Menace to Society
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Thought for the day: The destiny of Mankind is paved with the bones of his enemies.
From: Investigator Henry Gyrich
To: Inquisitor Lord Stryker, Head of House Monodominus
Lord Master,
It is with great regret that I must confirm your suspicions of Inquisitor Xavier. I have determined with due diligence that he has indeed slipped from the path of light into the encompassing darkness. In the attached reports you will find that he has not only foresworn his sacred duty to destroy all mutants and heretics but has began harboring such individuals.
It is my belief that he is gathering these creatures to himself to act as his personal army. As of yet he hasn't made any aggressive actions toward the Imperium but I suspect that won't last for long.
I have done all that you asked and confess I can't go any farther with out risking the lives of my staff and myself futilely. I encourage you to transfer this matter to Ordo Malleus. They are much better equipped to deal with this problem than I am.
Your humble servant,
Henry Gyrich
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Thought for the day: Failure is for the Faithless
From: Inquisitor Lord Stryker, Head of House Monodominus
To: Investigator Henry Gyrich
Humble Servant,
Your report distressed me greatly as Xavier's father was one my dearest friends. I knew you would find the truth for me as you always have. Your service to this house has been greatly appreciated.
I would like to also thank you for your candor. I know that you are bound to report your findings to Ordo Malleus and that you needn't have trusted the responsibility to me. In keeping with your trust I will now trust you.
For personal reasons I desire to handle this problem with out drawing the attention of Ordo Malleus. It is my will that you bring me Xavier either dead or alive to facilitate this I'm sending you a group of Sentinels along with other things you will need. Do not fail.
May the emperor's grace shine upon you.
=][= Lord Stryker =][=
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The cold water felt refreshing as it splashed over his baldhead and washed down his body. Charles Xavier chanced a glimpse of himself in the mirror out side the shower. His ivory complexion was criss-crossed in scars; all remnants of battles he fought for the god-emperor.
As he toweled off he wondered if the emperor still loved him. Was he now beyond redemption, did he even need it? While he did not think along the rigid views of Monodominus anymore he still believe in its goals, the rule of man through out the universe.
Leaving the refresher room clothed in his training uniform consisting of black tee shirt and cargo pants he enjoyed the cool marble on his feet. He was…different he could admit that at least. He didn't see mankind as divided between mutants and non-mutants any more. He saw both as the differing sides of the same coin.
If mankind was to truly ascend to the greatness that was destined to it had to stop fighting itself. Mutation resulting from genetic disposition was a far cry from the things the enemy spawned. Unfortunately the powers that be didn't want or care to make the difference. That would be the downfall of man.
Charles considered himself the first of a new understanding and as such had to be teacher and follower all at the same time. If he were successful mankind would be prepared to deal with the rising threat of aliens and the hated enemy.
The hallway with its marble floors and ceilings and polished metal walls opened into a enormous room. This is where his new breed of soldiers, the X-men, trained.
There was the scent of brimstone in the air as the mutant code named Night Crawler popped from one place to the next in a puff of smoke. The sight of the boy vexed Charles. He could barley look upon the boy's blue skin, yellow eyes, pointed ears and long blue tail. Charles wanted to put a bolter through the mutant's skull but Moria MacTaggert, Charles's genegog, insisted that the child was free from taint. Still Charles wasn't sure if one day Night Crawler wasn't going to have a little accident.
"Everything alright sir."
Charles turned to see the haggard face of Scott Summers half hidden behind large goggles with ruby shaded lenses. Scott was his first success story and there by his favorite. Scott was also Xavier's true convert. Were the others expressed doubt about helping the same people who wanted to kill them, Scott resolutely believed in Xavier's dream.
"Fine Scott. I take it you spent last night studying the tactics and stratagems of Slaydo."
"Yes sir." Scott confessed. "I just couldn't put it down. It opened my mind to new ways we could put our abilities to use."
"I thought it would." Charles replied. "But didn't Slaydo say rest is just as important as ammunition?"
"Yes sir." Scott said sheepishly.
"Then I order you back to you room to get some sleep."
