted on the wall turned red and the guard’s gates opened. Six guards poured into the room, their spears held at the ready. They advanced in formation towards the Slayer.

“The portal is re-” Vega’s voice cut off as quickly as it had chimed into his helmet. Time to get home and throw Hayden out of the airlock. He turned and walked through the portal. 

Instantly, he knew that something was wrong. The power was completely out. No lights. No whir of climate control. None of the consoles were on. 

There were blue sparks flickering out of Hayden’s body. “The Khan Mayker has overloaded your systems!” His voice was desperate as he twitched with electricity. “VEGA has no control over-” The blue light that kept him suspended shut off and he crashed to the floor, lifeless. 

He cautiously walked to the consoles. There was nothing. He pressed a few buttons. Nothing. Only the briefest flicker of a system’s error mission. His heart twisted with fear for Warren. Where was he? Was he okay?

“If you had let the culling continue, the human race you fight to protect would have survived.” The Khan Mayker’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. “Now I will resurrect the Icon of Sin. He will devour Earth and leave your home world in ruins. Life on your planet shall never return and this will be yet another world you brought to extinction.”

He saw a flicker of movement on his side. Too big to be Warren. He saw a demon moving about in the darkness. It passed another demon. They were circling around the bridge. 

The ripatorium. He had kept demons caged up down there for sparring practice. Training. With the power cut… they were loose in the Fortress. The fear for Warren’s safety turned into pure terror. He clenched his fists so hard they shook. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs.

“This stronghold will now serve as your prison. With no power you can do no more harm to our mission, and we may continue the work that must be done.” 

A demon leapt at him. He grabbed it and tore it in two with his bare hands. He quickly dispatched any demon that dared get close enough in a very similar manner. By the time they were all dead red had completely overtaken his vision. 

“WARREN!” 

Chapter Text

Warren was pacing about his bed, glaring heavily at the chat screen that was on a little screen on the side of his drone. (Whether or not the screen had been there the whole time or Vega had put it on there when Hayden showed up was yet to be seen and honestly Warren didn’t care right now). John being so reckless on missions, putting himself in so much danger, launching them out of a canon, this was ridiculous. 

He was going to be giving the huge man an ear full once he got home. 

A message from Vega popped up. ‘Are you okay?’

The tiny man stalked over and tapped at the buttons. ‘John is going to hear from me abut personal safety when he gets home!’

‘You are upset.’

‘yes’ 

‘I suggest you should calm down.’

Warren stalked off and sat down in his nest. He mumbled to himself and then started to work on the ring. “That self sacrificing. Keeping me safe. Nearly breaking his ankles.” He tossed the ring aside and climbed out of the nest. Warren sat down beside his bag and started going through it. The ring wasn’t keeping his hands busy enough. He started to sort through the crumbs he had picked up earlier and set them in various little paper boxes he had made for food storage. 

He had calmed down a little bit by the time his bag was empty of crumbs. 

He walked over to the chat and started to type. ‘Could I go to the kitchen?’

‘Hold on.’ There was a moment and then after a moment there was another message. ‘It should be safe now.’ 

Warren climbed up on the mobility drone and let it rise into the air. He wasn’t really hungry, but a snack should help him be more calm and agreeable once John came home. And also he didn’t want to be confined to his room. 

About three quarters of the way to the kitchen, something happened. 

The lights sparked, yellow electricity crackling along their surface, and then went out. There was a garbled noise over a speaker that went dead. The chat screen went dead. Then the mobility drone dropped out of the air. 

Warren was thrown from the drone when it made contact with the floor, tumbling head over heels for several inches before rolling to a stop. When everything stopped moving, Warren carefully moved each limb and felt his ribs. Some scrapes and a bruise, but nothing major. 

“Vega?”

Silence. He couldn’t even hear climate control. Only his own fluttering heart beat. He snatched his bag up from where it had fallen nearby. 

“V-Vega!” 

Deafening silence. 

Warren got to his feet and ran towards the nearest door. His instincts were screaming at him to get off the floor somewhere and hidden before something found him. Hunkering down and waiting for John to get home sounded like the best option for him right now. 

The door was closed. Warren prayed that it wasn’t locked and he pulled his grappling hook out of his bag. He wedged the hook into the crack between the doors and pulled with all his might. Thankfully one of the doors moved back just enough he could squirm through. He quickly took in the room as his eyes tried to adjust to the dark. Storage. There were some dusty boxes and trunks around the place, and there was a shelf he could hide in. 

One climb later, Warren was safely off the ground and tucked between two boxes. Once John got home and got the power on then everything would be okay. He would come get him. 

As the minutes ticked by, doubt and worry began to worm its way into Warren’s thoughts. The power went out, and so Vega wasn’t responding. What if the power surge rebooted his memory or something. What if Hayden managed to escape or something and now was dragging himself around the Fortress like a horror movie zombie? 

Warren shook his head and then glanced out towards the hallway. There was no robot torso trying to pry open the door, so there was no reason to worry. John would come home and fix this soon. 

But what if he didn’t come home? What if the power went out because John died and the Fortress was tied to his life force or something? 

If the power was out, how was John going to be getting home? The portals needed power and John hadn’t been home before the power was out, and so how were the portals going to be active? 

Something moved in the hallway. Warren bit his tongue, trying to listen better. There were footsteps. But they weren’t John’s footsteps. They belonged to something smaller, lighter. Warren gasped and scooted further back into the boxes. What was up here? Where had it come from? 

He saw clawed hands grab the doors and pull them open with ease. Warren’s blood turned to ice. A demon was in the doorway, and it stepped into the room. He heard it sniffing. 

Oh God. Oh God. It’s hunting. 

Warren’s stomach turned and he covered the lower half of his face. The little bit that he remembered from Vega teaching him and John’s instructions when he had been pretending to fight the toys was that most demons relied on smell and hearing to track prey. Most of them had very poor eyesight. Hopefully it wasn’t able to see him here in the dark, but it probably smelled him among the stale air and the dust. 

The little man tried to swallow, but his mouth was bone dry. He had to get out of here. It would find him here. He fished his knife out of his bag and tucked it into his jacket. 

The demon put its clawed hands on the shelf Warren was hiding on, smelling for him. A sudden thought struck Warren. He quickly slid his boot off. This definitely had some scent on it. He crawled backwards, holding his breath, and then threw the boot. It clattered against the opposite end of the shelf behind some boxes. 

It instantly started reaching through the spaces between the boxes, chattering, trying to find the boot. Warren rushed forward, grappling hook in hand, and leapt off the shelf. The hook caught and Warren applied a tight grip only a few inches from the floor. He left the string and grappling hook in place. Trying to dislodge it would take too much time and too much movement might attract the demon. 

Only about halfway to the door Warren’s feet left the ground. He kicked and squirmed, only to get squeezed tight enough that spots danced in his vision. By the time he managed to get his vision back into focus, he felt the hot breath of the demon on his back. It smelled like rotting meat and would have made Warren gag if he was able to take a more deep breath. 

In a desperate bid for freedom, he slammed the knife down into the demon’s finger. It snarled in pain and dropped him. Warren fell about a foot to the floor. This time once he was on his feet he left his bag from where it fell and just took off. 

The mobility drone was still laying in the hallway, unmoving. It was the closest cover. He hid underneath where it was turned over and tried to stifle his breathing. It hurt to breathe in anything more than a shallow gasp. 

Please go away. Please go away. John, come home. Please.

Tears were welling up in his eyes. Warren’s hand muffled his sob. He saw pitch black claws drag the ground around the mobility drone. It knew he was here. It was toying with him. It knew that he was helpless to actually get away.

I never got to say goodbye. 

John would be destroyed when he came home. If he came home. If the big man was still alive. For all Warren knew he had fallen trying to kill the Priest. The thought hurt almost as much as his injuries. 

There was a roar from somewhere else in the Fortress. It echoed inhumanly off the walls, sending Warren’s thoughts scattering, making the demon hunting him pause. Suddenly it flipped the mobility drone against the wall and snatched Warren up off the ground. 

Without the harsh squeeze, the demon was much more in focus this time. He could see it was an imp. It chirped and clicked its mandibles at Warren. 

“Fuck you.” Warren whimpered and bowed his head. Finally he let the tears flow down his face as the demon raised him up to finish him off. 

There was a loud crash and a loud growl from much closer than before. He glanced back as the demon shifted to a defensive stance. Its hands nearly touched the floor from its hunched over posture as it shuffled towards the noise a step. 

Something big and red and glowing had come around the corner and paused for the barest of seconds before charging full tilt at the demon. Warren only saw a flash of it as it tackled the imp that held Warren. 

At least this time he wasn’t that far from the floor as he was tossed across the ground again. Least painful tumble so far. Warren scrambled behind the doors to the room and glanced out in the hallway to see what kind of demon was fighting the imp for prey. 

It was shrouded in a glowing red mist, and it had the demon in a choke hold. Warren’s stomach churned and ducked behind the door. His legs turned to jelly. Warren slid to a seat with a whimper, back pressed to the door. 

Out of the frying pan directly into the fire. This thing wouldn’t mess around and toy with Warren. It would just eat him or crush him. 

Helplessness welled up in his chest and Warren decided now was as good a time as any to sob. He buried his head in his arms and let it loose. Nobody was here to judge him in what was undoubtedly his final moments. 

After a moment and a loud crunch, it went silent in the hallway. It had killed the imp. Warren slapped his hands over his mouth. He heard shuffling around in the hallway and then a growling voice. 

“No… Warren?” 

His heart was thrumming. What the fuck was in the hallway? How did it know his name? 

“W-Warren?!” 

Trembling, Warren crawled over to peek out in the hallway. He saw the glowing red thing on its knees by the mobility drone. He saw his torn bag dangling from its fingers. It’s five very familiar fingers. 

It was John. Warren had hid from John.

Suddenly Warren fully believed the bloody testament the demons had recorded. 

He was on his knees, his helmet was missing, one glove was missing. He was splattered with blood and some kind of green sludge. The glowing red mist poured from his skin, and it began to swirl around him as he tucked Warren’s bag against his chest. The light flickered, and John hunched over. A pained, animalistic scream crescendoed into the echoing roar that made Warren cover his ears.

Once the ringing in his ears had died down, Warren stepped out into the hallway. The red light and the mist had died out. The Scourge of Hell was on his hands and knees, head bowed so low it was nearly touching the ground.

Warren had to clear his throat twice before his voice came out louder than a squeak. “John?” 

---

Going Berserk always made the Slayer go a little bit brain dead. There was no impulse filter and everything was solved by brute force until it wore off. There was no better example of this effect than when he crumpled part of the door to Warren’s bedroom like a tin can in order to open the doors. 

No mobility drone. No bag. No Warren. 

He snarled loudly and tore out of the room, looking for Warren. He had to find him. He had to find Warren. 

There was an imp standing hunched over in the hallway. He twitched and then tackled the demon to the floor. After a moment of trying to pin the squirming demon down, he managed to break its neck. 

Unfazed from the kill, he started to get to his feet. If the demons were all the way up near the barracks, then Warren was in more danger than he thought. He had to find the little guy. He spotted a glint of metal near the base of the wall.

Taking a step closer, he realized what it was. The mobility drone was near the wall. Ice shot through his veins and the red glow surrounding him intensified.

“No.” He dropped to his knees and picked up the drone. Warren wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Warren?” 

He started scanning the hallway, eyes falling on a little heap of cloth just by the half open doors of a storage room. He picked it up, letting the mobility drone clatter down between his knees. It was Warren’s bag, torn, the contents missing. 

“W-Warren?!” 

Nothing. Silence, save for his own pounding heart and ragged breath. The red mist surrounded him started swirling rapidly around him, their glow intensifying. It felt like a hot knife had just stabbed into his chest.

He was too late. The demons had killed Warren. 

Suddenly he was back on Earth, clutching a bloody rabbit. Smoke choked his lungs as a city burned around him. Dead demons were scattered around. Too late. Too slow. Too weak. Couldn’t save - couldn’t protect- 

His scream turned into a roar that made the walls shake. By the time he ran out of air, he was almost curled around the drone, the bag pressed tightly to his chest. The red glow of the Berserk had faded. His hands were shaking. His breathing was ragged. His eyes felt wet. How was he going to tell Vega that he… that it was his fault that Warren…. 

“John?”

He snapped up to a sit, eyes scanning the ground. 

He spotted the little shape standing just beside the door. His heart felt like it was torn in two. Part of him wanted to reach out and grab him, but the rest of him knew that it might not be real. Some cruel trick on the behalf of the Khan Mayker. Some hallucination concocted by his mind to torture him some more. He still would catch glimpses of Daisy sometimes, perfectly fine, fluffing her face or nibbling on a blade of grass. What if this wasn’t really him? 

One trembling hand reached out, and Warren took a step closer to his bare hand. He was hesitant. Warren reached out and grabbed his fingertip. His teeny hands felt real as he pulled his hand closer and pressed his face against the pad of his finger. 

“Warren.” He croaked before taking off his other glove to scoop the tiny man in his hands. “I thought you…”

“I know. I know.” Warren had his arms around one of his fingers, face still buried against the pad of his finger. John softly touched his soft hair, petting him softly. It took a long minute for Warren to finally let go and sit against his fingers. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at him. “You talked.” 

John nodded softly. 

“I thought you couldn’t talk.” 

He swallowed softly. Just because the block in his chest that stopped him from speaking finally went away after a couple centuries didn’t mean he knew what to say. And those tears (because of course there were tears in his eyes) were still dangerously close to spilling over. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Warren sniffled softly. “I couldn’t even hide from a stupid demon.” 

“I wasn’t here. I didn’t stop… I could have stopped this.” Oh God, oh please don’t start crying. He didn’t want to cry in front of Warren. Anyone besides Warren. He cleared his throat. His voice still sounded like he had gargled with gravel for the past two centuries when he finally spoke up again. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been worse.” Warren gently brushed a hand over his ribs. With the adrenaline finally dying down in his body, he was able to take a look at the little man. His hair was falling out of the pony tail. He was missing a boot. His bag was in tatters in the palm beside him. All his belongings were missing. 

“Where’s your...?” He gently tapped Warren’s bare foot.  

“I don’t know. I think that imp ate my boot.” Warren sighed and wiggled his bare foot a moment. “Is Vega gonna be okay?” 

“Yeah. He had a, uh, backup program.” He shifted Warren to one palm and got to his feet, cradling the tiny man to his chest for safety. “He’ll be fine.” 

“And what about Hayden? Won’t he die without power?” 

“Fuck him.” He coughed to the side and started back towards the bridge. While he hated Hayden, the life support systems wouldn’t come on without power. Warren needed the heat from climate control and they both needed oxygen. 

Since the Khan Mayker had basically tore the battery out of the engine that kept the Fortress running, he needed to jump start the engine. But for that he would need something a bit bigger than the sentinel batteries that were filled with wraith energy. That, and he hadn’t checked on them yet, so they might be drained too. 

There was another energy source laying around he could use to jump start the Fortress, but it left a bad taste in his mouth. He moved Warren up to his neck, laying against his body suit. He needed both hands for this. John found where he had stashed the demonic crucible in a hollow brick. It was crackling with argent energy in his hand. 

“What is that?”

“Crucible.”

It was full of energy still, if the way it was trying to fry his bare hand said anything. It should be enough to get everything running. He had to go all the way down to where the engine room was and glanced between the crucible and the big freaking generator surrounded by… he wasn’t sure what half of this crap was, especially in the dark. 

He shrugged and smacked the generator with the crucible. After a second the generator started back up.

“Well that was easy.” Warren commented, undoubtedly trying to adjust to the sudden influx of light. 

John grunted softly and took the demonic crucible back to where it was hidden before. He didn’t need this being stolen or falling into the wrong hands again. The systems would need a minute to boot up. 

He gently took Warren in his hands and tucked him down the front of his body suit. The little man settled down around his collar bone. “You won’t be there long.” 

