Saying that the news that Superman had brought back to Earth, that the Green Soldier was in truth a super soldier from another universe, one far more advanced than theirs by his technology, had shaken the world's most powerful people to its core, would be severely understating it. Some liked it, having someone as advanced as him watching over their world in case more invaders they could not fight off came. Others wanted to interview the man in person, if only to have the scoop of the century.
Others, like the U.S military and several others, did not like at all the fact there was an independent military base literally at Earth's doorstep, with no current way to reach it aside from some privileged few that were NOT military themselves... and had no real way to defend themselves against in case he was lying about his intentions. And even that was when they actually believed his outlandish claims of being from another universe altogether, instead of being an alien himself who merely looked like a human being, like Superman was.
They were not the only ones thinking that, either, just the most outspoken.
In Metropolis, on one of LexCorp's tower many, many offices, a certain CEO was rewatching scenes of the Green Soldier, now revealed as 'Doom Slayer', doing what the little-minded would have considered heroics, from stopping a train by using himself as a brake to holding up a building so that the people trapped inside could escape.
"Just like that damnable alien." He grunted as he watched the man seemingly waste his life in being a 'hero'. "Only with combat armor. And a plasma cannon."
And he wasn't foolish. If Superman was telling the truth, this universe-displaced soldier merely wanted to protect Earth from outside attacks... but how, would he do that? With just his strength (which was admitedly high, but hasn't proved to be to actually match Superman's), some energy weapon, and whatever he was building on his frontyard?
Lex scoffed. He probably had some kind of weapon hidden within his home, maybe even an entire armoury! And who the Hell called himself DOOM Slayer if they were, supposedly, a hero?
After three days of watching the Doom Slayer's home and his machines build up what the man himself admitted were weapons, Luthor desperately wanted to take a closer look to both the Doom Slayer's technology and home, but at the same time, he didn't want to test his luck. After all, this man could open a wormhole from Mars to Earth just to deliver two rovers. And something told Lex that the wormhole's actual range had to be even greater than just a couple AUs.
'A waste of power, if there was one' Lex thought with annoyance, thinking of the potential uses of a wormhole generator. 'And protect Earth? All he needs to do is to actually do it is open a portal to the Sun and punt Superman through, and yet he hasn't!'
Worse still, there simply was no way for him to manipulate, trick or otherwise control the man in any way that would benefit him.
"No money, no blackmail, no ambition, not even some code of honour, nothing!" Lex muttered to himself, angry that there was someone he could not exploit in some way or manner; even Superman's actions could be taken advantage of in some way! Fights a 'stolen' battlesuit? Use the data to make a stronger one. Drives a man obsessed with him? 'Enhance' the man to put him on equal ground with the alien.
But you couldn't get anything from a man that came out of a blue portal and then leaves less than a few minutes later and in another continent to boot, and all he got from spying Doom Slayer's HQ was some audience for his own channel, and he only founded it because of a whim he had forgotten about!
Then, there was the willingness he had to hurt people. True, the worst he had done was ripping that italian guy's jaw off, but no known vigilante had ever tried to be that brutal, not even the Batman himself, and he was known for snapping knees, crushing hands, and otherwise being quite willing to cripple people, although not permanently.
He shuddered when he imagined himself being at the wrong end of that kind of strength.
All that thinking and being unable to do anything gave him a headache.
Sighing, Lex forced himself to calm down and. He had yet to see the full capabilities of Doom Slayer. First he'd wait, and then if the soldier did something else than just standing and letting bullets hit him or lift buildings he would do... well, something about it. In the meantime...
"Mercy, please bring me some water and aspirine."
In a mountain fortress located in the Middle East, a tall goateed man with green eyes, wearing a simple green cape over opulent tunics, looked at a screen with interest as the so called Doom Slayer stood up after being hit with a rocket, without even a scratch on his armor. The man looked to be in his fifties, but in truth he was old enough to have participated in the siege of Constantinople; in fact, were it not for his intervention on Mehmed II's behalf, the city and the empire would have been able to resist the Ottomans' onslaught. Sadly, the man had decided that the last vestiges of the Roman Empire to give Europe the chance to progress without having a constant reminder of its barbaric past right on their doorstep.
That, and because of the man's disdain and loathing for the Greek Empire.
Ra's al Ghul, the Demon's Head, founder and immortal leader of the League of Assassins, formed to bring peace and harmony to the world by any means, be it destroying entire civilizations or simple murder of state heads.
And he was interested by what he was seeing. Not since he had found out the existence of the Lazarus' Pits and his first encounter with Batman, or as he called himself Bruce Wayne, had he been interested in something.
Standing beside him was Ubu, a mountain of a man and the latest of a line of loyal bodyguards. In truth, he did not really need protection, but the first Ubu had been his brother in arms and died protecting Ra's from a Teutonic blade, and wanted to honour his sacrifice. Neither Talia or Nyssa, his daughters, were with him at the moment, travelling the world in search of recruits and doing work respectively.
"Fascinating." He whispered as LexCorp's rover recorded the man's fortress from atop a martian dune. "If only he used but a percentage of that strength and technology to do as his name indicated." Indeed, why call oneself Doom Slayer if they did not fullfil the second half of their name, despite clearly being able to do so?
Despite what others might have thought, however, he didn't believe that this Doom Slayer could be a possible heir: he had yet to demonstrate a sign of actual intelligence, that whatever he was building was born out of his mind. Bruce would still be either his heir, or his heir's progenitor, no matter how advanced or powerful this Doom Slayer was, and nothing would change his mind... but Ra's could still get something out of him. Perhaps he could be the future Ubu, with his astonishing strength and technology? Maybe even giving his knowledge to the League of Assasins to enhance their potential?
"Just imagine it Ubu, the might of a titan obeying the intellect of a god." He muttered, already imagining the potential of such a man being part of the League as its new Demon's Head servant.
The current Ubu, however, wasn't so sure. "Master, am I allowed to voice my opinion on the matter?"
The Demon's Head glanced back at his bodyguard and nodded. He had specifically chosen the new Ubu to be incredibly loyal to him, yet also still independent and honest when it came to his personal opinion. Ra's made sure of choosing him after the previous one blindly did as he told him, something that ended with his premature death.
"This new man is completely unknown to us, and given everything we know of him he's anything but some brute that can be tricked; even then, we have yet to meet him in person and discern more of him. We must be cautious, and have patience."
