Traps
Ricardo was dreaming.
He had to be dreaming as he watched without interest as his team were stripped of their equipment and dumped in a cell. Worry peculated as Mary puttered around each of the team members, her fingers caressing their unconscious bodies. But she didn't drug anyone that he could see and that was good. If she did, he would have to deal with that later. Probably in ways he would prefer not to.
His armor was gone when he blinked. His weapons likewise and he couldn't access any of his implants, but that didn't bother him. Was he drugged? Probably. Had Mary done it? If so, he would have serious problems in the near future, but for now? He would deal with what came.
He was lying on something hard as Karne and the other sisters were dragged into another cell and dropped without ceremony. They all seemed to be breathing, but they too had been stripped of their weapons and armor. A servo skull in Mechanicus colors was touching each on the head and neck, doing something nefarious probably. Indeed, one was no longer breathing. To die in such a way? When the sisters heard about this... Oh, who was he kidding. If they heard about this.
"Damn it!" Gornal's voice preceded the Lord Inquisitor into view, The fat man's face was flushed with anger as he bent over Ricardo. "Where is it?"
Ricardo ignored him to focus on Mary who was eyeing the unconscious Sororitas with undisguised lust. His cheek stung and he ignored that too.
"Damn you! I know you can talk. We didn't take that away from you! Answer me!" Gornal said savagely. "You did as you were supposed to! You brought it here." Ricardo looked at him and the older Inquisitor recoiled at whatever was in Ricardo's eyes. "I have worked too hard to let some stupid kid screw it all up now."
"You…? Have worked…?" Ricardo did not recognize his voice. Were his implants offline? Probably. The Lord Inquisitor had all the clearances to deny Ricardo any of his usual advantages. All Ricardo had was his mind and his sneaky, twisty paranoid nature. Would it be enough? Who knew. "You set this up." Not a question.
"Did you really think it was chance that put you at that medical facility?" Gornal snapped. "As soon as they sent the DNA records to the Conclave, it flagged to my attention. I knew you would fall for a sob story and here you are. Where is the abomination?"
"Where is my agent?" Ricardo retorted, not giving an inch. Pain lanced through him as blue-green fire danced from Gornal's fingers to Ricardo's arm.
"I am the one asking questions." Gornal snapped. "The Mechanicus want the abomination. I want the tank and the data it contains for making more like it. We worked out an exchange. You will give the abomination to me so I can give it to them." He was not expecting Ricardo to laugh. "What?" He demanded, fire danging across his fingers again.
"Still an idiot." Ricardo kept laughing even as Gornal shocked him again. "You touch that thing and it will go 'boom'! They know that. So you give them what they want and they laugh as they take what they want and leave. Typical. Pity you won't be sitting in it when it self destructs. You will delegate that just like you delegate everything to save your cowardly skin."
The pain increased to the point it threatened to overwhelm his control and he fought hard to keep from screaming. He would not give Gornal the satisfaction!
"You have no idea what I have had to do to keep this sector from falling completely apart, you arrogant whelp!" Gornal said after a moment.
"Yeah." Ricardo smiled even as he felt fluid seeping through his mouth. He had bitten his tongue. "It is such a burden kissing so many asses."
He saw Gornal's face flush and then the man's hand filled his vision, blue-green psyker fire throwing him into darkness.
"...and we need answers!" Gornal was very angry when Ricardo regained consciousness. "Do what you must, Doctor. But we need him lucid!"
"Oooo." Mary leaned into Ricardo's view, her face leering. She held up a shining instrument of her craft as if to kiss it. "Does it hurt?" She asked, fake sympathy oozing.
"How long?" Ricardo asked Mary who looked at him oddly. "Since you left the ship, that is?"
"If you are waiting for her to die, you will be waiting some time." Gornal said with a snort. "That poison trap was infantile." Mary grinned, but the grin faltered as Ricardo smiled.
"Yes." Ricardo said with a soft chuckle as he saw a chrono readout nearby. He had been unconscious for an hour and twenty minutes. Things would be moving fast by now. "The poison trap was. Mary, you are a bad girl and bad girls get punished."
