Okay, time for the fight chapter full of death. It's split into two parts, the Underground infiltration and the events at the arena proper. Don't really know what else to say about it except that it more or less tear apart the Equalist but not the Chaos so you can expect major difference with the show on that point for the future. Next chapter will be more manipulation, indoctrination and other typical Inquisitioral behaviors. There will also be more obstacle against them from outside of Republic City. Oh, and a diner/party on the Air Temple Island.
Aznxa21: Happy that you like it. Hey, not that I don't appreciate your comments but I am a little puzzled by them and how positive they are. I think my story break several of the rules for a good fanfic on your profile like overpowered OC, the MC not being present a lot and lightly criticized, Kali switch in personality and me still following the canon.
Wolfund: Yep. J'hésite encore à savoir si les combats de gladiateurs devraient être un sport populaire dans l'Underground ou s'ils préféreraient la lutte. Ou peut-être un mélange des deux?
OBSERVER01: Thanks.
Haruka Kasumi: She is going to eat him alive. ;)Simpli: I kid you not, I added this line five minutes before posting the : Hope you like this one. Though the confrontation between Kali and Amon is kinda less flashy and long than it was in the : Glad you liked it. Effectively, english is not my native language. Also, yes, more light Kali/Korra interaction in the following chapter and a touch more humor.High GothicLow Gothic
Thoughts
Still really open to review and I hope you have a great time reading.
Thank to DeathAdder47117 for the correction.
Thought for the Day: We are beset by many terrible foes in these dark times, but we walk in the light of the Emperor, and we shall not let a single foe stay us from our duty. We are the Sisters of the great Ecclesiarchy, and we will fight to the bitter end. Canoness Palmiro of the Order of the Ebon Chalice
Inquisitor Kali reflection: I always appreciated Palmiro, even if our views didn't always aligned, and her capacity to follow through her own words. She is a great leader to have at your side, even if her tendency to charge into the hearth of the enemy formation needs a little time to adapt to. She always know what to say to inspire even the lowest hive gang scum to sacrifice his life to the Emperor. Also, she has a great ass, even if she don't realize it.
Inquisitorial fortress – Private chapel – After the events of the Pro-bending arena
It was Kali herself who had directed the construction of this little chapel. Far from the extravagant one in the center of the fortress destined to all which was covered in gold, skulls, precious gems, grandiose statues and paintings, this one was even more beautiful. All of the walls were engraved with intricate patterns of crystals, forming a never ending mosaic. The benches were made of the finest wood, the paintings on the wall the most refined and marvellous possible. And, facing all who entered from its place at the end of the small room was the life sized statue of Sanguinius. Gently smiling, it seemed to radiate warmth and purity, candlelight reflecting from his golden armor and illuminating the entire room.
Sitting at one of the benches, her clothes still coated with blood and dirt, Lilith was slowly smoking her last lho-stick. The numerous burned remains, tiny pile of ashes and the slight cloud of smoke over her were all that remained of the dozen others. She was lost in her thoughts, so much that she didn't noticed Kali's presence until she sat beside her.
"Troubling thoughts?"
"I... n..." She caught herself just in time. Lying to Kali was never a good idea, even innocently. "Yes."
"I see."
"It's just that... I... I know that the people I killed tonight were cultists but... it's just..."
'Dammit, why do I always feel bad after.'
Beside her, Kali sighed.
"How many people do you think I have killed?"
"Is that supposed to make me feel better by comparison?"
Kali smiled. "Just answer the question."
"I don't know. A thousand, two thousand?"
"Two planets."
"...What?"
"I, me Kali, personally ordered the complete annihilation of the population of two planets. The first was an Industrial age planet on border space and the other... the other was my homeworld. Together, it is roughly 73 billion people that died by my order."
Lilith was speechless. "... How..."
"How could I order something like that? For the same reason I fight every day, for the same reason I bury in some dark corner of my head the voice that talks to me about all the sons, daughters, husbands, wives, aunts, cousins, boyfriends and girlfriends that I personally killed, for the same reason I killed your innocence and taught you how to kill. There is a lesson all people in the Imperium learn soon, the words of a great sage: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. My family, my life, my mind, my innocence, they are the few that have been sacrificed in order for the many to be saved. These acts of inexcusable slaughter, the complete destruction of my own world, I would repeat them, I would murder my entire family once more and kill myself in the most gruesome way without a word if it meant that Humanity was free from the taint of chaos just a little longer."
.
"Make no mistake Lilith, those men and women you killed tonight were drawn to the Chaos for very human reasons; the need to live, to invent, the fear of dying, of change, the desire to be adulated, for change, a drive to excel in their talents. All very human reasons. They were humans, with feelings and dreams and a life."
That really didn't helped Lilith mood.
"Yet, they were also murderers, rapists and psychopaths... Tonight by ending their lives you saved countless others. By making this sacrifice of the few you saved many. And it is in this very act that one can see the difference between those who truly defend humanity and the others. The cold calculation, the iron will needed to accomplish the act, the determination to let nothing stop you from protecting Humanity, those are the characteristics of a true member of the Inquisition. We are defenders of Humanity, not of individuals, but all of it. We owe no loyalty to nations, ideals, planets or factions, only to the Emperor's dream. And for that to happen, for the rest of humanity to one day be happy and free, we must sacrifice ourselves without recognition nor honor. That, Lilith, is the reason why you killed those people tonight. I leave you the decision if it is a good one or not."
And with that, she left Lilith.
"Also, you should really get to the infirmary. Your back's not gonna heal on its own."
Lilith's room – One day later
Reading Imperial historical textbook, one realise that The Imperium's history is one of unthinkable fear and despair and death in billions, of indifference and of burned world forgotten by all. And yet, it is also a long history of boundless courage and bravery, of countless hero. Not shinning or even good hero though. In the dark future of humanity, the good is only a hollow word. A shining hero with no flaw is one who has never faced true opposition or sacrifice. What the Imperium has are defenders who have been born in blood and baptized in the fires of war. And when pure hero angsts and brood, cry and protest, and scream as they want; a defender of the Imperium shuts up, looks ahead, strengthens his mind and charges with fury right into the jaws of hell. In the grim darkness of the future, there are only survivors and countless tales of defenders, from the lowliest guardsman who died in a dark forest fighting against untold horrors to the lone space marine charging against a daemonic host., and as such, also the greatest history of courage and determination that ever lived. Because in the dark and grim future of humanity, only those with the will to survive; do.
Espace
Lilith lifted her pen, rereading one last time the ink words of high gothic before closing the leather journal. That would be a good introduction for it. She pushed it aside and brought forth the typewriter.
"So, last night's report..."
Republic city – 6th district – Just outside the Papas grocery Equalist front – Pro-bending Final night
Lilith and Celestine exited the car and made a diagonal line toward the small grocery, passing through the empty street. From behind his counter, the clerk was surprised by the cling of the bell over the door. Now who could that be at this hour, all of the others should already be here? He raised his head toward it just in time to catch a glimpse of a dark coat before feeling the pain of metal being jammed into his flesh. Two tiny daggers jammed themselves into his throat, preventing him from even screaming, while two others pinned him to the desk through his wrists. The pain was excruciating, especially since the blade stuck into his hands were slowly twisting but it was almost nothing compared to what happened next. A little girl jumped onto the counter, probably not even older than his own, and put her hand on his eyes. It was as if someone had suddenly pored molten gold into his brain and was picking the inside with rusty hooks. He saw flashes of light that burned his eyes, bursts of sound that pierced his eardrums, he felt cold and hot and then, as fast as it had come, everything disappeared. There was only black, an infinite blackness, and the laughing of monsters.
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The man fell back on his chair as Celest finished wrecking his mind, death by subarachnoid haemorrhage. The blade left his corpse and went back to hover around Lilith.
"So?"
"Five men behind a hidden door. A single alarm button. Then a long staircase. Lots of people down there but he didn't know how much exactly. Maybe a couple of hundred."
"Hmm." She drew her sword. "Let's get started then."
The two girls positioned themselves on each side of the sliding panel. Behind it, Celest could feel the minds of five men. Four at ease, heaps of distracted thoughts and playing or observing a game of Pai Sho. The last one was more focused and weary, it would be the first to die. With a push of telekinetic power, Lilith pushed on the button under the desk of the deceased clerk and opened the door to the guard room. The inside was cramped, some three by four meter room that was made even smaller by the Pai Sho table and the chairs.
"Hey Nalo, what's going on?"
The only man taking his job seriously and holding a weapon said. A second before having two damaskin kineblades pass through his eyes and into his brain. The four others were stunned for a moment, observing the falling body of their friend slowly arching through the air, bleeding over them before crashing down on the table, sending small pucks flying all over the room. Then they reacted, but it was already too late as Celest and Lilith were on them. Eight seconds later, the room had four more dead bodies lying on the ground amongst the broken remains of the table and chairs and not once had they had the chance to start the alarm.
Cleaning her weapons on the dead men's clothes with a flick of will, Lilith made her way to the alarm and ripped it open while at the same time closing the door.
"Have we been spotted?"
She asked to a Celestine currently trapping the bodies with explosives.
"No." Her senses were largely blocked by the heavy wall but no mind seemed to be in panic as far as she knew.