Ra's stared at his faithful servant for a moment, before sighing. He was right, they needed to know more about this soldier from another Earth before doing anything.
"We shall wait, then, for the perfect opportunity to act."
On another part of the world, once again in the United States, an african-american woman was doing the same. She was Amanda Waller, head of a secret branch of the U.S government founded after Superman's brief stint as alien conqueror, dedicated to recruit individuals with the goal of stopping other alien attacks should they happen, willingly or not, like she had done with Deathstroke two years prior.
Unlike either the multibillionaire or the century-old mastermind, however, Amanda Waller had no intention to include Doom Slayer in the Task Force X, aka Suicide Squad, for the simple reason he was simply too powerful to control, they couldn't follow him to Mars (at least yet), and it was obvious he was no mercenary they could hire or buy off. Besides, as much as she loathed doing nothing, Superman himself said he wanted nothing more than the welfare of Earth, something they could agree upon.
Then, there was the fact he apparently came to their Earth to stop an interdimensional invasion. Had he come two years ago she would have taken the statements, including his own claims of being from another dimension with a grain of salt, but after the Superman fiasco, everything was possible, and the last thing the world needed was for Doom Slayer to feel alienated and. He said their dimension was safe, but she hadn't got her position for being naive.
Of course, that would not stop her from monitorizing the man every time he came to Earth. Or spy his house from a very long distance.
"How is the research on those cloaked drones going?"
This repeated itself across Earth, with many, many people wondering about Doom Slayer and what his presence implied. Some merely saw another hero in him, if a particularly nasty one. Others saw a threat just waiting for them to show weakness before striking. Others still were worried about the interdimensional creatures that had invaded his Earth and could have followed him to theirs.
None of them knew that VEGA was monitoring them.
..........
Did I write the characters right? As for why did I choose Luthor, Ra's al Ghul and Waller, it's because Luthor was the one who broadcasted the Fortress' existence to the world, Ra's would be naturally interested in someone like the Slayer, and Waller (who's essentially Arkham's Amanda; Cadmus hasn't been formed yet) is being savvy enough to understand that they can't coerce DS to, well, do what they want, at least not yet.
Last edited: Aug 10, 2021
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So, Luthor and Gul thought they could use me, uh? Sure, neither of them knew of VEGA (as a matter of fact, no one sans Clark, Kara and John did), but still, given how paranoid/intelligent they were they could have at least thought about the possibility of me having an AI. Waller, though? She was smart and decided to leave me be for the moment, at least until she got cloaked drones or something like sent to Mars.
Pff, as if: the only reason Lex got so close was that I forgot about Mars' missions; after that I made VEGA scan the whole planet and its orbit constantly to make sure we wouldn't be caught off guard again.
So, after yet another week of me saving people, fighting crime and being mysterious, VEGA found something.
"Slayer, I discovered something that will interest you."
Io an behold, VEGA's 'something' did in fact interest me: it was Clark talking to a tall blonde whose buff chest was free for all to see, with an outrageous beard covering his face and carrying a trident, both standing on a forested beach located in the Eastern Coast. I thought it was your average secret conversation away from prying eyes, until the camera zoomed out to sho the submarine-sized atlantean warship and a company of atlantean soldiers lined across the beach. Why did Aquaman bring a small army just to talk with his friend?
"It seems that Mr. Kent wishes for Mr. Curry to communicate with us, but lacks the capacity to do so outside of bringing him to Mars on his ship."
"And the entourage?"
"Apparently they are afraid."
"Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"That the U.S military might not take well to their presence."
Well, what do you know, the people that claimed they could wiped out the surface considered a technologically inferior country dangerous enough that their king had to be accompanied by a company and their equivalent of an AT-AT.
Yeah, I used the AT-AT as a comparison.
So, it was time to meet yet another superhero from this world. Just to dick with them, I opened a portal underwater. However, before I did that, I 'disabled' the ship's weapons without the crew noticing with help from VEGA. Why? Well, read further and you'll understand.
After doing the deed and just as my head surfaced, I heard Clark talk to Aquaman, obviously talking about me.
"I don't care if some man from space does not like me." I heard Aquaman say. He was facing Clark, and so where his troops, and the sand muffled my steps so they didn't either see or hear me walk out of the sea.
"And I'm telling you that he's... standing right behind your army?" Clark said when he finally saw me, what with me being the tallest person there. Aquaman followed his gaze, and saw a most ridiculous sight? What did he see, you might ask?
Why, of course, me shoving my way through the line his surprised men.
The troops farther from me raised their weapons and took aim the moment I was away from them, but I ignored them as I walked towards their king and the kryptonian. I mean, what are some shitty, water-powered rayguns compared to the might of Hell?
Sadly, one of them did not like me treating his boys like bowling pins: the general, the guy with the most pimped out armor. Yes, not a general, but the general, the second highest rank in Atlantis' military. Why did the king of the Seven Seas bring his second in command with him for some 'maneuvers'? Was he actually afraid of the supposedly interdimensional space marine? No idea.
It provided me a way to show what kind of man I was to them, though.
"Stay away from the King of Atlantis, surface dweller!" The guy said, but I blatantly ignored him as I shoved him aside. He screamed some more before grabbing my arm. The poor fool thought he was strong enough to stop me. "Didn't you hear me?!"
I didn't even bother to look at him before acting.
The moron only managed to speak some more before I grabbed his hand (had to hold myself, else I'd have pulverized the bones), pulled out the doomblade, and held it against his neck, all in one second. He didn't even have time to scream.
Well, he did, but a little cut made clear that he'd end up losing his Adam's apple... and that at the very, very minimum.
"One more word, I'll cut your head off." I growled at him before giving a little push. Okay, it wasn't exactly little given he kinda flew towards the water, but I used the minimum effort possible: any higher, and he would have ended with several broken bones, regardless of his supposedly superhumanly thick skin and dense bones.
Which, as later turned out, weren't THAT thick or dense. Just not with the moron.
"That man is my general." Aquaman growled as I walked up to them. Apparently he had balls of steel, because he was willing to 'threaten' a man a foot taller than him, twice as broad at the shoulders as he was, armored from head to toe and uncaring if he was being aimed at by thirty soldiers with 'hydro-pulse rifles', VEGA said they were called.