Mary recoiled and Gornal opened his mouth as Ricardo shut his eyes. Just in time. He had never really trusted Mary. He hadn't imagined she had been working for the Lord Inquisitor, but frankly? Such did not surprise him. She had been dropped in his lap without even a hint of why. So, once he knew what she was and how badly she was messed up, he had taken precautions. Serious ones that only he knew about.
The charge of explosive that his personal servitor medic bot had nestled in between the hemispheres of Mary's brain wasn't very large at all. It didn't need to be. The blast was more than enough to completely vaporize Mary's skull and splatter both Inquisitors in a fine mist of grey matter and bone fragments. Ricardo smirked at Gornal's shocked face, now splattered with gore. Mary's headless body fell with a thump.
"I always wondered what you would look like if you actually got dirty." Ricardo snorted and then spat out nastiness. "Makes the pain worth it."
"How?" Gornal demanded, his hand crackling with eldritch fire again.
"Simple." Ricardo shrugged as best he could in whatever was holding him. "The poison trap you found was standard issue and a decoy. The real trap was not one that was hooked to anything but her auditory nerves. I never trusted her. If she ever left the ship's modified Gellar field, a trigger would arm and an atomic clock timer would start counting down. If the timer didn't go? I could set it off any time with a simple verbal command. I didn't think waiting for her to go poof was good idea."
Gornal was sputtering and Ricardo braced himself for more pain. He did not react as the force field that barred the cell with the sisters in it opaqued for a moment. When the field cleared, four sisters lay there, not five! None seemed to be breathing now. What was Kay doing? Was Kay doing that? Gornal did not notice, he was too angry and focused on Ricardo.
"You..." Gornal slapped Ricardo again and again, his rage fanned by Ricardo's smile. "Do you have any idea what it cost me to get her and keep her working?"
"No." Ricardo managed when Gornal's rage was temporarily spent. "Nor do I care. I do my duty. You do what you do." He shrugged again. "And this time? You have angered the Sororitas and a number of others. Good luck explaining it to them."
"The Sororitas will be annoyed, yes." Gornal wiped his face grimly. "But the team was with you when they disappeared and you have a history of not playing nicely with them."
"There is a difference between not agreeing with their methods and having them murdered." Ricardo countered. He looked at the cell and only three sisters lay there now. All seemed to be breathing, but the machines clamped on their skulls were blinking ominously.
"Ah, my dear boy. So limited." Gornal chuckled, as he too looked at the cell. He smiled wider. "You see, I didn't kill any of them. There is no need. When I show the Sororitas in this sector what your medic did to them, I don't think any of them will ever take your word for anything."
"Mary?" Ricardo asked softly. "Or the Mechanicus? Because Mary is kind of dead and if she injected her foul brews, that is fairly easy to detect and prove that I did not order."
"If your records were going to survive the unfortunate weapons malfunction on the battleship that is currently in orbit next to your ship." Gornal smiled wider, but faltered as Ricardo smiled back. "What?"
"Still deluded." Ricardo mused. "You are thinking like a politician, not an Inquisitor." The malice in his voice should have cut right through his bonds. "Maybe you were good once, Lord Inquisitor, but now?" He chuckled. "You are outclassed."
Another of the sisters moved and this time, Ricardo could see a door open on the back of the cell and a servitor pull her still form out. But… Was that Kay who was pulling the sister further in as the machine went back for another fallen Sister? He swore he saw Karne upright in that hall or whatever before the door closed again. All of the sisters were gone now. So… what? He kept his eyes on the fuming Lord Inquisitor.
"The Mechanicus have demanded the abomination." Gornal said firmly. "I will deliver it to them."
"Is that so?" Ricardo asked. He bit back another scream as Gornal shocked him again.
"You will tell me where it is!" Gornal snapped. Ricardo smiled at him as the door on the back of the cell opened again and Kay stepped into it. Karne was bending down over her fallen sisters as Kay stepped to the force field that barred the cell and it shut down as she touched the wall! Kay smiled a death's head grin as she stepped forward, her two handed sword appearing in her hand.