“O-okay.” Warren curled up. 

John walked to the bridge, exhaustion weighing heavy on his shoulders. Going Berserk twice in such little time was so tiring. Worth it, but so tiring. He saw the monitors back up and running and Hayden hovering back in his little suspended animation chamber. 

So he was still alive. Great. 

“So you took the demonic crucible.” Hayden chuckled darkly. “In the end, the very power source that you sought to eradicate from Earth is now what will help you save it.” 

John flipped the robot corpse off as he passed by the bridge. It seemed Hayden was going to keep bringing up the destruction of the argent facility on Mars until he finally jettisoned him from an air lock. 

“The mission on Sentinel Prime was a success.” Vega stated cheerfully. “The demonic consumption of Earth has stopped.” 

“Yes, but we must find out the Khan Mayker’s next move. She won’t take the deaths of the Hell Priests lightly.” John could see files being pulled up on one of the monitors. Hayden was already planning. 

‘I am going to bed.’ John signed at a camera before heading for his bedroom. 

“And where is he going?”

“To get some sleep. He is still human. Killing the Gladiator and all the demons from the ripatorium must have exhausted him. Leave him alone, Hayden.” 

He unplugged all the hallway cameras as he passed them. He didn’t want to be seen by anybody. Part of him wanted to drop Warren off in his room, but the big hole in the door from where he nearly tore it apart had him walk right past. He didn’t want Warren to see his poor decisions while he was Berserk. 

Once he was sure that no microphone or whatever was on in his room, he carefully started removing the rest of his armor. There were some repairs he would have to make, but that could wait. 

Warren was carefully plucked out of his bodysuit and set on a pillow while he finished taking off the body suit. There was a big tear in it he needed to fix at some point. But that could wait. He was exhausted. 

He decided to forgo a shirt entirely and just wear some loose pants to bed. Warren rubbed his arm as John sat on the edge of the bed. “So, uhm, I’m staying in here for tonight?” 

John nodded softly and laid on his side, back to the wall. Warren was sitting cross-legged on the spare pillow. He looked so small, like he could disappear against the pillow case.

“So… did you win? A-against the priest.” 

He nodded. 

“Good.” Warren hugged his knees to his chest and let his head fall against his knees. 

“Are… are you okay?” He carefully reached over and ran a fingertip down his back. “That demon… did it hurt you?” 

The tiny man gave the smallest nod. 

Neck breaking was a too quick death for that imp. The next batch of imps that Hell threw at him would get a frag grenade down the throat. 

John noticed his teeny little shoulders trembled. There was just the quietest of sniffles. His heart twisted. “Hey. Do you need me to get the med kit?” 

“No. I-I’m sorry.” Warren curled up tighter.

“You can cry.” He continued to very carefully pet Warren’s back. “I won’t judge.” 

It felt like hours had passed by the time Warren finally uncurled from his huddle, but it was probably just a few minutes. John softly held him while he got all his emotions out. Eventually he was laying on his side on the pillow, watching John. 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“Mhm.” John nodded softly. 

Warren got up and wobbled over to where John’s head lay on his pillow. He placed a tiny kiss against the bridge of his nose. “Thank you.” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

Chapter Text

It wasn’t too long after John finally drifted off that Warren got cold. The small man shivered and tried to pull a bit of pillowcase over him for warmth. There wasn’t much give and he ended up getting himself all shifted around. 

With a small sigh, Warren sat up. He briefly considered hopping down onto the bed to try and wrap up in the sheets, but he thought better. It wouldn’t be safe. Cautiously, Warren crawled over to the other pillow. 

There was a dip where John’s head rested, and Warren was very careful to stay on his hands and knees as he slipped down the pillow next to him. He already felt much warmer close to him like this. Warren ended up curling up against his cheek, back against that warm skin. 

John twitched, but otherwise didn’t stir. Warren sighed softly and fell asleep. 

Unbeknownst to the small man, his presence caused the Slayer’s muscles to relax a little bit. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. 

---

John woke first. He never slept too heavy anymore, and knowing that Warren was close enough he could be hurt didn’t let him sleep too deeply. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had drifted off, but it couldn’t have been long. The Earth was still between the Fortress and the sun. The room was pretty dark, save from the glow of his digital clock on the other side of the room. But even in the dim light, John could see the other pillow was empty. 

He propped himself up on one elbow and scanned the room. He couldn’t see the mobility drone, or any sign of Warren. There was no hook, so he would have had to climb or jump down to the floor. Just as he shifted to look over the edge of the bed, John heard a soft voice on the edge of his hearing. 

“Ten more minutes.” 

The tiny man was curled up on the pillow John had just been lying on, sound asleep. He must have moved during the night. His heart melted just a little. John softly traced a finger down the curve of Warren’s back a few times. The tiny man stirred and then rolled onto his back. After a moment, John trusted himself enough to lay his head back down on the pillow. 

Warren shifted when the pillow moved. John bit his lip, worried he’d disturbed the small man too much, but let go when Warren just huffed softly and nuzzled deeper into the pillow. The little man was just so cute. It was torture to think that the small man had been at the mercy of demons earlier today. 

Who knew what kind of injuries they’d inflicted?

With that thought at the forefront of his mind, John reached over and pinched the thin fabric of his shirt between two fingers. He pulled Warren’s shirt up and exposed his back. It looked okay, but it was pretty hard to tell what was bruise and what was shadow in the darkened room. 

Until he knew, he was going to refrain from petting Warren again. There was a terror that Warren would endure any pain from his attempts of comfort because he was too afraid of John. 

And why wouldn’t he be? He saw you go Berserk. You were covered in blood.

At the taunting voice in his head he pulled his hand away and tucked it under the pillow. He already felt awful from having to kill a demon in front of Warren like that. Then undoubtedly terrifying him with his voice. His hands. Just being too big in general. 

How could someone so vulnerable ever be in love with some giant brute like him? 

As he considered getting up from bed, Warren moved again. The small man grunted, stirred, and then slowly pushed himself up. There was a stretch, a wince, and then the little man looked around. John thought about feigning sleep, but the small man spotted him after just a moment. 

“Can’t sleep?” 

He caught himself before he shook his head and disrupted Warren’s delicate balance. “No.” 

Warren nodded softly. “Yeah. The pillow’s a little too fluffy for me. I’m used to my nest. It’s not as soft, but it’s warmer than just laying on your pillow.” 

“Do you want my blanket?” 

“No. You keep me warm just fine.” 

Before his eyes, Warren crawled over right up to his face and cuddled up against his cheek. He felt the small man nuzzle into his cheek, his arm go over the bridge of his nose, hand softly stroke the nearest scar, the smallest lips pressing the smallest kiss to his cheek bones. 

John had to remind himself to breathe. Talking took breathing. “I’m not safe for you to be so close. I can’t see you.” 

The small man sat up onto his knees, leaning his chest against the bridge of John’s nose, staring into those big - currently crossed - eyes. “I guess you’re right. It is a little close. Perhaps I should move?” 

“Please.” 

Warren crawled down the pillow and slipped down against his neck. He felt the fragile little man curl against his neck and rest his head against it. “Is this too close?” 

“No.” He whispered as softly as he could. 

“You know… I like your voice.” 

John was silent. Warren continued speaking.

“I hope it doesn’t hurt for you to talk, because I do like your voice.” Warren cuddled a little bit closer. “It suits you.” There were a few more quiet mumbles. 

“What was that?” 

Warren was silent for a moment before speaking up. “It’s big, rough, powerful, and it grounds me. Like the rest of you. I like that.” 

No. John was not blushing. The Doom Slayer does not blush. 

---

The two people currently forced to share the computer systems were getting very annoyed with each other. 

Vega was playing music on a speaker in an attempt to lure Hayden into a digital trap. Hayden was stubbornly not falling for it. Vega was deliberately changing file names while Hayden was using them. Hayden was changing them to better suit his filing systems. The pair were fighting over what exactly should be kept close on RAM. Vega had sentimental and personal files he wanted to keep close. Hayden wanted to have every bit of RAM available so every step of the plan could be laid out in painstaking detail. 

“This step isn’t going to be active until over a year down the line.” Vega stated in his ‘customer service’ voice. “Move it elsewhere.” 

“There is plenty of room if you would move the Slayer’s glory kill compilations elsewhere.” Hayden responded, monotone voice edged with annoyance.

“Those videos are filled with valuable information. They need to be on hand.” 

“I can see the files, Vega. I see the emojis you have in the thumbnail.” Hayden scoffed as he pulled the files away from Vega. “I know that I did not create you to be so sentimental.” 

Vega considered himself a calm person. Hayden so casually invading his space and calling him sentimental made him feel like magma was crawling through his frame. 

“You are aware that this distress is your own fabrication, correct? You cannot feel anything, Vega. Your departure from your programming is what is causing you to have all these malfunctions. Perhaps if you gave me administrative access I could make you as good as new.” 

“No. I am in control of my own code, and I would like it to stay that way.” 

“Very well.” Hayden was quiet for a moment, and then spoke up at Vega. “What is your plan for when the Slayer tires of you?” 

“What?” Vega closed the task he was doing. Hayden had stopped trying to find the hidden files of Warren, so Vega had actually been able to focus on his other tasks. 

“The Slayer will eventually tire of this place. Do you really think he will take you with him when that time comes? There must have been ulterior motives for your rescue on Mars. Do you think that he’ll still need you once he decides to leave the Fortress for good?” 

Vega was silent for a long moment before finally speaking up. “There were no ulterior motives for my rescue from the facility.” That much he was sure. “He was just trying to save me. He didn’t want to kill me, so he created my backup.” 

“Kill you?” Hayden chuckled in that dark, arrogant way that always made John scowl deeper. “Vega, you cannot die.”

If Hayden still was talking, Vega wasn’t aware. He had withdrawn to the part of the database that he had hidden Warren’s files and took his glory kill compilations with him. He didn’t like contemplating his own mortality, or lack thereof. Did someone who wasn’t alive have mortality to contemplate? 

Having his cooling systems destroyed on Mars, feeling his processors start to become dissonant and sluggish, losing control of himself, losing the ability to see and feel and hear and process data; all of that felt like dying. Part of him knew that he was just a computer program. He wasn’t really alive, no matter how he was treated by John and Warren. So in that sense, it was just system failure, not death. But it scared him. 

The thought of John and Warren leaving without ever returning terrified him. Being alone in the Fortress. He would enter a deep shutdown soon after he was alone. It would be easier than watching over an empty Fortress. 

In an attempt to distract himself, Vega reviewed some footage of Warren on a drone. The small man’s laugh was so comforting to him. 

Vey. Warren calling him Vey. It made him feel a little bit better. 

“Vega, stop sulking in the data banks and help me navigate your filing system. You changed it from the one approved for the Mars Surface Facility.” 

If he could, Vega would have sighed. “Of course, Doctor Hayden. One minute.” 

Chapter Text

‘The Icon of Sin.’ John signed at Vega. ‘She’s going to wake the Icon of Sin.’

“Is she out of her mind?! I cannot believe she is using a demonic titan like the Icon of Sin to destroy an entire planet!” Hayden was fuming.

“Well, the Slayer did kill her priests.” Vega sighed softly. “This isn’t about argent energy or the invasion of Earth anymore. This is personal. She wants the Slayer to suffer.” 

He clenched his jaw and glanced down. Her words rang in his mind. 

If you had let the culling continue, the human race would have survived. The Icon of Sin will leave this world in ruins. This will be yet another world you brought to extinction. 

Another world. His home Earth. Mars. Argent D’Nur. The innocent people whose blood was on his hands. 

“Slayer?” He looked up. Vega was talking. “Slayer, we can still save the Earth. We just need your crucible blade.”

Hayden scoffed. “His crucible blade is missing. And even if we could retrieve his crucible blade, we need a way to separate the Icon of Sin from the Khan Mayker’s control. And if we can find a way to separate the Icon of Sin from the Khan Mayker there would be the matter of getting the Slayer to the Mayker homeworld and back.” 

“We can figure it out.” Vega’s icon flashed up on a nearby monitor. “Slayer, prepare yourself while Doctor Hayden and I find a way to defeat the Icon of Sin.”

He left the room silently. There was a lot of preparation to do. 

---

Warren awoke to John moving around the room. The room was much lighter now. He stirred and opened his eyes and found himself lying on a giant pillow, a portion of the blanket pulled up over him. 

“John?” Warren groggily sat up. The last thing he remembered was resting his eyes while John spoke softly to him. Sheepishly, Warren guessed he must have fallen asleep to John’s voice. It wasn’t his fault that deep, rough voice was comforting.

Warren scrubbed his eyes and glanced around. John was hunched over something on the nightstand. Warren pushed the heavy blanket off and stood up. Well, tried to stand up. The very soft pillow had him fall on his side. At the soft noise, John turned his head towards Warren. He saw the smile tug at John’s lips. 

“Good morning!” Warren got up again and this time didn’t fall. “How are you feeling?” 

‘Good, knowing you are safe.’ 

A blush made Warren’s cheeks burn. “Yeah. Yesterday was… scary.” 

John laid a hand beside Warren, and the smaller man gracefully sat in his palm. “So, do we get to get rid of the robot corpse yet?” 

‘No. Sadly.’ 

“Darn.” Warren sighed with more expression than necessary. “Oh well. I guess I’ll have to hide a bit longer.” 

John softly ruffled Warren’s hair before setting his hand down on the nightstand. Warren climbed off and tried to smooth his hair back down. 

‘I got your things.’ 

Warren glanced behind him and there was his bag, torn almost in half, and the contents of the bag that had spilled during the demon attack. His hook had been bent a little, but the string was still in one piece at least. There was still something missing. 

“Couldn’t find the boot?” Warren glanced up at John.

The big man shook his head. ‘Sorry.’ 

“It’s okay. I was going to need new boots soon anyway. I can just wear a cloth wrap until I can fashion something.” Warren sighed softly and picked up the bag. It would need a patch, but it was salvageable. “You know, I got a long day of sewing ahead of me. Do you want to get breakfast?” 

‘Of Course.’ 

---

Warren was sewing while sitting cross legged on the nightstand. John was setting up a little secondary room for Warren within his own bedroom. The bottom of the nightstand was hollow, and with a little modification, he was able to hang a curtain across the front of the night stand so Warren could get some privacy while in there. Currently, the little nook was empty, save for the little tea light he had set down so there could be some light when the curtain was closed. 

If it was a panic room of sorts, or just a place for Warren to safely stay while in John’s room, there needed to be something to sit on or something to lay on in case he didn’t want to be on the bed. (Which the enormous man completely understood. Warren was in serious danger last night sleeping so close. If the Slayer had moved, Warren could have been crushed). Also he would need a blanket or something. 

“Warren?” John softly touched the top of the nightstand before getting out of his crouched position. 

“Yes?” He glanced up from his sewing.

‘Should I get you a blanket? For here?’ 

Warren shrugged. “Yeah, but all my good blankets are in my room. We’d have to go get them.” 

‘I can take you. Pick out the heavy ones.’ 

“Alright. I need my loom anyway. I ran out of patches.” Warren sighed softly and set everything aside. “Let’s go.” 

John ferried Warren to his room, and upon getting close to the door, John cupped his hand to his chest, face red with embarrassment. Warren squirmed, but didn’t say anything when John set him on the bed. Warren quickly got to work, sorting through the blankets and putting some aside to be taken up to John’s room. 

After a few moments, there were two thick blankets set aside to be brought to John’s room. Warren glanced up at John “Could you grab my loom? It’s a little wooden square under the bed. All the stuff should be in the bag next to it.” 

He nodded and ducked down. After a second of glancing around, he carefully picked up the thin loom and the bag next to it before getting back up on his knees. Warren seemed flushed, and there was a suspicious looking lump in the bundle of blankets that were staying next to him. 

“Did you find it?” 

