A/N:Sorry about the wait, guys - I know it's been a while. Just... stuff to get fixed up and all, as well as more posting with my story Left 4 Dead: Lambs 2 Slaughter. Please, read it and give me reviews there, too - I feel empty that my biggest work so far hasn't got ANY reviews :(

Ah well. Enjoy :D

Chapter Two

Niko Gearhammer's PoV

This situation was bloody awkward, I can say that.

I had put on my best kiss-arse smile just to avoid being done in by this giant that called itself Brother-Sergeant Matthew Corschach. Hell, his boot was bigger than I am. If you were seeing things from my perspective and were in my shoes, you would've done the same.

Sparky had made himself scarce from the giant's gaze by instant-teleporting back to his home in the Netherfields back in Outland. Meh. He'd be back soon. He generally does that when he's scared crapless, which, surprisingly, isn't very often.

Now, I had no idea what it was this "Emperor" or "Imperium" or "Space Marine" stuff was, but the one thing I did notice was the word "Stormwind". Was it sheer coincidence that whatever Order this fellow belonged to was named after the city of the humans? I only asked myself this since no Order that I'd ever heard about had members that spat acid, crushed skulls in one hand and towered over everyone else, nor had I seen equipment the likes of which he wielded.

Judging by the way he was staring out into space, I think he was plain lost. He hadn't said anything for the past thirty seconds, and no one else dared to speak up either.

'Erm… excuse me, Brother-Sergeant?' I piped up, in my best kiss-arse tone. 'What are you going to do now?'

He shrugged as he looked down at me, his green eyes looking at me.

'Tell me, Niko, is there anyone who I can speak to?' he asked me.

I shrugged as well.

'Well… you're talking to me, for a start.'

'No, I mean, as in, anyone… well… higher up? I'm going to need some help with a little scouting. I need to find my battle-brothers.'

Again, I shrugged.

'Well, there's the leader of the Knights of the Holy Shield back in Stormwind, Duke Fenris,' I suggested. 'He might be able to help you out.'

The giant nodded.

'Take me to him.'

With that, I did. Walking out of Goldshire and leaving the stunned Warlock meeting behind, I led my new friend towards the gates of Stormwind.

'So, what's all this "Emperor" stuff, anyways?' I asked him. I'd never heard of such stuff before, but I was curious.

'He is the Master of our universe,' he explained. 'He is the great power that keeps the Imperium alive. Every day, thousands of souls are sacrificed to keep Him alive.'

What the hell was this? The way I saw it, this Emperor fellow was worse than the Lich King, for crying out loud!

Matt must've seen the disgusted expression on my face.

'You seem offended, Niko,' he said, raising an eyebrow at me.

'This… this Emperor of yours sounds like some mass-murderer arse-hole to me,' I replied truthfully.

It was then he gave me a glare that I will remember for the rest of my life. Uh-oh. I think I pissed him off, seeing how his large boot raised itself up, and brought itself down upon me.

Bringing up my short arms as high as I could, I managed to stop the boot crushing me at first. The same couldn't be said of the weight afterwards, as I could feel my arms already hurting. Heaving with all of my strength, I managed to push upwards enough to push his boot away.

Although he was surprised, he instantly unsheathed his mini-musket and aimed it at me. I managed to call up a divine shield before the bullet hit. It exploded harmlessly inches from my face.

Nonetheless, seeing how his weapon didn't have much of an effect on me, he resorted to using his boot again, only this time punting me across the road. Unfortunately, the divine shield wore off in mid-air, and I managed to grab hold of a tree branch to avoid landing roughly.

Hanging on for dear life with both of my four-fingered hands, my eyes widened as I saw him walk towards me, unsheathe his sword-saw and start it up.

Oh, crap. There ain't nothing I can do now.

I close my eyes shut as I hear the ugly whirring sound of that bloody thing fill my ears and wait for the strike.

It doesn't come.

Well, actually, more to the point, it does come, but it's not aimed at me. I gasp out in horror as the branch that I'm clinging to drops to the ground, me included. I look up at the menacing giant as he looks down at me.

He sighs, deactivates his sword-saw and holds out a massive gauntlet towards me. Uncertainly, I took it and pulled myself back up.

