Control is Everything(20)

Located over a hundred million miles from Earth, four Immoran troopers and the Marauder that Green dealt with before had landed on Mars' surface on a Fighter-class hell ship, luckily they managed to avoid being detected by Scp-179, and were now making their way toward the source of where the argent energy signal was being detected. 

"According to the signal we found the argent energy source is somewhere up north." As he spoke, Marauder fixed his gaze on one of the troopers who was holding a gadget for detecting the argent energy that was alluded to.

The five pause their advance as they proceed forward after coming across a red mountain with a cave in it. One of the troopers with a tracking device which tracks traces of argent energy aims the device in the direction of the mountain, and it responds by beeping.

"Seems like this is the place." The Trooper told the Marauder.

Before turning to face the other troopers, he gave a small nod and said, "Keep your weapons ready in case we run into resistance."

The troopers enter the mountain through the cave while nodding. As they advanced forward, they spotted a flight of stairs leading down to a pitch-black abyss which they carried on further. They take a long time making their way to the bottom of the staircase as they descend before eventually arriving at the bottom. They next came across a tunnel, which was somewhat dim. The Marauder activated his axe to light up the tunnel a little as the troopers turned on the night vision function on their helmets. 

They all travel through the tunnel together and reach the end of it. To their amazement, as soon as they arrived, they discovered an abandoned city reminiscent of the time of the Night Sentinels. The city was rather big, and most of the building structures were comparable to ones found in Taras Nabad and other cities found on Argent D' Nur, but there was no trace of any living there, and the majority of the structures were damaged, in the process of decomposition, or in any various stages of ruin.

In the distance, there was a large statue of King Novik standing in the heart of the city. The former King that ruled argent D' Nur in the past. Without a doubt, the people of Argent D' Nur built this metropolis in this world without any of the anomalies on Earth or in space noticing, and it must have been built long before the Doom Slayer ever met the Night Sentinels. 

"Another lost city, huh?" grumbled the Marauder, turning to face the red armored warriors behind him and asking, "Trooper, the argent energy signal?" 

One of the Troopers holding the device pointed it forward, and it began beeping faster and faster.

"Straight ahead."

"Then let's move."

The five kept advancing while remaining vigilant in case they were ambushed by something. When the trooper with the device directed it at a damaged building, he noticed that it was beeping much faster than before. 

"This is the place." 

Following his direction, Marauder and the four troopers entered the building, and the first thing they noticed was a hole in the floor, and when they looked down, they discovered something extremely large, with a very large weapon on it, and one of those weapons was emitting the argent signal. 

"Is that what I think it is?"

Ignoring one of the troopers' remarks, Marauder chuckled deeply, "This will benefit us greatly. Report to Archvile through the comms that we need to delay the plan for retrieving the argent crystal back a bit longer." he ordered, "And tell him to send the Hunter-class and Destroyer-class hell ships here so that we can pick this thing up and bring it back to our base secretly."

The trooper nods and begins contacting Archvile while the Marauder remains focused and examines the machine of war they discovered.

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– Ward C, Infirmary, Site-17 - 12:50 PM –

Rodeo was laying on the bed, his eyes not glowing, and the bullet wound on his neck had healed no doubt by Robert. Rodeo's eyes lit once again, and he jolted up from the bed, looking left and right and breathing heavily. Then he noticed the door open, and there stood Michelle. 

"Rodeo, you're awake!" Michelle exclaimed in relief as she approached him.

"What happened?" Rodeo wondered, scratching the back of his head.

"Robert and the rest found us lying on the floor of SCP-054's containment chamber bleeding and passed out due to blood loss. Thankfully, Robert used his restoration ability on us and fixed our injuries. As for Collingwood, Amelia and Green, they are fine." She explained, "Although, Collingwood is still unconscious. Lawrence was also found injured and miraculously, he's still alive and got his wounds healed by Robert but is still unconscious."

"D4C and the arrow?"

Michelle looks down in sadness, "I'm sorry, Rodeo, before anyone could track them down, they were long gone. Most of the Forces of the Hell Dimension that we had contained escaped using the drainage pipes that were underneath the site, and there were casualties... as well." She explained, "Although the SCPs were recontained easily, the morale of the staff went down after what D4C said and did and most of the areas in the site needs to be repaired and those who are still alive are injured and getting treated by Robert and the rest. D4C also took away Iris's Polaroid camera and burned the photos as well, especially the ones which had the Pillar Men on them. It's bad, Rodeo."

Rodeo merely covered his face with his palm and groaned in frustration. He jumped out of bed and punched the wall, which cracked upon impact as a result of his anger and frustration.

"Rodeo, please calm down!"

