The size of the hive city from the settlement was an illusion. The sheer size from a distance never revealed just how big the city was or actually, how far away it was. Leviticus had traveled nine days through the arid expanse to close in on the hive city. On the morning of the tenth day, he approached the exterior wall of the hive city. Decades of rust and filth caked the massive walls of the hive. I became apparent that the lower levels have been abandoned leaving it to be infested by any manner of filth.
With a look of disgust, he approached the massive gate in the side of the hive. The amount of rust and corrosion gave the doors a look of being melted. Only in the recesses was there any of the original paint found to suggest that this gate had seen better days. This gate let in all the food-stock from the planet to feed the teeming millions of people inside the hive as well as to be sent off world to feed people on other worlds. Then underground below the gate the hive's engineers built a conveyor tunnel that allowed the food-stock to be sent directly into the hive. Once completed the gate was forever closed to become a support for the massive structure continually growing. Having been long since abandoned, the tunnel below was the preferred method for the Hive Gangs and those without hope to leave the hive and find their way out in the savage wilderness.
Leviticus pondered the gate for a while. The walls of the hive itself were too thick to make a hole, but the gate was thinner. Leviticus just hoped that the gate was not cast as one massive piece. Removing the power sword, he prayed to the blades war spirit to help awaken it from its long slumber. Pressing the activation rune, the blade slowly built up a green glow as the sword's energy field gained strength. Raising the blade over his head, Leviticus took a mighty vertical swing into the gate. The blade passed through as though nothing was there and large rent was cut into the gate. Another three swings and roughly square door was cut into the gate but the piece within did not fall out. Sheathing the sword, Leviticus pushed the gate with his strength to push the block of material out. Nothing.
Cleaning the cut with the power sword, Leviticus tried again. Still nothing.
SPIT! Leviticus said in his head. I had to find the one gate that looks like an abomination and is still strong to the core!
It was, as he feared. The main portion of the gate was cast as a single piece with the ornamentation on the external skin being added later.
Looking around for other possible ways to enter the hive, He spied a series of gun ports tucked into the walls on both sides of the gateway. Many have been covered with armor plates or choked with refuse. The workmanship looked to show that it was placed by an unskilled person; possibly, to stop a draft into a makeshift hovel. Without the armor's backpack, Leviticus calculated that he should be able to fit through the gun port without too much difficulty. Placing the Power sword in an easily accessible location on his back, Leviticus started to climb the rusty gate toward the abandoned gun ports.
The going was not easy even for a physically enhanced Marine. The layers of rust provided many false handholds that broke off in Leviticus' hands or would slide out from under his armored boots. The armor itself was a massive burden and dangling ten feet below him was his rucksack, which caught on a projection from time to time.
Reciting catechisms of encouragement, the exhausted Marine pressed on until he was level with the first row of gun ports. Recessed into the wall, the ports would hide behind the gate as it sat opened and flush against the wall. They offered nothing for handholds or footholds on the smooth surface. Grabbing the power sword and igniting the blade, Leviticus carved out places for his hands and feet along the edge of the gun port. With a mighty stretch, he garnered purchase on the first foothold and needed only a second set to brace him as he cut a way through the wall. Spread out over a drop large enough to injure or kill him, Leviticus prepared to make the cut.
Marium was a woman of a hard life. Born with a deformed arm left her ridiculed and scorned by family. Her uncanny sense of direction brought her home after many attempts to leave her in the Underhive. One day on her way back toward the civilized portions of the hive, she was bludgeoned and taken by a gang. Branded and chained, she became a horrid sideshow attraction for a pitiful carnival of pain that moved throughout the Underhive. Returning to the filth that served as her bed that night she prayed to the Emperor to remover her from this hell.
A lance of pain shot through her, she looked own in time to see a glowing green piece of metal retract through her body. She could not feel her legs, but she didn't care as the world faded into nothingness. She simply said, "Thank you."
Leviticus caught the scent of blood immediately. He had become keenly aware of that metallic scent a long time ago. Smelling it again sent his body a message that cleared the fatigue from his limbs and gave the impression of youth to Leviticus' limbs. Finishing, the cuts dropped the simple metal plate on the corpse of a deformed woman. Hauling himself over her, Leviticus saw a smile on the dead woman's lips.
"The Emperor's will be done," said Leviticus.
As he turned around to retrieve his rucksack, a turned opened and a drunken man stood in the door with a bottle in one hand, a whip in the other. A look of sheer terror took his face and stream of yellow ran down his leg. Moving his feet backward he fell over a table and the commotion aroused others.
Leviticus pulled on the cord to bring his rucksack up but it caught in the hole and would not come through.
"Emperor's Mercy!" he yelled.
Two big men entered the room with electro-prods and another with a large lash with several barbs on the end. Seeing the tether behind the Marine, brought a smile to their faces and circled around Leviticus. Power Sword hidden behind his robes and bolt pistol in the rucksack anchor. Leviticus calmly faced the challenge of combat. The scent of blood filled his nostrils and made his body sing with anticipation for battle.
The drunken man came back with a fresh look of what lie before him. A corpse cut in pieces, a large man in a black robe before him surrounded by three handlers. The smile on the corpse's face brought words to his lips.
"You horrid filth! To bring pleasure to a Tainted One is a sin that is worth countless lashes of pain. I will make sure you receive your measure of pain before you meet the Emperor."
