Joe sat on the round wooden table, slowly drinking the cup of beer he had on hand. Its been a long day. Even though he's was mainly a fighter ever since he joined the Elements, he also served as a diplomat, artesian and even a technician even though he's more specialized in more biological and spiritual aspects. He's been thrown in constant missions nonstop almost every week, and barely had any time to rest. His body was fine, rarely growing tired nor barely needing to rest, but his mental and spirit were weary. It would be nice to enjoy the week long break he earned.
He took another sip of the beer, enjoying the biting bitter taste sliding down his throat. Then he grunted, sensing the seat beside him being pulled back. "Good evening, Gizmo. How can I help you?"
"Nothing, Joe. Just here to relax. Been a while since we just chatted." A normal man in almost typical scientists garb sat down beside the slightly older figure, pulling out red wine, while setting down a plate of cheesy nachos in front of them. He poured himself a glass, before taking a long swing then setting the glass down.
"How have you been?"
Joe smiled softy, "It has been alright. Thank you for asking. What about you? How goes your research?" He took a small sip from his drink.
Slowly twirling his drink, Gizmo nodded, "Research has gone well on most fronts. Figuring out how to permanently erase Chaos demons has advanced greatly thanks for Ghost and Paladin's help. AI and nanotechnology assisted production is slightly delayed due to the ethic concerns raised by others, but its something I've dealt with before." He waved his hand dismissively. "I'm also able to recreate most of the Astarte Legion's weaponry pre Herasy although mass production will have a slight supply issue with the lack of mines and raw materials producers. I don't want to use our portals for constant shipping. Its will create security problems."
Joe nodded slowly, "If its rocks and stuff you're looking for, I'm sure Grave's got extra lying around he's willing to give, if you ask nicely."
Snorting, Gizmo chuckled, "He'll probably will want something nice in return." He sighed.
Joe chuckled, nudging his friend with his elbow, "I heard the new Astartes is doing great though. There is around 500 strong, almost half the size of a standard Chapter. Their even being trained by some of us. You know empires would kill to get even one of us to train their soldiers."
His companion snorted, "They're still lack real experience. There's only so much training one can do to compensate for the lack of experience. Also, having their first mission be to plunge into the depths of Hell for a rescue operation was insane. We should have not brought them." He shook his head, rubbing his eyes.
"But they did well." Gizmo glanced up, while Joe finished his drink, already sensing who the newcomers were. Taking a seat beside Joe, a young European man dressed in half suit of plate armor set down his mead sloshing in its wooden barrel like mug. A figure wearing a gas mask with his jacket hood pulled over his head pulled up the chair between Joe and Gizmo, putting down on the table a rock size of whisky with a glass straw.
"Evening William and Grave." Joe gave each of the newcomers a small friendly smile, which William returned with just a nod while Grave did not react at all.
Gizmo did not greet the new comers and the others made no attempt in return.
"For their first battle, they fought well. They strike hard when on the offense and hold the line when the situation demanded for it. They are worthy of the name they bear, Shieldbreakers." William said, taking a mouthful of his mead.
Gizmo gave a slow nod, "I agree they performed very well, especially considering it is their first real mission and it was in the depths of hell. It is not everyday you can find someone who can do that. But-" He frowned, "they suffered horrendous casualties. Over a hundred dead out of three hundred, and we were barely able to recover half of those geneseeds before we had to destroy all bodies, since we could not bring them back with us. It took me a long time and lots of my personal resources to create those geneseeds."
William frowned heavily, "They are not your lab rats Gizmo. They are warriors. Noble fighters, protectors and avengers of the innocent, and they have stood and rose above the battles of fire. They have proven themselves and even now so when they work alongside our brothers in their missions."
Gizmo sighed, "I know and I understand. I just would have preferred if they weren't thrown into such a crazy fight as their first mission." He tapped his glass, and the container was filled to the rim. "But enough of that, its in the past already. How are you two doing?"
The paladin grunted, "It has been going well. The cleansing and purification rituals have been successful, and my attacks on Chaos has been going well."
"Are you fighting alone as usual?" Joe asked.
William nodded.
The older guy looked in confusion, "Why alone? You have friends and you even access to our network of allies. We know specialists who can help you greatly in your work."
"Because the things that I do are dangerous."
"I mean we've done dangerous stuff before and lived through them."
"It's just better if I do things alone." He flashed a charming smile to them, but no one was fooled.
Gizmo chuckled, "I get where your coming from. But if you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask. There's nothing wrong with asking for help."
William gave a simple nod, focusing his attention back to his drink.
"That reminds me." Gizmo turned to Grave, "I need your help Grave."
The gas mask person did not move, motionless while the straw stuck through on of the filter's hole. Joe could see liquid sliding up the tube.
"Production for bolters and their respective ammunition has been going well, and new Astarte armors are being built at a good pace. But at the speed of production we are going, I'll be running low in my personal stock of materials especially in high quality ceramite and adamantium that's needed to create these equipment." At that point, Gizmo began to recite a list of materials that he needed off the top of his head, and Joe instantly tuned him out, finishing the remaining of his entire drink in one go.
After two minutes of listening, Gizmo paused. Grave had a finger up, then he pulled the straw out of his gas mask's filter, then looked straight at the other person. "In exchange?" His voice came out muffled, raspy and rough
Gizmo glanced up, his eyes spacing out for a moment, then looked again at Grave, "What do you need or want? You know I can get you anything you want, except for the ones deemed to be unethical."
"What do you mean by unethical stuff?" William asked, a eyebrow raised.
Gizmo shrugged his shoulders, keeping his eyes on Grave.
For a few seconds, Grave made no movement. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece paper and handed it over to Gizmo. Gizmo accepted and unfolded it. Then his eyebrows rose a bit. "This is enough lasguns to outfit at least a thousand men, and with even melta guns, las cannons, plasma guns. With a company's worth of hell guns, and power shovels? You know I made that invention for you as a joke?"
Grave made no reply.
"You want me to even supply this amount of Lemon Russ Tanks, Baneblades and even Shadow Swords? What the blazes? Are you trying to build a army, Grave?"
"You're building a Astarte Chapter. Many would say that is much more difficult task." William pointed it out.
Gizmo paused, then nodded, "Based on my experience, I agree with that sentiment. I can easily provide the weaponry you request for, and most of the armored support though the more exotic variants of the Baneblades will take some time for me to get or make." He said, looking through the list again, then glanced at Grave. "This isn't for you, isn't it? Its for her."
At that statement, Grave looked up from his drink, and stared straight to Gizmo. Joe couldn't see his face, but he sa the gas mask wearer slightly tighten his grip on his cup. After a moment, Gizmo snorted, and gave a nod, "Don't worry, I don't care what you guys do or what she does. I trust your taught her well, and well-" he smirked, "I'm interested in how her career will go."
William shook his head, and Joe rolled his eyes. Grave continued to stare Gizmo, who held . Joe snorted, "Just say yes, Giz. You know it's a good deal, and you can easily get what Grave's asking for."
Gizmo shot him a glare, "You have a deal, Grave."
Grave nodded.
Pressing a few buttons on his wrist console attachment, a 3d screen rose up from the device, reflecting all the contents that was on the paper, a check mark popped up, requesting for confirmation. Without even looking, Gizmo hit the agree button, before raising his cup to the mask wearer.
Grave looked at the raised container, before lifting up his own and clashing against Gizmo's. Gizmo drained his cup while Grave drank his entire drink through his straw. Joe smirked, then turned to the paladin. "What about you, Will? Do you need any weapons, armies or guns?"
The paladin shook his head, "I have everything that I need already. Thank you for the offer though." He gave Joe a small smile, and nodded. Joe simply raised his eyebrow.
William paused then shrugged his shoulders, "If you insist, I am planning to sneak into a Eldar Core World to acquire spirit stones for something that I need to do. You can join me if you like, but it is okay if its too much of a inconvenience for you."
Joe chuckled, "I can do that. I mean I'm not that good as Raiden and Hunter, but I make great distractions." He cracked his knuckles.
William grunted, "To be fair, I am not that great as those two either, but I'm not too bad at working in the shadows."
