A.N.: Thank you all for the reviews! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I absolutely do plan to escalate things as we go forth. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
"Harrison!" The PDF startled, almost dropping his lasgun. Thank the Emperor for the safety settings. Sighing, he turned around, finding the door to his room opened, a tall, grinning woman standing in the doorway.
"Vela." He sighed, putting his gun down. "Could you at least knock? I could have been changing."
"At eleven?" She gave him an amused look. "Come on, get your shit. We've been called." He frowned at that.
"Called? For the offensive?" She shook her head.
"Nah. Fifth level's been wiped clean, though most of that is the fact the bugs pulled back to the lower ones. They don't want to push too far into their territory until we've consolidated." She frowned. "Look, I'll tell you on the way alright? Just grab your stuff and let's get moving." He felt a little confused, but went along anyway. His lasgun slung over his back, he exited the room and started following Vega, having to take long strides to keep up with her.
"Alright, so what's up then?" She glanced at him with a coy smile.
"From what I understand, the sororitas have an announcement they want to make. Must be a bit of a discreet one though, they haven't called a lot of people in." A sense of unease swept through him. The sororitas had been asking more questions recently about the creature. If it had shown any indication of psychic abilities, what it had looked like, if it had been injured and shown extreme levels of regeneration... None of which painted a pretty picture. And whilst he knew some of his comrades, both men and women liked to joke about getting to spend time with the sisters of battle, he was far less excited at the prospect. They scared him in a different way to the Tyranids.
Eventually, they reached a large building, inside of which they found themselves apart of a group of about a hundred other PDF and Arbites. There was a distinct chatter in the room, quiet and restrained as people cast nervous glances at the sororitas which lined the walls in full battle gear. On top of a slightly raised podium, in front of a holographic projection controller, was the sororitas Canoness. Harrison found himself standing straighter as her gaze fell on him, holding for a second before continuing to roam over the various people gathered in the room. Nervousness filled him slowly but surely as he and Vega talked to each other. What was all this about even?
"Good, it looks like you are all here." The words, spoken in a normal, conversational tone, silenced everyone in the room instantly. The canoness smiled, clearly pleased at the effect she was having. "You are all likely wondering why you are here. Do not worry, this is not a reprimand or anything of the sort." Harrison saw more than one relax at that. "You are all here due to a recent development in our fight against the invading tyranids." Murmurs spread throughout the room, silenced as she opened her mouth to continue speaking. "As you may be aware, recently we attempted an elimination of what we believe to be the main leading creature of the filthy xenos. This proved to be a failure, but the foe was clearly badly hurt; And due to the successful strikes against the synaptic web, the cohesion of our opponents collapsed and allowed for a successful counter attack." They had been told what a synaptic web was prior to the mission. He had himself participated in the initial assault on the fifth level with the rest of the PDF, before being instructed he was being recalled back as the counter attack sought to take back the entire fifth level from the aliens.
She looked around, before pressing something on the controller. Immediately, a hologram was projected from the ceiling, displaying a strange creature that, whilst it bore a clear resemblance to other tyranid organisms, Harrison couldn't say he had ever seen before.
"This is a Lictor. I will let you get a good look whilst I give a bit more context." The canoness spoke calmly. "It seems that whilst the tyranid leader was wounded, they were not killed, and have by now recuperated. We are starting to get reports of increased coordination in tyranid assaults, forcing the planned attack on the sixth level to be shelved for later." She made a map appear, representing the fifth level. There were red dots around the gates, some of the sewer openings and even a few points further in the city. "However, as you can see, so far we still hold the ground, and our enemy seems reluctant as to a direct attack. We were expecting them to be preparing something, and it seems they have revealed their hand." She pointed to the lictor. "These are assasination and infiltration specialists." Harrison felt his blood grow cold. "We've been getting reports on officers and logististics workers disappearing from their workplace or even from their very bed. The reason you haven't heard of it is we're suppressing the news to avoid a panic." She looked at them with cold eyes. "If any of you leak this news without prior authorisation, you're going on servitor duty." More than one person shivered at that. Being made into a servitor was a fate worse than death, for a plethora of reasons. "We cannot let this continue on. However, we do not have personnel specifically trained to counter such threats besides some of our own sisters of battle who have experienced similar warfare, and those are needed on the front lines to support the counter offensives. As such, you have all been selected to aid in combating this new threat." She gestured to a map of the third level, now showing various black spots. "These are all locations someone has gone missing or something went wrong. In the past day, things have escalated. We are certain there are lictors on level three, and that they are no longer limiting themselves to mere assassinations. If things are left as they are, the offensive will grind to a half from disrupted supply lines and decimated chain of command." Harrison found himself glancing around. Could one of these things be watching them right now? "To avoid a panic, we chose a reduced set of troops. Lictors rarely act in groups larger than four. You will be divided into ten different squads of ten, given specialist equipment and some training from some of my sisters. Any questions?" A hand was raised from one brave soul, to which she gave an appreciative nod.
