FIGHT LIKE HELL, FIGHT LIKE DOOM MARINES!

Ch.24: A New Enemy, Equal Grounds...

(Kevin/Doom Marine, Canterlot Home Base...)

"This is quite the mess." VEGA commented as we worked on salvaging the coordinates Luna made her wish on from Palutena. Too bad Murphy's Law came into effect and screwed Pally's wish granting up. As to why he did that, I'm not sure.

Then again, he has become a Universal Law, him screwing over Gods and Devils alike is probably him saying--

"My Lord! Trouble in Manehattan!" Shouted out Krimzon, both a Sergeant and a Hermit, believe it or not. He's also a Veteran Night Sentinel, losing his left arm before we ever came to Tartarus, so he fought through the Hell Wars with just one arm, until at the end of it they've managed to create a mechanical replacement for it.

No one really knew his name, for he just forsaken it and went with his new name, but it also comes from his title: The Soundless Krimzon. He wore a cloak that covered mostly his left side, hiding his mechanical arm, while also wearing a hood over his helmet.

Looking back at him, I asked him with texting. "What happened?"

"An attack has appeared at The Ministry of Science! We have lost visual contact and communications with Lord Berserker and Lord Runner, along with their forces. We believe this is a new enemy, as they are not using magic by any means, but rather technology!" He answered, detailing what they know of so far. "We also suspect it's the same group that tried to assassinate the Royal Sisters two days ago!"

Well, that narrows it down.

"Gather up two strike teams, we're going to Manehattan." I told him as I made my way over to the Throne Room. Unfortunately, both Celestia and Luna have to take Court, meaning they've to listen to Nobles whining and complaining, about the most trivial and selfish things. Nitpicking, that's what they still do.

Reaching the Throne Room, there was a long line of Nobles waiting to place their case, but I ignored this and made my way through the snobby lot.

"What!? Why I never..."

"The nerve of these savages!"

"Who does this barbarian think he is!?"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at these idiots, although a Noble couple came out of the line and stood in my way. Before either of them could rant at me, I kicked the male Unicorn in the nuts, making him wheeze in pain as his partner and the other Nobles gasped in shock. As for the female Unicorn, I activated my Energy Sword, as a show of intimidation, which worked as she quickly grabbed her husband and ran out of the room. The rest in line shook in terror and shuffled back when I so much as look at them.

"Hunter!" I heard Celestia call out to me. "Please restrain yourself!" She told me and I obliged.

Deactivating my Energy Sword, I walked up to her and Luna. "Our Doom Marine, what is the problem?" Little Lulu asked me.

Before I could give her a Datapad, Krimzon and our two strike teams came in. "Your highnesses, Manehattan's Ministry of Science has been targeted and is on lockdown. Our Lords and their platoon are stuck inside and we need to get there fast." He explained, making both of the sisters' eyes widen.

"What happened!? Are the Changelings attacking Manehattan again!?" Celestia questioned.

"No. This is not the work of Cocoon's Changelings. Rather, this new enemy may very well be the same ones that tried to assassinate you from before." He answered her. "Whatever they're after, we do not know at this time. All we know is that they are a threat, and are most likely either going to steal or destroy the entire Ministry. We need to get there, fast."

Luna quickly stood up from her throne and came down the steps. "I'll teleport us there. Where would you like to be?" She asked us.

Looking at Krimzon, I texted him and he replied my answer. "Two blocks away from the Ministry. I will take team one up to the rooftops, while Lord Hunter will take team two and search for a secret entrance." He told her.

She nodded as her horn glowed and teleported us exactly two blocks away, out of sight no less, which is good. "I'm coming with you this time, Hunter." Luna stated with a serious look on her face. "And nothing you say will make me change my mind."

I didn't want to argue with her, so I nodded my head. Krimzon's team went up to the rooftops, while we sneaked our way around and hidden from the public's eyes, as the Police Department was heading towards the Ministry and keeping everyone away from the building.

(Vincent/Doom Marine, Ministry of Science [Lockdown])

"That's not good." I stated the obvious as the alarms kept blaring loudly, while the scientists tried to lockdown everything they have been creating down. Surprisingly enough, once everything was all secured, they all sunk into the floor before it closed on them. "That's handy. But what about the Atoms?" I questioned as I pointed to them.