'Look, Niko, I'm real sorry about that,' he apologizes. 'It's just that the situation I'm in at the moment… it's screwing over my thinking.'

I nod. I've seen strong men snap under pressure, and I suppose that Brother-Sergeant Corschach isn't exempt from that.

'My mistake,' I say as I look at him. 'I suppose I might act the same way if some smaller fellow says the same thing about the Holy Light.'

Actually, I wouldn't have, but trying to emphasize with a giant ten times bigger than you to avoid getting killed is generally a good tactic.

He nods as we continue our walk to Stormwind.

'I'll have to warn you, though, if you say that sort of thing around any of my other battle-brothers, you might not be so lucky,' he says. 'What is this Holy Light stuff of yours, anyway? That shield you put up isn't dissimilar to a Rosarius.'

I shrug. More terms that I don't know about.

'It's something that exists throughout Azeroth and Outland,' I reply. 'It… I don't really think I can properly explain it. It's… a force. A force we Paladins use to heal others, protect others, or, in my general case, smite stuff.'

Matt nods once more. I think he was about to say something else, but he stops and stares at the gates of Stormwind. We've arrived.

'Well, Brother-Sergeant Corschach, welcome to Stormwind, the city of heroes and noble and justice,' I greet him. The giant seems at a loss for words as we continue walking inside past all of the massive statues that commemorate various Alliance heroes over the ages.

The guards, however, are looking at Corschach as much as he is looking at the in the Valley of Heroes statues, and I'm beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea to let him in here.

Up ahead, mounted on a stocky brown horse is an old friend of mine, General Marcus Jonathan, the High Commander of Defence here in Stormwind. He rides up to the both of us, Matt's form still towering over both him and the horse.

'Niko Gearhammer, what have you brought in this time?' he asks me, his green eyes looking at Brother-sergeant Corschach carefully as he scratches his big, bushy moustache. Matt doesn't look back at him, his gaze still on the statues of the heroes.

'Oh, nothing much, Marcus,' I said. 'This giant's Brother-Sergeant Matthew Corschach. I'm taking him over to Duke Fenris to see if we can help him out.'

The High Commander nods, although he doesn't seem fully convinced.

'Well, I don't exactly like the look of him, but I suppose that if you're fine with him, he'll be fine with the rest of us,' he says. He turns back to Matt and extends his hand. 'Brother-Sergeant, if you're a friend of Niko Gearhammer's, then I suppose you're a friend of mine. Let me be the first to welcome you to Stormwind.'

Matt turns around and shakes the High Commander's hand. To my horror, the colour in Marcus' face drains as my big friend's hand dwarfs and seems to crush his hand.

'Thank you, sir. I can see why this city is a good city,' he nods, seemingly oblivious to the High Commander's pained expression as he lets go of his hand.

Marcus gulps before turning to face me, his crushed digits shaking.

'Well, Niko… a big friend you've got there,' he manages before holding out his hand. 'If you can…?'

I cringe at the mess Matt's hand caused, and I heal it.

'Thank you, Niko,' he curtsies before leaning in towards me and lowering his voice to a whisper. 'Well, if you're off to see Duke Fenris, make sure you tell him that it's best the Knights of the Holy Shield start packing to go. Those bastards in the House of Nobles are getting antsy. I'd hate for the situation to end up in violence.'

'Don't worry,' I assure him. 'Duke Fenris is already packing. Thanks for the warning, though.'

Marcus salutes, and the both of us start walking towards the Trade District.

'What was all that about?' Matt asks me as a few more guards salute and look at the giant nervously. I look up back at him.

'What was what?'

'The whole thing about the Knights of the Holy Shield needing to get out of here. What's going on there?'

My eyebrow rises up on its own.

'How the hell did you hear that?' I ask him.

'My hearing's far sharper than a normal human's,' he explains, pointing two of his armoured digits to one of his ears. 'So. Tell me. What's going on?'

I sighed.

'Okay. First off, I'm going to have to explain from the start…'

And so I explain. Everything that's happened since the beginning of the Argent Crusade to today, I explain. About the Scourge, Northrend, all the stuff that everyone else knows.

'You see,' I continue after explaining the rest, 'the Knights of the Holy Shield are one of the main members of the Argent Crusade. However, Stormwind's House of Nobles, "Noble" my hairy arse, have a problem with us.'

