This chapter is going to be completely about the battle in the sewers. Deal with it. N. Kage.
Erasmus splashed through the dank sewer, his helmet display bathing everything in a green light. He had his bolt pistol and chainsword out, scanned everything in his sector. Behind and beside him, his squad was ready, combat knives mounted under their bolters, or side arms loose in their holsters. Somewhere in the labyrinth of ancient aqueducts and sewers they were in, lurked a swarm of Tyranids. Supposedly, about two-hundreds to their left, the Imperial Guard Storm Troopers were conducting their sweeps. Erasmus doubted it; the Storm Troopers were probably already dead.
A low hissing to the fore caused Erasmus to freeze in a firing position. Out of the darkness behind a large water pipe, a four-armed monstrosity leapt out, adamantine claws gleaming.
"Genestealers to the front!" shouted Erasmus, as he pumped shells at the foul zenos. The 'stealer dodged several of the bolts with inhuman swiftness, but two penetrated the carapace on its thorax and detonated, splattering the 'stealer to hell. Like a nightmare, the rest of the 'stealer brood attacked, all claws and fang-lined mouths. Erasmus killed two right away, with so many charging down the sewer, they could not dodge properly. One leapt right at Erasmus, rending claws flashing towards his armored head. Just before the 'stealer struck Erasmus, a bolt of plasma shrieked over Erasmus's shoulder and struck the zeno, immolating it in a flash of light. Brother Jorres stepped up next to the Sergeant.
"Looks like you have a bug problem, Sergeant," The Battle-Brother joked as he fired several more globs of plasma into the 'stealers, causing them to fall back for a moment.
"Kill them all, Brother," Erasmus responded, firing his bolt pistol at full-auto into the shadows were the 'stealers had fallen back. No a sound. "Be alert, Brothers, they could be in the walls."
The squad fanned out in a circle, with Jorres and Morenas in center, where their weapons could be deployed to aide anywhere. The only sound Erasmus could hear was his own breathing. A long minute passed, but the 'stealers still had no come. With a crack, the roof gave way over Brother Temetiz and a large shape dropped down, shredding the Battle Brother with massive claws and an inhuman shriek echoed in the close sewer. Erasmus spun and resigned himself to death at what he saw. Standing almost as tall as a Space Marine, armed with diamond-hard claws and talons, the Brood-lord of the 'stealer swarm would kill them all.
Captain Koyl of the Second Storm Trooper Company heard the inhuman shriek echo across the two-hundred and fifty meters that separated them from the Space Marines and it chilled him to the bone. They had not had contact with the Space Marines since they had entered the sewer, but Koyl could tell the Marines were in trouble. The hundreds of bolt reports had told him that.
"All squads,' he spoke into the integrated vox that every Storm Trooper had in his helmet, 'we're going to help out the Marines. Everyone double-time it to their last known location. Stay on yer toes and kill the 'nid bastards!" A half-dozen acknowledgments rasped in his ear. The Captain signaled his own squad with a pumping motion of his hand and they set off, running through side tunnels choked with unnatural purple moss. He drew his plasma-pistol and checked to make sure the flasks were in place properly and them, with a flourish, he drew his power sword, a gift from Colonel Banon, when he had saved the Colonels life.
He could hear dozens of bolt reports, the whoosh of a flame weapon and the shriek of a plasma gun. But, over all this, he could hear hissing and screaming. Rounding a bend, the lights mounted on his helmet and shoulder illuminated a fearsome scene.
A giant 'stealer or something was tearing open a Space Marine like his armor was paper and in one of the 'stealers hands, the zeno had two hearts, still beating. All around the squad of Marines, 'stealers lay in piles of dead, broken by the occasion armored form of a Space Marine.
It filled his heart with duty and revulsion in equal measure.
"Follow me!" the Storm Trooper Captain shouted, surging through the blood red water, followed closely by a sixty screaming Storm Troopers. Koyl used his armored bulk to shoulder a 'stealer down and pressed his plasma pistol against the zenos twisted head and blew it apart in a flash of light. Another leapt at him and he swung his sword in an upward stroke, cutting the 'stealer in two. The shriek of hell-guns filled the sewer as the Storm Troopers counter-attacked hard in the 'stealers.
Erasmus paused for a moment and looked behind him. He could just make out the Storm Troopers as they counter-attacked. It almost cost him his life. The Broodlord swung its diamond hard claws at his midriff and he had to skip back frantically. The bloody 'nid had torn apart two of his Squad like they were children. Snarling, he raising his bolt pistol and emptied the clip at the giant 'stealer, the half-dozen round left in it detonated across its chest, the wounds leaking foul ichor. The Broodlord took a step back, but seemed no less deadly. Erasmus gripped his teeth and swung his chainsword in a brutal left cross, causing the Broodlord to jump aside and sliced at Erasmus's right shoulder-guard, ripping it off in a shower of sparks. Erasmus could feel blood oozing out of the wound. He thrust forward, aiming the sword at the Broodlord's stomach. The 'nid stepped forward, dodging the thrust and ripped his bionic arm off to the elbow. Erasmus stumbled back, the pain suppressors surging into his blood-stream could not stop the shock from hitting him. Sighing, the Sergeant dropped his pistol into the fouled water of the sewer and took a krak grenade from his belt as the Broodlord stepped towards him again, hissing in a satisfied way. Stating, matter-of-factly, "Death comes for you," Erasmus slapped the anti-armor grenade onto the Broodlord's chest, arming it with the same motion. The Sergeant then fell backwards and rolled the shattered body of one of his battle-brothers on top of him, praying that the sprit of his brother-marine would forgive him.
Koyl felt, rather than heard, the grenade go off. The 'stealers hissed and screamed and began to withdraw, not broken, but probably finding this prey to tough at the moment. A one-armed Space Marine walked up to Koyl, saluted him with his hand, saying, "Thank you, Captain. But, we need to fall back to the sewer entrance and seal it, now." The last word was said with incredible authority behind it.