"We need to evacuate the civilians down here." Einstallion said as he and Rutherbuck pushed us all out through the Vault door as they closed it off. "We'll figure something out if it comes to past."

"My Lords, can you hear me?" One of our Night Sentinels from upstairs contacted us, there was some static, but nothing too serious.

"This is Runner, go ahead." I replied back.

"Sir, we have a situation up here. Every civilian is in a frenzy panic, and there aren't any security guards left standing." He reported in, which surprised me.

"I'm sorry, but what? Are the security guard all dead?" I asked him.

"They're all corpses, sir. The enemy must have infiltrated as security guards." He answered, explaining how these terrorist did it.

"Well, shit. I'm also guessing they sabotaged the controls to disable the lockdown system?" I asked.

"Yes sir." He answered. "Hold up... Sir, they have active camouflage."

"What!?" I exclaimed.

"They have active camouflage and are making their way down towards you. I count at least six." He warned me.

"Shit! Berserker, get the scientist and everyone else out!" I told him as I moved back up to the catwalk and opened up the heavy door.

"What the Hell are you doing!?" He asked me.

"I'm gonna fix this problem! They probably rigged the whole place with explosives by now!" I told him before closing it behind me, moving up stairs. Once I made it halfway up the stairs, I heard something dropping down the stairs and saw it was a fucking Grenade! Before I could move out of the way, or let out a single swear word, it blew up and sent me falling down the flight of stairs I climbed up.

Groaning, I tried to shake it off quickly and get back up, only to get shot at with what sounded like Pistols with Silencers on, shedding off points of my armour. Growling, I pulled out my Plasma Rifle with the Stun Bomb mod on, launching one at them that, not only stun them, but short circuited their cloaking system. Taking the chance, I shot a lot of Plasma Bolts at the fuckers and killed all six of them.

"So, how do you like me now, ya fuckers?" I asked rhetorically, walking up to the bodies, that wore a full body, black spandex, from head to hoof, only to hear something clicking. "Oh, fuck!" I exclaimed and quickly ran up the stairs before the bombs went off, erasing everything known trace of those I've killed, along with destroying that part of the stairs. "Oh, great. These pricks are walking trip mines waiting to be set off." I snorted as I made my way back up, radioing the other Night Sentinels to try and evacuate the civvies discreetly, and to not engage the enemy until the place is cleared out.

I also contacted Bryan to send some of his Night Sentinels to help with it, explaining why and he understood how twisted this got.

Reaching up top, I quietly opened up the door, using my Pistol and setting it to stun, looking around to see a few civvies waiting with a couple of Night Sentinels, all of which also had either their Pistol out, or Plasma Rifle. Of course, I could also hear the rest of the civilians trapped in this building running amuck, trying to get out.

"Sir." One of the Night Sentinels whispered to me. "We're trying our best, but they're all scared out of their minds that they won't listen to us."

"Goddammit." I muttered under my breath as I snuck on over to him, looking around the corner to see people trying to force their way out, however possible, but with no results. "Where are the enemy?"

"They're around here, just waiting for us to make the first move." He answered, while the other Night Sentinel took the civvies downstairs. "I don't think they saw us though, moving around invisible."

"You would think they'd produced some headwear to detect the unseen." I snarked. "Anyway, what would be the best way to draw the enemies attention, while snapping everyone out of their messed up heads and listen?"

"My best bet, you'll have to walk out there and get shot at, while we move the rest of the civilians out of harms way." He answered me.

"I figured as much." I said with a sigh, before getting up and walking out there. It seemed to have worked, at least drawing most the people's attention, until I was being shot at, again. Everyone was smart enough to hit the deck when the bullets started flying my way, as the other Night Sentinels started launching their Stun Bombs at the shooters, stunning them and revealing them in plain sight.

Soon after that we quickly filed everyone down towards the Lab, trying to keep them clam as I radioed the team downstairs that they're on their way. Once the last one made it through the door, I asked for more support to get up here, before we locked it down and moved to deal with the enemy. Only to see them come charging right at us. We knew what they were trying to do, so we popped their heads and quickly threw the bodies away from us as they exploded.

"Did they drop their weapons?" I asked as we looked around where they were stunned on the spot.

