Striigg kept his place at the juncture of both rooms. His servo skull floated nearby over his shoulder, its bionic eye facing Isis, keeping watch.
Isis now stood but kept her hands over her ears. The weapons they used gave off a sound that rattled her teeth and caused her vision to blur.
She backed up further into the room, making sure not to bump into anything. Metal tables held odd equipment that she couldn't and would want to fathom their uses. A tank sat in one corner, filled with some form of liquid. Within that, an organic substance floated attached to hoses that ran to the top of the tank. For a moment, she thought it moved.
She looked away quickly, 'I changed my mind.' She thought. 'I don't want the hood. Not now. Not here. Not when they are killing each other just outside the door!'
She had turned to face the front of the room when a familiar feeling invaded her body. She instantly recognized that feeling. She would never forget it. It happened all in an instant. 'NO!' Her mind screamed, and before she could act, her vision became filled with light as she teleported out of the room.
Her legs gave out from under her as the teleporter dropped her in another room. She landed on her backside with a thud as she felt the air rush from her lungs.
Gasping for breath, she quickly looked around the room, which was similar if not the same room as the one Visius used with her to transport to the other ship.
'Was she on another ship?' The horrifying thought hit her like a punch to the gut.
She did not recognize anyone in this room. There were two marines, their helms molded to their faces. What was blood-curdling, is that their helms, moved with their expressions, like a face would.
She tried to stand quickly, but was met with the barrels of two large guns that resembled speakers. Beside them stood a creature that stole her attention, she did not know what it was, but she couldn't look away. It was as if it controlled her awareness. With cloven hooves it made a step toward her, its grin sent chills down her spin at its approach. It spoke. The words were a myth, but its voice was beautiful as it was twisted.
Her mind tumbled with thoughts. She raised her arms in surrender involuntarily, unsure of what to expect. That was all she noticed of the room before a mind intruded into hers. This presence was not as calm as Visius's and had a sinister feeling that it carried at its forefront. Her hair stood on end, as it shoved itself into her head with deadly precision.
She about fell again from the invasion, but rough hands grabbed her by the shoulders and head. She felt two bodies on her side, bending her arms painfully behind her.
The invader, within her mind, began to crush her thoughts and break her will.
Feeling weak, ill, and frightened at the same time, it kept her from forming any thoughts.
Her attempts to fight them off were met by a kick to one of her knees, and she buckled, her body jarred as her knees hit the floor.
Isis struggled mentally against this foe. She had never trained in this... this battle of the minds. Her instincts screamed that she had to fight back now, before it was too late!
Desperately, she tried to push out the presence in her mind but was only met with piercing pain. She screamed as her eyes felt as if they were to pop out of her skull.
A burning within her ignited, she held on it, fanned it. Building it up.
She couldn't take any more! The accusation of her bloodline, the expectancy of her, the time jump, the loss of her siblings, her family, her home! Now this! They wanted her to submit, to comply with their whims, to whatever horrors that could be...She be damned if she was going to let them take her alive! They thought she was a child of some formidable emperor.
They fear her! The thought sprang to her mind. There was no other reason for this.
She'll give them something to fear.
The hands on her head and shoulders bent her down.
She heard someone speak, the knives in her head intensified, causing her vision to blur.
The flame inside her burst into a raging inferno. She held onto it, felt it engulf her entire being till it overpowered the presence in her mind.
The sound of their god-awful weapons discharged the same time she released her pent-up rage.
Like a tidal wave, her power rushed outward around her, with a cry of abandon she sent it hurtling in all directions with such force, it took their demonic sounding weapons with them. She heard bodies, and anything that wasn't attached to the floor, slam into the walls of the room with a thunderous force.
The presence in her mind was thrust out, her vision returned, but she wasn't done yet.
She figured she was on another ship now, and she was not going down without a fight.
She harnessed her power that filled the room, and like a tornado, she began a turbulent churning, standing as she did so.
Pulling it around her swiftly, the warp acted like wind, with the force of water. She heard the yells and screams from the ones without armor as they were caught in the maelstrom. Parts of equipment flew through the air as well, smacking the ground, walls and ceiling, causing parts to break into deadly shrapnel.
