Mable bumped awkwardly into the 'Kasrkin' soldier that she sat beside as the Valkyrie landed. Going so far as to help her out of her seat, and then wordlessly make room for her to descend with the large space marine that was taking up the most space within the passenger compartment in the back of the vehicle, the apparent 'storm trooper' of the still-standing Cadia was nothing but a professional gentleman. Followed behind by the squad of eight as she chased after Sindarion, Mable stalled, looking at the sky of her planet.
The stars were replaced with alien life forms. Creating a terrible contrail of moving flesh from the ground to the void, Hisperia was still being consumed… and as she looked towards the skies of the city they had just fled, she saw a circling swarm of Tyranids that had not noticed their escape.
"Mable, keep up with me." Sindarion ordered her as she slowly turned away from the distant fighting, and began to trot after those who were waiting for her.
"We should go that way." The daemonic infused mesh of wires told her, ignoring the words of the Astarte that could not hear him. "The war is over there."
"Our war is in a different direction." Mable promised… and as she was continually watched by the nine proper soldiers of the Imperium, she would test the grip on her sword… and look towards the empty field they were walking into. "Where is the base?"
"It is buried within a crevasse. Castellan Malcevisor is already besieging it with Redmane and Ulvos." The Angel of Death informed her… and as she watched the Valkyrie slowly pick off the ground, she realized that this base might be harder to get through than she had originally thought.
"Mable! You live!" A masked Redmane cheered as she arrived in the metal bastion that had been erected before two doors. Creating a concave around a small pair of thick looking gates, she would be patted on the arm by the… already healed inquisitor, who no longer sported a sling, much to her confusion. "How are you? Still a bit sore?"
"Uh… yeah." Mable agreed, being greeted by the helmetless Ulvos and castellan as she glanced to the circle of Cadian soldiers and the Primaris Marines of the Black Templar Crusade. "What's the situation?"
"Well, the inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos has sealed himself and his goons inside of here. They were trying to fit your Night Shroud with them, having used the heroic last stand of our city's defenders as a distraction to steal anything of value that wasn't bolted down in the governor's mansion." Redmane happily told her, and as she looked in alarm for the Necron craft, she would be slapped again on the back. "Don't worry about that for now. We managed to convince them to give up on that little project."
"That's… good." Mable stated, greeting the castellan that slowly moved to join her. "Castellan Malcevisor. Thank you for allowing me to see Erithi."
"Think nothing of it." The Astarte easily dismissed.
"Ulvos. It's good to see you." Mable greeted the waiting Sword Brother, who gave a silent nod at her attention. Being stared at for a moment, and then looking to the one who had escorted her here, she would speak up. "So… teleporter?"
"Yes!" Redmane excitedly confirmed. "We've been trying to open a dialogue with them, but they're just so… petty, that it's making me feel ashamed having the same sigil on my brimmed hat. So, rather than breaking the doors down and killing everyone, we thought maybe you could do something."
"Uh… maybe. Oh, before that." Mable stated, digging through her satchel and finding the hard-drive the Custode had left for her. "Constantin Valdor left me this. It's the blueprints to a device called the Solace of Hisperia, that may be able to interrupt any psychic connection across a planet. Apparently, the Emperor wanted to install them on every world to defend against warp entities… but the whole Arch-Enemy thing happened. Valdor told me not to give it to the Mechanicus, since they'll figure out how to kill everyone and replace them with machines."
Redmane, staring at the palm sized metal box Mable handed over would stare blankly at her for a long moment in thought… and then, after closing her eyes and inhaling sharply, would let out a cracked response. "All… alrighty, then. Well, first of all – damn. Second of all, one thing at a time. Now, go secure us our teleporter so we can defeat the current enemy."
Nodding her head, Mable reached up and grabbed the halo and placed it on her forehead to ensure that it wouldn't come off as she rewound time… and, looking to the assembled warriors, let out a question.
"Anyone want to come with me?"