"I am glad to tell you where she is." Ricardo said with a grin. Gornal stared at him and Ricardo's grin became a smirk. "She is right behind you."
"Do you really think I will fall for-"
Gornal spun in place with a vile oath as Kay's power sword activated with a whine. She hadn't activated it when she had threatened Ricardo. Maybe she hadn't really wanted to kill him? Ricardo bet she had zero compunction about hurting or killing Gornal. Kay swung, but Gornal was fast when his hide was on the line. He vanished in the clap of a teleport.
"Damn it!" Kay snapped s she stepped forward, reaching to touch whatever was holding Ricardo down. It clicked open and Ricardo sat up, head spinning.
"He is very good at preserving his skin." Ricardo patted himself, aware now that he wore his under armor garments and nothing more. A glance nearby showed his armor piled in a heap along with his weapons. His subordinates' gear lay there too. He stared at them and then at Kay who shook her head.
"No traps I can detect." The woman said as she moved to the other cell. "Not 100%, of course. You lot define sneaky at times."
"It is kind of the job." Ricardo allowed as he bent down and examined the gear closely. It looked as if it had been dropped in haste but that did not preclude a trap of some kind. Only a fool left untouched gear from prisoners anywhere near said prisoners. He found a small explosive and a nerve agent dispenser hidden in his armor. He shook his head as he disarmed both. "They didn't have a lot of time."
"They had enough." Kay said weakly as she squatted in the cell where four sisters lay still again. Ricardo looked and none were breathing. Karne was sitting against the wall, her eyes slowly closing. "Karne..."
"It is all right, Kay." Karne said softly as her breath slowed. "We knew this would likely mean our deaths, but we did it. We found you."
She smiled even as she started to gasp. From the sound, it was poison and she didn't have long. Kay went to her knees beside Karne even as Lornan groaned and shook himself. Ricardo focused on his people, but left an ear towards Kay as the woman cried softly.
"I couldn't be what you wanted, Karne." Kay said weakly as she took Karne's hands in her own. "Even if I did just blow my cover, I couldn't be your Canoness."
"I know. Sister… I…" Karne smiled sadly and then her face slowly relaxed. Ricardo had seen death far too many times to mistake it for anything else. Kay, it seemed was just as inured to death.
"May you find peace at the Emperor's side, Sister Karne." Kay said and started the prayers for the fallen even as Lornan roused Lisa and Mace. She finished her prayers before Mace had even risen and when she rose, everyone took a step back from the fire in her eyes. "That man killed my sisters." Kay said softly. "He said he stopped her message. He did not stop mine."
Everyone stilled at that, Lisa in the act of picking up her lasgun.
"What have you done?" Ricardo asked softly, trying very hard not to draw her ire.
"Traps work two ways." Kay said with a gulp and then she sighed and relaxed. "We need to find Georgia before the jaws of the trap I laid close on us. She isn't in the base."
"No, she is not." A new voice had Ricardo grabbing his pistols and Lisa raising her rifle. Both slowly lowered them as a green armored form stepped out of the darkness. The Space Marine scout nodded to Kay who had frozen in place, her face a mask. "Lady Kay."
"You are not welcome here." Kay said with a growl as she hefted her sword. Ricardo stared at her and then at the Space Marine who slowly shook his head. His heraldry… Ricardo knew it, but he had never seen one before. Dark Angels. The First Space Marine Legion. How the hell? And … If they were here? Oh dear. The Space Wolves and Dark Angels did not like one another.
"Your sisters have fallen." The Space Marine said quietly. "We stand for you and with you."
"GO! AWAY!" Kay shouted, her sword up and ready. "I told you before and I will tell you again! NO!"
"The countersign is-" The Space Marine broke off as Kay's blade tip caressed his throat. He wasn't wearing a helmet. If she thrust even a little, Astartes or no, he was dead. He didn't move, didn't raise his boltgun. Indeed, he seemed resigned! "My life is yours, Daughter of the Emperor."
