Chapter 3: a morning of revealing and the Lord of Iron
Erda sighed happily as she cooked breakfast in the villa's communal kitchen the scent of eggs, grox bacon and crepes filled the air with the happy laughter of Aurelius and Vigil playing just outside the small prefabricated building. Putting the plates filled with food on a tray with drinks Erda carried it out thinking of ancient memories of Terra's diners before the republic of man split.
When she walked out Erda almost dropped her tray coming face to face with an inquisitor "DON'T scare me like that," Erda said composing her maiden forms face with a long breath out "also how the hell did you get in here?", the inquisitor was strange even compared to Erda's triple nature with the inquisitor having a squished in face with feline features like if someone took a frying pan to a felinid.
"So these are the lost and the forbidden?" he said his voice having a rich baritone purr to it with Erda extending a hand from her Mother form her back holding her las pistol pointed straight at him, "I will ask only one more time how did you get in here?" Erda said all 3 of her voices laced together in the same threat.
The inquisitor showed both his empty hands "I am an inquisitor Gallius Ingwin of the Ordo Hereticus at your service Erda" Gallius said giving a small bow that merely made Erda feel mocked, Aurelius and Vigil stopped chasing each other around the small garden in front of Vigils nursery to watch the interaction between the two.
"They have names like you Gallius you shall call my sons your EMPERORS sons by their names throne damn it" Erda said walking towards the picnic table she had set out for their first breakfast the pistol still traced on the inquisitor, "Aurelius and Vigil most of the inquisition don't even know why they were stripped of their history, care to share?" Gallius said head cocked in curiosity then seeing the anger growing on Erda's face retracted the request.
Erda called the two primarchs over picking them up and sitting them on booster seats to get at the mini crepes and scrambled eggs, her attention was on them but her mother form split away still pointing the pistol straight at the inquisitor with said inquisitor nodding in acknowledgement. "So the rumours are true, the Emperors wife still lives," Gallius said taking a knee "you need not fear me now Erda the custodes informed me that you are now to be called Empress due to your marriage with our most sacred God Emperor, order me as you wish and I shall make it so" he added before getting up.
Erda's maiden form still focused on the primarchs trying to get them to focus more on their food than what was happening mere feet away from them, "HE IS A KITTY!" Aurelius exclaimed noticing the tail that danced and flicked nervously behind the inquisitor beneath his coat. "Felinid sweety and a half blood felinid by the looks now focus on your breakfast" Erda's maiden form said coaxing the primarch towards a sippy cup of orange juice before moving faster than a las bolt the primarch of the second was away from the table and had his head beneath Gallius's massive coat.
"HEY! STOP THAT!" Gallius exclaimed trying to jump away and despite Erda finding some amusement she had to put a stop to this, "AURELIUS ULUSOY!" Erda's mother form ordered using the emperors last name as did not see any mentions of Aurelius's adoptive last name in what few records she was able to read. Vigil put his hand over his mouth in shock and Aurelius trailed out from under the inquisitors coat with a look of guilt plastered over his face, "well what do we say? I know you have been in the dungeon for 10,000 years but there is no excuse for rudeness young man" Erda's mother form said putting the las pistol away the hairs on the inquisitors face once fluffed up in alarm now being smoothed down as to not ruin his appearance.
"S-sorry?" Aurelius said looking up at the inquisitor with Gallius accepting his apology Erda sighed as her maiden form placed the toddler back at the table, "sorry only got them back yesterday as you can see spending that long in the dungeon plus the physical regression might produce side effects" Erda said with Gallius taking some interest. "Mind if i stay for breakfast? Seems we have a bit to discuss if you're going to be doing what i think you're going to do" Gallius said and Erda gestured to the picnic table before splitting off her crone form to make the inquisitor a plate.
Erda's mother form sat down "and what is it that you think i am going to do Gallius?" she questioned with the half felinid grinning with what he probably thought was diplomatic but looked more out of place even on an inquisitor, "something that will help me, how about it? You want your sons back and we wish to depower the forces of chaos" Gallius said making all 3 of Erda's forms freeze as she thought about it.
Regaining her composure and moving again only because she was about the burn the bacon Erda cleared her mother forms throat "and how exactly are you going to help me?" she asked her maiden form giving him the side eye as she reached over to fuss over Vigil who spilt some omelet down his front. "Well as you may of figured we in the inquisition have resources that let us monitor the movements of your wayward sons the daemon primarchs," he said thanking Erda's crone form as a plate of food was placed in front of him "i keep you updated and aid you getting the man power to get to them" he added on not breaking eye contract with the crone before swivelling his head back to the mother.