Might as well be glorified water guns compared to even the pistol. Mostly because one of them shot at me when I reached Clark and Aquaman, either accidentally or deliberately, and this caused a chain reaction that ended with most of them shooting in my general direction. The plasma strikes did made me flinch, but by now you already know most weapons from Earth just couldn't hurt me, so instead of retaliating I stood there and shrugged the barrage.
Aquaman didn't, and the only reason he didn't get hit by a stray shot was that Clark put him behind him. Fun facts: Aquaman is what could be considered a 'glass cannon': he's strong even for an atlantean, and his trident is quite sharp (and because it's magical in nature it can hurt Clark), but normal guns can hurt him if he's not wearing that scalemail of his, so naturally anything stronger than a hunting rifle can actually kill him if he goes barechested like that.
Imagine what could have happened if I hadn't disabled the cruiser, whose crew also went crazy and tried to fry me despite their king standing literally right in front of me. Fortunately, that also meant I shielded him from the mangic shooting.
"Stop your fire, dammit!" Aquaman shouted at the top of his lungs.
By the time his boys realized what they were doing and stopped, a part forest had been burned (and if not for Clark it would have ended in a forest fire), and the sand around us glassed.
I merely dusted myself ala Luke Skywalker, only with sand, actual sand on my real body.
"Your soldiers lack discipline."
"You nearly killed their superior!" Aquaman growled as he clutched his trident, clearly wanting to impale me, not knowing what would happen to him if he tried.
Fortunately for him, Clark did, because he put himself between us and put a hand on Aquaman's tridents. "Arthur, don't do something you might regret."
I glared back at Aquaman, although he didn't realize it because I polarized the helmet, and ignored Clark. "Superior? He'll share blame, then." Time to talk about the reason I was there.
This did confuse Aquaman, whose glare half-morphed into a confused stare. "Blame for what?"
Instead of talking to him, I turned to Clark. "Did you tell him?"
Clark, remembering what I was talking about, shook his head. "No, I was about to, but then you came before I could get to it."
"Should have been straight with him."
Understandably, Aquaman did not like the ease with which I spoke.
"What the Hell are you two talking about?!" He shouted at us. "You've been several days flying over and saying that you need to talk to me, I come to the surface, and then this Starship Trooper wannabe comes out of the ocean, manhandles Brak, insults me, nearly gets me killed, and then mocks the Atlantean Army!"
Before Clark could explain why did we want to talk to him, or even open his mouth for that matter, I put a hand behind my back to call the piece of bomb and then showed it to Aquaman. "You know this?"
Aquaman, finally calmed down, grabbed the shard and inspected it while muttering something under his breath. His cursing stopped abruptly the moment he saw the symbol engraved on the metal, previously frowning eyes now widened in shock. "The Red Trident?" He then shook his head. "Where did you find this?"
"In a train in Germany that had been sabotaged." I told him, making him flinch. So, he did know something at least. "Speak."
It was at that moment that the assholish general, Brok or whatever, came out of the water "You dare to-"
That was as far as he got before I pulled a 'gun aimed at annoyance to make it shut up'. Then again, it was the first time anyone in the planet, let alone the universe, saw me pull a weapon literally out of thin air and aim it at him.
The fact it was the Super Shotgun out of all the weapons in my arsenal, and one with a bayoned attached to it, probably didn't help. The games don't really show how actually big the damn thing is since Doom Slayer is a shaved gorilla in green armor, but to give you an idea the combat shotgun is chambered for 8 gauge shells, just like Halo's shotties, only a bit meatier (and no, don't ask me how did I reach that conclusion, the fact it can damage armored vehicles should suffice).
The Super Shotgun's are significantly larger than that. Think of them as small shells repurposed for buckshot. Or dinoshot, or pinkyshot, or whatever the fuck shots exponentially larger than buckshot are called.
"One more word from you, and I'll blow your head off." I growled at the little man, who ignoring the fact he was a high-ranking officer and standing in the presence of not only his monarch, but also his troops, nodded frantically and stepped back. Then, I turned back to Aquaman, who finally showed fear, only not of me. "Start talking."
"Doom Slayer-" Clark began to say before I interrupted him.
"Not now." I turned back to Aquaman. "Speak."
Aquaman breathed deeply. "They're a... group of atlanteans who do not like what the people of the surface do to the oceans: pollution, fishing, all that stuff." He then shook his head. "And I don't like it either when the surface believes it can do whatever it wants to the oceans. However, they're a bit more... extreme when it comes to make clear what they think Atlantis should do."
"More extreme in what sense?" Clark asked.
Before Aquaman could respond to him, VEGA called me. I raised a hand indicating them to shut up and then listened in. "What is it?"
"Slayer, the Voyager of the Seas is being boarded by several dozen atlanteans equipped with the Atlantis armed forces' armor and weapons, several of them sporting a red trident."
VEGA then showed me an ocean liner in the middle of the Pacific ocean under a sunny sky, which would have been a normal sight... if not for the atlantean ship surfaced near it and the armored figures climbing its sides.
The moment they got to the upper deck they began killing the passengers indiscriminately, some not even bothering to shoot them and beating them to death which, given that atlanteans are significantly stronger than the average human, was easy for them, before gathering the survivors and dragging them inside the ship.
That included children.
"I am currently spying their communications. It seems they want to ram the ship into Seattle's docks." VEGA continued
"Just that? No demands or anything?" I growled, too angry to realize I had said that outloud, earning confused looks from the others.
"No, Slayer. If I may, the captain has already send a distress call, but both the U.S Navy and the Coast Guard are too far away to stop them in time without destroying the Voyager of the Seas. Even then, the Red Trident have brought a bomb to the ship in case they can't accomplish their primary goal"
So, the classic murderous terrorists whose cause involved killing first, demanding stuff later. How did I react to this turn of events? By teleporting straight to the ship and murderfucking the hijackers? By going to the deep end in a moment of irrationality, and wiping Atlantis off the map with the BFG-9000?
The first one, of course. First, however, I had to... show my displeasure to the man that had the most to do with this, despite everything pointing that he had nothing to do at all with what I saw. I grabbed Aquaman by the throat and raised him up as high as I could, before throwing him to the sand. Again, he had nothing to do with the Red Trident, but at that moment I wasn't thinking straight.