"Yes." Ulvos quickly stated as Sindarion and the castellan looked towards one another in silence. Redmane, glancing in an entirely different direction, would shoot a thumb towards the one who was volunteering for the trip. Offering her sword-hand to the Astarte that took a knee before her, Mable would feel the ceramite grasp tightly around her arm, which got her attention for a moment before the they made their transition. "Let's not have any detours, though."
"I never plan for them." Mable muttered to herself, and as she closed her eyes, finding the low-hum of the universe, she would begin to wrap herself and the Sword Brother in an orb made from the fabric of reality, shooting them backwards thousands of years.
"That was horrifying." Ulvos stated bluntly as he slowly stood up, the servos in his armor flaring into life as he turned, and looked at the rock wall.
"Not as horrifying as me abandoning you in the past if you don't tell me what Redmane told you when you first met her." Mable stated bluntly, ignoring the space marine who went from an overseeing gaze of their environment to focusing directly on her. Blinking at her as she began to walk towards the currently 'just-rock' wall that would one day become a door, Mable would take a brief moment to inspect the stone, and be quietly interrogated.
"How far back did you bring us?"
"I'd have to get the servitor out of my satchel to get a millennium, but long enough for even an Astarte to die of old age." Mable promised, Ulvos seeming to regret his choice of joining her. "How long do you guys live? Like… five centuries? Six?"
"None have ever died from old age."
"Ah, so what you're saying is that I can jump ahead a century or two, and come back when you're feeling a bit more talkative?" Mable asked… and as the hardened gaze of the Angel of Death fell on her, she would remind herself of the existential dread she had overcome. "Ulvos, I've killed a Swarmlord. You're not scaring me."
She was stared at for a long, breathless moment… and as she lifted her left hand, touching the high-whir of reality for a moment, the Angel would relent. "Wait."
"Waiting in progress." Mable aired, annoyed that it took the man this long to speak the truth to her.
"She told me, 'Farm boy, do everything I tell you, and we'll win. Fuck up, and we'll all die.'" Ulvos stated… and as Mable considered the man's words… this would bring more questions than answers.
"That was enough for you to do everything she said? Without question?"
"There are only two people in this galaxy that knew my origins, Mable. Prior to you, it was just Redmane. My historical record begins in the arena as an Astartes… not as the son of a farmer."
Rubbing her face with a hand in thought… the admittance being a big one if truthful, Mable… would nod her head in understanding, and state the chronology of their existence.
"Redmane is from five-hundred years ago. You're… what? Three century old veteran so… what? Nearly four hundred years old?"
"Around there, yes." Ulvos confirmed… and as she nodded… the Astarte would state a thing that was often brought up. "Or at least, by our current calendar. There's currently a civil war going on in the-"
"Ordo Chronos, yes… I've heard." Mable stated… and as she thought for a moment, thinking back on when she first met Redmane, and realizing… that she really had been hiding things from her, Mable came to the only conclusion she could. "Redmane knew about all of this… which means she's been here before."
"Not necessarily." The space marine stated… approaching as she looked up to him in thought. Not… exactly explaining himself, Mable… would slowly nod as the implication that someone could have told her everything was just as feasible as her physically being present for all of this. Unsure what was a lie or performance of the inquisitor, Mable… scowled at Ulvos's following words. "Whether she knows what comes next or not, she's helping us. You can't deny that."
Unable to help but feel doubt now, Mable would feel triply suspicious of the woman as the halo on her brow spoke to her.
"I don't know. She seemed alright to me."
Traveling forward in time, finding the door when it first appeared, but trying to find the moment when it wasn't installed was something much harder than she thought it would be. Seeming to have installed the door first, rather than excavating the tunnels and fortified bunker first, Mable instead focused on when people or perhaps servitors carried things beside the entrance.
Spending what felt like years searching for the moment where they could enter unseen, Mable was forced to give up as she found the one moment in time when the gate was opened and the facility could be moved into.