"Yes, um, sorry to ask, but why were we selected?" The man asked nervously. The canoness grinned.
"Simple. All of you share a few traits. You were in the thick of the fight on the sixth level. You made it out alive, whilst having still participated in the actual fight. You then participated in the counter offensive, and once again made it back alive. A little check of your background confirmed our decision. I hope you do not disappoint." And that was that. The canoness walked away from the stand, using a back door to exit the room along with her squad of celestians as another sister of battle took the stage.
"Alright, I will not declare the various squads. Squad Alpha, composed of..." She started rattling off names, some of which Harrison knew, most that he didn't. Eventually however... "Squad Epsilon, composed of Harrison Maran, Vela Regan..." He let out a small sigh of relief. At least he'd be with someone he knew. "All of which will be led by sister Ashley. The meeting point is the three blue barracks, at twelve thirty. Any late arrival will be met with severe punishment." Her expression was severe as she spoke. "Dismissed."
Harrison and Vela decided to hear straight for the barracks. There was an air of paranoia to the people who'd been a part of the meeting, and he could understand why they had decided to keep the news under wraps. He was feeling jittery himself, constantly looking over his shoulder, expecting to see the three metre tall monster about to strike him down in utter silence.
"Well, that rained on my fucking parade." Vela snarked. "Ya know, xenos invasions really have a way of just...making things messy. I don't think I've had a single day that went to plan so far."
"It's still hard for me to process." He sighed. "I mean, you hear stories about xenos and how monstrous they are, and then...they turn out to be so much worse than you could have ever thought."
"I get you." He didn't comment on how she kept nervously tapping her service baton. That thing was capable of discharging enough electric current to fry a human to death in seconds. On a tyranid, he wasn't sure how effective it would be. She had her lasgun, but it seemed the baton was a more familiar weapon.
"What are you going to do if we survive?" He glanced at her, shrugging.
"I mean, go back to how it used to be, I guess? Why, you thinking of changing your profession?" She seemed thoughtful as she answered.
"It just...well after all that, it seems a bit hard imagining just going back to how things used to be, like nothing ever happened, you know?" She shrugged. "I don't know, I just... it feels so insignificant, being an Arbites when there's these kinds of threats out there."
"Hm." They stopped their conversation as a power armoured, white haired woman started making her way towards them. She was quite small, standing at most at five feet, perhaps five feet two. She did not have a helmet, instead holding it under her arm, and had a large weapon strapped to her back. A flamer, Harrison soon realized. Her eyes were a soft green, her hair white like most other sisters of battle. There was a splattering of freckles on her cheeks. She seemed quite young; She could not have been older than her mid twenties. Her expression was nervous, her eyes darting around as she walked in slightly mechanical motions. If he had to describe her in one word...it would be cute.
"Um. Hello!" She squeaked, and Harrison had to stop himself from sputtering in surprise. Squeaked?! Sisters of battle didn't squeak! "My..." She took a deep breath. "MynameisAshleyandIwillbeyoursupervisorgoingforth!" She blinked, before a happy smile grew on her face. "I did it!" A stunned silence hung over the assembled group of PDF and Arbites as they stared at her in disbelief. She noticed this, blinking before a hot flush spread to her face. "Oh Emperor, did I mess it up? I messed it up!" She cried, turning away and bringing her hands over her face. Harrison wasn't sure how to react, exchanging a confused look with Vela. Was this...was this some sort of test? No one else seemed interested in saying anything, and so Harrison hesitantly took a step forward.