"No, my Lord. Looks like they're not taking chances, and the bullet shells have no form of identification on them, as well." One of the Night Sentinels answered.

"Alright, search the area. We need to make sure there aren't anymore lurking about on this floor. Set up some Motion Trackers in case we missed some." I ordered as we went around, looking for any signs of life, while others quickly set Motion Trackers up. Once we finished up sweeping the area, I had a four man squad wait down here while we moved up one level at a time.

So far, there wasn't anyone around to save or to kill. Which isn't always a good sign, and my hunch about rigging this whole place to blow up was confirmed as we found some explosives strategically planted in places to bring this entire Ministry down on us. "Okay, nobody mess with these things. Just mark the bomb's position and we'll keep moving. And set up more Motion Trackers, have them all linked up to my Datapad." I told them, doing that before we moved up another floor.

They were quite creative with their explosives, I'll give them that. There wasn't that many, but if they destroyed some of the Ministry's floors, the building will just crumble under its own weight, since they're gonna let gravity do the most of the work.

Reaching the fifth floor, we heard hushed voices as we snuck inside to see hostages rounded up around this huge bomb smacked in the middle of the room. "Okay, let's split up. The enemy is probably hiding and waiting for us." I whispered as we all spread ourselves out. The hostages will have to wait, we need to find those that have attacked the place.

"I see the Royal Sister's Doom Marines and their Doom Army have arrived." The voice called out.

"Yeah. So what of it?" I asked the owner of the voice, looking around to try and find him.

"Just that it was unexpected, and yet, not unwelcome." He replied. "As a matter of fact, this proves to be a fitting challenge, shall we say."

"Really now?" I asked as I kept looking about, I don't think it would matter if I was hiding from him, since he and whoever's left with him are hiding from us.

"Yes, indeed. And I see what you're doing, so I'll play along and keep you entertained." He answered along with shooting me in the back.

Quickly turning around, I shot my Pistol but didn't hit anything. Moving to where I think he shot me from, he wasn't there as he did it again.

"Come now, you didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?" He questioned me.

"No, not really." I answered as I went looking for him. "Although I haven't fought against an enemy I can't see in a long time." I commented as I hid behind cover.

"Is that so? Well, this shouldn't be too much for you." He told me, hearing his bullets hitting where I was taking cover. I heard a couple of explosions go off, with my Night Sentinels confirming their kills away from the hostages. "Hmm, I see you've already figured out our suits are wired to go off if the wearer dies in combat."

"Yeah, along with not being able to track down wherever you fuckers came from." I said as I moved around, trying to get the drop on this guy.

"I see we are both familiar with the Power of Knowledge. Yes, we have to in order for us to keep operating without worry of retaliation." He said with a chuckle. "Of course, we know that will never hold out for long, so we're just living on borrowed time. But it's a good thing we've trained ourselves to take care of beings like yourself."

"That's funny. Last time I checked, my team's winning this round." I told him, ducking behind cover as he fired upon me, and hearing another one of his own blowing up.

"True. But for how much longer?" He asked me.

"For as long as it's necessary, until people like you are dealt with properly." I replied, shooting back at him.

"Agh! We'll see about that." He grunted as I barely saw him moving positions.

We didn't talk much after that, we were trying to shoot the other one dead. But... Throughout that talk, he had an accent to him, even if his English sounds naturally fluent, I don't think these guys are from Equestria. At all. I know I'm not hearing things. After a while of playing 'Hit or Miss', I heard his pistol clicking, telling me he was out of ammo.

"Damn." I heard him curse before he made a run for one of the elevators, but my Night Sentinels stopped him. Reaching them, we surrounded the guy and he de-cloaked. "Well, it would seem I've gotten myself in quite the predicament." He said as he slowly raised his hands, his pistol in his right, but his left was closed up into a fist.

"Hey, what's in your left hand?" I questioned him, aiming at his head.

"Oh, just a parting gift for you." He answered vaguely. Before we could do anything, we heard the elevator doors opened before the guy opened up his closed hand, dropping something to the floor.

Once It hit the floor, we all got blinded by a flash, covering our eyes as the cheeky prick got away on the elevator. As our sight slowly returned to us, we let out groans of annoyance before we went towards the hostages.

