Chapter 3: Found
Firedude: Woohoo! I'm on a roll today! Chapter three coming right up!
Blaze Shadow: Cool, a War Hammer fan reviewing. All questions will be answered in due time my friend.
KonoSetsuna: Thanks, I think I will.
Disclaimer: I do not own Negima! or any of its character, nor do I own the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.
Firedude: Thanks again to all those reviewing, please continue to read and review, I promise more is to come.
February 24th 2008. Court Yard, Mahora Academy.
Andruu took a second to stop at the entrance to the court yard of the academy to look at all his surroundings. "Wow, the female population is a lot bigger now than in the future…" Mana sighed and said, "It's not that… this is just an all girls' academy." Andruu continued to look all around and noticed that most of the girls were starring at whispering. "No kidding… sure seem like a secretive bunch." Setsuna continued to walk towards the front door with Mana as she said, "No, space marines just don't show up too often at Mahora." Andruu let out a small laughed and walked forward as well. "Heh… good point." They proceeded to enter the school and head towards the third floor, where the infirmary was. Andruu suddenly stopped mid-walk and looked out the window. It was a sunny day and the view was of a lush green landscape. He blinked a couple times at the sight before removing his helmet for a better look at it.
"Hey, Andruu…" He looked over to Setsuna who stood there waiting for him with Mana. "Are you coming or what?" He gave her an indifferent look and replied, "Sorry Setsuna… it's just." He looked back out the window and continued, "It's not too often that you see a sight like this where I come from…" Mana walked up next to him and looked out too. "What do you mean? It's a normal, sunny day. Nothing more, nothing less." He let out a small grunt of amusement. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. The life of a space marine is nothing more than one battle after another, destined only to die at the hands of some heretic or alien in the cold depths of space. It's extremely rare for us to see such a tranquil scene…" Mana and Setsuna stayed silent as he gazed out the window for another minute, not knowing what to say in reply to what he just said.
He finally donned his helmet once more and turned back towards the two. "Let's go." They then went a few more doors down and stopped at the infirmary. "Here we are." Said Setsuna. Mana turned to Andruu and said, "You should probably take the armor off, it'd avoid a lot of questions…" Andruu nodded and proceeded to slid out of his power armor. "Alright, I'm ready to meet this ancient medicine woman." The two of them just starred at him in silence. "We may be primitive compared to your time, but their not called medicine women… and she's far from ancient." Setsuna said blandly as she slid the door open. The three walked in and was greeted a tall woman with wavy hair and a white medical coat. "Ah, I was expecting you." The woman said, rising from her seat and extending her hand to Andruu. "I'm Shizuna Minamoto the school nurse; it's a pleasure to meet you." Andruu shook her hand, blushing lightly at her beauty… and other features.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, I'm corporal-." Andruu stopped speaking when he felt Setsuna elbowing his side. She then began to whisper to him, "Remember, we're trying to avoid questions…" Andruu realized what she was saying after a couple seconds and corrected himself. "Forgive me, I meant, my name is Andruu. These two said that you were the apothecary who healed me, thank you madam." He said with a slight bow. Setsuna slapped her forehead in frustration. "No problem, it's my job." She then looked over to Setsuna and Mana and smiled to them. "Girls, thank you for looking after him, you may go ahead to class now." The two then bowed slightly and walked out, closing the door behind them. Andruu looked back from the door to Shizuna. So how does this work? The healing power in this era is primitive so how is she going to help me anymore than she has already?
He watched a bit longer as she continued to write something down on a card. He drummed his fingers against his side nervously before saying, "So, uh-." She then cut him off before even looking up at him. "It's in back of the school…" He just stood there blinking a little. "Um… excuse me?" She turned towards him and smiled. "You're looking for your comrades right? They're out back in the abandoned garage." Andruu's mouth hung open, not knowing what to say. Not asking anymore questions, he simply turned on his heel and walked out. He stood out in the empty hallway for a minute before he actually comprehended what she said. He smiled and thought himself, They're here!? I can't believe it! I'm not alone! I've got to hurry then! He turned and was about to run down the hall when he stopped in his tracks. "Wait a minute…" He muttered to himself. He turned and looked around. "Where'd my armor go!?"