"Um. Ma'am?" The sister froze, turning towards him and glancing at him between her fingers. "I'm sorry, I don't think we quite caught that."
"O...oh. Right. Um." She clapped her cheeks with both hands, taking another deep breath and this time spoke slowly, carefully. "My name is Ashley. Member of the Adeptus Sororitas, and I will be in charge of your squad as we go lictor hunting! It's a pleasure to meet you all!" She gave a nervous smile, and he noticed her face was sweating a bit. "I hope we all get along!" No one seemed to know what to say to that, glancing at each other. Harrison could feel the weight of stares eventually settling on him. As the one to have taken the initiative, it seemed he was expected to keep doing so. He could see the sororitas give him a hopeful and slightly teary gaze and winced internally. Damn it, was she going to cry if no one answered? What kind of sororitas had they been straddled with? God Emperor give him strength, those eyes were making him feel terrible for not having spoken so far.
"Um. Harrison, ma'am. Harrison Maran." He nervously scratched at his unkept face, hair barely starting to grow into a parody of a beard. He hadn't exactly had the time or means to shave recently. "I'm part of the PDF of the world." The bright smile she gave him almost made him take a step back. Okay seriously, what the hell was up with her?!
"Thank you Harrison! You can just call me Ashley by the way, no need for all the ma'am stuff!" She clapped her hands. "Now, let's have everyone else introduce themselves, and we can get started!"
"Isshin Ezek. Part of the fourth mechanized of the PDF." Another man spoke up. He was bald, with dark black eyes and a hunch. Harrison noted his gloved hands despite the heat at this level of the hive. "At your service."
"Vela Regan, of the Arbites." His friend introduced herself, saluting. "An honor to serve at the side of the sororitas!" She seemed genuine enough, from what Harrison knew of her.
"Haze. No last name." The woman was pale and sickly looking, the uniform of the PDF loosely fitted over her slight frame. "PDF third guard. Wiped out in the initial attack." He felt a pang of sympathy at that. It was a painfully relatable experience.
"Occ Hultus." The man was incredibly muscular and tall, and had he been just a little more of both or burlier Harrison might have thought him an Ogryn. "Part of the Arbites, though my squad suffered attrition through the initial attack and then counter attack, until it was just me." He was surprised they had found a uniform big enough for the massive man. Hell, he was almost as tall as the tyranid warriors he'd seen on the sixth level. No doubt he was an ab-human; there was no other way. The sister's eyes twitched as she took him in, and for a moment he feared her reaction. The Sororitas were not known for being kind to abhumans.
"Awesome! I'm glad to meet all of you! I'm sure we'll do great!" He breathed a sigh of relief at the happy reponse. Thank the Emperor. "Well then." She cracked her knuckles, before smiling wide. "We'll start with some training, then we'll go for an initial patrol. I'll show you guys what to look for when hunting Lictors. It's no easy task, I'll tell you that!" She clapped her hands happily. "Come on, let's go!"
Harrison exchanged a look with Vela, only to notice she seemed nervous herself. Well then.
This was...something.
The shot of a venom canon splattered against the psychic shield she'd raised, making her grit her teeth as she struggled to keep it.
"Again." Another shot, this time nearly cracking the shield. "Focus. You cannot merely keep the shield up, you have to regenerate it, or they will simply overwhelm you."
"I know." Anya snarled out. Her younger self cocked an eyebrow and replied mockingly.
"Oh? Then this shouldn't be hard to stop. Again." The shot slammed into the shield with the sound of cracked glass, as small pieces of psychic energy fell off and turned to wisps of energy, leaving holes in her defenses. "I can feel you reaching for the warrior, Anya. That's cheating and you know it."
"I KNOW!" Anya screamed in frustration, a shockwave of psychic energy blasting from her; The warrior firing at her getting knocked on its back with a screech of surprise, the various tyranid organisms that had been witnessing the training in the depths of the manufactorum skittering back cautiously. "I know! It's not as easy as you make it sound!"
