Chapter Text
Sirens were wailing- lights were flashing- speakers were going off. It was another day in the AAHW- and a raid had just stared. Hank and his damned crew were back, slaughtering away.
“CODE RED- CODE RED!!!” An agent screamed through the radio, voice full of terror. Their voice boomed across the building, echoing through the speakers. “EVERYONE TO YOUR POSITIONS- NOW!! THEY’VE BREACHED THE FACILITY!! CODE RED CODE RE-“
Bang.
The grunt suddenly fell dead? Blood began to ooze all over the cold, stony gray floor. It appeared they’d been shot- right through the head, for that matter. You could almost see their inhuman skull if you looked through the wound. Unfortunate. Good thing there’s at least a hundred thousand more agents to take their spot.
“HAH, GOTCHA YA BASTARD!” A voice suddenly cackled, triumphantly stepping onto the corpse like it was some sort of platform and dropping an awfully large gun to the side. A new grunt stepped into view, putting a hand on his hip and smiling as he flicked his visor confidently. He didn’t appear to be associated with the AAHW. He wore a dark gray headset with a small microphone sticking out from the side- as well as a monochromatic trench coat, pockets full of cigars. A single-strapped black bag was slung over it all too. Underneath was a small white tank-top, which somewhat blended with the off-white bandages wrapped around his head and hands. It was Deimos, as snarky as ever. “Too easy.”
Another grunt made his way into the room shortly after, yanking the metal doors closed behind himself with a heave. “Would’ve been better if he didn’t set off all the damn alarms first. Yknow- if someone didn’t decide to BURST IN and start SCREAMING while we were planning our way in” said the new figure, shooting Deimos an annoyed glare from under his dark, circular sunglasses. He wore a black du-rag with some sort of night vision goggles over, as well as a dark handkerchief around his “neck” area. Around his waist lie a bulky tactical belt, pockets all over full of tactical needs- which held up his camo pants. Most of this was splattered with blood though. The grunt also held a bloody hook in one hand, fiddling with it a bit. “The ONE mission Doc told us to be extra careful on.” His voice was stern- but also worried. “Auditors up to something BIG this time, man. EXTRA big. You understand how important this is, right?! Don’t wanna see you getting killed or something, man.”
“Ohh, cmon Sanford, relax a bit!” Deimos chuckled. “Last time that old hag said that, it was just another couple oversized MAGs. Killed those things within the matter of minutes. What could it be this time that we can’t take on, hm?” He lie his spare hand on his hip as well, crooking his head. He still stood on the body, too- which made him just below eye level of the other grunt. Deimos was the shortest of the bunch- heck, even 2BDamned was slightly taller than him, so he liked to stand on things to feel bigger. Desks, chairs, corpses, heck- he’d even run up the stairs of the facilities they raided quicker than everyone else so he could look down at them and feel big. He was an odd grunt, for sure.
Sanford sighed. “I guess you’re right- can’t be mad at ya forever.” He gave the other grunt a lighthearted smile. “Feel like the break-in could’ve been a bit smoother though…”
A smug grin spread across Deimos’ face as he responded. “I bet our little friends enjoying clearing the building through all the chaos thoouuugghhh~ you know how much Hank likes a good fi-“
Speak of the devil!
Deimos was cut off as Hank busted through the door of the room, his black pea-coat and various belts absolutely painted in red and yellow blood. The door made an awfully loud BANG as it was knocked out of the doorframe and fell to the ground. The grunts expression was unreadable under his black mask and goggles- their lenses almost seeming to glow a malicious red. They stood there for a bit, making a few inhuman noises as they put their katana away. Shortly after, they wiped their “forehead”, which was covered in black bandaging. Afterwards- their gloved hands curled up, forming a thumbs up. All clear!
“Ah, great!” Sanford chirped. “Hope that wasn’t too much for ya- ehh, what am I kidding, you’re Hank.”
“Sweet! Now- let’s shut down whatever the hell Audie has going on this time!” Deimos perked in, hopping off the corpse and rushing to the door frame. “Bet I can beat‘cha there, ya big hunk of meat!” He remarked to Sanford before dashing off, cackling along the way. The other two soon followed, Sanford looking somewhat embarrassed.
And so the three ran through the carnage-filled corridors, eventually… coming across a significantly more dark and wide hallway.