"Yes sir."
"Inquisitor Xavier." A voice sounded in his head.
"Go ahead Jean." He replied with his thought voice. Jean was his most gifted student in psyker abilities. In time coupled with training and she would be as powerful as himself.
"I've got a strong mutant power reading."
"Where?"
"Durum Four." Jean answered as she watched the blue green orb floating in the darkness. She was the only other person capable of using Cerebro, Xavier's machine designed to find powerful mutant signatures in the warp. She had to be careful while her mind was in the warp fore other things lived there as well thing that would devour the souls of the careless.
"Can you pin point it?" Charles asked with his inner voice while putting a restraining hand on Scott.
Jean focused, pushing her minds eye down through Durum Four's atmosphere like a falling star. Her vision hovered over a cluster of buildings. She could concentrate harder and get an exact location or even a visual of the suspected mutant but it was too dangerous. The tether holding her mind to her body was stretched near the breaking point already.
"Yes. Varhest settlement, far side of the planet." she confirmed. "Hurry Inquisitor, who ever they are they're in pain."
"Scott get the team ready." He ordered. "I guess you'll have to get your rest on the way."
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Henry Gyrich brushed his sandy brown hair out of his face with the armored glove. He'd spent the last two years of his life training to use his power armor to the utmost of his ability. The simple truth was he didn't like it. For all its protection it stifled his senses. When he put on his helmet he couldn't feel much in the way of outside stimulus, be it cold of outer space or the heat of a plasma furnace. For him it was like being in a coffin buried alive.
Now with the wind blowing across the plains of Durum Four on his face he felt a brief respite. The wavering of the golden grain in the fields reminded him of home. He didn't dwell on his past much even though it had shaped his life profoundly. Before he could wrench his mind from it suppressed memories surged to the surface.
Once again he was a young man enjoying his life. He was a farmer just like his father and his father's father. His other siblings had desired to see the world and the very universe beyond but he'd found all he'd ever wanted six mile downs the road.
That's where she lived. Emma Frost was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She had gray-green eyes that seemed to call out to him. Eventually he saved up enough to pay her dowry and they were married.
Two years after the nuptials he started having bizarre dreams. He dreamt he was stalking through the night slipping into people's houses and stealing things. What was even more peculiar was he would wake each morning dead tired as if he hadn't slept at all. When he told his wife about it she assured him he was in bed by her side all night. But the dreams seemed so vivid and real that one day he searched his house for the stolen goods. His was sickened to find a stash of jewels and money buried under the back porch.
In his shock and horror he showed his wife who assured him that everything was going to be all right. Some how, then, looking into her calling eyes he believed her. His faith was short lived. Later that night she returned with the town constable and he was arrested for stealing.
For days he languished in jail wondering what his fate would be. More torturing were the nagging questions about his sanity. Everything would be rectified with the timely intervention of one of the emperor's loyal soldiers.
William Stryker, Inquisitor Ordinary of House Monodominus. Henry could recall with clarity Inquisitor Stryker standing there on the other side of the prison bars dressed in smart blue suit and black greatcoat with a gold rosette pined on it.
Inquisitor Stryker's cold cobalt eyes froze Henry where he stood taking his measure.
"Free this man." Inquisitor Stryker spoke and the constables scrambled to make it so.
That night, at the cottage the Inquisitor was renting, it was all laid out before him. Henry's lovely wife was a mutant of the worst kind. She was a psyker who used his body like a puppeteer at night. At first Henry couldn't believe it. Stryker simply smile and asked for Henry to follow.
They went to a barn behind the house where inside was Emma shackled to a stake in one of the pins that would normally house a cow. She was stripped down to her nightgown and there was another male body bloody and scarred crumpled at her feet. Even in this setting Henry was drawn to her.
He felt an odd sensation wash over him and his burning desire for her was quenched.
"I'm shielding you from her intentions." Inquisitor Stryker said. "She was going to command you to kill me then free her as she did the good constable there. I was forced to kill him."
Henry looked at man heaped on the floor and felt grateful.