"I know it isn't. But it feels like you aren't trying!" Her younger self spat back, venom filling her words. "You just brute force a shield into existence, and then do little to actually keep it there! You will exhaust yourself doing that!"
"Why are you being like this!" Anya shouted at her younger self. "You're never this mean to me!"
"Aw, am I being too harsh?" Her younger self mocked in a higher pitched voice. "Well I'm sorry, the Imperial Artillery will not distinguish between your feelings and your life! AGAIN!" The warrior hesitated for a moment before firing another shot, the shield shattering under the impact. Anya let out a strangled cry as she felt her psychic powers snap under the strain, the backlash sending a painful throb through her mind. That pain could never be removed, no matter how much biological changes she went through. For a moment, her younger self bore a conflicted expression, but her face quickly returned to an unimpressed glare. "Put your shield back up. You can do better than this."
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Anya felt her body start to shake. She sobbed, her younger self's eyes widening in surprise. "Why are you saying all these things?!" The younger Anya tried to stammer a response, but Anya plowed right on, her voice growing louder and louder. "Why are you being so cruel!"
"BECAUSE I ALMOST LOST YOU!" Her younger self screamed, her eyes glowing a sickly yellow as all the nearby tyranid organisms started to float, to the panic of many, before they were slowly lowered down. "I...I almost lost you. You almost died, Anya." Her younger self looked small. "They wanted to kill you. YOU. Not the Hive. You. And they almost succeeded. It was so, so close. Your regeneration almost failed. It's not unlimited you know!" She cried out. Anya scoffed, her words coming out bitter, trying to hide the hurt underlying them.
"So what, this is just...out of self preservation? Scared if I die, so will you?" She asked. No, she accused. Her younger self seemed stricken.
"I...No, of course not! If you died..." She bit her lower lip, before sighing. "You don't know. And that's not your fault. I didn't..." She took a deep breath, despite not needing to breathe. "I didn't tell you. Didn't want to tell you. You already had so much to deal with, I didn't want to add to it." She looked as if she was struggling to find the proper words. "I...I'm not really a part of you. I might have started that way, but...I've become something else. Something more." Anya stared at her younger self.
"I don't...I don't understand. You lied?" She sniffled. Her younger self gulped.
"I forget how young you are sometimes. You've been forced to grow up far too fast for a human." She walked closer, wincing when Anya flinched. "Oh, what a fool I am. I'm so sorry Anya." She sat down next to Anya. "I didn't lie to you. I started off as a part of your mind dedicated to translating the Hive to you. But my role made me, by necessity, different to you. Closer to the Hive. More tyranid than you. And yet here I am, making basic human mistakes." She let out a humorless laugh. "Ugh. But well, as time went on...I started to become different from you. Similar, but different enough. We would disagree on things. Have different opinions, different views. I realized our consciousness had separated, to become two different beings. And yet, inextricably linked." She hesitantly reached for Anya's hand, laying her own on it when Anya didn't pull away. "If you were to die, I would still live within the Network. I could have it create a body for me, be reborn. But you...you aren't there yet. You'd be gone forever." Her younger self sniffed. "I don't want to lose you. Not forever."
"...I think I understand. So you're...like, what. A sister?" Her younger self blinked, before a grin appeared on her face.
"I think I like that way of putting it. Yes. I'm like your sister. Your bug sister, if you want." A soft giggle emerged from Anya, making her younger self...no, that wasn't right, was it; Her sister, smiled wider. "Ha. There it is. I knew I could make you laugh." Anya giggled a little louder, but eventually sobered up.
"You can't...you can't do this again." Her sister grew pale, looking down in shame. "You can't take out things on me like that. I can handle anyone else being mean to me. Trying to hurt me." Anya grabbed her sister's hand in her own, clutching it desperately. She wasn't really there, not physically, but it felt like it. "But not you. Never you."
"...'m sorry." Her sister sniffled. "I fucked up." Anya smiled softly.
"It's...well it's not okay. But you understand you did wrong, and so long as it doesn't happen again, I'll forgive you." Anya grinned. "Besides. You're the younger sister. It's normal for you to make mistakes." Her sister looked at her with bright open eyes.
