Epic
No one moved from the map. Everyone was staring at the screen as others came alive around it, showing scenes of devastation projected from hidden sensors scattered across the landscape. The open plains terrain had seen heavy fighting. Two utterly wrecked Chaos Warhound Titans lay strewn across the landscape, but all was not well. Space Wolves vehicles burned in numerous places as a huge blue thing heaved itself over the horizon. It had two arms, two legs and a massive cathedral like structure bristling with guns and missiles on top of it. The huge building that crowned it was a horror, all twisting, churning masses of energy and flesh all directed to the glory of the Dark Gods of Chaos in general and the Lord of Change in particular.
The Traitor Imperator class Titan 'Facta Impia' was walking forward through a hellstorm of fire that was coming from all sides. It strode on as if all of the massive blasts around it and on it were inconsequential. Perhaps they were. Anyone listening to vox channels could hear insane cackling across them as Space Wolves vehicles died along with the mighty warriors of the Imperium manning them. A brave or foolish crew of a Space Wolves Predator Annihilator stopped in mid-movement to fired every lascannon it possessed. Each one of the incredibly powerful anti-armor weapons scored a direct hit on the left knee of the massive walking fortress and did nothing. Each and every bolt was absorbed by the evil machine's insanely powerful void shields.
"Silly Space Corgis!" The cackling voice declared even as sun hot fury tore from its left arm weapon to slam into the luckless tank. None of the crew of that tank even had time to scream before they were turned to ash along with their tank. "Is there no one on this entire Tzeentch forsaken planet who is a worthy foe?"
The response to his challenge was the explosion of a Vortex missile that blew down three of the void shields around his mighty war machine's carapace. The Titan's weapon turrets spun, but there was no enemy visible except the Space Wolves who were retreating in order. They hadn't fired such a weapon. If they had them, they would have used them before they had lost three Land Raiders to the Facta Impia's long range fire. Another missile hit and this time, all of the fields collapsed. But then they reformed, driven by the unholy powers that the Chaos Lord summoned as well as the mighty reactors buried deep inside the ancient war machine. Even Imperator class Titans were not immune to such raw destructive power, but the being commanding this horrific thing was no novice and he had come prepared for a fight.
"Who dares?" The Chaos Lord who commanded the monstrosity demanded over the common vox channels even as the machine's many weapons sought targets. "Show yourself!"
"Why?" The female voice who replied was calm, cool and collected. It was also mocking. "Is the big, bad Chaos Lord suddenly afraid?"
"I know that voice..." The commander of the Facta Impia said with glee. "Ooo, Kay! The woman of the hour herself. Have you finally come to your senses and come back to serve Tzeentch as is your destiny?"
"No." The other replied coldly. "I have come to show you what happens to people who betray the Emperor."
Four missiles slammed out of the forest nearby. Two of them met point defense fire and exploded short of the Titan. The other two hit, and one exploded with all the fury of the Imperium's wrath. It collapsed two of the Void shields. The other hit and did not detonate! It fell to land at the Titan's feet. The Facta Impia took a step and crushed the missile under a metal hoof the size of a building.
"Tzeentch has all kinds of tricks, even more than your Corpse Emperor." The traitor in command of the massive blue thing chuckled. "Hiding in trees like an Eldar, are you? Hmmm. I think I should do something about that."
"Feel free. You won't hit anything but trees." Kay's voice held scorn as the massive Imperator Titan opened fire with both of its massive arm weapons on the forest and indeed, hit nothing but trees with the humongous bolt rounds and plasma bursts. "Sons of Russ, fall back. This is my fight."
"Oh, come on!" Rashinos' horror obliterated another Predator almost negligently. The others increased speed, some dropping smoke to try and confused the Titan's targeting. "Let the Corgis gum themselves to death on my ankles. We can catch up on old times." Lust sang in his tone and several of the listeners grimaced.
"You always did have a one track mind even when it was proven that you couldn't keep it up long enough to do what you wished. The Warp giveth and the Warp taketh away." The laugh that Kay sent his way was almost as deadly as a missile. Rashinos growled as the listeners stared at one another.
"What did he do to her?" Georgia begged as Celestine held her gently.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Celestine asked quietly. Georgia nodded, her face set. The Saint held out a dataslate to Georgia who took it in shaking hands. Celestine hugged Georgia as the Hospitallar read the contents, her face paling as she perused it.