"Tell him the truth witch." Inquisitor Stryker commanded.
Emma's face skewed up as if someone placed something putrid in her mouth. Then she started to speak.
"I hate you." She spat. "You weak minded fool."
Henry wanted to reply to her. To tell her she didn't mean what she was saying but in his heart he felt he was seeing her for the first time.
"Kill him and let me go you stupid animal!" she shouted.
Henry felt an intense buzzing in his head then felt it fade just as fast.
"She's growing in power." Inquisitor Stryker said. "Soon I won't be able to block her control over you. There's only one way for you to be free."
"I have to kill her?"
"Yes." He replied. "She's not fit to live. Prove yourself a loyal servant to the holy throne."
Taking timid steps as if unsure he walked over to her. She continued to insult him all the while pleading for him to free her. Then taking her soft frail neck in his hands, he looked at her. Her eyes called out to him one last time but he wasn't listening.
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Armored shutters blacked out all the windows as the Blackbird made entry to Durum Four. Despite that Forge, strapped securely into the pilot's chair could see everything around him through the Blackbirds sensors. He was part of it and it was part of him. Its wings replaced the arms he hadn't been born with. Its thrusters substituted the legs fate had neglected to give him. Whenever he bonded with machines, in this case the Blackbird, he felt whole.
He had an affinity with metal and wires that would make a tech-priest envious. He had a gift. He was a mutant like every one else on board except for the Inquisitor of course, whom did the emperor bless.
With out the intervening of Inquisitor Xavier he would he been just another cripple begging alms. Now he had found purpose. He was a valuable member of society. Now he had a chance to help others like himself.
Xavier, dressed in his gold on black witch hunter power armor, sat in thought. There was an unsettling feel in the air. He knew it bordered on superstition but so what. Superstition was often what people called what they didn't understand. He'd long ago learned to trust his feels rather they were based in fact or not.
"Go to Omega pattern. " He said. "Something's in the air."
Forge didn't answer but Xavier knew he'd comply. There was a shuttering in the armored benches as the modified Thunderhawk leveled out and began nap of the earth flying.
Walking in armor still bothered Investigator Gyrich but nowhere near as bad as it used to. With his helmet on he had to constantly reassure himself that it was better to have that not. He thought about what he planed and knew he'd never see the sunrise if he didn't have it.
"A necessary evil." He thought out loud.
"What was that Inspector?" a voice sounded in his helmet speakers.
"Nothing Captain Nimrod." Gyrich replied. "Are your men in position?"
He regretted asking the question as soon as it left his lips. Legion Astartes were proud and the Sentinel Space Marines were no exception.
"You'd have more reason to question if night is dark than to ask that." Captain Nimrod replied brusquely.
"My apologies Captain Nimrod." He said sorrowfully. "My mind was else where. May I ask how our bait is getting along?"
"It is alive for the time being." Captain Nimrod answered. Gyrich could tell the Sentinel Captain's feathers were less ruffled now. "Though I'll be glad we can put a bolter through its skull."
"All in time my Captain. When the trap is sprung please do so."
"Understood."
"Excellent. Inspector Gyrich out."
Gyrich continued his walk around the local Arbitrator's office. In the past whenever a mutant that Xavier wanted was in custody he would walk in, flash his Inquisitor rosette and take the mutant away. So far Xavier had not harmed another Imperial citizen. Investigator Gyrich suspected that part of Xavier still knew and understood the law.
Gyrich hoped to appeal to Xavier to turn himself in and face the emperor's justice. Maybe, if Lord Stryker prevailed, Xavier's death could be swift and merciful.
Varhest wasn't the type of place you'd cross the street to get to let alone the void of space. It consisted of six single floor buildings gathered a round an Imperial church in the dead center of town. It was dinky even by settlement standards. Not the type of place you'd expect to be crawling with Space Marines and mutants.
The motion detector in Gyrich's helmet began beeping and then there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." He replied.
Xavier walked in to the office and was surprised to see a man in gold power armor with white trim standing behind the desk. For the life him that armor looked familiar.