It had an especially big robotic door in the front- and it appeared… glitchy? How odd. The door almost seemed to be… much more… low quality than everything else around it, if you could even call it that. It was almost like it was straight from an old video game. It was awfully dithered too. The three had never seen anything like it- even through all the absolutely absurd things the Improbability Drive caused. Gotta be the Auditor’s doings- who knows what he’s up to. There were even cubic particles that gradually sparked from the door, resembling the fiery figure’s colors. Yeah, that makes sense. Who else would put those there?
The gang just stood there, staring at the door for a small while. Inspecting it. They weren’t exactly sure what do do with it just yet, and they had questions. Lots of questions. Was it dangerous? Why exactly did it look like that? What was wrong with it? Maybe they could blow it up? Light it on fire? Kick it open? The possibilities.
As they pondered how to get in- a sudden beeping noise came from Deimos’ direction, breaking their trains of thought. “Beep. Beep. Beep” it went. “Incoming call: Pee-Paw” followed a robotic text-to-speech voice, mispronouncing “pee-paw”.
“Beep! Beep! Beep!”
“Ahahah- fuck-“ he half-whispered, essentially freezing in his place from the embarrassment. The other two just stared at him in confusion. He’d forgotten he’d set 2Bdamned’s contact to that. And they definitely heard the voice read out the nickname. It was uncomfortably silent between the trio for a moment, aside from the obnoxious beeping from the headphones, of course. The other two just continued to stare. They were waiting for him to do something.
“Beep! Beep! Beeee-“.
“Heyyyyy Doc!” Deimos finally said, putting a hand to the side of his headphones and picking up the call. “How’s it cookin over there? Eheheh…” His voice was slightly nervous.
“Hello, Deimos” spoke 2BDamned from the other end, sounding ever so crackly.
“Anyways- uh- good thing you called! So-“
“Did you find the door?” Doc interrupted. His voice was stern.
“Uhh…” He looked over his “shoulder” at the door they’d found. “Yeaah? The one that’s all weird and glitchy and shit? I was gonna call and ask you about th-“
“That’s the one.” Doc interrupted again. “You’re a bit behind schedule. Our team doesn’t have time for slowing down. We’re on a tight schedule. Anyways- go in. Now. Tell Sanford to get the bombs ready. There’s some awfully suspicious structure in there- appears Auditor’s trying to open some…rift to some other dimension. Whatever it is, it isn’t good. It needs to be demolished. Immediately. Got it?”
“Alright, alright! No need to interrupt me grandp- I mean doc! I completely understand… you can trust us, heheh.”
He could hear 2BDamned sigh angrily in the background. “Can you just… take this seriously for once and not be so fucking obnoxious?”
“I’m being serious! Serious as I’ll ever be!” Deimos stammered. “No need to get pissy!”
“…You better damn be” The doctor growled. He then paused for a minute. “Just don’t do anything stupid. And ESPECIALLY. DONT. TOUCH. ANYTHING. SUSPICIOUS. Goodbye.”
He hung up.
Deimos groaned in annoyance, taking his hand off of his headphones. Doc was always so damn ticked off. He wished he’d just loosen up a bit. Sometimes, he even dreaded the thought of taking to him. Too bad he coordinated everything- he was basically forced to talk to the grouch! Nothing a bit of joking around did to harm him either! He still carried out orders fine! Beside- Doc was the one who was “obnoxious”, interrupting him like that and being so damn rude! “Oooh, but it’s important! Oooh Deimos you need to hurry up!” Uuugh- he’d had enough of that. Just another day in Nevada. Better just get this done with, Deimos. Go tell Sanford the orders and be done.
Looking over his shoulder for the other grunt, he found him and Hank prying open the door with Hank’s katana. Surprisingly, the blade hadn’t broken- and after a few yanks- the door split open loudly, katana flying back behind the two. Hank lept for it like a feline pouncing for its prey. He quickly retrieved the weapon and ran back. Guess they’d figured it out while he was occupied with 2BDamned. “Heh, nice!” Sanford chuckled, him and Hank gathering together to peer inside. Deimos was quick to join them. His pent up rage about the doc was quickly ran over by curiosity. What could all the fuss be about?
