"There's too many! We're not going to make it!"
"Hold them off just hold them off!"
Delta squad was making a stand at the Lambet swarm. Dom was blasting at the Drudges with his gnasher shotgun when he heard an empty click when he pulled the trigger.
"Shit. I'm out off ammo." Dom thought to himself. He threw the empty gnasher to the ground and stood towards the lambent swarm. He saw the mass wave of drudges and formers that surrounded him and his team. "We can't kill them all."Dom thought.
He turned around to see the rest of his squad buckling down holding off the Lambets on their side. Then he looked down to the fuel truck that was below the platform where he stood. One of the stalks weighed the fuel tanks down. Then an idea popped in his head. "Marcus you're going to hate me for this."
He jumped from the platform to the ground next to the tanker. He unhooked the truck from the fuel tanks.
"Dom!" Dom turned toward Marcus.
"Get out of there! Jump!"
He grabbed a hammerburst and fired at the lambets blocking the way to the truck. He climbed in and shifted the gear into drive. He sped off into the tunnel running over a few of the locusts that had popped up.
He heard Marcus on his comm. Link. "Dom! Dom where are you going?"
Dom thought to himself, "Sorry Marcus, your gonna have to go on without me."
He reached the end of the tunnel and did a hundred and eighty degree turn and stopped. He gave a heavy sigh. He knew what he had to do.
"Dom what the fuck are you doing?"
"Pulling the plug on them Marcus! Jump will you! Do it!" Dom slammed his foot on the clutch and drove into the tunnel. He honked the horn to let the squad know he was coming and he wasn't stopping.
"Never thought it would end like this huh? Huh Maria?"
He shifted the gear and sped into the fuel tanks. "Dom noooo!"
Right before impact Dom closed his eyes and let himself go.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dom opened his eyes and found nothing but pitch black darkness. He felt his body and saw that he was still intact even if he couldn't see.
Dom cried out. "Hey! Hey is anyone out there! Somebody! Anybody!" nothing but silence.
Dom heard a gust of wind pass him and turned around. When he turned he saw a small hint of light.
"Maria?" Dom took on into q sprint towards the light. "Maria hold on I'm coming for you baby! I'm coming for you and the kids baby!"
As he ran, the light began to glow brighter. As it did Dom sprinted faster. "Maria! Maria!"
He finally reached the light. When he did his whole world went white. The brightness forced him to close his eyes, but he never stopped running.
The lights dimmed down allowing Dom to open eyes.
"Maria!" Dom looked at his body and his armor had turned bluish white. "Whoa! I guess I really am dead."
He looked around his surroundings. He was in a dim lit cave. It seemed strangely familiar to him. Then his eyed went wide when remembered.
He had been here before. Dom started pacing in a panic.
"No. No no no no! Not here! Anywhere but here."
He heard Marcus's voice from behind him."Dom... It's okay." Dom's worst fear was about to come true.
He slowly turned around and saw Marcus and himself, his past self, on his knees holding somebody. He looked at himself. He looked at who he was holding.
It was a woman. Or at least it seemed like a woman. Her skin resembled something of rotting flesh. Her body was broken down and seemed like there was nothing left under her skin but bone. Her eyes resembled fog and her hair had missing patches in it. Her skin was gray and terribly scarred. It was his wife.
Marcus walked away from the two. Dom knew what would happen next. Inside he screamed at himself to look away, to turn his eyes away to spare himself from the memory. But he couldn't. He just stood there and watched.
The past Dom held his wife in embrace heads touching together. "I love you so so much."
He pulled away and brought up his pistol to his wife's head. Dom's cries of distress echoed in the caves.
Finally he leveled the gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Her brain splattered on the interior of the cave and Maria's body went limp.
Dom, the present Dom, saw every action that took place. His fell to his knees as he looked upon his dead wife's corpse lying on the ground.
He never broke his gaze. Even when his past self got up to leave, he never looked away. "I tried to save you baby. I truely did. But that was never enough was it?" He reached out to try and touch her. His hand passed right through. "No. I don't deserve to be with you. That's why I'm here; in hell."
Another voice interrupted. "Well...not exactly."
Dom, not expecting anybody else to be there, turned to the source turned to the source of the voice.
He drew back in shock at what he saw. A large monster stood next to him gazing where Maria's body lay.