He raises an eyebrow at me as I bench outside of the Stormwind Auction House, with him sitting on the ground, as he was too heavy. Plenty of commoners are looking our way, and it's making me nervous.

'What kind of problem?' he asks me. 'From the way you've explained things to me, the Argent Crusade seem like a good bunch of fellows.'

I nod. He has a point there.

'Well… I suppose it's more my fault. You see, Duke Fenris, although he's been recently elevated as Master of the Knights of the Holy Shield, has a daughter – a very, very beautiful daughter, at that. Y'see, it was one night a few days ago, and she was walking around the Canals with a lady friend, when some random noble by the name of Duke Edwards comes along and tries to seduce the both of them.'

I coughed.

'Of course, they both spurned his advances, so he tries to turn to rape. Luckily for them, I was nearby, and I showed him a lesson he probably won't forget in a hurry, especially with his groin mashed to bits with my hammer, if you, uh, see what I mean.'

Matt nods.

'And so, he's gathering up the rest of the House of Nobles to try and get the Knights of the Holy Shield done in because you did the right thing, right?' he fills in. I nod.

'I know! Getting your nuts mashed to bits and then getting them healed back to normal's one thing, but rape? I may be many things, brother, but even I don't stoop down that low,' I say, before quickly adding, 'not that I stoop down low to begin with – just more the choice of body parts I choose to pummel on my opponents.'

'Can't the King of Stormwind do anything about it?' Matt asks me. I shook my head.

'The King's a good fellow. He likes to protect his people. But at the moment, since all that crap at the Wrathgate, he's not exactly in the mood to reprimand his own fellows when open war with the Horde looms,' I reply before sliding off the bench. 'Come on. Best we get going.'

With that, we start walking towards the Cathedral District. Soon enough, the towering spires of the Cathedral of Light loom over us, and even the giant is more awed by this than the statues back in the Valley of Heroes. Around us, the sound of the monks chanting their midday prayers can be heard as we step inside.

'This reminds me of the Chapel-Barracks inside of the Stormwind Marines' Fortress-Monastery back on Tarvis IV,' Matt says, looking around at the beautiful stonework. I don't say anything, although it appears that the way the giant speaks seems to be getting to me, since I now have a proper idea of what a "Fortress-Monastery" and "Chapel-Barracks" are.

We reach a small passage that leads to the underground basement where the Knights of the Holy Order gather. One of members of our Order, Brother Samuel, is waiting at the entrance.

'Brother Niko. It is always a pleasure,' he greets us, and then turns to Matt. Unlike basically everyone else, I notice, he isn't intimidated by the giant. 'And who is this?'

'Brother-Sergeant Matthew Corschach,' my friend introduces himself.

'Sam. You mind going down and telling Duke Fenris that I need to see him about someone?' I ask Samuel. He nods and disappears down the passageway. After about a minute, he comes back up.

'The Duke is ready to see you,' he says. 'Oh, and it's been an honour working beside you, Niko.'

I raised an eyebrow at him.

'What's going on? Are you leaving us?' I ask him. He nods. 'Well, it's been an honour serving beside you too, Samuel. May the Light protect you.'

'And you too, Niko, and Brother Corschach.'

With that, he leaves, never to be seen again, before we walk down the passageway. As we pass the Knights' armoury, I see that all of the weapons, armour and the like have been removed. We're evacuating out of here for good, and I'll miss this place.

I open a large wooden door that leads to the chamber where Duke Fenris holds his meetings, and I see him in a large chair on the other side of the room, looking at us. His daughter is standing next to him. I genuflect towards him in respect.

To my surprise, Matt isn't genuflecting. I look up at him, and then I see the look on his face.

'Holy frak…' he manages.

Brother-Sergeant Matthew Corschach's PoV

I don't believe my eyes.

I blink again. My eyes don't deceive me.

'Holy frak…' I gasp. '…Sonja?'

The beautiful, long crimson-red haired girl in the room stares back at me. Her jaw dropped as her enveloping green eyes recognise me.

'…Matt?'

Niko doesn't appear to understand what's going on as Sonja, dressed in a tight leather outfit runs towards me and throws her arms around me. I nearly weep in joy as I hug her back.

'Sonja… I never thought I'd see you again…' I manage, holding her tight. Her face beams back at me.