Clark cried something, and the atlanteans charged, but one shot from the Super Shotgun into the air stopped them; some even dropped their rifles in fright. It might sounds stupid to you for them to act like that because of some slugthrower, but the SSG going off sounds like an artillery piece being fired.
"W-why the Hell did you do that for?!" Aquaman screamed at me after recovering.
"A cruise ship is being hijacked by atlanteans. They're killing passengers indiscriminately."
I felt two hands grabbing me by the shoulders "Where?!" Clark screamed both in horror and anger, as he (as already told) grabbed me by the shoulders, not caring about the height difference between the two of us.
I looked at him straight in the eyes. "Pacific ocean, five nautical miles from Seattle. They want to ram it into the port. No demands. Start flying."
The moment I closed my mouth he was already flying northwest at mach 5. However, even as fast as he was, he wouldn't arrive in time to stop the ship from crashing and killing thousands.
Which was good, because he'd most definitely be an obstacle for me and what I had planned to do with the Red Trident.
I watched as Superman went supersonic before turning to Aquaman. "Stay here. And pray you have nothing to do with this." Once more, I knew he didn't, but at that moment I just didn't care, and besides I wanted to scare his ass for being... an ass towards me, justified or not.
I opened a portal to the ship and walked in, leaving a hundred confused and angry atlanteans behind. I did not care the possible repercussions that could come from threatening the sovereign of a nation, too busy planning the rescue of the Voyager. As for why did I tell Superman to fly instead of bringing him with me, he might have been a help stopping the Red Trident... but also become an obstacle.
Because he would have done anything to stop me from giving those fucks what they deserved. And a show of force for the whole world to see what happened when you crossed the line with me near.
Before that, however, VEGA had a ship to save.
..........
So, we meet Aquaman. Next chapter will be the beginning of the long awaited RIP AND TEAR YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!! Only the beginning, though: I'm gonna have to use two chapters.
Once more, did I write the characters right?
Not so dumb question (at least to me) for Halo/Mass Effect fans: would a Mass Effect-enhanced Punic supercarrier (Silaris armor, cyclonic barriers...) be an even match for a CAS assault carrier?
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Stupid the Ork
Aug 13, 2021
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Stupid the Ork
Never enuff Dakka
Aug 18, 2021
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And with save, I mean opening a portal right in front of it that led to a clear spot in a field a kilometer away from Fort Bragg, the largest military base in the U.S mainland, submarine included.
Naturally, the sudden appearance of the world's largest cruise ship and a strange submarine spooked them,
I was going to kill them all. Yeah, that's right, KILL. I would not wear kiddie gloves for those fucks, not after watching them massacre civilians just because some hick decided to use the ocean as a dump. I just brought the ship there so that they would not escape, not if they didn't want to be hounded by an entire division of the National Guard, which I hoped would share my sentiment the moment they saw the dead bodies on the deck.
This time, though, I wouldn't just burn the fuck out of them with the plasma rifle and then leave them screaming on the ground, but alive.
Oh, no, this time, they would end up being torn apart with my entire armoury, starting with the heavy cannon, consequences of using evidence-leaving weapons be damned!
First, though, I wanted to scare the Red Trident, to... 'communicate' that they had pissed off the only man in all of Earth that wouldn't let them live for what they had done, and who was so damn powerful they could do nothing to save themselvess, not even running away (which would have spelled death for them anyway, since we were miles away from the sea and those suits of theirs didn't have enough water to keep them hydrated for long).
Which I did by bombarding the Trident's vehicle with the rocket launcher, firing four or five times at it.
The games make it seem like the rockets are not particularly powerful, but that's only because many of the demons you're firing them at are stupidly tough for their size. In truth, they're actually quite powerful against their original targets, in this case armored vehicles, thank to a souped up HEAT warhead and being a literal semi-automatic missile launcher.
Targets like, for example, a crappy-ass submarine made of steel. Amazingly, some of the crew still inside managed to survive the initial explosions, though only to come out screaming in agony because they had been set aflame. I was tempted to let them burn to death, but instead I decided to be a bit merciful and snipe them with the heavy cannon. Then, when I saw several armored individuals come out to the upper deck and peek over the rails to see that not only they were on land, but also that their vehicle had been destroyed, I pulled out the pistol, took aim, and fired even as they shot at me.
You might be wondering, why use the measly, shitty pistol, instead of the heavy cannon's precision bolt, or even the gauss cannon? First, because the precision bolt was for much longer ranges, while the gauss cannon was simply too damn powerful for the task at hand.
And second, because even the (fully upgraded) pistol, even when not fully charged, could vaporize a steel helmet and the head it covered at any range
It was time to show the world I was willing to stop holding back if someone crossed the line... and rip said someone in half.
.........
Soren Dar, trooper of the Red Trident organization to save the oceans from the predations of the surface dwellers, was busy making sure that their hostages stayed inside their cabins before the whole ship shook, then crashed against something.
They were supossed to attack the ship, kill some surfaced dwellers, hijack it, and then ram the entire thing into a nearby port to sow fear, to show them that the Seven Seas would not suffer the pollution of their home and the surface dwellers who were exploiting the ocean.
While they did get the leisure of killing hundreds of dwellers, their leader, Krios, told them to take the rest hostage, lest the armed forces of the country they would attack decided to destroy the ship before they could leave.
And then they felt the floor quaked before the ship listed to the right. As the Red Trident fighters recovered from the conmotion, wondering if they had already hit the city, an explosion from outside shook the ship even further.
Krios, fearing that the enemy was attacking them, sent Soren and his squadron of nine to see what did just happen:
"By Poseidon!" Marak, the leader of the group, muttered in horror when they found out what happened.
Somehow, and to the utter amazement and horror of the squad, they had ended up in a green field, well away from the sea. Worse, their getaway ship had been destroyed! It would have been useless as a method of transportation, but it was the only source of water in however many miles they were inside land.
And then they saw the burning corpses of their friends, all of them well away from the ship. It seemed they had managed to survive and get away from the wreck, but without water around they burned to death. An horrible way to die.
Soren growled. Words could not explain the sorrow, the anger he felt seeing his fellow saviors of the ocean having been killed by surface dwellers (who else had the firepower to destroy it, as primitive as they were?), which distracted him from the fact the ship was NOT supposed to be on land.