Isis stood in the center of the room on the teleporter platform. She was within the eye of the storm as it tore apart everything around her. She stretched out her arms, her fingers spread, putting even more strength into her warp.
'Warp'. That is what they called it. The thought flashed across her mind briefly.
"I will show you the warp." She hissed.
She pushed more of her power into the vortex. Burning pain seared across her newly healed arms as her skin began to split.
The two marines struggled to hold their own as the storm around them prevented them from even aiming their weapons. One tried to step towards her from the wall. Hunched, as he battled the wind, a large hunk of metal hit him with such violence, knocking him off balance and sending him flying, caught now in the storm.
Parts of the walls and ceiling came loose, joining in the spinning. The last marine was getting battered by debris, his arm shielded his head as he kept his back to the wall.
Isis brought even more energy forth, reaching deep within her. Her blood felt as if on fire as the room roared around her. Objects whistled as they flew past, picking up even more speed.
The Marine finally lost his footing and was swept away.
She was going to bring it down. The whole damn ship.
So caught up in her anger she didn't feel the presence that hid right behind her the whole time.
A powerful blow to the side of her head jarred her sideways. Shrapnel from the vortex tore through her left arm and side as she stumbled just to the edge of her vortex.
Her mind faltered, as she felt the warp slack and distort. Without focus, it would become unstable, unpredictable and highly dangerous on an immense scale.
Stumbling back into the safety of the eye, she desperately attempted to regain control of her storm and faced her attacker.
Her attacker was distorted in a manner, her eyes seemed too large for her head. In her hands she held what looked to have been part of a metal cable.
Isis' felt as if she couldn't stand straight, she was disoriented. A loud ringing filled her ears, she gave her head a short shake, she didn't have time for this!
Isis tried to close the eye of the storm, bringing the deadly vortex closer to encompass the woman.
The woman seemed to know this and charged Isis, cocking back the metal cable for another hit.
Seeing the charge, Isis ducked from the next blow and tried to use her shoulder to push her out of the closing eye. But her body did not want to function properly, and the cable cracked across her head again, sending Isis into a spin as her knees buckled.
In desperation, Isis flung her arms out to catch her fall. She did not want to end up in the vortex!
The sound was felt more than heard. A wet snap came from her left arm, instantly she knew. It had broken.
More pain surged throughout her body. As she looked down in time to see the white of bone sticking out of her forearm.
Barely holding on to her vortex, Isis pushed off with her other hand, rolling to the side just in time to hear the clang of the cable hit the floor right where Isis was.
In her gut, Isis knew she couldn't take another hit. This was it.
Striking out with a leg, Isis caught the back of the knee of her attacker, causing her attacker to buckle to her knees. With what strength Isis could muster, she scrambled next to the woman, again the cable lifted to come down upon her.
Isis raised her broken arm to catch the blow.
The cable came down upon her arm, and Isis not only felt the pain but saw it. Lights flashed in her eyes. Pain about forced her to drop her vortex, to let it run rampant, but as if instinct took over, she fueled the pain into it.
She hooked her broken arm around the cable and grabbed the woman by the head with her other hand.
She was the one who invaded her mind, she was a psyker, like her. Isis wasted no time as the woman also reached out to Isis's face, sparks crackling at her fingertips, preparing for a spell.
Holding two spells at the same time was risky. But Isis did not plan on casting another. She was going to funnel the attackers warp into her and into the vortex.
With another pool of power, she could do even more damage!
Screaming, the two battled for their minds.
The crackle of sparks died as the woman groped at Isis's face trying to pry her away. But Isis's broken arm had hooked around and under the woman's appendage, holding her close.
Isis pulled the woman warp out of her forcefully, ripping her essence away, funneling it directly into the vortex.
It burned as it filtered through her. But she did not care anymore.
The woman clawed at her face like a rapid animal, her screams becoming more high pitched, more desperate as her life began to drain from her.
As she drained the woman, Isis felt her warp pool become shallow and she knew she was killing her in a most horrid fashion.
