Chapter 01 : A Game of Deception
Movement could be felt more intense, a warm body, moving on the total darkness, lost, his movements were simple, feeling more and more of his body on the fluids that surrouding it, he could feel every muscle, the end of each of his fingers, his nails, but he could not breath, the effort was becoming desperate, even with his restrained body by that liquid and the darkness arround, he moved his arms intensely, util he could see light, on a brief istand, he felt his nails reaching something and them, he fell, knocked down, while feeling the imense pain, the air reaching his lungs, it burned, it burned as tryng to breath fire, his eyes began to open and the strong light arround made his eyes feeling like they were boiling, but as it began, it ended.
Now the creature could see his own body, while his eyes adapted to the first time to the light, seeing his body, this that was carrefully shaped, the skin was a tone of pitch black, he however, could only feel disgust, when looking it better, he could see that he was muscular, but not as he desired, he could feel his senses, but not as before, he felt that he was slow and his movements weren't the same as before, his perception of time was affected, while he heard the sound of something heavy falling on the floor behind him.
He could see another creature, just like him, with pitch black skin a muscular, yet, slim body, but now he could see the face, seeing the ears were now without shape, being like two holes on the head, the mouths din't had any teeth, the eyes, black, just like the skin, but having small grey points on the center of each. It was surprising to the one that watches, that changes made on their bodys, he tryed to speak, but nothing came, only sounds that he, himself, could not dare to make, for the sake of his pride
The sounds of bodys falling and little by little, joining together on the center of the room, was something that made the one understand more of the situation, all of them looked desoriented, all of them looked with discontent and dificulty using those bodys, while the dark structure arround them became more visible and clear overtime, apparently the bodys from before were holded on the ceiling, by what could be called, umbilical cord, this tube that apparently was connected to a flesh structure, this flesh structure being colored of a black that no light could scape, with suttle movements that could be seeing by the outside, before each of them burst with a new pitch black figure be reborn.
-More tham excelent, i belive, i din't expect to thirty percent of you to survive such thing, but here we are – Sayed a old voice approaching from somewere, while the creatures, lost, began to look arround, tryng to locate the source of this voice, only to some be meet by a wall being opened, revealing a secret door and a blade cutting them down, with a grotesque and yet beautyfull creature emerging from the door, a creature with his head covered by a metal helmet, carryng on his hands carefully made blades, with one auxiliary arm coming out of his back, with his presence alone towering over all the creatures, that was a Wrack. The blood of the pitch black creatures could be seen, red with small green tones on it, while the voice could be heard from behind the Wrack, this that moved to be sideway. -This was unnecessary Aeszavelle, those are my creations and criminals, they should not be ended like this. - The source of the voice could not be seeing by the eyes of the creatures, making some of the creatures kneel, others prosteting their heads on the flood, the figure was a old man, floating from the floor, moving on a slow pace, with his platinum hairs covering great part of his face, with stains of old blood marked on some locks of his hair, with the dark spiked armor and his scepter, there is no doubt, he was a Master Haemonculi.
he eyes of the Haemonculi viewed, each creature present with his hand gently touching one of the ones that was kneeld on the top of the head, feeling his creation, he felt, satisfied, he them looked at all his creations and began to speak to them, like a father would speak with his children, while floating arround the bunch.
-I imagine that some of you, will regain your memories really soon, but, i belive that you all need clarification. You are all criminals, or were, before being gently given to me, so i could give the end for each of you that i saw fit. - The smile on his face was becoming greater, while watching the despair form on the faces of some of the creatures, those that began to remember –But don't worry, i will not end each of you like this, no it would be a waste, so, i decided to make a little game, a game of deception. - He pointed to one of the bunch that looked more nervous them the others –You are feeling aren't you?, you are feeling...Terror. Such a interresting thing is't it?, all by the the change of some chemicals and the flesh that you inhabits. - His smile becoming more and more full of joy, while watching the creatures tryng to maintaing their calm, but failing, some beggining to hyperventilate in complete confusion, while the master Haemonculi could only laugh from his creations – Relax, there is a way out for all of you, IF, you complete something for me.
