Parcivale knew he should back down. The code of Kraskow's gangs was clear enough. He still owed Nowak. More importantly, he was well aware that he stood before a man that had stood his ground time and again, even when his opponent was a psyker mutant or an Inquisition operative. But the challenging look, the unspoken threat, the utter lack of commitment to his fellow Jesters... Parcivale had had enough. "I do." Nowak casually took a more offensive stance. "You do." he echoed. "And why is that?" Parcivale took a step aside, putting himself between Nowak and Keita. "Because she's right. That staff shouldn't..." Before he could even end his sentence, Nowak lashed out with the pole weapon. Nowak didn't even curse him. Although Parcivale hadn't expected Nowak to attack him straight away, he'd been wary to say the least. He easily managed to dodge the blow and took a step backwards, staying out of Nowak's reach. He still didn't raise his own weapon, against his better judgement hoping Nowak would contain his ire. 'And your mag is empty anyway, idiota' he thought. "Boss. Stop! Calm the frig down!" Nowak hesitated for a second, perhaps considering Parcivale's request, but then he took another step in Parcivale's direction. "If you're not with me, you're against me Hammer. You know the code."
Parcivale took another step backwards and bumped into a desk. Immediately he rolled backwards over the tabletop and kicked it over. For a second he wanted to engage Nowak on the code. There were tons of reproaches he wanted to make, but it no longer mattered. With a cry of rage, Nowak stormed his position, jumping over the makeshift barricade. Parcivale retreated again and now aimed his empty bolt pistol at the man. Nowak anticipated a shot and changed direction, still managing to swing the staff dangerously close to Parcivale's face. The ganger dived past the rash attack and threw the bolt pistol at Nowak, a move completely unexpected by the bald man. The solid steel piece hit Nowak against the left ear, and he yelled out, probably more from the surprise of being hit, than actual pain. Parcivale used the moment to get some more distance between them and pulled his own Pugnatis-pattern autopistol from behind his pants' waistband. A fraction of a second later, the safety was off and the automatic fire selection was on. A first volley of six bullets went wide and Nowak charged him headless of the aimed gun.
Parcivale tried to step back as he fired another burst, but Nowak was too quick. One of the bullets nicked Nowak's shoulder, but it wasn't enough to stop him. Suddenly he was in melee and busy dodging attack after attack. Parcivale had the presence of mind to switch back to a single shot firing rate, not risking the last six bullets in the magazine in one go. Nowak weaved an intricate pattern, mostly aiming for Parcivale's gun. Parcivale was left dodging and retreating. In the next moments he managed to fire off two bullets, but to no avail. His sense of desperation must have shown. A mean smile crept on Nowak's face and the man doubled his efforts to connect the staff with Parcivale's body. Once more, the faint, green light shone from his eyes. This time Parcivale stood closer than ever and he could see how it actually came straight out of his pupils. The blue lines of the man's irises were filled up with a sickly green. From there the veins in the white of his eyes got afflicted too, until after a few seconds his entire eye had changed. But this time, it didn't stop there and the veins around his eyes also started to darken. Parcivale felt how the fear inside him was taking ahold. He had to fight both Nowak and the panic rising within him. He wanted to switch back to full auto fire and spray Nowak with the last of his bullets. His adrenaline levels rose and he started moving more quickly, sharply reacting to Nowak's attacks. Neither of the men taunted the other, instead focusing all their attention on killing their opponent. Parcivale cracked off another shot, but it went wide again, now leaving him with three bullets. In return he got hit on his wrist, a fiery pain flaring through his arm, something very different and far worse than the expected ordinary bludgeoning blow from a pole weapon. 'You're not gonna make it, Hammer.' Parcivale thought, but surrendering was no longer an option.
