Underdoom - Chapter 8

The air was clammy, cold, stinking with decay and perpetual rot. A bleak, grey palette covered the smoldering, craggy landscape. Skeletal remains covered the place, and even greater bones could be seen jutting out of the ground in the distance. The horizon glowed with the eery, soul chilling red of Hell fire. Every footstep sounded in a quiet, sickening squelch. Whether it was mud or rotting flesh, no one could be sure. The Doom Slayer was familiar with it all. Not too far from here was the pile of rotting flesh and cankering bone that marked the site of one of his old victories. The fallen titan's horns could be seen jutting out in the horizon. As everyone followed him through the barren wastes of the Great Steppe, a lingering dread began to creep into their subconscious. Whether it was the wet, seemingly blood red ground, the stale and foul air that seemed to burn inside them, or the rotting demonic remains surrounding them, every inch of this place made their souls squirm, ready to scream for them to flee, to get out, to find safe haven somewhere. The Doom Slayer on the other hand, felt the same sense of odd, twisted homecoming nostalgia he felt when entering the demon-ridden chasm of New Home. It struck him odd however, that no demons had ambushed them. There they all were, walking in the open. No cover to hide them, no apparent stealth in the squelching footsteps they made on the filthy ground, nothing that could leave the simple, attack driven mind of a demon any question as to whether or not to strike.

The silence did not do much to ease everyone's taught nerves. Therefore, when Samuel decided to call them, it startled everyone nearly to the ground. Even the Hell Walker jumped a little in surprise, now remembering with annoyance that Samuel could talk to them from another dimension. It appeared that not even here was he able to find respite from that pesky Cyborg's voice. "This is Doctor Hayden, can everyone hear me?" He called as everyone's bracer lit up.

"We read you, Hayden." Undyne answered. "Nothing here but a bunch of bones. You sure we're in the right place"

"It's nearby." he answered. "According to my readings, the place you're looking for should only be half a kilometer away."

"Place?" asked Sans. "You mean we're looking for some temple, or building or something?"

Alphys' familiar voice did much to ease everyone's nerves, even if only a little. "Close." she said. "You said all you see is a bunch of bones, right?"

"Seems to be the look of it, dear." Asgore replied.

"Well, one of those big piles is where you're headed. The entrance is hard to see but-"

"Hold on." Undyne interrupted, pointing at the Doom Slayer. "I think the big guy knows what's up." she said as the Doom Slayer pointed to a nearby rubble of bones, two larger bones leaning against each other into a triangular "doorway" of sorts.

"I think we can trust his judgement then." replied Hayden. "The Siphon will be well guarded. They'll know what you're there to do. However, this is one of the rare occasions that others other than your seasoned companion have invaded and laid waste to a realm or two of Hell. Your presence will take them by surprise, as they will most likely believe only the Praetorian will be coming to retrieve the artifact."

"Well then let's not waste any time. Doomguy, you hear tha-"

Undyne and her companions turned to see the Doom Slayer Running full speed towards the entrance of the pit. They had seen him duck and dive and dodge in combat, but never before had they seen him run in a straight shot without being hindered by a civilian throng. In three seconds, he had already covered most of the ground between them and the bone doorway.

"We'll call you back."

Everyone strained to sprint as fast as the Praetor could saunter. He stood at the entrance, waving a hand inward, beckoning everyone to come and catch up before holding the same hand out, ordering them to stop.

"Think you can spare us the extra aerobics, fellow?" Asgore wheezed., catching his breath. The Doom slayer gave no further response; simply a slow walk into the bone lined, fiery tunnel that lead to the inner sanctum holding the Siphon, his hand popping back up to keep his allies behind him until they got out in the open. He had absolutely no desire to see these people get hurt, and he was beginning to sorely regret his decision to let them come. The demons were more than ready to take him on, and now he had all the others in tow. Hayden was right. There was a reason only he and the Cyborg made it out of Hell. His regrets were too little too late to stop the current course of action however, and soon enough, the group found itself at the end of the bony tunnels leading to the first great chamber. His friends all looked on in combined fear and awe at the surreal landscape unfolding before them: hellish energies were arcing continuously between floating rock formations. The ground was soaked in what appeared to be blood, great gouts gushing from stony fountains, etched into the likenesses of demonic lords long since gone. Stone and steel archways and walkways crisscrossed each other in a labyrinthine mess, the entire space enclosed partially by walls or cold stone, crammed with what appeared to be human bodies. All color save for deep crimson red and subdued, lifeless grey was absent from the place. In the distance, more floating rock formations could be seen, some the size of mountains, others holding up more the same, bloody architecture that surrounded them. Great chains dangled about between the floating rock and the stonework. Below the walkways directly in front of them was more of what they saw above, though with the bones of great demon lords sitting at the bottom of a seemingly bottomless chasm. The whole realm was floating above great, sullen pit of damned rot.

