- Doomsday - Volume One: Gods and Monsters

Chapter 21: Breach, Part. 2

Paul and [Y/N] prepared themselves as they began their fight to escape the facility. The giant monster that was the Doomsday, now awake and ready. The scientist slung over his shoulder, feeling every leap and every bound.

"We need to make it towards the elevator shaft! That's the fastest way up!" Paul shouted, though it was difficult to hear much sound over the blaring alarms flooding the complex labyrinth with screeching noise.

Making quick progress throughout the lower floor of the facility, [Y/N] was still somewhat out of it, his vision and movement sluggish and tired. He still hadn't fully recovered from whatever it was that had kept him dormant for so long. It didn't matter, he just had to keep moving.

He vaguely remembered the night the revolt happened, the blood on the falls, the bodies underfoot, the smell of death infecting the once sterile white walls. He remembered the relief he felt upon finding Paul alive and well, but also the anger and frustration with having to fight Harry once more. The last thing he could remember was still a hazy thought, but he knew it for certain. How Slade had taken him down in the midst of their battle. A Kryptonite weapon. After that, there wasn't anything else to remember, until waking up only a few minutes earlier.

Why the hell had Slade turned on him, had he not been helping them fight back the revolt? It wasn't like he was the biggest opponent of the outbreak, but he wasn't supporting it either. Without his help cleaning up the mess would have been far more bloody and far deadlier.

The other issue at hand was how long he had been in status. His muscles and joints felt tense and sore upon moving, like some rusty machine that hadn't moved for a hundred years. "Paul." [Y/N] began, though it was hard to make out much of what he was saying. His voice was coarse and rough, evidently from not speaking for so long. "How long has it been?" He continued. Paul seemed hesitant to answer which immediately made him feel uneasy. Was the answer so bad that he didn't even want to tell him? It was at this point that [Y/N] also took notice of Paul's different appearence. It wasn't anything drastic, and at a first glance he looked relatively unchanged. On closer inspection, he looked much older than the young scientist he had once known. That wasn't a good sign.

"[Y/N]..." He started, but then reconsidered whether or not he should answer at all. "[Y/N], you've been gone for around six years..." He said in a softer tone. He wanted to stop right there, Six years?! How had he been asleep for so long? Six years, he repeated in his head over and over again. Six years of his life wasted. Could it even be true? He didn't even want to believe it.

Yet, there was no time to think, no time to react. He had to just keep going. Getting out of this hellish facility was the only option now.

As the duo made their way nearer to the central elevator, they saw signs of security units. Suddenly, a ray of light from a flashlight beamed directly into the Doomsday's maw. Without even giving a warning, they began to open fire upon the two. A blinding wave of fire and smoke clouding into the air, causing some difficulty for the guards to see. Accompanied with the red tint and darkened lights, seeing anything was an impossible challenge. Fortunately, [Y/N] wasn't a normal person. Unfortunately, the soldiers appeared prepared too, equipped with night vision equipment.

[Y/N] noted the marked improvement in the equipment the soldiers seemed to have equipped, seemingly far more advanced then he remembered. Still, their weaponry had little effect on the rampaging monster. While shielding Paul, it was difficult to fight an offensive while constantly having to run defensive too. He set the scientist down behind him, "Stay." He commanded, Paul nodded.

The soldiers couldn't see exactly what was happening. Thus, when a hulking monstrosity charged out of the smoke at them, they were unprepared. These soldiers were using a special type of bullet, a Kryptonite bullet, however the material used was the same as had been used years prior. Even though the Kryptonite had been created specifically to harm and potentially kill a Doomsday, after repeated exposure over multiple years, it appeared to have little effect. [Y/N] flinched at first, but upon noticing the lack of damage quickly regained his composure, an angered snarl taking its place.