"Michelle, we lost! D4C played his cards too damn right, he used his ability and words wisely and wrecked us so easily! He knew what to do, who was a threat, when to strike and he did just that, Michelle! Many people died, numerous areas in the site were destroyed and me and the rest of the team couldn't do anything about it! SO NO, I CAN'T CALM DOWN ANYMORE!"

Rodeo then angrily storms out of the room but Michelle follows him.

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In Iris' containment chamber, Cain entered the room and found Iris crying and concealing her face as she sat on the floor with her back against the wall, her left hand reattached back to her left arm thanks to Robert's ability.  

Cain immediately kneels in front of her and asks worriedly, "What's wrong?"

Iris gave him a look and pointed to the file lying on the floor. Cain picks it up and opens it, revealing every detail info regarding SCP-3002 that D4C had left for her. According to the file, SCP-3002 came into existence after... Iris, who was being killed by the SCP foundation because they considered her as a threat. As a result, she became a memetic SCP, and her memetic effects resulted in an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario. 

"Oh dear."

The other details are also disturbing for Cain, so he places the file down and looks at Iris with a worried look.

"Is this... what's gonna happen to me in the future? Become a memetic monster and end the world?" 

"No, that's not true. You're not going to become like this."

"And what if I do?!"

Cain approaches her and kneels next to her and says, "You're a kind person, Iris, and I know very well you won't hurt someone out of anger or hatred. This file that D4C gave is from a parallel world. We can't be sure that the same thing will happen here as well. So please, don't call yourself a monster."

Iris hugs him and sobs, and Cain hugs back and attempts to comfort her. 

"You're a person, Iris, and a friend, not a monster," Cain remarked softly.

"Thank you... Cain." She said, smiling.

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In the MTF Omega-191, "Queen's Requiem" room, Rodeo was sitting on the couch, gripping his head in frustration and anger as the rest of the team were getting healed or were helping the rest out. But they didn't forget the fact that D4C was able to outwitted them, kept them separated, took them out like it was another day at the office, and the fact that they lost miserably enraged him even more.

Rodeo also felt guilty for being powerless to save the ones who lost their lives in this chaos and witnessing kind people like Collingwood suffer. It was just too much for him, and he felt like he was gonna go insane.

"Rodeo?"

Rodeo turned his head around and see Michelle. Rodeo adverted his gaze when Michelle sat down next to him on the couch. 

"...Please just leave me alone." he muttered.

Staring at Rodeo for a while, Michelle becomes increasingly concerned that it might exacerbated Rodeo's mental health. So, she stated, "Remember when I said I lost some people in the real world... They were my parents."

Rodeo then looked at her and noticed she had a melachony expression on her face.

"...I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I was just six years old when it happened right in front of me and things never felt the same anymore. I wanted to make more  memories with them you know, and spend more time with them and I wanted them to see me grow up to be a nice person, but they were gone forever and..." her tone lowered, "I knew they wouldn't come back. Memories are something that I consider dear to my heart because it makes me happy knowing that we enjoyed a lot out of life and did great things together and remembering them."

"I... see."

"However, I'm also afraid that if I lose someone dear to me, I'll lose any chance of generating new memories with them, which almost happened today. I'm delighted everyone is alright, including you, but that old fear came back to me, and I was afraid of what might happen to you." With a sad expression on her face, she continued, "Rodeo, do you think I can make any pleasant memories here... in the world of SCPs?"

"You... might possibly can, Michelle. It's not impossible, so long as you believe nothing bad happens and not be afraid of the past repeating itself, you can make a few good memories."

"Thanks." Michelle said with a faint smile appeared on her face. Just then, she heard weeping sounds and saw Rodeo crying. She already understood he'd just decided he wanted to let out his emotions for the first time after everything that has gone through today.

"But you also have to live with the other memories as well that come back to haunt you, make you go insane and bear with them and... trying to forget them." He said with tears streaming down his face. "I've been experiencing these things lately, you already know that."

"I know, " Michelle hugs him and pats his back, Rodeo returns the hug. Michelle sheds a few tears as well, feeling bad for what he's been going through and watching her past come back to her and the craziness that went down with D4C. They both burst into tears and cried their hearts out.

Today, there was no victory from Queen's Requiem or the foundation. 

This time, D4C gained the victory, and he will make certain that he gets what he desires. 

The villains have achieved their first victory. 

And one can only imagine on what fate has in store for our heroes in the future. Whether it's for the better or for the worse? 

Nobody is sure.

<-------------------- To Be Continued.

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A/n: This is the end of this chapter. Hope you enjoyed this very long chapter. Consider following me and vote for my stories and keep yourself notified for more chapters. Thank you.