The great grating alarm klaxon blared again across the deck.

The teleportarium, a gift from the distant forges of the red planet. As grand as befitted the battleship on which it dwelled, had suffered greatly during the first botched attempt to reach the surface far below. Were it any other matrix on any other ship in the galaxy save for a number of both that could have been counted on perhaps one hand it may have been irreparable.

Or had any other been managing said repairs.

Sparks and smoke spilled from the inner workings of the great pad which had room to embark an entire company of warriors upon. Hundreds of all manner the ship's denizens and their guests stood ringed around the arcane piece of technology brought to life out of the distant dark past.

Watching their liege lord stand, holding out both hands towards the device. Some observers thought they were seeing the one simply will the technology back into shape and compliance. Because they knew he would not let such a thing as this inanimate object interfere with his plans. Others because they knew his position granted him such control over machines and all their secrets. Still the rest understood how little they understood of the powers that were commanded to shape reality back into order.

Thoughts of the latter nature were flowing through the brain of the only one present who could match Him in stature and subtle glow of might. Though all could read the impatience across this giant's battle scarred features as he twisted silver knuckles around the gilded haft of the war-hammer planted firmly on the ground.

Royal red robes billowed gently in the space where there should have been no wind. And the man whispered out a command when he sensed the time was right,

"Now."

Power flowed back to the teleportarium, making the air hum whilst gears turned and conducting cores aligned. And powerful sensor arrays reacquired the target. Barely a heartbeat later came a powerful snap of light and the stench of ozone burnt across the senses of all those present.

Where once stood empty space, now was occupied.

Every warrior in the fleet of note had studied the reports brought in by the many eyes of the expedition aimed towards the surface. They knew of the many beasts which had plagued the besieged population in an existential war for thousands of years.

But viewing high orbit images, and stolen picts from the global information network was nothing like suddenly having dozens of living specimens brought uncomfortably close in the sanctity of the heart of the Fist of Iron.

Darkness curled around the black fur, scales and feathers. Letting red eyes loom out of the shadows and swallow all the world except for the thing in the night that stared back towards who dared to look. And dispelled any notion of fight or even flight.

For a moment the Grimm were as shocked as any present. Until, sensing prey far less able and warded then their age old foes suddenly very temptingly close. Attacked.

Shouts echoed out in alarm. Human officers, menials and tech adepts recoiled in terror.

The giants present all bristled for an imperceptible moment of shock before drawing their weapons. And a shout from one golden captain sent his order springing into motion.

"Tuere Imperator!"

"Guard the Emperor!"

Gold clad warriors all bearing the same red plume on their helms readied spears and leapt up onto the teleporter pad. The other black armored transhumans at the perimeter raised bulky side-arms and took aim. It was not long before the first thunder blasts sounded, which would have drowned out any weapon on Remnant that could be carried by a single person.

Centurions and Sergeants picked their shots with utmost care. Targeting those beasts farthest away from the center. Shells struck and tore ragged chunks from the flesh of the Grimm. But such grievous wounds did little to slow them down. These warriors who had seen monsters of greater bulk and tenacity laid low by similar shots almost gawked in surprise before shooting again and again. The Grimm only howled and rushed at the waiting line of guns.

And the nearing line of spears.

Claws gouged troughs, some deeper than others, in the thick golden plate armor. The luckiest even drew beads of blood. But nothing could slow the onslaught sweeping the beasts away. Light snapped off the edges of the relic blades, moving with speed and skill unparalleled. Each technique molded singularly to the individual. They fought not as one unit but perfectly in synchronization nonetheless. Lancing through black hearts and hewing grasping limbs. Blinking away the curiosity that struck them when the final blows landed and the creatures burst into stinging ash.

A metallic chorus of clicks and shrieks came from the perimeter as empty magazines fell and were soon replaced. Careful center mass targets switched to headshots which found success in downing the monsters. Who dwindled and dwindled in number with each passing second.

But one. The largest by far, wolf-like but disproportioned to the extreme. Launched out of the horde's center. Over the closing melee and the warriors in gold. Rolled on the deck and launched towards the two who stood watching the slaughter.

The thing was fast. Yet still unable to react when the mountain that looked like a man moved to intercept. One silver fist crashed into its stomach. Arching the back which gave muffled pops of exploding vertebrae. The mouth full of fangs rolled open spitting black blood. And the other silver hand wrapped around the bone white mask and gripped tight. Pulling the beast's head free like a rotten flower head.