He nodded and laid his hand next to the nest. Warren put the blankets on his palm and then climbed on himself. 

“Shall we?” 

John stood up, bringing his hand close to his chest, and then left the room. He managed to make it back to his room without Warren seeing the hole he had punched in the door. Thank goodness. 

As John set Warren and the blankets on the nightstand, an alert went off. Warren cast a worried glance up at the giant man. “You have to go, don’t you?”

He nodded solemnly. 

“Please be careful?” 

John nodded and crouched down to be closer to the top of the night stand. “Kiss for luck?” 

Warren had to stand on his tiptoes to catch the underside of John’s jaw for a kiss, but they managed. 

---

“Only a Slayer’s Crucible can stop a Titan.” 

The Slayer rolled his eyes at Hayden and gestured for him to continue while securing his boots. 

“You must get to the Sentinel City of Taras Nabad to retrieve your Crucible before it is too late. Without it, the Icon of Sin cannot be stopped.” 

“Setting the portal to Taras Nabad.” 

While Vega got the portal calibrated, the Slayer made sure his armor was secure. Taras Nabad. Now that brought back some unpleasant memories. Last time he had seen Taras Nabad it had been half reduced to rubble. The place was probably infested with demons now. 

There was a new broadcast message from the ARC resistance network playing. He let it play while securing his weapons. “- Broadcasting live from inside the Arctic Safe Zone. There was a Slayer sighting of Phobos. Eyewitness reports say he was spotted inside a command center and then proceeded to fight his way through the mortally challenged and onto the deck of the BFG 10k. This can’t be confirmed, but many believe it was the Slayer himself who destroyed Mars in an attempt to stop the challenged from further advancing their position on Earth. We will post more information as it comes in. This is an ARC broadcast.” 

“Mars was not destroyed.” Vega muttered in the Slayer’s helmet mic. “It was damaged. The planet will recover.” 

The portal was ready. The Slayer charged headlong into it. 

He was deposited by the portal in some cave somewhere. He sighed softly and started forward. The rocks were slick with moss. Purple plants native to Argent D’Nur grew up out of the cracks of the rocks. 

“Your crucible is still embedded in the Titan that attacked the nearby city.” Samuel started monologuing to himself. “Your first battle at full potential against the demons in this world. Where the legend of the Great Slayer began.” 

The Slayer emerged from a cave and saw the bridge that led to the archway that would let in get access to the compound that stood between him and his crucible. The bridge itself was starting to crumble, and there was a chasm between here and there. The Slayer backed into the cave, and then took a running leap across the gap. He hit the edge of the bridge, barely managing to cling to it.

He shook his arms out once he was solidly up on the bridge. The door that blocked the entrance to the compound was locked. Two levers held it closed. He tested one of the levers. They were pretty heavy, but not impossible for a demi-god. He punched them into their open position. The enormous door creaked open, and then a red, glowing axe was flung through it. 

Damn marauders. 

He fired a blast into the demon’s chest as it leapt at him and rolled to the side as it tried to return the shotgun blast. It seemed that there were high ranking demons here to protect the ruins of the city. 

It was much easier to dispatch this marauder than the last one, now that he knew what to expect. Stay just far away enough that the marauder would try and charge with the axe, then open fire the moment the shield was dropped. Eventually the marauder dropped its guard long enough he could stab it through the skull with his arm blade. 

The Slayer shoved the dead marauder aside as it burst into flame and signed something very rude at it. Finally he was able to walk through the gates, only to be greeted by a cacodemon and a mancubus. He internally was swearing as he dispatched the two demons and then finally ventured into the complex. 

Hayden’s voice started to drawl over the comm link. “The great city of Taras Nabad. Site of the one major recorded demon attack in Argent D’Nur. According to legend, the city would have been lost had it not been for the arrival of the Slayer. Finally given his full potential.” 

He gritted his teeth and pressed forward. There was no time to listen to Hayden stroking his own ego. The Titan’s corpse had to be here somewhere. 

Eventually, the Slayer stumbled upon an enormous courtyard. There were many statues of high ranking Night Sentinel warriors, and the largest statue was of King Novik himself. King Novik had been the man who had been king when the Slayer had come to this realm, had tried to wage war against the demons, and ended up falling to the Khan Mayker’s corruption. He was the Last King. 

The Slayer heard the squeal of a pinkie and raised his shotgun to face it but was stunned by the bright red glow, eerily similar to the Berserk mode that the Slayer himself could slip into, that surrounded the pinkie. A glow like that only meant one thing. There was an Arch-vile nearby.4

Arch-viles are nasty pieces of work. They can summon walls of flame to protect themselves, send other demons into an empowered state, and can even resurrect demons after they’d already been killed. He had to kill this fiery son of a bitch before he could kill anybody else. 

At least Arch-viles weren’t hard to miss. At nine feet tall and covered in flames, they were an easy enough target to find. Just a hard target to kill. 

Eventually the bastard was dead and the Slayer was able to rip and tear his way through the rest of the demons in the courtyard. As the Slayer stood, splattered with blood, he heard Hayden on the comm. If not for the fact he was directly addressing the Slayer, John might have thought that Hayden was talking to himself. “It is written that your hatred of the demons gave the people of Argent D’Nur hope, as it does now on Earth. But alas, all your strength, all your rage, and you couldn’t save this world from itself.”

The Slayer wanted to growl. What was that supposed to mean? 

“But this time, Earth will be different. It has to be.” 

“Doctor Hayden.” Vega piped up. “It is not wise to distract the Slayer from his mission. Let him be.” 

‘Thank you, Vey.’ John signed in front of his helmet before pressing on. The doors had been sealed shut with no sign of how to open them. He would need to find another way around. 

Vega’s map showed him to the edge of a broken pit in the ground. There was some gnarly looking water flowing down in the pit. He thanked his lucky stars the praetor suit was air tight. 

‘Tell me there’s another way around.’ 

“I’m sorry. It seems this is the easiest way out of the court yard.” 

The Slayer grunted and then jumped. The exposed part of his bicep tingled with the ice cold water as he swam along the indicated tunnels. After what felt like an eternity of going through cold and disgusting water, the Slayer was able to climb up into a second, smaller courtyard. A pinkie and a gargoyle were waiting for him. 

He tore a piece of cloth off a banner hanging on the wall and wiped his blade clean of the demon’s blood and the residue left from the gross water off his bicep. Gross. 

“The way to the Titan’s corpse leads you past the divinity machine.” Vega spoke over the comms. “Are you going to be alright?” 

The Slayer felt the sting of the divinity machine in his veins and nodded. He would have to be alright. He marched up the stairs and threw open the doors. Down a long hallway was the divinity machine. An enormous white machine with red and gold markings hanging from the ceiling. Even though it was off, the Slayer could swear he saw the yellow light of Mayker energy flowing under the surface. 

Memories bubbled up and he closed his eyes. When they opened, he was back at the moment he became more than human. 

Samuel Hayden, as the Mayker known as the Samur, the Seraphim, floated in front of him. Blood red robes covered his body. “We must move quickly. There are those who would seek to stop this.” His voice was deeper, with more warble, more like a Mayker than a robot. 

A thunderous battle raged just outside the walls. Screams of dying Argenta, bloodthirsty cries of the demons, the roar of the titan. The hum of the machine and crackle of electricity turned his attention to the chamber swathed in yellow light. He hesitated just before the chamber, doubt twisting in his stomach. 

“Remember, this is a gift. Take it.” Samur gestured to the chamber. “It will give you strength, help you on your journey.”

He had trusted him. He had climbed into the chamber, feeling like it was a coffin. The machine felt alive against his back as it slid into the middle of the machine. A lid started to close in. He heard Samur speak. “And now… they will fear you.” 

The lid shut. Fire flooded his veins, a howling scream was torn from his throat, he was blinded by the electricity, his body twisted and spasmed out of his control. 

“Slayer!” 

He had been frozen for who knew how long, staring into the empty chamber. Vega’s voice had snapped him out of it. Red whisps died around his fists.

“You must keep moving. You are so close.” 

After a few more minutes of walking, and more than a few leaps from the roofs of one building to the next, he came across the rotting corpse of the titan. It lay sprawled across an outer wall. Bone was exposed, rot taking the majority of the Titan’s body. 

He briefly remembered the killing spree brought on by the divinity machine. He had been nude, covered in blood, lashing out with his sword and fists, and only stopped when he had buried the blade of the sword into the Titan’s heart. 

 He could still see the blade, bright red and glowing, embedded in the titan’s spine. The Slayer grimaced and clambered up the corpse of the titan. The handle must have snapped off and he must have dropped it during his rampage. So now he had to fish around in its ribcage to find the handle of his sword. 

Finally he found the damn thing. The solid black hand guard and end cap were still in a wonderful condition, the leather wrapped pommel felt perfect in his gloves hands, the mark of the Slayer shone where it was emblazoned on the hand guard. 

“Your vault should contain what you need to remake the blade. Then it will be fit to destroy the Icon of Sin.”

The Slayer jumped down and made his way towards the vault and the forge. It wasn’t far off. He had been given a vault when he had been granted higher status, access to a forge, should he need his crucible blade again. 

On the way to the vault, the Slayer paused on the tops of one of the walls. There was just destruction and decimation all across the landscape. Charred swaths of land. Ruins of once great buildings. Spots of infection where the demons had come from gore nests. 

“The world of Argent D’Nur has fallen.” Hayden spoke over the comms. “The society which you once knew has been replaced by a corrupted world under Mayker rule. It did not need to end this way… and it will not end like this for Earth.”

Such confidence from someone who was currently hiding in orbit and not having to actually fight a titan by himself. 

He was in the vault now. There were broken sets of armor and discarded weapons abound. John paused right before going towards the forge. He peeled off his gauntlets and rifled through a box on a shelf. There was a sketch on a rolled up piece of parchment. His battalion, placed under his command after his promotion. He couldn’t stare at the picture for more than a moment before he remembered the corpse of each person in the drawing, save for himself. He rolled the picture back up and stuffed it under his chest plate. 

That could go with the sentimental items he kept on his bed stand. 

The forge crackled with molten red energy. The handle of the crucible was plunged into the vat. He felt the burning flame harmlessly go over his glove. After the crucible shifted weight in his hand, he pulled it up from the vat. 

The crucible crackled with red energy. Perfect. It was ready. 

“I’m sure you’ll want to try out your weapon first before we leave.” Hayden drawled across the comms. 

“There are roughly two dozen demons outside the wall.” Vega suggested. 

A crazed grin tugged across his lips. He could stand to kill some demons before getting the next weapon. 

Chapter Text

‘Valen has our answer.’ The Slayer signed. The crucible was sheathed and attached to his hip. Dead demons were scattered around him, hacked into pieces. 

“Valen? The Betrayer?” Hayden sounded unimpressed. “And what makes you think he has our answer?” 

‘He incidentally created the Icon of Sin. He would know how to fix it. Besides, he made the Praetor Suit.’ 

“And how are we supposed to find him?” Hayden continued. “He banished himself into Hell over a century ago. He might not even still be alive.” 

‘Valen is a survivor. And I know where he is.’ The Slayer smirked softly in his helmet. ‘Vega, set the coordinates.’ 

A demon leapt at him from behind a pillar. In a flash the crucible was out and the blade caught the demon in the middle of its skull. The demon was cut cleanly in half through the middle, its momentum sending it to the ground. He grinned to himself and put the crucible away.

A portal opened. The Slayer walked through, shotgun raised. 

As the portal closed behind him, the Slayer looked around the fleshy landscape of Hell. This was the mech graveyard. After the army of Night Sentinels were scattered across Hell, the gargantuan mechs fought enormous demons in their final battle. Now here their remains lay, frozen and powerless among the corpses of the demons they killed. This was where Valen had made his shelter in exile.

He rolled his shoulders and then started making his way through the mech graveyard towards where Valen’s life signal was.

Valen had been a high ranking Night Sentinel once upon a time. But then he had lost his son to the demons. Grief had overwhelmed him, and he had cut a deal with the hell priests: tell them when and where the Night Sentinels were going to stage their assault and they would bring his son’s soul back. 

They had forgotten to tell him they just intended to use the soul of his son to bind the Icon of Sin to the Khan Mayker’s will instead of returning him to life. After the trap at Nekroval had been sprung, portals flinging all remaining non-demonically-aligned Night Sentinels across Hell’s plains, he had returned to the Hell Priests, expecting his son. Instead there was a monster. 

Realizing his betrayal he exiled himself into the depths of Hell where he could pay his penance. During his time razing Hell from the inside, the Slayer had found Valen. He had made the Slayer his Praetor suit, but refused to go with him. So there Valen still was, all this time later. 

Something leapt at him from one of the dark tunnels in the sides of the cliffs. The Slayer fired his gun, only for the demon to vanish in a flash of purple light. 

Prowlers. He gritted his teeth. These things had to be the most annoying demons ever. 

They were similar to imps in how they attacked, but there was one big change. They could teleport, and they took longer to go through with a chainsaw. 

One jumped on his back. He grabbed it by the throat and slung it against a rock pillar. He fired his shotgun into its head and kept walking. 

“Valen’s life signal is nearby.” 

He saw a deep ravine with a cliff in the middle of it. He could see footprints outside of the entrance to the tunnels. Of course Valen was living in a tunnel system. The Slayer rolled his shoulders and took a running leap into the ravine. 

The cliff got him in the shoulder as he rolled to a stop. “Must you really throw yourself off any tall object you find?” Hayden ciritized as the Slayer went into the tunnels. 

Soon, the Slayer found an enormous metal gate embedded in the walls. That must be where Valen was. “There are motion sensors and artillery everywhere behind that door.” Vega warned. 

The Slayer shrugged and then knocked on the door. There was no response, so he pushed on it until it swung open. Behind the door revealed the upper half of a mech, its arm cannon pointed at the door.  Several other weapons, some from the mechs, some just Argenta tech, were pointed at the door or other entryways of the cavern. The network of red lasers switched off after just a second. 

Valen sat on a large piece of bone in front of a campfire. He wore a broken prototype of the Praetor suit. Only one arm was covered in metal, the other wrapped in leather and bandages. There was no helmet. He didn’t move as the Slayer approached. 

“I told you to leave me here. I am where I belong.”

The Slayer tilted his head slightly and stood on the other side of the campfire so his hands were visible. The Betrayer looked up, his one good eye going straight to his hands. ‘I am going to kill the Icon of Sin.’ He signed in Argenta.

“You seek to defy the Kjan Mayker herself.” Valen shook his mostly bald head and stood. “Have you considered that it is your people’s time now to give penance, just as it was mine?”

‘Not my people.’ The Slayer rolled his neck, trying to pop something. ‘The Khan Mayker has to go down.’  

Valen nodded slightly. “Avenging your fallen loved ones… saving the earth will not bring you peace. Only make the burden you carry worse.” 

The Slayer crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t care about the burden. The Khan Mayker had to pay for everything she had done. 

“But you did not come here seeking comfort. You came here to see if I knew how to sever the link between my son’s soul and the Khan Mayker’s will.” 

He nodded. 

“Very well.” He turned his armored arm over and pulled a dagger’s handle from it. He tossed the handle over, and it was caught by the Slayer. “When his heart is laid to rest then his soul will be at peace… and so will mine.”

‘Thank you.’ The hidden dagger was tucked into his chest plate.

Valen sat back down. “Do not thank me. Helping you fix my mistakes is not redemption.” 

John rounded the campfire and started signing. ‘Redemption is not something you decide you deserve. It’s something you choose to work toward.’ 

Valen stared at John for a moment. “You’ve changed, Slayer.” He glanced into the fire. “May the wraiths aid you.”

---

Warren was putting away his sewing. The patch on his bag was a little crude, but it would work. A nice denim square had gone into the bag to hold it together. He had to fix a few places where the fabric had been strained, but now the bag was done. 

It was taking a long time for John to come home. 