"I am Inquisitor Xavier." He announced unabated. "I'm here for the mutant in your custody."
Inspector Gyrich looked into face of his prey for the first time. Xavier was wearing his helmet, which bespoke that he hadn't realized he'd stepped into a trap.
"News does indeed travel fast." The man in the power armor spoke.
Xavier couldn't get a read the man standing in front of him. Did he have psychic blockers in that armor that protected him? Could he be another Inquisitor?
"I wasn't aware that they issued power armor to Arbitrators." Xavier mentioned.
"I'm not an Arbitrator." He confessed. "My name is Investigator Gyrich and I bring you greetings from Lord Stryker of House Monodominus."
Xavier heart dropped in his stomach. This was the moment he was regretting.
"I see." He replied wishing he'd worn his helmet to hide his surprise.
"Then you know why I'm here?"
"Yes." He confessed. "I thought they would send a member of Ordo Malleus."
"Lord Stryker thought that it best not to involve them." Gyrich said. He hoped that you would give yourself up."
"That is Lord Stryker's armor your wearing isn't it?"
"This isn't the only thing he sent me." He said pressing a button on his belt.
A moment later the room was filled with the voice of Lord Stryker.
"Charles, my wayward son." The recording said. "Stop this foolishness. Return to me. Return to the emperor. This is your last chance at redemption. Lay down your weapons and give over to the mercies of the golden throne. Please don't stain the memory of your father anymore than you have already."
Stryker's voice rang in Xavier's head as he stared at the man standing in front of him. It was like Lord Stryker was there in the room with him pleading that he abandon his mission and return to the fold.
"What about us?" A soft feminine voice asked. "You know what happen if you abandon us. Will you throw you vision away so easily?"
"No." he said putting up a mental shield. "Tell Lord Stryker he was cleaver to lace his recording with psychic impellers. I'm over it now."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Gyrich replied. "This would have been better for everyone if you'd simply given up."
"Eagle packs in haste." Xavier said.
"What?" Gyrich replied before realizing it was some type of code. "All team activate."
He never saw what hit him but he glad that he'd been wearing Lord Stryker's armor. Even after they later dug him from the rubble of the Arbitrator building all he would say was that the emperor for power armor.
With the near the speed of thought Night Crawler ported from room to room all over Varhest in search of the mutant they were after. He'd found every one empty so far. It appeared the Imperials had evacuated the place, which his team was in real danger.
A hulking man in gray Mark IV power armor with purple on the gauntlets and shoulders plodded toward the back room the General store. The door shattered as he kicked it in. There was a boy bound to a metal chair. The chair was heated white hot by two portable cookers placed under it yet miraculously the boy was fine.
"Time to die Mutant!" The Sentinel space marine announced leveling his bolter at the boy. But before he could fire the room was filled with black smoke the scent of brimstone. Then the boy was gone.
"Three to one." He said. "The mutant is loose."
Outside the clear night sky was blanketed with billowing black cloud. A violent storm was churning up.
"Understood three, one out." Nimrod replied things hadn't gone as planned so far but he wasn't worried. His squad had face all manners of heretics what were a few mutants and a rouge inquisitor. "I want pattern four containment on this city now! By the numbers on my mark. Mark."
At his orders the Sentinel Assault Squad bounded in from hiding in the woods their jump pack engines join the thundering of the storm. So far the only visible hostile was the inquisitor who was running down Main Street.
All five of them angled down at the target in unison weapons ready. They were lining him up in their crosshairs the hurricane force winds whipped them off course slamming them into the imperial church.
Nimrod could hear his assault squad cursing in his communicator. There would be penitence to pay for such lack of military bearing. He continued to close in with his group moving swiftly down the street.
The night lit up in crimson and the marine next to Nimrod went down. They all dashed for cover behind a building taking the wounded man with them. There was a gaping hole in the armor over the chest. It appeared the armor took the brunt of the blast but blood seeped from the armor.
Nimrod caught a glimpse of a man darting up the alley ahead of them. He motioned for one marine to stay with the wounded and for the rest to follow him.
"You're going to pay for that mutant." He muttered under his breath.