His thoughts were interrupted when Juno, the sole female member of the group, raised her arm and pointed at a point beyond the submarine "Do you guys see that?"
It was quite far, but Soren could see what Juno was pointing at: some kind of armored... man, standing over a hundred yards away from them. A surface soldier? A machine?
"What in the depths is-"
Whatever else Marak was going to say was interrupted when his head was struck by a blue projectile which, instead of knocking him back as that kind of weapons did, blew his helmet and skull off like a balloon. The mush that had formerly been Soren's head spread all over the wall behind him, painting it red, while his headless corpse fell in a heap, water escaping from the newly made aperture in the suit.
Juno was the first one to recover from the shock of seeing their squad leader die.
"Kill the bastard before-" She managed to scream before yet another shot destroyed her head, dying just like Marak had.
However, their hydro-pulse weapons, while powerful, were not accurate beyond a range of a hundred meters; they simply hadn't been designed with long-range combat
Which was the lesser of their problems, because the few shots that DID hit the armored man did nothing at all to him, not him set him back. Worse, they could see in the horizon several aircraft flying towards them; 'helicopters', Krios had called them. Soren was confident that those would not resist even a single shot from their weapons, but he had seen recordings of the firepower some of those helicopters could carry. They were also the first part of an offensive, and if the surface dwellers, not even superior physiology and technology would save them from being overwhelmed.
If they survived the armored soldier, that is.
And then said soldier began running towards them at a speed Soren was fairly certain a surface dweller was not supposed to attain, creating clouds of dust as he went. Had they not been occupied with firing at the man, and in turn being systematically killed by him, the Red Trident discovered that he was bigger than he looked.
"Nothing's working!" Another of his fellow atlanteans cried before again falling. Now the only fighters remaining were him and Das, both frantically firing at the speeding surface dweller as fast as their fingers allowed.
And then, just as the soldier got close enough that he could practically touch the hull of the ship, instead of climbing it under the fire of the Red Trident, he did something that both amazed and terrified them.
He jumped up to the ship, its actual height increased because it was listing on one side, and high enough that he surpassed the deck they were on.
And incidentally, right above Das.
The atlantean managed to scream in horror before several hundred pounds of metal crushed him, sending blood, water and shards of bone everywhere across the deck.
Soren realized with terror that he was the last one standing... and that the surface dweller was well over a foot taller than him.
And by the murderous glare he was giving him through his traslucent helmet, he was also angry.
The Red Trident member, terrified out of his wits, fired at the enemy without abandon, but even being shot at such short range did nothing to the man who, unimpeded by the attacks, began stomping towards him, his steps breaking the deck as he moved towards his prey.
And then, when he got close enough that the barrel of his rifle was touching his waist, the walking tank grabbed the weapon and pulled... alongside Soren's arms, clavicles included. Mixed water and blood spewed out of the newly opened holes as the atlantean's mind realized what just happened.
Soren only had a second to scream in pure agony before the metallic beast from the depts themselves raised his rifle and bashed his head upside down with the weapon, killing him instantly.
Had Soren been provided with a way to see his demise from another perspective, the atlantean militant would have seen that not only his head had been completely caved in into his torso, helmet included, but that it had also been crushed to a pulp due to the sheer strength behind the strike.
The giant soldier, with his prey dead, dropped the weapon and made its way into the ship, to both rescue the hostages... and kill every last Red Trident bastard that were inside, public opinion be damned!
..........
I had killed people for the first time since I arrived here. When I bonked the fuck out of that poor bastard with his own gun, arms still attached to the weapon, I felt... I felt....
Nothing, aside from the latent anger that I had because there were more of them inside, very possibly killing more people, and I was wasting valuable seconds up there.
What, did you expect me to be horrified by taking my first 'human' lives? Please, those bastards were basically eco-terrorists that aimed at the common man, monsters in human skin that only deserved to be put down like the rabid dogs they were, and besides I had LOOONG mentallized myself to the fact I would end up killing actual people. Yes, the public wouldn't take it well me acting like, well, Doom Slayer on a rampage, but at that moment I simply didn't care.
After killing the last terrorist on deck and seeing that Fort Bragg was finally, I made my way to the interior of the ship with a portal. As for why, what better way to scare the enemy than coming from the exact place they didn't expect anything to attack from?
I didn't want to just kill the Red Trident, I wanted them to be scared shitless before being brutalized. Remember, hey had killed hundreds and planned to kill thousands and not even bother to die with them, they deserved nothing less than utter destruction. Only their leaders would survive, and that was only because the big fish would go to Aquaman, and the second biggest for the U.S government.
Incidentally, I also ended in one of the locations where the Red Trident had kept several of their hostages trapped, the plaza of the ship.
The sunlight coming from above allowed me to see them huddled down and fearful of being the Red Trident's next victims, some even having soiled themselves out of fear.
And in the corner, piled like bags of garbage bags, were the corpses of at least thirty people.
Two were children.
You can possibly imagine the feeling of unstoppable wrath that came over me when I saw THAT.
And the utter terror they felt when one of the women saw a giant-ass super soldier standing right there with them, having come out of nowhere... at least until a german tourist saw me too and realized who I.
"Wait, it's the Doom Slayer!" He cried in awe. "We're saved!"
Soon, everyone crowded around me, begging me to get them out of there before the guards returned, and to rescue the others. They didn't seem to notice that I was covered in blood, or did but were too scared to care.
"VEGA, open a portal to Fort Bragg, send them a message of the situation, make me a map of the ship signaling the positions of the hostages and the Red Trident, and tell them to not intervene." I asked VEGA.
"As you wish Slayer." Five seconds later, I had a fully 3D schematic of the liner. Fortunately, most of the hostages were on the same deck, which simplified things for VEGA. However, as the first group escaped to the base, I also made VEGA EMP the entire ship. Why did I ask him to do that? Two reasons. tirst, people wouldn't like the gruesome aftermath of my actions, but they would as hell freak the fuck out if they saw the actions themselves because of some hidden camera in the Voyager. As for why didn't I open portals directly in the hostages' positions, they were more heavily guarded, and I didn't want the Red Trident to kill the fleeing hostages.
No, they wouldn't be able to cross the portals themselves to attack Fort Bragg, they were selective about who could and who could not cross them.