As the intruders fell, the darkness of their presence lifted away. Driven back to the center of the pad. Where, slowly being freed in the light of his own radiance and power. There was a most Human figure.

Another giant of a man clad in the color of an inferno. Who wielded a large red scythe that came free of the press with a torrent of shadows from its targets that were bisected in a single blow. Growing in clarity and power with every creature slain.

The last of which fell dead to the floor. Shattering like a sculpture of snow. The hooked blade of the stranger's weapon that bore plain signs of being pushed far beyond its use with a chipped and bent blade and curling shaft still holding the ruined remains of the controls and optics mounts. Held low where it had lopped off the spindly insect legs and half the body. Moments before one of the gilded spears could lance the beast through and through.

Kad stared back down the length of this weapon.

Immediately noticing the large bore barrel pointed now straight between his eyes in his almost crouched position. Whispers from the less disciplined observers filled the ringing silence of the battle's end. Seeing the weapons still leveled in lethal intent.

Kad's warm eyes flicked up to the artistically wrought helmet on the one who held the spear ready still.

"It's also a gun?" Kad asked the silent figure.

Void black eye lenses flinched the barest fraction of an inch, and the figure in gold raised his weapon. Planting the butt down and stepping back with the rest of his brotherhood to form two neat lines. Flanking a path straight back to the two approaching legends.

Kad's eyes narrowed, diving back through memories of memories. One of the pair he knew, personally from his own brief time upon Remnant. And all the emotions finally coming face to face with Aurum again tumbled about stalling his tongue.

Meanwhile, finding no more Grimm before him. Bearing a dozen more bleeding wounds through his long gone Aura to join his tortured shoulder. And the tightness in his chest made breathing feel as though he was dragging air through a straw being stepped on by a Goliath. The strength finally left his bones and Kad began to fall towards the ground.

The other figure he had not the pleasure of meeting as of yet broke into a run for the last few steps of the distance between them. Catching Kad under his left arm with his own hand. That was covered in some manner of metal which flexed and ripple with the muscles beneath like real skin.

His rumbling voice sounded out in flawless Vytan. "Easy, I have you brother."

Kad's stomach lurched when the strong grip pulled him back to his shaking feet. And he looked up to this one who towered over him by at least four heads.

"Brother…" Kad replied, his voice weak and weary as breath tried to enter his petrified lungs. Finding some familiarity in those features and close buzzed black hair. And a pair of eyes which gleamed like freshly burnished steel. While despite being perfectly proportioned to everything else would have been considered beady by any standard in the Kingdoms. He had seen a close approximation every time he looked in a mirror. Imagining that his own might look the same in some decades, with no Aura to stop all the damage wrought upon his skin. And who knew how much time burning a scowl onto his face.

More than that there was kinship he could sense immediately. Knowing here was one just like him. Made in the same way, by the same means that set them so apart from the rest of their species.

Yet that was not the first thing to cross the Huntsman's mind.

"I know you…" Kad said again, dredging through his perfect recall. "Silver hands… Ferrus."

The other Primarch's eyes grew wide. And his grip that could bend adamantium tightened ever so subtly and his mouth went pursed. Slipping back into a language he had spent much more time on. Only one word escaping his tight vocal control.

One which Kad never heard in his entire life. But somehow effortlessly understood.

"How?..."

Ferrus Manus did not receive any more time to ponder this enigma.

As the Master of Mankind finally drew close.

He loomed like an approaching storm with his might and mood radiating off him in cold waves that froze Kad's heart while he tried to speak. Whatever color his eyes tried to be when the two of them had first met in shadows and secrecy were drowned in a fountain shining with golden power and the wrath of a thousand separate things coming to a pinpoint on the wounded Huntsman, who did not know what would happen next.

Breathlessly waiting as Aurum moved to support Kad on his unoccupied right side that held Crescent Rose. And placed His own right hand upon Kad's chest.

The Light returned.

Kad drew in a deep gasping breath. Feeling soothing cold pour into his body, cracking the tension that so plagued him apart. The foundation of his constitution returned to stable ground, even if the weight of weariness from the battle and all the energy he had channeled left his strength far from what it was.

Letting Crescent Rose fall to the ground and buried his own right hand into the robes on Aurum's shoulder, while He addressed the crowd.