Laughing, Gizmo sneered at the armored figure, "You're one of the worst ones, Will. But-" he grinned, "I heard technology."
"What?" William frowned, "No, I said Core-"
"Oh I know." Gizmo smile grew even larger, "But the Eldars at the height of their power were extremely advance in many areas of technology that were solely unique to them. I would love to study and copy some of their technology."
William sighed, while Joe chuckled, "I do not want to go beyond then what is necessary. I don't want to attract the attention of the Chaos Gods. I must remain hidden and in the shadows"
"Don't worry," Gizmo laughed, "I got things that will keep us hidden as long as things do not go loud. You guys are pretty strong anyway. Some of us in this table have even fought gods."
He chugged the entire drink, and slammed it on the table, "So what about it? Let's have some fun?"
William sighed but he nodded, while Joe laughed and grinned. "I guess, I don't have any choice then. We'll discuss about the details tomorrow. Time is of the essence now if I want to make this deal happen, and we will need all the speed that we can get."
Gizmo snorted, "I have ships ready to go in less then five minutes, and we can go to the nearest Webway gate that leads directly to the core worlds. We can be there in a month at most."
William stared at him incredulously, while Joe laughed. He was pretty sure the alcohol was getting to them all, except for Grave. Gizmo's never had strong alcohol tolerance and it has been a while since Joe and the paladin drank.
"We still need to plan for the journey, supplies, intelligence and many other things." William pointed out, still shocked at how things were accelerating.
Gizmo summoned more alcohol into his cup, "We can do that on the trip. I can have the ship loaded up with everything that we'll need on the journey right now."
Joe stood up, "It seems like we're going to be going very soon. I will need to gather my equipment and tools tonight then. Got to make sure I have everything I need."
"Don't you just need your fists? I just see you punch stuff." Gizmo smirked at Joe who sheepishly grinned. "Well hey, I can actually do other things aside from 'punching' stuff."
The fighter finished his drink, and set the glass down. "I will be off, gentlemen. I will meet you tomorrow at first light by the hanger bay."
"That's really early." Gizmo groaned.
"Its always pretty good to start out early." Joe replied.
"I guess, I shall be there too then." William shrugged his shoulders, then almost flinched when Grave slammed a fist onto the table, "What is it, Gravedigger?
The gasmask let out a puff of a black smoke, and pulled out a pick ax that was attached to his belt and placed it on the table. William look confused at the gesture, but Gizmo began to look excited, while Joe smiled. "Of course, Grave. I'm sure it will be fine if you join us. We could always use your expertise."
"But wait-," William stared at them in confusion, "He has no expertise in stealth operations, and from what I've seen-" He looked apologetically to Grave, "tends to be blunt and direct with his approach in situations when it requires a more delicate touch." Grave shrugged his shoulder.
"You would be surprised." Joe replied. He placed a hand on Grave's shoulder, "This guy has been around for a long time, and he's not the leader for the Veterans for nothing."
William sighed but nodded. Joe felt a bit bad for him, but he knew that they could use every help they could get. Almost everyone else was busy with their jobs or tasks, and as much as confident he is in his own skills, Joe knew the plan was still very risky. They were going into the core worlds of the fallen Eldar empire, which was deep in the eye of the terror.
He swung the bar's door open, feeling the cold night air brush against his skin, and for the first time in a long time, could feel excitement and anticipation coursing through his body. This was going to be a fun mission.
It was hell, more twisted and horror inducing then most of the other hells that he's seen before. The few information that their many scans were able to gleam was that the planet's atmosphere was completely filled with thick toxic clouds, and there was no chemical composition that would explain the pink violent tinge that coated the entire sky. The cogitator estimated that the amount of warp absorbed emitted by the planet was enough to mutate a person on contact save for those wearing specialized equipment, and to allow creatures of the warp access into reality.
"Based on what I am reading, I am going to need a suit to be able to stay alive down there unless I have any plans to join Chaos." Gizmo said, pointing to a series of data that his AI had listed down on a holograph presented in front of them.
"Well, only you." Joe replied, smiling, "The rest of us will be fine."
"That is correct. But if the daemons see a bunch of unmutated and normal humans walking around, they will be very suspicious to say the least."
Joe titled his head, "What do you suggest then? I do not want to transfer to a daemon body or transform into one. That sounds like a bad idea."
"I will not be a daemon too." William snarled, "I will not become the thing that threatens those that I swore to protect."
"No we will not do that." Gizmo frowned, "I don't have the equipment or materials on hand to be able to do that too." He looked to William, "Since this is your operation, what were you planning to do to sneak in?"
William paused for a moment, then said, "I will be back in a minute." then he disappeared into his room for a few minutes before coming back, carrying several objects. When the rest saw what he was holding, Gizmo groaned and facepalmed, Joe laughed while Grave made no reply, only shaking his head. William was holding four full size suits that seemed to have been skinned from the bodies of daemons. There were several runes engraved on the skin, and Joe could read their purpose was to bound the flesh against the body under the wearer's consent till they changed their mind.
"My idea was each of us will wear a suit, head down, 'sneak' into the enemy's stronghold, then find the spirit stones where they are and bring it back." William said confidently, fooling no one.
No one replied for a few seconds.
"Is there any more to this plan?" Gizmo asked.
William hesitated, "Um, not really. I was planning to improvise from there."
The intelligent man nodded, "Right. It is a good thing you brought us along then."
Joe borrowed one of the suits and examined it. It was a full flesh suit from a daemon, completely devoid of any innards as it flop over his hand. He saw a line of runes etched down on the spine area, which would allow the wearer to tightly fit the suit as if it was their own flesh. The face was a red humanoid with twin oversized solid horns attached to the side of its head with a long serpentine tongue hanging out of its sharp needle like teeth. The hide was scaly and tough, easily able to withstand many conventional weapons. It was a Khrone dameon, and a veteran one based on the various scars doting all over its body. The three other flesh suits were a Tzzetch horror, Slannesh daemonettes, and Nurgle Plague bearers. Every single one had various wounds, markings and likeliness that indicated them from the real thing.
"William." Joe looked up, "I have a lot of questions, but I will not ask them."
"I appreciate that." William handed out the rest of the 'clothes' to the rest. The plague bearer to Grave, and Tzeetch horror to Gizmo. "I recommend everyone to try on the outfits so that the magic can fit the skin to your proper body size."
Gizmo looked at the suit, then to William then back at the outfit. "Honestly, your idea is not bad as it is crazy. The problem is-" he pointed at what he was holding, "is that there's no actual warp energy being emitted that a normal daemon would be constantly. Its just a skin."
Willam frowned, "I know that, but I refuse to conduct such twisted magic. I do not want to risk any contamination or possession, especially since we are in the Eye of Terror, the place where Chaos regions and the warp is most intensely concentrated."
"That's because you aren't open minded enough nor smart enough in how to utilize Chaos in a safe and controlled fashion." Gizmo smirked, laying down the Tzzetch horror flesh on a table. "Don't worry, I have what we need." He tapped several times on his wrist mounted console, and several hatches opened sideways, leading to several heavy robotic arms carry down metal armored massive sized containers. They were set gingerly down on the floor with a soft thud, and with a hiss, the armored doors swung upwards, revealing their content.
Inside three of the containers were Heresy Era power armor with each of them bearing a mark from one of the legions that have turned against the Imperium. One was from the XII Legion, red like blood covering the entire set with skulls and small wear and tear doting the outfit as commonly found among the World Eaters. The second set was from the III Legion though being more pre Hersey focus with none of the flamboyant changes or mutations that is commonly found among the Emperor's Children warbands these days. Instead, it was painted in subtle purple tones with various outlines of silver that highlight the armor's edges. The last one was a relative clean XIV legion armor, with the symbols of disease and decay decorating the heavy plate with the green grim hues covering the entire set. But compared to the usual Nurgle worshiper astarte's, the armor was in pristine condition. The fourth box contained a Terminator armor from the XV legion, with powerful sorcerous symbols and warp sigils etched on the metal, and carried a set of powerful looking Thunder Claws.
No one talked for a moment. "This is suppose to be a stealth mission. Gizmo." William said, "Its not exactly going to be quiet if we go down there in heavy armor."
