The air burns in his lungs. The stench of industry fills his nose. The howls of wind muffle his ears and the taste of metal is on his tongue. But Lauf does not care about any of that as he runs as fast as his legs and armour can move him towards Ramses. The Sorcerer raises his hand above his head as energies of the warp gathers around it. In a matter of seconds there is a large orb of this energy around Ramses' hand and he throws it. Multiple bolts of warp lightning flies out from his palm and comes at Lauf who is within several feet of Ramses. There is an explosion of light as the warp energy hits the head of Lauf's axe. Its runes shine through the explosion while he holds it up to block the lightning. Lauf grunts as he struggles forward against the pressure from the sorcery,
"You seem to have gained some parlour tricks since last we met lapdog." Ramses' voice comes over the wind and sounds of the lightning hitting his axe into his ears, "But they will not stop me from sending you to join your pathetic brethren." His insults make Lauf's blood boil over and this causes him to push harder against the lighting. With a howl to the sky he twists his weapon to the side, sending the lightning up into the sky, leaving the space between him and Ramses empty,
"Time to die witch!" He shouts as he lunges forward, swinging his axe and sword at Ramses with more force than he's ever had before against an enemy. Ramses just manages to move back from the strike, swinging his own staff around and deflecting the sword. As the sword moves away Ramses spins his staff and thrusts the point at Lauf's neck, aiming at the weak point in between the pieces of armour. It clangs as Lauf quickly puts his axe in the way of Ramses' thrust, pushing it to the side of his body, scraping his skin and drawing some blood. Sparks fly out of the edge of Lauf's frost-axe while he runs it along Ramses' staff towards his hands. Ramses quickly lifts his staff up to get out of the way of Lauf's attack. Just as he gets the axe off his staff Lauf darts forward and stabs his sword at his arm.
Ramses shouts in agony as Lauf's sword goes through the armour, flesh, muscle and bone of his upper arm and comes out the other side, "Damn you lapdog!" He shouts while he punches Lauf square in the jaw with his free arm, forcing him to pull the sword out of the wound with a spray of blood coming out after the sword. Lauf backs up a few steps before he spits out some of his own blood. It lands on the roof while Lauf glares at Ramses as he looks down at his wound that seals up quickly,
"I will make you pay for that, dog of the Emperor." Ramses spits out his hatred to Lauf as he circles the Sorcerer, "I am no dog. I am a wolf!" He shouts as he charges again at Ramses and locks blades with Ramses' staff. The force of the strike knocks the Sorcerer down to one knee. Lauf grits his teeth as he keeps pushing his sword and axe down towards his head as Ramses struggles to keep the weapons up. Ramses may have more than 10,000 years of experience. But Lauf is far better in close quarters and fueled by pure rage at the murderer of his pack-mates. As he pushes down near Ramses' head he suddenly feels pain coming from his sides just as Ramses disappears from sight, teleporting across the roof from Lauf,
"Coward!" He calls out when he tries to move, only to glance down and growl as he sees barbed chains digging into his sides. Growling louder he cuts both chains quickly with his weapons and runs towards Ramses as he channels energy from his body and the warp to cast the spell Tzeentch's Firestorm at him. Just as he looks ready to cast it, Lauf closes the distance,
"No you don't!" Lauf shouts as he tackles Ramses around the waist. He lifts him off the ground and keeps running with the Sorcerer towards a solid metal wall on the roof. Ramses does not have time to react as his back slams into the wall multiple times when Lauf quickly backs up and smashes into the wall repeatedly in a matter of seconds, creating an indent and cracks in the place he kept hitting. When Lauf goes to slam Ramses again, his leg gives out as he gets kicked there by one jab from Ramses' foot and lets go of his enemy. When he goes down Ramses hits him in the back of the head to knock him to the ground. Just as his armoured gauntlet touches the hair on the back of Lauf's head he pulls it to the side of the fist. It scrapes Lauf's cheek as he snaps his head up and headbutts Ramses square in the forehead, following it with his fists when he starts to pummel Ramses. His fists strike Ramses in the face, neck, chest, stomach, shoulders arms and sides one after the other. He does not let up in his attack to give Ramses a chance to harness the powers of the warp. Every blow pushes Ramses back against the wall, preventing escape or a chance to respond as the pummeling continues. Lauf strikes as hard as he can across the side of Ramses' head, knocking him to the ground. When he goes for his axe Ramses raises his hand and blasts Lauf back with a charge of warp energy. He rolls along the ground and spins to keep facing Ramses. He growls as he shakes off the leftover energy while he stands up fully with his weapons drawn again while Ramses finally gets his staff back,