Glancing inside- the room inside was black- pitch black. Completely dark. Crimson, cubic sparks could be seen glitching and floating around- similar to the ones on the door. The even seemed to glow a bit- although, their light didn’t reveal anything. Whatever confidence Sanford had was slowly dwindling away as he gazed inside. Deimos had a lot of questions, on the other hand. Why would they leave this room all dark? Unusual for the AAHW. Especially if it was something important- they’d want to see what they were working on, right? Maybe they were like, taking a big nap or something. Seemed pretty creepy though.
Hank was the first to step inside, ignoring the awfully unsettling vibe the room gave off. He was… pretty unsettling himself, so maybe it just didn’t phase him. He’d seen some shit too. As they went further in, they paused, turning to the others. Only their goggles could be seen, glowing almost in the same way the sparks did. They then gestured their head in a “follow me” way, before continuing on, fading into the darkness.
With a nervous huff, Sanford was next to follow inside as he flicked on his goggles- and quickly after was Deimos, walking alongside him. The larger grunt’s anxiety was quick to rub off on him, and now he was beginning to be struck with uncertainty. Something felt so off with this place. He’d grab onto Sanford’s hand, snapping his other to create a small white flame for light. The other grunt’s hand felt clammy when he grabbed onto it, and he could feel it jerk back in fear a bit as he made contact.
“ACK-“ Sanford yelped. “Oh- scared me for a second there, bud! Eheh…”
“Heh- sorry about that” He half whispered in response. “I’m not out to getcha, don’t worry big guy! Keheh…”
Ohh, that was so awkward.
Just forget about it- keep walking. It’s fine- it’s fine- everything’s fine.
…
He still held onto the grunt’s hand, continuing into the room alongside him. There was no sound, aside from a computer-like buzzing and the clomping of their boots, which echoed through the dark space. They couldn’t even hear Hank- but they were too caught up with their thoughts and each other to notice.
“You… do have the C4s on you still, right?” Deimos muttered after a moment of quietly walking. “Doc wanted you to nuke the power source.”
“Ahh, that’s what all your chittering earlier was about.” He whispered in response. Should’ve guessed you named Doc “peepaw”. Of course I do, chucklehead! They’re my specialty, after all!”
“Sweet!” Deimos responded, the normal loud pep in his voice this time around. Whoops- didn’t mean to be so noisy. Fuck.
“Someone’s excited.”
“Ah- yeah, kinda.” Deimos responded, much more quiet this time. “Can’t wait to get out of here and just- nuke this… thing. I can’t even see it- but I bet it’s ugly.”
“Oh, trust me. It’s pretty ugly.” Sanford joked, looking up into the distance with his goggles- supposedly at whatever the Auditor was building. Deimos couldn’t tell.
The two had a quiet chuckle before continuing. The unsettling feeling still didn’t leave them- but it was nice to try and laugh it off. He wished Doc was friendly like Sanford. Someone who actually appreciated him trying to lighten the mood. Someone who actually made him want to stick around in this hellscape for another day longer.
The two finally caught a glimpse of the familiar glowing goggles, which appeared to be going up some sort of stairs. Hank again. The goggles looked around a bit, inspecting the area- before signaling their head in the same “follow me” way as earlier. So, the two made their way up to the other grunt, trying their best to not trip. Even with Deimos’ small light from his flame and Sanford’s night vision goggles- it wasn’t very easy going up the stairs. However- it wasn’t because the dark. The ground became much more glitchy as they neared Hank, sparks shooting out everywhere they stepped. It felt unnatural to step on too, like it would cave in at any moment- which tripped them up a ton. Thankfully, they managed to make it up through it all within a minute or so.
As they made their way closer to their teammate, they seemed to stand on a stage-like structure. The ground felt extremely unstable here. The cubic sparks flew out in such large clusters as they moved that they finally began to light up the surrounding area an ominous red. They even began surrounding a giant, polygonal portal-like structure in particular. The rim of it glew red and seemed to be scratched by huge claws. Absolutely MASSIVE claws. Didn’t look like one of the MAGS they knew. Ontop of that, there were giant, thick wires plugged in all around the portal, all twisting towards the same general direction. Must lead to the power source of this thing.
