Bravo Team - 7

[dsm]

Prepare yourself! Here's the last (normal) chapter of my story about Bravo Team, but an epilogue will follow sometime soon (hopefully very soon) to wrap it up.

Hope this thing lives up to expectations :-)
_________

Chapter 7 – A fate worse than Death

They managed to find their way back to the fuel barrels. Their journey back had not been without problems, as they had had to take a detour through a path they didn’t know. Had it not been for Nigel’s map function in his helmet computer they would never have found their way back.

Underway, Nigel whisperingly recounted to Jill how he had managed to lock the pink demons inside the toxic waste containment section by climbing a wall full of machinery, reaching the switch, which sealed off the room, while he could crawl out through an emergency hatch that he sealed from the other side. He had then found his way back to Jill with the aid of his helmet map function. Luckily for Jill, the distance from the emergency hatch to her hideout had been considerably shorter than the route Nigel had taken when diverting the pinkies away from her, otherwise she would have become Baron fodder.
The two hadn’t been the team’s most friendly companions, but a relationship that was more than just friendly had been born between the two in the light of their recent common experiences.

The fuel barrels stood like they had left them.

“Gimme a hand here hon,” Nigel whispered and grabbed hold of the barrel they had already begun to move about before they were forced to flee from the demons.

They could feel the fuel splashing around inside the barrel as they pushed it along the floor.

-

It was tough, but they eventually made it to the hangar where both the pilot and the Astrophysicist helped them fuel the craft, pumping the fuel into the ship’s fuel tank through a long tube.

McGee had pulled out the plasma rifle and held it at the ready. He was grateful that plasma rifles were composed of solid materials, because otherwise it would have been broken by the rough treatment back at the bridge with the Baron. He could hear the monsters somewhere behind. They were definitely closing in on their position, so that meant that the pinkies and Baron had somehow found a way out and picked up their trail, or other demons had turned up and smelt their scent of fear.

“It’s full,” Sarah declared.

“Get on board and fire her up!” McGee told them and backed up the ramp. He was surprised to notice that Jill stood right beside him with her shotgun ready. She had thrown a cartridge belt over her shoulder, making her look rather badass. She looked great that way he thought.

“Go back into the ship, I’ll fend ‘em off until the ship is ready to leave,” he told her.
“two soldiers can deliver more firepower than one,” she replied tonelessly.
“I’ll help you!”

“A good idea!” a female voice sounded behind them.

McGee and Jill turned around to suddenly look down the twin barrels of a combat shotgun. Sarah Blaine stood tall on the ramp to the ship with the shotgun pointing directly at the two other survivors. She looked menacingly beautiful now that she had ditched her lab coat, now wearing a lab shirt and a pair of tight fitting trousers. But McGee couldn’t appreciate the beauty with that shotgun pointing at him.

“Sarah, what are you doing?” Jill asked nervously.
“I can’t let you leave,” Sarah replied in an ominous tone.
“What do you mean?” Jill asked again. McGee was silent, clenching his fists. He had already figured it out.

“You know too much for my employers’ liking. I’m sorry, but my instructions were crystal clear,” the scientist replied coldly with no hint of emotion to suggest that she really meant the part about being sorry.
“W..What?” Jill asked, confused.
“The UAC hired her,” McGee growled. Jill turned to him. Her facial expression revealed all too clearly that she still couldn’t believe it.
“The UAC hired her to use any means to ensure that we would never get any info to the FCE, am I right Sarah Louise Blaine?” He spoke her full name with short, abrupt pauses between each uttered name, emphasizing his disgust for her.

The tall red haired woman smirked. “Spot on soldier boy, spot on. My compliments, you were quick to figure that out”
“I’ve heard many stories involving this kind of treachery before – it would also be the only logical reason why you would turn on us like this, taking into consideration what we’ve found here,” the SAS man told her coldly, staring ice.

With the realization of the truth, Jill swiftly turned her head to face the Canadian woman so her own brown hair flew around her face.

“You bitch!” she screamed livid with rage. “Leggo of that shotgun! Just let go of that damned shotgun and I’ll tear your fucking hair off one hair at a time! I dare you, you fucking Judas!”
McGee swiftly grabbed hold of the infuriated woman keeping her restrained, preventing her from doing anything that could get them both killed. Blaine laughed.

“Jeez, you’re really a tomboy huh? You think I’m stupid? You just stay put there – I know better than getting a former cop to do nasty things to me. Now you two can enjoy yourselves here, I’m going back to Earth and report that the rest of the team died in a collapsing hallway!”

“You’re gonna burn in Hell, tramp!” Jill hissed.

They watched powerlessly as the grinning Astrophysicist backed away into the ship and the airlock closed after her.

A series of angry howls of various kinds sounded behind them and they turned around to see a large group of imps and bull demons charge into the hangar.

The two humans opened fire. McGee sprayed burning hot plasma into the crowd, which dissolved the flesh of the monsters that were hit and Jill supported him with her shotgun.
“I’m out!” Nigel stated as the stream of energy pulses came to a stop.
“I don’t have much more ammo left myself!” Jill cried, and bit her lip. The remaining demons roared as if in triumph and closed in. They could see their slime-dripping, teeth-filled jaws and they both swallowed hard.

