Hi again!
Two stories:
1: Don't fight gravity, you'll break a leg. This literally just happened to me. 3 hours ago...
2: I had this chapter ready a week ago, was proof-reading and realized 'this chapter sucks!' So I deleted all 5,000 words. *hearts were broken* This chapter is entirely different from what I intended and therefore, better! Many kudos to Artyom-Dreizehn for their comments which were sources of unintentional inspiration!
Clarifying point: Jorge Lovelock, he has a accent like Velvet, which to me sounds Austrailian. I do hope I'm not wrong. And his first name is pronounced like George, I'm just dumb and went for something unique, forgetting that in Spanish... yeah, you say it differently.
Enjoy!
-=ATTENTION: INQUISITOR VICTUS, HOLY ORDO XENOS=-
-=My dear fellow servant of the Emperor, if what you claim is true, you must bring it to me. Send them to the Segmentum Ultima, Subsector Kastle. There I battle the -=REDACTED=-. Send them to me with all haste, I will verify if what we have waited for has come to pass. %()ShGJEKL $^te... TRANSMISSION ERROR; MESSAGE LOST=-
-=REDACTED=-
Three Weeks Later, Somewhere in the Warp
Ruby's heartbeat was thudding in her ears. With a sonorous beat, her heart thudded like a fleshy drum, forcing oxygen enriched blood through her body. Sweat dripped from her forehead, saturating her eyebrows and running down into her eyes. Her arms burned and her legs throbbed, but an eager smile remained on her face.
Her opponent was as ragged herself. Their chest pumped up and down in an effort to force oxygen in and carbon-dioxide out. An unsightly grimace showed white teeth as a quiet growl escaped Samantha Grandy.
With a blur, Grandy burst forward, a quick punch made for Ruby's face with her right arm. Twisting her head around to avoid the blow, Ruby stepped in towards Grandy and gripped the extended arm. Bringing her right leg up she placed it against Grandy's side and flung her left leg up to Grandy's head. Ruby flexed her legs and pulled with her arms, she forced Grandy off balance. Grandy was pulled from her feet and thrown to the ground, her body trapped underneath Ruby's legs and her arm pulled out tightly.
Still simultaneously pushing with her legs and pulling with her arms, Grandy's arm was left trying to extend far beyond what was intended for the human arm. She grunted and growled, trying as she might to pull herself free, only for Ruby to pull harder. With a final shout of pain and frustration, Grandy tapped twice on Ruby's leg, signaling a forfeit.
Immediately, Ruby released her the arm-bar and Grandy rolled away, rubbing her hyperextended elbow. Ruby stood, still gasping for air and extended a hand graciously, "Good match!" She said to Grandy. The opposite female viewed the hand with disgust, before turning and walking to the bench. "Oooookay, never mind." She withdrew her snuffed hand, and rubbed it on her fatigues she had been 'gifted' to dry her hand.
Walking after Grandy to the bench where the rest of the squad, correction, her squad sat, she grabbed a water bottle and drank deeply of the stale liquid. Grimacing at the metallic recycled taste of the warm water, she looked around the training area. Guardsmen crowded the practice mats around her, filling the air with grunts and the smell of sweat as Close-Quarters-Combat drills ran incessantly. Sergeants bellowed orders as men and women jogged in formation around the massive room Ruby had come to call the 'Pain Room'.
An accented voice came from behind, "That was pretty good love, where'd you learn to grapple like that?" Ruby turned to see Lovelock, his own shirt darkened with sweat, clambering over the bench and sitting down next to her. Trunks peeked around the tall Cadian and silently asked the same question with his cocked eyebrow.
"My sister, Yang. She was the best brawler I've ever met. She could beat anybody in a fist fight!" Ruby smiled as she thought of her sister. "She started teaching me a few years ago just in case I ever found myself weaponless. I never could beat her though." Her lips quirked to the side in a frown. "I miss her."
"What happened?"
"I don't really know," Ruby said, "I'm hoping that I'll find her someday."
"Well, we'll help you as best we can!" Said the enthusiastic Trunks, "Emperor knows how many planets we'll visit. Maybe we'll find her." Ruby smiled appreciatively at the Trooper's words, still willing to believe she would find her sister eventually.