Gizmo frowned at William, "You know that there is a legion of Space Marines specialized in stealth right? How are they able to be stealthy even if they are wearing massive suit of armor that can crush a person's skull with a light squeeze? Technology!" He pulled out a long bar of black material. Attach this if you plan to use the power armor, and it will reduce the sound that the suit makes to negligent amount. Just slap it on the power pack, and it should work."
Joe chuckled and nodded, "Seems good. Your inventions work 70% of the time anyway." He reached down and held up the Khrone dameon suit, "But I usually don't like wearing something that covers my entire body. "
"That is fair. You should be able to withstand the amount of exposure to the warp and toxics present down there, but that still does not solve the problem of you not being a daemon. But-" he rumbled inside his pocket, "I do have a solution for that." He pulled out a small circle object which was the size of a coin. It was completely black with a single symbol drawn in the middle. Joe handed it over to Joe who turned it over. The single symbol radiated with such warp energy that Joe could feel it touching and caressing his skin, trying to change his form. On the back of it, almost microscopic lines of words and symbols were etched, covering the entire metal. They were scriptures, words that conveyed the Emperor's powers, but hiding underneath the massive swell of Chaos energy.
"What is this Joe? This doesn't seem safe to keep in your pocket."
"But it is," Gizmo smiled, a crazy glint sparking up in his eyes, "Thanks to my geniuses. I have found a way to be able to create a device that will make us seem more like daemons in the warp, while ensuring that this amount of warp will not contaminate us."
"While the power armor will conceal our identities." William glanced to the suits of armor, It honestly sounds better then my idea."
Grave stepped forward and examined closely the terminator suit. Then he looked to Gizmo, and pointed to the item.
"I got it from a sorcerer that I ambushed a few years back. After I took care of him, I took back the armor, repaired, and modified it. Now, its faster and can channel magic, not the warp kind." Gizmo beamed, "I'm pretty proud of what I did."
Grave nodded, then gestured to the other sets of armor, "Same story for the others, although I choose not to modify them, since there's not enough space for new features." Gizmo replied, patting the glass that covered the terminator set.
"Seems like the terminator armor is more for you, since none of us aside from William are proficient in magic." Joe replied, cracking his knuckles.
Gizmo nodded, "Fair, but that should be fine. Now, let's figure out how to get down there," He tapped on his wrist console and a 3d map popped open, revealing a general outline and findings that the computer could scan through the planet's atmosphere. "and what we have to do to get those spirit stones you need, William."
The four of them crowded around the table where Gizmo had placed the general map, and began to point out key features and places of interest that may affect their mission in any way.
The suit was uncomfortably tight, almost like a tight latex spy suit he's worn in the past. But the disguise was perfect, every time he moved his mouth, the Bloodletters jaws flashed open, revealing its needle like teeth, and when he flex, the powerful muscles rippled underneath the hide. He could smell an overwhelming stench of charnel stench coming from his own body, feeling disgusted The coin hung like a necklace around his neck, and radiated malice, anger and hatred so powerfully, that Joe could feel the reality being influenced, especially with its weak hold here.
The ground was rocky, and hard, completely dry with no signs of any plants around. Instead, he could see patches of blood scattered randomly throughout the ground, and they were slowly expanding while soaking the floor in a deep dark red. Random humanoid skulls were stacked up in small piles with the Khrone symbols engraved on each of the bones. As he and the rest of the group continued to walk, the piles of bones continued to grow larger and more elaborate with more and more blood pouring out of the ground with drizzles of it falling from the sky. The smell of blood and charnel grew stronger in the air, which made Joe frown in disgust. He could also hear the roars of battle cries, screams of pain and the laughs of ecstasy slowly coming from everywhere.
Beside him, two Chaos Space Marines walked beside him, their footsteps surprisingly quiet against the hard soil. The Slannesh Astarte carried a elaborate decorated bolter with blasphemous images carved and engraved all over the gun with precious metal and gems lining the artwork. It would have been a amazing piece of artwork if it didn't invoke disgust every time Joe looked at the art piece. Gizmo detached the gun from his hip and held it in a ready position. He activated his vox speaker, "We are near where we are suppose to be. Get ready for possible contact. Remember, this is suppose to be a stealth mission."
The Khrone Space Marine marched at the same pace beside him, wielding a power ax and a combat shield, "We still need to gather information as much as possible. We don't have much of a plan of how to get in." William replied, grunting unhappily. He tapped at his chest plate, where the necklace was hidden underneath. "I really want to smite this unholy object. It should be destroyed." He looked to Gizmo, "I need to talk with you to make sure you are not evil or not corrupted in any way."
Joe laughed, "We checked him way back since you joined us, William. He's a bit crazy and has a ethic committee always checking up on what he is doing anyway."
"Honestly, they are very annoying most of the time." The Slannesh marine mumbled.
Grave, dressed in the Slannesh skin suit, picked up a rock and held it close to his eyes. For a moment, he stared at it then easily crushed it into dust. He looked to Joe who was watching him and nodded. Opening his palm and letting the soil fall, he made a series of hand signs. The fake Khorne Daemon paused then nodded.
"Grave just told me that there used to be a massive battle here a long time ago with so many bloods being spilled that rivers and lakes were created."
Gizmo gave a nod, "Supports the theory of what's happened to this planet. Slannesh held domain over this crone world for the past millennium, until something happened that attracted the attention of the other Chaos Gods." He rubbed his fingers against his helmet's chin, "Though, I am still unsure of what it may have been that changed the status quota, aside from it being possibly Eldar."
"Does it matter to us though about the change? We're not here for what the Chaos gods are fighting over. We shouldn't get sidetracked."
Gizmo looked to him, "You say so, but whatever they are fighting for must be important to the point that the Chaos gods are willing to devote resources to it. We may have to expand the mission scope it capture or steal whatever they are fighting for."
"Then that would put us, Elements, in the spotlight of the Chaos Gods, and we are not ready for a war against gods."
"Honestly, that would not be the first time we did something stupid like that, and still have won in the end." Joe chuckled, "Though, I think we are close to our destination." The sound of fighting was incredibly loud, with battle cries, roars, laughing and screams of anger, and metal clashing against metal or the sound of warp sorcery being used.
They stood over a cliff which overlooked a battle that was raging several kilometers away. Khorne daemons were fighting Slannesh daemmonettes. Hundreds died every minute, even more poured into the fight, throwing themselves into the fray. The battleground stretched for miles, with various daemons in different shapes and sizes fighting to their deaths.
On one side, a massive Eldar citadel stood twisted and reshaped into the likeness to the pleasure god. Wraithbones structures bore the marks of Slannesh, with beautiful blasphemous images engraved on the sides. The architecture was alien and yet so alluring. Precious metals and stones adore the structures, while banners and artworks decorated the walls. In the center was a sky high reaching Eldar twirling building with purple veins streaking through the wraithbone materials. He could swore through the sound of battle that he could hear the sound of singing coming from the tower. If it wasn't for his resistance, the sound would have been enhancing alluring and delicious. It would have been an amazing city to have witness, even from a far distance, but many of the buildings in and near the front have been nearly or completely destroyed.
On the far side, the Khorne's camp was massive, not as large as the city itself but still large for a temporary encampment. Walls made out of bones rose a few meters above the ground, while daemon cannons stood on top of raised towers opening firing into the city. Low hanging tents made out of leather with bones and metal holding up the structure. Massive towering piles of skulls rose above everything else. At the center of the camp, was a blood soaked throne made out of bones and metal intertwined mixed together. Blood was pouring out of the bottom feet, soaking the skulls and the ground below.
Legions of Khrone daemons rushed out of the open gates, a unending river of corrupted warriors eager to spill blood for their god. On the other side, hordes of deceptively beautiful creatures counter charged, snapping their crab like claws throwing themselves to protect their master's home and to experience the ecstasy of fighting, pain and killing. Daemon engines stepped forward and unleashed their firepower or melee prowess, destroying scores of enemies. Heralds of Khorne and Slaanesh dueled with each other, trying to prove their worthiness to their chosen god.
