Blackest Hell

Isabeth opened her eyes, everything in her body felt...still and numb. The sky above had turned black, as she slowly turned her head to the head she noticed bright lights from afar, peering above the snow covered balcony. She breathed a sigh of relief, for she was back in Sentinel Peak. The breathing was painful, getting up off her back even more so. She was resting upon a giant rock, covered with an old blanket for comfort. Isabeth looked around her and saw that every side of the rocky walls were covered in yellow murals of her likeness, depicting her many feats,even if they had been exxagerated slightly. She attempted to get herself on her feet, but collapsed down the side of the rock. It was then that Taskmaster appeared, who rushed over with a bowl by her side. 

"Before you ask, I and Nika came back to find you. Found you at bottom of entrance, bloodied and passed out. Nika got you your trousers and boots, your suit was damaged beyond repair." Taskmaster huffed, the demon peered down into the bowl and saw that it was filled with warm, orange soup. He pressed the rim against her lips, to which she drank its contents. She felt a brush of snow against her hair, looking up she saw Nika and a couple of kids looking down upon them. They had faces of worry for the sentinel.

"What is this...place?" She asked in her daze, wiping her mouth clean of orange residue. She looked down to her body and saw that it was covered in many bloodied bandages, it was clear that the supersoldier had done a number onto her body. Though they would heal eventually it was a chilling reminder of her own mortality. The old man laid the empty bowl by her feet and stood up, Isabeth attempted to stand once again but her strength had not come back yet, as she slumped back.

"This whole place is my shipyard, but here this is place where Nika teaches kids. Forget that, what the hell happened back there?!" Taskmaster was just as shocked it seemed, though the pain was slowly ebbing away it was difficult to speak, but she knew she had to explain.

"I...came across their leader, great evil known as Monarkh. We fought, he...survived." She explained. The old man paced around, his wrinkled finger scratching the rims of his gas mask.

"He and his brethren have weapon, I am not sure of what type but he will end world with it." His eyes widened with terror, he slowly started to walk back to the balcony.

"Then we must go and take the fight to them before they do this, let's go...Luvenka?" He turned back to see Isabeth still sitting down by the rock, her head looking down towards the stony floor. It was the first time in his life that he had seen his friend looking so...forlorn.

"I...cannot, he is too powerful, even I could not defeat him. I have damned world to...blackest hell, all because of my blood and ignorance..." She looked up to see the old man punch as hard as he could on her jaw, it did not affect her but it nearly broke his hand. He clenched his cramped hand as the anger seethed into his words.

"Shut the fuck up, I didn't endure a world war and two rounds of mustard gas to hear that coming from your mouth! You are many things but moping is not one of them, who cares if you accidentally caused this? These people, these goddamn children look up to you with hope in their eyes! They have etched your legend onto these rocks, you are one who stops the monsters, you are sentinel of this land and I am not going to see you give up like that!" Taskmaster knelt down in front of her, the look in his eyes showed that he was determined to see this through.

"Fine! You may have given up, but I will not." The pain had mostly gone away through the demon's legs, there was enough strength for her stand and lift her old friend back up. She was weary of the journey ahead, but was emboldened by his speech.

"No...you are right old friend. I can not give up on my people, on my family. I may have been denied peaceful life, but I will not deny others of that right." Taskmaster breathed a sigh of relief before pulling out his pistol, rusted but still able to fire a round or two.

"I'm coming with you, you are not going to fight this war alone." Isabeth shut her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose.

"You and I may not make it back." She blankly stated.

"Then we will both die fighting the enemy." He responded, prompting a smirk from the demon. The fires of the soldier burned deep from within his aged body, after all these years of demon-killing and warfare the human she knew was still there. She pointed up towards Nika, before walking past him to head back to her home. The faint cries of the hammer bashing against steel could be heard, even from a place like this.

"Fine, stay here and spend time with daughter. It is time to see husband, I must see if he has finished weapon."

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The episode comes towards its end as Isabeth recovers from her battle, feeling hopeless she mopes. This forces Taskmaster to try and raise her spirits!

Enjoy!