Releasing the fabric, coming into reality, and immediately diving past what was likely a servitor as the gate opened, Mable heard more than saw Ulvos collapse. Hearing immediate alarms emit from a human carcass with a metal brain, Mable stood, readied her sword… but as the alarms soon cut out, she would feel a wave of confusion as the servitors spoke down at the unready space marine.
"Astartes. This unit apologizes. Please kill me for my rudeness." The servitor buzzed out of the vox in its jaws, as two others stood idly by to watch Ulvos stand. Saying nothing to the creatures that awaited judgement, the space marine would casually lift himself, and then step after her as they descended into the construction site – ignoring the servitors that soon returned back to work.
Finding the room that was supposedly containing the teleporter in their time, Mable took Ulvos's gauntlet and shifted them forward as far as they could go. Having found nothing except further servitors overseeing the construction of the secret inquisitorial base, Mable had looked for any sign of a future trap, before finding the sliver of time they had been gone by. Finding it, unfurling the high-whir of reality, Mable watched as her light faded from the darkness, and was replaced with a gentle red glow.
The same kind of light she had found the sphere in. Blinking at the thought as the pale radiation flooded from her body, remembering the black-armored bodies of the inquisition that had hunted Redmane five-hundred years ago that she was about to actively make, Mable now stared into the room with a large platform elevated in the side of the room.
The Astartes then crashed to the floor, picked himself up, and drew his bolt-pistol… despite there being no one else in the dim light. Bathed in red that reminded her of all the death that had started this adventure, Mable now felt a sickness in her stomach at the thought of moving forward to kill her fellow humans, as the voice of Disarray made commentary on their environment.
"I like the lighting here."
As though Disarray was prophet who could only predict inaccuracies, Mable winced as the red light was suddenly shifted into a bright luminescence, briefly blinding her as power into the room surged.
Yet, as she turned to the noise of a metal door opening, and as the ceramite clad warrior shifted and evened his pistol against the lone figure standing in the shadows outside of the teleporter room, Mable felt something was off. Clearly having expected this outcome, the individual with a wide brimmed hat, comically large and supported by shoulder mounted 'I's stood waiting for them, armed only with a cane and leather coat.
"You are far from the location where you would seek death, xeno-mutant." The scratchy voice of the one who sounded every second of his age echoed out… and as he stepped into the room, leaning heavily on the cane in his hand, Mable slowly put a chrome glove on the armored leg of the Angel of Death that was primed to instantly kill the inquisitor. "You did well, in your battle against the Swarmlord… but I wonder if you know how many others died as you jumped between the years during the fighting."
"What… what do you mean?" Mable whispered, the inquisitor letting out a terrible, calculating laugh at her question.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Do you really think that the inquisition would let witnesses speak of a xeno-hybrid with a crown of chaos wielding a blade of holy flame? The first time it occurred, centuries ago? Perhaps a chemically created hallucination… but two hundred years later as well? Then a century after that? Over, and over?" The man asked of her… and as a terrible snarl of a smile came to his face, the elder would speak to the effect of her actions. "Sixteen separate jumps you made, in that same area… well, that would have become a planetary myth even the most ignorant orphan would have heard of, if it had not been made a secret."
She said nothing at the implication.
Ulvos spoke in her place.
"What are you getting at, inquisitor?"
"I am asking you…" The man started, coming to stand before them both, just out of arms reach as he leaned heavily on his cane. "Did you not wonder why so many parts of the city were capable of dispensing the life-ending nerve gas throughout the hive?"
After the lower hive had been evacuated… she had been given… what? Two hours? Two hours to escape a several dozen square kilometer range? That couldn't have been set up in a day or two, especially if it had been her warning that alerted the city of the xeno uprising. Wondering if during the three months she had lived in the past, that other parts of the city had been gassed as well… Mable… would feel startled as the ancient human lifted the brim of his hat, and revealed the stretched leather of the artificially rejuvenated man that gave her a scowl of a joyful smile.
