Chapter 13

"I said stand back, I'm not afraid to use this!" Carla yells at the soldiers around her, hands wrapped around the pistol. The Soldier who was trying to reason with her steps away and speaks into his radio.

"General, please come in" he says.

"Naverten here, what is it?" the radio crackles.

"Dr. Anders is threatening to shoot someone if we try to access the power station" they report.

"Deal with her, that's an order!" the General yells into the radio.

They shoot Carla an annoyed glance.

"Go ahead and try it" she dares, glaring back.

In the portal lab, Diane, Kasper and Henrick had locked themselves in the control room. Diane looked on as Kasper and Henrick prepared the system for activation, their hands hastily manipulating the touch-screen controls.

"We have the correlating signatures calculated, power levels are stable, Kasper reports, cycle the plasma inducers and activate the portal on my mark... Now"

The cavity of the teleporter surges with energy, a clouded churning portal appears on the other side of the control room's view screen. The scientists then attempt to control the Deimos system remotely. A door to the portal opens and General Naverten steps inside gripping his shotgun.

"What do you eggheads think you're doing? Shut that portal down now!" Naverten raves.

"Do not interfere, General. We are finishing what we started" Kasper coldly states over the intercom.

"You're going to get all of us killed!" Naverten replies, loading a pair of rounds into the double-barrelled weapon.

He steps closer to the swirling gate and fires the shotgun, the rounds blast apart the alloy shielding and vaporize against contact with the hot plasma condenser behind.

Diane runs out of the control room.

"No, stop!" she cries, running in front of the smoking weapon.

"Someone is out there, we can save them" she pleads.

"Our whole operation is being threatened so you can chase phantoms? Get out of my way!" Naverten yells as he loads another pair of rounds, then shoving Diane aside.

She lunges and grabs onto his arm, trying to pull the weapon away from the system.

"I said stop!" she shrieks.

The General roughly slaps her in the face, she flails to the floor.

"All of you lunatics are going to rot in an asylum for this" the General threatens as he aims the weapon on the portal's exposed modules.

Henrick uses the robotic arm controls and it veers across the lab. The appendage slams into Naverten, knocking him off his feet. Diane rushes back in front of the portal, determination painted upon her face. Naverten climbs to his feet staring angrily, darkness was consuming his eyes.

In the portal lab of Deimos colony, the Marine had drained his strength fighting against the demonic growth securing him in place. He stared defeated at the laboratory floor, Kronos was silently calculating an appropriate destination impossible for him to escape. Daisy materializes on the floor in front of the Marine, she looks up at him.

"Daisy... he quietly says, go back the way you came, Daisy. I don't want you to be trapped in this awful place, too. Go!" he says.

Daisy looks around, then back to the Marine with a sad face before the rabbit fades away.

Unknown to both Kronos and the Marine, the teleporter connects with the portal on Earth, the shroud of coursing energy clears.

"...warning you for the last time, stand aside" a gruff voice reaches his ears.

"That person saved my life, I'm not moving" another voice sounds.

Recognizing the female voice, he looks up to see that the portal was open, Dr. Stone was on the other side being held at gunpoint by some military brass, watching as they load the chambers of a shotgun.

"Stop! He could be the only one that can save us, he's the only thing that they fear! I've seen it!" Diane reels, tone brimming with tearful hysteria.

A flare of determination brews within the Marine, a righteous flame beaming. He firmly plants his feet and wrestles against the growth with a renewed strength, inching slowly towards the gate. He was getting further, the tentacles wrapping tighter. He places another tiring step forward and a strand of flesh finally snaps, then ripping through the binding tissue and charges toward the gate. Kronos' screech echoes through the lab as he moved toward the portal, he notices something just out of sight. He looks over and sees Daisy's spirit had materialized, hopping alongside.

In the Leipzig portal lab, blackness had consumed General Naverten's eyes, Diane was doing everything she could to stop him. The former human knocks her to the ground, oblivious to the figure in front of him approaching on the other side of the portal. He turns the barrels of the gun toward her, Diane sees demonic shadows slithering across his possessed face.

"No" she cries.

Naverten levels the weapon on her chest, tightening his grip around the trigger. The Marine suddenly passed through the portal, his armour tangled with demonic growth. Diane gasps in shock, the General was stunned, snapping him out of possession. The cigar drops from the General's mouth, splashing tiny embers upon impacting the floor.

The distant screams of slain demons could be heard before an unsettling silence followed. He strode toward the confused General and pulls the double-barrelled shotgun from his limp grasp. The Marine hears angelic voices singing, he looks down at the weapon in his hands. The memory of seeing it carved in the hands of the Mortick space marine statue resurfaces. Its prophecy fulfilled.

"I... I don't know what came over me" Naverten remarks.

Diane steps over to the Marine, tears streaming down her cheeks. He places a reassuring arm around her.

"Please, please help us" she quietly asks, voice shaking.

"That's my gun" the General growls.

The Marine looks over the finely crafted weapon, then back to the General.

"I think I'll keep it" he replies.