"Wow. This looks fun." Joe grunted, his eyes swept over the scene and tried to see a way to get in.
"This is not what I expected initially," William muttered, reading the data popping up in his helmet's data feed. "But I have an idea in how to get in."
"I also managed to locate where the spirit stones may be." Gizmo said, pointing to the massive towering Slaanesh building. "We have to get in there, and then I have to do another scan. The conflict is causing too much disturbance for my equipment to get a precise reading."
"How will we get in?" Joe asked. He could not see anyway in. Every potential entrance had swarms of daemons going through, and at least two massive chosens were watching each way in.
Somebody tapped on his shoulder and Joe turned to see Grave pointing to one of the smaller holes. Compared to most, fewer dameons were coming out of it while only one Chosen Herald stood guard over it. "I guess that could work." He scratched his head. "But two of us are dressed like Khorne worshippers, so how do we get in. Forcing our way in is not the answer, since we will get the whole city on our heads."
"We'll talk our way in." Gizmo said, already making his way down the cliff through a steep path.
Joe looked at him, quickly following, "Wait what?"
"He's right." William grimaced as the rest of the group followed, "We could fight our way in, but that would take way too long for us to get in and get out. So it will be best for us to be persuasive."
"William and Joe will be our prisoners." Gizmo said, looking to Grave who gave a affirming nod.
William frowned, stepping alongside Gizmo, "Why should it be you and the quiet one? I believe I should be the one. I can be quite persuasive if need to be."
"Because I am pretty sure you don't know how to speak as a dameon. Did you think that we would just chat with them? I already have a story in mind in how to get in."
"You know how to speak to daemons? Just how far have you sunk into Chaos? You are treading on dangerous territory."
Joe placed a hand on William's shoulder, "Don't worry." He gave a affirming nod, "Gizmo's always been like this, but the rest of us and I are always here to make sure he doesn't go too far."
"Most of the time," Gizmo corrected, chuckling, "Sometimes I can get away."
"That's what you think."
Grave stopped, then flashed a series of hand signals. William disappeared in plain site, vanishing like they were never there. Joe and Grave dove behind several rocks for protection and concealment. The fighter immediately held his breath, and strained his senses. He did not realize it, but the saturation of the warp was affecting his senses and making it difficult to determine the distance of things.
Just now, he could hear the beating of wings slowly growing louder and louder while he continued to look down. He looked up quickly, and grimaced. It was a flock of Khorne hel drakes. His enhanced eye sight could note out the symbols and metal works proclaiming glories to the Blood God. War borne scars marked their metal skin, while flames breathed out of their mouth. They waited for a few minutes, and the heldrakes left, joining the battlefield.
William and Gizmo appeared again, pointing their bolters upwards. Joe and Grave pulled themselves up from their cover and regrouped with the rest. "Well that was close." Gizmo said, "Seems like we are pretty close to the fight. Lets get ready for the operation."
"This is not going to work." William grumbled, but he continued to follow them down the path that lead directly to the battlefield.
After two hours, Joe stood in front of a entrance with massive chains holding his arms, legs and a guard restraining his mouth. Beside him, William had restraining bolts attached to his suit that restricted the movement of his suit, and his bolter gun was attached to Gizmo's belt. The Slannesh Space Marine lead the group, while Grave brough up the rear. They passed by the never ending stream of Slaanesh daemonette rushing into the battle, completely excited for the bloodshed.
No one paid them any attention, even when they wandered through a pack of daemons. The warp entities flowed around them like a river, completely ignoring them as if they don't exist. Joe wasn't too sure what was happening, but Gizmo most likely had done something to mask their true presence, some kind of spell or technology that was used. Joe had heard Gizmo muttered something under his breath, but he didn't see the effect.
His keen eyes could see the perfect skin and features on the daemonette as they rush by, and the burning excitement coursing through their eyes. Their arms and hands were hardened and twisted into carb like appendages or curved bone like spears. They either wore skimpy outfits meant to catch mortal's eyes and allure their minds or completely naked. Daemonettes riding bipidel daemonic beasts charged at insane speed while weaving through individual daemons to reach the frontline faster.
They did not speak nor do any hand signals least it would give them away. It took them a whole hour before they finally reached their destination. The breach was huge , several times larger the size of a daemonettes . But the chosen daemon standing guard was massive, reaching the height of the breach, and had several arms stretching out of its body. As Joe looked at the daemon, it snapped its fingers and several Khrone daemons fell into her open hand. It caught them, and began to snap their limbs off one by one. She dropped the body parts into her mouth like finger food, ignoring the struggles of Khorne daemons as they bite, claw and stab into it's hand. Despite the feistiness of her meal, the Slannesh chosen looked incredibly board.
Gizmo turned to look at the rest of them, his face hidden by his helmet, but Joe could imagine his expression was serious and ready. He checking to make sure the rest of them were too. He gave a affirming nod to Gizmo while the rest gave similar gestures. Joe and William began to thrash and tried to break their chains, putting up a good performance. Grave slammed a needle into Joe's neck, injecting a substance, while Gizmo gave William a good punch to his chin. The two fake Khorne worshippers immediately were 'drugged' or 'knocked out' ,and slumped to their captives' shoulders. Despite the commotion, the Chosen daemon didn't look up from its eating.
Joe inwardly frowned, but kept his body relaxed and loosed. His body had already detoxified the poison as it entered his system, but he tried his best to look drugged. Grave continued to drag him forward, making absolutely no noise or gestures at all unlike a typical daemonette. Joe really wanted to whisper to his friend to be more convincing, but he was sure that the Chosen daemon would hear them. They drew closer, and in a few minutes neared its feet. Gizmo paused then continued to walk, while Grave made no hesitation and almost bumped into the pair ahead.
Then Joe could feel its eyes turn to them, like the soft whispers of warm wind flowing into his soul and envelop his being. Its eyes lingered, growing slightly curious in the prisoners the Slannesh worshippers were holding. He could tell it was doing the same to the rest. The group continued to walk past calmly, half hauling their prisoners away. It stared at them for a few more seconds, then looked away to the battlefield. Its features seemed to turned wistfulness and sadness, almost pitiful.
Then they finally passed by it and stepped into the fortress. Inside, it was breathtaking beautiful that no mon'keigh words could describe it. It had everything that a mortal could ever want in their life, beautiful partners, luxury, wealth, beauty and pleasure. Everything was free and open, and he could feel the life bristling in the city even if there was a war going outside. Despite the overflow of the daemonette, charging into the battlefield, there were still thousands in the city, enjoying the pleasures and joys that the place offered.
"We are in." Joe could hear Gizmo speaking through their comms they had set up beforehand.
"Grave, you hit me a bit too hard there." Joe mockingly groaned, then chuckled Grave lightly slammed another punch to his side.
"Gizmo, please remove the bolts from my armor. It is very annoying to not be able to move fully." William grumbled.
Shaking his head, the Slannesh marine rumbled, "No you are still our prisoner. We are heading to their jail right now."
"I am so confuse in why would they need a jail. I thought the Chaos daemons would have no need for prisoners, especially for other daemons." William said, poking one of the restraining bolts that was attached to his shoulder.
Gizmo slapped his hand away, "They still are at war, William. You always need information and entertainment even for daemons. These ones aren't too different from the ones that we've fought before."
"Still, they are very dangerous, maybe even one of the worst ones that I have fought before. This universe is cruel and harsh, and its shown in the entities that thrive from their fear and sin."
Grave shifted Joe's arm wrapped around his neck, looking straight ahead. A few daemonettes gave him a glancing look, but they looked away their attention returned to whatever pleasurable activities they were doing. They continued on for what seemed like a hour. Time and distance seemed to be different with more time taken to walk the same amount of distance in real space.
As they walked through down the path, Joe could feel temptations reaching from the temples, worship centers that praised and worshipped the grave sins fueled Slannesh. They pulled to his soul, calling him out. He ignored them, letting the feelings and thoughts float around in his head, but barely engaged with them liked he practiced along time ago. He could sense the others being attacked by the same warp offerings and manipulations, but they were holding strong. Similar to him, Gizmo kept his laser focus on the goal, ignoring everything not related to what they were doing. Grave was totally unaffected by the temptation, stone faced to whatever the warp promised him. The paladin's strong will held fast against whatever he was offered, completely seeing through whatever was offered to him.
