A.N.: Thank you very much for the kind words! I am glad to see people are liking the story so far! Here is the next chapter!
Anya's eyes opened at the sounds of distant words.
"...get…not…" She slowly rose to her feet, her entire body feeling strange. It was responding to the physical stimuli in a way that was both alien to her and yet oh so familiar. Her hands rubbed against the metal walls, the cool feeling spreading through her remade nerves. The discovery of her body's new modifications would have to take second priority however. It seemed she was not alone in the manufactorum.
"Davo…bolter bi…" A loud slapping noise made her tense in reflex, her eyes narrowing. She could see strangely well in the absolute darkness of the industrial oven and had no trouble finding the opening valve. But before she even started opening the door, she pressed her ear against it and closed her eyes.
"Don't call them that!" An angry, slightly fearful voice called out. "You do not want the wrath of the God Emperor to fall upon us!"
"Oh come on, like He is listening to us." A young, brash voice answered back. She recognized neither. "What, you afraid there's a nun with a gun hiding behind a pillar or something?" Cackling laughter echoed before the sound of a sheathed blade silenced the group.
"Enough. Don't matter what you think of them, they're gonna be here soon. So best keep an eye on that big mouth of yours before it gets us all into trouble." The voice was calm but harsh, that of someone used to commanding authority.
"Chill, it's not like there's anyone but us here…" But despite the defiant words, she could hear in his voice he'd been cowed.
"Don't care. Now. There's talk in town ol' Jonas went over here and disappeared. Usually, I wouldn't give a shit."
"I still don't."
"Shut up." Silence. "So yeah, usually I'd agree, but see here's the thing. Vaem wants the peace. And people disappearing? That ain't the peace. So we take a look. Now stop fucking whining and get looking."
Anya felt her blood run cold. She'd barely handled one person yesterday. A whole group?
You do not need to fight them all at once.
Well it wasn't like she was going to have much of a choice was it? She was trapped in the oven. They were right here.
You have powers. Use them.
How? She had barely started learning how to feel people.
We will help. Focus.
A distraction. She needed to get out of the oven without being immediately seen. She just needed a bit of time, time to slip unseen, either out of the factory…or at least, out of sight.
Now how to do that…perhaps she could make one of them hear something?
A mind is no simple thing. You are not ready.
Hm. Then perhaps actually making them hear something. Could she drop a metal beam or something?
Too heavy, but the idea is sound. Go lighter.
She closed her eyes and reached out. It felt easier this time, as if instead of having to push through solid concrete she was slowly walking through molasse. She could see the world as if it was cast in nothing but shades of gray, with only some things shining through this muted land. There was herself, and wasn't it strange to see her own body from the outside. She shone with brilliant iridescent light with a golden core, as if radiating energy. She passed through the walls of the oven, though she did not need to do so to see the silhouettes of the five beings outside. It did help bring them into focus however. They were made of muted golden light outlining their bodies, and she found herself hungering at the sight of the light. Something within her craved to eat the lights that she saw, to devour them and fuel her own spirit with them.
To do so was beyond her however. She would have to be content with their flesh. She couldn't see what they were holding; her mind vision was still weak, but she could see the outlines of their bodies as they moved. They were all clearly holding something, in different poses. She tried to feel further. It was easy to see that which was alive, but she needed something inert. Without a soul or consciousness.
As she focused, the world started gaining a bit more definition; shades of gray became easier to distinguish. She could see objects, walls and even the vague shape of the weapons the five people were holding. And she saw what she was looking for. A loose metal bar, laid on one of the upper catwalks in another room of the factory. She reached for it and willed it to move. The metal bar twitched. Frustration welled within her and she pushed harder. The bar slowly started to roll to the side.
Tilting over the edge, it fell through the air for a single second before hitting the ground with a loud, metallic clang. Her eyes snapped open as she finally
let go of her focus, gasping silently as her head ached painfully from the strain of the effort.
"Did you hear that?!" One of the men outside yelled.
"I did you moron, have you heard of being subtle?!" What must be the leader angrily hissed. "You three, go check that out. And try and be quiet about it." With that, the sound of footsteps slowly getting more and more distant told her the group had split up. Damnit, she had hoped they would all leave, and her head was throbbing. She wouldn't be able to do something like that again. There was only one way forward then.
