"What are you doing in this lab?" Martinez asks mildly, steadily holding his plasma rifle.
"It's my laboratory, I'm collecting our research" Diane explains impatiently.
A troubling shade of black was seeping into the Major's eyes.
"Well, what a coincidence" he says in a sinister voice, "I've been ordered to secure a sample of study agent known as BSK-01"
Diane stares at Martinez with angered defiance.
"You have it, don't you?" he says to her, voice slithering.
His eyes grew darker, he was slipping into possession before their eyes.
Diane remained silent. The Marine knew that Martinez wouldn't listen to reason, he quickly thinks of a plan.
"Alright. You want it, you got it" the Marine says, he turns to Diane and gives her a reassuring wink before taking the carrier.
Seeing no alternative, she hands it over. He turns to face Martinez, his eyes had turned pitch-black, expression fixed and cold. The Marine steps toward him and offers the research. The Former Human hastily reaches for the bag and the Marine grabs the rifle. He wrenches it from its grip and tosses the research carrier behind him, landing at Dr. Stone's feet. The energy cell magazine drops from the gun after Martinez counters, but the Marine manages to swiftly stash the armament.
"Go" the Marine shouts, holding back Martinez with his bare hands.
Diane grabs the research and Major Daniels presses them toward the back exit. The Marines flew into a fast blur of exchanges, they crashed, brawling, through the lab's door and continued their melee on the adjoining path. The Former Human's previous training and experience made him an even match for the Marine. Each blocked and evaded blow was lethal, making every move critical.
Major Daniels led the survivors through the infested passages, the closest escape modules were all spent. They moved deeper through the complex, Daniels killing everything in their path.
"Alarm. Reactor leak, containment fields at thirty percent" the station computer wails.
Martinez and the Marine had unknowingly fought their way into the blacked-out sector where the Phobos teleporter had still been inexplicably running throughout the incident. Vague reflections and pinpricks of light from hardware monitor LEDs was the only illumination. The station alarm notification echoes through the area. The Former Human lands a grazing blow, the Marine braces against a spike of pain and returns a countering blow. The Marine then makes a wide kick, Martinez backflips out of range. The Marine dashes to his zone of impact and they continue to fight, the Former Human wasn't losing any ground.
Major Daniels efficiently cleared a path through the demons. He was running solely on luck and adrenaline. They reached the next sector and made their way through the main corridor. Daniels was busy firing on a large-jawed Demon when an Imp appeared close by then tackles and slashes Dr. Osborne. The Major swings toward it and fires into its skull, brain splatters against the walls. Dr. Osborne was spraying blood from his neck, his face and arms were mauled from the attack.
"I'm sorry, Louis" Major Daniels says, "If we stop, we're dead"
They regretfully abandon their colleague. He held his blood-soaked neck, reaching out to them in horror as the hell spawn drew closer to finish him off. Dr. Osborne's tortured screams echoed loudly.
Meanwhile, the Marine and Martinez strayed deeper into the blacked-out sector, a dim light from somewhere nearby provides slight illumination.
"Alarm. Reactor containment field at twenty percent. Hazardous gas leak imminent" the station computer reports.
Fueled by his growing anger, Martinez's demonic possession intensified. His face had warped before the Marine's eyes, he couldn't be recognized anymore. Every move he made was emphasized by his enraged madness. Their limbs collided in blurs of strikes and counters. The Marine was getting desperate, he had to escape the base.
In the Power Plant, the reactor core was obscured by green coloured gasses being held back by the surrounding containment field. Emergency systems were starting to fail causing strain on the field. Powerful jets of gas began to escape and fog the surrounding chamber, bringing with it cascades of deadly radiation. Complete failure was imminent.
Major Daniels, Diane and Hugo came to the next escape module and again found it was already spent.
"Shit! Come on, keep moving" the Major angrily instructs.
"Go this way, it's faster!" Hugo suggests.
They take the shortcut and find a mob of demons hiding in a dark corner, Major Daniels shoots a barrel of corrosive acid. It explodes, the demons burst into bits and blood splatters over the walls and Daniels' armour, more blood rapidly dripped from the ceiling. They moved on and cut to the next sector, continuing to the main hall. A terrifying screech sounds through the area.
"Crap!" Diane says nervously.
"We can't turn back" presses Major Daniels.
They moved through a bend in the path and see an intact escape pod in the distance as another reactor alarm notification sounds. They race toward it, a demonic growling filled their ears. They crossed a seemingly empty passage, a Hell Knight appeared as Dr. Manning passed and stomped toward him. Major Daniels turns toward the hulking demon and unloads into its face, the demon brushes off the attack. It got closer then swipes Hugo with its sharp claws. Its claws slice into his chest, he screams in pain. Daniels and Diane run toward the pod, the Hell Knight roars and throws a blob of plasma. The survivors were just reaching the pod, the searing acidic blob was zooming towards them. They step inside and Daniels slaps the launch command on the control panel. The pod sails into space just as the plasma collides with the slamming blast door.
The Marines were still locked in combat. Hope for escape was slipping away, the odds of finding an escape pod had to be impossible by now. They moved closer to the glowing light, the Marine sees it spilling from a distant room.
...the teleporter, he hears Takeshi's voice in his mind. ...they couldn't shut it down.
In that moment, he realized that escaping through the teleporter could be his only way to survive the coming flood of gas and radiation. He sees an opportunity and waits for the right opening. He notices an exposed maintenance compartment in the ceiling. With what felt like his body's last ounce of energy, the Marine pushes him closer to the compartment, then grabs his arm and wrenches back, he then grabs a long cable dangling from the ceiling and wraps Martinez's neck, then pulling it tight. He pushes him, struggling and enraged, face-first into the wall and rips away his backpack full of energy cells. Wherever that portal leads, he will be well prepared for what awaits. He runs as fast as he could to the distant passage, a final alarm notification sounds.
"Emergency. Containment field failure. Lethal gas is flooding the station"
The Former Human unwinds the cable from his throat, its enraged scream reaches the Marine's ears from behind, the entrance to the lab was still several meters away. Martinez was charging him from behind, he had no idea if he could make it in time. He skids to a stop at the passage and sees the teleporter at the far end of the chamber being guarded by several demons. He hastily reaches for his pistol and swiftly makes his way through, quickly taking down the Imps in his path. He punches a Cacodemon and sends it spinning across the room, he then out maneuvers a Hell Knight and takes charge toward the tongues of bright portal energy. Martinez enters the test chamber and races toward him. The Marine leaps through the portal as the radioactive gas sweeps through the sector. The gas enters the lab, rushing into Martinez's lungs. He falls to the floor, trembling. His skin began oozing, his eyes leaking blood and puss. The Former Human died, poisoned and cooked from the inside out.
In the escape pod, Major Daniels and Dr. Stone studied the information coming from the station, and sees that the reactor's gas had spilled.
"Damn" she swears. "It doesn't seem like our Marine made it out in time"
"I can't believe he did all that for some research" Ivan exclaims. "What's so dangerous about it?"
"I'm just one of UAC's many rotating specialists, the Marine was the one treated with the study agent" she explains. "If anyone knows, it's him"