Ardentus wrote:

The White City

“The Northwestern Confederacy was never the strongest of our neighbors. A weak government making big proclamations and holding together only a handful of settlements through an overfunded military. We were in talks to merge with them, but…” His voice was halted by Raz’s entrance.
“I apologize for my tardiness. I wasn’t aware the Synod was meeting. What exactly is this regarding?”
“Raz, take a seat,” John said, “Justinian and I were just bringing David and Dawn up to date on the next crisis we’re dealing with.”
“The…”
“Yes. Him.” Raz sat down, going uncharacteristically silent.
“Justinian, continue.”
“Thank you. As I was saying, the Confederacy wasn’t the strongest nation, but we were on good terms with them and they had converted some time ago. About three months before you arrived, which was also when we had our first fight with the Church of the Black Sun, something happened.”
“SomeONE happened,” Raz clarified, leaning forward, his normally jovial demeanor vanishing.
“His name was Eliott Strom. One of the most sadistic men on the planet, even back then.”
“I’m sorry…what?” Dawn said, confused. Raz sighed.
“Silverhawk told me that the Order of Cain was based out of a massive complex built into the mountains called the Overlook. I used to work there.”
“How is tha…” Raz stopped her by lowing his hood and removing his helmet, setting it down on the table. David and Dawn both gasped, Raz’s face was shriveled and scarred, dark brown eyes boring into them.
“You’re…you’re Marked.”
“The colloquial term is Ghoul, but yes.”
“Then…”
“The Overlook was designed to be the headquarters for a series of bunkers in the pacific northwest constructed by a group known as the Enclave. I used to work for them as an assassin, although I was never sure what their goal was. I was stationed up here when I met a man named Eliott Strom, a scientist who was part of a project researching immortality.”
“So, what…”
“By the time the War happened, I had retired from that life. I became this and had forgotten about him…until three months before you arrived.”
“We’d just stopped an attack by the Church from the south. We were in talks to combine forces with the NWC when a horde of Condemned attacked. Reports said they burst from the ground. Within a few hours we received a radio broadcast from an unknown source. He called himself the Hollow Man and said the Northwest was his domain alone.”
“How…how is that possible? Controlling Condemned?” Raz shook his head and Justinian answered.
“We still don’t know. But he seems to have augmented them or trained them. We’ve seen some using weapons, although they can’t reload yet.”
“I’m sorry, they can WHAT?!” David shrieked.
“That’s irrelevant for what our needs to be done. We have to go in and eliminate the Hollow Man as a threat, before the Black Sun does. If they do we’ll be completely surrounded from the North and East. Oregon can be cut off and we’ll lose everything. Reclaiming the Confederacy would balance those scales a bit.” Dawn paused, staring down at the table before looking back up.
“We already have forces present in the region?”
“Yes, we agreed to jointly protect some smaller settlements with the NWC so they could serve as trading posts through the mountains. They’ve become more minor fortresses now, and under our sole protection.”
“Grandmaster, who would you recommend for a pacification of this territory?” Justinian paused for a moment before gritting his teeth and speaking.
“The Children of Azrael and the Shroud.” A gasp was drawn from all present.
“Are you absolutely certain Grandmaster?” Justinian nodded.
“This is a grim task. They have more experience facing enemies built on terror alone than any other.”
“That’s putting aside the terror they invoke.”
“They’ve already had squads serving with conscript legionnaires guarding the south. If we deployed the full strength of the Dominion there we could secure the area and prevent the Hollow Man from advancing into our territory, or cutting us off from Oregon. We’d leave the passes to the Children of Micheal and Salem.”
“I’m in favor,” Raz said. “On one condition, I’m accompanying them. I know Strom, I may be able to provide insight into what his army will do.”
“Commander, are you sure?” Dawn said. Raz nodded, and she sighed.
“Alright. I can accept this plan.” The others gradually nodded or raised hands in agreement.

