Now that the gunfire had ended inside the room Loran could hear more gunfire outside the room. This was not good at all, she absolutely did not want to run into more cultists before she could execute her plan or even worse run into the Mantis warriors. "Sergeant I hear gunfire just outside this wall, we need to get out of here," she stated quickly.
Looking around with a small sense of satisfaction on his face Sergeant Achilles. "Agreed, Apollo's death has been avenged we can return to the mission."
Without the need for further discussion, the now six-man squad moved back the way they came with tactical precision. nearly reaching the door they could see Librarian Astoras standing guard of the very annoyed looking Inquisitor Prall.
"Are you done with your little revenge mission?" The inquisitor asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.
"I can not let the death of a squad member go unanswered," replied Achilles in a tone that suggested he did not wish to debate the topic nor discuss it further. "We can return to the mission now, please lead the way," he finished as he gestured his hand out towards the city ahead.
Onwards they walked now trying to keep to back alleys and cut through buildings where ever possible. While they were still nowhere near the light side of the moon as they progressed they had come to areas where skirmishes had occurred and left buildings burning to cast a flickering orange light over patches of the city. Unsure of whether they had crossed the Mantis Warrior firing line meant one wrong move could bring all sorts of trouble down on them.
Quietly they approached the end of the alley they were currently cutting through when all of a sudden Sergeant Apollo raised a fist to signal a silent halt. All obeyed without hesitation, turning into statues as they heard the sound of ceramite boots on ferrocrete road.
Achillies opened a vox link, "Mantis Warriors," he whispered, "fall back until they pass, I don't want to have to engage them."
Silently the Astartes nodded and began to attempt a retreat, However, something power armour was not designed for was stealth and in the relative quiet of the blackness around them, their boots made more than a little noise.
Loran could see their shadows now flickering on the wall at the entrance to the alleyway. They had not heard the retreating marines yet but sweep doctrines would guarantee that they look down this alley. She stopped walking back and drew her Katana, secretly relishing the idea of slaying Astartes, knowing that there was mere moments until they were exposed.
Ballanar too saw the opportunity for bloodshed and raised his bolter as he took a step forward to stand side by side with Loran. "Ares, Taber what are you do..."
It was too late, sure enough, the Mantis warriors turned their barrels down the alley as soon as they reached it. They spotted the two possessed Astartes immediately but did not fire. Even through helmets, it was easy to see that they were confused to see other Astartes on this little moon.
The Mantis Warriors Lowered their weapons and so did Loran and Ballanar as the two walked forward and stepped into the main street which was lit up by a now visible pile of cultist bodies set to flame. Loran counted only four, easy pickings for the two possessed transhumans. As soon as they were three paces away from the closest Astartes Lorans whole body dropped and she dashed forward planting her lead leg right in front of a Mantis Warrior with a white helmet. She guessed this one was in charge and named him victim one. combining the momentum of her dash with an upwards swing of her katana she cleaved straight through the lower arm, torso and head of the Astartes leaving his body to slide apart into pieces with a wet slapping noise as organs hit the ground.
As expected from any Astartes chapter the other three had brought their weapons to bear. One held a bolter but didn't even get a chance to fire before Ballanar riddled him with holes, making his body shake and shudder at the impacts and then tiny explosions of mass reactive rounds. The other two however did manage to bring their weapons to bear. Both were wielding flamers and sent plumes of holy promethium flame hurtling towards the duo.
The possessed were completely engulfed, the Astartes hosts inside would have been been boiled alive were it not for the regenerative power of the demons. Finally, the flames stopped when the Mantis Warriors were satisfied nothing could remain alive in the blazing heat, they expected to see two fallen Astartes. But instead were faced down by two now completely scorched black suits of power armour, Loran wielding her Katana and Ballanar a combat blade. In unison the launched at the Last two mantis warriors driving their blades home in a lightning-fast upward thrust pierced through the softer abdominal armour and up into the hearts.
As one they lifted their foes off the ground with their blades still embedded, heart blood flowing freely over their hands even as the larraman organs strained to clot the injuries. With a final heave, they threw the bodies clear and let the now motionless Astartes unceremoniously clang to the ground in a heap of ceramite.
Sergeant Achilles came storming into the main road "What in the emperor's name was that!" his rage barely contained. "I said to fall back! They were Astartes!"
Loran calmly replied, "mission orders were no witnesses sergeant. You know codex doctrine meant they would check the alleyway no matter what, we were not going to get out of this undetected."
Achilles knew that the words Taber spoke were true but regardless he didn't want to accept it "This is madness," he muttered to himself as he turned to face Inquisitor Prall. "How much further to the relic inquisitor? This mission becomes more costly by the minute."
Prall looked to the black scorched duo seemingly impressed, then looked to the sergeant. "As long as we have no more encounters I predict we will reach out objective in approximately twenty minutes."
The weight of this mission was beginning to weigh on Achilles, he had so many questions, mostly to do with the secrecy of this mission. This was not what Astartes were for. Two members of his squad had just committed heresy and he had to overlook it for this inquisitor. Nothing was adding up and Achillies suspected there was much more than met the eye with this inquisitor. Turning on his heel he growled, "let's go." leaving behind they four dead marines as they returned to the darkness.