They continued to walk on for a hour, enduring the constant bombardment of temptations and whispers of never-ending pleasures. They've seen what happened to those that had accepted Chaos's promises. But it was starting to become annoying and tiring to constantly be on guard, and they kept chatting to a minimum to lower the chances of being caught. Then they stood in front of the massive tower.
"Too gaudy for my taste." Gizmo mumbled.
Joe grinned, "You have no taste, smart man. I've seen your design."
Gizmo muttered back, "You are just old fashion, old man."
"Do you know where the spirit stones are?" William asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
Gizmo gave a small nod, "My equipment has given me a position with a 10% error margin, though it would not hurt to confirm it with a local."
"How can we confirm that?"
"Maybe we can ask?" Joe asked, almost shrugging his shoulders.
"One second." Joe looked up to see a daemonette approaching them. She was wearing a sexualized Imperium Administration outfit, holding a data slate and was approaching them directly. She was incredibly beautiful, slender waist, thick bosom and a perfect face. Behind her were two daemons steeds trotting by her side. Each of them were sucking onto a long elongated purple vegetables while they peer curiously at him and his group.
"Hello there, handsome one." She flashed Gizmo a sultry smile, and walked up to him seductively. "May I be of any assistance." She gave him a wink.
The Slaanesh Astarte gave a nod, then gestured to the two prisoners they had, "We would like to interrogate these prisoners. They may in someway be somehow be useful to the war."
She threw her head back and laughed, bright and cheerful. "Well, you are free to do as you please then." She placed a hand on the chest plate, tracing her fingers halfway down, "Unless there is something else that I can do for you."
Gizmo shook his head, reaching down and gently pushing her hand aside. "I thank you for the offer. But my duties demand for my full attention. Maybe in my spare time." He held her hand for a moment before letting it go. She laughed before stepping aside, "Of course my lord, if you ever need companionship, I am eager to fulfil that role." She turned around and walked away, swaying her hips.
Grave lightly kicked Gizmo's back of the leg, denting the metal slightly. The Slaanesh Marine looked back at him for a few long seconds before turning away.
"Not bad, Gizmo. I didn't know you could be a sweet talker." William muttered. Joe could hear the grin in his voice.
Joe quietly laughed, as Grave let him off his shoulder, and let him stand on his own feet. Holding a length of rune covered chain, Grave roughly pulled him forward, while William followed Gizmo awkwardly to the amusement of the warp denizens. Like a Khorne Bezerkers, the paladin growled and struggled against his restraints but they held his movement tightly.
They continued on the towers until at the entrance, a pair of daemonette with more male like features approached them. "The mistress of the tower has requested for us to assist you with your prisoners. She worries that you may be lost, and would not want you to possibly waste your precious time then you need to."
Gizmo gave them a nod, "I appreciate the help. Please, go ahead." He stepped aside to let the two creatures of the warp move in front of the group. Both of the daemonettes were slightly larger then normal ones, and their claws burned with warp fire. One stood in front of the group walking ahead, while the second one strolled by Joe's side. In its sadistic delight, the daemonette continuously jabbed and stabbed the Khronate's side, causing him to snarl at them, even if it did not actually hurt him.
He was very tempted to break the annoying claw, but held his action. The small group continued to walk, passing by many daemonettes who were rushing around doing bureaucratic work while in a state of drugged, sexual, food or sadistic or even multiple of those ecstasies. Joe was a bit confuse in what all these paperworks were for, but it seems like the Chaos gods were not exempted from administration redlines and work unless there were people that actually fetishes related to it.
For almost thirty minutes, they descend higher up tower, climbing up a set of elaborately designed stairs. It should have taken them a few hours to reach their destination, but somehow they arrived in a few minutes. In front of them were a row of jail cells that stretched beyond the eye could see. There was more prison cells then that could have possibly fit in this entire floor. There were at least thousands of prisoners that filled in each of the cells, and the screams of the dammed and tortured filled the air. Even in the prison, the area was luxuriously set up with many comfortable viewing areas that allowed spectacles to watch prisoners being tortured, while even the prisoners quarters were comfortably made with soft beds, delicious food and even individual temperature control for each cell.
As they walked through the entrance, Joe could see many Khorne daemons were locked inside the cells. Surprisingly, there were even daemons that worshipped other Chaos Gods locked in the cells too, large bloated Nurgle Plaguebearers and Tzeentch daemons trapped by the bars made out of corrupted materials and sorcery runes that channeled the warp and blocked the captured daemons from coming out.
The pair of daemons lead Gizmo to a pair of open cells that were beside each other. Joe continued to stumble after Grave as he pulled them along. "Uh, Gizmo. What's the plan here?" The Khorne daemon asked as quietly as he could.
"On my signal," Gizmo replied back quietly. He gave a affirming nod, when the daemons opened the cell's doors. The Slannesh Space Marine pushed William forward to step into the cell, and at that moment, the armor restraining bolts deactivated falling to the ground. Faster then a normal person's eye, William slammed a punch into Gizmo's torso, sending him staggering back before turning around and grabbed the head of the daemon's head. With a quick squeeze, he crushed the skull into a pulp.
"Huh." Joe grunted. He snapped his chains apart, and with slammed a knee into Grave's chest, before shoving him back. It felt like hitting solid rock, but he was pretty sure the silent mask wearer was fun. He turned and whipped his improvised weapon to the nearby cell and smashed the lock, while sending out a burst of lighting energy from his body that destroyed the integrity of the runes. The Khorne Flesh Hound inside immediately broke the door and leaped into the group of surprised daemonette and tore apart the daemons.
Using his weapon's long reach, Joe unleashed quick lighting attacks against the nearby cells, releasing their occupants. William roared a battle cry, and punched daemons in the face, reflecting the Warhound's infamous berserker rage. Gizmo laid on the wall, slightly winded out. He could see the crack on his armor slowly being repaired thanks to the technology on hand. "Dam you William. That actually hurt." He detached a device from his belt, "Time to try this out." It was a tiny pearl orb, completely devoid of any light or form of color. He raised it and broke against the jail cell. Like ink, the shadows darted through the metal and into the runes, soaking for a moment then shattered the placeholder. Like a frog it leapt through to several jail cells and broke the containers open. The prisoners immediately charge out, throwing the prison into confusion. William and Joe lead the Khorne daemons, cutting down any prison guards with ease.
Gizmo blasted a horned daemon attacking him straight to the face, before whirling around and firing a single round straight to the torso of another one going for him. More and more jail cells were being opened by the minute at a even faster rate, unleashing more enemy daemons upon them. Slannesh dameonettes clashed against Plaguebearers and Khorne bloodletters who were fighting each other too. Grave slammed a punch into Joe's jaw, sending him stumbling back before Joe ducked down slammed a right cross into the slannesh daemon's torso.
"Whats the plan here, Gizmo?" Joe grabbed a daemonette and used it to block Grave's punch which went through the daemon's body.
"I have an idea." William said, before Gizmo could reply. He shoved their remaining guide to the ground, and snapped both legs. Then one hand grabbed the screaming but moaning daemon, while his other grabbed his chain ax that laid by Gizmo's side. He charged forward towards the entrance, swinging his ax with wide arcs with no care for who he hits.
Seeing their champion, the Khorne daemons surge forward to form around their leader, willing to spill blood for their God and to get revenge for all the torture they experienced. Joe immediately followed, but he had no idea what William was going to do. He punched another daemonette in the face, exploding its limb into a mist of gore and blood. Beside him, a large Flesh Hound tore out the throat of a Slannesh fiend, splattering itself with a burst of blood before dropping the flesh and roared.
Joe paused then leapt onto the back of the beast. The creature growled and tried to buck him off, but the Element smacked daemon's head hard, beating it to submission. "Follow me!" Joe roared, urging his steed to move forward, while whipping his chains around in whirlwind motion. William glanced back, seeing Joe riding his steed, and gave his friend a thumbs up.