Snow Pass. East of the White City

Much like it’s name implied, there was white snow everywhere. Silver-bronze boots crunched against it as figures in all black emerged from the blizzard into the town-turned barracks. Knights in silver armor marched alongside Omegas with great hammers strapped to their backs and assault rifles or miniguns in their hands. They marched into the town, to the east stood a massive wall of concrete that towered above the buildings themselves. The knights began to spread throughout the town, informing local officials the area was now formally a part of the Order and would receive all the benefits and protections entailed. A cry from the wall interrupted, as a conscript Legionary called out. The knights and Omegas rushed to the wall, eyes peeled, but through the snow though couldn’t see much. Then, the first figure stepped forward into view, or more accurately stumbled. It was decaying, but fresh winter clothes hung off it, and in it’s hand was a crude pipe pistol. It looked up at the wall and let out a howl, and another hundred ghouls came charging out of the blizzard, tearing towards the wall. The legionaries were shaky, but the presence of the knights and Omegas helped, as the latter two aimed their weapons and began to fire. Bodies began to drop in the snow, but the ghouls returned fire, most bullets pinged off the wall, but a few found their mark. Still, the ghouls continued to drop, but their numbers were seemingly endless. Some began to drag their fallen kin towards the base of the wall, towering up one body at a time. The ghouls moved with almost a form of strategy, racing towards the base of the wall where they could not be targeted before dashing back out to fire at the defenders and grab more bodies. But the were not invincible, knights began to drop grenades off the wall, wiping out dozens in a single blast. Then, the ghouls began to fall back, withdrawing to the blizzard they had emerged from. The defenders cheered, they had secured the pass into the White City. As they cheered, up north in the trading post of Marble, a similar victory had taken place, with a second horde of ghouls being driven back. Now, it was down to the south.

Mt. Rainer

Shroud knights in black armor and gas masks advanced, alongside them marched Omegas clad in similar black armor, a pair of white wings emblazoned on their chests and scythes strapped to their backs. At the front of the army walked three figures, Raz, Silverhawk, and the Virtue of the Harbingers, Moses. They approached the mountain, a small settlement resting at the base. The army moved towards it.
“I’ll take the lead on this. The Shroud is my domain and you both…” Moses looked down at Silverhawk, sending a shiver down his spine.
“Very well.” Moses said, turning his attention back to the settlement. The army halted, and the trio moved to the settlement. The town gates flung open, much to Silverhawk’s surprise before he even could knock, inside was a squad of men in leather armor, a wrath encircling a roman numeral for two branded on their shoulders.
“I forgot to mention,” Raz said, “the settlement is under the Order’s protection already. The Second Legion garrisons the town.” Silverhawk turned back to glare at his ancestor before turning back.
“We’re here to reinforce you and formally claim the settlement for the Order.” The legionaries nodded and cleared a path for the trio when a shout came from the army.
“They’re here!” Silverhawk turned back, seeing a massive cloud of dust rising up and trees shake as howls and roars could be heard.
“Get to the town!” Raz called out. The majority of the knights fell back towards the town, but some stood their ground alongside the Omegas, miniguns revving up. The first ghouls broke through the treeline, and bullets met them. Some carried machetes, others actual weapons. As they continued to fire, the remaining knights and Omegas withdrew to the walls of the settlement itself. Silverhawk and Raz drew and fired their pistols, while Moses drew his massive scythe. The defenders outside finally trickled back into the settlement, the gates swinging closed, but outside stood moses, scythe in hand. He raised it to the assembling army of ghouls as if challenging them. They howled and charged, and Moses swung, slicing a dozen of them apart in half a second. A second swing, even more fell.
“What is he doing?!” Silverhawk yelled.
“Waiting for us to help!” Raz responded. The garrison and newly arrived forces began to fire down on the horde as Moses continued to swing with blinding speed, the area around the gate staying clear of bodies as a wall of them built around him. Bullets pinged off his armor, his weapon dripped with blood, and the ghouls finally halted. Not so much stopping as freezing before turning and fleeing back into the woods. Moses turned around and silently raised his scythe in victory. The defenders were equally silent, except for the original garrison.
“So,” Silverhawk said. “We have the advantage. What now?”
“We keep pressing forward.” Raz replied, his normally upbeat tone gone. “We end this once and for all.” He turned to walk down to the interior of the town, but Silverhawk watched with unease. Heading down as well, he pulled a soldier aside.
“I need you to head back to the White City.”
“Of course Bishop. Might I ask why?”
“It doesn’t concern you. But tell Dante and Eve to get to the army.”
“Yes sir.” Silverhawk let the man go, but kept an eye on Raz. Something was off.