Fight.
With that, she reached for the valve allowing opening of the oven from the inside and spun it around as fast as she could; painfully aware of the noise she was making doing so. A shout of alarm almost distracted her from the ease with which she was opening the door, something that had previously been a decent strain on the arms. She had gotten stronger it seemed. Taller as well. She wasn't sure by how much, but she could definitely remember the valve being lower when she stood up.
As she swung the door open, she found herself faced with two thugs from the Angels gang. She could tell from the wings symbol on the handguns they were aiming at her. Autopistols, her mind distantly told her as time seemed to slow around her. It wasn't, not really. They were just…slower than she was.
A lot slower.
She'd already crossed five of the ten metres separating them before they opened fire on her. Their fire was wild and unaimed; but at this range, it didn't need to be. Bullets impacted her skin as she brought her arms up by instinct, seeing in a moment of awe as the slight layer of carapace that had started to grow over her skin bore the brunt of the damage for her. This carapace did not cover her entire body, forming more of a chitinous armor and was fairly thin, but autopistols were not the strongest of weapons, especially those sold in the blackmarket to gang thugs. The bullets left scratches and impact marks on the chitine, and only a bullet or two actually hit her skin. These did injure her, for whilst her skin was more resistant than before it was not resistant enough to ignore such shots; leaving her with blood dripping from the superficial wounds. She did not feel pain, instead feeling in an awareness that was beyond anything a human could feel exactly where the wounds were, how dangerous they were to her well being and how long it would take for her to heal from them. The information rushed to her brain but did not overwhelm her, and as she reached the first thug, the leader, she threw a chitinous fist at his chest.
The crack of bone was music to her ears, a giddy sense of power as she saw the body fly a metre up in the air, the chest of the man completely crumpled under the impact. The other thug screamed in fear and tried to run away, but she was already on him, grabbing him by the shoulder and throwing him into the nearest pillar. The body splattered against it in a shower of blood and gore.
Euphoria rushed through her at the sight of the two dead men. It had been almost effortless. So this was what it was like to be strong. This was what it was like to be the one feared. She leaned over the corpse, licking her lips as hunger started to settle in.
Focus. You are not done yet.
She blinked at the voice in her head before her head was snapped to the side. She cried in surprise, her body helpfully informing her that the chitine protecting her head had entirely shattered at the point of impact and she was bleeding due to a puncture wound. Fear rose through her at the knowledge and she whipped her head around to face the source of the attack, finding all three of the remaining thugs. Two of them had autopistols, similar to the other ones, but the third was holding something else. It was some sort of cobbled together poorly constructed autocannon that the bull of a woman was holding up and aimed at her. She snarled in rage. No. She was not going back to being the prey. Never!
She rushed forth, only to be caught in the chest by a second shell that cracked the chitine around her stomach and sent her flying back from the impact. She rolled on the ground, the crack of gunfire accompanying that of her skittering to get up as auto pistol rounds started peppering her. Whilst one or two didn't do much damage, her damaged armor exposed too much of her more fragile skin for the large amount of bullets being fired to be ignored. Only her enhanced reflexes prevented her from being hit by a third shell, jumping behind a large metallic machine as she had in her previous fight. She wasn't enough to dodge the shells themselves, but she could see the squeeze of the trigger right before the woman fired.
If it had been just the woman with the gun, she could win this without too much trouble. Just wait for her to fire, dodge, and rush her down. But with the other two covering her in between her shots it was a far more difficult task.
There is strength in numbers.
And she was alone.
We will fix that later.
If she didn't survive this, then there would not be a later.
We cannot hold your hand every step. This is a surmountable obstacle. You are strong enough to overcome them.
Strangely enough, the voice's blunt confidence did well in calming her down. It was the directness of the alien thoughts that made her believe what they said; for they never seemed to bother hiding whatever it was they were thinking.
Cunning and deception is useful against prey. Not between the Hive.
Hive. That word was important, she could feel it.
Not the word, but the meaning. Now focus.