"My companions. Legionaires of the Tenth, you, their servants and guests. Bid hail and greetings to my Primarch the Eleventh! Welcome Kad Amaranth."

Hundreds of throats joined in the same shout, "Hail Primarch Amaranth!"

Fists of flesh and metal crashed up over hearts in salute. And Kad took his first real look around this place he found himself.

Illumination came from harsh industrial bars overhead on the catwalks and platforms surrounding this strange mechanism he stood upon. The one that had brought him from his final stand, to a brutally spartan and cavernous metal room. The air was sterile and clean with the cold, Cold relative to the desert he was fighting in but a moment ago. It cut into his sinuses while the lingering malodorous scent of Grimm and the aftermath of the teleportation sequence faded. Kad looked once again over the guards in gold, and beyond them other figures in dull black armor who as well were larger than any he had met on Remnant. His keen ears caught the thrum of power in the air isolating it in the depths of the armor they wore. Those and the line of Aurum's guardians were on average more Kad's height. He would have pondered the feeling further of no longer being the tallest in the room if he had not more pressing concerns.

And scattered throughout their ranks in both utilitarian battle dress, and more ornate coats of formal attire were Humans. Some augmented with masks of metal and who knew what else beneath their red robes. Others a colorful and not so colorful assortment of every variety of man and woman he had ever seen before, with his senses picking out a hundred other details about each and every one of them.

All looking in wonder at him and the two at his sides.

And for a moment. A familiar gut wrenching feeling returned to Kad. Gazing around at the things that seemed to have been brought straight out of a science fiction novel, a genre that he never had a particular an affinity for. The feeling that reality could become unglued and fall apart that surged and faded through the years like the tide as Kad tried to make sense of the world he saw and the others he remembered, swelled up like a hurricane.

He thought he must be dreaming. Or having some sick prank played upon him by some foul semblance. None of this could be real.

That the things in the nightmare nether realm would peel back everything finally and then truly begin to torment him.

"Hail Primarch Amaranth!"

The cheer came again, louder this time. Snapping the string drawing taut on his mind. This was real.

This was now.

Like all the others he remembered, remembering. Aurum had come to bring him to his rightful place.

But something was not right.

Turning and slipping his left arm free from the grasp of Ferrus. Kad moved to grip his Father's forearms. "Father, or… Aurum, Sir. I need your help. Please. Please the Grimm, these things. You have to go! We have to fight! My friends…"

The figure before him. Eye to eye at his own considerable height. Returned the grip forearm to forearm and said, "It is already done. Whilst there may yet be more work awaiting us on Remnant. This black army you speak of is no more."

Now it was Kad's turn to have his eyes narrow in confusion. "What? How just like…"

His heart rate accelerated, "What did you do?!"

"Peace my son." The one letting himself be addressed as Aurum said. Before raising his right hand up to the side of Kad's face. "Let us share, one more time."

Aurum blinked and they were both lost.

Taken from his own flesh and blood to gaze upon the desert city of Vacuo in a point of view that he imagined a god would have. The endless swarm of his enemies flooded the city. Racing towards the last figure that stood defiantly against their savagery, while the transports carrying the other survivors raced away to safety.

Kad focused on those craft. The only thing important to him in this moment out of body. They crested the horizon over the sea of sand on their way back to suffer the sting of defeat. That they would live to do so, all he wanted.

The serenity that knowledge brought however did not last long. Through the link with his father he felt something different than he had before.

Anger.

From his otherworldly eyes Kad was dragged back to the not so imposing or to him important figure of himself. Being buried under a hundred bodies that ripped into his flesh as he began to drown.

But in a blink this other Kad of the past was gone. Whisked away to the heavens and what awaited him there. His view being dragged upwards towards that space at disorienting speed.

To bring the weapon descending into focus.

Even here in another nether world Kad felt his hearts begin to race. When the artificial comet struck Remnant and blossomed a ball of fire many times that which he had planned to bring about with his modified bombs. Incinerating everything in a zone many miles across.

With panic running hard in his veins, Kad did as once had and reached out his mind for his Aura and the might to wrench free his fixed view to search for the last airship lagging behind the main fleet with its very precious cargo.

Finding only a sandstorm of ash, until a tiny silver speck caught the light of the explosion as it rose back up on shaky wings to a new orbit around the cataclysm. Within its hold two equally radiant but totally separate and unique candles whose flames Kad instantly recognized.