"Not bad lapdog. But you're still not going to get your revenge today." Ramses says with a cough as some blood falls out from the bottom of his helmet as his staff begins to glow bright. Ramses raises his hands and starts chanting in some strange language but Lauf has no intention of letting the Warp come out here and he runs again at the Sorcerer. Ramses stops his spell casting and quickly spins his staff and starts to try and deflect or block Lauf's strikes. He tries to keep distance while Lauf continues his assault, getting as close as he can to Ramses, stabbing or swinging with his sword and axe. His strikes causes sparks to fly every time they contact the staff. Ramses' lack of close quarters fighting becomes very clear now as he struggles under the assault when he tries to unleash warp lighting at Lauf. When it hits his axe the runes again light up and a small wall of energy deflects the lighting away around Lauf, scrapping metal on the roof and hitting a tower with an explosion. Lauf swings his axe, stopping the lighting and sending it back to Ramses, hurling him away,
"Your cowardly abilities won't aid you here witch. All your running and trickery won't save you now as there is nowhere left to hide." Lauf begins to advance towards Ramses as the Sorcerer stands up with support from his staff,
"You really believe that I would just come here without any preparations lapdog? Oh of course, you're too busy chasing your tail to see what is going on here." Ramses asks as a warp portal opens in front of him. Screamers fly out of the portal and soar up before plummeting towards Lauf as he growls,
"You think these creatures will save you coward?" He shouts as he cuts the first Screamer that comes near him in two with his sword and he spins around and cuts through a second one's head with his axe. More Screamers fly out of the portal while Ramses uses his warp powers to try and repair his body from the injuries Lauf gave him with his fists and sword. As he treats his wounds he can hear the plopping bodies of the Screamers hitting the ground as Lauf advances towards him slowly, making a line of Screamer corpses on either side of him. As he approaches the portal he sees something much larger trying to come through, but it still cannot fully enter the Material world as the portal is too weak for it to manifest completely. It does manage to push its arm out of the portal and digs into the roof top to pull itself out of the warp. Not if Lauf can help it as he hits one Screamer with one blade of his axe and quickly hits another Screamer with the other blade. As soon as the Screamers die Lauf throws his sword at the arm. It cuts through the middle finger and splits the hand right down the middle, causing it to become two sides of a hand. The creature it was attached to gives a scream that can still be heard through the portal while the wounds burn from the energy coming out of Lauf's Frost-sword before it retreats into the Warp, collapsing the portal. Lauf grins as Ramses seem to be surprised at his portal's collapse and all the burning daemon bodies,
"Nowhere left to hide traitor." Lauf grabs his sword off the ground as he starts running again towards Ramses. As he gets close he brings his axe back and stabs his sword towards Ramses stomach. Ramses flicks his staff to the side, deflecting the sword while the axe comes forward aimed at his head. The clang of metal echoes over the fighting below them as Ramses just manages to stop the strike with his staff in both hands. Lauf is growing frustrated at this repetition. He needs to switch it up to kill the Sorcerer. Suddenly an idea comes to his mind and he grins.
Ramses struggles to hold the axe from being buried in his head when his whole body suddenly tenses and a shock of pain unlike anything he's ever felt fly through his body originating from between his legs. Lauf's grin grows as he pulls his leg back from where it hit Ramses as the Sorcerer crumples to the ground clutching his groin with one hand while he pushes Lauf back with a wall of warp fire that will destroy who Lauf is by turning him into a mindless chaos spawn if he touches it. He watches Ramses struggle to stand, but the pain keeps coursing through his body while he finds a way to get through the fire.