"Damnit. He probably has the remote control detonator up on the rooftop." I growled out as I got to work on disabling this huge bomb. "Get these people out, I'll handle the rest."

"Yes sir." They all replied before leading everyone downstairs quickly. I didn't want them taking the elevator, in case they rigged them to blow up.

"Okay, let's see what makes you tick..."

(Bryan/Doom Marine, escorting the Civvies and Scientists...)

"How long until we reached the sewers?" I asked Einstallion.

"It shouldn't be long now." He answered until we came up to a metal door. "Here we are." He said as I opened it up, with me and some Night Sentinels checking to see if we're in the clear.

"Okay, we're good to go." I said as we continued onward. The Civilians were a little hesitant to being down here, not that I blame them, since what happened last time. But, nonetheless, we kept moving on through.

"Okay, this is absolutely terrifying." Windy squeaked out, huddling closer to Rider.

"Tell me about it." Rider shivered as everyone steered clear of the waters.

As we kept walking, we soon heard echoes of heavy steps running from around the corner. We got everyone up against the wall as I leaned against it, standing near the corner with my Super Shotgun at the ready. As soon as the first one came around the corner, we both aimed at each other's face, until I realised that it was Kevin, along with Luna and a strike team.

"Jesus, Hunter! We nearly killed each other." I said with a loud sigh, as we lowered our guns.

"Berserker, are you alright? Where's Runner?" Luna quickly asked me.

"I am now, since you're here. Runner's still back in the Ministry building, dealing with those who took it over." I answered her.

"Sir, I just got word that more Civilians are on their way." One of the Night Sentinels reported. "They should be here soon."

"Alright then, keep an eye out for them." I told her as she went to the back of the line. I turned to face Luna and said. "Once the last batch is here, I want you to teleport all of these people back up to the surface. They're still skittish about what happened last time."

Luna frowned at me. "Why can't we all go together? I doubt there's--" Before she could finish that sentence, she got shot at, in her left shoulder, from behind.

Grabbing a hold of her, I pulled her out of harms way, while Kevin and his strike team took up firing positions, shooting down the other end where the enemy was waiting for us. "Hold still, Luna! I need a Medic over here!" I called out as Azurai came over and helped me tend to her wound.

"Argh!" Luna hissed out in pain. "That hurt..." She groaned out.

"Trust me, you have no idea how bad." I told her. "But, the good news is, the bullet went through you."

"Indeed." Azurai chided in as we cleaned and bandaged her up. "If it were stuck inside your shoulder, we would have to pull it out." He said before injecting her with some of our healing vector.

Soon the last of the Civilians arrived and Luna teleported them, though albeit begrudgingly so. Switching to my Heavy Assault Rifle, we were now getting surrounded, getting shot at from all sides, while we tried to kill them off. "Hunter, be careful! These guy's camouflage suits are rigged to blow when they die!" I warned him as we quickly moved on, running around in the sewers as we tried to outflank one another.

These guys are definitely well trained to take on us, counteracting our moves, keeping a distance between us. Hell, they even used fucking Claymores on us when we least expected it, and it was a laser trip wire! I learned that one the hard way as me and a couple of other were sent flying off. At least I didn't fell into the water. I warned Kevin about the explosive traps they'll set up, but then something happened. The enemy tried to rush us with bombs now strapped to themselves! Quickly shooting at them, a series of explosions went off, causing the place to shake, and we didn't want to stay down here if it's about to come down on us.

Getting up, Kevin lead us all out and up to the surface as we legged it. Once we got there, we found Luna and the group not far away as the police force helped with keeping the situation under control and having the people remain calm.

Walking over to her, she was being examined by the local medical teams, as some were looking over those trapped inside the Ministry. "My Doom Marines, what happened down there?" She asked us.

"An ambush. Not to mention they somehow managed to replicate some of our old tech, but I think that was a cover up. If they can create stealth suits, why use some things from modern times?" I told her. "Other than turning into a suicide bombing squad at the last second."

"They what!?" She exclaimed. "You mean that explosion down there was them!?"

"Yeah." I nodded before our Comms came on.

"Guys...an you hear me? It's me, Vincent." We heard him said.

"Yeah, we hear you, loud and clear. What's going on?" I asked him.

