Chapter Text
Father: (Voice over) He is the first being and my creator. When he fell I ascended. By his hand, all things were made
Demonic whispering: Yet even as the Doom Slayer revels in the spoils of his war, another shall rise from the fires: a dark priest consumed by the Crucible. And even the Doom Slayer shall weep in his shadow.
Father (Voice over): By hell’s law, if the Dark Lord is defeated in ritual combat, any demon outside his realm will be destroyed.
A camera pans through a research facility in the Mass Effect universe. It is mostly empty minus scientists and guards patrolling the hall. It shows scientists just going about their day.
Camera zooms in on a pair of guards standing near a door.
Guard 1: Hey.
Guard 2: Yeah?
Guard 1: Have you ever wondered why-
Guard 1 is interrupted by a boom that shakes the facility.
After a beat, another boom.
Cut to another section of the facility. There is another boom and scientists begin to take notice. Personnel all across the facility begin to take notice.
Cut back to the first two guards. They realize the booming is coming from something behind them. They whip around and raise their guns, ready to confront whatever it is.
Camera cuts to behind the two guards before dramatically zooming to the empty space in front of them. There is a boom and a hellish red portal opens up.
The two N7 guards leap back in shock. By this point, the whole facility is on alert. And it doesn’t take long for them to call this in. Dramatic music plays. Cut to three shots of soldiers rushing down the hall to secure the unidentified spatial anomaly. This is not a military base but it does have a small army of military personnel serving as guards.
As the dramatic music dies, the camera cuts to the inside of the room, panning over a platoon of soldiers setting up defensive positions in front of the portal.
Scene plays slowly, letting tension build up.
The lights begin to flicker.
Several of the soldiers are nervous. Cut to close ups of a soldier’s trembling finger. Another soldier glances up at the flickering lights.
Camera cuts back to a landscape view of the entire room. The lights flicker a few more times then go out completely just as the music cuts.
A moment of pitch black silence.
When the lights come back on, the sound is pierced by demonic screeching and howling. The room is a complete mess, the walls and floors slathered with blood. A horde of demons slaughter the helpless soldiers in every way imaginable with even more demons crawling away from the portal.
Action music begins (Stargate suite).
Camera cuts to the outside to witness the firefight. Soldiers fire into the room but you don’t see what at. In the background, soldiers are shooting in another direction.
A tentacle suddenly shoots out of the room and kills a soldier. The remaining two choose to flee. A mancubus appears down the hall before they do and begins killing the background soldiers.
As the two N7 guards run down the hall, they stop because the path ahead of them already has a group of guards being slaughtered by a cyberized marauder.
They instead take another path. The camera keeps up with them while showing demons slowly coming in from all sides. Have the demons move slowly across the screen to give a sense of claustrophobia. Show other personnel getting slaughtered in the background.
The two guards turn the corner.
Camera cuts to show they reached an elevator. One guard punches in their passcode while the other covers them. Once the passcode is in, they both begin shooting at the approaching demons. Once the elevator doors are open, they back up into it and let the doors close.
The camera cuts to inside the elevators. The guards let out a sigh of relief.
It appears they escaped.
Camera cuts to a close up of the elevator door. The doors are pried open by a Hell Knight. Position camera so the screen appears to be vertically bisected.
Camera cuts to a far away shot to reveal the hell knight in all its glory.
Camera cuts and quickly zooms in on one of the guard’s faces, showing them screamig while shooting at the hell knight.
Camera cuts out the hall outside the elevator to see a pool of blood expand.
Camera cuts to black as the music cuts.
Moment of silence.
The radio chatter of soldiers getting slaughtered is played.
Scene fades in to show the aftermath of a massacre. The walls are painted with blood and gore carpets the ground.
One soldier remains alive but wounded, listening to the screams over the radio.
Camera cuts to close up of his face as he hyperventilates. Finally, he looks up. Camera cuts to reveal an imp crawling up to him.
Camera cuts to close up of his face and horrified expression. Camera then cuts to a close up of the imp which hisses at him. The imp then turns and crawls away, revealing the figure behind them. It is the Dark Priest as foretold.
His red wings slowly spread as his visage is revealed.
He ignores the injured man and walks to a nearby computer, activating an omni-tool suggesting the Dark Priest is either from this universe or is very knowledgeable of it. Moments later, another figure walks up next to the Dark Priest. Another high ranking demon.
Camera cuts to the rest of the facility. The slaughter is complete and the halls are flooded with gore. But inside a room, a chest lid raises slightly. A soldier survived the massacre by hiding inside the chest.