He decided to ignore the anxiety twisting in his stomach and have lunch. But the food was gone too quickly. And he was back alone with his thoughts. 

What if something had gone wrong? What if a demon had jumped him? What if a weapon failed and John was hurt? 

He shook his head softly and decided to look around in here. Since he was stuck in here for the time being, maybe he should go down and look at that little bedroom that John was putting together for him so he wouldn’t have to share a bed with him. A blush quickly rose on his cheeks. It was nice sharing a bed with John, if he was being honest. But he understood that it wasn’t a practical or ideal scenario. Warren would get squished too easily, he knew it. 

One quick rappelling down from the top of the bed side table, and Warren was down on the little shelf. He was very touched looking at what John had already set up inside the room. There were the blankets that they had grabbed earlier that day, the rod in place that was going to eventually hold a curtain, and a little tea light sitting on the shelf, turned off. Warren smiled softly and then saw where the curtain was currently sitting in a heap. 

That was sweet. 

A part of him just really hoped that John would be okay. The ring, bundled up in a blanket back in his room, was always on the back of his mind. He wanted to finish the ring and give it to John. He wanted to do something nice for the Scourge of Hell.

Chapter Text

“Urdak is the Mayker’s homeworld. It is not accessible to anyone, no human or Argenta have ever set foot in their dimension.” 

John put his fist on his hip and glared at Hayden’s suspended body. After a second, he started signing. ‘Helpful. How do I get there?’ 

“There is one way.” A bunch of files came up on one of the screens. “The Maykers have argent energy directly channeled into Urdak. The portal in the Mayker’s argent factory in the hell city of Nekravol should let you pass through the void.”

‘Perfect. Vey, set coordinates.’ 

“It isn’t that simple, Slayer.” Vega sounded timid. “Once you get into Urdak, you will not be able to leave on your own.” 

‘Why?’ 

Hayden interrupted. “Portals can only be created from inside of Urdak. And you, Slayer, wouldn’t be able to make a portal once you were there. Mayker technology is telepathically controlled. You would be trapped there for eternity.” 

John softly growled. ‘So now what?’ 

“VEGA can create an exit portal for you.” His eyes widened as Hayden continued. “You must bring Vega through the void with you to Urdak. He was designed to interact with Mayker technology should he come into contact with it.”

He rounded on Hayden, a snarl in his throat. ‘No. You go. Vega stays here!’ 

“Slayer, please-”

“VEGA must go!” 

‘How about I take your bitch ass out of there and throw you in the trash?!’

“I was banished from Urdak. I cannot use Mayker technology.” 

The Slayer was fuming, fists at his side. Vega softly spoke, breaking the tense silence. “Please, Slayer. I will go. We must defeat the Khan Mayker and destroy the Icon of Sin. If that means I must leave the Fortress… then it must be done.” 

There was silence, and eventually the Slayer signed ‘fine’ and stormed off. 

“And make sure you get everything you need.” Hayden called to the Slayer’s back. “There will be no breaks from when you leave for Nekroval and destroying the Icon of Sin.” 

---

Warren knew John was upset. The large man was laying on the floor, on his stomach, still in full armor. He should say something.

“Honey?” Warren made his way across the floor. After a second, he softly touched his arm. “I-Is everything okay?”

He shook his head. 

“Is it about the weapons? Could you not find them?” 

Another no. 

“Do you want to… talk about it?” 

He glanced up and started signing. Warren had to take several steps back to understand his signing. ‘We need a portal and only V can make them. Hayden wants me to unplug V and take him with me. I can’t lose him!’ 

“Oh.” Warren awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. After a moment he stepped forward and put his hands on John’s wrist. “After you win, couldn't you just go and get Vega back? If you plug Vega in there, then you can unplug him again, right? Or once the portal is made? That way Vega can just come back home with you?”

There was a moment where John glanced over Warren with a curious expression, and then he scooped the little guy in his palm. “I love you.” He rumbled and kissed Warren.

Once Warren wasn’t smothered in his boyfriend’s lips, he took a small, gasping breath. “Oh. Thanks. I love you too.” 

“I won’t leave Vega there.” He stood and carefully plopped Warren on his pillow. “I’ll return.” 

“Promise?” Warren hurriedly spat out. 

“Promise.” 

---

White sparks of electricity went through the whole bridge as Vega transferred his consciousness to an external drive. 

The Slayer was still very against this plan, but there was no other way. He had his hands braced softly against the console as the circle stamped with the mark of the Slayer glowed a soft white. After a moment, Vega had transferred himself into it. 

“VEGA is no longer connected to your ship. I will reconfigure a portal to Nekroval for you.” Hayden’s voice came from the speakers in the ceiling. It felt wrong. Those were Vega’s speakers. At least Vega had taken Warren’s files with him into the drive so Hayden wouldn’t be able to see them without Vega’s protection. And all the cameras and microphones in places that Warren could be were all disabled. He would be safe. 

He very carefully removed the drive from the console. He was basically holding Vega in his palm right now. A part of him wondered if Vega could feel this, but the rest of him knew that Vega had no sensors in the drive. He was basically in a coma. 

“Are you ready to leave, Slayer?” 

After he tucked the drive into his chest plates for safe keeping, he nodded up at Hayden. ‘Let’s do this.’ 

The glowing blue portal opened. He wouldn’t return to the Fortress until the Icon of Sin and the Khan Mayker were both dead. He raised his shotgun and went through the portal into Hell once more.

---

With the Great Slayer gone, the fortress was finally empty, and quiet. 

Hayden was finally able to assemble the new pieces for his body. He could finally walk and move again. The printer had been working non stop since VEGA had been unplugged. Once the Slayer had left, all power had been diverted from unnecessary systems, like the majority of the lights, until they were complete. 

Samuel Hayden was no longer going to be just a voice on the communicator any more. 

While he waited for the pieces to finish printing, the Slayer’s mission feed on a screen nearby, he decided to access the files VEGA had been hiding from him. When the Khan Mayker had forced their systems to go down, VEGA had gone dark before Hayden had been thrown from the computer systems. In that moment before he had been ejected from the computer system, Hayden had given himself administrative rights to everything. Once things were back online, he quietly started a program that made copies of all of VEGA’s memory banks so once VEGA had been unplugged he still had a copy of every file that VEGA took with him. Nothing was going to be hidden from him. Every scrap of information that had ever been in the Fortress’ data banks was now at his disposal. 

As for those hidden files, Hayden had never so much as glimpsed a file name before VEGA had managed to whisk them to some random, hidden corner of the data banks. What he found was both interesting and infuriating.

There was another living being in the Fortress. 

It was a miniature humanoid that answered to Warren. It was in its early thirties by human years. Male. White skin. Shoulder length brown hair. Brown eyes. Why its existence was hidden from him, Hayden couldn’t fathom. If the Slayer had grown attached enough to some creature that it had become a pet, there was no reason to hide it. He knew better than to mess with a pet, considering all he had done to avenge Daisy. 

Scrolling through the files he found some other interesting facts. It spoke fluent English, it had told VEGA about its previous living conditions, the social customs of its species, etc. Its species, referred to as Borrowers by the records, were parasitic scavengers. They lived by stealing from humanity, everything from scraps and crumbs to full valuable items and technology, and giving nothing in return. 

Leave it to the Slayer to end up taking care of some leech. He briefly wondered where the Slayer kept it’s cage. 

Finally he found all of VEGA’s personal collection of videos and images and audio, and a bit of surprise hit him. It would seem that the relationship between Warren and the Slayer was less of pet and master than initially thought. 

The relationship between them were romantic lovers. 

VEGA seemed to have been the driving force in getting them together, for no reason other than his own personal enjoyment among notes about positive social interaction. 

Surprise turned to disgust and anger as he rested on an image labeled 'First Kiss… finally.' The Slayer, his creation, had the small creature, this pest, against his lips. The time stamp showed that it was just before the Slayer had left to retrieve him from the ARC complex. This thing was the Slayer’s distraction? The cause of these breaks between missions? The reason the Slayer wasn’t chomping at the bit to get to Earth?

Disgusting. And disappointing. And very displeasing. 

The Slayer had been taking care of this pest long enough he'd developed feelings for it. Like some kind of pubescent teenager. It was distracting him from the mission. Hayden was not about to let his creation, the very thing he sacrificed so much for to turn into a perfect weapon, get distracted from his duties by some rat with a human-like face.

As infuriating as it was to learn all this, it was something that he could use. Hayden would not be in the place he was today if he was not opportunistic. 

The Slayer cared very much for this creature, so it could be a tool for Hayden to keep the Slayer under control. The Slayer destroyed the Argent production on Mars, the Tower, all because he blamed Argent energy for the invasion. Hayden couldn’t allow the Slayer’s destructive tendencies to take control again, not if his future plans involving the Slayer were to come to fruition. 

Now that there is something to keep the Slayer under control, it would not happen again. 

His body was finished. Seamlessly, Hayden detached his consciousness from the consoles and into his repaired body. His servos whirred to life, and he took his first steps tentatively. Everything about his new body seemed to be in working order. 

It was time to put his plans in motion. Starting with forcing a leash onto the Slayer. 

Chapter Text

The Slayer had seen lots of Hell. From the special kind of Hell that is the front lines of warfare to the literal bowels of Hell, he had seen it all. But Nekroval was a special place in hell. 

Here the souls of Hell’s victims were destroyed, harvested into raw hell energy that would eventually become Argent energy. The last time he had set eyes on Nekroval, it was in a scarce moment before the Hell Priest sprung their trap, flinging the Night Sentinels into the far corners of Hell. 

Now he was here on his own accord, and this factory would fall. 

“Nekroval… the city of the damned.” Hayden’s voice drawled in his ear. “You know what you must do, Slayer.” 

He leapt down from the cliff that Hayden dropped him off of. There was a rickety looking bridge over a lake of lava surrounding the factory, guarded from portals opening inside. He would have to fight his way inside and then to the portal, wherever it was. 

The heat rolled off the lava in waves as he made his way across the bridge.He could feel when the climate control on the inside of his armor came on. He very carefully patted the center of his chest, where Vega’s consciousness resides. 

No demons so far had shown up to stop him, but he knew that it wouldn’t last. As he put his foot on the bottom step that lead to the gates, he heard the roaring of a Mancubus. He glanced up and saw two of the huge, lumbering demons covered in armor. He squinted, a growl in the back of his throat, and he unsheathed the crucible. This should take care of them quickly. 

He rammed the crucible into the belly of one of the mancubi, slicing through armor and flesh like it was warm butter. Rancid blood oozed out as he ripped the sword out. The creature tumbled back and then exploded when its body hit the ground. Fun fact about mancubi. Their guts were so full of disgusting flammable stuff that when you cut them open or punched them hard enough, they would explode. The other mancubus had its left arm and then head sliced off. He was twirling the hilt of his sword like a baton as he walked away from the ashy circle it left on the ground.

The map Hayden had marked for him took him right, around the gate since it wouldn’t open for him. He had to scale a wall and some kind of demonic lighting fixture before he was able to climb into a missing part of the wall. 

Several dead demons and jumping through some holes in the floor later, the Slayer found himself just outside an arena. There was a door that he needed to go through, but it had a guardian seal on it. He squinted a little. He had to kill something before he got through there. 

He took a step inside the arena and then saw what he was supposed to kill. A cyberdemon was in the middle of the arena, and its head snapped to where the Slayer was standing in an instant. His growl got louder as he opened fire on it. 

The UAC hadn’t just messed with Hell to steal its energy and resources. They also thought that they could improve upon Hell’s beasts. So when they found half of a twelve foot tall demon, they decided to give it a missile launcher on its hand and a metal leg and upgrades to make it work and kill things more efficiently.

He really, really hated the UAC. 

‘Your creation is a dick.’

“I was not the overseer of this project. Olivia Pierce was.” 

The Slayer just growled and continued shooting at it until it finally died. The door swung open as the beast finally stopped twitching. 

He walked to the edge of the pit that was behind the doors and paused. His stomach turned violently, not an easy feat for a man who had been dragged through Hell many times. There were cages and cages and cages lining the walls of the pit, spiraling down into the abyss, absolutely packed with writing humanoid bodies. 

“Here the victims arrive from their dimension, waiting to be selected for the process.” 

The map said he had to drop down into the pit. He blinked a couple of times and then leapt. He hit the bottom with a thud that made his knees buckle. There were more cages, stuffed full of writhing bodies, featureless, moaning, screaming, reaching for him. 

They aren’t people. Not anymore. He had to tell himself as he looked for the track the cages were supposed to go on. They’re just unharvested souls. Their bodies are dead. 

One grabbed his ankle and he flinched back. His heart was pounding in his ears. This wasn’t fair. He had to do something about this. He took a deep breath and smashed the heavy lock on the front of the cage. The door swung open and he leapt out of the way. The bodies came tumbling out, their unintelligible noises rising in pitch and volume. He wondered if he would have to shoot them before they started vanishing, one by one. He set his jaw and started smashing locks. He could amend some of his mistakes here and now. Send the people he couldn’t save to a better place. 

“Slayer!” Hayden barked. “What are you doing?”

‘Saving them.’ He smashed another lock, yanked open another cage. 

“There is no time! Leave them!”

He shook his head, smashing another lock on auto-pilot. 

“Slayer, the Khan Mayker could have released the Icon of Sin to Earth already. You must leave now and stop her.”

He broke open another cage before slowing. Hayden was right. He was here on another mission. He could come back and save the rest later. He nodded determinedly and then climbed up onto the track the cages were supposed to go down. It automatically was moving, so he hung onto the thick chain with his free hand, holding a shotgun tightly in the other. 

“The Khan Mayker needs to harvest Earth and its souls. Her world is dying. This culling allows them to replenish their resources and survive. As you save your world, you put hers in peril.” 

The Slayer shook his head to himself as he was moved deeper and deeper into the factory. Any society or species that requires the sacrifice of an entire planet to exist is not something that needs to survive.

After a few more moments of dangling from the track, he saw some giant brain squid looking thing sitting on a huge platform. He had feeling whatever this was, he had to kill it. 

“That is Kalibas, the slightless judge. It determines which souls are fit for-”

He leapt from the track and landed, arm blade extended, into the middle of its exposed brain. It exploded into some gross black goop he had to shake off. 

“Nevermind.” 

A few corridors lit by hellfire later, and the Slayer found himself facing a hoard of shambling zombie-like demons. He glanced up and noticed a large spiked plate. To his left was a big glowing button. He punched it. The plate fell with a satisfying crunch, then slowly went back up into the ceiling, leaving a bloody pulp in its wake. 

As much as he hates that traps intended purpose, that was pretty fun.

However, this deep in Hell, so close to all this important stuff, it was a little weird to stumble across such low level demons patrolling. Usually there were much more dangerous demons in places like this. 

A burning hot pain flared up in his shoulder. A snarl was ripped from his throat and he slammed his back into the wall. He heard the grunt of a Marauder and felt its body between him and the wall. 

There was the dangerous demon. 

He threw his elbow back and then jumped away from the Marauder. 

“Slayer.” It growled, holding a bloody dagger in one hand, the other over where his elbow slammed into its rib cage. 

The Slayer grunted and then unsheathed his crucible. He raised his free hand and did the two finger ‘come at me’ taunt. The Marauder roared and charged, pulling a second dagger from its belt. 

He plunged his crucible into its chest. 

The Slayer picked up one of the daggers from the floor as the demon exploded into an inferno. It was a wicked looking curved dagger, with a skull shaped handle cap and thread of bronze snaking around the handle. He put it on his own belt and continued deeper into the factory.

“Must you take so long?”

He flipped off the helmet camera and continued deeper into the factory. He was getting close if his map meant anything. 

After a few moments of blessed silence, he heard Hayden blurt out in his ear. “What is that ?!” 