The conmotion of the hostages rushing inside the portal brought the attention of the twenty or so guards stationed outside, who ran in to see what was happening.
They froze in place when they saw the last of this particular group of future victims entering the portal... and me standing there, faceplate polarized so that the last thing they would see would be murder in my eyes. The poor fools didn't have time to react properly before I pulled out the heavy rifle and opened fire.
Atlanteans, as I already told you, are superhumanly tough, but not to the point of being fully bulletproof, which was why the Red Trident mooks wore stolen atlantean army armor, that apparently lets them shrug off rifle rounds AND keeps them hydrated for fifteen minutes. Unfortunately for them, the heavy cannon, while not an actually piece of artillery or an autocannon proper, fires .55 caliber, 75 grams rounds at a velocity of four thousand feet per second. Not many types of personal armor from this Earth could protect from single shots, and NONE could withstand a full burst at close range.
Naturally, theirs was neither.
One of the bastards was outright disintegrated by the two shots I landed on him, while another's head simply ceased to exist.
The others would soon end up wishing they had died like friends: quick and painlessly, instead of, essentially, being glory killed.
And no, no ammunition nor armor points came out of their deaths.
One had the stupid idea of trying to bash me over the head with his rifle, and got his skull ripped off and thrown against another, with helmet included, the impact braining the poor devil. Pretty sure the guy's head was still 'alive' for a couple seconds, since it kept screaming for that long.
Another kept screaming as I ripped her in half like she was made of paper, gore and bones still hanging from both halves. I gave her the mercy of my boot crushing her head, a mercy she very possibly didn't deserve.
Another ran at me screaming at the top of his lungs, firing his gun at me and then lunging when he got close enough. The moment he was closer still, I pulled out the shotgun in full auto mod and, with perfect timing, speared him from the mouth before firing, making him explode and reducing the men behind him to nothing.
Yet another Red Trident, the biggest of the bunch at nearly seven feet, latched onto me and began punching my helmet, his adrenaline-fueled fists doing nothing to me but. For his troubles, I ripped out his guts and garroted him with them. Pretty sure the only reason he wasn't beheaded by that was that intestines aren't particularly good as makeshift nooses, and his armor getting in the way.
One by one, they were ripped apart, decapitated, burned alive, frozen alive, gutted, smashed, chainsawed, turned inside out, dismembered, and many other horrible ways to die. By the time there was only one Red Trident still alive, I was standing on a pool of gore and blood mixed with some saltwater that was slowly creeping right because of the listing.
And when the traumatized survivor's mind rebooted and saw what happened to his friends, and me walking up at him with chainsaw revved, he did something that both surprised me... and made me loathe the little turd.
He dropped his rifle, which was still covered in the blood of however many people he had killed) on the ground and got on his knees with a pleading stance.
"I surrender! Please don't kill me, please!" He begged. "Krios made me do it! He told me I had to go with him or other wouldn't follow! Please!"
That... made no sense whatsoever to my anger-ridden brain. Still, it made me stop myself from cutting him in half vertically, and I still had enough sense to realize that by the manner he was speaking what he was sying that he was the second in command of whoever this 'Krios' was, and therefore the second big fish. He was lying, of course, but his pleading made me realize that some might give up and beg for mercy... and THAT, in turn, made me realize I could do something more productive than just blowing their perfectly unmoving heads.
Which would still involve mutilations galore.
I decided to change the plans a little: I would let whoever surrendered to me live and give them to the authorities to judge and hang... but not before I I had my way with them.
And with 'my way' I mean I carved I carved a trident on his chest with the doomblade, just like in Inglorious Basterds. Starting with him.
"No, no, please, no! NO!" He screamed as he tried to fruitlessly push me (and the blade) away, thinking I was going to kill him.
My non-verbal response was to glare harder and think about the men, women and children that had begged for their lives.
His cry became a shriek of agony when I began cutting his chest, deep enough that the mark would never, ever heal but not so much I would kill him (I wanted it to stay, after all), and slowly enough to prolong his suffering the fullest.
Then, after making sure he wouldn't bleed out from his wounds by cauterizing them with the plasma gun's battery, I opened a portal to Aquaman's current position, so that he would understand what was happening.
I would repeat this with those Red Trident who surrendered, which were few: some went to Fort Bragg after I made VEGA inform them about their new prisoners, others directly to the atlantean king with the first one. That way, I would show that I could be lenient with those who didn't deserve to live, if only because they would end up dead anyway, just under legal terms.
Nonetheless, it was time for me to show to the world that this shit wouldn't stand with me... and to finish the job.
..........
So, my longest chapter yet, and the one where the SI stops fucking around (even though hthat's because they forced his hand)! For those wondering if the original Slayer is there or not, the SI doesn't realize that anger he has... isn't exactly fully his, and I'm leaving it at that.
Why brand them with their own symbol, instead of the Doom rune, ala Snyder's Batman? Because he wants people to know who they are and what they did.
Also, to those who might wonder how can DS jump over 63 meters (that's how tall the Voyager of the Seas is), twofold explanation: A) the Delta V jump-boots boost can be used to boost jumping capacity rather than just giving him the capacity to double-jump, and B) I read in the thread that compiled DS's feats that theorically he could jump to nearly 80 feet... and that was a standing jump, not a running leap.
Another Halo/Mass Effect dumb question: since I've been told that an upgraded Punic would still not be a match for a CAS, what about an upgraded Vindication heavy cruiser? Not pitted against a CAS thought, but a CCS. Would Silaris armor, cyclonic barriers, GARDIAN and the rest make it an even match for its covie counterpart? Maybe even superior to it?
Last edited: Aug 19, 2021
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Stupid the Ork
Aug 18, 2021
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Stupid the Ork
Never enuff Dakka
Aug 24, 2021
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#234
I made my way across the ship, killing Red Trident militants as I went. Some I shot, others, others I smacked, and yet others I brutalized, but as you already know those that didn't drop on their knees and beg for their miserable lives died. What irked me was the sheer number of them: not because there were many of them, but rather that there were few, fifty at most, counting those I had already killed before going inside.
Which still pissed me off, because that meant that for every bastard I killed they had already murdered ten people each. Just to give you an idea, your run of the house serial killer kills three, four people in a period of several months.
The Red Trident, on the other hand? They murdered over two hundred civilians in less than fifteen minutes. And yet there weren't that many of them.