"Why did you think the Ordos Xenos, Hereticus, and Malleus were able to unify against Redmane? Could it have been because of a xeno-human hybrid, who wielded both a symbol of the Emperor, while simultaneously armed with a demonically possessed crown?" The man asked, standing, and gesturing to her sword, arm, and then halo.
"You… knew too." Mable stated, her suspicion being confirmed by the ancient inquisitor.
"The Ordo Chronos likes to think they are the ones who protects the Imperium from creatures who travel through time, but the Arch-Enemy is both a ten-thousand-year-old threat, while simultaneously being a few hundred years old, depending on who you ask. The warp, as the daemon in your crown may have attested to, is a place where a moment can become an eternity." The inquisitor stated, backing away from her as the space marine adjusted his stance and reminded the room of his presence. Flinching as the inquisitor gestured with his cane towards the Sword Brother, completely unbothered by the weapon directed at him, Mable felt the implication that was given as though it had been made with a hammer. "Knowledge is a terrible curse, when you realize that time is all relative in a galaxy as large as ours."
"We need the teleporter." Ulvos stated, disregarding the man's words and making his demands, and Redmane's, known to the inquisitor. "You will give us access to it."
"No." The creature breathed out… and then let out a laugh. "Or at least, not for free, Astartes."
"Then state your price." Ulvos demanded.
"I demand the script to this play we are trapped within." The inquisitor spoke… and as he glanced to her, Mable could not deny the will of the inquisitor who had resolved himself to stand before the same space marine she had demanded answers from.
"Speak boldly, inquisitor. We do not have time for veils." Ulvos ordered, the scrawny, barely standing inquisitor laughing at the jest.
"Very well, Ulvos." The man acquiesced, leaning on the teleporter's frame and gesturing to Mable with his cane. "You are the medium which time is using to move forward, down a path that only one creature knows the truth of. Your value is of little use to the Imperium, who exists always in both a state of failure, and of success… but the one who has already existed? Who keeps secrets that a daemon of Tzeentch would covet?"
"You should kill this guy, Mable." The daemon suggested, which she instantly ignored.
"You want Redmane." Ulvos stated… observing the inquisitor who had implied his demand. Staring at the man through his brim, the Angel of Death slowly lowered his pistol… and then nodded. "Very well."
"W-wait, you're…" Mable started, protesting… the Astarte who did not even glance to her as she spoke. "You would betray her? After everything she's done to help us?"
"My mission is now to destroy the Tyranid hive. She will not be of much help anymore." Ulvos stated… and as Mable… supposed he was right, it still… left a terrible taste in her mouth as the inquisitor let out a laugh at the space marine's expressed resolve.
"How very pragmatic of you, Astarte… but I wonder if your betrayal does not promise another in the near future."
Ulvos stared at the inquisitor who they all knew he would kill in a heartbeat if it served his own ends… and the fact that they all trusted in that fact, made it very clear who would be the one to get betrayed next by the Astarte that, for the first time since entering this room, flicked his eyes towards her.
Looking away from the Angel of Death that… she really couldn't trust any more than Redmane, Mable…
Grabbed the low-hum of the universe, and fled before she could be grappled and followed.
Walking out alone of the complex, the exit being much easier to activate from within, Mable would hesitate as she considered jumping forwards. Unsure if she had beaten Ulvos to the entrance, but also unsure if she should even go to Redmane and warn her, Mable… gripped her hands into a tight fist, as the daemon accompanying her used its unseen forked tongue to probe her conflicted thoughts.
"Mable… your mind is troubled."
"Shut up." Mable ordered… and as the crown complied… she… committed heresy, as she took advice from a daemon. "What… what do you think I should do?"
"I think you should kill everyone and everything until you die, so that I may take your skull to the throne." The halo above her stated… at least speaking honestly, it seemed.
"You… said you liked Redmane. Why?"