February 24th 2008. Class 3-A, Mahora Academy
The class was busy talking with each other trying to get their conversations done before Negi shows up. Mana stood in the back quietly as she watched Setsuna talk with Asuna and Konoka. Mana was about to go to her seat when she heard a voice to her side. "Ah, just who I was looking for…" Mana turned around to see Eva and Chachamaru standing behind her. "Oh… its you." She said indifferently to the vampire. "The dean wants to know if you took care of that demon." She nodded and said, "Yeah I did, but it wasn't a demon, it was a daemon." Eva looked at Mana with a surprised expression. "A daemon? What in the world is that?" Mana smiled and said, "Wouldn't you like to know." She then turned and walked to her seat. "Hey! Where are you going!? Don't just walk away from me!" She said in an angry tone.
As Mana sat down in her seat, she felt another person standing next to her. "Hey Mana, where were you this morning?" Mana looked up to Kaede and answered in her indifferent tone, "The dean needed me to look into something… say, the twins are usually hanging all over you by now, where are they." Kaede thought it over and replied, "You know, I haven't seen them all morning, but they probably just-." Suddenly, the classroom door burst open and a big suit of blue power armor walked in with its arms stuck out in front of it like a zombie, while a voice inside let out a long moan. Nodoka, who was standing near the door with her back to it, turned around and jumped a foot into the air out of fright and hid behind Haruna. "I-It's a monster!" Kaede giggled a little and jumped over to the armor.
"Come on you two, it's not fair to do something like that to Nodoka." He lifted the helmet off the armor to reveal Fuka's face. "I knew it… and I'm guessing Fumika's in there too." Fuka giggled a little and replied, "Yup, we just couldn't resist. We found this really cool armor and we thought it'd be perfect!" The chest suddenly swung open to reveal Fumika in the lower half of the suit with Fuka standing on her shoulders. "Admit it Kaede, you got a kick out of it!" She laughed a little bit at Fumika's accusation and scratched the side of her face with her index finger. "Well… Yeah, I did!" The laughing three did not see Mana and Setsuna walking up behind them. "Where'd you find that?" Setsuna asked, cutting off the laughter. "We found it in the hallway outside the infirmary!" exclaimed Fumika.
"Yeah! I wonder who would put something like this in the hallway in the first place!" laughed Fuka to her twin. Mana sighed and walked up behind the armor. "Alright you two, get out now." She shook the suit until the two girls fell out. The two groaned and Fuka looked up to Mana. "Hey Mana! How could you do something like that!?" Mana ignored them and tried to push the suit towards the door, but to no avail. "Need a little help?" Mana looked over to see Evangeline standing next to her was Chachamaru. "I could ask Chachamaru to help you, but in exchange…" Mana sighed and replied, "What do you want?" Eva smiled and replied, "Take me to the owner of that armor." Mana raised an eyebrow and replied, "That's all?" Eva looked over to Chachamaru and shook her head towards the armor. Chachamaru nodded stoically and pushed the armor with no problem out the door and into the hallway. "The person who owns that armor, obviously was apart of what happened this morning and I've got a few questions to ask him."
Mana sighed and replied, "Fine…" She looked over to Setsuna and asked, "Are you coming?" She shook her head and said, "I need a break, I'll sit this one out…" Mana nodded and looked to Eva, "Alright, let's go." The twins jumped up and said in unison, "Hey! What about us!" Mana ignored the two and walked out with Eva. The two then turned towards Kaede. "Kaede! Please take us with them!" Kaede sighed and picked the two up. "Come on; let's just stay out of this for now." She said as she dropped the two into their seats.