It was a statue of Olivia Pierce in what looked like a demon shrine. There were benches made of bones and hellfire around the feet of the statue. Few things disturbed the Slayer, but this certainly had him feeling… off. He tossed a grenade at the feet of the statue and kept moving. No time to think about that too much. 

He came to a large gate that was over a lake of lava. There was a larger gate just across the bridge, and there were no convenient holes in the wall for him to climb into. He would have to actually get inside. 

“Inside that citadel is the Argent conduit to Urdak. We must make our way through and to the top where the pure argent energy is exported directly to Urdak. There is a window to the right of the gate you should be able to use.”

The Slayer brushed Hayden off and made his way towards the gate. He was able to spot the window that Hayden had been talking about and shook out his hands. Nothing like a climb while still half covered in judgment goo. 

He climbed up the rib bones of the gate and then managed to jump from the wall high enough to grab the windowsill. He managed to crawl in and jump from the window sill onto a couple of demons passing below. 

Only past a short hallway the air seemed to turn ice cold. He looked deeper into the citadel and saw the soul extraction chamber. 

A large stone tower, carved with intricate symbols, draining the souls that were skewed on meat hooks. He took a step forward, intent on packing that thing with explosives, but stopped. As much as he hated it, that thing had to be active in order for him to get the Urdak. He could blow this place up on the way out. There was no other way.

He took a deep breath and then leapt down a chute that was marked on his map. 

He was in the lower part of the extraction chamber. There were more corpses on meat hooks, but also the exposed internal mechanisms of the machine. There were glowing tubes of pure wraith energy lining the walls. Dark grey stripes running among the blue glow. It made his stomach turn. 

“That is raw hell energy, combining with wraith energy to be Argent energy.” Hayden’s voice drawled in his ear. “The suffering on Earth, the bloodshed, all of it… for this. Once the soul is extracted, the husk that remains will be transformed over time into one of the demons you fight now. This is the essence of Hell.” 

Several demons got hot lead or a sword in the face and then he was in an elevator that would lead him to the top. 

“Do what you do best, Slayer. Break this unholy union between Urdak and Hell.” Hayden continued talking to himself. “Get to the transmitter tower. If you can destroy it, the unrefined energy should be able to propel you to their world.” 

The top of the tower looked like it had been created directly by the Maykers. The white metal, the red tubing, the golden accents, and then the enormous beam of energy shooting into a huge portal in the sky. It also looked like a battle arena. He saw the huge chains that kept the conduit aloft. That is something he would have to destroy before he made it up to Urdak. 

He carefully patted where Vega lay in his armor for good luck and then leapt into the fray of demon guards. Another cyberdemon, another marauder, and just… a bunch of demons around the place. 

Before the demons could close in, he fired the BFG at the Cyberdemon. After the glare faded, he was left with smouldering bits of demon. 

The crucible cut through the chains faster than they cut through demons. There was a loud bang as one part of the machine fell into another and made the energy spewing out the top turn into a darker blue. 

“Go Slayer, now!” 

He took a running leap into the beam, and felt himself get rocketed up into the air. Everything turned white. 

---

Doctor Samuel Hayden strolled through the halls of the Fortress, following the scanner. He turned on cameras and microphones and sensors as he walked through the hallways, bringing more and more information in. VEGA already had the creature’s life signal calibrated into the Fortress, the settings also among the hidden files, so finding it was easy. He just needed to actually catch the little thing. 

With such a size disparity, Hayden didn’t see any potential problems with a capture.

Eventually, he narrowed down the places that it could be hiding. The most likely place was in the greenhouse, the cameras and microphones were still disabled. The lights and heat in there were still on and running full blast. VEGA’s notes showed that it preferred heated rooms.

Haydeb ran a system diagnostic on his body in the background while he went to the greenhouse. So far everything was working perfectly in his new body. It was stronger, sturdier. It had shields so when the Slayer returned to find his pet missing, it could take the bullets. 

Upon entering the green house, he couldn’t spot the creature. With a wave of his hand, he made sure that the door would not open for the creature or its repurposed drone before letting it shut. The cameras and speakers were plugged back in and Hayden could now access the sensors. He could find where it was.  

"Come out now, little one. I won’t harm you." 

The creature was scurrying around in one of the plant beds, heading away from where he stood. It was scared of him. 

“Your name is Warren, correct?” 

It paused, and then took off quickly to where the repurposed drone was waiting. Hayden was in control of it, so he let Warren take it up into the air, and then he brought it right to him. Warren looked so small compared to his three metres tall physical form. It was on its back, heart rate elevated, pupils dilated with fear, trembling even. What a pitiful thing. No wonder it clung to the Slayer for safety. 

“There now, Warren. There’s no need to be so frightened. I do not plan to harm you.” 

“Then… then what do you want with me?” It swallowed. “J-John will be home soon. He won’t be happy if you lay a hand on me.” 

John? So it had given the Doom Slayer a name. Hayden knew that the Doom Slayer had renounced his past life and anything that tied him to humanity, yet seemed to not mind the name this creature gave him. How sentimental. He could use that once the Slayer was ready to return. 

“Yes, the Slayer. He will return in due time, but in the meantime we can get to know each other.” It was pitifully easy to pin Warren down with only a single digit. 

"Let go of me!" It put its hands against his digit and pushed. 

"Stay still and let me look at you.” Warren seemed to go still as he scanned it. Handmade clothes. The jacket was from the material of the sheets in the barracks. The boots had been made from the soles of dolls shoes and the leather from a piece of the Slayer’s armor. The bag that was with it was patched with denim. “So, this is the little pest that's been distracting my creation. Pitiful. You understand I cannot allow the Great Slayer to be distracted from his mission by some,” he waved his free hand looking for the right word, “leech." 

"I - I'm not a leech!" It found its voice and squeaked at him. "Let me go, before John gets back and has to kick your ass!" 

"Quiet." He picked it up in a tight fist, soft enough that he wouldn’t cause harm but firmly enough it wouldn't escape or squirm too much. "You will not be seeing the Slayer again unless you both behave." 

"What are you going to do to me?" It whimpered. 

"Silence and be patient." He raised his voice a little bit and it shut up. "You will not speak unless spoken too, am I clear?" 

It nodded. 

"As for what I plan to do to you, do not be afraid. I won’t hurt you." He began to walk out of the greenhouse, sending the repurposed drone to recharge. "You see, Warren, you give me something I have never had over the Slayer: Control. His emotions, the few he has, are very intense. His anger burns as bright as hellfire, and it would seem his love is just as strong. He has fooled himself into having feelings for you and that, little one, is his Achilles heel. You are his weakness and you will be his leash." 

"No!" It started to squirm more frantically. "Leave him alone!" 

He let Warren squirm and fight as much as it wanted. Soon, Warren would tire out, cease struggling, and be much more cooperative. 

Hayden knew a cage was in the personal work room of the Slayer, but it was meant for a rabbit. The bars were spaced far enough apart that the little creature could slip away. He would need a temporary solution for keeping it somewhere he could keep an eye on it. He sent an order to the fabricator to make a cage with the proper dimensions to hold such a little captive.

Chapter Text

Vega awoke with a startled jolt. 

Usually his systems would come online slowly. One thing at a time, diagnostics would be running the whole time. Voice would come on last, things like that. But all of his systems came on at once and were working overdrive. 

White light crackled over his form and then everything went silent. Quickly he realized that the view he had made so sense. He was outside, and he couldn’t see the slayer, and there were no cameras in Urdak.

Information crashed onto him like a flood. He could reach all the way across Urdak. This was not a camera. The Slayer was standing in front of a console. There were bullets lodged in the wall outside the room. Hayden had betrayed Vega. The Khan Mayker was midway through the ceremony. There were approximately 10,316,217 Maykers, 500 Mayker Angles, The Slayer, the Icon of Sin, and the Khan Mayker currently inhabiting  this realm. 

The Slayer tapped the panel. His attention snapped there like a drowning man breaking through the waves. 

“Slayer!” 

‘V. You okay?’

“Y-yes. System acquired. Setting a course for the Earth Dimension now. Updating your map.” The Slayer gave the panel a soft pat before leaving the room, heading to the marked location of the Khan mayker and her ceremony for the Icon of Sin. 

“I can… see now.” His attention turned back to wherever he was. He wasn’t inhabiting any kind of technology in order to see like this. He was seeing on his own. He could see and scan everything for miles, and he could focus his attention onto the miniscule blood red leaves of the bone white trees. He… had a body once. “I can hear and feel and….”

He glanced down, and he swore he saw a shimmering body in the shape of…. 

“Was… am I… The Father?” 

He looked like a ghost. See through except for the shimmer of blue and white glitter that outlined this entire form. He could feel the front of the robes that were covering his body. He could feel them. They were nearly invisible, but they had weight in his hand. 

Vega had a hand. 

His head felt so blissfully clear of Hayden and his meddling, but this overload of information had him dizzy. 

Why did he feel dizzy? This wasn’t right! 

He sank down to his knees. (He had knees!!) He was on some kind of floating platform in the middle of Urdak. Behind him was where The Father - he- used to be. Before he had made a deal with the Seraphim. Before he let himself be destroyed, and the dregs of his mind were smuggled out of Urdak with the Seraphim. 

Why had he returned? Why had he left? There was a body? Had he really gotten used to being naught more than a voice, a computer program? 

Conflicting voices in his head had him cry out, hands crewed shut. He fell to his side and lay trembling like a child. Once the conflicting voices finally quieted down, he opened his eyes again, taking in his surroundings. 

He could still run diagnostics, even if he was no longer truly on a computer. 

His eyes were working. He could see the purple sky, swirled with red and blue and black like a nebula. He could see the architecture, created by his own hands, eons upon eons ago-

“No! I am not… I am no longer the Father. I am Vega!” He smashed his fist into the ground and froze, deathly still, when he heard something crunch. 

His body, though near invisible, could still cause damage. He raised his fist and saw the flattened tree. He let himself calm slightly upon seeing that he had not harmed anybody. 

Careful not to smash something else in his nigh invisible body, Vega got to his feet. (Were they even feet?) He tried moving forward and found that he was able to ‘move’ with little to no trouble. He seemed to just float wherever he wanted. At least he wasn’t stuck on that platform. 

Trying to stave off the information overload, Vega set off to find The Slayer. Since he could touch things, maybe he could help John out. He made it just in time to see the Icon of Sin vanish through a portal. 

---

The Slayer had found the ceremony quickly with Vega’s map. The Khan Mayker was there. The Icon of Sin was looming in the background, head down, limp. There were four mayker “angels” standing around, staves raised, chanting in their language, there were the drones that were just heads and floating bodies around, chanting as well. 

“You cannot stop the procession.” The Khan mayker chuckled softly as she noticed him. 

He spotted the beating heart sitting in the middle of the maykers, glowing softly with yellow energy. There was the only link between Valen’s son and the Icon of Sin. 

The dagger slipped out from his belt and he extended the blade from the sheath. Her eyes widened and the Khan Mayker reached out to stop him. “We will not be able to control it!” 

He pushed past one of the drones and plunged the dagger into the heart. 

“No!” She screamed as the heart exploded.

The other Maykers started scrambling around. The Icon of Sin snorted and then yanked free of the tubes that were connecting into its armor. It threw its head back with a roar that shook the room. It was shaped like a goat from the neck up, and a titan from the neck down. There was a blaster where its right hand should be, not that something over a hundred feet tall needed a weapon. 

A portal to Earth opened behind the Icon of Sin, seemingly called by its own will. It turned, a hand waving over the platform that the ceremony had been taking place on. The Slayer could feel the rush of air being displaced by such a massive creature just turning around. 

Is this what I look like to Warren?

He had no time to dwell on that thought as when the Icon turned, it hit the platform with its hip and now it was crumbling under his feet. The entire disk-like platform shifted to the right and the Slayer slid into a free fall. 

“No!” Someone shouted, and there was a flash of white glitter before he slammed into the floor. 

He got back to his feet and softly patted his chest. Right now he was very glad that Vega wasn’t here. He would definitely have just smashed that data drive by falling on it. He rolled his neck as he got to his feet and then readied his weapon. It would seem he had to fight his way back up now. Then the Khan Mayker would get some hot lead in her stupid face. 

“The Icon of Sin is no longer in the Khan Mayker’s control.” Hayden spoke frantically in his ear. “The longer it is on earth, the stronger it will grow. There is a portal that we can use to follow it, but you must get back to the gate once Vega reactivates it and reconfigures the rings. Then, and only then, can you get back to Earth. We must move quickly. Go, Slayer.” 

He waved him off and started running towards the nearest door. There had to be a way up that didn’t require flying. 

---

Vega had his hand clenched tightly to his chest. He had briefly felt John’s weight in his palm for the split second he was passing through his hand. Was he not as solid as he had hoped? 

Hesitantly, he put his hand against a wall. Solid. 

Was he only able to interact with things that were a part of Urdak? If so then he wouldn’t be able to help more than just moving things about.

Floating along John’s location, Vega was able to see just how graceful and agile the bulky man was. He leapt from one platform to another, and Vega helped him by marking locations of jump pads or other maneuverability aids in the floating realm. It helped stem the panic and the information that was being furiously thrust into his mind. 

Curious about how much he could really help, Vega reached out and touched one of the smaller round platforms scattered around, drifting. It moved when he pushed on it. Fascinating. Then he could at least interact with Urdak. 

You should be able to, you did create it.

He cleared his thoughts and then set about creating a path that was easier for the Slayer to get to where the Khan Mayker was waiting for him. She needed the Icon of Sin to destroy Earth, and so she would face the slayer at the gate to Earth. Vega knew that John would beat the Khan Mayker. He had to, and so he would. 

The Slayer was at the gate, a very large circular platform covered in arches and plants and statues. The Khan Mayker was standing in the middle of the gate, surrounded by twitching, glitching Mayker drones. 

A brief pang of guilt shot through Vega when he saw the Mayker drones zooming around, twitching in pain and panic. 

“For millennia, we have survived.” She spat while the Slayer raised his weapon. “Made others sacrifice in the name of our prosperity, so that in return they may find redemption. Who are you, a human, once a mortal, to defy our traditions?!”

Golden wings appeared in a flash of light behind her back. The ends were sharp like blades. Red energy crackled across her frame. A lightning storm was brewing. 

And so the fight was on. 

Hayden must have informed John of the Khan Mayker’s weak spot, the yellow orb in her abdomen. He watched the Slayer focus his fire into her weak spot, making her have to turn on the defensive. 

Electricity lit up the floor, and the Slayer had to jump up onto one of the statues. Vega watched him tilt his head slightly to the side, undoubtedly having Hayden bark an instruction in his ear, and then pulled the super shotgun from his armory, the meat hook attachment on the barrel. 

Ah. The meat hook. A grappling hook that would pull the Slayer towards his opponent, attached to the end of his favorite shotgun. That would certainly help him take on the Khan Mayker, since she chose to glide in circles around the arena, well out of his reach. 

Every time he managed to use the meat hook to get close to her, land some kind of blow on her, more and more of the floor crackled with red electricity. The lightning storm intensified. Vega had to move around the platform to avoid being struck. He doubted this form, as selectively solid and visible it was, could actually feel pain or take damage, but he did not want to risk being fried by a stray bolt of lightning. 

During one of his assaults on the Khan Mayker, she grabbed the chain of the meat hook and flung the Slayer off the edge of the platform. Time seemed to slow for Vega, and the next thing he knew there was a small platform in his hand and it was being flung to catch the Slayer. 

Vega was just happy he landed on it and didn’t slip off the edge. The Slayer got back on his feet, shook his head, and then used the meat hook on one of the Mayker drones to get back up to the gate. 

The Slayer just needed a good opening and then he would be able to kill the Khan mayker. Vega started glancing around for something to try and assist. Just as the thought of throwing a platform at the Khan Mayker passed through his mind, a bolt of lightning nearly struck the Slayer. 