"Then let's go."
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The cultists' complex was more a succession of tight tunnels, sewer canals sometimes still active, maintenance rooms, old forgotten construction projects, sealed off basements and a lot of places the two girls couldn't put a name on. Most of it was dimly lit, if at all, by old yellow lightbulbs or small fires set inside rusty barrels. Its inhabitants were wild dogs fighting each other for the pieces of scrap meat thrown away by the humans or banding together in order to get more lively flesh, big and vicious rats that travelled in screeching swarms that could eat a corpse in a matter of minutes or, if angered, rip off the flesh of a human's leg, cockroaches that infested the walls and the trash piles, big bloated bugs and, finally, humans. Sometimes in small groups, sometimes in bands, never alone, the humans living there were as corrupted as their surroundings. Men or women, it didn't really matter here. The law was power down here, be it between the various groups or amongst themselves.
Of course, it wasn't just anarchy down there. Some places had obviously been depots or chambers or other such thing any large group of people living somewhere for a long amount of time. There was a clear sign of some sort of society in place here, a little like a large military/barbarian camp. After all, like a great sage once said: if chaos was just a 'nail a baby to your helmet' kind of society, it would have collapsed on itself in under a week.
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As Celest and Lilith made their way through the tunnels, the faint sound of their footsteps sometimes covered by a scream more or less distant, they passed by visible signs of human encampment that had left in a hurry or at least recently. Burned food, backpacks, shivs, dead bodies only half tortured. What wasn't missing though were the chaotic drawings on the wall, carved in blood or with tools were eight-pointed stars, curved six, rough eight, decaying seven, intriguing nine and other symbols only the twisted mind of a cultist could produce adorned the walls. Lilith could feel a slight sickness each time her eyes brushed over one.
'Dammit. If we ever took back this place we will have to blow up everything.'
That was the thought she was passing through her head just before the floor under her began to creak loudly. She stopped moving but the creaking didn't stop, now accompanied by some cracking. They were currently walking inside a large pipe and it appeared that this pipe had some other pipes going down along it. That's a lot of pipes. The important thing here was that the holes on the floor had been covered by planks, planks which had then been left to slowly rot as it was covered in shit and had apparently decided that the perfect moment to break away was this one, with Lilith on it.
"Ah dammit."
With a last crack, the floor broke down and the Interrogator in training disappeared down the black pit.
Lilith tumbled in the dark, smashing against the dirty side of the pipes. Her helmet and flak coat did manage to cushion some of the impact damage but it still meant she was bruised when she crash landed on top of a table, smashing it in two.
"Aouch! Shit!"
She raised her head, still a little stunned, and met the eyes of an understandably surprised woman and her companions.
They had been in the middle of enjoying a particularly good meal prepared by Anjum, enjoying the high her special spices gave them, when this form had crashed and crushed the table, ruining the dinner. Now that was pretty impolite and a good reason to be angry. When this person was also wearing the aquila and a wicked looking sword, it was a pretty good reason to be afraid. Anjum didn't like fighting, nor did she consider herself a bad person. At first, she was only someone who enjoyed food, good food, food with spices and colors and flavours. Then someone had introduced her to some strange ingredients that could give her cooking incomparable savours. They sent her mind into vivid dreams or made her feel like she was eating a volcano. From there, she had finally landed underground, always looking for better ingredients and the next high. And of course, other people to enjoy it with. So, maybe, just maybe there was a way for all of this to not end in violence. Anjum opened her mouth.
"Uhm..."
"Die!"
The man to her right screamed at the top of his lungs, swinging a rusty pipe. His eyes were red and wild, a sure sign of riding one of her highs, the bad way.
The man charged and Lilith jumped into action. She parried the man's amateurish swing with the back of her sword and replied in kind by drawing her dagger and sticking it into his belly through his right kidney and removing it once it had slashed the left kidney. Then another woman tried to attack her from behind only for four flying blades to pin her to the ground. Through her heart and throat of course. Almost at the same time, a man on her left drew a crude shotgun and took aim. She jumped back, barely avoiding the cloud of lead. He tried to shoot again only to find that his finger had been cut. And of course, he began screaming, a mix of pain and fear, before Lilith silenced him forever with a slash to the throat. Another spin placed Lilith in front of the last woman cultist, ready to send her back to the warp, only to find her slouched on the ground with a hand over the large bleeding hole in her chest, slowly dying. Oh yeah, the shotgun shot. Anyway, with one swipe of her sword she decapitated her.
"Shit, where am I now?"
She was in another indistinct tunnel with food rest and bodies scattered on the ground. Great.
'Celest, can you hear me?'
She slightly opened her mind to external influences, waiting for the feel of the young psyker's mind. She did not have to wait for long.
'Lilith, are you okay?'
'Yeah. I got lucky and fell into the middle of a group of incompetent chaotics. Can you re-join me?'
'Through the pipe?'
'...Yes.'
There was a pause as her mind disconnected. Less than a minute later, loud banging began to come from the hole over Lilith. Slowly and through layers of shit, Celest crawled down to Lilith's level.
"We're really gonna need a shower after this."
The young girl landed beside Lilith.
"How many fuel tanks do you have?"
"Three. Why?"
"Something monstrous will come. Soon. We're going to need those. Keep them."
Lilith simply nodded. From time to time, Celest simply knew things. Unfortunately, Kali had no talent on this discipline and could not help her develop this ability. Meaning that even in the best case, after long hours of meditation and prayers, she could only get a vague impression of what was going to happen sometime in the next week. In any case, it was particularly worrying. What kind of threat required four full clips of promethium.
"Okay. Let's continue then."
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The duo continued their exploration of the Equalist complex. Doing their best to avoid the now much more frequent groups of cultists walking along the tunnels. These ones had a more military look, bearing weapons and scraps of light flak armor, having something that looked like a sergeant and maybe patrolling. Nice, that meant they were going the right direction. Actually, the only way to be more right would be if there was an increasing number of bodies and blood in their way. It was around this time they began to hear the sound of heavy machinery down the corridors accompanied by heavy heat. With each step they took the temperature rose, soon to near unbearable levels, and they began to discern the screams amongst the sound of metal pounding against metal, hard riveting and drilling.
"Hot as hell."
It was hard and they had to kill two sentries but they managed to sneak onto some shadowy catwalk hidden by the fumes from the vast furnaces under it. There was actually a whole factory expanding under them, filled with workers sweating under the whips of their corrupted overseers. They assembled large machines of war, bipedal monstrosities of steel and bronze that stood twice as high as a man with large clawed hands, blades the size of a forearm, long spikes seemed to be bursting outward from the armor, threatening and ready to be adorned with the skulls of the fallen. The workers were pouring their blood and tears into their work, literally. Even those working hard were not safe from the whip and fist of their overseers. Their blood, sweat and tears fell down onto the bronze, evaporating the moment it touched the burning bronze or encrusting themselves on the repulsive and angering runes that were engraved upon the metal. There were many of the monstrosities being built by the workers, twenty at the moment but many more had probably been constructed if the railroad and large metal boxes at one end was any indication.
"Holy shit. What the hell is that?"
"Machines."
"Very funny."
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They spent some time hidden on the catwalk, taking pictures of the place, important looking people, structural weaknesses, signs on the storage boxes, etc. Until they both felt the wave of raw power at the edge of their minds. It wasn't targeted at them or anything, simply the effect of a powerful psyker being relatively near them. He was not discreet, a small man in blue robes walking with a long staff dedicated to the eternal plotter and patron of annoying last words, Tzeentch. Lilith took a picture of him and his retinue of bodyguards and bound sacrifices being dragged behind him. Some of the poor men and women were nothing but walking corpses, some unconscious and being painfully dragged on the ground by the living.
"Damn, where'd this guy's come from?" She turned toward Celest. "Any ide..."
The girl was curled up, balancing herself back and forth, eyes tightly shut.
"Celest, what's going on?"
She kneeled beside the shocked girl, wrapping an arm around her.
"The man with the eyes like pools of black. He walks, yet is empty. He watches and sees things that are not meant to be seen and laughs and laughs and laughs and all we can do is cry."
'Ah shit, it's like the first days. We don't need this now.'
She grabbed the head of Celest, forcing her eyes open.
"Celestine, repeat after me."
A spiritu dominatus,
Domine, libra nos,
From the lighting and the tempest,
Our Emperor, deliver us.
From plague, temptation and war,
Our Emperor, deliver us,
From the scourge of the Kraken,
Our Emperor, deliver us.
From the blasphemy of the Fallen,
Our Emperor, deliver us,
From the begetting of daemons,
Our Emperor, deliver us,
From the curse of the mutant,
Our Emperor, deliver us,
A morte perpetua,
Domine, libra nos.
That thou wouldst bring them only death,
That thou shouldst spare none,
That thou shouldst pardon none
We beseech thee, destroy them."
With each word, Celest's shaking calmed down and her eyes became more focused until she began repeating Lilith's prayers. Her breathing returned to normal, she stop balancing and the wall around her mind came back.
"Feeling okay?"
"No."
"Can you continue?"
"Yes."
"Who was that?"
"... I don't know. I only saw him once. He came and the only thing I could do was watch his eyes as he violated my mind."