'I didn't think I would, too,' she said, and then places her lips against mine. I savour the moment.

'Corschach. Good to see you've made it back to us,' the man in the chair says. I look up and recognise the voice.

'Chapter Master Eric?' I manage. He beams back at me. Somehow, and I don't know how, he's gotten… smaller.

'Woah, woah, WOAH! Wait a bloody second there! What the hell is going on?' Niko yells out.

I open my mouth to speak, but Chapter Master Eric beats me to it.

'Niko… these are things that you have just been privy to that require the utmost secrecy at the moment,' he said. 'You see, the three of us aren't from Azeroth. Sonja and I posed as a duke's daughter and a duke to maintain our cover.'

Niko scratched his head, trying to take it all in.

'So… so… so if what I'm thinking is right… you three are from this "Stormwind Marines" guild of yours… right?' he asks. Chapter Master Eric nods. 'So then why the hell aren't you two as big as he is?'

'Sonja isn't a Space Marine,' Eric replies. 'It's only when we become Space Marines that we become bigger. I, on the other hand, managed to get a Gnomish World Enlarger from my younger self here on Azeroth.'

Wait. Chapter Master Eric had his younger self here?

'Corschach. I can see that look you're giving me.' He turns towards me. 'You probably met Brother Samuel already, haven't you?'

My jaw drops as the coin drops.

'He's off to take the portal back to our universe,' I guess out loud. The Chapter Master nods. 'So… so why don't we follow him and take it? We can be back on the Penance right away-'

He raises a hand to stop me.

'You're forgetting something, Corschach. We weren't the only ones pulled into that freak Warp Storm. A few of the other Battle-Brothers were pulled in, too. We can't leave them here. Luckily enough, they should be coming through the Warp very soon.'

'But… but what about us getting out of here?' Sonja asks. 'Even if we do get all of our battle-brothers back, I've got the feeling we'll be stranded here.'

Eric nods.

'Luckily for us, I've got a Deep Strike Teleporter device with me. However, the hole caused by our entry into this world will close in approximately two weeks. Within that time the rest of Tactical Squad Corschach should have made planetfall across Azeroth.'

'Wait, wait, wait,' Niko said, 'I didn't get much of what you're saying, but I did understand what's going on. Problem is, Azeroth is bloody big. Two weeks isn't going to be enough to comb the entire planet of all your brothers.'

Once again, Eric nodded. He always had an answer for everything.

'I can configure the Deep Strike Teleporter device to act as a beacon,' he said. 'Problem is, it's going to need a stable point. I tried to set that up here in Stormwind until…'

'Those frak-wits in the House of Nobles are denying the resources to be able to set up such a beacon, aren't they?' I finished. Eric nodded.

'There's only one other city in Azeroth that the Knights of the Holy Shield can use as a base of operations,' he said. 'Orgrimmar.'

I nodded. Niko told me about the cities of the Horde, and Orgrimmar was the capital of the Orcs. If what Niko said was true, the Orcs were honourable and most likely going to help us out, as he, and, I suppose to a certain extent, I, was part of the Knights of the Holy Shield.

'Best to get moving now,' Eric said. 'The main caravan headed to Orgrimmar's already off.'

With that, the four of us left the room, and began our walk back up the passageway to the surface when the sounds of a commotion upstairs could be heard.

'Damnit! Don't be telling me that this place is empty!' A voice shouted from upstairs. 'My scouts saw that blasted gnome enter not but five minutes ago! In the name of the House of Nobles, get out of our way!'

Chapter Master Eric had heard the commotion as well, as he raised a hand before turning to me.

'Corschach, stay back. I'll deal with this. And if everything goes to frak, intervene. Best to let these frakkers think you're the only one of your kind here on Azeroth.'

I nodded and waited as they climbed up.

'A-HA! There you are! I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to get you before you fled from the city,' the voice from previously spat from further up the passageway. 'And you, Duke Fenris, and Lady Sonja, will realize that nobody denies Duke Edwards! And nobody bloody hurts me and gets away with it!'

'Oi! You! Shut the fel up! If it's your bloody nuts you're talking about, remember it was me who healed them back up in the first place, you wanker!' Niko's voice shouted. 'Piss the fel off and we'll be on our way!'