"Younger sister? I guess that makes sense. I'm the new one after all." Anya nodded, then got a contemplative look on her face.
"Wait, if you're your own person and you get your own body, does that mean a part of my brain is gone?" She felt oddly relaxed at that fact.
"No no. I am not a literal piece of your brain. More a reflection of portions of your consciousness that were melded with elements from the Hive Mind and then added parts that I grew on my own from our time together." She grinned wildly. "Getting my own body would be good though. I can't wait to see our foes' reaction to getting their asses kicked by a little girl."
"I'm not sure how I feel about having my newly discovered little sister rush into battle." Anya frowned.
"Oh it's fine, didn't I just tell you? If something happens, I won't really die." Her little sister pointed upwards. "My soul will just be sent back to the Network to be reuploaded to another body. I might lose a minute or two of the most recent memories, but nothing more. And eventually, I plan on making sure you can do the same. Until then however, you need to be careful." Anya glared at her younger sister.
"I'm not letting you fight by yourself."
"I wouldn't ask you to. Just remember, of the two of us, I will actually return." Anya sighed, but nodded.
"Fine. But we're fixing this as soon as possible."
"Agreed." Anya raised a hand to her sisters' hair, brushing the immaterial strands.
"You will need a name."
"I think I already have one."
"Oh?"
"Ayna."
"Did you really just flip my name?"
"I love you big sister."
"That is a shit distraction tactic." The expression on her younger sister cut off the rest of her tirade. "I love you too lil sis."
"Gah!" Harrison's cry came out choked as a foot buried itself into his stomach, sending him sprawling on his back. Someone ran past him, swinging their weapon in quick, rapid motions, only to get tripped and for a crunching sound to resound, Harrison wincing at the loud cry of pain followed by a clunking sound that cut it out.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" A chipper voice grated against his ears, his hands gripping against the floor in frustration. Still, as instructed he got up. The opponent of their group, Ashley the sister of battle, was out of her armour, wearing a simple outfit composed of shorts and a tank top. It showed how surprisingly lean she was, and whilst some of the people walking past the training ground were leering at her, Harrison's gaze was squarely on the blood dripping from her knee, having just slammed it into Isshin's nose. The onlookers might just see a young, pretty looking woman training with her comrades, but Harisson knew better by now.
This sister of battle was terrifying.
She had asked all five of them to fight her. All at once. Unarmed and unarmoured. It should have been a cakewalk, especially with Occ Hultus on their side.
It was anything but.
Vela had gone down after a powerful kick to the knee sent her crashing down before passing out from a back handed smack. Haze hadn't lasted much longer, having tried to swing at her only to have her punch caught, Ashley pulling her towards her and finishing her instantly with a knee to the stomach. Isshin was now down as well, leaving only Occ Hultus and him to fight the manic pixie.
"Harrison." The massive man spoke softly. "We are fighting on her terms, taking her on one by one." They exchanged a glance, no other word needed to be spoken. They rushed at the sister in unison, Harrison going for a punch whilst Occ swept a powerful kick towards her. Ashley remained calm, a happy smile on her face as she dodged both in a backwards lunge, before throwing herself at Occ, jumping to his face, grabbing it and slamming her knee into it. Occ grunted, falling backwards as Ashley jumped back, avoiding the grasp of the giant.
"Ha! Your head is as solid as rock Occ! That'll help a lot!" Harrison snarled, a surge of protectiveness going through him at the sight of his downed and bloody squad.
"The hell kind of exercise is this?!" He barked out, slowly pacing in a circle with her as she looked at him with a strange look in her eyes.
"What do you mean?" She seemed genuinely confused.
"Why are we doing this?! Why aren't we doing weapons practice, or camouflage detection? Something actually useful against a Lictor?" The sister of battle froze, her smile fading. That made him more nervous than anything else so far. Had he gone too far?
"Oh." She rushed forth, Harrison trying to defend himself from her sudden, furious assault. He lasted a total of two seconds before he was slammed into the ground, his arm twisted behind his back as the sororitas held him down, gazing upon him with a frightfully calm expression. "Did you think a Lictor will wait for you to find it to fight?" A chill went down his spine as he gritted his teeth in pain. "Do you think it will strike while you have your weapons, while you have your armour? It won't." She smiled, but it didn't reach her lips. "It never does. Not if it can avoid it. A Lictor does not pick fair fights. If it does, then you've made them desperate."