"Okay. And if we face him. Do you think you will be able to face him or do we call the troops?"
"I'm okay."
"Don't lie to me Celest."
She bowed her head.
"I don't know."
"Very well. Now listen to me very hard. If we met this cultist again, I order you to not be afraid of him. In the name of the Emperor, you will be strong and you will accomplish your divine mission."
Celest didn't answer, at a loss for words and thoughts. Lilith slapped her.
"This is your holy mission for the God-Emperor, to exterminate the filth of chaos. Do you understand?"
The fire of faith blazed into her eyes as she nodded frantically.
"Yes."
"Good. Now let's go." 'Kali, what have you turned me into.'
"The Emperor protects."
They both left their position, one revitalised and the other horrified, and went after the cultist of Tzeentch.
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Following his trail was not that difficult, the stain his power left behind was not concealed and even then the screams and blood marks were hard to miss. Through dark side-passage and catwalks, they managed to sneak their way into an old water tank two houses high and full of rusted holes. Carefully descending one of the metallic half ripped off stairs running along the outside steel surface and observing through one of the many breaches were the two girls. Two floors down were the psyker and his sacrifices.
Most had been chained to the wall in some deformed position, some had had their limbs or other parts of their bodies removed. Invariably, they were covered in runes written directly onto their skin by knife. Their blood was slowly flowing down against the wall and assembling into a pool on the ground that merged together until the whole floor was covered by half a centimeter of the crimson liquid. The nails and barbwire that was keeping them into place had been well arranged, strong and keeping them alive. All and all, those had been the lucky ones. The four tied up in the same manner around the central table could also be considered lucky, though in a lesser kind of manner. It was the one strapped down to the table that was really the unlucky one because he was the real sacrifice.
Republic City – Underground – Equalist base – Invocation room
Hanjian watched patiently as his apprentices tied up the offerings and finished the last details for the ritual. The Lieutenant really was a fool. The master gave him an entire chapter from the sacred book and the only thing he managed to do is to fabricate those pitiful nails that cost such time and energy to produce. If only he had taken this power that was given to him a little more seriously, he could already have taken over this city of fools. Now though, each minute that passes only sees the Inquisition grow stronger and the chaotic become weaker. Well, tonight this was all going to change. He would be the one to unveil the true power of the grimoire and Chaos. He was going to change this entire city, this entire nation. He, Hanjian, would be the architect of this new world with the powers of Chaos at his command. From under his robes, he extracted the chapter. Written in blood on human skin, each of the words swirled before his eyes and it was a massive effort of will to simply make sense of them without losing his mind in their eternal dance. His apprentices lit up the six incense bowls that immediately filled the room with thick smoke that opened the mind and senses to the greater powers. On the lectern facing him, he put down the dark pages and, as the men around him began chanting, he began reading. For a moment at least.
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Lilith and Celest both felt the sudden wave of psychic energy hit them like a hammer in the stomach. It was as if a tear was being forcefully opened in the fabric of the universe, an opening that would let hell pour directly into ours. They began running down the stairs, jumping the steps four by four until they arrived in front of the door. There, the two guards didn't even have the time to ask what was happening before they were on them. They were a little more competent than their other counterparts which explained how the first was able to parry Lilith's slash and Celest's lunge. What the first didn't parry however were the three blades that thrusted into his right arm, slashing through the muscles. The second faired a little better at first, slamming Celest against the wall with a kick while ready to chop her head with his axe. Too bad she decided his feet was a good place to stick her stiletto into and the main leg artery perfect for a slash of her serrated knife. He screamed like a pig but didn't stop his attack, taking a swing at her and managing to scratch her shoulder before she plunged another small dagger right through his male part. He collapsed on the ground; desperately trying to hold-on to his now cut junk. Two blades through his eyes and the back of his skull made him stop. Lilith on the other hand had the same problem. The man she was facing parried two more of her attacks before she managed to tear his belly open and telekinetically throw him through the door. The force of the impact tore the hinges off the wall and the door along with them. The body fell onto the pool of blood, splashing the two girls as they rushed inside.
The chanting was almost deafening yet barely louder than a murmur, the heavy smoke was deforming the spatial perception of everyone in the tank, making it seem several kilometers large one instant and as small as a broom cupboard the next.
"In the name of the Inquisition and the Holy God-Emperor, die!"
In one movement, Lilith drew her hand-flamer and pressed the trigger, bathing the whole place in purifying flames. That is, if one of the chanters hadn't jumped right in front of the barrel and took the whole force of the shot into him. His flesh turned red, then brown, then dark with the texture of burnt bacon. The marrow in his bones boiled and blew them up from the inside due to pressure. His blood too boiled before evaporating, along with most of his arteries and veins. Even his insides were liquefied, turned into black goo that was then itself burned to a crisp. What finally fell on the ground barely resembled a corpse, even less a human.
"Wha..."
"Ha ha hah ha! You fool!"
Gotta love the classic. Anyhow, the burst of flame and heat had temporarily dispersed the thick incense filling the room, allowing the two Inquisition members a new horrific view of the room. The summoner in robes was in blood, his lips and eyelids cracked and seeping a black liquid. The pages in front of him were ablaze with blue flames, flames that did not burn but seemed to twist and corrupt the air and anything it touched. The truly insane thing though was the man strapped to the table. It was as if something wanted to get out from under his skin, pushing it from the inside in an unnatural manner and deforming the human host, pushing and stretching it way beyond its natural limits. His eyes were two empty bleeding holes and he was vomiting some kind of greyish liquid, probably his brain.
"You pathetic worms. You're too late to stop me. I will rework this city into a great monument to Tzeentch with the power of chaos at my fingertips. You are nothing but miserable insects in my way."
Each of his words was accompanied by a spit and a psychic hit directly to their minds. His power was incredible, enough to send them both on their knees, wincing in pain. Behind him, the man's insides were being slowly merged with the very fabric of the warp, like a water balloon being filled until it reached its limit and then...
"I will enjoy melting your pathetic brains and pick up every little secret from them. Then, I will destroy your pathetic ma..."
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He never had the chance to see if he was powerful enough to challenge Kali, nor to finish his sentence for that matter because several disastrous things happened in rapid succession that made both actions impossible. First, the balloon of energy that was the sacrifice finally reached its breaking point. The barrier between the material universe and the Warp opened slightly, screaming and kicking like a pig being gutted. For a brief instant, every bit of power in the room was sucked in and condensed into a being that should not exist, a newborn daemon, a Flamer of Tzeentch. It exploded from the sacrifice, sending pieces of its human incubator everywhere and erupting into reality with a burst of corrupted and corrupting flames. This burst of flame extended over the room in a spiral, hitting everyone who wasn't currently on their knees. The flames of a daemon of Tzeentch do not only burn but also transform everything. The apprentices found themselves growing new limbs, their face covered by a multitude of monster eyes, useless skeletal wings bursting from their backs, some saw half their face become elastic and fall down, organs became double or triple, blood turned to acid and their minds were filled with more knowledge than the most brilliant scholar and more insanity than someone saying god-damn emperor while facing the golden throne. The closest to the manifestation was Hanjian onto which the daemon vomited yellow flames charged with the energy of its birth. They hit the back of his head, instantly melting his flesh which reformed into two deformed heads on each side of his original head. He screamed as his mind was ravaged and his soul burned by the fire of the Warp. Raw power poured from his eyes and cracked his skin, setting it ablaze with the flames of change.
Lilith, still on her knees, raised her head toward the monstrosity that was now standing on the table. Its legs were the corpses of the humans tied around the furniture and its body the one of the main sacrifice. Its skin was purple and black, burned and yet still twisting and breaking open to reveal the liquid power coursing under it. From this mass of flesh emerged deformed maws with too much teeth and spiting bursts of colored flames that twisted reality itself. The young Interrogator could feel her mind revolt against the mere existence of this being and the beginning of a nosebleed as a reaction. In the couple of seconds she looked upon it, three of the maws fused with the body and two emerged, one from the neck of one of the heads. It was her and Celest against the daemon and all of the surviving mutants.
'The Emperor protects. I hope.'
The two girls jumped onto their feet. Lilith aimed her pistol with one hand while the other hit the panic button strapped to her belt.
Republic City – Underground – Equalist base – Entrance
"Hey man, are you sure we are safe here?" Said random equalist 1.
"Of course. Look, you think we are stupid or what? We've learned since the fiasco at the entrance of our first complex."
"Well yeah, but..."
"Come on. This one is constantly watched by at least ten armed guards on the outside and ten more on the inside. You need a password just to approach without getting shot at, and a key as well as another password is needed to open it. Man, just the freaking door is like entirely made of steel and four inches thick.."
"Still..."
"Look. If anyone was to try to assault this door they would lose like so many men and it would take them so much time that the whole thing wouldn't even be worth it. By the time they just made a notch in the door, the whole base is gonna be so fortified that it would take weeks to bring down."
"Yeah, okay. But imagine if there was one problem. I mean, we are in an underground system of sewers, rat tunnels and hidden chambers. What if there was one secret tunnel that was running just under our feet, a tunnel that was only known by a quatuor of friends who had discovered it by luck one day while they were trying to hide from Triad members. A tunnel they had drawn on a map for the Inquisitor. A lightless tunnel which had been discretely packed with tons of explosives for the last two weeks."