The master Haemonculi and his Wrack ''Aeszavelle'' on his side, began to guide the creatures, many of those that were tryng to take hold of their emotions, many remembering why they were there on the first place, while one of them counted how many creatures were on this bunch, being a total of nine creatures, with the ones that were killed by Aeszavelle, they were eleven before. They were all guided to a large room, this that contained some screens were the souls of some creatures could be saw screaming in agony and various computers connected to what it appeared to be tubes, those that contained the brains of the victims of the Haemonculi, maintaing them aways in pain, aways suffering. The Master Haemonculi moved his fingers to a keyboard, typing for a instant, but for the creatures, it was a eternity, util on the screen, a blue planet could be seeing and he began to spoke – This is the planet of Serpor, on the solar system of Sphinx, currently, controled by mon'keigh. As probably some of you may or may not expect, your penace will be all forgiving, if you complete this mission that i will give to you all, of course, if you all survive. - The pride on his voice could be felt, it was palpable, as he began to talk about what were the bunch. -You are all my creations, but don't worry, your original bodys are still on my ship and i may return each and every single of you to them, if, you survive and accomplish your mission, on the contrary, well, i can aways use good parts for those in need. Your current bodys are not as fast as your originals, neither so resilient, but your intelects and wills are untouched, as much as i could of course. In each of your bodys, you will find that you have needles under your skins, those that can be used to extract DNA information from a victim, but only, once. -A Grim smile formed on the face of the Master Haemonculi while he spoke. - -Them, you all will become the form, shape and even DNA of the Mon'keigh that you was capable of killing, oh, but of course, how can i forget, the process to truly work, shall be done with the DNA still as fresh as possible, if you do it on a dead corpse, it has the possibility of...Well...Why end the surprise? - Laughing a little of the faces of those creatures, his creations were truly pathetic, but still, usefull to him –This needles will come out of your bodys when you contract all your muscles, you have to inject each of the bio-needles on the body that you desire and them, once the DNA is extracted, you will undergo a transformation and become that person for the time being. My objective with all of this, its simple, really, i wish what is under the castle of the hive city of Ramses. Currently the hive city of Ramses is the capital of the solar system, were the governor lives on luxury,but, under his castle, there are tresures that not even him is aware of them, protected by the Imperium of Mon'keigh, without his knowing or understanding, he is a stubborn person, but shall not be underestimated. -With a movement of his fingers, the sceen was turned off, while the Master Haemonculi stared at the Bunch. -Each of you shall recive a kit of equipments that i belive it would be usefull, but, none of them shall have connections to us, after all, it would be a disaster if the Mon'keigh began to fortify their protections even more, so, all that it will be present on your kits, are a vile containing acid virus, this that it will eat all organic material that you pour it in during some seconds, a flare that it will be hidden on your bodys, do not worry, each flare will be undetectable to superficial scans, it will only be saw if you get deep scaned by the Mon'keighs and the last thing that i shall give on your kits, it's a small wraithbone Knife. -Opening the arms in front of all his creations, with the grim smile on his face –Rejoice, my creations, because for those that conclude this mission alive, i shall give you any desire.
Those were the words of the Master Haemonculi, before The Bunch was taken to the armory of the ship, were each of them was given what it was promised.
The Bunch was putted into individual pods, each metalic pod having the shape similar to a missile, were they could direct the pod by using the controls in front of them, a panel containing informations of their current height, atmosphere detection, the air speed and the levels of radiation, apparently this was detremental to have no Artificial Inteligences or any type of high tech on the pods, this because on the Master Haemonculi own words ''We do not desire this primitives having their little hands on something made by us'' even being a little rudimentar, it was going to be fit to the mission. On the pods, each of The Bunch awaited, with no voices, with no sounds, only remembrance ocorring to all of them, remembering who they were before or what they did to be in such a situation.
He could feel, the memories piercing his head, as phantasmal needles perfuring his skull, he could remember, his hands fully blooded in front of a corpse, a corpse of another of his kind, while he could hear a cacophony of laughters, he them saw himself, being putted on the tube, but, all was interrupted by the sound of the ship coming out of the Webway, the sound was scary to him, he could feel the dread, dread of death, as soon as the ship came out, all the drop pods of The Bunch were ejected, while they could only see the ship going back to the webway as fast as they came, The Bunch saw the planet of Serpor, the atmosphere was damaged, they could see at least three hive cities, but it was clear which one was their target, the bigger hive city that posses a cathedral so big that it could be seeing out of the atmosphere, all of them began their entrance, with the pods probably being noticed as meteorites, for that, they tryed to aim a little far from the city of Ramses, aiming to the great desert close to it and soon, each pod was reaching the sand, but on the last pod, he was a little behind, probably the pilot could not adapt himself very well to the controls and soon he was destroyed by a atmospheric canon, causing a small explosion. All of the now eight of The Bunch, made the pods enter the sand, taking their time to let them deep sink on it, using their jets to burry them util they could not be seeing, now they just needed to go to the city, while feeling the chiling could hitting their skins, they had to hurry, even more if the locals wanted to investigate for some reason, with that in mind, they runned as fast as they could to the walls of the Hive City of Ramses, they din't knew how they were going to enter, but they could not be to much close or they could be detected, they began to run arround it, using the night of the planet as their cover, while the chilling cold sand flew over them, those bodys were not as fast as their originals, those bodys were more similar to Mon'keigh bodys and not even on their peak form, only their most neutral form. After looking arround, they found a way in, on the desert they could see, a giant black segment, this that apparently followed util were their eyes could reach, this black segment apparently came from a hole on the wall, the smell was terrible, the hole was currently blocked util they saw for some minutes, tryng to figure out how it worked, the hole opened, letting a great quantity of brown and black substance come out of it in great pressure, at first, The Bunch imagined that it was some kind of poison, util they one of them began to simple enter, he apparently knew what this was and was't afraid, he waited the pressure be as low as possible, the others followed him, even if one of The Bunch was a little receous he entered to, with them hearing the sound of the hole closing after their entrance, they could see the sewer galleries, totally empty for now, but as soon as they entered, they could see the place begining to fill up again, seeing from various holes, water and goop begining to pour into the galleries, they felt their legs burning, but at least the place was hotter them the sand of the outside, after running for some minutes, with the water already on their hips, they found maintance stairs, using the stairs they reached the higher galleries, were it was't flooding, yet, they now had some time to think and rest, feeling the capacities and problems with those bodys. After a small rest, all of The Bunch stood up and began to walk, seeing that those galleries were now being filled, while watching the rats of the place running, they found a manhole that apparently leaded to one of the streets, they waited util they din't hear anyone and them, they came out, slowly, helping eachother, the fact that they could not speak was a major problem to the mission, as soon as they get out, three of The Bunch toke their knifes and began to run towards the Governor Palace.