"She smells of a kindred spirit. A creature of war, bound in service." Again, she felt… honesty, radiate from the hell-fiend that spoke down to her. "The other one, smelled of trickery, and manipulation. One does not say the Changer of Way's name lightly, unless they are familiar with deception."
"You… call Redmane honest?"
"No… but if she is deceptive, it is so blatant that I cannot complain if I discover it to be a lie." The daemon spoke, a joy, or perhaps pride, emanating from its metal prison. "Where those of the Plague Father are kind, we are cruel. Where those of the Dark Prince are indulgent, we are strict. Where those of the Great Conspirator are vapid, we are immediate. All of us lie, but the ways in which we deceive are myriad."
"You're… not making a compelling argument to help her."
"Because I do not want you to help. I want you to kill." The daemon reminded her, and as she… truly believed this creature, a terrible laugh would be made at her expense. "Ha! To think, I would know of joy beyond that caused by bloodshed. To think that I would be branded by 'Truth,' and gain the trust of a mortal. How humorous."
"I don't trust you." Mable whispered, and then made her decision. "And don't forget, I know your name."
"Yes, my master." The joyful daemon confirmed… his laughter freezing as she took them to a possible confrontation.
"Mable?" Redmane asked as she materialized, and, glancing to the doors that were opening, Mable would be alerted she had beaten Ulvos. "I was just informed negotiations had-"
Glancing to the Primaris Marines that were looking to her, Mable would frown at them as she hugged the waist of Redmane, who did not seem to understand that this was not a comforting behavior.
"Oh my! How forward. I think we're starting to-"
Mable wrapped the fabric of the universe over them, and not really needing to care how far back they went, she would quickly release her grip on it, coming out into an empty valley. Letting go of the one who finished her sentence, Mable would hesitate… and stare at the woman who seemed confused by their sudden solitude.
"Become… friends. Mable, what the hell is this?"
"You know things that I don't know, and Ulvos just sold you to the inquisition so they can rip out whatever secrets you're hiding." Mable informed the woman… who stared at her for a time… and then smiled sadly at her.
"Oh. Well… that's bad news, but not… entirely, unexpected, I guess? I don't know what they hope to get out of me, but… if it means we can use the teleporter, then so be it." Redmane easily breathed… seeming truly unbothered by the arrangement that had been made without her knowledge. Staring at the woman for a while… and then watching her smirk turn into a laugh, Mable felt… somewhat underwhelmed by the woman's careless reaction. "Oh well! Thanks for the warning. Let's go get my head sawed into and finish this thing."
"No." Mable stated… and as the woman tilted her head at her statement, she would be misunderstood.
"Aw… Mable, don't tell me after all this time, you've started to care about me."
"No." Mable repeated… and then, seeing a small hint of hurt in the woman's expression, she realized she was still unable to tell what was a performance and what wasn't. "You knew about Ulvos before you met him. You knew about me, before we met. You knew… so much. The traps, the… comical… bricks, guarding doomsday weapons? The Eldar Ruin, the… even the Necron ship! You knew I could fly it before even I did."
"Mable, what's your point?" The woman asked, cutting through her examples and dismissing them easily.
"You're old." Mable whispered… and as she remembered what the daemon had stated about old women starting and ending wars, she tested her grip on the currently bladeless sword in her hand. Hearing the barely suppressed laughter of Disarray, Mable pointed the hilt towards the woman who had been keeping too many secrets from her. "You know things you shouldn't."
"You're right." Redmane told her… and as the woman let out a sigh, Mable made her demand.
"Tell me what you're hiding."
"No." Redmane softly rejected her… and as Mable screamed in anger, she would be met by a cold gaze.
"Why not?!"
"Because, you can't know what comes next. We're in a time bubble, Mable. Things have to play out in certain ways, or everything we've worked for comes undone." Redmane told her… and as Mable denied the woman's words, she would give an example.
"That's not… true. What would have changed if we didn't get the Maelstrom Grenade? Or if I had let the brick fall on the nanomachines?"