"... man, you seriously need to stop hanging out with those Slaanesh girls. They're messing your brain up."
"Yeah. I guess you're right."
The very next instant, the whole entrance was blasted away in a flash of white, a humongous deafening shockwave and flying supersonic rubble, the door was turned into shreds and catapulted through the roof and finally, everybody guarding the entrance, be it on the inside or outside, was obliterated.
"For the Emperor, charge!"
Republic City – Underground – Equalist base – Invocation room
The red flame from Lilith's flamer brushed over the daemon, burning its skin and two of the screaming cultists behind it. Unfortunately, the monster only shed its burnt skin and regrew a new one almost immediately. Though this one was way less thick. Celest, herself, felt overgrown fingers clasp around her ankle and pull her to the ground, breaking it. Attached to this hand was an also humongous and unnatural arm which was itself attached to a mutated man whose legs were nothing but a sprawling mass of tentacles barely able to support him. She kicked him in the face, breaking his nose. Too bad he couldn't feel pain anymore. He smiled.
"You bitch I...!"
Before he had the time to finish, Celest saw fit to jam a hatchet into his face, splitting his skull open.
"Oh shut up."
Back to Lilith, she dodged to her right, avoiding another random burst of flames but not the machete swing from one of the cultist that hit her on the chest. It didn't pierce the armor but damn did it hurt. More importantly, it meant the other corrupted girl whose arms had fused with the Tzeentch effigie she was holding managed a swing at her left leg that hit on spot.
"Fuck!"
She redirected the damaskin blades towards the girl, slashing at her arms while she blocked the man's second attack. She ripped his wrist before dodging again on the right, avoiding another stream of flames while at the same time shooting at the daemon. It was her last shot since the now screaming girl with the fused arms charged her in a moment of frenzy, bitting her left hand to the bone and making Lilith drop her hand-flamer. She answered by gutting the crazy girl. Problem was that it left enough time to the man to grab her pistol and aim it at her. Flames brushed against her left arm and leg, giving her first degree burns but fortunately nothing more. Celest on the other hand.
"Lilith!"
A mountain of mutated muscles was standing atop the young girl, pinning her to the ground and choking her with all the strength it could muster. Celest was desperately stabbing him repeatedly in the back and the ribs, without result. Now, it had been set ablaze by the hand-flamer, pieces of burning clothes falling on a struggling Celestine. Lilith lunged at the man with the flamer, cutting three of his fingers. He tried to scream but only managed to gargle for a second before being hit in the face by a burst of purple and yellow flames. Taking advantages of this, Lilith slid to Celest and grabbed him by the hair, pulling back his head just enough for Celest to slit his throat. She pushed him off Celest but before she could even grab her hand and yank her up, a lightning bolt hit her in the back, sending Lilith crashing through the door opening and lacerating her flesh.
"Pathetic."
The three headed sorcerer rose onto his feet. Blue flames licked all of his body, twisting it again and again but he didn't care. He finally had power, unbound powers. Just for the kick of it, he sent another lightning bolt on the blond girl on the ground while approaching.
"You. Did I saw you somewhere before? I feel like I have already seen your soul. But where was it?"
He placed his foot on her chest, pushing until he heard a rib crack.
"Maybe you remember me? Come on, don't be shy."
"Lilith, the tanks."
"What?"
Something hit him on the head, something heavy. He took a step back, wincing.
"Who di..."
Before he even had the time to finish his sentence, Celest was telekinetically dragged out of the room and the ripped off door was lifted back into place. Hanjian's sight fell on the object that had hit him, a belt to which four promethium tanks and two grenades were strapped, two unpinned grenades.
"Oh."
The daemon and the sorcerer screamed as the whole room was filled with fire burning at 1 200 degrees celsius and supersonic shrapnel. The walls turned black as the flames began to burn on the metal and consumed everything inside, even the bones. The heat was so intense that Lilith and Celest could see the thin door turn red and feel the skin on their legs roast a little. Grunting, the two of them dragged themselves away from the inferno.
"Ah fuck!" 'Everything is freaking pain.'
"Yes, but by the grace of the Emperor we are still alive."
'I think there is a little of our training and gear that account for that too.'
Slowly, Lilith reached to her inbuilt micro-bead.
"Zhao. Can you hear me?"
"Lilith. Where are you?" The sound of gunfire and screams could be heard in the background.
"... Somewhere."
"Are you okay?"
She looked down at herself and Celest.
"No."
"Shit. Just hang on okay."
"Yeah. Don't worry I'm not planning to go anywhere soon. Oh, and be careful with the mechas."
"The mechas?"
"Yeah. Good luck, try not to die, be brave, etc."
With difficulty, Lilith got onto her feet, leaning against the wall for support.
"We're gonna find someplace to lay low now so I'm gonna let you go back to the attack."
"Wait Lilith tell m..."
She cut the link, sighing deeply. The blood in her ears and nose and the jackhammer beating in her head was making it difficult for her to even think.
'I need a smoke.'
Republic city - Pro-bending arena – VIP lodge – Second round
"Oh come on, it was clearly a fault!"
Asami was leaning on the balustrade, screaming at the referee like half of the crowd. Back on her chair, Kali was smiling. She had rarely seen such blatant display of cheating. Most noble circles did approve of cheating but only in the most discrete of manners and low circles usually reacted violently to any cheating by the other team. So it was quite funny to watch here since back home the mob would already have lynched both the team and the referee. She allowed herself to relax in her seat for a single instant before turning toward Azula.
"Have you identified any equalists?"
"At least ten for now."
"Really, how?"
"They're wearing scarf/masks."
They both rolled their eyes.
"Any weapons you could see?"
"No, but they all have a giant bucket of popcorn between their legs so they might be hiding something there. I sent two of our guys to question the clerk at the stand."
Bathroom near the popcorn vending stand
Corporal Zax lifted the girl's head from the toilet. She spat furiously, trying desperately to breathe while insulting him.
"You pig!"
"Oh fuck you. What did you put into their buckets?
She twisted her head to spit at him.
"Okay then."
He stepped on her ankle, breaking it or at least severely damaging it, and smothered her cry of pain by pushing down her head one more time in the water.
"Why do they always force me into this? Really it would be better for everyone if you'd just talk upright."
From outside the bathroom, someone called him.
"Have you finished yet?"
"Yeah, yeah, a minute or two."
Republic city - Pro-bending arena – VIP lodge – Third round
"Okay." Azula removed her hand from the micro-bead over her left ear. "So, some kind of gloves with wires and a battery."
"No guns?"
"Not in the buckets."
"But it wouldn't have been hard to sneak one in there, even openly. Tell everybody to be ready for that so avoid hand to hand. Also, what about the outside?"
"We've spotted the first sign of trouble on the furthest away boats. They're taking out the isolated patrols first. One of the airships seems to also have been seized. The police communications are blocked too."
"Nothing unexpected yet."
"No. Though I don't trust any of the employees here. If I could just..."
"No. We are already only a few; I am not spreading us any more thinly so that we way kill all of the arena employees."
"Exactly. We're too few. We should reduce the enemy numbers."
Kali sighed.
"Peacefully neutralise the employees you can but I don't want anyone else getting away from the group."
"Right away."
She left the room with a smile on her face.
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Asami fell back on her chair, a worried look on her face.
"What happened?"
"Mako got thrown out."
"Bah, he'll be fine. Not the first time it happened to him. On that point, are you sure he suffers from no damage?"
"What?"
"Well, professional athletes playing violent sports often suffer permanent traumas, often to the brain, that can result in IQ lose, memory problems, you know, those kinds of things."
"... Are you saying that just to make me freak out more? Because if yes I..."
"No. Just, you know, don't want you to end up with an idiot who always gets kidnapped or involved into dumb situations."
"Ah ha ha, very funny."
Grinning and smiling, they turned their attention back to the match. The last round was beginning under the always amusing remarks of the commentator about the blatant cheating. With one point on each side, this was going to be the tie breaker. Which of course would be won by the cheating team because seriously, when even the commentator can see and talks openly of you cheating and you are not automatically disqualified, it meant that you had somehow bribed the entire pro-bending high board and that nothing short of the intervention of a higher power would make them lose. Then again, Kali was a higher power but she just didn't care about this match. In other circumstances, if the hopes of the population rested on the Avatar team winning or some other kind of large group and her own interest joined or even if she was responsible for creating the whole situation, then then sure she would have intervened. As it was though, this match's highest stakes right now was between the vainglory of the current champions and the desire of the Avatar to prove she was strong or good or something like that. And seeing as the whole Fire-Ferrets team had now just been thrown out the ring and into the water with headshots, clearly illegal ones at that but as it was already established it didn't matter, it seemed the Avatar had just had her dream crushed.
"Oh come on, are you fucking blind you freaking asshole! Everyone saw how that was a fault!"
Asami had jumped from her chair and joined half the crowd insulting the referee and the new champions.
"They're cheating. Can't you fucking see that you blind moron!"
She was almost jumping in place.
"You should go check on him."
She sighed deeply.