When Mana and Eva left the classroom they found Chachamaru waiting outside with the armor. "Master, is that boy our target?" She said pointing towards the brown haired boy wandering through the hallways. Eva looked over to Mana and said, "I don't know… is it?" Mana nodded silently and walked over to Andruu and asked, "What are you doing? I thought Ms. Minamoto was looking you over." He gave Mana a relieved look and smiled. "Hey! …Mana right?" She gave him a piercing glare and replied, "Yes… asshole right?" He laughed a little nervously and answered, "Might as well be. Turns out Ms. Minamoto knows where the rest of my squad is, but I can't show up…" She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly. "Why not?" He scratched his head nervously and said, "Well, I kind of lost my armor." She smiled, amused how much he was stressing over this and pointed towards the armor behind her. "Is that it?"
He smiled in relief and shot over to it. He hugged it and cried out in joy. "Yes! I can go back now!" He noticed Chachamaru just starring at him and turned towards her. "Oh, uh… hello there, I'm Andruu." She ignored his hand and bowed to him. "I'm Chachamaru; it's a pleasure to meet you." She said in her usual tone. "So, you must be the owner of this armor." Andruu looked down to see Eva standing in front of him. He smiled at her and crouched down in front of her. "I'm sorry little girl, I didn't see you there. Yes I am the-." Eva's face turned bright red and she was drowning out his voice as he continued to speak. She finally reached a breaking point and slapped him across the face. "Ugh! Jerk! I ought to drain you of every drop of blood you have! You-!" Eva continued to bad mouth Andruu as Chachamaru restrained her from killing him.
"Ouch… what'd I say?" He asked Mana as he rubbed his red cheek. Mana shook her head and replied, "She's not as young as she seems…" Mana looked back to the classroom and said, "I don't feel like going back to class, so I think I'll come with you to see these other space marines." Andruu laughed under his breath and muttered, "How kind of you to invite yourself." Mana shot him another piercing stare and said, "What was that?" Andruu, petrified by her eyes said in a nervous tone, "Nothing…" He then looked over to Chachamaru and Eva and said, "You two are welcomed to come along too…" Eva put on a fed up expression and replied, "Fine, I'll come, only because my questions have not been answered yet." Chachamaru looked blankly at Andruu like always and said, "I'll come to accompany the master."
Andruu jumped into his power armor and called, "Great! Let's go!" As he began to walk through the school with the girls behind him, he thought to himself, Great, what a wonderful group I've been stuck with... oh well, no turning back now. After a couple minutes, they arrived in front of the abandoned garage. "Well here we are." Eva raised and eye brow in puzzlement. "Are you sure this is it?" Andruu shrugged slightly and replied, "That's what the witch doctor said…" Andruu leaned down to throw the garage door open when suddenly a little light on the collar bone of his armor started to blink. "What's that mean?" Mana asked at the sight. Andruu noticed it and shot back up to his feet. He began to look around frantically as he brandished his bolter. "Andruu, what does that mean!?" Mana demanded started to get frustrated.
"It detects chaos energies… but I don't see-." A red rift suddenly opened in the ground and black robed cultists crawled out, each one bald with a large eight pointed star tattooed on their whole face. They were followed shortly after by a black armored man with scarred flesh, bald as well. The man looked over to Andruu grinned widely at him. "Corporal Tanthius… a pleasure to have another opportunity to reap your soul." Andruu rolled his eyes and looked between all his enemies. "Crap, I was really hoping to never see you again." Andruu muttered as he got his bolter ready. "Friends of yours?" Eva asked as she watched the cultists pull out swords and pistols. "Nothing but heretics that serve the forces of chaos. And that man is Champion Claudius… that is if you can still call him human. He traded his soul to the chaos gods for power…" He smiled as he brandished a long sword. "I believe it was a fair trade, it's not like my soul was doing me any good, and now I have infinite power!"