"Oh, and how's the arm?" Lovelock asked. "It's good to see you out of all those bandages."
"Oh, you have no idea! They itched like crazy! But so far..." Ruby stretched the limb out and flexed her fingers into a tight fist. Angry scars stretched down the length of her forearm front and back. "Surprisingly good, but it clicks when I stretch my fingers." She stretched her fingers out, feeling the inaudible click. "It doesn't hurt, but it's weird."
"Did you tell them?"
"Yeah, they said they had to use bionics to repair the tendons and it's pretty common for weird things to happen."
"You're pretty lucky then," Said Lovelock, "They usually don't use bionics unless they feel you are," He raised his hands and made quotations marks with his fingers, "'worth it.'"
"Oh." She said simply and rubbed her repaired arm. She felt very self-conscious that anyone would consider her 'better' than anyone else.
Coming to ruin Ruby's day, was her current least favorite person, Cade. He had, over the past several weeks proven that his usually sarcastic and laid back demeanor could be put aside in favor of a true disciplinarian. Ruby preferred the casual Cade. But this time, he came with an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Merith was walking side by side with Cade, deep in conversation with him.
"Merith!" Ruby shouted, jumping to her feet and crashing into the blonde woman, wrapping her arms around her tightly. "I've tried to find you but they wouldn't let me see you!"
Merith returned Ruby's hug sincerely, "Sorry dear, I needed the time… But when I heard you joined, I couldn't leave you alone out there."
Ruby pulled away and looked her quizzically. Cade proceeded to explain for Merith, "The Hospitallers seemed to think Merith here had what it took to be a medic. They are going to give her a little training and our squad," The way he said squad made it very clear that it wasn't the squad as a whole he was thinking of, "needed one. Let's say I called in a few favors."
Ruby got the unspoken message. Cade had brought Merith here for Ruby's sake. He would have done so no matter if Merith was a highly sought after medic or not. Immensely grateful and touched by his actions, Ruby looked at the ground and scuffed her boot back and forth. "Thanks Cade." She peeked up between her red bangs to see him smiling. Not the crooked smile that he wore constantly, but a real smile. Come to think of it, Ruby was certain it was the first time he had really smiled.
Catching her silver irises watching him behind her hair, he coughed awkwardly. "That's Sergeant to you Skirts!" His smile was gone, dropping to the bastard hybrid of smile and smirk. Turning, he shouted out to his squad, "Let's go boys and girls, we have a delightful jog ahead of us!" His words were met with five, now six including Merith, simultaneous groans from the squad. "Look on the bright side, it's weapons training afterwards!"
This time, four groans and a delighted squeal answered him. One other reaction went unnoticed, Samantha Grandy twitched in anticipation.
Samantha Grandy had found the wrong calling in life. At first glance she appeared to have the perfect build and mental status to have been a Commissar. At nearly 183 centimeters, she would be a giant in many societies, save for Cadia where she was of an average height. What made her stand out though was a well-toned and rather intimidating muscular structure. Sam Grandy would put many trained guardsmen to shame with sheer strength alone. Add to this her closely shaved head, violet eyes and rather defined yet feminine jaw, she cut a piercing figure. Samantha had one significant flaw however, she was one who lived perpetually dancing with insanity.
Born on Cadia, deep within the Fortress-Kasrs, to a mother that didn't want her, and a father that didn't even know she was conceived. At a young age, barely able to speak full sentences, she was abandoned to wander through the sewers. Nameless and alone, in the muck and grime she scrounged for food, finding only that which was considered tainted and inedible by any sane person.
She ate it anyway.
When she was ten, she had her first kill. Another young girl in her early teens with an extra hand jutting from her right wrist, came upon Samantha and her freshly caught rat. The mutant girl had demanded the rat and, when she was refused, attacked. Here both girls learned that a rock served as an excellent bludgeon, facilitating the mutant girl's untimely end.
Age twelve she killed her second and third, one after the other. The two were twin brothers a few years older than her. They had found Samantha, taken her in and called her friend. One appeared completely normal, the other had small horns on his head. At the time she didn't mind, she was desperate for friends, for conversation beyond grunts and growls.
She was to be sorely disappointed in her choice of friends.