"You're probably right." She turned around, mumbling to herself. "He better no be injured or I'm gonna kill those damn..."
The moment she left the room, Kali turned to Azula.
"Follow her."
"You're sure?"
Everybody was going either crazy over the winning team or insane for their blood, not paying attention to anything else. Outside, the metalbending police patrol boats were in shambles and the air ships had been hijacked. Inside, the police officers' attention was focused on the wild crowd.
"If anything is going to happen, it's going to be now."
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And right on time, barely a moment after Kali's thought, screams of pain began to be heard amongst the crowd along with flashes of lighting and the distinctive sound of a revolver. Confusion and panic began to sweep amongst the crowd as councillor Tenzin fell down with two bleeding holes in his chest and all of the police officers were stunned. Which is how you know it was Amon's plan to begin with.
'Guess Lin's strategy of having her men stand-by back to the long and dark corridor didn't pay.'
Inside Asami's VIP lodge, the situation was also critical but not exactly panicked. The moment she had seen the first hidden equalist pull up his mask and reach for his popcorn bucket, Kali had immediately given the signal to her own troops. With Azula, she barely had some twenty people in teams of four or five around the arena with some light flak vests and submachine guns. But, they were the best she had, way better than some revolver wielding equalist. The moment they received the signal, they sprang into action and cornered groups of cultists before sending them to the Warp in a hail of bullets. Not all fell though and soon the hallways of the arena were filled with the sound of guns and people dying.
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Back inside the lodge Kali rose from her seat, her armor servo-motors whizzing gently as the machine-spirit slowly awoke from its peaceful rest, ready for another carnage.
"I've stayed away from combat a little too much I think."
One by one, the power-armor systems powered up, granting Kali inhuman strength and protection. Murmuring a prayer to her armor, the Inquisitor put on her helmet. Her view was tinted red and several icons appeared on her HUD, bullet count, aiming aids, contacts, a small window for Solomon's eyes, currently flying over the arena, and battle prayer; Heretics crave the cleansing fire of absolution. They need not fear, for we shall deliver it to them.
"Yes, too long. There is really no better way to deal with the wretched chaotics than by yourself."
She turned and left the room, her coat flapping behind her. In the corridor, it was chaos. Spectators from the arena flying inside only to be caught between the fighting Inquisitorial troopers and the cultist. Kali ignored the screams of fear from the spectators. They had already proven their failures when the hundreds of them failed to neutralise less than fifty cultists. An Imperial crowd would already have whipped out weapons and opened fire. This military service bill she had in mind really needed to go into action as soon as possible.
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With one kick, she bashed open the door in front of her. She walked into the backstage area of the arena, surrounded by cleaning equipment, old uniforms, training gear and eight angry equalists which themselves surrounded two familiars figures.
'What are those two doing here?'
Leaning against a wooden crate with a hand pressed against her torso to cover a bleeding hole was Tomoe, standing behind an anxious yet determined general. Around them, the equalists were wielding their new shock gauntlet and some even had revolvers, one smoking.
"So, not so superior now eh bitch."
The one with the smoking revolver said.
"Ha, appetizers."
Through the helmet voice, her voice was twisted and metallic. Immediately, all of those in the room turned toward her.
"Huh... hey, don't move!" One said.
Slowly, she raised her arm. None in the room truly felt what happen, only the briefest sense of dread followed by a quick static shock and a flash of light. They didn't feel the power suddenly rushing through Kali's soul, didn't see the lighting of Warp energy shoot from her hand and hit the armed man at light-speed, neither did they see the upper part of his body being disintegrated. The only thing they saw and felt was the thin cloud of blood they were showered in.
"Traitors to Humanity only deserve death. Pray to your dark gods for mercy, for I will have none."
They didn't understand the words but they did understand the meaning. The coward and the weak always tremble when facing the justice of the Emperor, and the guilty always fight. They tried a little of both. Still shocked, the second man didn't have the time to react when she gutted him with a lateral strike to his belly of her chain-knife. His pig's screams stunned the other into action, not fast enough to stop her from thrusting her force sword through a girl's left eye and psychically fry her brain but still. One of them rushed her on her left, thinking it was her blind side; she crushed his foolish idea with an armored punch to the face that sent his nose back into his brain. Another, she perforated both of his lungs and slashed his throat. A fourth she shot three times point blank in the chest, spraying part of it over a wall. The fifth managed to touch her shoulder and sent an electrical discharge into her armor. To the credit of the shock gauntlet, she did felt a small tingle for a brief second. He was the second this night to get hit by Kali's lightning and see the right part of his body turned into bloody dust. The sixth, seventh and eighth, she simply slashed into pieces without a though. The ninth actually shot her on the leg, the low powered bullet barely managing to scratch the paint. A moment later, he fell on his knees, blood pouring from his eyes, nose and ears, screaming and tearing away the skin of his face with his bare nails. Kali wasn't a fan of using mind attacks in the middle of a fight since it left her own spirit vulnerable, but these people's minds were weak enough that she could allow herself the luxuries of seeing a traitor suffer like he should. The last three had the brilliant idea to run; they made, respectively, two, four and five meters before getting shot in the back. Good effort, but not enough. All and all, the whole fight lasted precisely thirty-six seconds. Her helmet chrono was really precise.
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With a swipe of her sword she cleaned the blood on the blade and re-sheathed it before turning toward the two stunned and terrified figures of Higashikuni and Tomoe.
"Find some sort of heavy tissue and tighten it around her wound. Apply a lot of pressure and she should be fine until the situation is over and she can get proper healing."
"... Who are you?" Even in this situation, the general's voice was still firm and commanding. Gone was the pleasant tone and light demeanour of their first meeting.
"Really?" The inquisitor walked up to him, smiling under her helmet. "Have I really made such a poor impression the first time we met?"
He tensed up, unsure. "What?"
"I'll have to think of something truly astonishing to wear for our next encounter. But for now, I have a naive lunatic would be revolutionary to catch and his way more dangerous followers to send to the Warp. So, if you'll excuse me."
Her coat snapped the air as she left him and walked further deep into the maintenance area.
"Who the hell was that?" Tomoe asked Higashi.
"I'm not sure, but right now your wound is more important."
He picked up two revolvers from the fallen, giving one to her.
"Stay here and keep pressing on this wound. I'm not losing you here."
Republic city - Pro-bending arena – Water level
Korra's head emerged from the water, coughing water and taking in some needed fresh air. Her head was still ringing from the impact of stones and the fall.
"What the hell was that?! It was clearly illegal!" She turned toward Bolin. "Right?"
He too seemed dazed and was about to say something when a great clamour came from the crowd over their heads, louder than the cry of adulations directed at the once again champions. Flashes of light accompanied by screams of fear could now be heard.
"What is happening?"
"Oh, it is quite simple young Avatar."
The voice that spoke sent shivers down her spine; it was a voice she had heard yet couldn't place. It wasn't the ruthlessness or the coldness that she could feel in this voice that provoked this reaction; it was the underlying promise of cruelty and wrongness she could feel in his words. In a way, it was, as strangely as she felt about it, a little about Kali had sounded. It was very different of course, but they both had a tone that felt alien in some way and yet familiar in another. In any case, she was afraid. Even if she would never admit it to anyone.
"It is just that some of us are tired of playing children's games with little white gloves."
The man came into view, followed by two others. She had already seen him, but at the time he was wearing a somewhat loose brown suit and wielding electric sticks. This time, he was dressed in much more fitting clothing covered by some strange sort of non-metallic, non-leather reddish armor. On his back were two short swords tainted by dry blood and in his hand was some sort of big piece of metal. His face was uncovered, letting everyone see the scars over his right eye in the form of some weird eight and his smug smile.
"Time for some hard reality."
She raised her arm, ready to send him flying away with a jet of water but was stopped by the blinding pain she suddenly felt, like as if someone had jabbed a red hot spike right through her limb.
"Arg!" She screamed.
The bullet had broken her arm's bone and slashed right into her muscles. What she only knew though was that her arm was hurting like hell and pouring blood like crazy.
"Sorry, but guns beat dumb benders."
He aimed again, this time for her head.
"Nooo!"
It wasn't her who screamed.
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Asami was rushing down the stairs towards the pool level.
'Dammit. I love pro-bending but I swear this fall is one of the stupidest things ever. Even gladiators have less chances of breaking their stupid neck.'
These thoughts continued to shoot through her mind as she went to Mako, to the point she didn't even hear the screams from the crowd as the equalists made their move nor did she hear the gunshots until she walked right into the scene. What she saw, emerging from the hidden door right into the players' lift, were three men who did not belong there and one holding a gun pointed in the direction of her boyfriend.
"Nooo!"
Without thinking, she drew her pistol and opened fire. She never really was that good of a shooter to begin with, but now, panic was making her hands shake so much that it would have been a miracle for her to hit anything else than the pillars and wall beside her target. And so it was then, when her last bullet smashed right into the lieutenant's elbow, shattering it. A stunned Asami watched as he screamed in pain and stumbled backward, her mind still trying to catch up to her sudden fit of rage and the fact she just had shot another human being.
'OhshitOhshitOhshitOhshitOhshitOhshit.'