As Ramses finally feel the pain begin to subside he hears metal rip apart then the sound of something big fly through the air. He does not have long to guess what it is when a small water tank lands on the ground, dispersing his fire wall and knocking him to the ground. Looking up at the sun he sees some glint as Lauf roars loudly,
"FOR MY BROTHERS!" He shouts as he comes down from where he jumped on the back of the water tank towards Ramses and puts as much force as his body can summon into his axe swing. The axe comes down and hits Ramses in the right eye section of his helmet. The energy field and blade of his axe peels the armour away while the weight hits like a hammer into his face underneath. It knocks Ramses back and he clutches the wound while Immaterium power seeps out like smoke from the opening in his armour,
"You…. You…. You dog!" Ramses raises both hands high above him and shoots a huge amount of warp lighting at Lauf. Lauf quickly turns his axe so the flat of the blade looks at him and he drops to one knee to take this blow as the eyes of the wolf-heads on the axe begin to glow. The impact of the lighting against the runic protection makes Lauf slide back an inch as he squeezes his hands as tightly as possible to keep it in place while the lighting flies out to either side of him, "DIE MUTT!" Ramses shouts as he continues to fire lighting at Lauf, getting closer and closer to him to increase the pressure from his powers. Lauf closes his eyes as he prays to the Allfather for the strength and power to send this murderer to Morkai. As he silently prays the runes on his weapon glow brighter against the still burning warp lighting that intensifies as Ramses gets closer. He is almost certain he can feel the powers the Rune priests tap into to use their powers. Unknown to Lauf Ramses can see the outlines of what appear to be Space Marines standing in front of Lauf, taking most of his power and blocking him from getting any closer,
"What are you?" He demands, momentarily distracted and losing his focus on casting the spell, causing it to fall away as the spirits vanish when Lauf jumps up and tackles Ramses. He falls to the ground but does not stay there long when a hand wraps around his neck and pulls him up,
"Now you have nothing left." Lauf says before he punches Ramses hard enough to knock him onto the ground, "You murdered all of them." Lauf stands over Ramses and punches him several times in the face, "They were my brothers! My pack! You!" Lauf grabs Ramses by the shoulders and lifts him over his head, "Earned! This!" He shouts as he throws Ramses to the ground, crashing several times along the roof. Ramses pants hard as he stays on his knees while Lauf picks up his axe and approaches Ramses and lifts it over his head, "Now die." He does not get a chance to bring the axe down when Ramses raises his hand and catch Lauf with a blast of lighting that makes his whole body thrash and shake in agony as the warp energy courses through his body.
Lauf shouts in agony as he drops his axe while his hands clench and open from the lighting making all his muscles contract and flex and his legs stop holding him up. When he hits the ground the lighting continues through him as Ramses stands up while laughing and keep using his warp powers without any worry as he looks down at the Space Wolf. He finally stops unleashing the lighting but Lauf keeps twitching from the remaining lightning energy still inside his body,
"Now you have nothing left lapdog. But I will be pleased to send you to join them with your corpse Emperor." Ramses sends out some warp energy and wraps around his staff and brings it back to his hand,
"Don't worry. This won't hurt…. Much." He assures as he raises his staff with the spear-like point aimed at Lauf's chest and brings it down.
Lauf's ears ring and his eyes are blurry. He can see this coward raising his weapon over his chest and looks ready to kill him, Forgive me brothers. I failed. He thinks when he is certain he is delirious when what next happens. Ramses strike is suddenly stopped by a glittering weapon and he is knocked back by someone. The spear seems to make a sound as it spins through the air but Lauf thinks this is a result of the ringing in his ears as he cannot make out who is fighting Ramses now. He can tell it is a woman but she moves a little too fluidly to be a regular Sister of Battle or Guardswoman as she spins the spear on either side of her as she stabs and swings at Ramses, who fights back with his own staff. This new individual practically dances around Ramses while he spins around trying to hit her. He does manage to keep her from actually striking him, but Ramses barely keeps up as the woman stabs the wound in his arm where Lauf had previously stabbed in between the armour. Lauf shakes his head certain he is definitely seeing things now as he sees long flowing red hair flying behind the woman's head as she continues to spin her spear in a wheel. The sound, something like young shield maidens singing continues, stopping only when she lunges the spear at Ramses, I must be mad now. A spear is singing now. Lauf feels his eyes get heavy when Ramses unleashes warp lighting while the woman seems to fire something back, catching the lighting between the two. The clash of strange abilities continues for a few seconds before it breaks and the woman continues her assault against Ramses who is so busy trying to not be killed by the woman that he cannot attack Lauf at his most vulnerable moment. But Lauf does not get a good chance to comment about this as he struggles to drag himself over to something to support his upper body and watch out for any tricks Ramses tries to pull against him while still fighting the strange woman who keeps him on his toes. Lauf pulls himself along the roof with every motion causing pain and spasms through his body from the lighting attack.