“The hell do you get around this place so easily, Hank?” Deimos asked, nearly being thrown over from the ground suddenly spazzing out. Hank just stared back, giving a shrug. He didn’t seem affected. I mean, he was Hank. Motherfuckers come back from the dead various times, killed hordes of grunts, battled an insane clown and god on multiple occasions- yeah, just don’t question it. Beside him was Sanford, who- wait, when did Sanford get there? Apparently, he’d pulled his hand from Deimos’ grip while he wasn’t paying attention, and was now readying his C4. Awh, but Deimos liked holding hands!
After a few clicks and shuffling, Sanford approached Deimos again and shoved the bomb to him. His flame went out as he grabbed onto it with both hands. “Here. Go set it. Follow the wires to the power base- me and Hank will guard this… thing. Gotta make sure nothing pops out.” He gestured towards the wires- although, it was a bit hard to see what he was pointing towards with all the sparks flying everywhere. His tone was also stern.
“Sending me off to do all the tough business, I see” Deimos joked. Sanford just gave him an annoyed yet somewhat lighthearted look. While Deimos couldn’t really see it- he could feel his gaze. “Okay okay! I was just kidding! I’ll go do it- you can trust me~!”
He turned around to face the stairs, expression immediately filling with dread. This place unnerved him so much now- he didn’t wanna go down there ALONE. But he also didn’t wanna pussy out. At least he could get back to more stable ground. That’d be nice. Slowly taking his first steps, but gradually picking up the pace into a small run, he hurried down the stairs. He passed the C4 to his other hand as he lit another small flame with his free one. A grunt’s gotta see, yknow!
Nearing the bottom, he almost stumbled over- but he quickly caught himself with a gasp.
Alright- now just follow the wires!
Putting his free hand to the ground, he scanned for a wire. Looking… looking… looking- Oh, cmon- it can’t be that hard to miss Deimos! They’re so huge t-
Bingo!
Finally, spotting a wire, he quickly began to run along the side of it. The wire seemed to stretch on for a while, twisting and swirling around various things. Man, the AAHW was really sloppy with their electrical work! Or maybe just it felt all twisted up because Deimos kept loosing his way from the lighting. Meh. Blame the AAHW. Those damned grunts don’t do anything good anyways.
Nearing a corner of the room, he found a large… box like structure? That’s what it felt like, at least. He couldn’t see it all that well. Even with his small light. All the wires seemed to be connected to it though- plus, it was hard and metallic. Bringing his flame closer to it, he saw a label. “CAUTION” He read out loud. “HIGH… VOLTAGE. DO NOT… TOUCH.” Found it.
A smirk spread across his face. He attached the C4 to the side, locking it into its spot with a few clicks. “Got it!” Deimos said into his microphone, which echoed through a small walkie talkie Sanford had in one of his pockets. He could hear it ever so faintly from the distance- the two weren’t extremely far apart, but it was MUCH easier than yelling. Deimos then trailed the wire back, tripping on it once or twice and quietly swearing. Then, the grunt bolted back up to the stairs, much more excited.
“Set ‘em off, San!” Deimos yelled smugly as he neared the top of the stage again, throwing his hands out in a triumphant manner. “We’re allllllll set~”
“You’re sure you locked the bomb in place?” Sanford interrogated.
“Oh, come on! Why doesn’t anyone trust me with anything!” He yelled back. “Of course I did! You think I’m dumb?!”
“Hey- hey! I didn’t mean it like that! I’m only checking!” Sanford replied, pulling out a small remote with a button on it. It was the button to set off the C4. “Just gotta make sure, man. Plans gotta work out. Gotta be serious with this.” He then turned around to shuffle through his pockets for something else. Hank just peeked over at the two from their spot, expression blank. They almost acted like a curious cat. Just watching them intently.
“…you’re acting like Doc right now” he grumbled back.
Sanford paused what he was doing, slowly turning to Deimos. He looked like he’d been stung, face cringing up.
He bent down, face-to-face with Deimos. “Well- maybe if you were a little more careful, I wouldn’t have to ask you in the first place. Maybe Doc does what he does for a GOOD REASON.”
“Why don’t you think about that, Deimos.” He hissed.
Deimos stared right back up at Sanford in disbelief and anger, a small gasp escaping his mouth. They refused to break eye contact for a good minute. Then, Deimos swore and stomped away. He pulled his visor down to cover his face, pissed the hell off, and shocked at the same time. Sanford and him rarely argued. And that fucking hurt. Hurt worse than being shot. Stabbed. Having his head sliced open.