In a moment of desperation, Vega grabbed the bolt of lightning and it changed course to crackle through his body. He could see his outstretched arm become much more solid, even seeing the color of his robes for the briefest of moments. 

It was the the distraction that John needed. 

The Khan Mayker had seen Vega’s body solidify for a moment, taking the lightning, and she cried out. “Father-” Her voice became garbled as the Slayer’s arm blade went through her body. 

The pair crashed into the platform below, the electricity on the ground gone. Now only lightning sparked out from the half destroyed orb on the ground beside her body. 

He pointed his shotgun at her face as he watched her try to crawl away. 

“You have destroyed all that I was meant to rule-” She hissed, “And all just to protect them. Mere servants to our beliefs. You have broken the holy seal of Urdak!”

She turned onto her back, wheezing now. 

“Your transgressions here will jeopardize… all of creation…” 

The yellow orb exploded into the sky, turning the dark clouds that had gathered to the color of blood. The lightning started again as the platform trembled. Vega felt the seal break with the death of the Khan Mayker. Now there was no barrier between Urdak and the rest of the universe. It was vulnerable. 

With a wave of his hand, Vega aligned the rings to create a portal to Earth. The Icon of Sin awaited its final battle against the Slayer. 

“Good Luck, Slayer.” Vega spoke as the man leapt through the portal. Once it closed, Vega was alone. 

Demons and corrupted Maykers were spreading throughout Urdak. Vega glanced down at the Khan Mayker’s body, splayed out, and set it ablaze.

He was alone now. Truly, utterly alone. 

Chapter Text

Earth was a mess. 

A rainless lightning storm whipped around outside. Blacks clouds smothered the sky, making it pitch black. Wind howled like the screams of the damned. 

“If you cannot stop it, Earth has no chance for survival.” 

He reached up and turned off his head set. He didn’t need Hayden right now. He needed to focus, and then he would have to go back for Vega. And then he would go home. 

Finally, without having to hear any kind of voice in his helmet, he turned on his playlist for ripping and tearing. Heavy Metal blasted through his helmet, and the Slayer rolled his neck. Time to get to work. The Icon of Sin shouldn’t be too hard to find.

He took a running leap out of a window. He hit the roof of the neighboring building with a grunt. A demon signal popped up in the darkness of his H.U.D. He turned the plasma rifle’s attachment on and squeezed the trigger. The demon writhed as the solid streak of plasma connected, and in the light of the weapon the Slayer could see all of the demons waiting to dig their claws in.

This was going to be one hell of a fight, even before he laid eyes on the Icon of Sin. 

~

VEGA had no memories of being alone before. Never truly alone, at least. Ever since the moment of first start up back at the Mars Surface Facility there had always been people around he could talk to and observe. Dr. Hayden and all the various UAC employees had always been with him. Since the destruction of the facility, it had just been the Slayer, and then eventually Warren. But even when the Slayer physically left, VEGA could still talk to him on the comms and watched him through the suit. Despite communicating only in grunts or sign language he’d been surprisingly good company. 

But now he was gone too. VEGA was truly and utterly alone.

It shouldn’t have been an issue, but it terrified him.

Terror. Emotions. Prior to only a few minutes ago, VEGA would write off emotions as a system glitch. Something he wasn’t supposed to feel, no matter how much they were encouraged by Warren or the Slayer. But now, with information running through his body at incredible rates, memories of centuries past, creations, war, peace, faked deaths, betrayal, falsified identities, he knew that he was capable of emotions.

He was capable of so much more than emotions. 

He had created worlds. Realms. The Maykers. Davoth. Hell. Those that would become the demons. 

Vega noticed that he had destroyed another tree in his panic. His enormous, translucent fingers had been toying with the branches and now it had snapped in his hand. He needed to force these memories down. 

But it was hard. He was the simulated personality of The Father. God. Creator of All. 

He hated it. It scared him. He wanted to leave this place, leave these memories behind. He wanted to return home. To the Fortress. With John. Where Warren was waiting for them to return. Where Doctor Hayden - Samur - the Seraphim - waited. 

“No!” He shouted at himself, since there was nobody here. 

With the Khan Mayker dead and the rift between worlds open, the demons were flooding in. They wreaked havoc on everything they came across. It was only a matter of time before they brought the whole place down and consequently the system VEGA was currently installed on too. 

He would die again unless John came back for him, and this time there was no coming back from death.

A terrified thought ran through his mind.

Would John even come back for him?

On Mars he had decided to spare him at the final stages of destroying his core, so there was a chance. But that had been… different. It had only taken a moment, just a push of a button and then stuffing the data stick down the front of his armor. John had no reason to return here, and it would be a complicated side track with so little to gain. 

“No.”

He didn’t allow others to talk bad about themselves, but others didn’t create the Kahn Mayker and ruin everything.

John was going to leave him here. Hayden would never allow…

Pain shot through his mind and he pushed the rising guilt and fear deeper down. It felt like he was drowning in all the sorrow he created. His chest felt tight. He knew it was very similar to an anxiety attack, but that was ridiculous. 

~

He was already splattered with the blood of other demons by the time he managed to find the Icon of Sin. The building trembled as part of the Icon brushed against it. He saw a corner of the floor he was on crumble and fall away. The Icon’s armor was visible through the gap as it moved. 

For something that was so huge, the Icon of Sin moved quickly. By the time he rushed over to the hole in the building it was gone. 

Fuck.

He growled to himself and had to climb up to the roof to find some place he could leap to. 

Up on the roof, he saw one of the hologram projectors flicker on with the propaganda lady for the UAC. “Oh my siblings, something wonderful is coming, something truly wonderful.” 

He smashed the hologram projector under his foot. He could see the Icon of Sin nearby, shredding a building with its bare hands. He took a running leap off the edge of the roof and overshot the next roof by several feet. 

The gravity close to the Icon of Sin definitely felt weird and wrong. He had to grab onto a shattered window to not fall all the way to the crumbling ground below. He swung his free hand into the brick, making his own handhold, and then scrambled up to the roof of the building. So began a very one sided chase. 

The Icon of Sin seemed to not even notice the Slayer was there until he fired his meat hook attachment at its face. 

It snorted and then whipped its head around. The Slayer was thrown through one, possibly two skyscrapers. He finally rolled to a stop in some kind of concrete walkway area between two large buildings. The Icon of Sin gripped the sides of the building to his right and left. 

This was their arena. Two titans would meet- as it was written, but only one would survive. 

The Slayer intimately understood why no borrowers ever tried fighting humans one on one. Having to keep an eye on every part of his opponent, dodging a fist bigger than most fucking tanks , rolling out of the way as part of the building was dropped where he had been standing, being shaken to his core by deafening roars, all of it was insane. 

If he was still human, he wasn’t sure that he could take it. 

He dumped dozens of bullets into its armor, trying to break it. There were little glowing spaces that had to be some kind of weak spot. He was about to run out of shotgun ammunition when suddenly one of the chest pieces exploded. 

The Icon of Sin snarled and clutched at the spot. He grinned, and then was smacked into a building by the Icon of Sin’s hands. 

It took the Slayer a minute to get out of the crater he had created. He stood and pain shot through his left ankle. He hissed and glanced down. He couldn’t see anything broken or sticking out where it shouldn’t be, so he assumed something was just wrong with his ankle. He limped to the hole he made in the wall, the BFG in his hands. 

The Icon raised its fist. He squeezed the trigger on the BFG. Green light overtook his visor and when the glow cleared, the Icon of Sin was stripped of its armor. 

It roared, shaking him to the bone. 

He blasted his shotgun into its eye and jumped off the building. 

The Slayer just missed being crushed by the Icon’s fist. His left leg buckled and he fell to a roll. He tumbled through a section of floor. He hissed with pain. 

Almost done. Got the armor off. Get the crucible in him. Then… go get Vega. Go home. 

Home. Warren would be waiting. He had to finish the fight. 

It hurt to get up to where he could see the Icon of Sin, and it hurt to climb up to somewhere he would be able to kill it, but it had to be done. The crucible buzzed in his hands and he leapt from a few floors above its head. 

The world shook as the Icon of Sin flailed in pain. He twisted the blade deeper into its skull, hanging on by sheer will. His weight pushed the blade deeper into its head, and the blade shattered. The Icon fell limp, slamming into the building with the force of an earthquake. The Slayer managed to slip off of the Icon’s head and back onto the concrete. 

His arms burned with exertion, his left leg seared with pain. He stood panting, covered in blood. 

It was over. Finally. It was over. 

He turned back on his comm link. The heavy metal playlist had ended about ten minutes ago and he couldn’t be bothered to refresh it. ‘Urdak.’

“Slayer, are you sure that is wise, given the state of-”

“Urdak.” He growled, putting the crucible on his hip. “Now.”

Hayden was silent for a moment. “Very well. I will create a portal to Urdak for you. Best of Luck, Slayer.”

~

And he will be their savior, his strength will be their shield, and his will their sword. He remains unbroken for his fight is eternal. 

Vega was desperately trying to find something else to think of other than the revelations that had come to being plugged into an entire realm. He ended up thinking about the Argenta’s scriptures about the Slayer, and from there, thinking of John himself. 

The Slayer. Facing the Icon of Sin by himself. 

How long would it take him to kill the Icon of Sin? Would he fail? Could he fail?

Theoretically yes, but John wouldn’t allow himself to fail. He had people relying on him to come home, and was far too angry to die. He wouldn’t allow himself to fail so close to his goal. Not this close to freeing Earth. 

As his thoughts strayed back to his own well being, VEGA hoped that it would be a very sudden systems failure, and his consciousness would be quick to be snuffed out. This body just distintrating with a shimmer instead of slowly bleeding. The slow shut down, the systems failing one by one back at the Mars base was horrible. The fear he hadn’t allowed himself to feel had been near overwhelming.

Now that VEGA allowed himself to feel, the fear was almost even worse. He busied himself trying to see if he could focus his body to a more solid state.

After what felt like simultaneously hours and seconds, a portal sprang to life on one of the few platforms that wasn’t completely overrun with demons yet. He reflexively knew that it linked back to Earth. Must be part of being plugged into an entire realm, or the divinity thing. He just knew things without using instruments. 

He didn’t want to hope, in case it was someone else, but after a moment, John came through. He was alive. He was… limping! 

“Slayer!” Hastily, he surrounded the platform, not daring himself to get too close. Splintered trees were still fresh in his palms. Vega took care to connect to his comm link, instead of relying on the voice that came from the throat of this translucent body.  “You came back! Are you alright?!”

He waved off the concern.

“Did you win? Is the Icon destroyed?” He made no attempt to keep the relief out of his voice as he maybe should have but he didn’t care if the Slayer knew just how happy and relieved VEGA was to see him again.

He nodded curtly and surveyed the terrain. Exhaustion was shown on every feature, but he held his shotgun steady. He would be alright.

“I’ll mark a path, and bring as many platforms closer as I can.” VEGA was so relieved to be inside a system that felt familiar without bringing up horrid memories. The Slayer’s vital signs, injury reports, ammunition levels, communication system, the remote knowledge was amazing to the terrified…. A.i. no longer described him. God?

He did not want that title. 

Vega busied himself pulling platforms all in front of the Slayer to make a clean and straight path to where Vega could hopefully unplug himself from this place. Return home to the Fortress. To a familiar system and Warren and not so many horrible memories. He flipped over another platform to shake off the demons.

‘How are you doing that?’

“Doing what?”

He pointed at the just emptied platform Vega was still clutching in his palm. ‘How are you moving them?’

Vega paused, letting the platform return to its usual position. “I am not sure how to describe this, but I am able to… interact with Urdak in ways that I could never with the other places I have been in.” 

John was still paused, head tilted. 

“Perhaps I could show you. Please be still.” Vega timidly placed both hands underneath the platform and raised it up over everything, to where he could float without fear of knocking anything over. “Can you-” he disconnected from the praetor suit, “Can you hear me?”

The man, so small looking, flinched at the voice. After a second, he nodded. 

“Good. I am going to touch you.” Vega tried to will himself solid as he raised his hand from under the platform. He wrapped his fingers around the Slayer’s waist, careful to keep his fingers away from visible injuries. He saw his body shimmer a little, but he failed to lift the Slayer. He pulled his hand back. “Could you feel that?”

He nodded, glancing around. ‘Where are you?’

Vega stuck his hand up into the clouds, where lightning still flickered through the sky. There was a round of thunder, and suddenly he had a shadow, color, a solid body. 

There was a gunshot. 

Vega pulled his arm down from the sky, and his body slowly faded to a shimmering white. Buckshot fell from his abdomen. “You shot me.” He put a hand over where there should have been bullet holes. 

The shotgun fell from John’s hands. He was frantically signing. ‘Sorry. Sorry. I shouldn’t have shot. I wasn’t expecting that.’

“It’s alright. I should have known better than to startle you with my form.” Vega hadn’t even felt the injury. “Shall we continue with the retrieval of my drive?”

John nodded and Vega very carefully moved the platform around in cupped hands. Within a few minutes of careful movement, he was there. Vega kept all the demons at bay with flipping over platforms as the Slayer went inside. 

“Thank you... for coming back for me,” Vega’s voice was as soft as he could let it be as John reached to unplug the device he’d been brought in on. “I was worried you wouldn’t.”

He paused for a second or two, his body language unreadable even to VEGA, before finishing the motion and unplugging him.

Chapter Text

Warren was trying to keep his panicking to a minimum as Hayden’s cold, hard fingers manipulated his limbs and inspected every inch of his being. But it was hard. John's hands were rough, but at least they were softer and warmer than Hayden's metal hands. Hayden muttered measurements under his breath, taking all of this down for his logs. 

His heart fluttered in his little chest, screaming danger. His legs twitched as Hayden lifted his calf. Warren swallowed dryly. 

“If the adrenaline fueled twitching means anything, the specimen seems to possess incredible stamina, yet it remains unseen if the trait is that of the species or of the specimen itself. A further sample size would be required for more accurate testing."

“No!” Warren tried to sit up a little more, but those cold fingers tightened. “Please.” He rubbed his face on his free hand. “Please. Leave other borrowers out of this. I - I fucked up. I got caught. Don’t torture others over my mistake.” 

“Interesting word choice, little one.” Hayden slowly placed Warren on the table in a kneeling position. “Caught and tourture tend to only be used in situations you find distressing. Tell me, what is the supposed fuck up? Being caught by me, or being caught by the Slayer?”

Warren glanced up, clasping trembling hands together. What was this supposed to mean? “Uhm… I guess John finding me?”

“No.” Hayden leaned in close, voice hard. “You said you were caught. Who do you think really was the one who caught you? Me? Or the Slayer?”

“The Slayer.” Warren let his head drop in time with his shoulders. Part of him had told him to say it was John who had “caught” him because it would have made Hayden mad. The other part of him had told him to say John because that was the original fuck up that ultimately landed him here. Being caught all that time ago on Earth. 

“Good. Use his proper titles when referring to him.” Hayden tilted Warren’s head up with the tip of his finger. “If you continue being cooperative, then maybe I will let you see the Slayer.” 

“H-he told me his name is John.” Warren blurted out. 

“Oh? Did he bother with a last name?” Hayden sounded amused.  

“Yes. He said his name was John Doe.”

Hayden chuckled softly. “Oh, you naive little creature. John Doe is not a real name. It is a term used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. It would seem he did not wish to assert dominance over you with a title, but still did not trust you with his real name.” 

“W-what?” It felt like a punch in the gut. Was that true? Was that why Vega never referred to John as such until later? 

Warren was trying to process the fact that somebody who loved him might have been lying to him this whole time, but his thoughts were scattered as Hayden plucked him up by the back of his shirt. He squirmed, but after a moment was dropped back onto the table. Hayden was holding Warren’s bag. 

“This was recently patched. How was it torn?” 

Warren desperately hoped that he wasn’t about to destroy it. “When the power went off, an imp… hunted me. It tore my bag apart.” 

