9. Trial by Flame

Sam's heart thumped with each step they took away from the jeep and yet Alex marched forward like she was having a good ol' stroll and not walking into a twelve-metre-tall fortress built to isolate the Doom Tower and its monsters.

It was constructed of the same matte black composite material that seemed to be pivotal in every ounce of armour the DSF agents wore. It combined the strength of nth metal alloys with the versatility of high-tech polymers to resist both physical and extreme environmental threats.

"Don't look so panicky, you're safe by my side," Alex said with a smirk. They approached one of the few access points in the otherwise seamless and unscalable wall. It was a huge sliding door made of the same composite material and if not for a notch here and there, it was seamlessly integrated in as well.

Alex stepped forward, producing a key card she swiped over a panel that revealed itself beneath the camouflage. Sam's anxious mind didn't miss how the drones that merely patrolled the skies suddenly began to swarm cold sentinels waiting for any sign of failure to unleash a salvo of bullets into their meaty bodies.

He shook his head free of those thoughts and watched Alex set her fingerprint and retina to scan. The security systems flashed green, and the door opened smoothly for her. "Come on, don't mind them; they don't shoot anything lethal at human biometrics."

"R-right…human," Sam stuttered, reminded that this place existed to keep something…otherworldly from escaping, though it had already failed. At the thought, Sam asked, "That Jaguar I helped kill…it was from here, wasn't it? How…how did it escape? Is this place even…"

Sam lost his words as the second door in the enclosed corridor slid open, revealing the inside of the walls. It was brightly lit by energy-efficient LEDs at the top and bottom of the walls, illuminating several layers of busy DSF agents at work like ants in a colony. There were holographic displays flashing information and warnings along the walls' surface, leading all the way to the seemingly depthless top.

It looked like the sky had disappeared and was replaced by a gloomy lit fog of electric lights. There were walkways crossing over each other in a maze-like pattern as they connected to the next part of the wall and all with DSF agents trooping along it with hefts of cargo.

"What is going on in here?" Sam muttered.

Alex waited ahead for him, already standing by a second door. With her biometrics taken for further identification, it too slid open. "This is... well, not everything can be done at base. Some things have to be done on-site. And, to be specific, some things are too dangerous to be done at base."

There was an edge to how she said the last part as she walked down a second enclosed corridor, too fast for Sam to ponder what she could mean. The second corridor was just as confounding as the previous room; it was blue as the ocean because the ocean had come to it.

All around Sam and Alex as they walked down the increasingly narrowing corridor was a sort of aquarium home to plants. Little, cute schools of fish swam overhead, fleeing an ugly orange thing large and wide enough to scare Sam as well. There was something else though, farther in the depths of the expansive blue. The sixth sense Sam was beginning to rely on told him so.

"This is part of it but also a security measure…kinda. It's hard to explain all at once, but you'll get your debrief soon. For now, let's focus on getting you that core. As for the Jaguar, well, we lost control of it during transport. It's the first of its size and kind to appear in the Tower zone and seemed to have the ability to command the other creatures. Naturally we were interested, it's unfortunate it escaped, I don't know how that happened though."

On instinct Sam wanted to complain and resist, say he wasn't going to risk his life fighting monsters or Belua like an idiot and demand to go home. Only that he realized he'd already walked too far in, didn't have any way of overriding those doors, and Alex would be deaf to his wailings.

Instead, as Alex pressed her finger to the fourth security door they'd come across, he chose to point out, "I thought you said some things were too dangerous to do at base? I'd think a giant, fire-slinging jaguar would qualify as such. Why bother transporting it at all?"

She shook her head. "It's true there are facilities to study the monster here, but it's a monster that can control other monsters. Giving it proximity to even one ally is a higher security risk."

"Oh…" Sam murmured.

The door slid open and rays of sunlight slipped through as she flashed him a grin, "We're almost there now."

They walked out into the open where ahead of them was yet another twelve metre wall but this one wasn't connected to the other two before it in any way or form. In contrast, it was far more isolated as the Doom Tower lurched above it all, piercing the sky and showering an aura of dread that had Sam's skin crawling even as he bathed in the sunlight.