"Mom." Georgia croaked, her eyes streaming again. She bowed her head. "Oh Mom." Her face took on a hard aspect as she turned it back to the screen. "She will kill him."
It was suddenly easy to see the family resemblance. She didn't have Kay's experience or power, but she had inherited the much older woman's temper. Good thing she wasn't nearly as dangerous as Kay had proven to be.
"She will certainly do her best to and Kay's best is pretty damn good." Celestine said with a nod to the screen. Rashinos was apparently getting tired of not hitting anything and had started for the depot again.
"Where is she?" Georgia asked. "I don't see her on the screen." Indeed, the golden icon of Kay's Titan was not showing anywhere.
"He is probably saying the exact same thing." Ricardo frowned. "She likely cannot win head to head with an Imperator class, so she won't try. She is anything but stupid. Vortex missiles may be able to bring that monstrosity's shields down, but her other weapons require line of sight and if she shows herself, his own weapons are larger and more numerous."
"What about the large weapon on top?" Cypher asked. More than one of the others shrugged. No one knew.
"My concern is what the esteemed Lord Inquisitor shot her with." Greyfax said into the silence that fell. The screen showed the Space Wolves regrouping a bit closer to the depot, with heavy terrain between them and Rashinos' monstrosity. The female Inquisitor was glaring at Gornal who met her gaze with matching fury. He did not speak, however. He had learned that provoking Celestine got painful and no one was about to try and stop the Sororitas. Greyfax looked at the Elysian medic who bowed his head. "How long do you think?"
"She should have died the moment it hit her. The only thing that saved her was the distance from her heart and her own physical strength." The medic said sadly. Georgia gasped and he shook his head. "I am sorry, Inquisitor, Hospitallar. I wish I could have done more."
"Not your fault, Medic. I doubt even a full on Apothecarium could have done much more for her." Greyfax admitted. "There are not many places that even know about Fulgurite. For good reason."
"'Fulgurite'?" Georgia asked, confused. "Or is that something I shouldn't know about?"
"It is a secret." Greyfax said heavily. "But one that is less kept than obscure. Few know about it." Georgia looked at her and the Inquisitor grimaced. "For good reason. The substance is the only one that is known to be fatal to Perpetuals." Georgia gasped and Celestine laid her arm around the trembling Hospitallar. "Some believe it was originally intended as an assassination weapon against the Emperor. Small wonder it worked on Kay."
"So how did he get it?" Georgia demanded, snarling at Gornal who snarled back.
"You are not cleared for..." The Lord Inquisitor drew himself up haughtily, only to collapse with a wheeze as Greyfax hit him in the gut with the butt of her bolter.
"Shut. Up." The female Inquisitor's words were quiet, calm and collected. Her bolter/crossbow was in hand however and aimed. "Your life is Kay's. Not mine. If you push however, I will submit to her judgment for removing your stain from existence gladly. The only reason you still breathe is that I know you thought it would only stun her. You didn't bother to even look at the reams of records in the file attached to that storage unit. Carelessness in addition to attempted regicide." Gornal seemed to wilt and Greyfax relaxed a little, looking at Georgia. "As a Lord Inquisitor, he had access to most of the Inquisition armory. Even things he had no business touching."
"And if he has killed my mom?" Georgia asked softly.
"Then his execution will take a very long time to complete." Greyfax promised. "Roboute Guilliman and the Lords of Terra will not be pleased with him regardless, but that?" She smiled grimly. "That is something they will all agree on."
All eyes went back to the screens as the scene on the them changed. Aircraft were now buzzing around the Titan. Oddly shaped angular aircraft. Explosions were all over it and its weapons spit defiance at the gnats swarming it. Two of them exploded in mid-air, but the others continued to harass it.
"Chaos fighters and bombers." Ricardo turned as Lisa spoke softly, incredulous. His pilot was staring at the screens, awe and fear warring in her expression. "Attacking the Titan?"
"They don't like Rashinos any more than anyone else does." Cypher was a grim green statue, staring at the screen. "He has repeatedly killed Chaos forces who got in his way or just for his own sick amusement. Not to mention, if any of them were to capture Kay, or even recover her body, they could literally demand anything from the Ruinous Powers with a good chance of it being granted."