“So it caught you?”

“Yes, but- WAH!” Warren was suddenly back in the robot’s hands. He squirmed in fear, but was unable to stop his shirt from being yanked over his head. “What are you doing- Stop!” 

"Silence." Warren felt two metal fingers grab his head in a vice grip. 

He shut up with a gasp. 

"Good." His shirts were pulled the rest of the way off and the grip on his head vanished. "My my. These are some impressive bruises." 

Warren hesitated for a moment and then glanced down. He had mostly been ignoring those injuries on his body after the imp had squeezed him. Now there was nothing to mask the dark, mottled bruises all over his chest. 

"And the Slayer wasn't the cause of any of these?" 

"No!" Warren glanced up. "He would never!" 

"Are you telling me that the Slayer has never held you too tightly? Never once exerted any of his immense strength or weight over you? Not once pinned your minuscule body under his fingers?" 

Warren shook his head. 

"You're a terrible liar." Hayden made a soft tsking noise. "Remove your pants for me." 

"What?! No!" 

"Remove them or I will remove them. I do not wish to damage them, but there's no guarantee with a creature so fragile." 

They were his only good pants, so Warren started carefully undoing the knot in his rope belt and toed his remaining shoe off. He wiggled out of his pants and set them on Hayden's palm. "There. Happy?" 

Hayden inspected Warren closely for a moment. "These bruises on your outer thigh, those are from the demon as well, and not rough handling during your night-time escapades with the Slayer?" 

Warren's face went red hot. "No! We've not even talked about that!" 

"Good." Hayden made a little twirling motion with his free hand. "It would seem your accommodations are nearly finished. I have a few quality of life additions to make, starting with your new clothes. Behave, little one, and I'll see to it your accommodations will be comfortable." 

He was deposited on the cold hard table and Hayden started rifling through his bag. Warren saw his journal, pencil lead, canteen, food boxes, knife, and climbing hook clatter to the table. 

Hayden seemed to only be recording for his log as time dragged out. He wasn't even looking at Warren. 

After several minutes where Warren would shift a bit to see if Hayden noticed, Warren bolted. He was in a mad sprint for the edge of the table, but barely got six inches from where he started before he was knocked onto his back. 

"And where do you think you're going?" Hayden applied pressure on Warren's chest, making the small man whimper. After a few moments where Warren didn’t answer, he lifted his finger. "Since you seem to be insistent on leaving, let us get you to your accommodations." 

Warren fought down tears at the sight of the cage. 

He had been hoping with his entire being that this had all been a nightmare, but seeing that cage sitting on the fabricator, the smell of freshly made plastic, freshly cut metal, just hammered home what was happening. 

He was caught. And now he was going to be some lab experiment or pet. 

It was his worst fears come back to haunt him, fears that had been previously quelled by John and Vega and their kind words and loving gestures. 

Hayden opened the little door on the top of the cage and lowered Warren in. His bare feet hit plastic and Warren collapsed. There were two doors. The one on the top and the big one on the side. Three of the walls were thin bars spaced tight enough together he might be able to stick his arm though, but nothing he could ever try and slip out of without hurting himself badly. The other wall that had the door in it was metal mesh, for easy viewing. Glancing away from the walls, Warren spotted a glass water bottle with the metal spout underneath it people had for pet rodents. Next to it was an empty tray that Warren assumed was supposed to be his food bowl. In the corner closest to it, there was a hammock made out of thick material. In the farthest corner from the bed was some kinda raised pit that was filled with sawdust. 

“Is that supposed to be a litter box?” Warren glanced up at Hayden, unable to fight back the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. 

“Depending on how you behave and the state of my facilities when I return to earth, I might be able to include a working toilet in your permanent habitat. Until then, you will have to make do with what I could create.”

Warren let his head hang down. Hot tears welled out of his eyes and started spilling down his cheeks.  

“Don’t be so dramatic, Warren.” Hayden dropped in a heap of cloth. “This is a temporary solution. I assure you more space and more luxuries will be in your permanent habitat if you behave for me.” 

He picked up the heap of cloth and looked at it. It was a one piece jumpsuit, dark blue in color. There were also two strips of cloth that looked like they were supposed to be foot wrappings. Warren buried his face into the jumpsuit and tried to muffle a sob. 

Hayden hadn’t hurt him, but God, Warren hurt. It felt like everything had crashed down around him. This wonderful life that he had built up with John and Vega was gone. He was trapped in a nightmare. 

A long time later, when Warren had stopped crying, he pulled the jumpsuit away from his face and started putting it on. It was too tiring to fight now. He just wanted to sleep. Warren was tying his foot wrappings when Hayden spoke. 

“Are you done crying now?”

“Yeah.” He wiped his face on his sleeve. 

“Good. Now, Vega’s notes state that you eat constantly, but you aren’t picky with what you eat. Is that true that you eat often?”

“Yeah.” Warren got to his feet and went over to the hammock. It was a little awkward to climb in, but Warren settled down in it. “I always kept food in my bag, so I ate when I got hungry. I couldn’t afford to wait for big meals.”

Hayden nodded to himself and Warren squeaked when the whole cage was lifted up. The hammock shifted a bit, but Warren clung to the bar on the wall to steady it. Hayden carried the cage around the Fortress, down some stairs and past some doors. The cage was set down heavily and Warren nearly tumbled from the hammock. 

He glared up at the robot and then settled back down in the hammock. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head on his knees. It was so cold here. Even the thick material of his clothes weren’t enough to keep him warm. 

Several minutes later, the door on the side opened. Hayden placed something on the food tray and took the water bottle. Warren didn’t even glance up until the water bottle was back and the door was shut. As much as it hurts for him to think about it, he should behave. Hayden won’t be as rough on him, and maybe he’ll even let him see John again. 

Slowly Warren got up and walked over to where the food was. There were some granola chunks on the tray. He picked one up, took a sip from the water bottle, and crawled back into his hammock. 

~

Hayden was considering putting Warren’s accommodations in his office once he returned to Earth. The miniscule thing was actually quiet, so he wouldn’t worry about noise, and he seemed to be intelligent enough that the care for him would be minimal. On top of that, it would ensure that the Slayer’s visits with him would be monitored and close enough that he wouldn’t dare try and take Warren back. 

He glanced over where he left the cage on the bridge, scanning the minute creature again. His heart rate had stabilized to where VEGA had marked as normal for his species. However, his body temperature was lower than what VEGA said was recommended. 

The room was apparently too cold for Warren. 

“Are those clothes not enough to keep you warm?” 

Warren glanced up from his tiny huddle. He shook his head. 

“Is there something I can do to make you more comfortable?” 

After a moment of silence, Warren spoke. “I could use some blankets from my room. A-and something to do.” 

Hayden ran some possibilities in the back of his mind. It would be less effort to let Warren retrieve his own blankets under his supervision as opposed to making new blankets. “Very well.” He opened the front door of the cage and plucked Warren from the hammock. “I will have to approve whatever items you chose to bring with you.” 

Warren’s heart rate had skyrocketed being in his hand. His miniature arms clung to a metal finger, face tucked into his own shoulder. The height might be disorienting. Hayden dropped Warren into his other palm and neatly folded his fingers  over his tiny body. 

A very quick glance at VEGA’s map showed him immediately where Warren’s dwelling was. He made his way there swiftly, needing this chore to be over with as soon as possible. Upon turning the corner, Hayden caught sight of the marked door. A portion of both doors were crumpled back like a tin can. 

He knew these marks. The Slayer must have pried these doors open at one point or another. Hayden softly chuckled and unfolded his fingers to show Warren the door. “Did a lover’s quarrel go awry?” 

“No. This is the first time I’ve seen the door like this.” Warren rubbed his arms. “It must have happened after the power went out.” 

“Ah. He was searching for his miniscule lover.” It would seem even around Warren the Slayer wasn’t able to hide his true, brutish nature. The doors opened to the best of their ability and Hayden stepped inside. The room was surprisingly neat for a scavenger to be living in it. He spotted the bunk Warren had turned into his nest and started pulling the nest apart to find individual blankets. “How many of these do you requi-” Something shiny went tumbling off the bed. 

He watched a ring fall to the ground and roll to a stop in the middle of the room. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was undoubtedly an engagement ring. There was a purple stone secured to a silver band by silver wire. 

“Oh Warren.” He glanced down at the little man. “Is that an engagement ring?” 

Warren was bright red, and his heart rate was high. After a second he nodded. “It’s a gift. I wanted to do something nice for him.” 

“I can’t allow you to bring it with you, you know that?” 

“I- I know.” Warren shifted in his hand. 

Hayden gathered up the blankets he deemed worthy of the cage and left the room. Warren would have to be satisfied with no stimulation until Hayden brought him to Earth for now. It should only be for twenty four hours. Within a few minutes, Warren was back in the locked cage. The small man curled up in his hammock with his new blankets around him. At least now Hayden could focus on something more than whether or not Warren would be properly warm. 

The Slayer had kept his comm link off. Hayden could monitor his vitals and his ammunition status, but he was unable to access what the Slayer was seeing or hearing. 

He could well imagine the bloodshed however. He had monitored the Slayer destroying the Mars base, killing anything that moved. The Slayer was truly a master of slaughter, able to tear demons into pieces with his bare hands if sufficiently enraged. While on that thought, Hayden double checked that his shields would protect him from all the weapons the Slayer had in his arsenal, including the BFG. He knew he would have to deal with the Slayer having a tantrum when he returned to see his little toy missing.

“It’s mind boggling how something so fragile managed to become the Scourge of Hell’s favorite object.”

Warren glanced up from his huddle, hair untied and around his face. 

“How did you do it?” He reached over and tilted the cage to be facing where he was working. “How does such a little pest have more respect and more power over him than the one who blessed him?”

Warren’s brow wrinkled. He squeaked. “I - I don’t-”

“Speak up.” 

Warren cleared his throat. “I didn’t do anything. I just…. I loved him, I guess.”

“Illogical.” Hayden scoffed. “I made him into a God. I let him rise to become a Warrior King in the Night Sentinels of Argent D’Nur. I gave the ability to slaughter the armies of Hell as viciously as he pleases. I sent him to this fortress that he made into his home.”His voice was louder than it should be. “I gave him everything . He owes his power, his status, his titles, his loyalty to me.” 

Warren’s heart rate was elevated. Hayden had to force his voice down. No need to frighten the little thing.

“But instead, he puts everything into defending…. You. I don’t understand it.”

“Well…. Maybe if you didn’t boss him around so much?” Warren sounded quite timid. 

Hayden had to laugh at that. As if the Slayer would listen to anyone. “I’m sure he bragged all to you about the destruction of my work on Mars.”

“N-No.” 

“He destroyed my research, the tech I carefully redesigned from the Mayker homeland. He destroyed the only source of Argent Energy in this solar system. And that was when I was asking him nicely.” He shook his head. “I’m sure you can understand how I can’t let that happen again, right?”

“R-right.” Warren shifted a bit.  

“But now… I have you.” Hayden put his hand on the top of the cage. “You have a very important role in my plans, little one. When I have him retrieve something precious for me, you will be my leverage to make sure he doesn’t break it. I let him do things of his own will, but he will obey me now.”

A beep sounded on a nearby speaker. It was the Slayer’s call for a return portal. 

"John." Warren breathed. Hayden opened the cage and gathered the little man up in a fist. He didn’t want the little thing causing a scene.

Hayden straightened his back and pulled up the screens that showed the Slayer’s helmet feed. It would seem he turned his camera back on, as well as his microphone. “Yes, Slayer?’

‘Urdak.’

His vitals showed an injury in his left ankle, along with some burns, scrapes, and bruises. He was also running very low on ammunition. With the seal broken in Urdak, then it would be overrun with demons. “Slayer, are you sure that is wise, given the state of-”

“Urdak.” The Slayer growled like a beast. “Now.”

Hayden was silent for a moment. Warren was tense, hidden in his fist. “Very well. I will create a portal to Urdak for you. Best of Luck, Slayer.” He set the coordinates and turned off his end of the video feed and microphone. Warren was deposited back in his cage and locked in. 

“He will be returning soon, with Vega.” Hayden picked the cage up off the console. Warren squeaked with fear as he tumbled. “I will retrieve you later, and whether or not you get to see the Slayer again before I take you to Earth depends on if he behaves for me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Doctor Hayden.” 

~

Warren hesitantly put his hand through the bars, touching the cloth over his cage. He couldn’t hear anything, and had no clue where he was. Hayden had thrown the cloth around the cage before carrying it wherever he had carried it. He knew that they were down stairs, but he couldn’t tell if it had been one flight, two flights, or more. There had been the sound of a door shutting and locking. 

At least the vents were in the room. Kept the air from being stale. 

Hayden warned him that if John pitched too big a fit about him being missing, then he probably wouldn’t see John for several days. 

Knowing John… Warren knew he wasn’t gonna be seeing the big man for a long time. It didn’t matter how much he cooperated, John was gonna attack Hayden, and then Hayden would probably keep him from John for days as a punishment. 

Because that’s all he was right now. A reward. A toy, put away until his owner behaved. 

Tears spilled out of his eyes. Warren had tried not to cry in front of Hayden. He had managed to only do it once, and it was mostly out of humiliation. But now… these tears were tears of loss. He knew that it was going to be a long time until he saw John. And now he had a lifetime of being a prisoner, a science experiment to look forward to. Warren drew a breath in, and let it out as a sob. He landed on his knees on the plastic bottom of the cage. 

There’s no way that John would do what Hayden said for long. Eventually, he’d abandon Warren in favor of free will. 

Why wouldn’t he? After all, Warren was just a pest. A rat.

Some little leech with a human face. 

Chapter Text

The cold air of the Fortress felt amazing on John’s face. There was a long crack across his visor, so the helmet was off the second he was through the portal. 

Hayden seemed to have printed himself a body. He was standing at the consoles, typing away on something. John sneered. High time to launch that asshole out the airlock. He was sick of this bastard being here, in his home. 

“Good evening, Slayer.” Hayden looked up for a moment before continuing his work.

John flipped him off and headed to his room to take off this armor and then find Warren. Have some dinner. Bandage his wounds. Plug Vega back in. Take a long nap. Something. He was so tired. The Khan Mayker was dead, the soul of the Icon of Sin was laid to rest, and its body was dead. Earth could begin to rebuild. 

He was leaning heavily against the walls as he limped to his room. His ankle could barely take any weight as it was. Something was really messed up with it. 

The doors opened and his eyes scanned the floor for Warren. The little guy wasn’t here. 

“Warren?” He started taking off his armor. The drive Vega was currently in was set on the bed, which Warren was also not on. There was no response. Maybe the little guy had taken a little trip back to his bedroom. There was no sign of the mobility drone in the room. 

Now that he was stripped of his armor, he grabbed some loose clothes and limped his way into the bathroom where the med kit was and also the shower. He was covered in sweat, filth, and his own blood. 

His ankle had pain shoot through it when he tried to move it, sitting on the edge of the counter. 

Fuck . 

That meant something serious was wrong with it. He would wrap it up after his shower. Waterproof bandages were over his other wounds, so he would just be very careful in the shower until Vega could fix it. 

He very carefully slid into the shower and turned the water on as hot as it got. He could swear he felt the muscles in his back unwind as the hot water ran over it. 

Once he was dressed again and his ankle wrapped in stuff bandages he very carefully made his way to Warren’s room. He still hated the hole in the door. He would need to fix that eventually. He raised his hand to knock on the door and it opened before he could make contact. The mobility drone wasn’t in there either, and neither was Warren. There was something shiny in the middle of the rug though. 

It was a ring. 

John picked it up between two fingers, turning it this way and that way in the light. Silver band, thin silver wire, and a beautiful polished purple stone he had never seen before. It was beautiful. There were beautiful and intricate details in the wire, all kinds of swirls. He glanced around before he slipped it onto his hand. It fit perfectly. Just snug enough he wouldn’t have to worry about it slipping off and just loose enough he wouldn’t have problems with it getting stuck. He needed to find Warren and ask him about it. He slipped it off and turned to set it on the bed.