It was kill or be killed.
keeping her eyes shut, trying to protect what was left of her face, thoughts began to flash through Isis' mind. They were not her own. She knew she was seeing the life, memories of the woman she was killing. They flashed by quickly, faces, people, places. Most did not make sense but most were awful, indescribable.
The clawing became weaker, and stopped all together as the woman's conscious thoughts spilled into Isis. It was the last of the pool. In these thoughts, was basic knowledge.
Isis did not want any of them. Pain racked her body as she began to filter the rest of the woman's warp into the vortex
A sudden intrusion entered her mind, surprised her.
'I am here!' The thoughts were supportive in nature. Visius.
That was what broke Isis. Between the pain, the focus, the fear, the loneliness,
The fear that she could kill Visus with him being so close, threw her off.
Her vortex exploded in all directions.
The room flexed under the detonation, what lights remained blew out, bathing the room in complete darkness. The sound of crashing and metal grinding was absolute as shrapnel, bodies, computers and other bits slammed and dug into the walls.
Isis, unable to release her broken arm from her hold on the women, fell upon the body of her attacker in a fetal position. Covering her head with her free arm.
The heavy sound of a bulkhead smashed on the ground next to her, sending bits of metal to sting her body.
Her ears still rang, but the sound of the vortex was replaced by the clashing of battle and the sound of thunder outside. It came from the other side of the bulkhead. That must be where the door is.
Isis moved, forcing her arm free. She tried to stand but a wave of nausea and dizziness hit her, keeping her grounded. Light filtered in from holes in the walls created by the force of the objects.
Isis realized she could only see through one eye.
She tried to move, scooting herself across the floor but only managed to get to a sitting position.
She rested her back against the beam of the bulkhead. Inside herself, she knew she should face the door, and whatever enemy that may come through it.
A fuzzy feeling overcame her. She wasn't afraid. She knew she should be. That she should be ready to fight again.
But the energy just was not there. She was spent.
Her breathing slowed as she heard the fighting end. Then a command.
"Tear it down!"
It was Visius. The voice was familiar.
He had won the fight.
The sound of heavy metal being banged on, then ripped apart, filled the now quiet room. Light filtered in, illuminating the area slightly enough to make out objects.
She saw jagged metal sticking out of walls, computers ripped and their hardware scattered throughout.
The body parts. Arms, legs, torsos. Her eyes rested on the head of...she knew what it was now. It was a daemonette. A daemon. A creature of the warp.
Isis's mind was slow. It was several seconds before she figured out how she knew. It was from the woman she had absorbed. She wasn't able to cast the rest of her consciousness out before losing control of the vortex.
She also realized that she had understood Visius.
But she felt no excitement. Just numbness.
Her gaze rested beside her on the corpse of the woman. From the shadows and with her one good eye and blurry vision, she was able to make out the woman's face, it had changed drastically.
Her skin had burned away, leaving behind a crystallized skull attached to a body that still smoked from under its clothes.
In her mind she knew she should be disturbed by the sight.
But...she did not feel so..ignorant. she understood slightly more than before.
She shifted slightly, moving her broken arm to rest in her lap. Looking at it, it did not register pain like she thought it would. Blood covered most of her side, shrapnel had opened deep wounds throughout her body. She must not have dodged the vortex as well as she thought.
The heavy sound of footsteps echoed in the room, followed by lighter ones.
"Search the chamber for survivors," Visius ordered.
Though she could hear them, the beam blocked her from seeing them.
The sounds of them spread throughout the room as they proceeded with their search, rummaging through the wreckage.
Time seemed to move differently for Isis, as her head felt like it was in a cloud.
Movement caught her eye, a figure approached. He wasn't as large as a terminator. The armor was that of a noise marine, she realized from her newly acquired knowledge.
They would probably be angry with her for destroying the chamber. It was their teleportarum after all.
Again, she didn't feel worried, just the numbness.
The marine looked at her for a moment, she suspected trying to determine if she was a threat. She just returned his look, waiting for his reaction.