The doom Slayer knew where this was. He had just recently been to the necropolis to relieve it of his rightful treasure. The siphon hadn't been on his immediate itinerary, at least not while Hayden was breathing down his neck. He had planned to put Hayden down, or at least incapacitate him so that his own crusade would go unhindered. He could search for the siphon on his own time and on his own terms. When the Cyborg stole the crucible from him, he only realized, amid his rage and indignation, that it was a good thing he had not sought after its counterpart. Now at least Hayden seemed willing to recompense him, but why? Why would he openly admit this to him? Why would he tell him where the Siphon was rather than fetch it himself and use it for his shortsighted plans, leaving the Praetor none the wiser? it didn't add up. Certainly, he didn't think himself able to pilfer yet again from him? Just how much did he know? What was he bargaining for? His train of though was interrupted by Sans.

"Love what they've done with the place..." he quipped. "Really digging the bodies in the brickwork. Totally Feng Shui."

"I know right..." Undyne said, cringing somewhat at the apparent human remains crammed in bloody heaps between the stone blocks in the wall. "Well, are we gonna go ahead in or what?"

Doomguy nodded, signalling with a hand forward and a surprisingly moderate pace. As they walked the blood stained stone, Asgore couldn't help but notice something was off. "Does anyone else hear that?" he asked.

"No, I don't hear anything..." Sans replied.

"Me neither..." Undyne added

The Doom Slayer shook his head slightly, affirming everyone else's answer.

"Exactly..." Asgore stated. "We haven't encountered any demons yet. We haven't seen any of the flying ones in the distance, neither any of the small ones that crawl upon the walls... I think we better be on our guard..."

Everyone nodded, arming themselves immediately, the Doom Slayer with his combat shotgun, Undyne with her spear, Sans with his eye, and Asgore with his trident.

Before them stood a great skull gate. It was a solid stone wall with a single, massive demonic skull overhanging a doorway. Within they could see more profane scenery; blood running in rivers along the floor, hellish runes lining the walls, and pits of fire demarcated with jagged steel enclosures. "Alright guys we're headed in." Undyne said, speaking into her bracer. "Wish us luck..."
_______________________

"Keep on your guard and report back when you have the Siphon." Hayden responded. "We'll see you all shortly."

Alphys timidly sat at her desk, now adjacent to the Home module. The two main workstations had been enjoined together in a mess of wiring and tubing. Panels had opened around the module to form a temporary workstation, where Hayden was busying himself, watching what his probes were observing in Hell. Both him and Alphys had access to communication with the shore party, a comms set connected to the tether module ran on both of their workstations. As the CEO continued to scan his own monitors, Alphys decided to study to stave her anxiety, as the silence in the lab was broken only by the occasional electronic sounds from Hayden's module and Mettaton's workstation. The more she knew about this the better. She couldn't do anything about the dreadful silence, but she could do something about her intellectual dearth regarding the Hell Invasion, which in all honesty, bothered her far more. Nothing made her feel as helpless as being in the dark about something that so deeply threatened the lives of everyone she knew and cared about. Connecting the UAC device with her computer was no easy task, but with enough ingenuity and solder, she emerged triumphant, her handiwork apparent in the scorched surface of her desk. Opening the UAC data archives, one entry in articular interested her:"gore nest." Attached to the description was a grisly image of what looked like a toothy maw comprised of ribs and human flesh, deformed heads and guts adorning the entirety of the anomalous abomination.

"Studies of demons upon entering this dimension have shown that their conduct is not purely vindictive - there is a method behind their actions. When a demon captures their prey, the fresh kill is taken to a temporary ceremonial site where arcane rituals are performed on the pile of blood and gore.

"When enough corpses have been gathered, the ceremonial site becomes a "Gore Nest". These sites, imbued with Hell energy from the rituals, act as umbilical cords to Hell. Extreme caution must be taken when approaching a Gore Nest. Attacking the nest, or indeed any demons within close proximity to the nest, will act as an alarm and siphon more demons from Hell."

"That's... interesting...."

"What is?"

"AHH!"