"I'm just disabling the bombs planted around the place, with the help of Krimzon and his team. Come back over here with the Scientists, so we can fix this lockdown." He told us before going off the Comms.

"Well, at least our Comms are working again." I commented as we waited for a little while until we moved back to the Ministry building, with the Scientists and Luna.

([Third Person] A few moments earlier...)

"Well, that could have gone better." The mysterious stallion said with a sigh, as he rides the elevator up towards the rooftop, where it will be his last stand.

Hearing the dinging of the elevator, its doors opened and he made his way outside, walking up to the ledge overlooking the crowd below. Pulling out the detonator, he flicked it on and placed his thumb on the red button. Breathing in deeply, for the last time, he closed his eyes and pressed down on it, ready to go out in a blaze of glory. But it never came.

Opening his eyes, he looked at the detonator and kept pressing it, but the explosives never went off. Before he could think on how he could fix this problem, someone shot the detonator out of his hands, destroying it as he turned around to find himself surrounded with guns pointing at him, again.

"Hands in the air." One of them demanded, a Night Sentinel wearing a hooded cloak on him, aiming his Pistol. "Slowly."

"Why didn't the bombs went off?" The stallion asked him, raising his hands up again.

"Our Lord has created a signal to block off your detonation, using your jammer against you since he hacked it not too long ago." Krimzon answered him, surprising the stallion.

"Amazing. I never thought he would have figured it out so quickly." The stallion commented. "He truly is the fastest out of the Five..."

"How do you know them and us?" Krimzon questioned the stallion, who sighed before saying.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you." He said before quickly throwing out another Flash Bang Grenade. "Eventually, though, you'll find out." He said, covering his eyes as the Grenade went off and blinded the Night Sentinels before he used a device to teleport away.

Once the Night Sentinels temporary blindness has past, he was no longer there for them to capture.

"Damn!" Krimzon cursed, shaking his head. "Alright, let's head down and help Lord Runner with those bombs."

"Yes Sergeant!" They replied before they went down the elevator and helped Vincent.

Once all the bombs have been disabled and confiscated, Vincent and the Scientists worked on uplifting the lockdown, which they eventually succeeded.

"Hey, guys, can we talk in private? It's about those guys that attacked this place." Vincent asked his brothers and Luna. Nodding their heads, he lead them off to a nearby room.

"Okay, Vincent, what did you learn about them?" Bryan asked once the door was closed and locked.

"Well, I don't think these are Equestrians." He told them.

"What?" Bryan asked in confusion.

"These people are not Equestrians. I know they're ponies, but I don't think they're from around here. In Equestria, specifically." He explained.

"Is that even possible?"

"It is." Luna answered. "You could say that, after the Hell Wars, ponies started to expand and colonised other regions, making it their own land." She explained to them, which made them facepalmed.

"Oh my god. We should have saw that one coming." Bryan groaned out.

"You mean we should have expected that." Vincent chimed.

"Whatever the case, at least we now know why there are some languages similar to back home." Bryan stated.

"No kidding. Even though his English was naturally fluent, it sure as Hell wasn't his first language. I swear it sounded as if he had a European accent, but you wouldn't be able to tell." Vincent explained.

"Well, shit." Bryan swore. "They were even using Claymores with laser trip wire. I learned that one the hard way."

"No shit! I saw the guy using a M1911 Colt pistol!" Vincent told them, surprising his two Doom Marine brothers.

"No way, are you serious!?"

"Yes, I am." He nodded to them.

"So then, they really are using some of our old tech to conceal their identities, while using them to their effectiveness." Kevin texted to the two, all three nodding in agreement.

"But still, who the Hell are they?" Bryan questioned.

"I don't know, man. All I know is that when we find out, heads will be rolling for days." Vincent answered. "Let's just hope it ain't Humanity's past reincarnated..."

Author's Notes:

Here you go, folks. So, I wanted to make this new foe somewhat formidable, but without giving too much as to who they really are. If you somehow figured them out, please don't spoil it.

On a side note,and a bit of a random question for you guys; what sort of theme music do you think would fit our current Doom Marines? For their Night Sentinels, some of Powerwolf's songs will fit them, such as Amen & Attack, Blessed and Possessed, Army of the Night, and some others.

Tell me what you think, and as always, thanks for reading.