"Lord Captain, here." The sound of his voice was loud and surprising, a slight feeling of anxiety flared but was just as quickly snuffed out.
Visius soon stepped over the beam, dropping his gaze to her. He had on his helm, twisted a beautiful. It caught the light and played with the shadows. His enormous sword in one hand. An aurora played with the area around its blade. It was a force weapon. She could see the dark splatter of blood on his armor and sword.
Isis wanted to explain, wanted to let him know she thought she wasn't on his ship anymore. That she did not mean to cause such destruction. But the energy to do so was lacking and all that she could manage was a simple phrase. "I think...I messed up."
It was the first time she spoke. She instantly knew the pronunciation and meaning of the words but her tongue was not familiar with the motions and the words, though understandable, came out heavy with accent.
Visius paused for a moment, she was unable to read his facial expressions due to the helm. Sheathing his blade, he sat slowly on the beam next to her.
Gently he rested his hand upon her shoulder.
"We may have both...messed up."
He replied.
Those simple words hit Isis, seemed to ebb the numbness back.
Admitting a fault did not seem like something she would hear from Visius, it made him feel more human to her.
It also gave her the impression of his forgiveness of her destructive actions.
She managed a small smile, and rested her good hand on his.
That was when she noticed his other hand.
The mutated one. It was missing.
Her smile dissipated.
Her old self came forward, and she motioned slowly with her one arm to his limb. "May I?"
Looking down, he seemed to have forgotten about his mutilation.
He removed his hand from her shoulder and reached forward with his stump.
She saw the wound, her one eye fighting through her blurry vision. Being a healer she wanted to do something, to get a semblance of her old self back. And to show him she appreciated his forgiveness.
Though she didn't have the warp power to heal him or herself, for she still felt drained.
But he was a psyker, and had a store of his own.
Perhaps...
With her good arm, Isis reached out towards Visius' chest, felt his warp and slightly pulled at it, slowly.
Her hand moved through the air following the length of his arm to his wound.
The warp flowed like a river and she caused it to pool at the stump.
"Deamons are created from the warp.." she spoke quietly, as she worked. Using her new found knowledge, to guide her in her plan. She did not know if it would work, but there is a first time for everything, she thought.
The warp began to take shape at the end of his stump.
"From incorporeal to corporeal."
Her hand moved methodically, the warp though semi transparent started to take the shape of a hand in relative size to his other one.
"So...why can't I do the same?"
She spoke the question even more hushed, as if rhetorically to herself.
Isis heightened her focus, her head began to pound at the work she forced it to conduct.
...
Visius felt his warp at his stump form into a hand, a pressure that built immensely around it as if being molded and encased.
Pain.
It was slight, but the sense of feeling through it was shocking.
The hand began to glow in intense light, illuminating the area for only a brief moment before fading completely.
Isis then dropped her hand into her lap, finished.
Visius looked upon his newly formed warp hand in amazement. It was semi transparent in places as blue-gray warp swirled through its form. He moved it through his connection with his warp, as he did so he felt his hand close. Felt the temperature of the room, the slight breeze as he moved it through the air.
Unlike skin or muscle, he felt all this through his own warp. It was a new sensation for him, giving an odd yet intriguing feeling.
Isis leaned her head back, resting it on the beam, her unswollen eye was half lidded with the threat of sleep.
"It is...created through your...own warp, brought into the...physical realm."
She licked her dry lips.
"You can change it...into whatever you wish. Even back to..incorporeal. If you don't like it..I can remove it."
He stared at his new hand, taking note of the noise marine beside him. The marine had lowered his weapon to his side watching all this unfold in surprise.
Visius knew now, felt it. His true purpose, calling him.
He looked to Isis, this was true power before sitting before him.
In front of her he took a knee.
He knew she was injured, and had to be in pain. It was the way of this time. Pain was the norm.
"We shall see what it can do." He responded to her, pausing.
"Isis, my warband is yours. I will oversee battlefield command as your Lord General. We swear service to you."
The marine beside Visius shifted slightly at the oath, unknowing exactly why.
But the look that Visius shot the marine brought him to comply.