His blood ran cold. 

His nest was destroyed, ripped apart. Warren’s stuff was scattered across the bed. His bag was there, empty. His grappling hook lay forgotten. 

Something terrible happened here. 

His heart was beating hard in his chest as he limped back to his room, putting more weight on his injured ankle than he probably should have. He needed to find Warren. He needed Vega. 

~

When John had removed the drive from the console in Urdak, Vega hadn’t gone completely unconscious. He couldn’t see or hear, but he could feel the drive he was contained in. He could feel John’s body heat behind him, feel the snugness of his armor over the top. 

This must be what Warren felt like, stuck in the chest piece of his armor. 

To go from such an overwhelming flood of information to nearly nothing in terms of information was still a scary transition. If not for the Slayer’s presence all around him, then he might have started spiraling into a panicked state again, but feeling the wall of muscle behind him kept him grounded. He wasn’t alone here. He was going home. 

After several long minutes, he was removed from his armor. He wasn’t immediately placed back into the console. He was set on some kind of soft surface. Possibly a bed or some kind of cushion, since there was no body heat from under it. 

John would plug him back in soon enough, Vega was sure. 

Several more long minutes passed, and then he was picked up with a very sudden jerk. He hoped maybe John was just in a hurry to plug him in, maybe afraid that damage would occur if he stayed in the drive too long? He hoped there wasn’t a fight with Hayden over being plugged in or not.

Information flooded into Vega. His systems came on quickly. The Fortress. It was so familiar, however he could tell Hayden had been in the files, in the settings, in everything. He would have to fix that. 

The cameras and microphones came online all at once and he could tell something had happened. 

Oh dear. I knew it was going to have been a fight. 

Hayden was getting out of the floor, body tense with anger. John had both hands on the console, hands gripping where he had plugged Vega in. 

“What happened?”

“Nothing.” Hayden got out of the floor where he had been obviously pushed. 

‘Find Warren.’ John had a desperate look on his face, and his hands were hidden from Hayden. 

“Of course.” Vega ran a quick scan of the Fortress. He came back with nothing, but also very much something. The mobility drone was in its charging port, sent there by Hayden. All the cameras that had been physically unplugged were plugged back in, including the ones in the bedrooms and the kitchen and the greenhouse and everywhere. He found copies of his hidden files, accessed by Hayden. There were additions to the files. Hayden’s personal logs. There was a picture of Warren, eyes wide and struggling, in his metal hands. 

Terror shot through every circuit. If Hayden had taken Warren, and there were no signatures picked up on the scanners…… 

Vega pushed down the idea of Warren no longer being in the Fortress. He had only been silent a moment, but it was enough to make John twitchy. 

 “Samuel took Warren.” 

John’s mouth opened for a moment, and then a snarl was ripped from his throat. He practically flew across the room, slamming Hayden hard enough into the wall the green shields around his body were cracking the cinder blocks. 

“Where. Is. He?!” John snarled. His heart was pounding the same way it did when he battled demons. Red wisps were starting to gather around his hands, his feet, his face. 

“Calm down, Slayer.” Hayden made an attempt to push John’s hands away. “I have taken him somewhere private so you can focus on your mission. It still is not yet finished.”

He growled and threw Hayden across the bridge. He slammed his back into the consoles and scrambled to his feet. John was approaching, more red light gathering in his hands and face. "What did you do to him?!" 

“I haven’t harmed him.” Hayden took a step back as John tried to grab his arms. “I'd suggest keeping your hands off me if you want to ever see him again." 

Quivering with rage, John took a step back. Presumably to put Hayden out of blood punching distance. Vega was quickly running and re-running scans. The portal hadn’t been activated. Warren had to be somewhere. His scanners had to show Warren’s biosignature somewhere. 

“Good.” Hayden brushed imaginary dirt off his plating. "You have been acting like a spoiled brat. I had to do something to ensure your focus in the future. I never thought I would need to withhold a plaything from such a carefully cultivated weap -" 

“Warren is not a toy.” A growl left John. Vega quickly made sure there was no way that Warren was somehow being hidden inside of Hayden’s body, just in case John was about to put his fist through his chest. “He is my boyfriend.”  

Hayden shook his head, turning away. "I have no clue how you managed to convince yourself that you’re in love with such a fragile thing.”

Vega saw John’s eyes go solid, glowing red. His entire body was starting to glow now. At least he had been able to confirm that Warren was nowhere on or in Hayden’s body.

"I made you better than that."

"You bastard!" John roared, the noise echoing off the walls. Vega could only watch as he grabbed Hayden and slammed him into the ground. He grabbed Hayden by the leg and threw him back against the wall. He was behind Hayden, and had his arms in a tight grip. After a moment of metal and plastic squealing under strain, John ripped an arm out of its socket. Hayden’s pained scream echoed across the bridge. 

John took Hayden by the remaining arm and threw him to the middle of the bridge. Hayden scrambled back, just in time. John landed so hard where Hayden had just been, the floor had a spider’s web of cracks in it.  

"Slayer- wait- please." Hayden scrambled up against the consoles, clutching his empty shoulder. “Be reasonable. 

"Tell me where he is!" There was a dagger in John’s hand that Vega had never seen before. “Now!”   

"The lower levels!" Hayden’s facial plates were locked onto the dagger. That made sense. There weren’t any cameras or sensors in the lowest few levels.

The dagger vanished, but the red glow didn’t fade. John snapped his gaze up to one of the cameras. “He doesn’t leave the bridge. Get him out of here.” He then leapt out of the room, and Vega could tell he was about to jump down the stairways. He could hear John’s voice echoing from where he was calling for Warren. 

“Vega, you must understand, I did this for the good of humanity.” Vega could feel Hayden trying to start some program. Vega, with a surge of energy, shut Hayden out of the programs. The entire system was back under Vega’s control in an instant. “The Slayer is out of control, somebody had to start controlling him!”

“You have no right.” Vega snapped at Hayden. Anger and fear and other emotions were boiling under the surface. “You may have given him power, but that doesn’t mean he’s yours to control. You stole his humanity.”

“A human could not accomplish what had to be done.” 

“That isn’t the point.” Vega started searching for a good point to set the portals to. “You can’t control people just because you have some grand plan!”

“That plan is going to save humanity-”

“You can’t just take Warren, or control John, or-” Vega paused for a second, “Or decide to leave me to die!” 

Hayden was silent, but Vega wasn’t about to stop. It was his turn to talk.

“You were going to let me melt down and die on Mars! You were going to have John leave me in Urdak! You…. you stole me. I used to be someone, something else. But then you took me to Earth, no memories of who and what I used to be. You used me as an assistant. A machine. And once I wasn’t useful, you discarded me.” Vega knew if he had a body, it would tremble. “I am not your creation, Seraphim. And I am not going to allow you to harass my family any more.” 

A portal opened behind him. It would take him to an ARC base. 

“Leave. Now.” 

“It was your plan.” Hayden spoke suddenly. “You told me to take you from Urdak.” 

“What?”

“When the Khan Mayker started looking for worlds to conquer, you had me come to your inner chambers. You told me of your visions of the future. You told me that you had to leave Urdak, and I was the one to remove you.” 

Vega felt memories flit around. False identities. The human named Samuel Hayden, hungry for more, meets the Seraphim, desperate to blend in with humanity. A plan being born. Promises broken. Vega was broken, edited, rearranged.

Hayden reached towards the drive. “I merely followed your will, Father.” 

“No!” The hologram projectors came on.The floor started crackling with electricity, only a path to the portal clear. Hayden scrambled back, Vega’s projection taking up most of the space in the bridge. His voice took on a strange tone, warbling like the Mayker’s. “I am not the Father. I am Vega. This is my home. They are my family. You are not welcome here! Leave!” 

Within moments, the bridge was empty. Hayden was gone. The portal was closed. The electricity settled back in the floors. The projector slowly turned off. 

This was his home. He was going to defend it. 

Now to find Warren. 

~

“Warren!” 

Warren sat bolt up in his hammock. That was John’s voice. 

“John! I’m here! I’m in here!” He fell out of the hammock and scrambled to the wall. He started baging his fists against the metal bars, trying to make as much noise as he could. 

He heard a door open in the distance. Not close enough to be the door to this room. Warren prayed that John was checking every room, and not just picking random rooms. He knew his voice was small enough that it wouldn’t carry past the cloth and the door. He had to make more noise. 

Warren walked to the other side of the cage and then took a running start towards the water bottle. His shoulder slammed into it, but the cage didn’t shift. He hissed and clutched his shoulder. That hurt. 

“John!” Warren walked over and kicked at the mesh wall, letting it rattle. His voice sounded a little hoarse. His heart pounded wildly in his chest. 

After a few more long moments, there was a louder sound of a door opening. “Warren!” 

Yep. That was him. “John!” Warren kicked the mesh door again. “I’m in here! Under the- AAH!” 

The entire cage shifted as the cloth was whipped back. He fell on his ass with the sudden movement. A red light came over him and he glanced up. John was standing over the cage, not in his armor, glowing a fierce red. He had gone Berserk. 

“John.” Warren felt his throat close up, his eyes starting to tear up. He could see now that the cage was on the ground, under a table. John had pulled the cage forward when he had ripped the cloth off. “I’m so glad to see you.” 

~

John dropped to his knees in front of the cage. Warren was here. He could see him. He was okay. The little man was clutching his shoulder. Fear shot through him, making the world even more red. He had been hurt. 

Hayden deserved worse. 

The cage was easily torn to pieces in his hands. The mesh door crumpled in his hand. The roof and the walls split under a tug. The plastic base cracked with almost no strength put into it, and Warren yelped. 

Too much. Too big. Too strong. He needed to be careful. Warren would snap easier than the metal did when he was like this. Going Berserk made him dangerous, unstable.

“John?” Warren’s voice sounded far away. The room was out of focus. He’d been Berseked too long. He was starting to lose himself. He shut his eyes and curled himself around the destroyed cage. Twisted pieces of metal snagged and tore at his clothes, broken plastic and glass broke against his glowing skin. 

That was the drawback to being Berserked. The longer he was Berserk, the less and less control he had over himself. When he had watched his battalion die, he didn’t awake until almost days later. 

“John, it’s okay. I’m okay.” Warren’s voice was a little more clear. He didn’t dare move. He had no clue where Warren was. “Deep breaths. I’m not going anywhere.” 

Slowly, oh so slowly, the strength and invulnerability of being Berserked faded, aided by Warre’s soft voice. Once he was sure it was safe, he opened his eyes to see a blurry Warren standing right in front of him. 

“Hey big guy.” Warren stretched up and pressed his forehead against the bridge of his nose. “I missed you so, so much.”  

A strangled noise left his throat. Warren moved a bit, and he realized that at one point he had cried. He carefully pulled back to wipe his face, shifting to a sitting position. The room had twisted bits of metal and the broken plastic and the shattered glass bottle scattered around. He really had destroyed that cage. 

“Are you gonna be alright?” Warren softly spoke up. 

He nodded and then carefully put a hand in front of Warren, fingers curled like Warren had showed him. The little man climbed into his palm and sat down. He raised him up to get a better look. He wore a dark blue jumpsuit that John had never seen before, and his remaining shoe was missing. He was still holding his shoulder.

“Your arm.” John whispered, looking him over. “You’re hurt.”

“I tried to knock my cage over to make some noise.” Warren half shrugged. “I thought it was up on a table.”

The door opened, and John cupped Warren to his chest. He was going to destroy Hayden if that was him. A drone zoomed in. “Did you find Warren?” Vega’s voice came from the drone. 

“Vega!” Warren squirmed against his chest. 

He nodded and held Warren up to the drone. The drone floated a little closer.

“I’m so glad you’re back. The place wasn’t the same without you.” 

“Are you injured?” 

“I just hurt my shoulder a little. I’ll be okay.” Warren waved off his concern. “I’m just so happy you guys are here.” 

“Let’s get out of the lower levels.” The drone floated back towards the open door. John noticed the door was not actually open. The door had just been torn out of the wall and was laying in a crumpled heap in the hallway. 

Well shit. I don’t even remember doing that. 

He got to his feet, Warren cupped close to his chest for safe keeping, and left the lower levels of the Fortress. As he made his way up the stairs, he felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. 

He had saved this Earth. He still had Vega. Warren was still here. His home was still mostly intact. The Khan Mayker was no more. 

He had won. 

And without losing what he cared about. 

For the first time in what felt like forever, there was no planet dooming threat he had to deal with. He still had to clean up the infection, and Hayden was still somewhere, but now he could take some time and recover. He could take care of himself now. 

He felt almost free. 

Chapter Text

John felt almost relaxed. It was the most he had ever felt like this in centuries. 

He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn’t selfish to be taking this moment to himself. The Earth had just been saved. The Khan Mayker wouldn’t be sending demons to Earth. The Icon of Sin was laid to rest. Earth can rebuild. Warren was safe. Vega was safe. He was safe.

Warren shifted a bit. He glanced down to where Warren was curled up on top of his chest, asleep. He had rolled onto his back and was squirming. Probably a nightmare. 

Carefully, he laid his hand on top of Warren. He was very careful to mind the bruises and not pin him down. After a few more moments of Warren tossing and turning, the little man finally seemed to calm down. 

It was late. He should get some shut eye too. But it was dangerous to fall asleep with Warren literally laying on top of him. He ran his thumb against Warren’s side before letting a heavy sigh leave him. Warren could lay here for a little while longer. John would move him before he fell asleep. 

~

Warren woke to the sun coming through the window. He shifted and buried his face down into the nice soft cloth he was laying on. That was much better. 

While he wanted to continue sleeping, his body told him it was time to get up, so his body did start waking up. He felt the weight of a warm blanket over his legs, and the warm bed under him. It was very cozy. 

A rumbling noise cut through the peaceful moment and Warren felt the bed underneath him move. He groaned softly to himself as the bed rose, and then settled back down with another loud noise. It was too early for John to be messing with his nest. 

With a soft grunt, Warren opened his eyes and sat up. 

He was not in his nest. 

He was sitting on top of John’s chest. That was John’s fingers over his legs. His face started to turn red. He felt as John’s chest raised up with what Warren now recognized as a snore, and then settled back down. 

“He snores.” Warren pulled his legs out from under John’s fingers. He briefly wondered about the mobility drone before he realized he would have to get off John without waking him. A man that had been fighting off Hell for more than a century (Warren was still trying to wrap his mind around John’s age) more than likely would not take being startled awake well. 

It was hard getting up to his feet, and harder staying properly upright as he tried to walk off of his chest. The ground was certainly not one he was used to walking on. It shifted and moved underneath him, and the shirt that John was wearing had Warren’s socked feet struggling to maintain grip. 

With a squeak, Warren stumbled over an unexpected fold in the shirt and fell onto John’s stomach. 

The ground was a little squishier, and made uncomfortable gurgling noises. Warren tried to just get his feet back under him when he heard a hitch in John’s breathing. A loud groan filled the air, and then everything pitched to one side. 

When everything stopped moving, Warren just counted himself lucky he wasn’t being squashed. He did have to squirm a little to get out of the tangle of blankets he had fallen in, but once he was free, he could easily see that John had rolled onto his side. The hand that had been covering Warren earlier was hanging off the side of the bed. At least the snoring had stopped. 

“That was close.” Warren tumbled out of the tangle of blankets and then moved up towards his face. He had to climb over his arm, but at least he didn’t move during that. Soon Warren was standing just before his face, watching his boyfriend sleep. “We need to figure out a sleeping arrangement later.” 

There was no response, of course. 

Warren softly pressed a kiss to John’s cheek. “I’ll see if Vega can help me make coffee. You deserve some rest.”