Alphys let out a shriek of surprise, elicited by Hayden's sudden interjection. She turned to see him facing her, robotic hands gripping his own workstation. He appeared tense, and his blank, solitary blue visage only added to the tension now in the air.

"Oh, j-just reading up on um.. gore nests."

"Are you now?"

"Yeah.." she said, pointing to her monitor.

"...What have you found that interests you?"

"oh it's just that.. well, I'm glad they can't make one out of us. W-we turn to dust when we die..."

"Yes, and?"

"Well, um..." Hayden's gaze was not wavering, and as such, Alphys' voice only quivered all the more in nervousness. "I-I'm just wondering how they got here. I mean, if one of them managed to sneak in here and kill some monsters for a gore nest, I-I don't think it would work all too well... Soooo it just makes me wonder how they opened a portal here..."

Hayden stayed silent for a moment before replying. "That remains a puzzle to me as well... perhaps you can share more information  with me on your race, Doctor?"

"Of course!" She said meekly, handing over a small, but somewhat thick textbook to Samuel. "T-This kind of expounds on what we talked about earlier. It should give you s-some more insight."

Samuel gingerly picked up the small book from the quailing scientist's hands. "Intriguing..." he said, flipping through its pages. The title page read "A Concise History of Monsterkind." As he flipped the pages, he interacted with his console, resulting in the several arms holding up the monitors expanding and swinging towards Alphys. "Think you can watch them while I read for a bit? It should only take a few minutes. The cybernetic upgrades to my cerebrum allow me to read and process information much faster than I could in life."

"Definitely!" Alphys replied. The implications of what he had said about having a "previous life" were not doing much to ease her mind. "I-I'll just be watching over them then."

"Wonderful!"

Hayden faced away from her and the module as he read. While he was occupied, Alphys noticed that there wasn't much activity going on in the sectors of Hell being monitored. One probe seemed to e placed right where her friends were, as the feed footage matched Hayden description of the "Necropolis" given shortly before they left. Sure enough, there they all were, just little moving profiles walking among the jagged rock. Alphys was relieved to see them all right. her heart jumped a bit as a few demons engaged them, but there were only a few, and they were small too. None of the Hell Knights or Mancubi she was expecting were there to greet them. Just a few of those imps and some shambling unwilling. The group seemed to be tearing through them with minimal effort. Something wasn't right. Wasn't this place supposed to be heavily guarded? Wasn't there some legendary artifact that was supposed to be housed on those ruins? Shifting her attention to Hayden, she saw he was already almost halfway through the book, flipping a page every three seconds or so. Returning her attention, to her own desk, she pulled up the entry on the Helix stone out of an ever growing curiosity. For some reason, she just felt that it was what she needed to look at. The lack of demons surrounding the Siphon further piqued her curiosity. Maybe there was something hidden on that stone, something neither Olivia or Samuel were aware of. There had to be something explaining all of this, the lack of resistance faced by her friends, the mystery behind the initial invasion, something that could give her answers.

Just as she pulled up the Helix Stone Archives one her computer screen. she felt a cold metallic hand on her shoulder.

"Fascinating, isn't it?"

"... It is, D-doctor Hayden..."

"May I ask you why you let your eyes of the monitors?"

"I-I got distracted-"

"I'd highly suggest you shift you focus back on your assignment, Doctor... If I were you, I'd be keeping close tabs on my friends. After all, who knows what they'll come up against? It would be a shame if they got hurt because you were neglecting them..."

"Th-they've only come across a few unwilling and some imps. Maybe a lost soul here or there."

"Really now.." Hayden said as he shifted his attention from his diminutive partner to the monitoring screens. True to Alphys' word there they were, not a scratch on them as they pummeled through minimal resistance. "Now that's intriguing..." he said, his voice growing notably lower and more subdued. "Well then, get back to work, Doctor." he said, lightly patting her on the back, letting his hand linger a little thereon and rotating his thumb somewhat in a sort of massaging action. "Let's not get too distracted. It'll only take me another five minutes to read the rest of your book. Your race's history and morphology... interests me."

"Y-yes Doctor Hayden.." she whimpered, as his mammoth, metallic hand left her. With that, she put her focus back on the monitoring screens. She tapped on the comms. "You guys find anything yet?"

"Nothing yet, my dear." Asgore replied. "It's strange. We haven't encountered many of them. Any ideas why?"