Dom gazed at the creature's body. Its head represented that of a goat's. His horns were mismatched and his body had scales embedded to it. His limps were also mismatched representing those of a lion, an eagle, and a gator. He also had wings sprouting from his back and he outstood Dom by at least five feet.
The creature stood still, still gazing at Maria's body.
Dom recovered from his shock. "Who and what are you?" The creature chuckled at the question and broke into a small grin.
"Introductions can wait until later. Right now I want to offer you a deal."
Dom raised his eye in question and suspicion.
"I see that someone has been a naughty boy in their lifetime." The creature chuckled. "Trust me, hell as much more planned for you unless you consider my offer."
Dom still remained cautious but was curious.
"What do you have to offer?"
The creature's grin grew larger. "How would you like to be reunited with your wife and children again?"
Dom's eyes grew wide, but kept himself in check.
"You can do that?"
The creature broke out into an uproar of laughter. He settled himself down and turned back to Dom.
"Of course I can. I have powers that you can't even imagine. Taking you back to your family upstairs would be a cakewalk."
Dom still remained suspicious. He knew there was a catch.
"What's the catch?"
The creature reached out his paw and offered it to him. "Take my hand and we can discuss buisness."
Dom grew hesitant, but then he saw the vision of his wife on the ground not five feet away from him.
He turned to the creature.
"Maria."
He had made his decision.
He grabbed the creatures paw and then his whole world turned to black.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dom finally came to his senses to find himself in a luxurious office he still had his bluish white tint, but he found himself wearing a suit and tie. The office had dark green carpeting and the walls were a dark red color.
He felt his face and found that it was shaven back to his old style. He looked around and found he was sitting in front of a shiny black desk. Behind it there was a large leather chair with its back towards him.
A voice behind it spoke. "Alright!"
The chair turned to show that the creature was sitting in it. He had shrunken in size to match Dom's height and was also wearing a suit and tie. "Let's get started."
He shuffled to make himself comfortable and turned to Dom. "I find interest in you human only for one reason. You are a human."
Dom raised an eye in question. "What?"
The creature continued. "You're a human, and there's one thing humans are good at and that's war."
Dom spoke up. "You want me to fight for you?"
The creature gave away a grin. "My my you catch on quick. Yes I want you to fight, but not for me specifically."
Dom waited for the creature to continue.
"There is a world. A whole other world where there is a war going on as we speak.
One side is one that I'm quite fond off, but they seem to be having some trouble."
Dom didn't know what possessed to ask the next question. "So if you say you're so powerful, why don't you turn the war into their favor?
The creature drew a distasteful look upon his face.
"As powerful as I am, I must abide by certain...rules." He seemed to gag at the last word. "I however found a loophole, and that loophole is you my friend." He pointed his eagle claw at Dom.
Dom rose from his seat and slammed his hands on the desk. He leaned towards the amused creature. "What makes you think I would kill for you? I don't know the terms of how that war started or who is even fighting in it! What if the side you want me to fight on turns out to stand for everything I stand against!"
The creature stared at Dom for a few seconds before answering. "Because my easily tested friend, it seems that there are some old friends of yours who already thrown their part into the war."
Dom stood in confusion. Then it dawned on him. "The Locust? The Locust are in your world!"
The creature clapped his hand in joy. "Ding ding ding you guessed correct!" The creature's uproar died down after a few seconds.
It turned back to Dom.
"You see my friend... I am simply leveling out the playing field."
The creature snapped his claw and a piece of paper and an ink pen appeared in front of Dom.
"How do I know you will stay true to your word?"
"I might be many things my friend but a liar isn't one of them. I swear on my honor as an all powerful being. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
"What?"
"Never mind."
"So... Do we have a deal? You help my side win the war and I send you on your way to you precious family. But... If you fail... I'm afraid then this deal will be made invalid."
Dom grabbed the paper and the pen out of the air. He signed his name on it and slammed it onto the desk.
"Believe me. I won't."
The creature smiled. "Excellent." He snapped his fingers and the paper vanished. The creature turned to the door behind him and shouted.
"Okay you all can come in now!"
Dom turned when the door behind him began to open. He saw the people who entered but didn't believe it.
"Tai...Anthony...Prescott? What are you doing here?"
All of his dead fellow gears entered the office.
Their bodies all looked like his, with a bluish white tint that marked them as one of the dead.
Tai stepped forward. "It seems we have been offered a chance at redemption from our dishonorable deaths." Tai was still the boulder of a man Dom remembered him to be, and he still wore the same traditional armor of his.