That was pretty much the only thing in her mind for the next minute until she felt the burn of a bullet grazing against her cheek which brought her back to reality pretty fast. She fumbled to the side, off balance as she tried to remember just what Kali had taught her about situations like these. The first thing was; do not get in situations like these. Okay, a little too late for that. Second; get to cover. That she could do. Still stumbling, she managed to fall on her ass behind some pillar, luckily avoiding any hits from the rather surprised and pissed off equalists.
"Okay, cover. Got it. Now, weapon. Empty, that's bad. Reload, reload."
She grabbed the magazine in her pocket after the second try and it only took her four tries after that to realize that she needed to drop the empty one first before reloading. This simple action she had practiced numerous times in the firing range seemed now strangely complex and intricate when under enemy fire. Her hands were shaking as she finally managed to slit the magazine in and arm her pistol.
"Okay now..."
"You die." The cultist who had sneaked up to her said as he put the end of his revolver barrel against her head.
Her blood turned to ice as she closed her eyes, awaiting her end. It was too soon, too soon for her to die. Especially from a bullet to the head. She swallowed and gritted her teeth, the bang deafening her.
'So that's it, I'm dead. Shit, shit shit! What about my dad, and Mako, and everyone. Well, at least it did't hurt. But why do I feel something on my face? Wait, why do I steel feel anything?'
"Asami!" Azula smacked her, hard.
She felt the burn on her cheek and opened her eyes. Azula was standing over her, smirking as always and with her huge gun in her right hand. Beside her was the cultist with half of his head missing, his brain slowly leaking onto the ground.
'Wait, what has splashed on my face?'
She brushed it off with her hand. On her glove was still fresh blood and brain splatter and small bone fragments.
'Oh great, I'm covered in human goo.'
She felt a nervous laugh make its way through her clenched teeth.
"Cool. That means you're okay. Kinda need you to do covering fire now. Ready, three, two, one, go!"
"What?"
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Without waiting, Azula leapt from behind the pillar and charged toward the last cultist, the lieutenant having already ran away. She drew her chainsword in one swift swing as the man with the pistol shot at her. Like Asami some moments before, he was completely panicked as Azula ran toward him. Probably in great part due to her roaring weapon and gun who's each shot created a fist size impact on the walls. One of his bullets did find its mark, hitting her right in the chest. Fortunately for her, being a black powder round, it only felt as if she had been hit with a sledgehammer. Unfortunately for him, it didn't stop her one second. She swung her chainsword and ripped him from his left shoulder through his hip, breaking his bones and tearing his flesh in the messy fashion only chain weapons are capable of. The walls around him were covered with a new layer of red paint and the ground got a new carpet of intestines, shredded lungs, appendix, stomach and various fluids.
"Waou!"
Asami simply watched this gory spectacle, incapable of reacting. Sure she had heard the stories of violence of Azula or Lilith or from the Underground, but seeing it was pretty different. As in, scary traumatic different.
"Asami!"
She turned in the direction of Mako's voice. He was trying to hold on with Bolin to an unconscious looking Korra. Blood was slowly tainting the water around them as they were trying to make their way to the edge of the platform.
"Oh yeah, that... oh shit. Mako!"
She rushed to them, arriving an instant before Azula. With much grunting, they pulled them out of the water, taking special care for Korra.
"Who are you?" Mako asked.
"Chief warrant officer Azula. The one with actual medical knowledge and with no time to lose. Put her down here and give me space."
"Now wait just a..."
"Mako." Asami put her hand on his shoulder. "Not now."
They put the Avatar down on the ground and let Azula do her thing. She wasn't anywhere near a trained medic, even less a doctor, but all of Kali's soldiers had minimal first aid training. Korra's arm was in bad shape, bleeding heavily and broken. The bone hadn't pierced the skin though, which was good. Using the few things she had, she cleaned the wound as best as she could and bandaged it.
"... hey, what are you doing?" A half conscious Korra asked.
"Making sure you don't die because of blood loss and constating I now owe Asami twenty yuans."
"What?"
"Yep. You really have the biggest rack."
"Azula!" Exclaimed the other bettor.
"Oh don't complain, you just made money."
Azula really had a capacity to make completely unrelated comments in the middle of extreme situations that manage to make everyone uncomfortable and also forget about said situation. Right now, Asami was blushing furiously, Mako was wondering just who exactly was the insane murderous girl and her relations with his girlfriend, Bolin was really curious about when did Asami started making those kinds of bets and this new kinda terrifying girl and Korra was fighting to stay awake. All and all, they were all thinking about something else other than the tragedy going on around them.
"Okay." Azula finished tightening the bandage around Korra's arm, eliciting a grunt from her. "Now, all of you, Asami included, we are gonna find a nice safe place and try to find you – she indicated Korra – a real medic."
In truth, Azula wanted nothing more than to leave them and rush back into the action but she knew that Kali wanted her to protect Asami. Okay, she hadn't said it but it was pretty much implied when she sent her after the heiress. In any case, with Kali being here, this whole thing was going to be a very short adventure for the equalists.
"No, I must do something. It's my du..."
"Stupid." She shot down the Avatar. "The only reason you are still alive is because whoever shot you wanted to see you suffer and so didn't aim for the head. Otherwise you would be a corpse right now with parts of your brain floating in the water.
Almost immediately as she said that, three forms fell from the platform over them and crashed in the water.
"See, kind of like those guys. Just, more dead like."
She grabbed Korra in the most delicate way she could, who couldn't help making a painful grunt as her arm moved. It was as if there was lightning shooting through it at the smallest movements and she was pretty sure she could feel her bones grind against each other.
"Now let's go before someone comes and shoot you like rabbits."
'Wonder how it's going for the others.'
Underground – Equalist complex – During the Inquisitorial assault
Zhao leaned over the maps hastily put down on the broken table covering the six levels on which the attack was happening.
"Okay. Last we heard Mao's company had managed a breakthrough on the north side on the first, second, third and fifth level. If we can divert enemy troops from the fourth one to us, their second battalion should be able to sweep the two others clean."
He pointed to one of the three other people standing in the devastated room with him.
"Anaba, take the first battalion through the second level and breach the floor or find stairs around here to go down on the third. There, you'll join with Fox and Dog and surround this damn choking point. From there..."
Two minute latter
"... and me and Easy will push through the sixth level and hold the position there. Understood?"
They all nodded.
"Good. Then let's go kill some traitors."
They all left the room while Zhao's adjutant picked up the maps and his Vox-Operator finished transmitting his orders to Easy.
"Okay." He turned toward his Command squad; Mei the medic, Jae his vox-operator and Yuyutsu and Osamu as bodyguard. "Let's go." They exited the room, the sound of fighting echoing through the corridors. They were a mere two corridors away from the relative frontline after all. They passed by the mangled corpses of cultists and more rarely but still too many corpses of their own soldiers. Their armor and guns were better than those of the cultists, but here they had the home field advantage and many of the firefight degenerated into vicious close-combat, especially when the Khorne cultists charged in, drugged to the point that even having their entire chest shot twice at blank point by a shogun wasn't guaranteed to stop them. As a result, they all had their bayonets fixed. Descending two flites of stairs, they met with Easy squad.
"Captain." The sergeant saluted as they arrived.
"Sergeant. Ready?"
"As much as possible."
A moment later, they blew open the door and charged inside, guns blazing. Each corridor was a fight on its own, with explosives hidden everywhere, men and women shooting from doorways before retreating through a hidden hole, crazy khornates charging them with hammers and other dangers. They made it to the fifty meter marks before one of the members of Easy squad got part of his foot shredded by an IED hidden under a false plank. Thanks to Mei, he wasn't going to bleed out but his foot was ruined for at least several months. The next one wasn't so lucky. While breaching a door he was hit by several rounds of rifle and shotgun fire that shredded his light flak jacket and part of his chest. He struggled only for a couple of seconds before dying. Nonetheless, they continued to advance toward their objective.
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Zhao emptied the last five rounds of his clip into the wall, smiling at the sound of a body hitting the floor before leaning back into cover. The brief conversation he just had had with Lilith had shaken him, or rather, it had made him even more determined to kill all of those venerating Chaos. Now, mere meters away from her, he felt like charging through the wall. But that would only get him killed and then Lilith would be pissed off and that would mean a lot of bad things for him and the officer lounge couch isn't that comfortable to sleep on.
"Grenade!"
One of the soldiers shouted before throwing the stick down the corridor. A moment later, a shockwave rocked the wall and then they charged in. Zhao arrived face to face with a stumbling woman who half of her face was lacerated flesh. In another time and place, he might have hesitated, here and now though he simply pushed his bayonet through her ribs, twisted and took it out before passing on to the next target. They cleaned the room and passed to the next, and the next and the next until they finally reached the old reservoir.
"Lilith!"
She was leaning against a wall, her sword in hand and those weird blades flying around her.
"Took your time. What held you?"
She forced herself to say through the pain. Each word making her more aware of the blood and vomit in her mouth.
"Traffic. You okay?"
"In a way, yes. And you?"
"It doesn't matter. Mei, quick!"
She murmured. "Sentimental idiot."
Soon, Mei was treating both Lilith for her hard burns and Celest for her broken ankle, amongst other wounds. Zhao did try for a moment to be the supportive boyfriend type but Lilith and Mei's glare sent him back. So, he turned to Jae.