2,000 people integrated
Marble, Snow and Mt. Rainer annexed
250 Melee weapons recovered
200 Pipe weapons recovered

Ardentus wrote:

Mt. Rainer

“So it’s a race now,” Raz said.
“Yes,” Silverhawk said. “One of our squads that was deployed to scout deeper into the Hollow Man’s territory spotted Black Sun forces securing multiple settlements.” Raz growled.
“The good news is that with our army the way it is, and after their defeat at Vancouver, they seem to be limiting themselves.” Raz nodded and looked up at Silverhawk, his brown eyes filled with anger.
“We need to move fast. You said they’ve already Taken Spokane and Colville in the east?” Silverhawk nodded. “Then have the Protectors move on Yakima. It’s the capital of the Yakama state and should secure our southern flank from any plans to recapture Vancouver. Meanwhile we’ll move East and then North. We need to stop them from capturing Maze. From what I remember, that's where the main bunker is located.” Silverhawk nodded.
“I’ll go inform MoSES!” He turned only to find the massive Omega towering behind him as he finished his sentence. Raz stifled a laugh, and Silverhawk turned back to glare at him before ducking around Moses.
“Raz!” a voice called out. He turned and saw the figures of Eve and Dante coming towards him.
“What are you two doing here?” He called back, approaching them, attempting to hide the nervousness in his voice.
“Silverhawk contacted us, said he was worried,” Dante said as Eve went in for a hug. Raz’s eyes widened.
“I see. He called you for no reason. I’m fine.”
“You’re absolutely sure?”
“Yes! This is brining some stuff up for me but I dealt with it all centuries ago.” Eve narrowed her eyes.
“Alright. But since we’re here, mind if we join the fight?” Raz opened his mouth to object, but before he could, Moses came up from behind him and nodded.
“Thank you!” Eve said as she and Dante turned around.
“What the hell!” Raz shouted at Moses once Dante and Eve were out of earshot. Moses looked down at Raz.
“I know they’re worried but now I’m worried because they’re going to be in the line of fire!” Moses remained silent. Raz sighed. “I guess they always are. But this…this is different. I left that life behind two centuries ago and now it’s back to haunt me. Prophets…alright. They can stay.” Moses nodded and walked off. Raz headed back to his tent.

Yakima

The citizens of Yakima had discovered the ghouls were harmless unless provoked, but it was still terrifying. Sometimes the ghouls would attack a house, breaking in and dragging someone out of their home kicking and screaming, never to be seen again. Even then, having an undead army walk the streets as an occupying force rather than their usual attack anything on sight was surreal, and that wasn’t even considering no one had ever seen the Hollow Man, only heard his voice. The city awoke that morning not naturally, but to the blowing of a great horn. Citizens looked out their windows to see ghouls howling before charging off into the distance. Gunshots were heard, gradually getting louder. One family opened their door only to see ghouls running past, bullets and laser blasts chasing them. Looking the other way, they saw knights in silver armor and massive shields advancing slowly in a phalanx formation, taking up the entire street as they moved forward. They parted and made way for a group of massive figures with great shields and hammers, rushing forward and crushing the ghouls in only a few blows. Some ghouls turned back to fire with pistols, or charged forward with blades that had replaced their arms. The Omegas blocked every shot or blade strike that didn’t bounce off their thick armor. The Omegas and many knights moved onward, while others moved to check with the civilian population, seeing if they needed any food or medical attention. Many did, being malnourished as the food networks throughout the Confederacy had collapsed. Knights brought out rations, and others established a food distribution center in the center of the town to hand out rations. Gunshots still rang out, but they became fewer and far between as ghouls fell or retreated. Another horn blast came as the last had fled north towards the abandoned settlement of Maze. With the victory at Yakima, the Protectors stayed put for the time being, keeping a lookout. Eventually, a force of Black Sun knights arrived on the southern outskirts of the city, but upon seeing the flags of the Order flying overhead, they turned around, not wanting a fight they were not yet ready for. But they will be ready soon.