"Oi, freak!" She snarled at the word. "Come on out from there and play!" There was anger in those words, the thug sounding a mixture of fearful and pissed. "Come on, you seemed so cocky there grinning down at the corpses of our friends, where did all that go?!" Had she been grinning? She didn't think so. She was happy about food, so maybe it had looked that way.
What could she do? She looked around, trying to find something that could help her when she saw a metal bar. There were many strewn across the manufactorum, but this one was close enough to her she could grab it without revealing herself.
She thought. If her enhanced strength was anything to go by…
"Seriously get the fuck out from there, I am going to make you pay for what you did to…" The gang member's words were cut off by the sound of a metallic crunch and wet gurgle as Anya emerged and threw the bar straight at the woman faster than the other could react to her appearance, lodging the bar straight into her throat.
One of the other two thugs swore and turned around, running for his life whilst the other stood their ground and tried firing at her. She found herself relieved that only one remained as she rushed at him, finding herself pelted with minor wounds that could have been a lot worse had the other one been shooting her as well.
There is strength in inspiring fear.
Reaching the man, she quashed down the urge to play with her food. There was no gain in messing around, and she was already injured. Such a mistake could cost her her life. Instead, she reached out with an open hand and grabbed the man by the face, pressing down with all her strength. The head crunched and popped like an overripe grape, splashing her in blood, bone fragments and other things she did not care to think of. Her sense of disgust had been greatly reduced since starting her transformation, but it wasn't absent entirely. Her faintly glowing eyes shifted in the direction the last of the thugs had run away in, letting go of the corpse in her hand as it slumped to the floor and taking off after them.
It did not take her long to catch up to them. They were running fast, fear and adrenaline giving them speed and endurance beyond what they would usually have, but Anya had grown strong. Far, far stronger than she had ever been, and stronger than even the adults. He squealed in terror as she pounced on his back, grabbing his neck and in a single motion snapping it. She stared as the body hit the ground unmoving, before slowly examining her surroundings. She was only a few metres away from the entrance of the factory, blood splattered on the ground around the corpse's mouth. She grabbed the body and started to drag it back inside. The body was heavy, but she found little trouble moving it with her. She didn't like the idea of consuming it out in the open. Too much risk, and whilst she'd been injured worse yesterday, she still wasn't feeling great right now.
Pain was absent from her as she gathered the bodies, but there was still this strange awareness of the exact state of her body. It allowed her to know where things had gone wrong without being cripplingly impeded by pain as she would no doubt be by now.
Amount of biomass sufficient for next step. Consume all but two of the bodies.
She didn't question why the voice wanted her to leave two of the bodies alone. It had not led her wrong so far. She tore into the flesh of the other three, feeling a deep satisfaction at devouring that which had tried to kill her. She found that her jaw opened just a little too wide from what it should have, and that she could eat far more than she used to before feeling full. She knew thanks to her new senses that her stomach was working far more efficiently than before at converting the nutrients and other components from the bodies into elements her own could use. She didn't understand all the new elements of her body, didn't know all that they did and the uses that they served; her mind had been switched to better understand her own body, but much of what was new was still alien to her.
It took her less than an hour to eat all three bodies completely, leaving almost nothing behind but what was still non consumable to her. Making her way to the other two bodies, she asked aloud.
"So what should I do with the other two?" Something wriggled inside her. It was a little uncomfortable, but not painful.
Next step in the process. Alone, you will not succeed. Weight of numbers will crush you eventually.
The thing wriggling within her was now moving closer to her skin. She was keenly aware of it, though she hadn't even been conscious of it growing inside of her. It should have disturbed her, feeling this parasitic growth inside of her and yet all she felt was a distant sense of curiosity.
"What is it?" She asked as she felt it crawl through her stomach and up her throat, her voice growing choked as it did. She should have been panicking by now, absolutely losing it and struggling for air. But she didn't.
The seed of a new hive.
Finally, something squirmed its way out of her mouth, making her retch as she spat it out. She'd had to close her eyes with how wide her jaw had had to widen, and by the time she'd open them again she only saw the serpentine, slightly chitinous tail of something wriggle as whatever it was that came out of her chewed its way into the nearby corpse, before it slipped in the hole in the cavity chest. She could hear the sounds of flesh tearing as the thing started to consume the body.