This wall was cornered, made a target by turrets mounted on both walls and even on the outside, there were more drones patrolling the skies and nearly all of them lingered within the boundaries of the last wall. The previous wall had security towers crowning it, with the DSF agents manning them waving and saluting Alex as the case may be. They gave him stern, hard stares that Sam could feel the intensity of even with the height distance.

A holographic yellow walkway stretched across to the last wall. There was a warning displayed just before it: Active Landmines. A step off the path would surely spell doom.

Alex strutted ahead, greeting and laughing as the guards atop the wall cheered her return, "Is it time to show us how it's done, Sarge? Got to warn you, it's easy pickings right now—threat level Lambda. Having more trouble stealing some from our boy on the ground, heh. Might not be the best time to show your prowess, unless that was the point?"

One of the men at a guard post hollered down. Alex merely shook her head and set her biometrics to scan before she responded, "That was the point, but today it'll be my new partner showing you up. Feel free to bet!"

"Bet? On me?"

Alex dragged Sam into what should be the last corridor leading to the dreaded Doom Tower. This one reflected the DSF's caution as a myriad of holes and openings were poked into the corridor's every surface.

Sam could only imagine what kind of defences might be employed here: lethal gas, geysers of fire, laser beams, or even plain old spikes to skewer whatever wasn't meant to be let through.

"Relax. You heard him—it's threat level Lambda. That's nothing to worry about, and you'll have the entire Alpha wall security looking out for you. Not to mention, I'll be with you the entire time."

Sam held onto some hope. "You'll be fighting the Belua with me?"

"Oh no, no, not today. Today is all you, remember? Show us what you're made of." She winked at him before letting the door scan her retina and hiss open, heavier and sturdier than any of the other doors before it.

As it opened, Sam's questions died in his throat as a flurry of gunshots echoed freely. The sudden loudness was startling enough but Alex firmly grabbing his wrist and stepping out with him to see just what the DSF agents were shooting at was the nail on the head.

Small, humanoid figures made entirely of twisting, searing flames darted across the battlefield, their bodies crackling with unnatural energy. Their fiery limbs left trails of embers in the air, the very ground sizzling beneath their feet.

They ran around chasing or being chased by DSF agents. Holy Bullets tore through their bodies, thrashing them to the ground where the most injured dissolved around their rainbow glittered Nucleus.

DSF agents cut the creatures down without mercy and with startling ease. All of them wore a complete armour set: helmet, exoskeleton body armour, dedicated limb protection—not forgetting a versatile utility belt and gear holster for the knives, axes, hammers, and even oversized halberds they used to destroy the small fire-bound creatures.

At a single glance Sam saw and understood threat level Lambda was no fuss for the DSF agents. Alex checked back with him, finally letting go of his hand as she asked, "Got your weapon?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah." It had been in his hand the entire time and suffered his anxious squeezes, fortunately none of which triggered it to fire. He stared at the gun for a moment before turning back to the scene of Belua slaughter.

The Doom Tower loomed over it all with an indifference to his presence Sam hadn't expected but hoped would last forever. It dizzied his eyes to look upon though, as though the Tower in front of him wasn't really there and was an illusion he could rip away. No such luck.

"Good, do you need anything else?" Alex asked, watching her fellows go about exterminating the fiery creatures. In the wide, circular space around the Doom Tower and the wall around it there were only about a dozen DSF agents hunting what had to be a hundred of the small fire sprites.

"A ride home?" She gave him a straight, unamused look, and he sighed, fiddling with the gun. "Glass, any kind will do."

"Got it." Alex proceeded to tap a square on the wall, it opened up and revealed a big red button she immediately slammed. Alarms went off through the entire place, lights swirled in warning and the DSF agents previously on a slaughter binge disappeared into hatches underground or little hideaways in the wall.

"Go for it, Sam. Alpha Ring and the Doom Tower are all yours."