Finally getting himself to the wall, Lauf grunts in pain as he sits up and rests his back against it after he turns around. Panting a few times in frustration at being as weak as a new-born pup he looks at the fight between the two. He still cannot see very well with his dulled vision as his eyes slowly come back as the energy begins to disappear from his body and he can start to make things out about the strange woman. As he already could tell she has red hair that has the first quarter coming out of her head tied in a greenish ribbon while the rest falls down to the bottom of her shoulders. Her figure is definitely human, but he cannot tell for certain who she is when he begins to fall unconscious. Just before he completely loses consciousness he sees two symbols on the woman's attire. One on her left hand and the other on her back. When his mind finally processes the information he lets a small growl escape from his throat, Eldar…He looks at the symbols for the Uthwé and Alaitoc Craftworlds as the last thing he sees before he fully collapses unconscious.
Lauf feels like he's floating. All around him is darkness and silence. Trying to move only causes Lauf to spin around in a circle. After several attempts at this he finally stops and just lets him float along this strange force. As he stops trying to move he can start to hear a voice, too far to hear clearly even with his enhanced ears. Then it comes again, slightly louder this time. Lauf turns his head around trying to find the source of the voice, but all he can see is pitch black darkness around him and his other senses do not help him smell or hear anything except that quiet voice off in the distance of this darkness. Every ten seconds he can hear the voice getting louder with each call. Finally he can make out what it is saying, "Wake up. Wolf wake up." Multiple times as he starts to feel his body shaking and the voice getting louder,
"Wolf! Wake up! Please! By the Emperor please be alive!" Astra shakes Lauf harder as Ashe and Cassidy watch the devastation as the Orks below them fight the guardsmen and their Sisters desperately trying to hold onto the Manufactorum even as the Orks tear the machinery apart to loot the valuables within. As Astra struggles to shake Lauf again a hand snaps up and grabs her throat as Lauf finally wakes up and immediately gets into a battle stance only to realize what he was doing. Quickly letting go of Astra he looks at the sisters,
"What is going on? Where is the traitor?" He demands as he bares his fangs. He was so close. He could have killed Ramses then and there. Now he's gone. And he has no idea where he went. But a good look at the Sisters makes him see that there is something much more important to be concerned about right now,
"My lord. The Manufactorum….. has fallen…." Ashe admits with a defeated look, "Oh come on! Let me down there and we'll push those xenos off this planet in a short order!" Cassidy states as she lifts her heavy bolter up only to get a smack on the back of her head by Ashe, "Don't be stupid Cassie. You go down there and you may kill a few Orks. But the others will rip you to pieces. We need to get out of here." Ashe explains as Lauf looks around,
"Why is Imperatus Rex over there?" Lauf points in the direction of the Warlord Titan which is now standing towards the Manufactorum, "We received an order from our Cannoness to stand our ground. But Princeps Alexia responded by withdrawing from the lost Manufactorum to defend the only working space-port where the guardsmen not here have been gathering to protect those civilians not already slaughtered by the Orks. That's where we need to get to if we want to get off this world alive." Astra explains as she rubs her neck as marks form where Lauf's hand had wrapped around her. Lauf grits his teeth. Another time he has to leave his quest behind because the coward managed to escape him. Shaking his head he steadies his resolve. This is just a minor diversion at least that is what he keeps telling himself as they run down the side of the Manufactorum to the street below. When they reach the ground Lauf glances into a window inside the Manufactorum one last time in time to witness an unfortunate guardsman being smashed head-first into a pillar by a laughing Ork Loota. He growls as he clutches his axe and sword. He will avenge all the dead on this planet by taking the head of the Warboss of this WAAAGH. He turns away before the Orks bother to look through the open window to see him and starts racing after the Sisters as they all head towards the spaceport.