So, with nothing left to lose, Parcivale took another three quick steps backwards, trying to create the necessary room between him and Nowak to fire off a last volley. Or so he feigned. In truth he lured Nowak into a charge. Parcivale dropped his gun and changed direction drastically. Instead of moving away, he moved in closer. He managed to surprise Nowak who completely miscalculated his attack. In a split second, Parcivale grabbed the staff with both hands. It felt hot. Immediately his hands began to tingle, but he held on to the weapon with all his might. Recovering from his surprise, Nowak pulled forcefully at the staff. Instead of letting go or trying to withstand his boss' manoeuvre, Parcivale went with it and scored a solid head butt on his opponent. Instinctively Nowak grabbed his, now bloodied, face with one hand, but as he wiped the blood clean from his eyes, Parcivale twisted the staff around. Nowak held on, but had to expose his right side to Parcivale, an opportunity Parcivale made well use of. He rammed his knee in the man's lower back, at the height of his kidneys. Still, it wasn't enough for Nowak to let go of his weapon. Parcivale saw how the bloody right hand got ahold of the staff again. In response, he fell backwards, rolling on his back, using his legs to push Nowak from the ground. With his momentum and the extra kick, he managed to send him in a circle around the staff, making him fall on his back, knocking the wind out of him. The Jester's boss grunted. Parcivale tugged at the staff, finally pulling it free from the man's grasp. He scrambled up, changing his grip so he had both his hands on the end of the staff. With a final effort he swung it around and hit Nowak on the head. And that was the end of it. The skull cracked and the green light was doused. Silence fell over the control room. All that could be heard was the soft moaning of a few wounded and Parcivale's heavy breathing.
Parcivale raised the staff again. He remembered all too well how the Widow had come alive again. But Nowak's corpse remained still, a pool of blood forming around its head where Parcivale had struck him. The ganger fell back on the floor, panting, trying to catch his breath. He held the staff across his body. The tingling sensation was gone. It now felt like a sturdy, well balanced metal rod. Somehow the blood had run right off. The same went for Nowak's brain matter at the tip of the weapon. Somehow the entire thing was clean. Parcivale looked at it more closely. There were little symbols and characters etched within the staff. Although he wasn't much of a reader, Parcivale's eyes wandered over them, picking out characters he understood. Suddenly the staff was kicked out of his hands. The weapon flew through the air and with a metallic clamour the rod fell on the floor amidst the corpses of gangers and mutants alike. Parcivale looked up, utterly surprised. 'Who the frig?' His question immediately got answered and immediately he wondered how she had managed to sneak up on him. "Leave it, Hammer! You were already so far gone, you didn't notice me, did you?" Janina's voice sounded raw and shrill. Parcivale could still see fear in her eyes. The sleeve of her right arm was smeared with blood, but it was unclear whether it was hers. The reddish bruise on her head though, Parcivale could identify as the result of his actions. She stared at him, angrily, obviously expecting some sort of response. Parcivale shrugged. "Fine. I'll leave it be. What the frig was up with you?" The angry expression made place for shame. "I... I don't know." she said, her voice trembling as she seemed to relive the moment. "I only remember that something was coming through the walls and ceilings. Something... dark." She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it." she said angrily. "We're talking about you, skurswyn." Parcivale reached out with his arm. Janina took it and pulled him up. At that point, someone started coughing violently. Parcivale looked around and saw how interrogator Keita was coming to her senses.
Immediately he realized that Janina wasn't safe just yet. He remembered all too well how the Inquisition agent hadn't been planning on keeping him around. Hastily, Parcivale let his backpack slip from his shoulders. He felt the weight of the tin can with the silver thrones in them: his life savings. He retrieved the can from the pack. "Take this." he whispered. "Go to our hideout at the lightning car station. Whisper's there. Bring a lekartz. He'll need him if he's still alive. Wait for me there." The tinkle of the coin inside the container was enough for Janina to understand what she was given. She looked at him questioningly, clearly not realizing the danger she was still in. "You need to go." Parcivale whispered urgently. "That woman is going to kill you if she gets the chance." Parcivale turned Janina round and started pushing her towards the door. "What?" she asked incredulous, looking over shoulder. Keita moaned and tried to sit up. Hurriedly, Parcivale pushed Janina again, before heading for the interrogator. "Trust me on this Jay." he whispered. With a last frown, Janina ducked and sneaked out of the room, on her way to leave the Mills behind.