"That…that just came out of me." There was a certain disbelief in her voice. "It's alive. It was inside of me. It was inside of me!" She was starting to hyperventilate.
There are no others growing inside. This was necessary to start the process of growing a new hive.
"And you couldn't have told me?!" She screamed, turning away from the corpses and pacing in a circle.
You were not ready to hear it. Better to get it over with.
"...Fine." She had to admit, knowing that something like was inside of her would have made focusing on anything difficult. "No more surprises like that however."
The more you grow, the better equipped you will be to understand, the less we will have to shield you from
"So. A hive?"
Yes.
"Why a hive? Are you…what, some kind of insect?"
A classification of life for a certain type of creature native to Terra. No, we are not insects. The term hive is the best analogue we have found to communicate the idea with you.
"Ah." She didn't understand fully, but she supposed it didn't really matter. She was in too deep at this point. All that was left was to commit or die. "So what do I need to do?"
Keep the location safe. Kill any intruder whilst it grows. Once it has reached maturity, feed it and it shall grow and start making combat organisms.
"It's a mother then?" She asked softly.
It will be.
"It came from me. Grew from me." She felt a strange tingling feeling within her. "Does that make me a mother?"
Yes and no. No in the definition of your species. You were not sexually mature and were therefor unable of reproduction. This is a different path. One that does not require reproduction.
"She's my child." She said. Strangest of all, when she looked at the corpse, twitching occasionally from the creature consuming it from the inside, rather than the disgust she knew she should be feeling she instead found herself almost…proud. Her child had barely been born and it was already eating. Devouring. Despite having never seen it, never met it…she felt some twisted love for it. A form of motherhood that would be abhorrent to any in the Imperium of man and beyond.
This was unexpected.
The experiment has proven successful so far. The creature had retained all of its intelligence and thinking capabilities, although some of its emotions had been twisted and nudged in order for it to better cope with its new existence.
Empathy was something that was unnecessary in the hive. Every creature knew its role and would go to any lengths to accomplish them. Only some organisms had anything even resembling it, such as the tyrant guard, and it was more of an instinctual protective drive than anything else.
CONSUME.
Should this empathy be removed? They could do it. The creature's body was already greatly changed and would only go further. The mind was a different thing however. It had been changed, yes, but the base components were still there.
CONSUME. HUNGER. CONSUME.
The nodes exchanged information. There were five now, all coalesced to specifically overlook the experiment. Doing some as drastic as removing empathy entirely would be going against the experiment. If they were to create something exactly like the organisms of the hive, then this would be no different to any other attempt. It would have to be tempered, protect the hive from any empathy that would result in damage to the hive, but it would remain.
CONSUME. HUNGER. CONSUME.
The decision was made. The tiny network agreed. The greater whole's unconscious approval was tested and approved. It was decided. The creature's empathy would be kept.
A new hive was being born. More nodes would be required as things progressed.
CONSUME. HUNGER. CONSUME.
For now five would do.
CURIOSITY.
It will be interesting to see what she would do with what they gave her. She was already part of them. Part of the network, even if she was not aware of the greater whole. Anything she consumed was of them as well. It was how it had always been.
CONSUME. GROW. PROLIFERATE. CONSUME
CONSUME.
CONSUME.
Until all was devoured and they could move on to the next.
Anya spent the rest of the day standing guard next to her child.
It had finished consuming the first body, and now she could see them properly. It had a vaguely reptilian head, with long sharp teeth and yellow eyes. Its carapace was a silvery color. Anya had always liked the color silver. Its body was quite thick with a large abdomen, and it already stood at the size Anya had been when she had started her transformation.
Your old kind calls the last stage of its growth Norn Queen.
"Norn Queen…" The name evoked in her mind images of creatures titanic in proportion; so large they would eclipse many of the buildings of the under hive, living in ships that made these massive beasts look small in comparison. It was hard to imagine the small creature in front of her could ever grow to be so large. "I think I will call you Nornie." It was a funny name to her. She smiled as she reached forth, Nornie remaining perfectly still as she lay her hand on its head before slowly rubbing it back and forth, petting the creature. Its carapace was thick and rough, but to her it was actually a pretty nice feeling. She giggled as the creature slowly started rubbing its head back, letting out a little yelping noise that she knew to be a mark of affection. She laughed as it started a strange purring noise.