Wilbur

Wilbur was never the most important town in the NWC. It had been located between the much larger city of Yakima, the northern population centers of Republic, and the capital of the NWC at Spokane. Many of the settlers had hoped they would be spared the majority of any horrors of a conflict with the eastern Church. Sadly for them though, their home had been one of the first targeted by the attack of the Hollow Man’s ghouls, attempting to sever the capital from reinforcements. The government had managed to escape to the White City and found refuge with the Order, but they had done little beyond send out leaflets promising to reclaim the region one day. When the people of Wilbur would wake up, they would find that day had come. But for now, the sun had yet to rise, but that mattered not to the knights of the Shroud and the Reapers accompanying them. The ghouls were mostly asleep, which was exactly what the knights were hoping for. They stalked into the city, moving silently, the eyes of night vision goggles glowing red. The Omegas stayed back, deciding their heavier frames and armor didn’t lend themselves to stealth. The knights slit the throats of ghouls wherever they saw then, abandoning their usual terror tactics of stringing some of the bodies up or mutilating them, it wouldn’t matter to the ghouls, and it would just scare the citizens. Raz ducked behind a wall as a group of five ghouls walked past him in a column. Seeing an opportunity, he waited until they had passed, then drew a pair of knives and walked behind them, slicing the first one’s throat and muffling its death gurgles, slowly lowering its body to the ground so it wouldn’t make a sound before repeating the process. Upon lowering the last body to the ground, Raz saw a little girl watching him from a window holding a stuffed animal. Wordlessly, he raised a finger to his mouth, indicating she should stay quiet. The girl nodded, smiled and held a finger up to her animal’s mouth. Raz nodded in response and moved on. He moved to repeat the same attack on another group of ghouls, but a howl erupted from somewhere in the city. Soon it was repeated, growing louder and louder, and finally by the group Raz was about to attack. He sighed, sheathed his knives, and drew his pistol, rounding the corner and firing a single shot through each of their heads. He sighed and moved on, watching for other ghouls. Then, he heard a scream. Turning, he saw the girl and what now appeared to be her parents watching as a team of ghouls attempted to break into their house.
“Hey!” Raz shouted, the ghouls turned. “Leave them alone!” he shouted and fired his pistol at one of the ghouls, hitting it square in the head. It collapsed, its colleagues watching the body drop before turning their heads towards Raz and screaming. Raz fired again, taking down another, but the others kept coming for him. He turned and ran, sprinting and taking pot shots at the ghouls where he could, who by now had drawn machetes.
“I’m way too old for this,” he said as he turned and fired another shot, taking down a third, only three left. He ducked into an alley, only to find it was a dead end. No matter, he turned and readied his gun. The ghouls rounded the corner, advancing towards him. He fired a shot, dropping the first while the other successfully leaped onto him and bit down on his upper arm, knocking the both to the ground. Raz gritted his teeth and fired into the ghoul’s head. Still on the ground, he aimed to fire at the final ghoul, his gun clicked, empty. The ghoul lurched forward, dropping its machete, then it straightened out.
“Daniel wasn’t it?” The ghoul said, its demeanor completely changing, straightening its posture and putting its hands behind its back.
“Strom,” Raz said, anger in his voice. “What do you want?”
“Simply to talk. I am impressed by you and what your so-called Order is doing. But there’s no point in it. I will sweep them aside sooner or later.”
“It’ll be later, there’s no chance you can win. I have no love for the Church but even I know I can count on them to help kick your ass.” The ghoul laughed, moving like a puppet on strings.
“And I have all the time in the world. It doesn’t matter if it takes five, fifty, or five hundred years, I will conquer this world.”
“Keep talking, it’ll make putting a bullet in your head easier.” The ghoul laughed again, giving Raz time to quickly reload his revolver. Again though, the ghoul’s eyes returned to Raz.
“I can’t wait for you to see how I pulled this off Daniel. You’ll be truly surprised.”
“You talk too much,” Raz raised his pistol and fired. The ghoul dropped to the ground, a hole in it’s chest.
“See you soon,” it gurgled before finally dying. Two Shroud knights and Silverhawk rounded the corner.
“Raz!” He called out. “Are you ok?”
“Fine,” Raz said, standing up, holstering his gun, and grabbing his arm. “I’ll need a medic.” Silverhawk turned and one of the knights ran off.
“I see being a bishop has it’s perks.”
“Don’t joke. This is serious.” Raz looked in Silverhawk’s eyes, seeing he was clearly worried.
“It is. But I’m also not an idiot. This whole thing…it’s complicated. But I’ve been through worse.”
“I…”
“Please, you can trust me.” Raz looked Silverhawk dead in the eyes, holding his hand. Silverhawk took a deep breath.
“Ok.” The trio exited the alley.
“The Omegas had to move in when the ghouls started freaking out. The town’s been secured though.” Raz nodded, but watched the bodies of the ghouls around them, swearing he could see some of them grinning. The next day half of the army moved up to Republic, finding the city abandoned by the ghouls and not yet occupied by the Church. Moving quickly, they raised the flag of the Order and the Confederacy, demonstrating that safety had returned. Another Church force moving to claim the town saw the army and flags and decided to leave it alone. They had secured enough territory, the Order could get the glory of killing the specter that haunted these lands. It would all be theirs in time.