Isis wanted to object. She did not want this! That was not why she did that!
She opened her mouth to refuse but Visius beat her to it. Curse her slow mind!
"Now, let's tend to those wounds."
He said as he bend over and scooped Isis up.
Pain, oh the pain, now awoken at the movement and words came out in a sound of agony as he lifted her up.
He tried to be gentle, but there was no way it was not going to be agonizing. Isis attempted to adjust her position and managed to find a way to lower the pain that wracked her body as he made his way out of the room. She had grabbed her broken arm with her other hand by the sleeve so that it did not dangle. What felt like knives, dug at her back and side, making breathing difficult.
He passed a terminator at the door.
"Kill all that survived within, advise the cultists to collect the armor, notify the apothecary to collect the geneseed."
He looked at two noise marines, one was his Sergeant Kegal "Follow me, we will need to guard Isis as we head to Striigg's chambers, the rest of you head to decks four and five. Annihilate all the traitors."
He quickly started to make his way down the hall.
Isis had noticed bodies of cultists, marines and a couple daemons littered around the area of the teleportarum. Telling her, they had planned something. They were trying to keep the others from coming in to get to her.
She heard the sound of fighting, yelling, the ungodly sounds of their obnoxious weaponry from different areas at a distance. The two marines that went with them put themselves in point, leading the way.
Even through the pain, the rhythmic movements of Visius seemed to almost put Isis to sleep. Oh, how she wanted to. The blissful sleep promised no pain and no ugly, horrific sites. Then she remembered her dream. She groaned. Was there no escape?
...
The halls seemed to go on forever, cultists filed past Occasionally with another marine, weapons at the ready.
Mutilated bodies, limbs, and gore littered the corridor. They were coming to a turn, as the marines on point made it around the corner the sound of a blastmaster caused Isis jump, throwing her hands to her ears once again and causing pain to scream its way through her body as she turned her head into Visius's chest trying to escape the sound that caused her teeth to rattle and her heart to skip a beat.
One of the marines that was hit by the sound stumbled back and hit the wall before falling to the ground. His helm had been designated, leaving his face a bloody mess. His eyes had been blasted out of his skull leaving caverns where his nose and eyes should have been.
Visius spun Isis away from the fighting, quickly moving her back down the corridor several feet before dispensing her in a door jam.
...
Visius faced the corner, and sprinted around it to find Kegal firing upon one traitor marine, two daemonettes and three cultists.
The cultists were cut down easily by Kegal, but the traitor was aiming to fire another blast of his weapon.
Visius unleashed his warp into a chain of lightning that arched across the corridor, hitting the traitor, causing him to spasm uncontrollably.
The two daemonettes charged, their agile bodies, sped across the short distance and made to attack Sargent Kegal.
A daemonette lunged at the end taking into the air in a jump, while the other one went low. Kegal caught the one in the air with a hand, but was staggered by the daemonette, as it dug its claw into the joint of his leg and hip.
Visius turned slightly, keeping his lighting on the traitor, and formed his new hand into a spike. With a thrust, he plunged it into the head of the daemonette at his Kegal's legs. Widening the spike, quickly, into two sharp edges, the upper half of the daemons head fell away.
Kegal brought up his own sonic weapon, and pointed it at the daemon in his hand as it clawed at his arm, raking its claws at his armor's joints. With a sonorous sound, he fired into the daemonette, causing its body to vibrate to dust in his hand.
Visius, after killing the daemon attacking Kegal's legs, charged the traitor marine.
Dropping the lightning, he reformed his hand into another spike and thrusted it into his throat, just below the marines head. He wore no helm. His skin had been altered to stretch thinly across his face. It twisted as his eyes landed on Visius as he fell to his knees as Visius slowly drew the spike in deeper.
"Traitor." The noise marine mouthed. His voice no longer worked.
Visius drew in closer, bringing his face right in front of the noise marine.
"You should have followed me." He snarled.
With that, he flattened his spike into a sword and pulled up, cleaving the marines head in half.
Visius left the bodies and turned back to his marine.
