The Plague Doctor stood amidst the swirling dust of the Apocalypse, his gaze fixed on the horizon. "About time," he murmured. Suddenly, a streak of gold blurred through the air—a heavy, reinforced fist capable of leveling buildings. The Doctor didn't flinch; he simply caught the blow with his open palm.
Standing before him was the Max Golden Juggernaut, its armor pulsing with a blinding, overclocked radiance. The Doctor tilted his masked head. "Hm, impressive. Not enough, though." With a casual flick of his wrist, he unleashed a wave of raw force that sent the multi-ton machine hurtling backward through the air like a scrap of paper.
John stared, his jaw dropping as he watched the GDA's ultimate weapon get tossed aside. "H-how? That is literally the max calamity energy!"
The Plague Doctor froze, his lenses fixing on John. "Max, you say? In my perspective, you are all merely scavengers, scratching at a rock. I would not have touched that stone; to do so is to invite the very definition of Calamity itself." He turned back to the Juggernaut as it struggled to rise. "Step back before I obliterate you into oblivion."
The machine's optical sensors flickered. "My purpose is not to kill you," the Juggernaut rumbled, its voice possessing a new, eerie clarity. "But to protect them."
The Doctor paused, genuinely intrigued. "A robot with its own mind? Your GDA fascinates me, John. But you are still a nuisance." He tightened his grip, his voice dropping to a low growl. "I will spare three of you on one condition: Stop your leader from going forward. Or else."
With a snap of his fingers, the invisible pressure pinning Laura to the ground vanished. "Do we have a deal?"
Laura and John nodded frantically, but the Max Golden Juggernaut stood tall. "That is not in my command. I cannot—"
He never finished. The Plague Doctor raised an arm, and the Juggernaut vanished in a violent, thunderous explosion. Shards of gold rained down like funeral confetti. "I wasn't asking you," the Doctor stated coldly.
A sudden explosion of thick, black smoke erupted beside the Doctor, and Slammer was thrown from the darkness. John screamed her name, lunging forward to catch her. She clung to him, gasping for air, her eyes wide with a terror that went deeper than any physical wound.
The Plague Doctor sighed, looking into the smoke. "Did you really show her the future, Tenebris Marcam?"
A pair of glowing, eldritch eyes ignited within the black haze. "Yes," a voice hissed, sounding like iron grinding on bone. "This girl is too naive. She believes the shards are for the good of the GDA. I cannot stand her... Who are these others?"
"Just soldiers," the Doctor replied. "But perhaps less naive than the girl."
Laura watched the scene, her eyes darting between John and the trembling Slammer. "Is that your girlfriend?" she asked, her voice cutting through the tension.
John pulled back, his face flushing. "No!" He turned back to Slammer, his voice softening. "Hey, are you okay?"
Slammer looked at him, then buried her face in his chest, her voice a broken whisper. "I don't want to make that event happen... I saw it, John."
"What event?" John asked, but before she could answer, the shadow—Tenebris Marcam—spoke. "I showed her the truth of what is to come."
The Plague Doctor shook his head. "You shouldn't spoil the ending." He looked at the three soldiers one last time. "Good luck on your mission to defeat Dr. Xenon. But please... don't."
He raised his right hand. Black lightning began to dance between his fingers, twirling with the smoke into a violent vortex. POOF.
John, Slammer, and Laura blinked. The scorched battlefield was gone. They were standing in a secluded, shadowed corner of the GDA base, safe from the eyes of the personnel and the patrols.
Miles away, the Plague Doctor nodded to his shadow companion. "Let's go." With a surge of dark smoke, Tenebris Marcam enveloped them both, and they vanished into the void.
To be continued.
In a place beyond the stars, a new voice echoed—wretched, mechanical, and dripping with a sinister hunger.
"Well, well, well... Who has been using the Calamity Rock?"
Another voice, cold and ancient, replied: "The GDA and the X-Faction. They expand their reach. It is time to send the globe a true threat. Send the one thing they cannot stop."