"Very well how about we test it then?" Erda said after taking a bite of toast "name one and i shall show you the way" Gallius offered, "Perturabo" Erda said with Gallius going wide eyed "the lord of iron? How sure are you on this one?" Gallius said with Erda nodding to affirm her choice. "You are aware i am the Empress yes?" Erda said with Gallius thinking for a moment, "well according to our archives on you passed on from Malcador the hero himself since you were with the Holy Emperor prior to the imperiums birth so.. I guess that makes you entitled to that title yes" Gallius said a level of worry and nerve on his voice.
"Then you know my answer," Erda said firmly "get what ever i need we are going to get Perturabo" and Gallius nods, "i will but unfortunately theres a bit of an issue to cover now that i can confirm your intentions and who you are" Gallius said with Erda raising an eyebrow "i feel like i am not going to like this" Erda said her maiden form reaching over to smooth vigils cheek calming her nerves.
"You're going to have to reveal yourself to the public as the Empress if you don't want Robute Guilliman redirecting your resources towards the repulsion of the Tyranid threat" Gallius said with Erda's mother form weaving her fingertips through her shawl nervously as her crone form placed a hand around her throat. "I get it i really do doing this will be like firing a flare up in the air telling him you're there but-" Gallius said being interrupted by Erda saying "fine i will".
The two discussed how it would be done the mother tagging out with the maiden and crone as Erda decided to use her mother form to care for the primarchs already in her care, as much as parting with them so soon after getting them back hurt her hearts she knew it was temporary but the inquisitor came up with a solution.
The Mechanicus were comissioned by him to create a stealth ship in the frame of an Avenger-class Grand Cruiser called Emperors Secret sacrificing most of the broadside cannons for increased speed, additional anti-fighter guns and of course a stealth field generator reverse engineered from the Tau by only the most willing of tech priests. Gallius offered Erda a grand space on the ship to do with as she pleased and Erda was apprehensive at first taking literal toddlers near a potential warzone was going to be a risk one she wasn't willing to gamble, Gallius understood telling her that the primarchs protection will be his crews priority with Erda asking "even beyond mine?" and Gallius said yes to Erda's surprise but she appreciated the honesty telling him that if he said no she would of slapped him.
Erda in her mother form sat in front of a camera with Vigil and Aurelius on her lap knowing that revealing herself like this was not only like blowing a dog whistle for literally all of her sons but also to the many organizations that vied for control, she steadied herself as Gallius started recording.
"Greetings children of the Emperor of man," Erda said putting a level of well practised royal tones into her voice "for far too long i have been gone from my beloveds side, but now HE calls me back to his side so fear not."
She took a moment to look down at the primarchs in her lap with Vigil hiding himself under her shawl with a bit of camera shyness and Aurelius waved at the camera curiously, Erda smiled knowing that such innocent faces was going to be like sugar on top of her speech for the common citizenry of the imperium getting at least them on her side. "My husband calls for me and calls for our children our sons the primarchs to return home so that we may shepard the imperium together to a better tomorrow, so citizens REJOICE! For a new tomorrow is here" Erda said as the camera stopped recording.
2 Weeks passed everything prepared Erda sat in the rocking chair of a nursery she requested to be made on the Emperors secret one she warded herself with sigils of power that she knew would not only protect her children and anyone inside from the ruinous powers but would keep their existence from their minds, the room was dark with the primarchs asleep as she rocked the chair back forth reading the instructions on the data slate and as the captain sent out a notification saying they were about to warp jump Erda pushed on the digital button sending her message across Terra and the imperium as a whole out into the wild.
What was actually minutes for everyone else but what felt like hours for Erda passed until the ship dropped from the warp back into the material realm, the caretaker servitors nodded as Erda stood leaving allowing them to guard the primarchs whilst she was gone.
She stood by Gallius in the planning room the holographic image of a planet flickering as a tech priest gave it a kinetic blessing, Erda smiled at the blessing knowing that such a blessing was older than the Mechanicus itself. "Going to keep eyeing the tech priest or are we going to get this started?" Gallius said gett Erda's attention, "by all means begin just old times catching up with me" Erda said getting a sly grin from Gallius.