Fortunately, they were not expecting a demon slaying space marine to do worse to them. As a matter of fact, they had to be very confident, because they lacked critical things like communicators to tell their fellows about my presence, something that made my job even easier.
And for the record, their screams of agony and horror were muffled by the walls of the ship.
Soon, nearly every last Trident grunt was either dead or alive but mutilated and in Fort Bragg/Atlantis. All that was left was to get to this Krios guy and the last of his mooks, who were on the bridge, and take them out... but without actually killing Krios himself. After all, Aquaman would love to get his hands on him and rip him apart for what he did.
Yes, he would get to live despite directing everything, but don't get me wrong, he would end up getting what he had coming, just not at my hand. I think I need to explain.
Aquaman would be the one who would punish him personally.
Yea, you read that right. He would do it not just because he was still a good man at heart who didn't like seeing the innocent getting hurt (and one more than willing to string someone on his trident), no matter if they lived above or below the water, but also because he knew what could happen when the news of the massacre reached... well, everywhere in the entire damn planet: the world at large wouldn't stand by at the deaths of hundreds of people at the hand of atlanteans, nor their (foiled) plan to cause even more destruction. The atlanteans' belief of being capable of wipe out the surface in a conventional manner was more of a thing the more xenophobic ones told themselves before going to bed, that they could do so in time before a surface response (from a conventional invasion to the capitals to plain ol' torpedo barrages) fucked them good.
Something that could very possibly happen if I didn't intervene. I had appointed myself as protector of Earth and its inhabitants, remember? That included those who lived under the waves. Plus, that kind of war would definitely screw the entire planet, or at least the ocean... which would still screw the entire planet in the long run.
And yes, the atlanteans still had that 'doomsday reactor' in Antartica that could melt the ice of the poles, which if activated would raise the water level to a whooping... seventy meters. That's 230 feet for you imperial measurers. And yes, the rising of the ocean would be worse for the Seven Seas than the surface. Much, MUCH worse.
If vindictive officers that lost either their homes or their families didn't hijack nuclear submarines to fire nuclear torpedos at them, that is.
So, what did this have to do with me? Aquaman's response to the event and... punishment to the perpetrators I sent to him, would have to be recorded so that the world would realize he did not, in fact, have a hand in the attack.
And how did I know Aquaman would do something? For the simple fact he had, in fact, done horrible things to people in the past, whalers and such, though to be fair those had tried to kill him first.
All I had to, of course, was to take Krios to Aquaman.
Incidentally, he also had the last hostages with his group, possibly to stop any attempt to dislodge him from the bridge.
Krios was an older man, over his sixty at least. In case they were stopped, he had his mooks bring a bomb to the bridge so that in case their attack was stopped somehow, they could still be able to kill people.
How unfortunate for them, then, that despite it being powered by water like their guns, VEGA could still hack into the explosive. However, I did not ask him to completely deactivate it.
Imagine the shock on Krios' face when the door to the bridge was kicked open and saw a 7.5 feet tall armored individual tromp inside with one of their rifles in his hands, them and taking out his cronies with non-lethal shots because everything else would have killed them horribly, and there were witnesses there.
That said, I said 'non-lethal', not 'non-crippling': hydro-pulse rifles were more than capable of harming armored atlanteans, and I was a mean shot; those two would never be able to move again.
"I killed the others. You are the last." I told him.
Understandably, Krios did not like what he heard, his shock gaving way to momentary horror, then rage. "You... you murdered them!" He screamed at me as he shot at me, too furious to see his last hostages fleeing behind him through a portal or to realize his shots weren't doing a thing.
I didn't even flinch as he kept firing at me until his ammo ran out. "You scum started it."
"The surface started it!" He screamed at me, instead of actually being stupid and trying to get close, like others would have done. "With their defiling of the oceans with their dirty ships, like this one, and the deaths of millions of creatures to feed their hunger!" He kept ranting about something about 'teaching them a lesson' and 'making them feel the pain the sea feels'.
As if, I didn't give a single shit for the Red Trident's motivations. He and his cronies were nothing more than murderous extremists, rabid dogs that needed to be put down.
His anger then turned into that smugness that comes from the villain when they think they have won anyway. " Doesn't matter. This bomb is more than powerful enough to destroy this damned ship and everything around it in a mile! So long, murderer of my kind!" The bastard then looked at me with a smug grin before activating the bomb. He probably expected me to be unable to stop him in time.
Why allow this deluded moron think he was still able to do anything at all?
He didn't expect his precious explosive device to actually explode... but only with enough force to break apart and send some shrapnel right into Krios' side. VEGA did his job right.
Taking advantage of his shock and pain, I charged at Krios and inmobilized him by grabbing his throat. With that, the Red Trident was rendered completely destroyed. I would not brand him, however: wanted to give him relatively fresh to Aquaman. But first...
"VEGA, inform Fort Bragg that the ship is clear of hostiles."
"Already done, Slayer." What would I do without VEGA?
Atlantis, capital of the Seven Seas and the only city of the 'kingdom' where an air-breather like me could move around without diving equipment thanks to the shield around it.
And in the place I ended up, the plaza, there was a small crowd gathered around eight people moaning or crying in fear, all of them with a trident carved on them. Everyone looked upon them with either horror, shock, confusion, or a combination of the three, not knowing what happened to these eight poor devils or not realizing what the symbols on their torsos meant.
At the head of the crowd were Aquaman, his wife Mera, and his brother Orm. Mera looked at the, while Orm was either disgusted or just as horrified. Aquaman, on the other hand, was glaring at the Red Trident.
Again, imagine their collective reaction when they saw me stomp towards the pile of moaning Red Trident and adding two more. Obviously everyone reacted at my sudden appearance there with shock and fear, some even with terror by the fact a surface dweller was down there with them; Aquaman, however, went straight for us with trident in hand... but not for me.
"These are all of them?" He asked me, gesturing to the pile. Blunt, straight to the point, and not caring that there was a bunch of mutilated people mere yards away from him. I liked that. His attitude also made me remember I went overboard with him before. "And how many were there? I couldn't exactly interrogate them."
I shook my head. "There were fifty at most; most of them are dead, the rest under custody of the U.S National Guard. You'll have to speak with them if you want them returned to Atlantis."