"I hope you know what you are doing William," Gizmo groaned, "We'll be right behind you." He pulled himself up, then gestured to the daemonettes, "Rally to me, we will crush and sacrifice these fools for our god." Hefting up his bolter, he immediately move quickly with several squads worth of daemonettes moving to his side while Grave quietly followed him in the midst of the cheering and excited daemons.
With his strong will, William ordered the Khorne daemons into a arrow head formation. They broke out of the prison, and tore through the surprised defenders. The bloodletters summoned their hell blades or blood soak battleaxes and cut down the daemonettes. Behind them, Gizmo lead the prison guards and skirmished the attackers from behind trying to herd them. His helmet feed showed him a general map of the whole building while feeding him notifications of what the building occupants were doing.
"The spirit stones are 2 floors above us, William. Get us access there somehow." Gizmo spoke into his comms, then turned to the daemonettes beside him, "Follow me! We have them surrounded!" He charged after the Khorne group, following the path of destruction they left in their wake. He could hear the screams and roars of battle as the daemonette tried to stop the small Khorne legion while Nurgle and Tzeentch leapt at each other throats and surprised Slaanesh daemonetts. Their group was slowly growing larger with more and more defenders joining his side, crackling and laughing with the anticipation of battle. Unlike the Khorne daemons, Gizmo could not control his own horde with many rushing ahead to leapt into the fight before they were torn into pieces by the tight ranks of blood red legion.
For the next thirty minutes, many skirmishes broke out as the Khorne creatures rampaged upwards with William leading the assault, while protecting their rear from attacks from their ex prison guards. The Khorne Space Marine lead the attacks, easily breaking through any makeshift defenses that Slaanesh tried their best to put up. Joe charged into the fry, on top of his hound, snapping and breaking bodies with whiplashes of his chains, while the Flesh Hound rammed into the midst of groups, tearing apart its hatred enemies with its powerful claws and teeth.
Stepping through the large broken doors, William glanced around the area. The ceiling was low with a hanging chandelier gently swinging in the air. Multitude of eldar skulls lined the candle holdings of the object with the flesh still clinging on them. Their jaws were still open, constantly screaming with such horror and despair that William felt sick and pity at them. He was fairly sure they were still alive with the way their eyes glanced back and forth between him and the daemons.
Then they began to scream. William gritted his teeth, feeling his mind burning with pain from the power. The sound was torturous, a mixture of banshee screams infused with the echoes of pain and horror of what their people have created, and now their souls will forever endure the torture that their creation with delight inflicts on them. Several of the daemons beside him shrieked, crumbling to pieces unable to withstand the amount of warp energy being blasted at them. Raising his ax, William flung his weapon straight at the object. The resulting blast sent several groups of daemons burning and his ax was destroyed. But this room was now there's. The door they went through was one of the two entrances into the room they were in. William knew that behind the closed door was the stockpile of spirit stones that he was looking for. They just have to hold out till Gizmo does what he need to do.
He turned to his second in command who was a scarred Khorne chosen, saluting to him immediately, "Have the lesser ones form a hoplite formation. I want the calvary formed behind the main formation, and the chosen will serve as the shock troops that will only engage base on my call."
The Khorne daemon hesitated, "My lord, we are creatures of honor and glory. What you propose may not suit well for my breathen."
William paused, and looked at him, "The Blood God cares not where the blood flows, and there is honor and glory in fighting together as one. We will be exalted in his eyes, and "He cracked his knuckles, "Remind them that if they do not follow my orders, I will send them back to the Blood God with no chance of spilling
The chosen hesitated then nodded, doubt clearing from its eyes, "As you wish my lord." He turned and began to bark orders at other daemons who hesitated but after a few physical encouragement, they all quickly went to work. Formations and squads were organized while the chosen reserves begrudgingly went to the back, preparing for the word.
"William, I hope you remember we're here for your spirit stones, not to play war games." Joe muttered, speaking quietly through the comms.
Even if his face was covered, William smiled, "Its not everyday I can command daemons to kill other daemons. I will make this an amazing slaughter."
"Which will still support the Chaos Gods in some way like Khorne, and that's not a very paladin thing that I expect from you."
William snorted, "Sometimes you have to think out of the box, as I learned over the years."
Joe casually patted the side of his flesh hound which was constantly on edge, prancing and growling. Its eyes stared at the open entrance and its nose kept sniffing the air. "They are coming."
"That's not us. We're still a floor below. There are two groups ahead of us, but they're not big as ours. Hold out till we arrive." Gizmo said, sending to William information on the sorties coming to attack them.
William paused for a second reading over what Gizmo sent, "Joe, this is going to be tough. We need to defend against two attacks back to back, then engage with Gizmo and Grave's group which is the largest and most organized while at the same time breaking into that vault."
Joe laughed, "We got this, Will. Don't worry. I will go where I will be needed." He raised the chains still attached to his arms, "These toys have been pretty fun to play with."
William groaned, "I lost my ax , and only got this shield left."
"You still have your fists. I've taught you how to fight hand to hand." Joe nudged William's elbow. Then his flesh hound growled even louder, and every single one of daemons looked up, growing even more restless and eager, sensing the coming battles to come. Joe could hear the many sound of feet, hooves, and assortment of appendages hitting the ground in a massive rush with the creepy sounds of giggling, laughter and excited moaning growing louder.
William turned to his second in command who gave him a report, "We are in position, Lord Astarte. The troops are eager and will follow your command."
"Then prepare for the attack." William glanced over to the preparation and was satisfied with what he saw. The bloodletters were arranged in rank file, standing surprisingly perfectly in formation, while the flesh hounds and few Juggernauts were set on the flanks behind the main formation. The chosens and William stood in the middle, in order to quickly reinforce the line wherever they were needed and to send out the orders quickly to the army.
Then in a few long anxious filled minutes, the Slaanesh daemons came like a wave. They came and clashed against the defenders ranks in a whirlwind of blood, gore and violence. Hell blades clashed against hardened limbs, while claws and teeth bite against the flesh. The Excess legion slammed against the ranks, but the Khorne daemons held their grounds, cutting down many Slaanesh fighters before they fell and their comrades behind took their place. The relative tight entrance of the room suited the defenders, limiting the Slaanesh from its using their overwhelming numbers to run over the Khorne daemons.
The bloodletters used their hellblades to great effect, cutting apart their Slaanesh counterparts while the daemonette had great difficulty using their more flexible and graceful like fighting style in the confined corridor. Despite the onslaught, the bloodletters relished the bloodshed, taking in delight at the amount of blood spilling out on the floor and splashing on the wall from the wounds and the causalities. They were worshipping their god with every single drop being spilled, and attributing every death to him. Most of the daemonette in the back were frustrated, bored cramped and unable to get into the fight, therefore pushing the others in front of them. In frustration, and annoyance, the lesser daemons began to fight each other, enjoying in dark sadism the infighting.
Soon the first group was killed, with the majority killed by the infighting instead of the actual enemy. The blood letters were ecstatic, relishing in their victory and bloodshed. William had allowed chosen and the calvary to participate a bit, cleaning up the remaining daemonettes just to satisfy their bloodlust for a bit. "That was easy," William said, frowning, "I expected that to be harder."
Then the next wave came, laughing and moaning like those before them, only to be slaughtered against the bloodletters ranks again.
"Okay, that was pretty disappointing." Joe said, riding on top of his flesh hound which was eating the body's of the daemonettes even as their essences were fading away.
"The next one will be harder. Gizmo will be leading them against us. I am still unsure in how we will be able to get into the storage though."
"I can punch it." Joe shrugged his shoulders.
Gizmo broke into their conversation, "If you broke a enchanted protected door with just your hands, that would be very suspicious to everyone. You're just a normal chosen bloodletter, Joe. Also, William and Joe be ready. This will be a very difficult battle for you."
"Because of the daemons or because of you?" Joe asked, smirking.
"Isn't it obvious?" He could hear the smile in Gizmo's voice, "We have to make it seem like a hard fight."
"That makes sense." William replied equally.
"We will be there in a few minutes, be ready."
"Oh we will," Joe replied, laughing. He patted the head of his massive dog, "Meet you on the battlefield, friends."