"How the fuck..." He wheezed out his words. "Are we supposed to fight a thing like that bare handed?"
"You don't." She said simply. "I could. But I'm different. I wanted you to understand that. If you find yourself in a fight, you need to distract it. Make it unable to kill you. Buy time for help to arrive, and make sure people know you're in danger." She let him go, Harrison cradling his arm against his chest. "Now. All of you, again. But this time, don't just focus on taking me down. Focus on surviving as long as possible." She smiled wildly. "Last one to get downed doesn't have to be a part of flamer clean duty!"
"Oh this one is big." Anya whispered, standing before the newest creation of Nornie. The creature was massive, twice as long and wide as a carnifex, and almost twice as tall. It had a thick carapace covering it like a shell all over, and seemed like it would struggle to move very fast. But what really caught the eye was the massive biological cannon on its back, eyes growing on it that were locked on Anya's much smaller form.
"Exocrine" Ayna smirked. "Nornie's grown enough to start producing some of the larger war organisms available to the hive." She paused, crossing her arms. "Well. Large compared to what we had at least."
"And what does it do?" Anya asked, resting a hand on the creature's leg carapace.
"It shoots plasma. Big, violent globules of plasma that absolutely destroy whatever they hit." Her little sister had a vicious grin on her face. "Our response to artillery."
"Huh. Think we can make more of these?"
"More? Oh big sister. I plan on out-artillerying them."
"That is not a word, verb or anything at all."
"Can be if I want it to." Ayna pouted.
"Whatever." Anya rolled her eyes. "So. When do you think we'll be ready for the next attack?" Ayna shrugged.
"I mean, who can say? The more we wait the more we can train you and get bigger creatures, but the more time we're giving for them to plan attacks and reinforcements to arrive."
"Hm." Anya tilted her head thoughtfully. Then, a vicious grin came to her face, mirroying that of her younger sister's. "You know, I don't think silver and purple work on me. How about a little change in wardrobe?"
"What do you...oh. Ooooooh."
"Yup."
"It's going to be painful."
"I thought you removed those nerves."
"Some things are always going to be painful."
Harrison winced at the pungent smell as he entered the officers quarters. The man had been eviscerated and left to rot on his chair, with the tyranid micro-organisms rapidly accelerating decay of the body; making it look as if it had been dead for the past two weeks rather than two hours.
"Damn." Vela whistled. "They did a number on the poor bastard." The man's arms had been severed and left where they'd fallen, his eyes had popped out of his skull as something had clearly gripped the skull far harder than was ever reasonable, and worse of all was the blood and traces of something entering through the man's ears.
"Lictor mind reading." The words sent chills through their spines as Ashley casually strolled to the body, her usual happy smile on her face. "They can see people's memories by consuming their brains. It's real gross. Sounds like someone eating spaghetti." She made a slurping sound that made them all wince.
"The hell's spaghetti?" Isshin asked in hushed tones.
"A dish born on Terra, that spread to quite a few worlds." Occ answered just as quietly.
"Amazing is what it is." Ashley remarked. Harrison had noted after spending the day with her, that whilst the sister of battle could come across as shy and nervous, once business needed to be taken care of, she was focused and unbothered. Still disturbingly happy, go lucky, but there was no trace of her stutter or blushing. "Still, he couldn't have died that long ago. Lictors don't like leaving traces of their prey unless they're actively going for psychological warfare, and if they were it would be a lot more public than this." She hummed. "Must have felt us get close. Which means..." A grin appeared on her face, manic and frightening. "It's still nearby."
"Shit." Harrison upholstered his lasgun, nervously looking around the room. "So, what's the plan Ashley?" She chuckled, grabbing hold of her own weapon; the strange flamer she had, that seemed to have been somewhat modified. He had no idea how such a thing had ever been authorized by the Mechanicus; They were famously crotchety about these things.