After the two had decided their little female friend owed them a little more for their 'friendship.' They made licentious advances on her, demanding far more than they would ever deserve. She refused them and they grew angry and tried to take it by force. They never succeeded, and two more corpses soon littered the sewers of the uncaring Kasr.
Sam found at this moment, staring at the two corpses of false-friends, that she had found an undeniable pleasure in what she had done. The blood pooling around the horned brother's head brought her incredible satisfaction. Seeing this, mutant, lying under her feet she found a justification. She found a scapegoat to blame for her terrible life. Mutants.
Words spilled had spilled forth from her mouth as she stared at the corpses, "Filthy mutants, you'll all die." This was said flatly without rage or passion. It was to her a s statement of fact.
She nurtured and developed this mantra of hatred and bigotry, delving deeper and deeper into an insanity that the greater Imperium would have lauded. No mutant was good, no mutant was human.
The crux of her actions also led to her salvation. Finding a small hovel of mutants, sleeping and simply attempting to live a disgraced and tortured life, she butchered them in their sleep. Dragging their bodies outside she had stacked them like cordwood, poured promethium on them and whistled a merry tune as she struck a match.
As the bodies burned and the stench of cooking flesh overwhelmed the senses, a group of Whiteshields, Cadian conscripts all about her age of thirteen, were drawn like moths to the grotesque bonfire she had created. They stayed away from the feral teen who cautiously attempted to approach them, hoping against hope that these strangers would accept her. Among the conscripts, none would approach her, but a young lieutenant named Mira Grandy, the officer of this child army, saw a willing soldier. Someone who was bred to fight from her very birth.
Excellent guardswoman material indeed.
Lieutenant Grandy approached her slowly, "Little one, what's your name?" The as of yet unnamed child stood with the posture of one who was unafraid, her face lit by the still-burning corpses. Despite her stance of fearlessness, apprehension shimmered in her eyes. She didn't answer, but merely shook her head and shrugged. "You don't have one?" Another shake of the head. "Can I call you Samantha?" The officer asked, to which she received a tentative nod. Smiling, the officer held out her hand, and Samantha slowly reached out and grasped the proffered hand.
Smiling, the young lieutenant gently shook her hand. "Hello Samantha, I'm Mira, would you like to come with us?" Barely willing to believe, Samantha nodded, and followed the officer back to her troop.
She found a home, a band that at first feared her, and then accepted her, but she never truly had friends. She never forgot the detestable brothers that had first 'befriended' her, and thus refused all attempts of friendship. But she was clothed, fed, named and killing mutants daily. She was content. As time went on, she moved from squad to squad in the Whiteshields, following her adoptive officer mother and taking her name, becoming Samantha Grandy.
Finally, upon her eighteenth birthday, she left her Whiteshield band behind and joined the Guard. And as fate would have it, she found Cade, a non-judgmental Corporal who she connected to. Excluding her adoptive mother, this was a first that she actually let someone in her personal life. She told herself that it wasn't romantic, but at least someone she would consider, after all this time, a friend.
Others came and went, a band of brothers to heal her scarred soul and mind. Here, her childhood insanity was fading. Mutants were perhaps merely just unlucky like she was. Maybe they weren't all evil. Maybe...
Then a red-headed stranger entered her life and turned it all upside down.
For some reason, this Ruby Rose brought an emotion to the fore that she couldn't understand. A more sensible person would recognize this emotion quite readily. Samantha Grandy was jealous. She saw the way the other troopers like Bearings and Trunks looked at Ruby. A way that they never looked at Samantha. Something was pulling her friends away. Something was wrong. The insanity, so long lying dormant, began to feed.
As she sparred with the much smaller human, Samantha had thought that beating this girl would perhaps restore order. The others would see Sam as the stronger person, the better person. So, when she was thrown to the ground and left at Ruby's mercy, something snapped in Samantha's fragile mind. This Ruby she considered, must not be human. Something was wrong with her. She must be a… Mutant. So, when they approached the armory for weapons training, she saw her opportunity to save her friends from this mutant in disguise. As Cade retrieved ammunition for his new recruits, several magazines fell to the floor.
Now was her chance.
