- Doomsday - Volume One: Gods and Monsters

Chapter 22: Hell Let Loose

[28/02/2053]

It had been a week since the 'event' had occurred. The 'event' was the only name given to the breakout, no one even wanting to say aloud what had happened. It was supposed to have been their dark secret, something they buried deep, never to have seen the light of day again. Not many even knew what had gone on in that place, most only knowing some form of experimentation was at play. That wasn't necessarily an issue on its own. Hell, the Americans had had their own supersoldiers for the better part of a decade now.

A supersoldier was what the lawmakers would have given anything to have obtained. It was just plain bad luck, and they had lost the arms race all those years ago. However, 'lost' was a deceptive term. The whole world, apart from a few singular nations, had banded together, creating the Overwatch Strike Force. There was no need for individual nations to struggle on their own when able to fight within a united front. The 'Doomsday' project, alongside multiple other highly experimental projects, were shelved indefinitely, reduced to a fanciful tall-tale that politicians would whisper under hushed breaths.

The 'Facility', as it had been deemed, what had once been their prison to contain the last remnant of the great mistake, now stood hollow and barren. A desolate carapace of steel and corpses. The last message they had received from the place was a plea for further reinforcements, that any moment now the monster would come crashing down upon them. There were multiple requests like this in a short span of time, each growing more desperate, until eventually they stopped altogether. They never heard anything more from the Facility. It simply stood quiet and dead, a cursed place none wanted to venture near.

It had taken the government an entire week to formalise a professional response to the threat potentially lurking within. A professional reconnaissance unit of some twenty soldiers had been assembled to scout out the base, hopefully find some survivors, but above all to assess the location of the test subject. They set out from a nearby military base, yet none of these soldiers had any idea about the mysterious experimentation facility way out in the middle of nowhere. That was how the government would have preferred the situation, had the breakout not happened in the first place.

As the convoy of dark trucks barrelled down the dusty, dirt trail, it was hard for the soldiers to not come up with their own theories as to what exactly was in store for them. "I bet they were trying to make those soldiers the Americans got. You know, like that Jack Morrison." Another waved off his comment unconvinced, "We would have heard something by now if that was the case. I wouldn't be surprised if they were keeping some God AI stored up in there. Keeping it contained for good."

The rest of the journey was a similar back and forth, with each soldier giving their own individual conspiracy. They wouldn't know for certain until they reached the facility, something that loomed over the squad, though why exactly they weren't sure. It couldn't have been that dangerous, right? Otherwise they wouldn't have sent them there in the first place. That was the rationale behind it anyway, though it was hard to get the lingering feeling of dread out from the backs of their minds...

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---Report from reconnaissance unit sent to explore and recover surveillance footage from the ███████ ██ research facility, after the ███████, held in the facility breached containment. It is currently believed that there were no survivors.

"Reporting in, this is the audio recording concerning the exploration and recovery of the files and surveillance footage from the ███████ ██ facility. First impressions, did a bomb drop here, maybe multiple? Most of the outside buildings surrounding the facility are still intact. There's a giant hole in the blast door leading into the main fort, it looks like it was torn apart. No signs of life so far..."