The mutilated body filled the Hive tunnel with the stench of death and decay. As Inquisitor Olm Detritus gazed at it he couldn't help but notice that the body was lacerated with huge tear marks across its chest, the scars exposing the gory innards within. The wounds themselves wept a vile yellow puss that made the smell even more unbearable, and Detritus was close gagging. He bent down to take a closer inspection. This was most irregular.

"So, He's definitely dead then. . ." His companion Gus Neve was staring at the corpse, a rather nonchalant look across his face. Detritus had never seen Neve disturbed by anything he encountered. After 30 years of serving under the Inquisitor and witnessing the untold horrors that face mankind, he had developed a stomach of iron and a cock-sure persona to go with it. Hired from a life of gang violence in the deep hives on Thracian, Neve was a skilled and street-smart individual. Notoriously slick but aggressive in a gunfight he was a bit more than just a stupid hive thug. He possessed brains as well as brawn, one of the reasons Detritus chose to hire him.

"It would seem that way Neve."

"Well whatever killed him sure did mess him up. Couldn't of been a nice way to go." He said matter-of-factly.

Detritus had come to the depths of the Hive tunnels of Monterey after reports that a huge amount of killings were occurring. This was nothing unusual with the Hive gangs around that regularly turned the deep Hive cities into a battlefield. However these reports said that the bodies found had been chillingly mutilated, some even missing hands, arms or heads.

This again, was not unusual in his line of work, Chaos cells and cults often performed ritualistic killings, removing extremities and mutilating corpses. This though . . . was different.

"Your more familiar with hive life than me, is stuff like this common? Mutilation I mean?" Detritus valued the local knowledge his recruits often possessed.

"Sometimes. With some of your more hard-ass gangs who are looking to prove a point. It scares the shit outta your rivals. But not like this, this is to. . ."

"Graphic?" Detritus conjectured

". . . In-human"

He was right. There were no gun wounds or las scorches on the body, ruling out the gangs. Yet the huge tears did seem almost . . . beastly. This was preposterous of course; there was no "beasts" in a hive city.

Yet the thought still nagged away at the back of Detritus's mind.

He rose, wrapping his brown cloak around his body. The temperature in the under hives could be described as piercing at best. He wore a black body glove with a simple light armoured chest piece - Detritus much preferred the freedom of movement to the confinements of thick armour - Yet an insulated power suit would be heavenly now, he thought.

"I better inform Jonas." Detritus said almost himself. He engaged his vox link and got an immediate reply from the Arbites Captain.

"Yes Lord Inquisitor?" He had a gravelly tone of a natural leader. He was a man who had been in charge for a long time and the entire Arbites force of Hive 56 answered to him, yet he still knew to respect the higher authority of an Imperial Inquisitor.

"We've found another body in the under hives. Bring yourself and some officers to our location immediately. I want forensics conducted on the deceased and a report sent to my savant. Understood?"

"Of course sir, I'll have a team sent down right away."

"No, you'll want to see this for yourself captain."

"It's worse than the others?" He asked disbelievingly.

"A lot worse."

There was an uncomfortable pause, and then came the Captains reply.

"I'll be there right away."

"Good. We're going to continue the search."

"Emperor be with you." He replied, as the vox clicked off.

Detritus turned to Neve. He was leaning against the grungy hive wall, smoking an Iho-stick whilst checking his two las-pistols.

"Where to boss?" He queried

"Captain Jonas is on his way, we're heading out."

"You really wanna go crawling through the dark scary hives after some crazy mutilating murderer?" He asked jokingly, a smile playing across his features.

Detritus gazed into the endless darkness of the tunnel before him. An ominous feeling toyed with his nerves.

"An Inquisitors work is never done." He replied

"Well then sir. . ." Neve grinned as he spun his las-pistol round his finger ". . . We best get started."