It was common practice on the Distant Hand to keep all munitions stored safely within the armoury. This was a decree by the officers of the Imperial Navy aboard the Distant Hand to prevent 'accidents' occurring between the Guard and Navy, who didn't always see each other as allies. All actual firearms were permitted for the guardsmen to keep with themselves. After all, a guardsman without a rifle is not a Guardsman at all. However, nothing ever said they were required to have ammunition on them at all times.
As such, Ruby's first experience firing the M36 Kantrael Pattern Lasrifle came several weeks after her official induction into the Guard. Cade decided to take things a step further and have a set of flak armour provided to her, then have her train in the armour. It was confirmed, Ruby really didn't like this side of Cade.
"This is so bulky!" She moaned, trying in vain to convince Cade to let her go without it. "I'm telling you, I don't need it!"
Cade smirked and punched her in the armoured shoulder, knocking her off balance, "Aw, is little Skirts upset she can't just go into a war-zone in a skirt?"
Catching herself before she fell, she glared at him, "Cade, do you want to die today?" If looks could kill, Cade would have been blown halfway to Terra by piercing silver lasers.
Cade sniggered but ignored her death-stare. "Tell you what Skirts, if you wear it, I'll wear mine. Deal?" Her glare continued, but she nodded. "Great, but I blame all of my future complaining on you."
Leaving Ruby behind to struggle in the unfamiliar armour, Cade went to retrieve his own flak vest, and was met with Trunks. "Sarge, I thought you didn't have to wear that." Trunks pointed to Cade's vest as he grabbed it from the storage unit.
Tapping the vest with his fingers, Cade answered, "Well I may not have been entirely honest." Trunks scoffed at this. "Anyway, I had a run in with our dear Commissar Faulkner." Cade flicked his eyes up from the vest in his hands to see Trunks' look of mortification. "Yeah, awkward I know. He said something along the following." Putting down the vest he was holding, he put on his best Commissar Faulkner impersonation. Grasping his uniform collar in mimicry of the greatcoats the Commissars universally wore, he said with a deep voice, "Sergeant Blackshire, next time I see you, I'm shooting you. With or without armor."
Trunks snorted with laughter, "No way!"
Cade joined him in laughter, "Yeah, so here I am. But uh, don't tell Skirts this. If she asks, I'm wearing it because she has to."
Trunks adopted smirk that made Cade proud and tapped the side of his nose knowingly. "Sure thing Boss."
Turning back to face the Gunnery Sergeant dispensing supplies, Cade retrieved several lasgun charge packs and autopistol magazines and dumped them in an ammunition bucket. Several cluttered against the lip before bouncing to the floor. Before he could even swear, let alone stoop to gather them, Grandy was there. "Let me get those Sarge." She said, tossing the ammunition into the bucket. Muttering his thanks to Grandy, he grabbed the bucket and his flak vest and made his way back to Ruby, who was now helping Merith adjust her armor.
He never noticed Grandy pocket a single wayward magazine.
It was towards the end of the 'day' according to the ship chronometer as Ruby sat alone in the barracks. Despite the 744th Regiment merging with the 555th Armoured to bolster numbers, they still didn't have enough men to fill Ruby's barracks. Frankly, she was okay with that. She appreciated the moments she could find herself alone as they were becoming a precious and rare commodity. Dinner time was one of those such moments where nearly everyone left and Rub was left to her own devices. The only other occupant of the room was Grandy, who was sleeping fitfully half a room away.
Ruby sat at a sturdy but worn metal desk, deep scratches were cut into the metal, including names and other indecipherable pictograms. Before her lay Crescent Rose but sadly, it was not the focus of her attention. Her whole mechanically inclined mind was focused on the archaic lasgun before her. When had fired it for the first time that day and already noticed terrible issues with the weapons construction. Outwardly, it was strong and sturdy, it could be used as a club and still maintain its function. However, something internal was wrong. Essentially, what she had expected to have excellent penetrating power and enough photonic energy to cut through metal, was precisely the opposite. In Ruby's critical opinion, the lasgun was more akin to an angry flashlight than a weapon.
With her tools laid out beside her she cracked the housing of the weapon and peered inside seeing at first glance exactly what she expected. Focusing lenses were aligned and clear of debris, the anodes and cathodes leading from the charge pack well were connected properly. Perhaps, she mused, it had something to do with the focusing crystal.
