Chapter - 8

The Marine moved through the winding corridors leading to the Cybernetics Lab, the corpses of demon trailed behind. He comes upon a sealed barrier and opens the door, the snarls of Pinky drift from the other side, frenzied growls fills the air. The Marine aims the shotgun, Pinky charge into blasts and squeal as they're dropped to the floor. A frenzied mob of demon spills through a passage beside him. He levels the chaingun, the barrels spin as bullets rip through the horde and blood splats upon the walls.

The possessed Administrator was in a security office not far from the Marine, the BFG 9000 on the floor radiates with heat from repeated use. He was watching several surveillance feeds at once with black eyes, angrily glancing at a window displaying escape pods drifting beyond his reach. The Former Human continued to study footage and sees a Marine rushing through Sector E, he predicts where he was likely heading. He notices activity on another feed and sees Martinez blowing through rows of demons with a plasma rifle. The Former Administrator's mind coursed with demonic blood thirst, he enters the code into a security cabinet. Within was a suit of security armour and helmet with a domed visor.

In a quiet maintenance sector of the research complex, a small repair robot was sitting on the square tiled floor, it patiently puts the finishing touches on its self-repair. It rejoined the intricate fixtures of its right claw and reconnected it to the end of its arm and fastens it in place, the robot then flexes the repaired digit. Satisfied, it makes some happy beeps and rolls away to find purpose, but unfortunately found itself in the path of Martinez.

*CRUNCH*

Major Martinez made his way through a maintenance sub-level, waves of demon in his path are burned to smoking chunks of meat as he strode the narrow pipe strewn path. Columns of shielded humming modules fill the area ahead, he climbs a ladder leading to the installation above.

Nearby, the Marine made his way through the staging bay of the Logic Core facility. Stepping further, the area held black plating along its surfaces, columns of coiled control cables stretch to the ceiling. The massive logic core dominates the area, ramps around it lead to maintenance access compartments above. Some crates were placed on the second level, some larger ones were below. The Marine steps across the facility, a chilly silence hung in the air.

A hatch in the floor on the other side of the facility is thrown open, Martinez climbs into the installation and kicks the door shut. The slam courses through the area, he checks his automap and strays through the work floor.

A barrier on the second level is unlocked from the other side, the possessed Administrator steps into the facility wearing security armour and gripping the BFG 9000.

The Marine hears the noise, he cautiously peeks around a column gripping the chaingun.

Martinez walks past the rounded system and suddenly encounters the Marine. Gripped by paranoia and presuming they were another former human, Martinez shoots a burst of plasma. The Marine moves for another column while returning fire. Chaingun rounds and plasma were streaking across the installation when a BFG round slips by and nearly strikes Martinez, exploding just out of range. They glance toward the shooter, a combatant with an energy weapon races between columns meters away.

The outer chamber of the Logic Core facility roars with combat, the Marine outruns a stream of plasma and climbs to the second level as a bio-force round erupts at the base, melting the ramp into puddles of molten alloy. Martinez clears the rifle's magazine and reloads, he then dives out of range as a bio-force round drew closer. The Marine pursues the former human from above, he looks over the edge. He steps back, a BFG round suddenly explodes and melts through the platform. They dash across the main path, barely clearing a stream of plasma.

The Marine races to the other side of the curved platform, a BFG round slips by and collides against the wall but he'd already cleared the blast radius. The bio-force explosion shatters the wall, molten alloy splashes to the floor below.

Martinez was following the movements of the possessed Administrator, chaingun rounds impact the floor inches away. Martinez glances between crates and sees the former human peeking from behind a column, his burst of plasma narrowly slips past the former human as they reload. The possessed Administrator charges the weapon, bio-force energy sails across the work floor and impacts a pair of storage crates. The aluminum cases melt, plasma rushes through a gap with Martinez on the other side. The stray molecules react, the marine looks over to see the blast send Martinez crashing into the wall of the logic core.

The Marine climbs down from the second level, following the former human's movements.

"You can't escape me, mortal" they taunt, rushing closer as the reaction chamber charged.

Bio-force energy sails toward the Marine, his eyes widen as he sees the expanding blob of plasma sailing closer. He shifts out of the path, detonating against a column of control cables.

"Alarm, cycle interruption. System malfunction detected" the station computer reports.

He drops the heavy weapon and grips his shotgun, weaving around crates as another BFG round sails just out of range. A smoking charge pack drops to the floor, the Maine levels his weapon.

A round shatters the left side of the Administrator's security helmet. The BFG 9000 slips from their grasp, the Marine races closer. The possessed Administrator put up a brief struggle before being beaten into submission. Martinez regained his strength, writhing in pain as he watches the Marine thrashing the former human. He silently leaves the facility through a nearby passage.

The installation fell silent, the Marine retrieves the energy weapon from the floor. The huge armament was still warm, exhausting heat from vents along the sides and top of the weapon. Targeting settings and power levels were displayed with stripes of coloured lights. The weapon was clearly a prototype, a wide barrel set around modules, cables and conduits. He loads the only energy pack and glances back to where Martinez was but he was nowhere to be found.