He leaned against a stone podium- or, that’s what he thought it was. He was too mad to look and see if anything else was there. Deimos pointed his head down and crossed his “arms”, trying to mask his emotions and just look all apathetic and shady instead. What was Sanford’s problem?! Did he not trust him now or something? They were having such a good time earlier! He could get things right! He was just as good of a teammate as anyone else!! Good as he is- good as he was!!
Sanford just stared at Deimos, still upset- yet, concerned. He sighed, trying his best to let go of his anger. The grunt then looked up at the portal. “Well- time to light this baby up. Get ready… we’re off in 3…”
Deimos, however, wasn’t letting go of it just yet. He blocked out the counting, pent up rage building in his head.
Sure, he wasn’t as violent and quiet as Hank, and he liked to joke around- but he still got the job done! And he did it good!! He WAS serious. He swore he was.
“2…”
And even if he wasn’t- every squad needs someone to lighten the mood!! Nevadas just so grim!! Sanford went along with half his antics too!! Why was he being so bossy now?! Stupid fucking mission! They’re all taking this way too far!
“1…”
In his anger, he grabbed onto whatever was on top the podium and yanked it angrily. He tried to rip whatever was up there off in his anger. Felt like… a pipe, or something. It was shaped similar to it. But when it made a clicking noise as he pulled it, he soon began to panic.
It was a lever.
Oh.
Oh FUCK.
The portal lit up a bright, vibrant red, dithered polygons shooting out everywhere. The whole room was illuminated in the menacing color. Sanford was startled and lost grip of the remote, while Hank unsheathed his katana again. Then- the portal began to suck everything around it inside- gradually getting stronger- and pulling the two ever so closer to the mouth of the new realm. The remote was the first thing lost. Sanford desperately tried to snatch it back, but I was ultimately lost. “GOD DAMNIT!” He cried, du-rag nearly being thrown off his head from the pull of the portal. Deimos was frozen, stating in horror at the two.
“SANFORD, I-“
And when things couldn’t get worse, then there came the laughing. An awful, loud and booming laughing. It was all glitched and distorted- almost sounding like someone was taking through a broken megaphone. Sanford was absolutely mortified. It didn’t sound friendly, either. It was an evil laugh. A menacing laugh. Whatever that came from- it can’t be good. He stared at Deimos, like he was about to say something.
Then “it” came
Deimos couldn’t help but watch as a flash of black and red snatched his teammates from their spots, yanking them inside as they screamed. Well- Hank wasn’t much of a screamer, they made more of a high-pitched growling noise. Sanford did scream, like a normal grunt for that matter- which filled Deimos with so much damn dread. The look on his face too- This was all his fault. He felt a pit form in his stomach, and he tried to cry out for his partners- but he couldn’t muster anything out anymore.
What if this is where they died. What if he was the reason Sanford and Hank perished. Maybe they could come back, but- he’d never be able to live with the guilt. And they’d warned him to take this seriously. What would they do after they came back, too? Surely they wouldn’t keep him around after such a horrid mistake. They’d kick him out for sure- nom kick him out if he was LUCKY. They’d probably kill him on the spot. He didn’t wanna loose everyone and everything he worked for.
The pull of the new realm suddenly became much stronger- almost like a hurricane. It was tearing up the room. Instinctively, Deimos broke from his fearful and petrified state and grabbed onto the stone podium. He was trying his damn best to reach for the lever to shut this thing down. However- the grunt was also panicking out of his mind- fingers sweating, head pounding, thoughts running- it wasn’t helping.
But it was too late- his attempts would all be fruitless.
A big hunk of rocky wall came tumbling his way, slamming into him and knocking him into the portal’s way. It managed to wedge open a gash in his head, blood flying everywhere. Plastic could be heard cracking as it made impact. His headphones had broken. He yelped in pain and flailed around- but he was too far away to grab onto anything else now. He were to suffer the same fate as his friends.
Struggling in the air like a drowning animal- he could feel his body begin to go limp. No matter how hard he fought- he was slowly loosing his conscious from the blood loss. Everything was blurring. His ears began to ring- blocking out the sounds of the chaos around him. His energy was fading away.
Eventually, his body gave in- no matter how hard his mind protested.
Maybe the others had a good reason to not trust him.
“God damit Deimos”, he thought as he passed out.
“God fucking damnit.”