"Contact Fox and tell them we have made it to our objective."
The soldier nodded and made the call.
"Fox, it's... oh... shit!"
"What?"
"Sir." He handed him the micro.
"Fox, what's going on?"
"Sir... I, we've been pinned down, hard!"
"What? Sergeant, what's going on?"
Sounds of explosions and rapid gunfire could be heard through the connection over the panicked voice of Fox's sergeant.
"We have reached some sort of industrial area with heavy resistance but were pushing through when we were charged by some sort of giant mechanical thing. Like a humanoid giant but in some sort of twisted bronze, around maybe eight to ten feet high. They are armored and their arms are either claws or shotgun or even some kind of automatic multi-barrel gun! They're tearing us apart!"
"What the hell! Okay, retreat back into the smaller tunnels and concentrate on the weaker points, everything as some, with the grenade launcher and the machineguns."
"Yes sir!"
He gave back the micro to Jae.
"Shit! Where did that came from?"
"What?" Lilith asked.
"Some sort of giant metal..."
"Death machine with claws and guns on their arms?"
"Yes. When did..."
"When we infiltrated the place. Behind the armor, the leg joints are weak. Also, the torso is in fact a window, just camouflaged. Concentrated heavy fire there should prove efficient. The engine in the back is also vulnerable so maybe try to shoot it or overheat it."
He grabbed her and kissed her deeply. "I love you."
"It hurt you idiot." Though she said this with a smile.
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He called back his lieutenants. Small information can sometimes change the course of an entire battle; in this case it helped turn a pyrrhic victory into a minor victory. Involved in this attack were all of Kali's operational troops, the equivalent of two Imperial companies, or around four hundred soldiers. After the attack, the count was of 97 KIA, 129 wounded and 14 MIA. Being their first real action, Kali considered it a resounding success. A lot was learned by the survivors, both the soldiers and the officers. Some broke down under stress, others rose. One thing was sure though, after this night, they all shared the same deep hate for their enemies that united them even more than before as well as a much deeper understanding of themselves and war. Okay, they would probably need a whole campaign in order to really reach their full potential but Kali didn't mind the wait. In the meantime, they needed to train more people.
Republic city - Pro-bending arena – Water level
"I'm sure they have it better than us." Azula mumbled.
Republic city - Pro-bending arena – Playing field
In the center of the arena, holding a micro, Amon was making his big speech.
"For centuries, benders have possessed an unnatural advantage over ordinary people. But thankfully, modern technology has provided us with a way to even out the playing field. Now anyone can hold the power of a chi blocker in their hand. My followers and I will not rest until the entire city achieves equality, and once that goal is achieved, we will equalize the rest of the world. The revolution has begun!"
Silence seemed to fall upon the entire arena as Amon finished his speech and raised his fist into the air. A silence that was almost immediately broken by a slow clapping that could be heard by everyone. A faint mechanical grinding accompanied the clapping as one of the platforms linking the player room and the playing field, slowly bringing into view a tall armored figure.
"Bravo, bravo. Truly superb."
Black, gold and skulls, that is how you could describe the armor.
"Truly, of the hundreds of speeches about gaining power that I have heard in my career, this one is a good, solid ten." She stopped clapping. "On a thousand."
She calmly walked forward; moving with a grace that one wouldn't think would be possible while wearing that armor.
"Really, taking power? Quite ambitious if I may say. I read your pamphlet by the way. There wasn't much about your political platform in it. Nothing about your ideas on education, taxes, the economy, how to fix the food production crisis you are running right into, your pathetic ruin of an army or even the failing police."
She stopped not even three meters from him. Facing her, Amon was desperately trying to keep his calm. The moment his eyes had fell on this... person, he had felt the beginning of a terrible headache. Each moment more was worse and this talking she was doing, it was bad. He needed to retake the control of this situation.
"And who are you exactly? A defender of the benders who oppress us? A mercenary hired to stop me?
There was a pause, and then.
"I am Kaliska S. Victoria, First lieutenant of the 33th Arcadian Heavy infantry regiment, Captain of the Imperial raider-class ship Holy Wrath, bearer of the Obscuras Honorifica, of the Macharian Cross, of the Triple Skull and of the Duelist Honors, heiress to the Arcadian throne, last living descendant of the two millenia old Victoria Imperial bloodline and, most importantly, Inquisitor of The Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition. Does that answer your question?"
Instinctively, he had taken a step back. He didn't know any of those titles, or even the language she used for some, but she had said them with such confidence and authority that it left no doubt about their importance. Still.
"And you think these imaginary titles will intimidate me?"
"Well, your guards for starters."
What? He turned his head and sure enough his four bodyguards had all taken several steps backwards. Bunch of incompetent cowards.
"But enough with these little games."
"What?"
He snapped back to her, only to feel cold armored fingers tighten themselves around his neck and an unbelievable strength yank him up in the air. The pressure on his throat was making the simple act of breathing a constant torture that, combined with his suddenly excruciating headache, made thinking all but impossible. He struggled, punched, kicked, even tried to bend, it did nothing. Then, it stopped. The pain, the breathing problem, the claws that teared through his brain, all of it stopped as he hit the ground of the arena.
"Ah! I am so stupid! How could I have made this dumb pre-juvie mistake! I should have known it the moment I saw you!"
"What?" He managed to croak.
She immediately stopped her raging and focused back on him, her modified voice back to its previous sharp coldness with a touch of sarcasm. "Noatak, or main puppet if you prefer, where is the Lieutenant?"
How did she know his name?
'I know everything about you Noatak. Your mind is focused and hard to read I'll give you that. But you are short-sighed and lack real discipline. All you know is simple hate and a lust for power. Like a petulant child. A simple moment of panic and your focus was gone. Now answer me, where is the Lieutenant.'
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At this point, Amon had several choices; curl up in a ball and cry, run away, spill it out, lots of choices. Too bad he made the worst one possible when he chose to stand up and try to roundhouse kick her. Usually, he could use his bloodbending to turn even the greatest of martial artist into a standing punching bag. But Kali wasn't a martial artist, she was a fighter. Also, something like bloodbending was as strong as a flick against Kali's warded armor and her will actively fighting his. To make it short, Kali grabbed his ankle mid-air, leaving him perfectly open for the kick to his crotch.
'And that is why all of my guys wear protective shells.'
He fell down, again. This time though, he was curled up, both hands between his legs and barely repressing a scream.
"Now. I repeat for the last time where is the..."
"Kill her!"
It wasn't Amon who said that, it was the Lieutenant who had just appeared on the opposite side of the arena from Kali, running and holding his bleeding arm against him. Several things happened almost at the same moment when he screamed this order. First, the bodyguards suddenly sprang into action, all charging the Inquisitor at once. Second, the glass roof was smashed as cables were lowered from an aircraft hovering there. Third, Kali drew her Carnodon and shot a dumdum in the direction of the Lieutenant which was intercepted by the chest of a cultist. Fourth, Kali's troopers bursted into the bleachers and engaged the stray cultists holding the spectators hostage. Everything happened really fast after that. Kali butchered the bodyguards, sending their parts flying wide and coloring the ground with their blood while they only managed to scratch her power-armor. Unfortunately, this brief amount of chaotic time was enough for the Lieutenant to rush to one of the cables and start his ascension. Same thing for Amon, who grabbed the other cable in order to escape this madness. Smoke grenades were thrown, further enhancing the confusion of the situation and turning most of the fighters blind with the exception of Kali. Raising her arm, she aimed at the escaping duo and pressed the trigger only to be tackled at the very last moment by a screaming equalist which tried to bite her face through her helmet. Her shot flew high and missed the Lieutenant in favor of passing through Amon's foot. He didn't appreciate that. And with that, the two of them escaped with their airship, marking the end of what would be qualified by the newspapers as the Tournament Finale Coup, by Kali's faction, which could be called the local division of the Inquisition at this point and as such will be, as The Pro-Bending Incident, and by most as The freaking attack on the arena by the Equalists and a thousand other names.
The chaos didn't end with the departure and brutal elimination of the equalists though. The panicked crowd had to be guided outside, allowing them to experience being guided by armed men and women with very short patience. The wounded, and there were many since the cultists really didn't like the metalbender cops, were treated by the city doctors while the critically wounded like Tenzin and some others, were cared for by Kali's medics. The media were handled in a respectful and restrained Imperial manner, meaning any cameras pointed even remotely in the direction of the Inquisitorial troopers or Kali was smashed down and the journalists were kept at bay with pushes and shoving. And, as more emergency vehicles came and police members were pulled from everywhere in the city, the few troopers disappeared in the night along with the whole Fire Ferret team but that nobody would notice for a time.
It took several hours after that to clean up the burning boat and airship in the bay and even longer to retrive all of the cop's bodies floating on the water. By that time, the killers had been gone for a long time, dissapearing back into the city. It was a carnage like those of the 100 years war for some, a small attack for others.
Somewhere
Korra looked at the small room she had been led to by this Azula girl. The white walls, sheets, bed, floor, roof and pretty much everything didn't leave much doubt about what kind of place she was in. But the skulls engraved into the bed supports, the two-headed golden eagle over the door and bed, the doctor in some sort of military outfit and the lack of policemen or reporters made her also think she wasn't in Republic City's hospital.