"Pick up your brother," as he made his way back to Isis, seeing the marine that was injured to his face was still alive. He had been trying to stand, being blind kept him from being able to know where to fire if he wanted to aid in the fight.
Isis was where Visius left her. She was shaking now, probably from blood loss, Visius suspected. He lifted her once more, attempting to adjust her so that her arm was not moved.
Her color had paled, and she looked near to passing out. He stepped up next to his marines.
The one that had been blind was now standing, being guided by his brother.
They were about to head out when the sound of approaching marines echoed from where they came.
The two noise marines of Visius's, readied themselves, blind or not they knew where to aim now.
Visius reached out with his mind and entered into one of the approaching marines.
'Loyal' he gathered. They had been sent by Striigg.
"Lower your weapons, brothers." He said to his marines. They did so, as the other group turned the corner.
The group consisted of two marines, a medic, and four cultists.
"Lord Captain," the marine that Visius read acknowledged him. Visius let them call him by his original rank for now. Everything in due time.
He eyed the medic who stepped forward. She had her head shaved and many piercings hung from her face and ears. Tattoos covered her bald head but it was the scar on her forehead that brought Visius to pause.
The scar was a symbol of Slaanesh. A bit of rage coursed through him.
He brought his attention to the marine that addressed him first.
"Accompany your brother to the apothecary," he motioned to his wounded marine. He glanced down at the medic then back to the marine.
"Remove all branding and markings of Slaanesh." The look from the medic was fear, as she glanced at the marines around her.
The announcement had already been made throughout the fleet. But he said it again.
"He has forsaken us. Remove it."
Snarling he turned, with his wounded marine being ushered off he made his way to Striiggs with Kegal who had fallen in beside him.
Privately, Kegal Voxed Visius,
"Lord, many of us wonder as to why he has forsaken us."
His head tilting slightly to look upon the woman Visius held before raising his helm back forward.
"We have noticed you have never converted her."
Visius lowered his gaze at Isis, she had finally passed out. Her body succumbed to the pain. He raised his head and walked faster. " Slaanesh is a jealous god. He is enraged with me, for I have found something better than him."
Kegal glanced at his Lord.
"She is no ordinary woman." Visius continued. "She is a bloodchild of the Emperor. Through her we can achieve greater purpose and honor."
Kegal faltered in his steps. "Impossible." He exclaimed.
"It is possible, the warp can cause strange anomalies, such as time travel. She was there, Sargeant." He looked at Kegal, before looking back at Isis. "She was there when He walked Terra. Or what they called Earth. She can very well bring us back to glory."
They walked silently for a while, passing others hurrying to their posts.
...
Striiggs door was shut and locked, Visius not bothering with the servitor in the door, voxed Striigg. "Open the hatch Striigg."
The hatch unlocked and it slid open, Visius and Kegal stepped inside.
Striigg seen what Visius held and waved to the table he had prepared earlier for the hood. In their own language he spoke to his acolytes.
Visius walked over and placed Isis on the table. "She is in need of serious medical attention, do not fail me." Turning to Kegal. "Have all loyal marines meet me in the hangar in six hours."
Kegal put a fist to his chest in a salut and departed.
The acolytes had quickly replaced equipment, screens were brought over and her sleeves were being removed.
As the acolytes worked, Striigg gave Visius an update of the readings he quickly received.
"The specimen had suffered a couple cranium impacts, I am not able to perform the procedure for the hood at this time without the risk of permanent brain trauma.
She has a compound fracture of her radius bone. There are several lacerations, some critical, also there is shrapnel in some of those that we are removing now."
Striigg spoke as he worked.
"I have administered a serum to heighten regeneration systems."
Striigg suddenly stopped and looked at Visius's hand.
"I have not witnessed that before. Would you permit me to run some tests on your hand at a later date?"
Visius stepped up next to the table, placing a hand gently on top of Isis head in a parental manner.
"Yes, soon, I will permit a study." He said, looking for a moment at Isis before stepping back allowing the Hereteks to work.
"For now I require new armor. Terminator, meshed with obsidian plate."
Striigg bowed in compliance.