As he remounted his flesh hound, who was growling again with his bloodstained eyes glancing at the open door, he could hear the sound of a army approaching which based on his footsteps many times more then their own. Even though daemons never grow tired, their blood letters main force had suffered causalities, depleting to two thirds of their original strength, but they were even more eager and willing to fight then before, roaring and raising their blades to the sky. Some were even dueling and killing each other even if they had just fought a battle a few minutes ago. The chosen and calvary forces were still fresh and at full strength, having never been fully committed.
Joe glanced to William who seemed deep in thought despite the sound of an army approaching them already. "This is going to be a interesting battle." He remarked, drawing William's attention. "We have to fight our friends while finding a way to get inside this vault which we still do not know how, and still escape this city somehow."
"I know." William nodded, "We should have come up with a better plan. But-" He hefted his shield, "I'm sure Gizmo has an idea in what to do. We trust him, and do what we can do." Then a split second later, the Slannesh legion attacked. Unlike the previous fights, forming the front were the Chosen and calvary, charging in so fast that it almost surprised William and Joe. The front ranks were immediately decimated, trampled or crushed underneath the hooves of the insanely fast steeds devoted to Slaanesh with daemonettes riding on top, stabbing into the bloodletters below them.
Following up, the chosens came in, the older more exalted followers of the Prince of Pleasure, widening the breach that the calvary had created. They were much better fighters compared to the normal daemonette, easily carving their way through disrupted formation. A normal army would have faltered and even understandably broke under the pressure, but they were daemons of Khorne. This was a battle where rivers of blood would flow, and Khorne cared not where the blood came from.
The bloodletters charged in, eager to wet their blades with blood, and even managed to pull down and kill many of the steeds and slowing down the chosen advances. William raised his shield to the sky, "With me! For the glory of Khorne. Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the skull throne!" He charged forward, straight into the middle of the buckling formation, followed by the chosen shock troops. One especially large chosen saw him, a beautiful daemonette with the beauty of a lifelike sculptured statue, and pointed a intrinsically engraved sword at William. With the smile that would charm a whole hive, it galloped at him with its goat legs, raising its blade.
The Space Marine lunged forward, and slammed its shield into its chest. There was the sound of bones breaking, and the daemon stepped back, its eyes and mouth widening with such drug like blissfulness from pain, before the last thing it saw was the edge of William's shield coming straight into its eyes. Seeing how their leader took down a powerful daemon with such ease, the Khorne daemons rushed forward, eager, while many the Slaanesh chosen roared with anger at how rudely their own was taken down. William looked at them back, his face covered by his helmet, but Joe could imagine he was smiling savagely. This was his chance to kill many daemons with no worries for collateral damage, even if he could not use his powers, he cracked his knuckles, his strength was enough.
Joe watched from the side flanks. The entire calvary wing was still with him and were raring to go, but Joe silenced them with a glare, baring his teeth. Many already knew what happened to those that disobeyed the silent commander, with their breathen decaying corpses on the floor to show for it. Turning his attention back to the battle, he could see William in the frontlines, smashing daemons with his shield and fists. Joe nodded with approval, the paladin still remembered most of his lessons, although he hasn't broken some old bad habits. He frowned, he was going to have to train that out of the fake Astarte after this mission.
Turning his attention back to the main battle, Joe could see the Khorne's line was holding in a massive U formation with the bloodletters holding the flanks and in the middle. The chosen Khorne daemons reinforced the middle, dueling with their Slannesh counterparts in epic confrontations to prove their worth to their respective gods. Many of the Slaanesh fiends and calvary had already been killed after their deadly charge, and their chosen were unable to push further in.
"Where the heck are you Gizmo, and Grave?" Joe muttered.
Gizmo replied, "I'm coming in." Leading the mass charge, Gizmo opened fired with his bolter. Enhanced bolter rounds pierced the torso of several bloodletters and exploded, leaving gaping holes. Just behind him were legions of lessor daemonettes who threw themselves against the already strained Khorne lines. Chosen Khorne fighters fell underneath groups of Slaanesh throwing and piling on top of their target, laughing manically as they cut and stabbed with their appendages through armor's gaps. Bloodletters dueled and clashed with their counterparts, but there were many reinforcements, and the weight of numbers was slowly pushed back the defenders.
Almost like a never ending wave, the daemonettes kept on coming despite the corridor limiting their numbers, but with the established beachhead, the Slaanesh force could bring in more of their forces to bear. Then the signal came. "Now, Joe!" William roared, cracking open the skull of a daemonette with his shield's rim, before turning to face five lesser daemons rushing him.
Raising a clench fist in the air, Joe gave a wordless roar, then kicked the sides of his flesh hound, spurring it into a reckless frenzy. Several dozens of hounds with a few Juggernauts charged, eager to satisfy their lust for violence, blood and the opportunity to prove themselves in combat for their god. He lead them from the flank, driving a powerful wedge straight through the Slaanesh force, splitting the beachhead and the stream of reinforcements.
Charging through while lashing out with his whips, Joe stood raised on top of his mount, killing several lesser daemons with each attack he struck out. The flank attack was impressive, sending the attackers reeling, while the defenders immediately surged forward. With the calvary serving as a momentary rear guard, the Khorne legion's flanks immediately began to wrap around the trapped group of Slaanesh soldiers, preparing to crush them in one act like a tightened nose.
Joe had latched his chain around a daemonette's neck before pulling it off, before feeling something grab his leg. Before he could react, something pulled him off and slammed him to the ground. He immediately got to his feet, quickly doing a powerful whirl to knock away the daemonettes leaping onto him as an opportunity for a kill. All his attackers were instantly killed, except for one. His enhanced chains clashed against its skin, but It simply stood in place, seemingly unharmed. Joe paused and smiled, "Hello Grave. It has been a while since we have sparred. Let see if you have gotten better."
Grave made no reply, but only began to walk forward towards him. A blood letter riding on top of a juggernaut slashed down its hell blade onto his back, only for the sword to shatter on contact. The Slaanesh daemon turned and backhanded the juggernaut, cracking its jaw. Then he kicked the beast away, leaving a massive dent on its belly and sending it tumbling away into a crowd of daemonettes, crushing many of them.
Joe leapt off his mount, and landed on the floor, before waving his flesh hound away, "Go. I have no more use for you." His ex mount glanced at him for a moment, almost seemingly sad before charging away.
"Now, let's-" Joe was cut off, as Grave's fist slammed into his cheek. He stumbled back, feeling a flash of pain in his cheek. Then he bobbed and weave, dodging Grave punches with ease, before hitting back with a couple jabs and hooks, but it felt like pounding solid rocks as expected. He tried to grapple with Grave, grabbing his arms in attempt to control but his opponent simply pulled his arms away, before shoving Joe back. "Now this is fun!" Joe laughed, before throwing a powerful roundhouse kick to Grave's side.
As they fought, Joe could see the Slaanesh Space Marine leading a group of daemons. Gizmo fired off short bursts with his bolter, advancing forward while picking off Khorne daemons one by one. Several daemonettes walked by his side, serving as his bodyguard, easily killing any bloodletters that tried to fight them. Despite the intensity of the battle, most of Gizmo's mind was focused on how to break into the vault. He had some tools on hand that would let him enter in easily, but how could he get in there through the hundreds of daemons fighting. Then his thoughts broke when a angry Khorne Astarte charge out of the crowd and plowed into his surprised bodyguards.
"Die you disgusting creatures! May your god feel the hatred and disgust that I have for all of you!" The Space Marine roared, cleaving one daemonette in half with a swing of his shield, before slamming a punch into another one. He then pushed his hand inside and pulled out its spine. Following him were several chosen Khorne, clashing with the remainder of his bodyguards.
"We need to find a way inside." Gizmo said through their comms, firing a single shot at William who used his shield to swipe the bullet out of midair.
William grunted, "I have no idea. I don't have the time or equipment to get in." He swiped at Gizmo with his shield, deliberate missing by a hair breadth though Gizmo dodged almost in a panic.
"Ah! Don't hit me, I'm on your side you idiot."