Another lance of pain cut through his brain returning again to the here and now. Aurum placed a clenched fist upon Kad's collar bone. The gesture spoke for itself.

His friends were safe.

Kad's one wish had been heard. Granted as well as many more beside it. Dizzy with all the world shaking implications this reunion had brought, Kad almost collapsed on the spot again. Everything he had wished to be or had been was gone in an instant leaving only what had always been there to come to terms with this new reality.

And he desperately needed to rest before exploring that to its fullest.

But one almost insignificant thread remained, with Kad's ember like eyes losing focus and drifted back down to the floor of the teleportarium.

"Father." Kad began again, clinging to consciousness like a freezing man to a blanket. And one last impossible hope that another burden he carried might still be lifted before it crushed him back down from this lofty place his spirits threatened to rise. "Before… When you tried to take me the first time…"

With a single understanding nod, the man answered this last lingering question. "Fear not my son. Your Huntress is on the way to the medical bay. A place you as well should grace with a visit."

A few more details based on observations currently being had, aligned with the memories within his mind. Kad knew he was on a ship, more than that an interstellar spaceship. Something the people of Remnant had long dreamed of, but lacked any manner of means to create with their primary and only energy source Dust losing its potency as it left the atmosphere.

That was one experiment he would need to re-examine soon. Still, he felt the power coursing through this place. Humming so close behind the wall he could almost reach out and touch the foreign energy. But for now, despite all the wondrous and strange things he saw limping across the decks with an arm over his Father's shoulders when they weren't riding massive transit cars through the ice cold halls. Kad remained silent, biting his tongue on the hundreds of other questions he now had. Ignoring the silent stare of the other Primarch boring into the back of his skull, in between idly fidgeting with the scythe Crescent Rose the man had elected to carry with them on Kad's behalf with his own impressive warhammer slung across Ferrus' back.

Primarch.

The word echoed into his soul. It held weight, importance. Familiarity, such that he effortlessly attuned it to all his thoughts and perspectives brought out of the long waking dream that his life had been at sometimes. Giving a name to the others he had seen in the moments he shared with the one at his side, seen over many a night. He was a Primarch.

It felt right.

They carried on the journey. Counting out a final two hundred steps, the not so little group of transhumans reached a final portal with thick blast doors already drawn back to accept their presence in the place it guarded.

Kad knew towns that were smaller than this room he stared into. Whatever image he had been crafting of a medical bay that would befit this ship based on his very earliest memory, died in an instant. This place bore equal hallmarks of a machine shop alongside a place for mending flesh.

Loud and consistent hammering, and the brilliant arcing flashes of welders around blast forges filled up the background noise. Long assembly lines brought parts fabricated in the deep recesses of the medical bay to assemblers creating many manner of metal mechanisms Kad did not understand. Taking shape along the well-practiced routes into cybernetic limbs, arms legs and other manner of replacements for flesh and blood. This strange industry weaving in and out of other places that held things he was slightly more accustomed to seeing in a place of healing. Tanks of preservative fluids holding biological materials were common. Gigantic beds he briefly fantasized about being able to actually comfortably stretch out upon were scattered throughout, though few were occupied. Scanners and other open labs that would display the health and status of patients requiring a foray into this realm of blood and iron.

More Humans and their variations along with many of the other warriors armored and not, halted their tasks and raced to make themselves presentable to the lords that had appeared. Ferrus gave command in their language to return to duties neglected. Some of the words Kad was able to decipher which he still found puzzling. But soon dismissed as Aurum led him to the place before them bustling with the most activity.

One of the covered bays nearest the center of the room with at least two more tiers of medical units above it. A few of the black armored giants stood along the periphery gazing back and forth between the busy group of normal Humans in long white hooded robes in the center and their monitors which showed some manner of data readout about the body of the patient currently being tended to.

One of them, a woman Kad assumed based on her figure with some small lengths of blonde hair escaped from the net atop her head which bore a complex face mask and one cybernetic eye gleaming with a gold lens, peeled away and approached the coming group. Kad broke free from Aurum's side ignoring the pain in his body and made straight past this woman who gave report to his Father. Her voice slowed as she saw him push between her colleagues and loom over the bare metal operating table they surrounded.

And Kad's hearts leapt up into his throat when he saw the state Pyrrha was in.