He gets out, surrounded by the remains of his comrades. He slowly limps out of the room.
Camera cuts back to the hell portal as dramatic music swells. The demons are now leaving with any survivors they could cull. A tentacle full of them disappears into the portal followed by a hell trooper. The brutish demon from before tosses in a survivor they are carrying before stepping through.
These survivors are being taken to hell to be tortured for eternity. The dead were actually the lucky ones. Finally, the Dark Priest walks to the portal. He stops when he senses someone behind him. It is the only survivor who is staring in horror. But the Dark Priest does nothing.
The survivor notices a bomb set up in the corner of the room. Seeing that the survivor’s fate is inevitable, the Dark Priest spreads his wings and leaps up before flying through the portal.
The portal closes, leaving the survivor alone.
He stares at the bomb as it counts down. Music swells. Finally, the survivor just hangs his head and accepts his face.
Camera fades to white.
Fade in on team image. We are on the new Normandy, an image hung on the wall to commemorate everyone who has served there.
Slowly pan over to Shepard at a desk listening to a recorded message.
Tali: The Geth have begun construction. I’m actually watching my house being built before my eyes. Something that would take weeks will take a few days.
It may be a house, but my home is where my heart is. And my heart will always be with you. I love you. We’ll see each other soon
Camera pans to reveal Garrus standing behind Shepard, listening in.
Shepard: How long have you been standing there?
Garrus: Long enough.
Cuts to Garrus with his hand on Shepard’s shoulder
Garrus: Not too late to join your Quarian princess. Seal the deal on the happy ending.
Shepard: I will. In time. But we both have responsibilities. I need to help Earth rebuild. And she needs to help her people settle down.
Garrus: She seems to be calling a lot lately. And I mean more than your average politically powerful girlfriend should.
Shepard: She’s just worried.
Garrus: We’re all worried Shepard. We thought we lost you. I mean, no one’s ever fought off Reaper indoctrination before. If you didn’t snap out of it when you did, we might not be here.
Cut to Shepard standing.
Shepard: Garrus, I’m fine
Garrus: Well, if you say so. Listen, I’ll be heading back to Palaven soon. I wanted to drop by and say thank you. The whole galaxy owes you a big one.
Shepard: They owe you too. You were with me every step of the way. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Garrus: Sure, you could. Just not with as much style.
Cut to Shepard’s expression.
Garrus: Shepard, is something wrong? It is over, right? I mean, we kicked the reapers back to whatever hellhole they crawled out of. So it’s over, right?
Shepard: I don’t think it is. If I’m right, we have something far worse than reapers to worry about.
Cut to Shepard showing off a holo screen.
Shepard: Before the reaper invasion, back when Cerberus was still looking for a way to fight the reapers…
Garrus: Back when they brought you back from the dead. Yeah, I was there.
Shepard: Back then, they were looking for other ways to fight the reapers. One method was interdimensional travel. Portals to other dimensions. They wanted to use something called Argent Energy to build better ships and weapons. Unfortunately, the only place to get it was from what they believe is Hell. Actual Hell.
Garrus: C’mon, Shepard. That stuff is pure science fiction. You can’t possibly believe that.
Shepard: I didn’t at first. But after the war, the Alliance has been seizing Cerberus bases. And they found the base conducting the research. And just yesterday, it was destroyed.
Cut to Garrus thinking.
Garrus: Any survivors?
Shepard: One. And he says demons came and killed everyone. Demons from hell.
Cut to Shepard’s tired expression.
Shepard: If I’m right about this, this is just the precursor to a full-blown invasion.
Garrus: You know how this sounds. Right on the heels of the reaper invasion another galaxy-ending invasion is coming. And demons from hell of all things. They’ll call it trauma at best and fearmongering at worst.
Shepard: I know. The Council didn’t believe it either.
Cut to Garrus groaning in disbelief.
Garrus: Well, I’ve followed you so far. What’s the hell could go wrong this time? Us facing overwhelming odds with the fate of the galaxy on our hands. Good times all around.
Cut to Shepard and Garrus shaking hands. Best friends in it together.
Garrus: Though, I can’t imagine what anyone can do. Demons from hell. I can’t even believe I’m uttering the words. But you’re saying we have to hold off an invasion from Hell. I know we’ve done the impossible before but there’s no team in the universe that can do that.
Shepard: No team in OUR universe. Truth is I’m not alright. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not sure if I can lead a team right now. But there are other options. Other alternatives. Cerberus wanted to find a solution to the reapers in another dimension. So shall we.