Parcivale kneeled beside the interrogator. She was still struggling to get up. She couldn't put any force on her broken arm and Parcivale could see how her other arm was burned quite badly. Although she wore a carapace chestplate, her arms had only been covered with a reinforced bodyglove. The tissue had melted at some places and had fused with her flesh. Still, it was the arm she was using to get herself up. "Stop that." Parcivale grunted. He laid his hands under he shoulders and pulled her up. First to an upright position, then to her feet. She staggered and Parcivale now laid an arm around her middle. "You alright? You got burned pretty badly. You've got some big jadra I have to admit." Despite her obvious pain, she managed a thin little smile. "Are you telling me I've got big balls? You do realize I'm a woman, don't you Hammer?" Parcivale returned her smile and was happy to hear she called him by his name. He had sent Janina away because Helena might kill her outright, but he wasn't too sure that he was in the safe himself. The moment passed. "Where's the staff?" Keita asked him on a far more serious tone. Parcivale pointed at the weapon laying a bit further. "And where's your boss?" Again Parcivale pointed, this time at the body with smashed-in skull. Keita frowned. "How?"
Parcivale held his breath for a second and considered lying. He was pretty sure that Keita wouldn't like it when she would hear that he had used the staff himself. But he really hadn't got a good explanation for a corpse without GSW's and him being a alive at the same time. "I disarmed him and killed him with his own weapon." Parcivale wondered what was going to happen now. The good thing was that she was pretty much harmless at this point. With two bust arms she wasn't gonna slice him up any time soon. But even so, she might still turn hostile. And although he could easily kill her now, he really wasn't sure if that would be the right way to resolve the situation. In his experience, for every enforcer you put to the ground, another two turned up on your turf. Parcivale could only imagine what would happen if you killed an interrogator instead of a quite expendable low hive enforcer. Helena Keita remained silent though, a thoughtful look on her face. "Well?" Parcivale asked.
She looked at him, not angry, nor disappointed. She was simply... evaluating the situation. "It's unfortunate, but not problematic." She pointed at her dagger. "Could you hand me that?" Parcivale felt a bit more suspicious, but went to fetch the power dagger all the same. "And where's my pistol Hammer? You didn't break it, did you? It was quite a rare model." Parcivale picked up the dagger and went looking for the pistols, both Keita's as his. 'At least yours is still loaded.' he thought when he walked back to the interrogator who was leaning against a cogitator station that had somehow survived the entire battle without taking a single hit. "I'll need the holster as well, friend." she said. Parcivale felt his choler rising. Around them, there were still Jesters who were dying. He couldn't do very much for them. In fact, he had just sent the only person who had a few notions of medicae training away. But it still stung that Keita was almost jousting about her frigging weapons when his gang members, some of which he had worked with pretty closely for many cycles, were perishing as they spoke. "I ditched it on the roof." he said. He turned his back at the interrogator and picked up a hatchet and went over to the first body on the floor. He then checked whether the woman, laying on her belly, still lived. She still breathed, but when Parcivale turned her on her back, he saw how she had been hit by a mutant's axe resulting in a bashed in ribcage.