The people he supposed should or perhaps could be referred to as doctors had done little to preserve her modesty as they worked on the horrendous burns that covered a great deal of her body. Swathes of flesh charred red and raw that wept clear fluid and blood ran in lines across her pale skin, tracing the scars Pyrrha would have for the rest of her life. Many of those patches had pieces of her armor and clothes melted into the epidermis. Wrapping up around her neck and towards her right eye while another splash ran across her left ear. Much of her crimson hair had been scorched away, leaving not but a waxy net across her skull. A thin black hose connecting to a medicinal mask had been placed across her mouth and nose, while red light from her shattered Aura pulsed like waves at the tide across her body.

Meanwhile Aurum received news of his unexpected guest which Kad caught the barest details of.

"Third and fourth degree burns cover sixty five percent of her body, and I do not need to tell you she is lucky to have those. This… Energy field I have yet to isolate is troubling and somewhat blocking our attempts to administer liquids and more powerful anesthesia. Plus the girl continues to struggle…"

The doctors slowed their ministrations applying salves and holding small devices out scanning along the worst of the trauma. Barely still conscious Pyrrha squirmed and thrashed, plying her nearly spent strength to free herself from the hands pressing her down. Her green eyes spun wildly at the terrifying things that surrounded her. Trays and tools of metal shuddered and danced when touched by Pyrrha's semblance of polarity trying to manifest to defend her. Making the warriors behind the wall of flesh shudder and move to ready themselves every-time.

Kad sank to his knees at her side, quickly catching her questing left hand in his own. Her panicked and scattered thoughts became a needle point of focus when she turned and saw the familiar Huntsman at her side. He brought his empty and still heavily charred right hand up to the back of the Huntress' head.

"Pyrrha." Kad began, "Calm down. These people want to help you."

Her breathing, briefly caught in her throat at seeing the Huntsman. Returned to its quick and shallow pace as panic threatened to set in once again with her attention being brought back to the ghoulish masquerade surrounding her.

"Kad!" She choked out, her voice tight with pain. "Where am?... Where are we?"

"You are here with me." Kad said, trying to maintain his own calm. "And you need to rest. Let them help you."

"Am I dead?"

Having been in a slightly similar state of mind in the recent past Kad chuckled slightly, but feeling no amount of humor. "No. We're alive…"

With that proclamation, Kad closed his eyes and sent the briefest pulse of strength through his Aura that he could manage in his own miserable state. The flame of his soul bright and easily felt through the connection so made between the two's hands held in a one sided vice grip. Pyrrha felt the reassuring warmth of life flow through her digits wracked by the most pain she had ever felt in her life. Kad as well felt her Aura threatening to gutter out and fade, but still glowing with all the determination Pyrrha ever had.

He wanted to lend her his strength once again. But his own Aura while relative to Pyrrha's was perhaps a mighty thing. Remained just as broken as hers. Kad continued, trying to fight back his own sorrow under the knowledge that even if Pyrrha was still alive he had done these terrible things to her. By accident or not. "You need to rest. I'll explain everything I promise. But please let these people help you… I'll be right here. And I'm going to stay here. With you…"

Pyrrha's pounding heart dropped to a slower beat as she stared into the giant's ember eyes. While her own fluttered shut with a tiredness artificially enhanced by the drugs finally finding their way into her system that carried her off to oblivion.

The doctors burst into activity while Kad stood and let go of Pyrrha. Stepping backwards out of their way while a familiar presence came to his left side.

Aurum spoke, "Now my son. If you would please,"

Kad cut him off, "Yeah… Yeah, just. I'll be right here…"

The Huntsman's own voice was slow and weary. While he stumbled back half a step. And before he could crash back down to the metal grating below turned and used the last of his fading strength to walk over to the nearest bay with a view into Pyrrha's. Past Ferrus and the golden guards of his Father.

Sitting upon the bare metal table that bore more in common with a mortuary slab than a hospital bed. Kad planted his feet to the floor and leaned heavily forward onto his knees watching the healing process truly beginning. In-between Aurum and Ferrus who studied him in puzzlement. Practically already asleep with his eyes wide open. But still able to hear what the two barely Human figures said in plain Vytan before the blackness took him.

"I have business to attend," Aurum said, gesturing over to the newly delivered Primarch. "When Kad awakes, answer his questions and show him every courtesy until I send for him."

"As you wish my Emperor." The silver handed one rumbled with a neat bow.