It is more independent than other organisms. More intelligent. It has its own mind. And is influenced by your emotions and will. You are in charge of this hive. It will be a reflection of you.
"Do you hear that Nornie? You're mine." She wrapped her arms around the creature, which pushed itself further into the hug. Anya paid no mind to the blood splattered all over the creature and the small pieces of viscera and bones caught in some of the nooks and crannies of the creature's chitinous armor. "My friend." She said, her voice choking as her arms tightened around the creature. Tears started to well into her eyes, the weight of loneliness that had imposed on her for years, far before the transformation finally came crashing down as for the first time since her mother died another living being showed her even a modicum of affection.
A feeling came to her. Not of her own emotions, but of another thing's. A strong feeling of protectiveness and concern.
"I am okay Nornie." She whispered. "You must be hungry. You need lots of food to grow big and strong." She pointed to the second corpse. "Come on. Let's find you a better hidden spot inside, and you can eat while I go hunting for more." She let go of Nornie, rising to her feet and grabbing the human body by the ankle as she dragged it further down into the darkness of the factory, Nornie trotting behind her.
Earl ran as fast as he could.
He'd just witnessed the most horrific thing in his entire life. He'd been sent by his boss to check out where one of their groups had disappeared, and had found what looked like a tall woman. Except there were far too many things wrong about her for him to mistake them for anything human. Sure, they stood on two legs, had two arms, skin and hair, but they also had a layer of silver chitin like carapace; their skin had a slightly purplish tint, their body was lean and muscular and their teeth were far too sharp for comfort. Her eyes had been glowing a faint yellow, pupils slit like that of a reptile. She'd been two metres tall, and with how easily she'd been able to carry Elliot's dead body, strong enough to break him in half. But that hadn't been the worst.
The worst had been that…thing she'd been with. That horrible, horrible thing. It was utterly xenos-like in appearance, and had been gluttonously eating the corpse of one he used to call a friend. It had emerged from his corpse covered in blood and viscera, some of the flesh still stuck between its teeth. And the woman had just…hugged it. Cuddled it like a cute pet. He felt a hysterical sob escape him.
He needed to tell the others. Needed to inform them. There was a monster down at the manufactorum. They needed to call in the ecclesiarchy, the sororitas, the inquisition, anyone. Anyone at all.
He screamed as something pierced him from behind, lifting him up in the air. Blood spilled from his mouth as he rasped in pain, looking down in horror to find a chitinous hand stabbed straight through his back and out of his chest, holding him up like some twisted puppet.
"Huh. I missed one." Tears fell down his eyes as he desperately clawed at the hand, his panicked sobbing turned to gurgles as blood slowly drowned him.
Thankfully, he didn't have to live with the pain for long, as something cracked within him and he blessedly passed away.
He did not have to see his body carried back to the abandoned factory and fed to the creature he had been so scared of.
"Any news?" Vaem looked at the man before him. Tall, muscular and scarred, he radiated an intimidating aura.
"None. Nothing from Davo's group still, and the newbie I sent out to check in on them hasn't returned either." Vaem sighed.
"Damn. Chances that they're all being real fucking slow?" The other man shrugged.
"About as good as you think they are."
"Fuck me." The gang leader rose to his feet. "I've got the Faen family breathing down my neck about this shit Gorn. Can't have something like this slide by." He took a deep breath, thinking. "Alright, this is what you're going to do. That new kid, Azal. He's supposed to have his initiation yeah?"
"Yeah. Still can't find the cockroach for him though."
"Cockroach?"
"Lil girl that's supposed to be his kill."
"Ah. Well I'm afraid we've got bigger stuff. Tell him to take his kids and go to the manufactorum." Gorn raised a single eyebrow at him.
"They're children. If Davo couldn't handle whatever trouble was there, I don't see what a few kids are going to do."
"Jack shit. That's why I want you to shadow them with your own group. Actually, take the scrappers with you as well. Make sure the kids don't know they're being followed. When whatever is causing the issue reveals itself, you can use the kids to bear the brunt of it and then get rid of the problem." Gorn snorted.