"Where am I?"
"Safe." The doctor answered without even looking up from the splint he was making around her arm.
"Who are you?"
"A doctor."
Okay, that's frustrating and she didn't deal well with frustration. She wasn't feeling weak anymore, especially after they had sticked this transparent tube into her other arm and injected her with this liquid. Korra was ready to get up and get some damn answers, damned be her arm, when the armor walked in. Black, gold and skulls with strange bright runes, this combination of things provoked a strange reaction for her. Sure, she was surprised when it suddenly walked in, but more than that, it was like she had been gut punched, like as if touching this armor was going to burn her skin, like she was being repulsed by it.
"Kali?"
She didn't even look at her. "Are you done?"
The voice was metallic and painful to hear.
"Yes." The doctor said as he rose and bowed.
"Very well, leave us."
Without a word he left, leaving the Korra and the armor alone. She watched as it slowly made its way to the bed and stopped beside it. The red eyes fell on her and suddenly Korra really didn't feel like shouting, more either a furious fight or blindly running away.
"Korra." She could hear the sigh even in the modified voice.
"Yes?"
'I am going to kill you in three, two, one.'
Kali watched Korra for any sign, any hints of a reaction. Either from her or the miniature sun she had in her chest. Nothing.
"Huh, Kali, are you alright?"
"Yes, just something for me." 'And also just to verify that you weren't an active psyker.' "And you; are you feeling well?"
"Hmm, yeah. With this funny liquid and that – she indicated her splint. - I'm ready to go."
"Yes, it's what I feared."
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"... Korra, this discussion should have happened a lot earlier. Actually, seeing your position and would I have been at the place of your parents or guardians, it would have happened a long time ago. But then again, at the time it probably wasn't very true."
"Okay..." Weird.
"But's let's start at the beginning with the first question you probably have. We are three stories high in my new office in the middle of the factory quarter."
"Oh, okay."
"Now, I have spent some time observing your actions Korra and as such, tell me if it is true, where you planning on going after Amon or the Equalist movement under one form or another?"
"Of course! They need to be stopped! Haven't you seen what they've done?"
"Yes, I have. Now, tell me. How will you stop them?"
That actually stopped her, somewhat. "I... will catch them."
"You will get killed."
"I will not! I'm way better than they are." She protested.
"At bending, yes. In hand-to-hand combat though, you are passable. On the investigation side, well you are apparently better than this city's police force but that still puts your skill only at the amateur level. Facing you will not be people in easy to target uniforms but hidden as everyday people, people that when confronted will not hesitate to kill you. You have barely survived this encounter and that was because your opponent was sloppy."
"Pfu, I could have beaten him."
Kali smirked. "Maybe. And then one of his companions would have blown out your brain. Go after them Korra and we will find your dead body atop a spike in the park. That will be your fate, I can guarantee it."
"Then what? Am I just supposed to do nothing?"
"It is not what I said. But still, you don't even have the authority to arrest anyone." She said calmly.
"I'm the Avatar!"
"So? You still have no authority over anything. What you don't have also are connections, either political, with the population or any group for that matter besides some friends. You don't even have money. I told you at the gala; the Avatar's role is honorific at best and a tool at worst. Have you done anything to change that since our discussion? Maybe you have started to establish links with some of the city's political players? Or try to involve yourself with some of the more social organisations, some volunteering maybe, in order to get closer to the population. You got some exposure with your participation to this tournament, even though about using it to defend a cause? One of your team members is dating the heiress of one of the biggest enterprises in this city. You could have made some good contacts through her in the industrial sphere."
What could Korra answer to that?
"Nothing. Really? I assumed you at least stayed informed of the current event? The purge in the financial world? The change in the Underground? The new wave of violent crimes?"
"Well, it's hard to get newspapers on the island." She was one tone away from apologizing and she didn't like this feeling.
"It's true that you don't have the money to buy a subscription. So even if it is a weak excuse I will give it to you, even if there is another hundred ways to get a newspaper. You did catch up on the recent past though? The cuts within the police force leading to a slowly worse and worse situation? The rise of the Equalist movement? The unemployment problem? The conflict between benders and non-benders? The Public Library and University have many interesting books and studies on the subjects and many more. Ever took the time to stop by and read one?"
Korra lowered her head. "I've been busy."
"Oh yes, busy winning a pro-bending tournament. And I really admire the determination you put into this, almost six months of constant training, only stopping to eat and sleep. Must have been hard, spending every second of your life training, with no time for anything else at all."
"Okay, okay. I get it."
"Really? Because six month after our conversation you don't seem to have been doing much. Well, except helping Tarrlok deal with his debtor. Sincerely, what did they teach you in the tundra? How to sit on your ass?"
"Hey! I learned a lot! They taught me math, and writing and reading and history and geography and to bend." The water tribe girl was standing on the bed by that point.
"What of literature, of psychology, of sociology, of politics, of economics, of law, of any skill that would actually help you as a politician?" Facing her, Kali was coldly calm.
"I am not a politician!"
"Then what are you? A conqueror? A researcher? An athlete? A demagogue? How will you maintain balance if you don't know anything about the people of this planet? How crowds and individuals think? How to push a government to help some group in need of help? Or do you think you simply have to barge in and beat up some people to fix a problem? Please, this is not a fairy-tale, it is reality."
"I know that!"
"Then by the Emperor fucking prove it!" She suddenly exclaimed. "Stop being a mindless puppet and grow up dammit!"
That sudden burst sent Korra back on the bed, her back pushing against the wall as Kali's eyes turned into electric storms and she seemed to radiate power.
The Inquisitor sighed and just as fast, the storm disappeared. "The stories and legends around the figure of the Avatar are really fascinating on a social level you know. There are three major ideas I could extract from them. First, the world cannot function without the Avatar, second, the Avatar solves people's problems and, third, the Avatar is a guardian of balance or such nonsense as good and justice. These notions are completely false of course. Organised governments and the institutions they maintain have a much bigger role in making the world go round than you will ever be, but people often don't realise just how much their government does until they are gone. As a figurehead, the Avatar simply seems to be the one making things go round but most where crap leaders. As for the problem solving thing, again it is mostly false since as a single person they can't possibly be everywhere at once. Also, Avatars in general tend to do heroing rather than be heroes. Taking on dictators and monsters and such but rarely social problems or simple human things like say rape. Finally, balance has never been respected, the status quo more likely. And good and justice are a so subjective concept that applying them and making everybody happy is all but impossible. What if for one good means owning slaves? Or decapitate their enemy in a public place? Or be subservient to women? Or men?"
She paused an instant to make sure the current Avatar understood.
"Korra. The point I am trying to make is multiple. First, the only concrete result of the Avatar cycle I can see right now is that the general people think themselves unable to do anything. They all content themselves with waiting for the Avatar to solve any big problem. The last war proved that amply. But, before you say anything. There is one positive thing that can be said and that is that the world doesn't need you, the same way it never really needed any of the Avatars; liked their help when on the lucky side sure, but never dependent on their mere existence. And that's kind of a good thing don't you think?"
"Why? Because it proves that I am useless?" She spat.
"No, because it means that you can be anything you want. You can continue on the same path as all the previous Avatars and play your role as problem solver for other more intelligent people or, and that is the good news, you can go on and be whatever you want. You want to be an athlete? Fine. Go, train, and develop techniques. Become the greatest pro-bending player ever seen. You want to catch criminals? Fine too. Start studying, go at the academy and get into the police force. Or go the more intellectual way and become a lawyer. You want to help whole nations? Go into politics or start international helping organisations to bring education to the poor communities and healthcare to the Earth Kingdom. You can be whatever you want if you only put the effort in and that has nothing to do with you being the Avatar."
"I... I don't know."
The gears inside Korra's head were running at full speed, shuffling ideas left and right inside her head. Calmly, Kali sat on the bed, making the steel frame wince.
"I am not asking you to make a choice about your future right now, only to start considering yourself as something else than the Avatar. When you'll have made your decision, whatever it is, just call me at this number." She handed her a card. "Then, depending on your answer, we might be able to talk about special ways to help people and other things that might interest you. But for now, I think your team wants to see you."
The Inquisitor rose from the bed and put back her helmet on.
"And please, try not to get killed in the meantime."
She opened the door to find the rest of the Fire-Ferret team and Asami waiting there. The words they were ready to throw at a doctor died in their throats.
"She will see you now."
And with that the armored Inquisitor left the corridor and the group.
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At the end of the corridor, she turned to a sergeant standing at the ready.
"Watch them and don't let them wander off. When they express the desire to leave, drive them wherever they want."
"Yes Inquisitor."
'Okay, now, where is Lilith?'
For those that would want to know, the demon that Lilith and Celest fight is a Flamer of Tzeentch. You can find him in the Dark Heresy first edition book: Creature Anathema.
His stats are as follow for those that are interested.
WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel
31 45 41 46 44 20 20 40 10
11 Wounds Psy Rating 3 (Fire bold, Burning fist, Fire storm)
You also gain 1d5 corruption points each time it hit you unless you manage a +10 WP test.
Plus a couple of details.