Laughter erupted from the large man as he pulled his hood of his robe over his head. "I have already met the Emperor!" Then his voice went as cold as the vacuum of space, "…and you know not of my measure of pain."
Like a bolt of lightning, the intruder grabbed one of the electro-prods and pulled the handler on the other end towards him. The pain received by the electro-prod never registered on the figure's face as he pulled the prod out of the hands of a handler and with sweeping swing returned it back into the handler's skull with the sickening large crack.
The handler with a lash struck and cut a large gash on the exposed skin of the robed figures arm and forearm. Dropping the electro-prod and the newcomer turned toward the other men in the room. His arm swept behind him to pull out a blade, black as night, that filled the room with a light green glow.
With a look, the two handlers converged on the robed figure simultaneously. It parried the electro-prod into the path of the second handler and reversed the parry to lop of the head of the first handler. The remaining handler quickly spun around blindly sent out the lash with a loud crack. The dark form was easily able to avoid the lash and with a quick blur of motion. The last handler fell apart in two pieces. The drunken man withdrew a stub pistol and fired a number of shaky shots at the imposing shadow approaching him. Those that hit the figure pinged off the hidden armor and ricocheted around the room. One round snapped the tether keeping the hulking form at bay. Realizing it was free; it launched at the drunken master, sliced off the hand containing the autopistol and grabbed the tiny man with his free arm. With a grip of iron, the robed man crushed his larynx.
Leviticus let the man die a slow agonizing death as his windpipe swelled shut denying the man of his air supply. The little man thrashed at his throat with one hand and the stump of his other. Leviticus finally realized that his rope hold the rest of his armor had broken in the fight. Spinning around on his heel, looked upon a bag stuck in the hole he had cut in the wall. Thanking the Emperor for this small blessing. He retrieved his rucksack and made his way into the hive.
The drunk suffocated a short while later.
Exhausted after the climb and the brief brawl upon entering the hive, Leviticus found a dark area of the Underhive that was not entirely abhorrent and rested. Engaging the Catalepsean Node within his brain, Leviticus sat in a watchful slumber. Blending into the shadows gave him an additional measure of protection and his presence went unnoticed until he had been rested to continue up hive.
Walking through the Underhive brought about another look of disgust on the face of the Fallen Dark Angel. Everywhere he looked, there were the dregs of society. Humans of such a low caliber that they thought more about themselves then cared about their duty to the Emperor. Above all abominations encountered in the Underhive were the existence of mutants. Deviants of the human race, these miscreants would not have lived in the service of the former glory of the Dark Angels Legion. Their filth would have purged immediately upon their discovery. Pulling his hood further down his head, he made quite an imposing figure that cleared a path of all the retches he encountered. Leviticus would have purged these mutants if he did not mind attracting unwanted attention. As it was, he continued walking. Steering clear of the more populated areas, Leviticus wound around the lower levels of the hive until he reached more civilized portions of the Hive City.
The change was gradual but it definitely lifted his brooding sprit as he got back into the throngs of the Imperium. Long has he stayed away from the more populated places of the planet. While there will visible signs of corruption and ignorance, there was also the hope of the Imperium at work. Humans worked together to help the rest of the Imperium in their own little way. Servitors marched up down the numerous walkways carrying any number of wares from location to another. Everywhere there was the bustle of men and women haggling prices at the cloistered marketplaces. The sounds of machinery were present with a vibration in the plates that Leviticus stood on. This was the Imperium of Man.
Needing a place to hide and lay low while he searched for a way off planet would require a little tact. He looked around to see Administratum runes on the corners of walkways. Knowing their resolute demeanor, Leviticus took off toward what he hoped was the Industrial areas of the Hive. His guess had not been wrong as the level of noise continued to grow until he got into what looked to be a smaller manufactorium. Heavily muscled men struggled to shift tons of metal from one machine to another. Servitors were fewer in number but they could be seen slaved into the machines as they turned the metal into a series of metal parts. Most of the materials looked to be construction materials for use elsewhere in the hive or to be shipped elsewhere.
"Hey! You there! What are you doing there!" called a voice.
Leviticus watched as a large man with a little extra girth in the mid section climbed out of an observation post and marched over to him. He was drenched in sweat and his coveralls were filthy. "Don' cha know this areas off limits!" He said through teeth clenching a cigar.
"Need work." Leviticus replied.
"Work, eh?" The man walked around the Marine inspecting him. Leviticus carefully watched the man from under his hood. It was a good bet that this man had never seen a Space Marine before. Leviticus hated good bets. Eventually, a good bet will turn bad. Thankfully, he had shifted the power sword into the rucksack leaving his concealed combat knife for protection.
Why Leviticus felt the need to leave the planet he did not know? He hoped and prayed that it was a warning that danger was approaching. Getting away quickly seemed to be the best course of action but haste makes waste and he is betting too much on the human eyeing him up and down. Taking the cigar out to drop ash onto the steel decking, he pointed to Leviticus.
"You are a big 'un. I can use you as a loader. The workers' hibernacula are in Gold 74. Tell them Paternus sent cha. Once they handle your paperwork, I want you working on the first shift. Find me and I'll get you squared away." With a trail of smoke, he turned back to the manufactorium barking orders to the nearby workers.
Brow furrowed in consternation, Leviticus pondered his next move.