She pulled out a pair of small tweezers and gently observed the crystal. Here she found that it was placed incorrectly, causing highly energized photons in some areas to focus properly and in others to be directed elsewhere, reducing efficiency. Gently, she prodded and shifted the small crystal. She stuck her tongue out as she worked, focusing intently as to avoid damaging the delicate instrument. She enthralled was she that she failed to notice someone calling her name. Then, a hand brushed her shoulder.
"GAH!" She screamed, jumping up and throwing the tweezers up towards the ceiling.
"Sorry Ruby!" said Merith, "I didn't mean to scare you."
Slowing her now raging heart, she sat back down, "I think I just lost five years of my life." She held her hand over her heart and exhaled, "Just say my name next time okay?"
"I did… six times."
"Oh… Sorry?" Ruby shrugged apologetically before leaning back in her chair and brushing her hair from her eyes. "Why aren't you at dinner?"
"I'm not hungry." Merith's stomach rumbled at that very moment, exposing her lie.
Ruby smiled at the comedic timing and raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Oh really?"
Merith had the decency to look embarrassed before she continued. "Okay, fine. I was hoping I might find you here." Ruby noticed she looked rather nervous as she kept grabbing strands of her blonde hair and twisting them into knots. "I need to ask you something in private." She flicked her eyes over to the sleeping Grandy.
Ruby waved her off, "Oh don't worry about her, she could sleep through stampede of Goliaths."
"Goliaths?"
"Oh uh…. Never mind." She chuckled at the slip of her tongue. "You had a question?"
Merith inhaled deeply, "Okay, are you… a psyker?" She spit the last word out as if it was the most vile of words.
Both women were unaware that Grandy went from tossing fitfully to laying very still.
"Bless you." Said Ruby.
Merith's expression shifted to irritation, "No, I'm serious, are you?"
Ruby was honestly confused, having never heard of a psyker before. "I don't think so." She said innocently, "What's a psyker anyway, and..." She stood from her desk and walked past Merith to retrieve her tweezers which had done their best to be a hypersonic projectile. Stooping she felt along the ground for them, "Why do you ask?"
"I uh… don't really know how to explain it. I've never met one." Merith said, somewhat disarmed by the innocent disregard Ruby had for the seriousness of the topic. "They can use sorceries, mind-magic and the like."
Ruby stopped searching for her tweezers and sat on her heels, "Like wizards?!" she said, eyes wide and excited.
"Wiz… What? No, they are really dangerous, just…" Merith sighed at the difficulty of explaining something she didn't fully understand. "Holy Emperor this is hard to explain!" She huffed with frustration. "Back on Teitam when…" her voice cracked slightly and she stopped to clear her throat, "When you were protecting us, you seemed to move so fast. And rose petals followed you everywhere. How? Why?"
Ruby slid back from her heels and sat on the floor, bringing her legs up to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she exhaled loudly. "I was wondering when this would come up. I'm not a psychic person or wizard, or anything like that." She looked up at Merith. "I guess I would say I'm…" She stopped, tapping her chin against her knee as she thought of the right word. "Different."
They sat there in silence for several moments. Merith, showing uncharacteristic impatience, gestured for her to continue, "Sorry, give me a minute to think of how to best explain this." Said Ruby, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against her knees.
This left her blind to the actions of a certain individual who had been listening intently. The first notice Ruby or Merith received that Grandy was awake and mobile, was not the most welcoming of noises. A metallic shick-tack of a weapon being loaded echoed throughout the barracks. The attention of the pair shifted to a rather unexpected sight; Samantha Grandy, a maniacal grin on her face, pointing an autopistol straight at Ruby. "Hello little mutant!"
No, I didn't intend another cliff-hangar. It just worked out that way.
I wanted to fit more information in about the weapons and Ruby interacting with them but it just felt too forced, so I didn't add to much of it to this chapter.
Youtube 'flying armbar,' it's what Ruby does in the very beginning of the chapter.
Good news though, I have the outline for the next 5 chapters or so ready. Should be easy for the near future to get these out more frequently like I would like to. (Except Dawn of War 3 comes out this week. I may be distracted.)
Anything else? Oh! Quit asking for spoilers! I won't give 'em! But I appreciate that you are so curious, it makes me happy.