"Really boss? We're using the kids as bait? Bad for long term recruitment."
"We can worry about long term if we can solve this issue right now. I'm not losing more of my actually competent people because I decided to be overconfident." Vaem dug under the table, pulling out a bottle that he uncorked and took a deep swig of. "So. Can I count on you?"
"Sure thing boss." Gorn pointed to the bottle. "Bad habit that."
"I've had the Faen bitch threaten to turn me into a bloody servitor if I fuck this up. Let me cope how I can." That actually got a shiver from Gorn. Even he wasn't unaffected when faced with such a dreadful fate.
"Aight. Aight, I'll get this sorted for you Vaen."
"Good. Take a couple of days to get supplies and gather people." Gorn gave a final nod, turning away and leaving Vaen alone in the room. The man's hand clenched around the bottle.
Fucking Faen.
Fucking sororitas.
And especially fuck whatever was causing trouble at the old manufactorum.
Anya watched in fascination as Nornie finished filling up the large hole she'd dug into the manufactorum ground with the strange green liquid she'd started producing a few hours before. The hole was about ten metres by ten metres and four deep, Anya having chipped in to dig it faster. She'd been gathering food all day, going to the sewers and dragging back some of the fresher corpses along with the two kills she'd made herself of scavengers down there. She put her hand in the pool and found herself giggling with the strange tickling sensation in it. Nornie was laying in the middle of it, now a little bigger than Anya herself had been. Her abdomen was now larger and swollen, and she could see that some larva-like creatures had started to come out of the end of it and were now swimming in the pool of liquid. Anya saw as one swam all the way up to her hand, nudging it curiously before going back to swimming and absorbing the nutrients from the pool.
"How long until they are grown?"
"These are not particularly complex organisms. Within a day they will be fully mature if sufficient nutrition is provided."
Anya had started seeing something whenever the voice spoke. It was like a version of herself back before she'd started transforming; the ten year old human girl desperately surviving by the skin of her teeth for years on end. She would appear as soon as the voice returned, an illusion that when she had tried to touch she'd gone straight through.
"What is up with that anyway?"
"I am the part of you that translates what the Network thinks and tries to explain to you into something you can understand and comprehend. A specialized part of your brain that is more capable of connecting to it and rebroadcasting to the rest of your mind." The illusion gestured to herself. "This form felt comfortable to take."
"Why not just make all of me understand?"
"The changes to your mind would not be worth it. They…WE want to see what happens if your mind is left as it is. Or at least, close to how it is."
"Ah. So you're…what, quarantined?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Huh. That sounds complicated."
"Do not worry. At the end of the day, I am still you. Just…better equipped to understand."
"What should I do next then?" She gestured to the pool. "Keep an eye on the little ones?"
"Yes. Until we can spawn some guardian organisms, it is best if you stay for their safety."
"Hm. I will go keep an eye out then." The younger version of her nodded, getting up and walking at her side. She knew the girl was not really here, seeing the illusion occasionally pass through a small rock as she stepped forth. But it was comforting to have someone she could talk to…even if it was herself.
"Perhaps train your psychic abilities while you are it. These will serve you well should you master them."
"Good idea." She climbed effortlessly to the top of the manufactorum, her claws and increased physical prowess allowing her to do feats that would have been impossible to even consider before. She closed her eyes as she stood on the broken down roof, letting her mind expand. It was getting easier every time she did it, feeling the world around her come into the strange definition that was her mind's eye. She could see the small critters sparkling with life far clearer than anything inanimate or inactive, and could even see them through thinner walls or soil. She could see hundreds of metres away, allowing her to know nothing bigger than a rat was anywhere close. Slowly, she let the voice in her mind soothe the growing headache as she pushed further, exercising her abilities by focusing on one animal or another and trying to make them appear more distinct in her vision.
The next day, something crawled out of the pool.
"Azal, I don't like this." The young boy closed his eyes, trying to push away his irritation at the interruption as he twirled the blade in his hand.
"I know Honas. You've said it like, twelve times."
"Thirteen actually!" A young girl pipped up, Azal grunting.