"I'm trying. Any ideas?" He jerked to the side, cursing as a bolter round flew by his shoulder, "Stop shooting at me! Shoot them."
"We're suppose to be fighting, guys." Joe said, swinging twice with his chains at Grave, who shrugged off the hits easily.
"Do you two have any ideas?" Gizmo asked, ducking underneath a blow that a chosen Khorne daemon swung at him with its blade. He aimed and shot twice at the daemon's head.
"Yes! Want me to do it? Oof." Joe exclaimed, grunted when Grave slammed a knee into his stomach.
Gizmo growled, "At this moment, we need to act. Do it, old man!" He shoved back with his bolter William, before following it up with an elbow strike to the face.
Shrugging his shoulders, Joe smiled, "Okay." He gave Grave a nod, who titled his head at him in slight confusion. Then he punched Grave in the chest. Hard. The shockwave sent everyone tumbling away, and the fake Slaanesh daemon flew away like a rocket. He slammed into the middle of the vault door, and broke through, leaving a humanoid size hole. Less then a second later, Joe disappeared in a blur, running across the battlefield at inhumane speed. William grabbed Gizmo, and they disappeared. Then reappeared inside the vault, falling onto the floor.
"William. Please give me a bit of warning before you do incredibly dangerous teleportation. There was a chance for us to come out mixed together or with body parts missing or even in the wall." Gizmo groaned, climbing up to his feet. His power armor had taken a minor amount of damage from the fight and the teleportation but mostly operational. William's was more damaged since he fought more recklessly with little or no care to his equipment.
Joe and Grave were fine even if they beat up each other and were approaching the two of them.
"Your idea was to use Grave as a projectile to break into storage?" William asked Joe, looking at him incredulously.
"I mean I know it would take more then that to hurt Graves. Magical and Warp means also do not have that much effect on him too." Joe shrugged his shoulders, "He's a tough guy."
Grave nodded, looking completely unaffected by what he went through. He now carried a shovel, leaning the head against his shoulder, and brushed off the dust from his clothes. He was already looking around the massive room for the spirit stones. Joe could hear the sound of fighting outside still ongoing, with the two factions battling it out still.
Gizmo glanced at his gadget, then pointed at a spot. "Its over there. We should move quickly."
They all quickly moved to the spot and found what they were looking for. It was a large pile of carelessly tossed blue greenish stone stacked on the floor. They looked boring and dullish compared to the other mountain of other treasures that could be found inside the room. But William looked excited and happy, "This is what I need." He pulled a normal looking haversack from his belt and began to push in the spirit stones inside. Grave began to help, tossing the stones inside while Joe kept a looked out, while it seemed that Gizmo was studying a way out to get them back to their ship.
It took them a few minutes for them to gather everything, tossing in hundreds of stones in the seemingly limitless space inside the hoversack. 'We got everything. We should go." William said, attaching the goods to his belt.
Gizmo nodded, "We can. I think I will be able to teleport us to back to our ship, thanks to what Grave did for us. He managed to leave us a opening in the security matrix that is protecting the building, and I do have my virus quietly working on the building's security."
"What's the catch though?" Joe asked.
Gizmo smirked, "Once I activate our teleport beacon, it will send out a signal in the warp, which would well attract everyone's attention in the city, and it will take a few minutes before it can get us out of here and into the ship."
They were quiet for a moment. "Huh," Joe said, "Honestly, it could be worse."
William shot him a look, "I don't see how this could be worse. This was suppose to be a quiet clandestine mission, but if we do this, then we will be drawing attention to ourselves."
"But we already have attention on ourselves when you guys decided to lead your 'armies'." Joe said, "But they don't know our true identities. The disguises you guys gave us is still really good, and has fooled them for so long."
William nodded, "That makes sense. If we do activate it though, we will most likely have to fight all these daemonettes. These bastards are full of bloodlust."
"That is true, so we probably should prepare to defend." Gizmo said, "I already activated the process, and I estimate at least more ten thousand daemons coming here with more even coming."
"Wait what," William said, immediately wiping away the gore off his shield, "I don't even have a weapon, and you didn't give us any warning."
"Here," Gizmo tossed his bolter over to William, then paused for a moment. He began to mutter words underneath his breath, which Joe could hear but could not understand. Then his armor began to change. Gone was the Slaanesh power armor, and he now wore the Thousand Sun Terminator Armor.
"How-?" William before Joe stopped him, "Don't worry about it. Giz's got his ways. Just trust him. We can always ask him after everything." The paladin opened his mouth then closed, nodding, just as the doors began to shudder open.
Joe realized that it was silent, with the sound of fighting stopped. They all took their position, with him and Grave hiding near a large pile of jewelry near the door while Gizmo and William stayed near the back. He peeked over, and felt disgust at what he saw. The daemonettes were wearing the skins of the fallen Khorne daemons, smiling and giggling like they were young noblewomen showing off their newly purchased outfits. There were many conducting wrenching acts that made Joe wanted to look away, but his eyes stayed trained on them.
One of the leading chosen stepped forward. It would have been incredibly beautiful for mortal standards if not for the gruesome heads hanging around its neck. "My lord, where are you? It is I, the administrator that greeted you when you first arrive. We all wish to celebrate with you this great victory over these barbaric Khorne dogs."
There were at least a hundred in the front with more in the back. They had to hold out for five minutes from what Gizmo told them, but there was so many of them. Joe glanced over to Grave who was staring at his shovel's head, examining the edges. He looked up to see the fighter looking at him. He gave nod, which Joe returned.
Then Joe smiled, softy clapping Grave on the shoulder, "You got my back, Grave." Grave reached out, and gripped his friend's arm hard, nodding.
"What a lovely show of comradery boys." Gizmo voice spoke into their comms, "Now lets kill some daemons."
"Burn them away with our hatred and disgust. Faith shall be our shield and Hope will be our sword." William muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Raising above his cover, he opened fired with a single shot, instantly killing the daemonette that stepped forward. The echo of the shot was loud compared to the shock silence. "Die you bitches." William roared, opening fire in full auto and scything down dozens of daemons in one magazine before he had to reload.
Gizmo trudged out into the opening, and activated the full range arsenal on his terminator armor. Missiles plowed into the midst of the legion, while auto rounds sliced down the front ranks from the dual storm bolters attached to the underslung of William's arms. Despite the firestorm, the daemonettes charged forward, completely undeterred by the rain of bullets. Grave and Joe leapt over their cover and crashed against the charge.
Grave cut and smashed apart bodies with completely casual undeterred movement, ignoring any attack that hit him as they just bounced off his hardened body. There was already a trail of broken bodies behind him with many having broken appendages as they learn too late that their weapons could not pierce this skin.
In a display of martial prowess, Joe was a whirlwind of punches, kicks and chain strikes that left many destroyed daemons. Many found their attacks missing even as they swore they hit him, or even were parried into their allies own bodies. Blood and gore soon coated the entire chain as his weapons burned with strange electrical energy that instantly killed anything it touched.
The Elements fought on for the whole five minutes, killing almost thousands of daemons even as the warp entities kept coming, abandoning any form of tactics or strategy. The four fake Chaos worshippers slowly gave up ground inch by inch, refusing to be surrounded. William provided support accurate fire, shooting any daemons that attempted to by pass the front fighters or to trim the numbers down. After exhausting his rockets, Gizmo slowly trudged forward, continuously firing his underslung bolters, while carving a path with his thunder claws. Runes doted over his armor periodically activated and unleashed powerful potent spells with devastating effects. A summoned firestorm and blizzard raged in the midst of the enemy's line, killing hundreds and slowing down the attackers.
Then in a burst of light, the Elements were gone.
Joe found himself standing inside the space ship that they came upon. Gizmo was already heading towards the navigation area, shouting out orders to the computer. William and Grave quickly head their stations, William to the armory and Grave to the ship's engineer section. Joe laughed, and looked out of the window to the planet. The planet had not change at all, but he swore he could make out tiny dots that were growing larger and larger at a alarming pace.
"Ahh, seems like we're not out of this yet. But we're still alive." He chuckled, and began to run towards his position to operate as the ship's defenses. This was going to be a great adventure, and a good way for them, the Elements to work together more.