"Simple. It can't be far, else it would have gotten rid of the body. There's only one way to get into the building without security cameras catching you, and these haven't been sabotaged like some of the others were during attacks. So...they must have come in through the sewage system." She chuckled. "Should have expected it really. Tyranids like going below their opponents and scurrying around." She tapped her flamer, gesturing at them to follow her out of the building. "However, the sewer entrance was sealed off last hour when it was decided we would inspect this building. So it can't have gone out that way. Which means..." Haze finished the sentence in a strangled tone.
"It's still in the building."
"Correct!" Ashley's words sent a lead weight plummeting down Harrison's stomach. So they had a three metre tall camouflaging, stealthy assassin bug monster in the building with them.
Joy.
"What do we do then?" Ashley showed them the keycard she had of the building.
"Simple! We order a whole bunch of PDF to surround the building and make sure nothing gets out, and then we sweep room by room, locking them behind us as we go! Eventually, either it will end up cornered in one of the rooms, or it will have to break down the doors, which will give us an idea of where it is?" She chuckled as she put her helmet back on, her voice coming out slightly synthesized. "Besides. Its camouflage is good, but it isn't perfect. Just got to look for the very subtle variations in temperature around you."
With that, the group started going from room to room, each time growing more and more nervous as they did, expecting at any moment for one of the scythe-like claws to come slashing down on them. Tenseness filled their every movement, and only Ashley seemed at ease.
Then, suddenly, as they entered a large refectory, she raised her flamer, and without a word, unleashed a powerful stream of fire towards one of the walls. Without questioning the sudden action, the other members of the squad brought their own weapons to bear and started firing, a blur of movement catching their eyes as something dodged the attacks with frightening speed. Lasguns it did not manage to avoid, as they hit and singed at its carapace, but the powerful flame only caught the back of its tail as it darted out of the way. The creature's camouflage fell all at once, leaving it exposed to their eyes. Harrison almost took a step back at the sight of it. It stood on two legs like a human, an upright bipedal creature. But there the similarities ended. Like most tyranids, it had a chitinous carapace on it, a silvery tint reflecting the glow of the flames Ashley was firing upon it. Its flesh was purple where it was exposed, its eyes narrowed in far too intelligent intent. It had no visible mouth, instead displaying an array of tentacles where it should have been that twitched and moved as its face did. Most threateningly however were the two massive praying mantis-like claws on its back, extending almost as long as the rest of the body was. At the end of its tail was a prehensile pincer that seemed to drip some strange venom. Its chest suddenly erupted and dozens of small hooks followed by tendrils of flesh emerged from it, stabbing into Harrison and dragging him forward. He cried out in pain and fear, but his instincts prevailed and he pulled out a machete, cutting off the flesh tendrils. The creature let out a gurgle that sounded more like annoyance than pain as Harrison took a step backwards, the pain of the barbed hooks in his flesh excruciating. He barely noticed the flames pass right next to him as Ashley used her flamer once more, forcing the creature back. It let out a screech of anger, further lasgun fire battering it and leaving small holes of burned flesh on its exposed joints. Then, it did something that none of them, save perhaps Ashley, had expected. It rushed forth, taking the damage of the weapons firing upon it willingly, alien blood pouring from its wounds as Ashley cursed, refueling her flamer. But it did not go for her. No, it instead barreled straight into Isshin, grabbing the man and holding him in front of the Lictor. Harrison gaped at that. Was it...was it holding the man hostage? The careful way it was backing off from the ground, now unwilling to risk killing their teammate with a stray shot, proved that was the case. It wasn't making a move to hurt Isshin.
"Dammit! Let him go, you monster!" Vela raged, her hands trembling on her gun. Harrison raised his gun at the beast, trying to find an angle, anything. But it was too clever, leaving only the most well protected parts of itself exposed, a long mantis claw wrapped around Isshin's throat. Even if they did manage to hit it rather than the hostage, no doubt it would rip his throat open in an instant the moment they did.
"Ashley!" Harrison called out. "Please tell me we have a plan in case something like this happens!" The sister of battle gave him a happy smile.
"Don't worry rookie, of course we do!" He let out a sigh of relief. Right, that was why Ashley was here. Despite everything, she was ruthlessly competent. With her by their side, they would no doubt manage to get Isshin back alive.