"Uh no, we're still working on that." said Alphys, briefly glancing at the UAC device, then back to the monitors. "Looks like the energy signal's weak too. It may not ever be there." anymore. With that, she listener to hear that the Cyborg had stopped flipping pages, but hadn't closed the book - The familiar sound of a hardcover slapping dry paper hadn't been heard.

"Well, we'll keep looking," replied Undyne. "Doomguy's pretty puzzled about it too. We asked him about it and he just kinda shrugged. Isn't that right, big guy?"

"Alright, hey." Sans interjected. "Looks like we've got another room up ahead. See that doorway with the green light in it?"

"Yeah, I see it..." Asgore answered. "Alright, Alphys, we'll be in touch. This could be it. Fingers crossed...."

"Be safe you guys..." she said before hanging up.

Then, she heard familiar, metallic footsteps creeping up from behind her and to her right. Hayden, pressed a few command into his console and the footage feeds were put back on his side of the conglomerate workstation. "I'll go ahead and take care of these." He said. You may go back to researching if you so desire, Doctor."

"Th-thank you." she eked out. "Oh, umm Doctor Hayden?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have Olivia's key with you?"

Hayden was silent as he faced her.

"I mean, It might help if I can get a better look at the Helix Stone, o-or if you have her correct translations on hand."

"... I have neither." he said, as he turned again to face his workstation.
__________________________

"This doesn't sit right with me..." Sans said as he wiped some demon gore his jacket sleeves, standing just outside the entrance to the great chamber and pointing to an imp's corpse. "We've only seen these small fry creepin' around and we're about to enter what looks like the last room."

"I know.." Undyne whispered, the boisterous gusto in her voice now muted. "Maybe they're all in the room waiting for us..."

"I don't know, Undyne." Asgore stated. "I don't hear any of them. They don't really strike me as the quiet ambush type."

"Me neither." Undyne replied. "Yo Doomguy, what do you make if this? You ever seen anything like this before?"

The Doom Slayer shook his head.

"You think maybe it's not the right room?" Sans asked.

The Slayer pointed to the distant wall. behind the iron bars that sealed the room shut, the group could see a massive carving that took up almost the entire wall. It was most certainly of the Siphon. Same shield shape, same jawbone ridges, same gem in the middle.

"Alright..." Asgore growled. "Let's get this over with."

Everyone prepared themselves to enter the breach as the Doom Slayer pushed in the skull key that lifted the iron gate in a rusty screech that seemed a combination of the metal scraping and souls screaming. Without hesitation, the group jumped into the room, ready to engage their thus far elusive enemy, They were shocked to see the exact same thing they had been seeing the entire time. Imps. No cacodemons, no Hell knights, no Barons, just imps, lost souls and unwilling. granted, there was many more of them; thirty altogether at least, but as they began to engage the enemy, they felt an odd sense of dread within them. This can't be right. This is where the Siphon has to be, right? That huge Wall carving can't be lying to them, right?. As they effortlessly cut through the minor horde, they drew closer to what looked like the Siphon's resting place, right under the wall carving, surrounded by candles and hellish, twisted architecture. it was a small circle in the ground that looked like a button, something that would eject or slide out. The Praetorian knew it as soon as he set eyes on it. It was bigger than the receptacle that housed the Crucible, but it had to work the same way. In a matter of only a few minutes, the room was cleared. Stone was heard grinding against stone as the button rose up to reveal itself to be a pillar. Everyone rant o ti to see it's contents....

Only to find it was empty.

Unquenchable rage fired up within the Hell Walker's stone heart.

Undyne was first to contact the lab. "Guy... there's nothing."

"What?!" Hayden replied. No, you'relying, it has to be-!"

"Oh, we're serious, Hayden." Sans replied. "there's just a big empty shield shaped hole in this here stone thing."

"That's impossible..." Frustration strained Hayden's voice with every syllable eh spoke.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it's possible." Sans answered in tired sarcasm. "I mean who knows, maybe they knew we were coming and they took it."

"How are we gonna find where it is?" Alphys asked. "there's gotta be a way to trace its energy. Doctro Hayden, maybe I can take a look at those monitors again?"

"Leave them to me." He replied coldly. "Let me just do a quick scan..." he said, operating a probe from one of the monitors. "Well what do you know..."

"What?"

"They have taken it..." he said. "They're re-interring it somewhere int its home of Argent D'nur, based on recent argent energy signatures in the vicinity. They teleported it there somehow. I think they know its owner i looking for it, and they want to greet him on his old home turf..."

"Alright, well, i there  away to get there while we're here?" Asgore asked.

"No..." Hayden replied. "Pulling you out..."