"Right, thirteen. And it doesn't change the fact we're still doing it."
"But Azal…" Honas gulped, his long scraggly black hair falling onto his face. "I heard some of the adults disappeared there. There's like, seven of us. Why are they sending us?" Azal's eye twitched.
"Because they trust us you stupid bastard!" He snarled, whipping around to face the wide eyed and now cowering other child. "They know we can do this, and they want us to prove it!"
"Yeah Honas!" The girl chirped. "If we do this, they'll let us be Angels as well!" Azal grinned. The confidence Tiona was radiating towards his leadership was almost enough to bury the fear Honas had brought out of him.
"See, she gets it. So we do this, the adults get proud, and we get to have good food and not get mugged every time someone bigger sees us. Got it?" Honas nodded rapidly.
"Ye…yes!" Azal grinned, turning to the rest of the assembled children.
"Then come on, let's go!" With a chorus of whoops and cheers, the seven of them all grabbed their weapons; ranging from makeshift, poorly crafted spears to the vicious hunting knife Azal had stolen from his father not a week ago.
They were going to do this.
They had to. If they didn't…Azal shook his head.
They would succeed and make the adults proud. It was the only way.
"How far are they?" The woman turned towards him, a poorly made bionic eye slowly receding back into the mask she wore.
"About a kilometre or so off."
"Good." Gorn turned to face the rest of his squad. Fourteen of the gang's best, armed to the teeth with whatever they'd been able to gather given the deadline they had. Three black market lasguns sold by enterprising members of the Imperial Guard, a few autopistols as side arms, autoguns for those who didn't have lasguns. Two of them were the designated heavy weapons specialists for this particular mission. Many of the gang's members used to be in the PDF forces before the rebellion. Before anyone with even so much as a link to the cult or the underhive was shoveled down with the rest to starve alongside them.
The first was a burly man who'd served in the Imperial Guard alongside Gorn. They'd been discharged after their commanding officer was found guilty of corruption; thankfully not the kind that got you executed for merely being associated with it. Deemed 'Untrustworthy'. He was a silent man covered in burns who had used the flamer he now wielded for many years of service.
The other was a mutant. They'd never seen the light of day, and had developed a predilection for explosives and the brilliant light they gave off. Not the most stable individual, and Gorn had never managed to figure out what their mutation was besides in the eyes, but they were one hell of a shot with the grenade launcher and so they were kept around.
All of them had some kind of armor. Nothing fancy, barely even flak armor in the Guard, but better than nothing.
"So." He asked. "We ready?"
"Let's go follow the ducklings." One of the others replied, a chorus of laughter answering them. Gorn didn't smile. He wasn't a big fan of the part that involved throwing kids into a potential trap.
Still, orders were orders.
"Then let's get going. To the Manufactorum."
Anya's eyes snapped open.
"Do you feel that?"
"Yes. I feel anything you do."
"They are coming." She rose to her feet. "A small group, and a bigger one behind. Hard to tell much more from that far away."
"They will be here in a matter of hours at a walking pace."
"I doubt they are here to talk." Anya climbed down a metal pillar connected to the roof. "Any suggestions?"
"Not this time. You must learn to make decisions for yourself and think about these things independently."
"Adapt and evolve huh?" These words meant more to her than they used to. "Alright. Let's awaken the Hive then."
The younger her had a wild grin on her face as the factory was filled with the sound of chittering and scraping.
The rat curiously looked at the strange thing curled in its usual hiding spot. The thing was decently bigger than itself and smelled very strange. As such, the rat kept a cautious distance with it.
Then, something changed. Where the thing had been almost immobile, suddenly the air filled with strange noises and it moved with lightning fast speed. The rat squeaked in fear as the sound of screeching, howling and more echoed within the empty walls of the factory, running as fast as it could away from the horrible thing chasing it. But it was too fast, slithering after it and using its tail to jump on the rat, tiny arms ending in vicious claws stabbing into it and pinning it into place as it ravenously started devouring the still live rat. It screamed and thrashed, trying to fight back against the small worm-like thing eating it alive, but to no avail.
It died seeing more of the things start crawling out from the lower level of the Manufactorum, hunger gleaming in their eyes.