"Then Hisperia wouldn't be anymore. The Tyranids would head to a different world, or perhaps several before they'd suffer any damage at all. Mable… you hurt the hive by killing its Swarmlord, but we haven't done damage it can't recover from." Redmane stated… and then gestured to the valley they were surrounded by. "Hisperia would be a barren rock already if you hadn't reached that device in time… but the only reason you reached it was because you raced for it."
"Then what comes next? If you know, then you should be able to tell me."
"I can't do that, Mable." Redmane stated flatly. "You're a major player in this still, and the smallest interference can mess everything up. That's why I wasn't there during the Swarmlord. You had to do that on your own… and whatever comes next, you have to act as you would normally."
"That's… unfair." Mable stated, getting a shrug of disinterest from the one who clearly knew what was coming, and was actively trying to make the events unfold as naturally as possible.
"The universe is unfair. Ideas like balance, and truth are all constructs, created by intelligent minds across the galaxy. Not even scientific laws are unbreakable, Mable. The only thing we can do is keep going forward, and do our best to get what we want."
"What does she want?" The daemon whispered a question with joy, which Mable immediately repeated.
"What do you want?"
Silence.
A smile.
She didn't want to tell her.
She wouldn't tell her, no matter what.
Just like the orb.
Mable teared up at the thought… and as she lowered the hilt… she would breathe out her fear.
"What if… what if you die? What if Ulvos, or Sindarion, or Malcevisor… dies? I don't… Redmane, I don't want that to happen. You… you're all I have."
"Oh, Mable." Redmane breathed… and as she was approached, and hugged by the older woman who hid her face in the brim of a hat most of the time, Mable would look up to the aged, but… energized face of someone who looked at her with a plain, pure, honest joy. Tearing up as she was simply appreciated, Mable would close her eyes tightly, and wrap her arm around the waist of the woman that consoled her. "Thank you… Mable. Your honesty refreshes this cold, dead, liar's heart of mine."
Nodding her head in the flank of the woman who she… couldn't help but trust in this moment, Mable felt a hand on her head… and heard, again, the hint of a unified song in the woman's heart. Unable to put it into words as she once again heard the non-existent music that she had heard in the battle-trance against the Tyranids… Mable was held for a long moment… and then given the order she didn't want to fulfil.
"Send us back."
Summoning the high-whir of reality to her, Mable closed her eyes… and felt a terrible regret, realizing she had just wasted her time.
When they had come back to reality, Ulvos had appeared, apparently not having told anyone about the deal he had made. Just staring at Redmane and the one who brought her back to their time, Ulvos slowly transitioned his gaze to her… and as Mable shut her eyes in understanding, the inquisitor at her side patted her arm before giving new orders to those around her.
"Teleportation teams, come with me! Kasrkin soldiers, instead of joining us in the butchery of the inquisitorial force in there, you will provide escort to Saint Mable to the naval base. Castellan, will you go with her, to smooth out any problems that may arrive?"
"Yes, but I must return to take overall command of the forces of Hisperia. Brothers… may we meet again at the Emperor's side." Malcevisor called to the Astartes that would be remaining here, who took their dismissal instantly for what it was. Having so many questions, such as how she was going to carry the teleporting beacon into which of the hive ships… Mable would stare at the inquisitor who was bravely walking towards her fate. Then, noticing Sindarion was remaining static as his brothers began to walk after the Sword Brother that would be leading them, Mable… felt a pain in her chest as the Angel of Death's head snapped away from her suddenly… and the castellan spoke quietly at her side. "Mable. We must hurry."
"R-right." Mable whispered, following the armored men who she sensed were glad that they didn't have to clear out the inquisitional bunker. Gripping her hand tightly on the hilt of the bladeless sword, Mable felt… something off with her satchel bag she still held.
Briefly opening it, and then seeing the hard-drive she had given Redmane earlier put back in the interior… Mable closed her eyes… and moved forward.
For it was all she could do.