They run through the broken and destroyed streets, avoiding any random groups of Lootas and other Orks rampaging around them looking for anything of value. Much as Cassidy wants to shoot all them into green paste, Lauf points out that for now they have to behave like sneaky Dark Angels and avoid fighting. As they climb up one hab-block's smashed side Lauf tosses each of the Sisters up to the next level when none of them can reach it. First Ashe who lands safely on the floor. Next he grabs Astra and throws her up to Ashe who gives her a hand when she almost falls off the edge, "Next up!" Ashe calls down as Cassidy goes to complain about what was about to happen but Lauf ignores her statement as he grabs her around the waist and with a loud grunt he throws her and her heavy bolter up to the next floor. Even with his strength and power armour she almost does not get up high enough to grab onto the edge. Fortunately Ashe and Astra grab her outstretched hands and help her up. When Cassidy gets up to the floor she looks down and notices that Lauf has no way up to them. We should've seen this part coming. Cassidy grumbles but Lauf smiles up at them
"Keep going. I'll come out on this level." Lauf calls up to them, before he looks down the hallway he is and sees a group of Orks spotting him, "Don't wait up for me Sisters. I'll join you as soon as I can." He calls as he starts walking towards the Orks, drawing his axe and sword, "Time for you xenos to face the cold grip of Fenris." Lauf says when he disappears from the Sisters' view. They cannot hear what is going on below them before they take Lauf's order and start running through the empty hallway towards the other side where Imperatus Rex and the spaceport are. When they run through the hab they see that there is virtually no human bodies while a number of Ork bodies line the halls and rooms. There are also giant holes in the walls and windows where shells from Rex's Gatling Blaster turned the attempted cover into nothing more than lethal shrapnel against the Greenskins that tried to hide behind it. Beyond the hab they can see hastily constructed defences manned by the guard while transports carry civilians and wounded soldiers up to the few Imperial ships still in the system. In front of these positions Ashe notices the number of Ork bodies showing how long the guardsmen have held this position. When they finally come to a point where they can get down to join these guardsmen another Ork attack begins as the greenskins try again to get inside the spaceport before the transports and civilians get away.
Just as Ashe and her two Sisters start to fire on the Orks a loud crash causes them and Sisters to turn to its source. They watch as an Ork without his head flies through an already damaged wall and rolls down the rubble pile that makes a ramp up to that section. As the cloud of dust which follows the wall collapsing begins to dissipate Ashe can see a large figure running through the dust until Lauf leaps out of the cloud with his weapons raised high and his fangs clearly visible as he shouts 'FOR RUSS!' And lands among the Orks immediately cutting any close to him down with his sword and axe while shouting out curses in Juvjk at the Orks in clear view of the guardsmen holding onto the position in front of the spaceport. Lauf surprise attack catches the Orks off guard as the three Sisters start to fire at the ones who have not rushed to face the 'Speez Marine!'in close quarters where he continues to show his skills. Lauf becomes a swirling vortex that leaves decapitated corpses and dismembered limbs in a circle heading towards the spaceport as Ashe and Cassidy follow right behind while Astra moves slightly to their left to help some guardsmen pressed to the right of Imperatus Rex's leg by a group of Ork Lootas more interested in the loot in the spaceport than the Space Wolf. As Astra makes her way towards the guardsmen, she fires her bolter in concentrated and accurate bursts that hit each Ork she aims at in either the chest or the head while the las-fire coming from the Guardsmen is less accurate but more intense. This crossfire cuts the Orks down very quickly as Astra arrives at the front of the barrier at the same time that Lauf and the other Sisters finish off the group that thought it was smart to take on the three Warriors of the Imperium. The guardsmen all look at their comrades, thanking the God-Emperor for their fortune when one shouts out to try and warn Astra of the Choppa that hits her before she can react. Her power armour takes the worst of the hit, but she still bleeds when she hits the ground and the big Nob towers above her with his choppa raised to deliver a killing blow for the deaths of his boyz.