3,000 people integrated
Yakima, Wilbur, and Republic integrated
500 melee weapons recovered
500 pipe weapons recovered

Ardentus wrote:

Maze

The city was unusually quiet as Raz, Silverhawk, Moses, Dante, Eve, and the rest of the army entered. The gate hung open, and people poked their heads out of windows, but quickly withdrew again.
“What the in the rings of hell…” Silverhawk said.
“I don’t know, but keep your guard up. Something about this seems off.”
“That’s an understatement,” Eve said as she aimed her arm at a building. A grappling line shot out from it and pulled her up. Once she reached the top she drew her sniper rifle. A few other reapers followed her, but the majority of the army stayed on the ground.
“Disperse the army, establish defensive positions and prepare for an assault,” Raz told Moses, who then nodded and raised his hand, the army complying. Raz stayed with Silverhawk and Dante along with a squad of Shroud knights. Dante drew his double-headed glaive.
“This seems off for his usual tactics,” he said.
“Agreed,” Silverhawk added, conjuring one of his own swords. Raz scanned the surrounding areas, spotting a shape moving a few dozen feet up ahead. It ducked behind a corner.
“Back me up,” he said, drawing his pistol and running forward, Dante and Silverhawk right behind him. He rounded the corner, seeing a ghoul standing before him in white armor.
“What the…” Raz’s thought was cut short by Silverhawk and Dante yelling. Raz turned, seeing them engaged with a group of ghouls, with more climbing out from the ground below them. Before he could fire, he saw Silverhawk’s face fill with fear and he reached out a hand.
“Behind you!” Raz didn’t have time to turn before something struck him on the back of the head. He felt dizzy and dropped to his knees, turning around slightly to see the face of a feral ghoul before he passed out. Dante and Silverhawk kept fighting, but were unable to stop the ghoul as it dragged Raz away, around a corner into an alley. The ground slid to the side, revealing a hidden set of stairs. Picking Raz up, the ghoul carried him into the dark below.