He scoffed. "They can throw them into Arkham for all I care." Aquaman then dropped his trident and grabbed Krios by the neck "How many? How many people did you and your henchmen murder in cold blood for something they had nothing to do with?"
Instead of letting Krios say something thing like 'not enough', I spoke "Two hundred eighty two passengers, half as much that in crew."
Aquaman looked away from me and back at Krios, with a glare that would have atomized him if looks could kill (or if he was a kryptonian).
And then began to beat Krios. The strength difference wasn't that much, and he didn't want to actually kill him, but Aquaman was still a large, muscular man on his prime fueled by anger, letting that anger out by beating the fuck out of a much smaller and older man.
By the time he was done beating the life out of Krios, the poor devil looked like he had tried to take on the Hulk and was curbstomped.
However, instead of letting him execute Krios with, say, his trident. After all, I wanted to help.
So, I gave him the plasma rifle. Shot by shot it was the third weakest gun in my arsenal just after the pistol and the burst rifle, but as you already know, it still fired ultra-hot plasma bolts of ionized energy, and therefore were quite painful, and even that understates their destructivity. As for why the rifle, two reasons: first, every other weapon would have broken Aquaman's wrists, at the very least, no matter how strong he was. Second...
Because plasma burns like Hell, even for the five seconds you get to live before your blood flashboils inside your body and expands, ripping you apart even with open wounds. And last time I checked, Aquaman knew how to handle a gun.
Imagine the surprise I got when the king didn't actually kill Krios... but did something arguably more meaningful.
Aquaman eyed the rifle for a moment, before grabbing it without hesitation.
"Will this kill him no matter where I shoot?" He asked me.
"Not if you shoot the limbs." I replied, actually surprised by his question, and what he had planned. "But he will if shoot at either his head or torso."
He nodded. "Hold him up."
I did as he asked, holding Krios by the scruff of his neck like the trash he was. Yes, I tore his skin apart doing so; no, he didn't scream, and neither me nor Aquaman cared.
"Brother?"
"Arthur?"
Aquaman ignored his queen and brother. "Krios... for the death of over three hundred people, children included, and with the power bestowed upon me as King of Atlantis, I condemn you to imprisonment... and I give you something that you will never forget."
The aforementioned Red Trident leader could not talk his way out, beg, rant or whatever extremist villains do at their last moments by virtue of his body being smashed to a pulp before the King of Atlantis and Master of the Seven Seas disintegrated his knees.
Everyone else reacted with horror at his actions. Well, that and the utterly inhuman screech Krios gave, what with having his throat crushed. Apparently they expected him to just beat Krios half to death and be done with it, instead of shooting his legs off and crippling him for life.
Aquaman himself, though? He glared at the screaming mass of tenderized meat that had previously been a fellow atlantean, before punching him in the head, knocking him out (and also breaking whatever teeth were left), and then spitting on him for good measure. Then, he turned to his guards. "Throw all this... trash to the prison! And throw his legs to the sharks, or the hagfish! Just them out of my city!"
Several guards then grabbed Krios and his mooks to drag them away, while a single one grabbed Krios' legs (with clear disgust in his face) to do as his monarch told him to. Then, Aquaman-Arthur, handed me the rifle back and went to talk with his wife.
Suddenly, my respect for him grew significantly. I seriously expected him to just kill Krios and the others then and there, but this was better, more meaningful than a mere execution.
I walked up to him. His men didn't even bother to stand between him and me, since they already knew it'd do nothing, but still gave me wary glances.
It was time for me to do the only thing I could think of, not just to show the respect he earned, but also to make amends for what I did to him less than an hour prior.
Apologize for making an ass out of him and his boys back at the beach.
"Your majesty?" I asked, startling Arthur and his family, who didn't see me walk towards them.
"What is it?" He said after composing himself.
"I regret the humilliating way I treated you and your troops with before." I apologized, even giving a bow to emphasize the point. "I was anxious at the moment, and when I found out what the Trident was doing... you were too close, and I was angry."
He looked at me, then at Mera, then at me once more before crossing his arms over his chest.
"This still doesn't make up for what you did, you know." His gaze then softened. ", but it is a beginning." He then sighed. "Now, if only the surface world were to be just as lenient..."
"Arthur, this wasn't your fault!" Mera said as she held his arm, tried to comfort him.
But Arthur just sighed before rubbing his face. "It is. I have been too lenient with those bastards, and this is what happened. Knowing the surface, they will start pointing fingers at me. I may loathe them, but they're still my people, which means that at least some blame lies in me."
"Well fight them off! They're primitive and barbaric!" Orm stated. Poor little idiot.
I made my opinion clear. "You'll lose, badly. However, there's no need for violence between good people."
Naturally, this picked up Arthurt's interest. "What do you mean?"
"Recorded the beatdown you gave to Krios and the crippling. Even the most hardliners up there will have to admit you cannot have a hand on their actions. That should clear things up a bit. Still, you might want to speak with United Nations about this." I then extended my arm. "I'll help you."
Arthur eyed my hand, still unsure, before grabbing it and giving it a shake. "Thanks for the offer, soldier boy."
"Doom Slayer." I told him, earning a raised eyebrow for it. It was the first time he heard my name. At least he didn't say it was metal or something.
My job done, I went back to the Fortress of Doom to prepare myself for what was coming, something that needed lots of preparation: the public's reaction,.
.........
Sorry for making you wait for so long. As for why the absence of Krios' POV in the chapter, him and the Red Trident are just a means to an end, one that I wrote explicitly to die gruesomely. As for Aquaman's cavalier attitude towards the Red Trident, which are technically his people, two things:
-The Trident didn't take well the fact a surface dweller is their king.
-In this story, 'atlantean' is more of a demonym than an actual race, much less a species: some are more fishlike, others are crablike, some are mermaids, and others are... the Trench. The Red Trident, though? They're all atlanteans from Atlantis proper, aka humans that can breathe underwater.
So, yeah, they're not just eco-terrorists, they're also the KKK of the seas. And like many people in real life, myself included Aquaman/Arthur Curry, despite (shamedly) sharing some of their ideals, would rather wipe them all out and be done with it, but hasn't done so out of pragmatism.
Overall, was the chapter okay-ish at least? Did I make Doom Slayer speak too much? Don't want to reveal the existence of VEGA yet. Was it consistent with the 'canon' I imposed?
Also,
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