He knew about that. How many others knew? Suddenly Ricardo felt very small and alone.
"Go! Away!" Kay growled that out.
"Countersign?" Ricardo asked, his pistols in hand for all the good they would do. Space Marine scouts did not work alone. Where were the rest of the Scout's squad? Did the Inquisitor really want to know? "What countersign?"
"Shut up!" Kay snapped, her patience fleeing. She glared at the Scout. "And you! I told you to go away!"
"I cannot do that, Lady Kay." The Scout said firmly. "Kill me if you must. My life, my death… They are yours."
"No!" Kay shouted. "No! I refused it before and I refuse it now!"
"Refused?" Ricardo slipped his armor on as quickly as he could, checking each piece for sabotage or traps.
"That is your right, Lady Kay." The Dark Angel scout said quietly. "But our duty is not changed. Your sisters have fallen to treachery. We are here. You will be protected."
"And how do I know you are not involved in this?" Kay snapped, not moving her sword blade. "Your kind lie as easy as you breathe!"
"Not to you." The scout said flatly. "We never lied to you."
"No." Kay seemed to be pulling teeth to admit that. "You just used me for your own ends. Leaving me to him." She shook her head. "I will never forget or forgive." She snapped. "You left me to him!"
"What we did was wrong." The Dark Angel had not introduced himself. Not that surprising from such a secretive chapter. "We did not understand who and what you were. When we realized, we struck with all our power. But he had moved you. We searched, Lady."
"Go. Away." Kay snarled and spun on her heel. Mace had armored up by then, Lornan and Lisa stood by Ricardo's side as he finally got all of his own armor up and activated.
"You are dismissing backup?" Mace asked slowly.
"Backup. Sure. Backup who once sold me out to a Chaos Lord." Kay said flatly. Everyone stared at the Dark Angel who looked at the floor. "So no. I won't ever trust any of them. Ever again."
"You did what?" Ricardo snapped, his own anger flaring. Even if Kay hadn't been the Emperor's daughter, the very thought of a Space Marine doing that… He froze. "He is not a Dark Angel, is he?"
"Oh yes, he is." Kay snapped as she strode for the door. The scout started to follow her, but stopped sort as her blade nearly took his head off. "They are just as pragmatic as any Chaos scum when they are thwarted."
"You are angry." The scout said softly. "You have cause."
"Thank you for admitting that." Kay snarked. "When you have spent a hundred and six years in a Chaos dungeon because some moron in green armor decided you were lying to him, when you weren't, then you can complain to me. Until then? Fuck off, you lousy excuse for a Lion."
With that, she bolted from the room. The Dark Angel heaved a deep sigh and moved to follow her. The others did the same. When they left the room, though, she was nowhere in sight and the scout shook his head.
"What the hell were you Dark Angels thinking?" Ricardo demanded.
"We were not." The scout shook his head and started off. "She went this way, my brothers are pacing her. Hopefully we can keep up with her or the Chapter master will be very annoyed with us."
"Where is Georgia?" Ricardo demanded as he followed the scout deeper into the Mechanicus base. "Kay will go after her."
"We did some recon. They are taking Kay's daughter to the vehicle depot." The scout replied just a something rumbled in the distance. "And… Right on time." He didn't look happy and Ricardo glared a question at him. "Thing will get very loud now." Two more scouts materialized out of side corridors and they all took off at a run. Ricardo and his people kept up, but it wasn't easy. The one who had been speaking spoke again. "Say what you will about the Sons of Russ, they very rarely pass up a fight."
"The Titans?" Ricardo asked tightly. The scouts nodded. "Shit."
"It gets worse." The scout who had been talking said with a frown. "Another crossed the lines half an hour ago, tearing a huge hole in the Guard's defenses as it went. No one even knew that monstrosity was on planet."
"Oh?" Ricardo asked. "Let me guess? Bigger?"
"Yes. Imperator class." The Dark Angel shook his head.
"He comes for her and it is our fault."