The Complex, Under Lake Chelan, South of Maze

Raz stirred, still a little lightheaded, but his focused quickly returned. He saw he was strapped to a table, arms pinned down by his legs. He looked left and right, seeing a man to his right in a white jacket, gloves, and some sort of hood or cowl examining Raz’s gun, his mask sitting just a few feet to the man’s left.
“Hey, hey you!” Raz called out. The man didn’t even turned or set the gun down, but he did respond.
“You’re finally awake. My apologies for being knocked out.”
“Wh…where am I?”
“You’re in a place that has no name. These days it’s just my facility, but in its heyday people called it The Complex.” Raz’s brow furrowed in recognition, anger filling his mind.
“Strom.” The man tilted his head up and set the gun down.
“I haven’t been called that in nearly two hundred and twenty years Daniel. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. These days though, people just call me The Hollow Man.” He continued his work.
“And they call me Raz these days. Now where. Are. We,” Raz asked again.
“I’m surprised you don’t remember. It is where we met after all.” Raz paused.
“The lake.” Even just by watching the back of his head, Raz could tell The Hollow Man nodded.
“Do you know why they chose this place, this lake? It’s deep, almost 1,500 feet, and there’s a massive network of naturally formed caverns. The Enclave sent in some crews, sealed the place off with some reason or another, and started building, they extended the tunnels to fit all the stuff they wanted in. Connected to towns all across the northeast of the state. And I’ve memorized every single inch of it. That’s what you can do when you have 200 years to spare.”
“What do you want from me?” The Hollow Man turned and walked over to Raz, revealing a completely blank hood, no facial features, not even a sign of where his eyes were penetrated the mask.
“I want to talk. An immortal being like myself has so much perspective on life that others…lack.” Raz laughed, a short “ha!”
“So you made yourself into a walking corpse like me? Ha, not bad for a mad scientist.” Strom chuckled.
“Oh, I’ve done so much more than that.” He stepped back, and lowered his head. Raz took the opportunity, grabbing a bobby pin he always had hidden in his glove and jamming it into the lock on his retrains. The Hollow Man looked up, and Raz gasped, the face underneath the mask was the same he had seen two hundred years ago, white skin, brown hair, piercing, almost manic blue eyes, and a twisted smile on his lips, not a scar or sign of radiation on his face.
“How…”
“We had a few big projects going on here when the bombs fell. I’d just cracked two the night before the bombs fell. I was so tired though that I fell asleep at my desk, and woke up to see the world had ended.”
“You’ve…you’ve been alone this entire time?”
“Don’t patronize me. I know you always hated me. And you would know what it feels like to be abandoned. Or perhaps not, considering it happened to you in slow motion. But me, I have been alone for two centuries! You have no idea what that does to the mind, the soul.” The Hollow Man took a deep, ragged breath, as if he was swallowing his rage in tandem with air, then continued.
“I’d finished the mind control gas we were developing, something to make the commies surrender on their own. But seeing the state of the world outside, I didn’t want to just become fodder for raiders or monsters. So I stayed, I perfected Project Lazarus, hence why I don’t look a day older then when you last remember seeing me. But I must say the finest work I’ve seen isn’t mine, it’s yours.” He clicked a remote, and TVs flickered to life in front of Raz, displaying images from the previous battles of the Children of Azrael.
“Those soldiers, the…Omegas, they’re rather impressive. Your school did their job well.” Raz was confused, but kept his expression neutral.
“What the hell are you talking about? The Omegas were created only a few decades ago.”
“Ah, but our former masters gave the University of Washington FEV samples, a sort of backup for both creativity and resources should Mariposa fail. And plus, they had someone close by.” Raz was genuinely confused now, and said something he never should have.
“Who?” The Hollow Man turned back, at first his expression sarcastic, but it melted into genuine shock, followed by Raz’s own.
“No,” Raz said in disbelief.
“Yes,” the Hollow Man responded, a cruel smile forming.
“No!”