"You..." Keita begun, but Parcivale cut her off, just like he cut the life of the Jester short. "I know." He stood back up, wiping the woman's blood of the blade on her clothes. He went looking for the next ganger. Every mutant he passed also got an axe to the neck... several times, until they were effectively decapitated. "Can't be too sure with these muties." he commented as he felt Keita's eyes in his back. He ended another four lives of Jesters that were wounded too badly to be saved. He kept telling himself that he was putting them out of their misery, especially when the last one opened his eyes and met Parcivale's gaze, reproach in his eyes. Helena left him to it and was limping towards the exit, which meant the salvation of the next man he found. The Jester was partly covered by a mutant's body and had been cut in the leg, but apparently the femoral artery hadn't been hit. Parcivale didn't know why the man hadn't continued the fight and normally he wouldn't have given half a copper for the life of a man who wouldn't fight, but here, amidst all the corpses, the de facto death of the Jesters, he no longer cared about that. There and then, he only wanted to save as much of them as possibly, which granted, wasn't a whole lot. He laid the hatchet aside and hastily pulled the belt from the man's trousers. A few seconds later, an improvised tourniquet would probably save the man's life. He couldn't do anything else. Parcivale already feared that Keita would notice what he was doing. He lifted the hatchet and slammed it down into the mutant's body laying over the man. Then, he quickly got up and looked for another comrade in arms, but he didn't find any others he could save. He felt sad even as he thought that he shouldn't care, rationalizing that they were responsable for their own demise for following Nowak blindly. But his heart wasn't in it. He knew all too well that if he hadn't been part of Nowak's personal guard, he would have been here as well. Or perhaps slaughtered back at the Jester's den.
He climbed up the ladder in the middle of the room to retrieve Keita's holster, before joining the interrogator at the exit of the control room. "Aren't you forgetting anything?" she asked, slinging the holster with the bolt pistol around her neck, biting down the pain as she used her ruined arm. Parcivale looked at her questioningly, wondering what the woman wanted this time. He was just about to protest that he wasn't her errant boy, when she pointed at the staff. "That'll have to come too and as you can see, I'm hardly in a position to carry it." Parcivale turned around and looked at the staff. "I... I don't think I feel comfortable touching that again, ..." He looked back at the interrogar. "You can call me Helena when we're alone. Otherwise it's interrogator Keita." she said, before falling silent. "I know I'm not in a good position to make demands at the moment, but you'll have to stick with me for the time being, Hammer." She shrugged. "I'm sure that if you think it over, you'll agree with me." Parcivale looked at the staff again, not quite ready to discuss or ponder his future. His plan had been to ditch Keita and find Whisper and Jay again, but beyond that, he had no idea what he should do. So instead of answering her, he went back for the staff. "You sure I'm not gonna get all..." Parcivale asked, not really sure what the word he was looking for. "Weird?" offered Helena. She shook her head. Not immediately and if you stick with me, we'll take care of you Hammer." Parcivale stopped beside the staff. "Take care of me?" he asked, the double meaning clear. Keita didn't smile. "It won't be pleasureable, but your soul will be safe."
Parcivale picked up the staff and muttered softly that his soul never had been safe to begin with. In the meanwhile, Keita had turned around and was making her way down the stairs, coiling towards the ground against the inside of the silo. Parcivale followed her out of the room, the staff in one hand, staying a few steps behind her. He re-evaluated the threat the woman posed. She had her dagger in the small scabbard at her belt on her back, but her bolt pistol was unloaded if she could even lift the heavy sidearm. Her pace was unsteady, so her descend was slow. She didn't look up when he closed the distance to her, apparently trusting him to follow her. "So, what do you mean with 'my soul being safe'? I wasn't under the impression it was at risk." Parcivale asked. She laughed rather cynically in reply. "Your soul is always in danger, ..." She left her words trailing, but Parcivale didn't think about giving her his real name. "Hammer." he said. She chuckled but didn't look up. "Ok. Hammer... Laying your hands on evil artefacts isn't really the best way to minimize the risks." She took another few steps before continuing. "Then why am I carrying this, Helena?" Parcivale asked, his voice reflecting how he felt about the interrogator letting him do the dirty work. He almost wanted to throw the staff down the stairs and for a moment he didn't really care whether the interrogator would trip and break her neck on the steps in the process. "Because that's your new job. Welcome to the Inquisition, Hammer. You're hired."