His eyes were still adapting from the darkness of the sewers, once they found the stairs, he was helped to get up, now beggining to see the Hive City of Ramses, he din't knew what to expect, watching the place, the constructions made of stone and iron, he could see houses and more houses, some more finished them others that had literally their plumbing on the walls visible to the outside, some of them had so many wires, some even smoking, connected to one single house, he them saw the Palace, it was dificult not see it, on the top of the Hive City, with cathedral towers surrouding it, with the symbol of the golden Aquila on each of the towers and the palace, made of iron, with apparent giant cannons on their sides, he could see that the palace was well made and din't had any of the problems of those houses, those houses looked almost like they were not supposed to be there, but he din't had much time to think about it, as he saw three members of The Bunch running towards the Palace, he din't knew what to do and followed them ,tryng to stop them, he could see on the corner of his eye, the rest of The Bunch running on different directions, now, he was alone with those three.
They runned with murderous intents on the streets, tryng to reach the Palace, util they could hear one voice, talking on low gothic –HOLD IT! -Before a barrage of shots, they din't had the time to react, they din't had the time to dance through the bullets, they could hear the bullets of the bolter approaching, they could see them but their bodys could not react as fast as they desired and soon, one of them felt, with the vile of acidic virus corroding his body on the fall, making it dissapear, while other of the members had his arm severily hurted, feeling the arm hanging, the other two intact remanescents watched, one of them runned towards the guardsman, while the other runned to the other side.
He could only hear the sounds of shots and them the sound of the loud alarm, he could see the streets more active, seeing people and them seeing him, he felt a little of guilty, he could not stop his companions, even if they din't knew eachother, for him, for some reason, each live mattered to the sucess of the mission, now the sucess rate probably was low and now with his current apparence being knowed and with the locals on high alert, it was impossible to him put his hands on someone with oficial rank or anyone capable of giving orders, his legs were tired, he felt breathless, he could feel sometimes, all his strenght being drained away, but hearing the guardsman, hearing the certain death and feeling the pure dread, he could not stop, jumping on the cellings of the houses and running to the lowest as possible on the city, util he found a house without a window, he was to tired, he had no choice, entering the house as fast as possible. Once he entered the house by the window, he could see that it was a living room, seeing that the place was almost empty, it was small, the floor was dirty, the bathroom was precarious on his eyes and once he found a person, it was a woman, she was weak, he could see her arms, thin as sticks, her cheecks were pale, contrasting with her brown skin, with her black short hair, she was young, but apparently lived alone on such a place, he felt terrible, this...This is what he has to choose?, from all people, from all the important jobs and even the guardsmans families, he had to deal with the fact that he lost on the lottery?, he could hear the guardsman and people speaking on the streets and now, it was time to choose, survival or pride.
With a fast movement, he contracted his muscles, with the needles coming out of his hands and kness, causing awfull pain to him, he connected one of the needles on the neck of the woman, the other or her forhead, one of his kness on her belly and the other on her thigh, he felt her tryng to fight back, he felt her hands reaching to his face and tryng to do anything, while he drained her life, beggining to feel dizzy, he din't have much time, before beggining to feel the changes on his body, throwing the acidic virus on her, making the woman soon dissapear, while he passed out, seeing his skin beggining to transform from pitch black to brown and the feeling of his muscles, being burned away, his organs beggining to change and he get smaller...He soon passed out.