“Yes! You honestly think they LET you retire? Don’t make me laugh. They wanted someone they trusted, someone they could activate in case of emergency in the school they had given a contact to to perfect their precious super soldier serum, their F. E. V.” The Hollow Man swung his arm, knocking some empty vial racks onto the floor.
“Ohhh. I needed that. It’s been so long since I could actually talk with someone! And we shall continue to do so, as soon as I end things once and for all.”
“Please,” Raz scoffed, continuing to pick the lock, “It’s only a matter of time before Silverhawk and Dante find the entrance to this cute little bunker, lead the rest of the army in, and kick your ass. Your army’s dead anyway.” The Hollow Man tilted his head a few times back and forth.
“I am truly amazed at the scale of wrongness you just said. The two you mentioned are already in here, but they didn’t bring the army,” he clicked his remote again, another TV screen flickered to life showing Raz and Dante walking through a tunnel, fighting ghouls that attempted to swarm them.
“Second, I am far from dead. By contrast, your entire Order, and that Church to the east, are doomed once I unleash my army.”
“What army?!” Raz leaned forward for emphasis. “The ghouls that we slaughtered at the passes WERE your army!” The Hollow Man laughed again, a harsh cackle that echoed throughout the room.
“I honestly can’t believe you didn’t see a trap THIS OBVIOUS COMING! I didn’t JUST start hypnotizing ghouls with the gas! I released FEV into the atmosphere once I saw the bombs had fallen, hundreds of thousands were turned into those feral monsters. I captured hundreds of thousands, and put most of them to sleep for when I was ready, truly ready. Across the breadth of this facility, there are more ghouls than you have people in your entire country, more than any other faction that could possibly exist! What toppled the NWC, that was not even a percent of my armies, you’ve been fighting decimals this entire time. Now that your army is in Maze, and those Black Sun idiots have their own armies stationed in Spokane, I will show them all the true scope of my power.” He held his hood in his hands before putting it back on.
“And what better way to truly break a man than to show him he has lost everything.” He clicked the remote one more time, and more tvs, dozens, flickered to life before Raz, each showing a battle taking place on the surface. Ghouls emerged from the ground in every settlement the Order and Church had taken that was once part of the NWC, Omegas crushed heads as they emerged and knights fired at more, but they were dragged drown and ripped apart. In other monitors, soldiers in the black and red armor of the Church did much the same, their own weapons being turned on them as The Hollow Man’s ghouls picked them up and returned fire. Raz watched in horror, but didn’t stop working the lockpick. The Hollow Man clapped his hands together.
“Well then, I hope you’ll excuse me, I have to wake up the rest of my army. Hope you don’t mind.” With that, the Hollow Man stood and walked away, leaving Raz alone in the room. Finally though, the lock clicked open and the strap holding him down came loose. Freed, Raz grabbed his gun and mask, putting the latter back on and checking the former to make sure it was loaded. It was. Snapping the cylinder closed again, he followed The Hollow Man down the hallway he had taken, a white and gray thing like those in the Vaults. The Hollow Man himself. Reaching a five way intersection, Raz stopped, unsure which way to go. A pair of figures rounded the corner. Raz raised his gun, but the two stopped, raising a sword and glaive.
“Raz!” One said, “It’s us!” Raz lowered his gun and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Why did you two idiots follow me down here without backup!”
“Wasn’t exactly time,” Silverhawk said.
“Now come on, we have to get out of here!”
“We can’t. He’s got an army of hundreds of thousands. Not even our entire army could stop them.” Silverhawk and Dante looked at each other and exchanged a nod.
“We’re coming with you,” Dante said.
“Bullsh!t. You’re heading back to the surface and helping,” Raz cocked his gun. “This is my fight.”
“With all do respect, you don’t f*ck with family and expect to get away with it,” Dante drew his own pistol. “Now which way do we go.” Raz sighed.