His body seemed to have been changed though. Dom remembered the horrible condition they found Tai in after rescuing him from the locust. Now he seemed to have returned to normal. Excluding the being "dead" part of course.
Anthony cut in, "We all signed Dom." he still had his helmet on but there was a hole where the sniper bullet hit and killed him. Dom could see part of Anthony's brown hair through the hole.
Prescott stepped forward. "It seems we've found a way around hell I suppose." Dom looked at the ex chairman.
He was still wearing his armor but it appeared to be damaged badly. His body was riddled with scars, and one of his eyes had a milky exterior ruling it out to be useless.
Prescott saw Dom looking at his condition. "Your friend found me in hell after I was in there for no more than thirty seconds."
He turned to the grinning creature with a scowl on his face. "Thirty seconds too late if you ask me."
The creature chuckled. "Just wanted to give a taste of what is to come if you fail."
The creature rose from his chair floated in Prescott's face. "You know... Now that I think about it, you're not exactly soldier material. I'd take you for a tactician rather than a soldier. I bet as soon as you set foot on the battleground you would be dead in minutes. Tell you what; I'll better your chances."
With that he snapped his claw and Prescott's body shrank into a stream of white and aimed directly towards Dom.
Dom didn't feel the impact, but he felt a sharp pain in his skull like someone stuck a knife in it. He grabbed his head in pain.
"Aauuugh! What did you do?"
The creature raised a finger. "Wait for it."
Dom stood in silence. The pain in his head began to dull away, but nothing else happen.
Than he heard a voice. "Hello? Where am I?" It sounded like Prescott.
"Prescott where are ya!" Dom looked around to find him.
Carmine spoke up. "Uhh Dom, he isn't here."
Dom looked at his friends and asked, "What do you mean? Don't you hear him? They shook their heads no.
Dom heard Prescott's voice again. "Wait. I can see now, but I can't control my body. Oh dear god."
Dom grew frustrated. "Dammit Prescott where the fuck are you?"
The creature fell over in laughter in his chair as if he heard the entire conversation between the two confused Gears.
He began to calm wiping a tear away from his eye and said, "Well friend now you're playing for two. I put your friend in a place where he could be useful."
He pointed at his head. "When you think about it I did you a favor. A softy like him would've only slowed you down."
Dom grew furious. "I'm not letting a slime ball like Prescott stay in my head! Get him out! NOW!"
The creature simply chuckled in amusement. "You'll thank me later. All of you." The creature rose from his chair and snapped his finger.
"Wait! I'm not done with yo-." Dom and the rest of the gears disappeared to only god knows where, leaving the creature alone in his office.
The door began to open.
"Hmm?"
A creature with an eagle's head and a lion's body walked in. A griffin. Its feathers were pitch black and its hide shined golden brown.
"Ahh, Solomon. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
The griffin glared at the creature. "Whatever happened to the great god of discord's originality?"
The creature chuckled. "I have no idea what you're talking about Solomon. May I offer you some chocolate milk?"
With a snap of his finger a glass of chocolate milk appeared before the griffin. "Keep your childish drink." The griffin slapped the glass away spilling it on the carpet of the office.
"Oh dear, that's going to leave a stain."
"I know what you've done and I find it pathetic."
"Maybe the person who did it learned it from you."
The griffin only grew angrier at the witty insult. "My followers will cut them down the second they appear to our world."
"My dear Solomon I still have no idea what you're talking about. I thought you had come over to talk like the good ol days, but it seems that you are still the constant downer you've always been."
The griffin stood fuming in anger before he exited the room slamming the door leaving the creature to himself once again.
He chuckled to himself. "That was fun." then he began to frown. He shifted his leg revealing a chain that binded him to the room. He looked at a corner of the office and began speaking to what appeared to be nobody.
"I've done all that I've can. Other than that my hands are tied. It's all up to you now Princess."
Somewhere in a dark damaged castle, there was an armored dark blue alicorn mare that stood upon a large mirror looking upon the chaotic beast. As the picture of the beast faded away, she
turned away to exit the hall.
She walked passed her dark Pegasus royal guards who escorted her to her chariot.
"To the battlegrounds as soon as possible."
The guards replied in unison. "Yes Princess Luna."
The royal guards strapped themselves to the chariot and took off. They flew in the sky and headed towards their destination.