Xavier was blasted from his feet by a missile concussion.
"What the hell was that." He thought.
He got his answer and he fervently wished he hadn't. Stomping out of a side street was a Space Marine Dreadnought. Looking at the venerable machine painted in a gray and purple scheme with its banner blowing in the wind, he truly appreciated the depth of the trap he'd stumbled into.
It was a metal monster made for one thing: the destruction of the emperor's enemies and he had found himself named among them.
"Stop!" Xavier commanded putting all his will in his voice.
The missile rack on its back retracted. It seemed like he'd reached the preserved remains of the space marine interned with in but it was naught. It was raising the storm bolter on its left arm at him now, not wanting to waste a missile he guessed.
Seconds later bolter shells ripped up the street in his direction. He erected his mental shield hoping it would hold until he could find better cover but the shells never reached him.
A dark skinned man dressed in a black imperial guard uniform including a flack jacket with a red "X" painted on it stepped in front of Xavier. The shots shredded his vest and he shirt but didn't penetrate his skin. His skin glowed were the bolts impacted as he rushed toward the Dreadnaught.
"Thanks Bishop." Xavier said but Bishop didn't hear, he was already caught in the lust combat.
Scott ran for his life he hadn't expected to face any space marines…not yet at least. But he couldn't change the fact that three of the very best the emperor had to offer were on his tail. He dove behind the corner of a building as shots clipped near him and that's when it hit him. They weren't the best the emperor had to offer the X-men were. If he had learned anything from Xavier it was that.
Then he stepped from hiding and the marines chasing him opened fire. He opened fire too completely depolarizing the ruby lenses on his goggles sending a wide beam down the alley. The beam vaporized the bolter shells and nearly doing the same to the Sentinels; only their distance saved them.
He was smiling when he was engulfed in black smoke when it cleared he was onboard the Blackbird.
"Where's Inquisitor and Bishop?" he asked looking to the mahogany skinned woman with white hair securing a boy in the copilots seat.
"Night Crawler went back for them." Storm answered.
"So that's him?" he asked. "The one all this trouble is over."
"Yes. He was hysterical when I arrived." She replied. "I had to give him a sleeping agent."
The sound of the Blackbirds Engines firing up drowned out all farther conversation.
Inquisitor Xavier appeared in the ship a puff of smoke.
"Where's Bishop." He asked Scott using his mind.
"I guess Night Crawler saved him for last."
"Are you all right?" he asked broadcasting to Storm now.
"Fine." She thought back. "I'll feel better when were home."
"Me too." Scott added.
Brother Marinas hadn't had a fight this stimulating in the last three hundred years. This mutant had taken his best blows and kept coming. If there was anything he enjoyed, even in his half dead state, it was a good scrap. No matter what he hit this mutant with it took it came back and got stronger. Then an idea formed in Brother Marinas's head. He'd figured out the mutant's source of power. If he still had lips he would smile.
Once more the Dreadnaught's power fist batted Bishop away slamming him into a wall. Another building was on the verge of collapse. Soon the two of them would have leveled the whole town but Bishop's combat lust wouldn't let him stop.
He shrugged off the bricks piled on top of him and rushed at the robot again. There was a pall of smoke around him and he knew the fight was over.
Brother Marinas didn't know what the smoke meant but he fired his flamer any way washing though the cloud until it vanished.
There was pure mayhem aboard the Blackbird as it lifted off. The cabin was filled with fire suppressing mist and the stench of charred flesh.
Xavier touched Forge with his mind and found the man calm and sure. He breathed a sigh of relief that meant the blackbird was fine for now. The others, like he, were in pain from the flash burns they'd received. Then he noticed one mind totally silent. He knew who was gone even before the air scrubbers cleared the smoke and mist revealing the charred corpse of Night Crawler. Bishop wasn't in much better shape but eventually his body would start to use the energy generated by the pain of his burns to itself. Everyone else would have to do it the old fashioned way.
Xavier reached out to every one except Bishop and soothed their pain he also gently nudged them to sleep. It was a long ride home and he had much to consider.