"Because she is the Emperor's daughter." Georgia wilted further and Celestine crooned softly to her.
"Don't count Kay out just yet." Greyfax smiled as humongous explosions flew across the Imperator Titan's bulk. At least six missiles had slammed into it from two different sides. None were Vortex warheads but they had to hurt regardless. Burning plasma now covered a portion of the massive titan which strode on as if utterly oblivious to the fire that coated its hull. The void shields did not come back up. Perhaps overloaded or something else.
"How is she doing that?" Ricardo asked, confused. "That Titan only had two missile launchers."
"Emperor only knows." Lisa was focused on a nearby screen and her eyes went huge as she pointed to it. "Oh! This is a long range guidance package. She is using hidden sensors to guide missiles onto target. I have heard of such tech, but never dreamed of seeing it. She could be anywhere in missile range of that thing." Then the sergeant smiled as she read the bottom of the screen. "She is using the facility's defenses as well. That explains so many missiles."
"I..." Ricardo shook his head as he pulled up what information he could on the facility. "This is not just a depot. This is a planetary defense center!" He shook his head. "Most of the weapons read as offline, but from the readouts, they look repairable. This defense point could swing this whole planetary campaign the Imperium's way if we can get it back online!"
"Is there anything that could help Mom?" Georgia begged.
"No." Ricardo said after a moment of perusal. "She is using the missiles. Everything else is far too large, disabled or limited by line of sight."
Georgia slumped but then she straightened and focused on the screen. Celestine nodded approval. The vox crackled again.
"And how many missiles do you have, dear sweet Kay?" Rashinos asked. More than one of the watchers groaned as the fires on the Facta Impia went out and shimmering heralded its Void shields coming back online yet again. "Come on, my dear. It wasn't bad. You know it wasn't."
"You keep telling yourself that." Kay growled. "Right up until I blow your scaly hide out of that abomination."
"Kay..." Rashinos actually sighed! "I didn't hurt you. You hurt yourself. We were not going to hurt you. You know this."
"Again, you keep telling yourself that." Four more missiles swung out of the blazing forest and slammed into the massive Traitor machine. "I said it before and I will say it again. I will never serve you."
"So be it." Rashinos actually sounded sad! "I give you my word, I will try not to hurt you too badly. Tzeentch wants you and I want to please Tzeentch. If you won't serve, your progeny will."
Everyone watching gasped as dozens, nay, hundreds of small pink and blue forms started shooting out of the massive building on top of the Traitor Titan. They swarmed here and there, flying in small groups of perhaps fifty. There were dozens of such groups.
"Flamers..." Celestine breathed. "Can she hide from so many?"
"They are not going for her." Georgia swallowed hard as she saw most of the swarms take off in a beeline for the depot on the surface. Terror sang in her voice. "They are after me." Celestine and Ricardo moved to flank her as her face fell. "Will they always be after me?"
"I don't know." Celestine admitted. "The Mechanicus failed in making an exact copy of Kay, but the Ruinous Powers don't know that. We will ward you." She promised.
"Wait..." Ricardo breathed as something changed on the screen. Where before, the Traitor Titan had been approaching alone, now five Titans shone on the screen. The massive red enemy one and four smaller golden ones. All four were moving at flank speed towards the Facta Impia. "Decoys! Some kind of decoys!"
"Ooo." Rashinos said with glee. "Pretty toy you have there. You are a sneaky one, Kay. You will make an excellent mate once your mind has been cleansed of that silly notion of self determination and I can repair what you did to yourself to spite Tzeentch. Really? Neutering yourself was pointless. Now… Which one of you is real?" The dorsal weapons of the Titan fired and massive plasma balls tore through the lower half of a golden form that vanished in the haze of discharge. "Eeny..." Another dorsal weapon fired even as the remaining golden Warlord Titans started to run to close the distance. The humongous bolt rounds tore through another hologram, wiping it from existence. "Meeny..." An arm mounted volcano cannon fired, blowing another hologram away. "Miny..." The left arm weapon fired low and... Another hologram vanished? "What?"
"MO!" Kay screamed as her Titan appeared out of some kind of cloak right behind the Facta Impia. Everyone watching cheered as her Titan's power fist slammed full on into the rear armor of the Traitor Titan.
"You! Bitch!" Rashinos wasn't gloating anymore as his Titan rocked from the stupendous impact. "You are going to pay for that! I will make you clean that damage off with your tongue!"