"This is Thanard 4, a forge world in the Tholhar system near the Eye the former asshole of this Emperor forsaken galaxy," Gallius said getting an eye roll from Erda as the religious phrase "the lord of iron Perturabo himself has been located in the central forge ready to turn this whole damned world into a daemon engine production facility for his own twisted ends"
Erda internally cringed when Gallius called it his 'twisted ends' since she was the one that written his genecode side by side with Neoth she knew what he was programmed to do, his ability to let him see the Eye plus his inbuilt supernatural soul forged from a minor warp god allowed him to do exactly what he was doing now. It's just now instead of taking the great enemies resources and using them for the benefit of man he has been brought into their service to fill their ranks with the engines of war they were going to use against them.
"Now the teleportarium is going to have a lot of interference due to his adept use of technology and due to his daemonic nature we have recruited those within the ranks of the Grey Knights" Gallius said and Erda had a confused look on her face, "the who?" she asked getting a surprised look by everyone and a single silvery gauntlet slowly rose from the towering giant that stood by the table.
"That would be me and my battle brothers Empress" he said and Erda silently probed his abilities and genecode with her powers, "I can feel what you're doing in there" he said aloud and Erda's eyes shot wide in alarm stopping her probing saving her findings for later.
"Anyway," Gallius said pointing at one of the battlements "going by drop pod or drop ship is going to be suicide so we need to go by foot for a stealth approach" he said and Erda studied the map, "i can get us in, we made Perturabo to be a master of technology and a siege master but he is nothing like his brother Magnus so i can-" Erda said before the grey knight interrupted "NO WARP SORCERY!" he said and Erda stared daggers at him.
"Who is the Empress? Who is the Emperors wife? WHO IS LEADING THIS OPERATION!?" Erda says commandingly putting some of her power into enlarging her presence to that of a snarling beast, the grey knight whilst not in fear realized he had stepped over a boundary "i apologise empress i stepped out of line, it's a habit to prevent warp sorcery" he said with Erda unable to contain the eye roll as she went back to her normal Mother form.
"Then it's settled the Empress will teleport us all into Perturabos sanctuary, Grey knights will provide her psykic back up give her every ounce of protection you are physically able to muster for your blunder," Gallius said with Grey knight bowing in acknowledgement "me and the other forces shall focus our efforts on making sure anything outside the chamber does not come in as well as his body guards."
With the battle plan drawn up they gathered in the Emperors Secrets cargo hold as Erda prepared her teleportation spell moving her, Gallius, 40 grey knights, 10 custodes and 80 members of the inquisitors personal military through the warp in a blinding flash of light.
When they reappeared they found themselves in a twisted grand chamber that was once a holy bastion for the Mechanicus to run the forge from, the metal walls stained with marble that seemed to grow along its surface like a plague with controls of hardened steel and servitor components sticking out like half fleshy spires that twisted the forge to the lord of irons unholy will.
Perturabo himself was what horrified Erda the most seeing him sitting at the main control plinth waving his gigantic hands as if conducting a choir with Erda being able to see the wisps of data at his finger tips, "Perturabo?" Erda said almost weakly stunned by what he has become no longer was there the towering mountain of muscle, intelligence and spite all that began to stand not creaking like metal on metal but grinded like stone on stone.
"WHO DARES!" his voice shouted across the chamber out of every vox emitter in the walls. His armour of old long since discarded replaced with that of a twisted dreadnought that once upon a time may of been a Contemptor with components and plates from the Leviathan or even Furibundus patterns but Erda could not tell, every inch of the external plate and the weapons themselves were covered in the same marble infection that plagued the walls with the dreaded olympian forcing his legs free from the floor with a snap like he was breaking bone.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELF!?" Erda not shouted but screamed as she watched Perturabo walk a silver mask covering his face, "achieved apotheosis like my brothers dear inquisitor" he said venom dripping from each word as Erda began to feel her forms begin to drop from her. Gallius moved in putting a hand on Erda's mother form shoulder as her crone and maiden forms split from her quivering on her knees from the sight, "Empress with all due respect GET UP! I didn't come here to die we are here to bring him home now DO IT!" Gallius said igniting his power sword as the iron circle closed in.
Pulling herself together both metaphorically and literally Erda stood with all 3 forms the maiden with her sickle, the mother with her strings and the crone fashioning a cloak, "bring me home? To my CORPSE of a father? NEVER!" Perturabo said giving a singular thought command and the iron circle descended upon them.