“We split up. We each came down a path so we follow the other three until we find him.” The other two nodded and chose their paths. Raz continued down his, finding a pair of ghouls and shooting them without losing a stride. Then, he started to hear the crackle of computer monitors and someone mumbling. Dropping into a crouch, Raz continued through the tunnel, and finally came into the room. There, he saw The Hollow Man walking back and forth between banks of computers, screens displaying thousands of cryotubes, each housing a feral ghoul inside.
“Almost…” he said. Raz stood and fired into one of the computers just as The Hollow Man was walking towards it. Sparks flew and The Hollow Man stepped back before turning.
“YOU!” He yelled in rage. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE JUST DONE!”
“Stopped half of your plan,” Raz said calmly before re-aiming his gun and firing at the second computer. It too sparked and fizzled out.
“Now fully.” The Hollow Man drew a pistol in rage, but Raz fired again, sending the pistol flying across the room and leaving The Hollow Man gripping his hand in pain.
“You talk too much.”
Raz fired a final time, the bullet passing through The Hollow Man’s hands and landing squarely in his chest. A look of shock crossed his face as he slid backwards onto the console.
“I will get you Raz. I’ll ruin you and every single thing you care about. Tick tock,” and then he slid down onto the floor. Satisfied, Raz turned and ran back to the intersection, calling out to Silverhawk and Dante. Upon reaching the intersection, he found the two.
“I got him,” Raz said. “Right back this way.” The three headed back, reaching the computer room once again.
“Where is he?” Silverhawk said. Raz looked on in shock, he saw the bloodstains on the ground, he saw where the body had been.
“I…that’s not possible. I shot him through the heart.”
“Hey, look over here,” Dante pointed to a set of monitors Raz hadn’t destroyed, showing the battle on the surface.
“Looks like when you shot him or the computers, hard to tell honestly, you broke whatever control he had over the ghouls. They’re back to normal now and way easier to handle.” As they watched, an Azrael Omega swung his scythe, cutting through a dozen ghouls charging at him, while other ghouls simply turned and fled only to be gunned down by Shroud knights.
“We won,” Dante said.
“No. We didn’t,” Raz slammed his fist into another monitor. “He’s still out there! We have no idea where or how but he is! He…he told me he’d come back, take everything from me.” Raz sunk to his knees. Silverhawk bent down and removed Raz’s mask, revealing tears.
“I already lost everything when I lost my wife, and again when I lost you and Mary…every time someone in our family dies I lose everything, it’s only the fact that I don’t lose everyone that I can carry on. I..I don’t know if I can go on if I lose everyone.”
“You won’t,” Silverhawk embraced Raz. “I can tell you now that we won’t go down without a fight, and we’re bringing Strom down with us if he ever shows his face again.” Suddenly, a group of Shroud Knights burst into the room.
“Bishop,” one said as they lowered their guns. “The town is secured, we were lucky enough to find the entrance to this place.” Silverhawk and Raz stood.
“Excellent. Get the monks in here, this place is a treasure trove.” The knight nodded and raised a hand, the squad turned and headed back out.
“You going to be ok?” Silverhawk asked as Raz examined his helmet. Raz stared at his reflect in the polished black surface.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice still a little shaky. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He spun the helmet around around, put it back on and raised his hood again.
“Let’s get out of this place. Gives me the creeps.”

1,000 people integrated
Maze annexed
1,000 pipe weapons recovered
1,500 melee weapons recovered

Wilderness, Somewhere In Southeastern British Columbia

The Hollow Man raised the door to the bunker, a difficult process as it was blanketed in snow and more was coming down in droves. Still, he had packed warmly for the trip. Removing one of his gloves, he saw the bullet wound left by Raz was already healing nicely, with bone, muscle, flesh and tendon all knitting back together. He touched his chest where he’d dug the bullet out, only stopped by one of his ribs. Putting the glove back on, he closed the bunker door, shouldering a backpack and trekking what his compass told him was north.
“One day,” he though to himself. “I’ll be back one day.” He walked on, the snow slowly swallowing him until he vanished from sight.