Cut to Shepard handing Garrus a data tablet.
Musical score change.
Garrus: Pretty. We even have matching facial scars.
Shepard: Got this data from Liara. Her name is Ciri. The old Shadow Broker had his eyes on her for a while. According to him, she could jump between dimensions. Even captured her for a bit. But some unknown individual broke her out and they disappeared.
Garrus: So you want to recruit this Ciri?
Shepard: No. If the Shadow Broker’s intel is anything to go by, she’s dead. The one we want is her teacher.
Geralt’s resume appears.
Shepard: Geralt of Rivia. The White Wolf. Butcher of Blaviken. Professional Monster Hunter. A Witcher.
Garrus: Hell of a place to start. I guess if you need someone to protect you from big scary monsters, call a professional monster hunter. What can he do?
Shepard: What can he not do? His techs primitive but that’s easily solved. Master swordsman. Marksman. Even has the ability to cast magic.
Garrus: Magic? You mean biotics.
Shepard: Maybe it’s biotics or something like biotics. But for them, it’s magic. Telekinetic blasts, pyrokinesis, even has the ability to indoctrinate people. His equipment can be upgraded. But his skills are irreplaceable.
Garrus: Hunts dragons, ogres, vampires, I seriously wonder what’s crazier. You. Or the reality where someone like that actually exists.
Shepard: Rumor has it he even beat the Devil in a battle of wits.
Garrus: Gotta wonder what his day to day looks like. Can’t imagine making a living like that. He’s from an era where they still use crossbows and he could still take out maybe a hundred of our men. Can’t imagine how dangerous he’ll be once he gets a kinetic barrier and a gun.
Shepard: Alghouls, leshens, vampires, werewolves, dragons. After this, he can add demons to his list.
Geralt’s resume disappears
Garrus: Ok, who’s next?
Shepard: I got this information from the Turian Councilor.
Garrus: I thought the Council didn’t believe you.
Shepard: They didn’t. But Sparatus asked to meet me in private. He can’t give me Council support. But he did come across something he thought could help me. Some human woman named Accord gave him some data he thought I could use.
2B’s resume appears
Garrus: A synthetic?
Shepard: A synthetic made to kill other synthetics. An anti-android assassin. An inquisitor. An executioner. She’s part of an elite organization known as YoRHa, an army of android super soldiers. And she’s made to kill them.
Garrus: Can she really move faster than light?
Shepard: By this point, just about all their weapons have muzzle velocities near or at light speed. And she brings a sword to a gun fight.
Garrus: Hard light projection. Telekinesis. She just has it all, doesn’t she?
Shepard: A lot of the enemies they fight are either the size of trucks or the size of buildings. Our heavy mechs are nothing but mooks to the YoRHa. And she’s above them in the food chain.
Garrus: Well, there’s a pleasant thought. We just beat a fleet of killer synthetics and now we’re inviting one who would think they’re fodder. Well, we’ve worked with EDI and Legion. How much different could this be?
Shepard: She’ll be an excellent addition to the team.
2B’s resume disappears.
Doom Slayer’s resume appears.
Shepard: Last but not least. When battling Hell, bring the man they fear. The only man they fear. But calling him a mere man might be an insult. He’s so much more. The Umbral Beast. The Bane of Hell. The Doom Slayer.
Garrus: Do we even know exactly what he is?
Shepard: I don’t think anyone knows what he is. Only what he does. He was one of Cerberus’s plans to fight the reapers. Scrapped when they changed their minds. Now, he might be our savior.
Garrus: This guy’s got a hell of an anger problem. I can’t tell who’s crazier. The man who’ll throw away his gun so he can run up to a demon to tear it apart with his bare hands. Or the man who intends to recruit him.
Shepard: I don’t think we have to worry about that. Back when he was just a normal marine, the thing that kick started his new career path was him refusing to fire on civilians. Apparently killed his commanding officer with one punch.
Garrus: The anger problems again, Shepard. And all that before his ascension to godhood.
Shepard: I don’t know what he is now but I know he’ll be on our side. And we’re better off for it. He trapped himself in hell for a thousand years just to wreck the place.
Garrus: I’m being reminded of an old Earth movie quote. Apparently doesn’t even care about size. He’ll use his hands to rip a demon apart even if it’s the size of a house
Screen change
Garrus: You think these three will be enough?
Shepard: They’ll have to be. Our entire universe depends on it.
Cut to dramatic reveal of title card.