Eva took a step forward and called out. "Enough of this! I need questions answered and if you're going to get in my way, I will not hesitate to strike you all down." She looked over to Andruu. "Settle your score with him, I don't really care. We'll handle these fools…" Mana looked over at Eva. "We?" Eva and Chachamaru began to walk forward. "You don't have to, but we're in a rush." Mana sighed and pulled out her pistols once more. "Fine, I'll help. What are there, ten of them?" Mana raised her guns in a flash and topped two of them. "There, only eight now…" The cultists watched as two of their brother dropped dead. "You bitch!" One called out and led two other in a charge towards her. Chachamaru jumped in the way though and punched the first extremely hard in the stomach, knocking him out. The other two tried to stab her with their swords, but took them both out with punches to the face. The remaining five raised their pistols to shoot them both, but didn't notice the vial thrown on the ground in front of them by Evangeline. And explosion of purple ice blasted them up into the air screaming as more cultists emerged from the rift.
Claudius watched with a grin. "Fool, good for nothing but meat shields…" Andruu raised his bolter up and aimed it towards Claudius' skull. "I still don't understand how you guys can care so little about your followers…" Claudius looked over at him and smiled. "Kill or be killed… it is all a service to chaos." Andruu gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger, but there was only a click, no bolt came out. "What the-?" He was cut off by Claudius swinging his large doubled side sword over his head. Andruu jumped out of the way just in time and put away his bolter. "Damn… out of ammo." Claudius just laughed as he twirled the large claymore with one hand. "What's a matter!? Has the emperor abandoned you!?" Andruu pulled out a small sword and took a sword stance. "I will slay you heretic, for the good of the imperium!" Claudius grinned sadistically and charged him swinging his claymore wildly.
Andruu managed to block every swing, but he was not holding up well against the champion. "I told you Tanthius! The emperor has abandoned you, while the chaos gods are with me and are strong!" Andruu blocked a heavy overhead swing with his short sword and struggled back as Claudius pushed down on him. "So Claudius, how'd you get here anyway?" The champion grinned and jumped back. "Did you really think the emperor was the only one who had such a warp portal!?" Andruu shrugged and lunged forward. Claudius deflected the stab and back fisted Andruu, who stumbled into the garage door. Claudius took another stab at Andruu, but only succeeded in getting his sword stuck in the door. Andruu took the opportunity and sliced Claudius' arm off at the shoulder.
He screamed out in pain and fell backward. "Master!" The two remaining cultists cried out as they ran to their master's side. "You'll pay for that Andruu!" He grinned replied, "Like hell I will… where are your gods now?" He pulled out a vial of blood with his remaining hand. "Right here!" He drank the vial and his eyes glowed purple. He jumped to his feet and smashed his cultists into the air. He then charged Andruu and slammed his head into the garage door, effectively stunning him. He was about to strike again when he felt several bullets hit his armored back. He turned and with a scream of rage charged Mana. Before he could get to her, Chachamaru tried to deliver a kick to the side of his head, but he caught it and through her aside like a rag doll. Mana unloaded all the bullets she could into his armored shell, but it was to no avail.
He delivered a powerful back fist to the side of her head, stunning her as well. He felt a cold breeze on his back and turned to see that Eva had thrown another vial at him. He shrieked at her and charged her before she could get her next attack ready. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. "I want to hear you scream little girl!" He said with a grin as he tightened his grip on her neck. She winced in pain, but simply spat on his face. "Bitch…" He growled as he slammed her to the ground. Eva was now unconscious and couldn't defend herself. Claudius grinned and dragged her over to the rift. He held her over it and laughed. "I heard dropping an unsuspecting child into the warp can horribly corrupt them!" He laughed as he was about to let go, but felt a sharp pain in his side,
He looked down to see that Andruu had thrusted his sword into his side. He angrily threw her aside and grabbed him instead. "Forget that! It will be fun seeing you go insane!" He proceeded to throw him into the warp. Andruu floated around in the red space, daemons flying everywhere. He was in a mass state of confusion as daemons flew by, occasionally smashing into his and slashing him. He felt his mind start to collapse and his body get weaker, when suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist and pull him out. He lay there on the ground in a daze not able to fully recognize the man kneeling over him. "Are you alright Corporal Tanthius?" Andruu smiled weakly and replied, "Yes… Captain."
Firedude: And there's chapter 3 for ya! Please review and continue to read!