"You will try!" Kay retorted even as the swarms that had been pressing towards the depot reversed course.
The Facta Impia tried to turn, but Kay's Warlord was much more agile than the larger Traitor Titan and stayed behind it, swinging its fist again and doing a lot more than denting the armor. Each impact was followed by a blast. Each power field enhanced blow was augmented by a flurry of shots from the integral mega bolter and even the traitor's massive armor wouldn't be able to take that for long. Imperator class Titans were meant for long range combat and had both incredible durability as well as incredible firepower, but up close? They were vulnerable. Of course, everything was relative. Even Kay's titanic blows were not doing much more than armor damage. Admittedly, her first blow had been carefully aimed to take out the void shield generators. Given time, she would break through even the monstrosity's huge amount of armor. If she was given that time.
"You stupid cow." Rashinos snarled as all of the swarms of daemons swooped around the Facta Impia to target the golden Titan. "All you do is prolong the pain. That is all any of you fools who worship the Corpse do!"
The Filae Gloriosa's void shields were flaring as more and more of the flamers released their Warp spawned evil onto it. The Warlord Titan's point defense weapons fired again and again, each flurry of shots claiming dozens of the pink and blue things, but more were coming out of the Imperator Titan's superstructure and each added its flames to the evil power beleaguering Kay's Titan.
"You will serve us. In life or death, you will serve Chaos!" Rashinos was not gloating now. He was coldly furious as the fist of Kay's Titan slammed into his Titan's armor again and the gun roared again. Then her other arm weapon fired. This time, even warp forged, demon hardened plate finally fractured under Kay's frenzied assaults.
"What? No!" Rashinos screamed as the long weapon atop Kay's Titan bent down towards the fracture even as her fields collapsed under the demon fire. "STOP HER!"
White hot energy scoured across the entirely of the golden Titan. Too late. A female scream of agony had everyone who heard it gasping, but then, the great gun atop Kay's Titan fired at literally point blank range.
It wasn't a conversion beamer. The proper term was 'mega psycannon'. The shells that had been loaded into the magazine of the massive weapon had been specially forged for dealing with the denizens of the Warp by the Emperor himself. The Emperor had always planned on using Kay and any sisters he made for her as anti-daemon weapons to augment the Astartes. Their love for each other and him would have made them nearly impervious to corruption. He had been interrupted by Horus, so had never made more of Kay. She had always been designed for one thing and one thing only. To kill hellspawn. Even as her flesh burned, she did just that. Like most bolt weapons, it did not fire one shot at a time. Instead, three rounds, each larger than any shell in Imperial Guard armories, tore into the weakened rear armor of the Facta Impia. The first two tore the armor to splinters and flew on, tearing control runs, magazines, barracks for minions and chapels dedicated to Chaos into shreds. The third, guided by Kay or maybe the Emperor himself, tore directly into the main reactor that was housed in the heart of the demonic machine.
The results of the blessed round striking the daemon enhanced reactor were completely predictable.
Even underground, kilometers away from the clash of leviathans, the ground shook under the stunned watchers. They stared at screens that went dark, momentarily blinded by the titanic outpouring of energy. When the scanners came back online, they showed a massive crater with two equally massive blue legs sticking up out of it. Both were on fire. Nothing else remained of the horror or its warp spawned daemon horde.
"Mom?" Georgia pleaded as the scanners swept around. "Where is mom?" Then she screamed as the scanners panned onto something golden. The Filae Gloriosa lay on its back, the golden Titan's entire front blackened from the blast but it was mostly intact. All except the pilot's compartment, which was scorched wreckage, melted and blasted from both demon fire and the titanic explosion that had claimed Kay's arch enemy. Nothing could have survived that. Not even Kay. "MOM!"
"No. No, Kay… Not now!" Celestine took hold of Georgia as the Hospitallar crumpled. She too was crying. "Not after all of this!"
"She will come back." Georgia said in a weak voice, looking up at the Living Saint. But her eyes... The hurt in her eyes was heartbreaking. "She has to come back! Right?"
"Georgia..." Ricardo bowed his head. "The poison..."
No one was shocked when Georgia threw herself at Lord Inquisitor Gornal.
Everyone was shocked when it took everyone to pull the non-militant sister back from killing the man with her bare hands.