As Astra prepares to come to the Emperor's side a chainsword comes out from behind her view and blocks the choppa's strike, "I don't think so Ork." A man's voice comes from the chainsword's handle as it revs. The teeth bite into the haft of the axe, slowly rising as the Ork tries to free his weapon. In a few seconds the chainsword goes completely through the haft and up into the middle of the Ork's face. He only manages to shout out a little before the revving teeth tear through the flesh and bone. It gets half-way through the head before the wielder of the chainsword pulls it hard to the side, removing the rest of the Ork's head. Astra stands up, clutching her side as she looks to her saviour. She is surprised to see a guardsman gunnery sergeant holding the chainsword,
"My lady. It's time to get off this world." He says as he can see the last guardsmen aside from him and the four standing there. Even Imperatus Rex is finally in a transport large enough to take the warlord. There was just one transport left inside the spaceport that had not taken off yet and the pilot was not about to wait around,
"No time to stand here." Lauf calls as he starts running towards the exit from the Spaceport with Ashe and Cassidy beside him. Astra starts to get up only to see the gunnery sergeant offer her a hand which she gratefully accepts. Once she is fully on her feet she and the guardsman run after Lauf and the others. They run through the entrance of the spaceport just as Ashe and Cassidy start to board the transport. Astra watches in surprise as Ashe turns to face her and the sergeant and raises her bolter, seeming to aim right at her,
"Ashe! What are you…." Astra is cut off by Ashe firing a single bolter round. It flies out of her gun and into the head of an Ork that tried to sneak up on her, "Come on!" She shouts as she can see more Orks coming to try and stop their transport from leaving. Astra runs faster with the sergeant to the transport and climb inside while Lauf waits until they are inside before he gets inside and pulls the door closed before the mechanical locks can do so. The seals close tight as the pilot starts flying off the ground. As they ascend Lauf can see the transport carrying Imperatus Rex flying up with them towards the waiting warship. They come up through the planet's atmosphere without any issue as the Orks are busy looting the manufactorums down below and too focused on that to bother with going after the vulnerable transports in any force. This may be horrific for the Adeptus Mechanicus as the loss of a sacred forge world is terrible, but it is a blessing from the Emperor for the people in the transports as they are able to make it safely to the cruiser in orbit and land inside its hangars.
When the transport carrying Imperatus Rex as well as the one with Lauf and the Sisters come inside the cruiser begins to and charge up its engine to enter the warp. As soon as they land Lauf watches as the doors close completely just as the cruiser finally enters the warp. Lauf slumps against the side of the transport. He cannot believe he is this tired. The fight against Ramses had drained him more than he realized. But still he could not rest completely. Not until Ramses' head was held afloat in his hand. That day was when he could finally rest truly when he returned to Fenris and his Chapter. While Lauf rests against the side of the transport, Astra gets up and walks after the Gunnery Sergeant who walked out of the transport as soon as he could,
"Sergeant." She calls out as she runs up to him, "Yes my lady?" He sets his chainsword on top of his shoulder as he looks at her, "I never got a chance to ask your name and thank you for the Ork." Astra says as the Gunnery Sergeant chuckles,
"No need to thank me my lady. Just doing my duty to the Emperor. But my name. Is Gunnery Sergeant Alfie Darington." He says proudly, "I'm Sister Astra. Pleasure to meet you Gunnery Sergeant. And again thank you for killing that Ork before he stuck his weapon into my head." She says with a smile while she feels the ship shake and groan while it flies through the Warp,
"Holy Emperor. Please guard us through this nightmare realm and let us gaze into your holy light once again." She says, hoping that even in this dark place, the Emperor will watch over them and keep them safe against the horrors of the warp as the ship travels towards its destination, the capital world of the Sub-Sector: the Hive World of Grael Major. She just hopes that they will make it there as the darkness closed all around them. The only light was a dull blue glow coming from Lauf's weapons, the small flicker holding back the dark of the warp and night.
TO BE CONTINUED….