An ear-piercing explosion sounded behind them and a rocket flew over their heads, slamming into the crowd. The remaining monsters were torn to pieces by the ensuing explosion.


“Get back into the craft!” A deep male voice sounded behind them from where they had heard the explosion of the rocket being launched.

They spun around to see a short, but muscular black man wearing US military fatigues and a helmet. He was about the same build as Nigel McGee. They could see that his clothes were tattered and filthy. Old bloodstains covered his mostly ruined green combat armour.

Jill stared. McGee stared but quickly reclaimed control of himself and dragged Jill after him into the ship.
Inside they found Sarah Blaine lying on the floor, her torso ripped apart just under her bosom in a terrible mess by something that they could both instantly identify as a point blank shotgun wound. The traitor was dead. Her beautiful face had an expression of utter surprise on it. Behind them, the airlock closed as did the outer hatch.

Jeff Coburn burst in.
“Are you all right?” he asked. He seemed quite shocked. “That bitch suddenly came into the damn cockpit with a shotgun wavering in my mug...she...she demanded that I took off,” he seemed quite honest and McGee knew that he was telling the truth.
“We’re all right,” McGee told him quietly. “Just get us off this damn rock!”
“Aye, aye Sir, but...” Coburn looked at the dead beauty on the floor. “What about her?”

“She’s evidence!” the same deep voice that had urged McGee and Jill to get back into the craft moments before boomed.

McGee looked up and stared at the unknown saviour. The man removed his helmet, revealing a man who apparently hadn’t been around a trimmer for a long time, but there were traces that he had used a more primitive tool to cut his black hair and beard.
His brown eyes seemed inexplicably wild and McGee wondered if he was still sane.
“Wh...who are you?” Jill asked, still not recovered from the shock of Blaine’s treachery to the shock of their unexpected rescue.

The man stared at her for a few seconds, then spoke with the same deep voice.
“I was once US Ranger Captain Bill Howard stationed at the UAC Martian Research Base HQ”
The Captain paused, trying to find words. The craft shook as Jeff Coburn started the engines and the ship began to rise.

now I am...” the Ranger paused again, gasping as if he had trouble breathing, and seemed to be struggling with his own feelings, before he suddenly looked at them with eyes that had changed from those of a hunted animal to those of a man who has regained confidence in himself again and he spoke the last word.

“...Phobos”

[Rotting Corpse]

Wow that was fucking sweet. Cant wait for the epilogue.

[Janderson]

Fuck me sideways with a bargepole-strap-on!
That was sweeeet!
Can't wait for the next part!

[Guardian]

Ooh I love this! Love it love it love it! Vedy much so! Things are tying together!

And -- it's the Doomguy! Whoo-hoo! And I like his name better than poor Taggart's . . . Heehee, I'll wanna see the epilogue of this.

[deathbringer]

I dont think thats doomguy..XD

[dsm]

Guardian said:

Ooh I love this! Love it love it love it! Vedy much so! Things are tying together!

And -- it's the Doomguy! Whoo-hoo! And I like his name better than poor Taggart's . . . Heehee, I'll wanna see the epilogue of this.

I can tell that you've never played Q3A - that or you just have a baaaaaaaaad memory.
"Phobos" is a Q3A character who is described like this in the Q3A manual:

Phobos (Human): An experienced veteran, he led the invasion of the demon-haunted tunnels of Phobos. There he was betrayed by superiors who thought they could learn more from watching him die than by studying his reports.

Those of you who've read my doom story "Doom: Evil Unleashed" might notice a link here. Namely when you take this part into consideration:

There he was betrayed by superiors who thought they could learn more from watching him die than by studying his reports.

But rest assured: I'd never call the doomguy anything as stupid as Flynn Taggart. In my other Doom stories, I simply left out his name. In future, I plan to give him a nickname a la "Ranger" or "Bitterman".

[Guardian]

dsm: Your first assumption would be correct; I never got into Quake, only DOOM, hee.

And I think it's cool that id put a DOOM tribute into Q3A . . . What did his skin look like, do you know?

[deathbringer]

Liiike..an MD3 version of the sprite from doom really XD, someone can probably find a pic

[dsm]

The first of those models is the Q3A Doomguy model.

Personally, I was extremely disappointed with him. He looked clumsy and his pants were gayass imo. His helmet was cool though, and certain details in his armour were also nice. The Doom 3 Doomguy rocks in comparison although he certainly has his shortcomings too.

If you look a bit around on your own, you'll find Phobos and Crash - two other Doom-marine based characters.

[Guardian]

Hmm . . . found DOOM and Phobos . . . Didn't find Crash though, for some reason. Huh.

In any event, damn, that's a lot'f skins you can play . . . I especially like the description fer one in pertikler, somethin' about bein' a New York Gargoyle on steroids. Heh-heh, nice inadvertant tribute.

An' have we even seen a full-body schot of our beloved Doomguy-cubed? I know I haven't . . . 0_0