'Oh, you may have healed them back up, but remember it was you who did the damage, you Light-blasted little gnome! And you for not complying!'

I knew he was talking to Sonja. I was tempted to just go up there and kill the man for even thinking of raping my dear Sonja. But I knew that Chapter Master Eric hadn't spoken yet.

'Duke Edwards, enough,' Eric's voice booms. 'It is bad enough that you tried to assault my daughter, who just so happens to be a part of the Knights of the Holy Order, and now you bring twenty armoured men to try and detain us?'

I make note of the numbers in the back of my mind before unsheathing my chainsword and bolt pistol and marching up the passageway. Judging by the man's harsh attitude, I reckoned that it would be impossible to reason with him, even with Eric's silver tongue.

I adopt a slow, lumbering gait, letting my bootfalls echo across the cathedral to intimidate the enemy as I emerge from the passageway and straight into the view of a small force of Stormwind guardsmen.

'Is there a problem here?' I rumble as I take up my position in front of Eric, Sonja and Niko. Half of them are too awestruck at my size to realize that they're shaking. The other half are gripping their weapons and shields tightly.

In the middle of them I can see a fat, podgy man wearing a purple robe glaring up at me with an arrogance that reminds me of some nobles I've met during my campaigns on different worlds. This must be Duke Edwards.

I lift up my chainsword and hit the activation rune, letting it purr as I regale each of the assembled men with a baleful gaze. 'Run away, little men. Don't make me hurt you.'

It's a simple ploy, and my acting is bad enough that I'm having trouble keeping myself from laughing, but the point gets across. Half of them gulp and run. The other half are staring at my chainsword in awe until the annoying voice of Duke Edwards shrieked:

'ATTACK!'

Snapped out of their stupor, the remaining men charge. I charge in return swinging my blessed weapon left and right, decapitating and maiming, killing four of the men within seconds. My bolt pistol barks and two of the survivors' heads explode into a gory mess. I head butt one in the throat, causing his Adam's apple to fly out before kicking him into the last one of his colleagues.

The both end up crashing into the wall, where I skewer the both through the throat with my chainsword in one stab. Then, suddenly, a sharp pain hits my head from the inside.

Tearing my attention towards Duke Edwards, I see him waving his hands about, the fingertips glowing black.

'Your minds are mine now…' his voice says in my head in a surprisingly calm tone.

Mind tricks! But it was getting hard to resist...

I collapse onto my knees, and see Eric, Sonja and Niko succumbing to the same thing. No…

I knew how mind tricks worked - I was unable to guess at how me, Eric and Sonja were being affected, as we were all "blanks", but at least I knew how to counter them. Perhaps this wasn't a psyker trick.

And so, I put up my defences; I imagined this fat slob doing the worst he could to Sonja.

There is a well-known proverb in the Imperium – "Hate enriches." I guess I could testify now that it was true. I felt his will weaken over me instantly.

'MY MIND IS MY OWN, HERETIC!' I roared before leaping at him.

Tackling him to the ground, he looked up at me for the last time with a look of sheer shock on his face before I introduced him to my armoured gauntlet over and over and over again, until nothing remained of his ugly face except a bloody mash of blood and bone.

The bloodlust went as soon as it had come; I regained control over myself and rose to my feet and turned towards the others.

'Good work… Corschach…' Eric managed. Somehow, he had been affected by whatever foul magic Duke Edwards had managed to conjure. 'Now… I think it's time… to get the hell out of here, don't you?'

I nodded. I picked Niko up and put him on my shoulder as he protested at being manhandled, and we ran as fast as we could out of the Cathedral of Light. Luckily we'd managed to get out of Stormwind before the rest of the guardsmen could be alerted at what had happened.

The caravan of the Knights of the Holy Shield was waiting for us outside the gates of Stormwind. Everyone else climbed aboard one of the wagons as I walked beside it, my power armour too heavy for the primitive transport.

Sonja smiled at me.

'Good work back there, Matt,' she said, giving me a smile and a peck on the cheek. 'Hopefully, you won't have to do all that again until we're out of Azeroth.'

Sonja was right most of the time. The only time she'd been wrong before was when it came to a bet we had back on Tarvis IV, back at home, when we were kids.

Unfortunately, there was a first time for everything. And this, I would realize, would be one of those times.