Which was why he didn't react when she brought her flamer up, aimed at the Lictor and its hostage.
A deluge of flame engulfed both of them, alien screams mixing with the howling of agony coming from Isshin as he was burned alive. Harisson stared, unable to comprehend what it was he was looking at, his mind blanking at the sight.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Vela raged, jumping on Ashley only to be intercepted by Occ. "OCC! LET ME GO!" The big man was stoic, his brow furrowed.
"Stop. He's already done for." She struggled in his arms as Harrison looked in utter horror at the burning man. His eyes slowly slid towards the sister of battle. Her eyes were wide and she had a manic smile on her face as she giggled happily, burning both xenos and man alive. "Think of what will happen to you if you assault a superior."
"She...she's burning him! She's burning Isshin!" She cried out, as if unable to believe her own words. "Why is no one stopping her?!" Harrison was wondering the same. And yet, when he looked at the sister...he knew he couldn't stop her. If he tried, he would simply be beaten down, maybe even burned himself. He was feeling detached from his body as the screams from the man continued.
"Isshin was dead the moment that creature got him." Haze answered calmly. Harrison brought his gun up. "This was the only..." Harrison fired, cutting through the chatter. Once, twice, three times. The first shot hit the man's head, silencing his screams as he died instantly. The other two hit the now carbonized body of the Lictor, its armour and thick hide no longer able to protect it from the lasers and silencing it as well.
Both bodies hit the ground as silence fell upon the room. Everyone was staring at him.
His voice hoarse, he said:
"We're done here." With that, he stepped out of the room, leaving the rest of the group behind.
The worker sighed as yet another set of trucks passed the checkpoint. More refugees from level four, fleeing the warzone that had come so close to their home. It didn't matter how many times the government told them that it was fine, that level five was theirs again, and that there was no sign that a tyranid assault was near. They had seen the maws of death far too close. Some of these were ever refugees from levels five to seven, having fled to level four only to run further up yet again as the tyranid assault had closed in before the counter assault. He watched the hundreds of refugees descend from the trucks, his heart twinging in sympathy at the sight of the ragged and tired people. It was clear these were from the lower levels by now. Many had signs of injuries healing, looked undernourished with tattered clothing. Before any help would be given however, they needed to do their administrative tasks. And so, he walked towards the group along with his colleagues and their PDF escort, quickly dispersing through the group as they started asking all sorts of questions to the refugees. Many of the questions were inane at best, useless at worst. Only serving to keep the poor saps waiting even further for the desperately needed assistance they required. He could see some barely standing up, the effort of the travel having taken much out of their already depleted state.
His eyes rested on a small figure, standing alone and isolated. He felt a surge of pity at the sight of the small child. They must have lost their parents in the assault. It was a painfully familiar sight by now, orphans making a large portion of those who fled the lower levels. He walked closer to them, trying his best not to startle her.
"Hey there." She seemed to slightly jump, before turning wide eyes towards him. He smiled as gently as he could without seeming too much. This was not his first rodeo. "You're safe now. There's no monsters here." She looked at him, before nodding slowly, seeming to relax a tad. Good. "Are you by yourself?" She looked down. Yes it was. He tapped a few things on his data slate. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's fine. I didn't have anyone before." Her voice was soft and gentle; Melancholic, even. She couldn't be older than ten, he estimated.
"Well, you are not alone anymore. There are plenty of people here in a similar situation to yours." She chuckled softly. Sadly.
"I doubt it." He wished he had more time to convince her, but sadly he had a job to do.
"Well, I'm sure things will get better. Now, what level are you from?"
"...is it okay if I don't answer?" He looked at her. Her small, fragile form. Her scared eyes.
"...I'll just write unknown." He sighed. "Well, if you don't have any caretakers, most of these questions are irrelevant. There's only one other thing I really need before assigning where you will be staying." He smiled at her, trying to reassure her. "What is your name, and how are you feeling?" It was a standard question, to see if anyone was injured internally or perhaps diseased. She looked at him with a teeth filled smile, yellow eyes glinting softly.
"Anya." She licked her lips. "And I'm hungry."