Erda cut through the Abominable Intelligences more easily than she did the warp spawned abominations Erebus sicked upon her and maiden form first made a beeline straight for the primarch, Perturabo raised his right arm blocking the attacking but the mother and crone sailed over the top ripping the shoulder mounted weaponry from his body in a spurt of a mixture of blood and oil.
I AM SORRY MY SON! BUT IF YOU SHALL NOT STAND DOWN I SHALL MAKE YOU!" Erda's forms said spring boarding off him as he shouted "FATHER! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE FATHER!"
"Your father isn't here Perturabo" Erda said getting her crone form to take out two of the barrels on his left arm, "it pains me to do this" she said as he screamed "LIES! YOU LIE FATHER! YOU ALWAYS LIED!"
"I AM NOT YOUR FATHER PERTURABO! NOT YOUR BIOLOGICAL FATHER NOR THE ONE YOU BURIED ON OLYMPIA!" Erda shouted as the maiden form rips the rest of the gun off the giant taking with her his forearm and hand, "WHO ARE YOU!" Perturabo screamed as Erda's mother form bisects one of the iron circle that attempted to run to his aid whilst the crone takes Perturabos right arm up to the shoulder clean off revealing it to be all metal.
Weaving strings of warp energy around him and binding them tight Erda in all 3 forms came to Perturabos face as the last of the iron circle fell dead, "WHO ARE YOU!" Perturabo screamed again less of a demand and more of a plea. He repeated the question as he struggled with Erda's mother form reaching for the silver mask each repetition becoming more and more frantic.
"You're many things Perturabo you are smart, cunning and just like your father you can be as dense as a star but just as brilliant but most of all," Erda said twisting the mask off Perturabo revealing the corpse like face beneath eyes welled with blood stained tears "i don't ever want to hear you call yourself a daemon" she added cupping his cheeks with her hands.
"who are you?" Perturabo asks a final time with all 3 of Erda's forms smiling at him and speaking in unison "i am your mother and i have come to bring you and your legion home."
Erda pushed a bit into his mind forcing his defences to fall letting the lord of iron speak what was under all that stone and metal, "p-please no more... I don't want to go into another warzone" the vox's around them echoed his weak words reverberated on the walls like a curse. "Ssshhh it's ok my son, i won't let your father send you to another" Erda said with the primarch looking in her eyes.
"But my sons.. What will befall them if i come home with you?" Perturabo asks with Erda having a look that portrayed the seriousness of the question, "i am not going to tell you a single lie ok Perty? Is it ok if i call you that?" Erda asked as Gallius put his hand on her shoulder.
"I know you're having a mother and son moment but for the Emperors sake HURRY IT UP! The whole damn legions about to decend upon us" Gallius said and Erda just kept looking at Perturabo, "please call your sons off" she emplored and the primarchs face turned stern "please tell me what shall happen to them and i will" he said.
"As the imperiums Empress my word is law Perturabo i promise, no i PLEDGE you that those of your sons that have not accepted the great enemy as their patrons will be spared and welcomed back" Erda said watching her sons face turn to that of contemplation, the sound of thunderous foot steps of power armour sprinting echoed down the corridor before the primarch accessed his vox once again.
"Attention all iron warriors STAND DOWN pack everything up, we leave this hell hole FOR TERRA! IRON WITHIN IRON WITHOUT!" he called through the vox, "thank you perty," Erda said with a relieved sigh "now there is only the matter of your body" she adds feeling his skin. "Fulgrim did this to me" Perturabo says angrily with Erda nodding in understanding "he tried to use you to fuel his transformation didn't he?" she asked getting a nod from her son.
"Your brothers will be found in time Perty just please don't turn the nursery into a bar brawl when i put Fulgrim in it think you can do that?" Erda asks and Perturabo looked confused, "Nursery?" he asks a mix of confusion on his features for the first time in thousands of years. "I am restoring your bodies allowing you all to have the childhood that was stolen from you all, the only thing i ever expect for you to worry about is when nap time comes around my little siege master" Erda says and Perturabo looks concerned.
"Considering you just said nursery i am going to be very small... What about the eye?" he says and Erda nods, "shall plague you no longer" she says and with the rest of his defences dropping Perturabo accepts the transformation.
Erda lifts what to her was her baby the tiny 2'10 form of Perturabo the former lord of iron reduced to the toddler that she heard those among the inquisitors retinue describe his behaviour as being like, he barely clung to conciousness his words a confused slur as Erda rubs his side and with a look to Gallius they make their way out.