An unknown amount of hours later, Kad awoke. Blinking and bringing the distant ceiling back into crystal clear focus. Letting out a deep breath, feeling his empty stomach growl like an Ursa Major and finding himself flat on his back. The cold air dancing across his skin was a welcome change of clime. Which brought his attention to the fact that someone had changed his clothes while he was unconscious. Cladding him in a thin grey tunic and new black trousers supported by his old familiar belt that currently did not have the fighting knife upon it.

Flexing all his muscles let him feel the new rows of tight stitching packed the worst of his injuries that throbbed with a dull ache. Especially on points across his left arm. To which he looked down and saw a black vambrance with three hoses stuck into his veins running to a strange metal cart laden with tall glass containers of blood and other unknown chemicals.

As he flinched for a moment, dozens of points of focused cold piercing through his skin like fresh talon strikes came to Kad's attention. He raised his arms and rolled his shoulders the slightest bit possible. Discovering they were round pieces of metal which had been implanted while he slept. And felt an unfamiliar disgust well up in his stomach at just what had been done to him.

As he explored the state of his body a little flicker of movement not so far above caught Kad's attention. Tracking its path Kad zeroed in on what at first he thought could be a bird. Then corrected himself to believe it was some form of drone.

Until finally his eyes went wide when he realized it was a skull.

Every ounce of logic in his brain was trying to refute the truth his burning eyes were showing him. He had seen enough bleached bones to recognize that bare texture on the front half of a skull bolted to a small thruster pack and a computer that controlled the little thing. With a large red photo receptor set into the curious things' right eye socket.

He soon tracked several others moving through the airspace. The same thoughts of disbelief repeating themselves again and again each time he found a macabre new one of these things.

A sharp air powered whistle from across the deck sent his focus in a new direction.

He looked off into the facility. Finding no sign of Ferrus anywhere. But four of his Father's golden guards standing at attention next to the entrance of his temporary abode. They turned inwards with their spears held at rest butts to the ground as he stirred.

But Kad looked out beyond them.

Another of the giants was laid down upon a slab just like the one the Primarch had furloughed himself onto. And one of his comrades in armor colored white was leveling a large spinning saw blade towards the other man's left arm. Kad shifted up to a sitting position to get a better look.

The arm seemed to him absolutely in perfect condition. No missing fingers, no long mangled scars or any other damage that he could see.

But the blade kept coming down. Biting deep into the skin and muscle.

All the while watched by both the operator. And the soon to be amputee.

Kad could not help but cringe as blood sprayed and the two in the distance carried on with their grisly task. Standing up on his weakened legs and finding a pair of form fitting lace-less shoes on his feet, Kad averted his eyes before the procedure could be completed. Far too bewildered to cry out and try to stop that madness.

"Primarch Amaranth," One of the guards intoned with an artificially gravelly voice. "Please remain still. Lord Manus shall be here presently."

Kad demanded of the guard, "What did you do to me?"

"I? Nothing. As to what you meant to ask, the Chirurgeons had preparations to complete upon you, in regards to your rightful role."

The Huntsman bit his tongue on what else he wished to say, bringing up his left arm to examine the thing upon it. The machine it was connected to rumbled a bit closer to him automatically. Moving out of the way to reveal his blade in its dark leather sheath sitting upon another metal cart.

He stared down on the long single edged knife. Thinking of the dark prophecies that had been laid upon that knife by the lying monster he had scattered to the winds across Remnant. They burned his heart and mind remembering, even if he had long decided to never accept any more of those thing's rambling prophecies and lies.

The future was not set.

Kad turned his gaze back towards the golden one who had spoken. Raising a curious eyebrow he hoped would convey his query.

The guardian gave him a slow silent nod.

Quickly retrieving the weapon and buckling it back to his waist. Kad found some comfort in its familiar presence. But already knew would never be what it once was again.

"How long was I asleep?" The Primarch asked,

The same one of his wardens responded, "Seventeen hours."

Kad let out a brief blow of air through his nose in surprise. Thinking of all that could have transpired below by now, before brushing aside those concerns for the moment. He took a step forward. The machine followed him as he took another and another out of this cloister back over to Pyrrha's. His escort briefly tried to call him back but their words fell on deaf ears.

Almost all of her attendees had departed to parts unknown. Leaving only two behind to tend to the Huntress. Who was currently laying down on a bed much more furnished then the slab he had spent so many hours upon. And also encased in a large metal framed box of some transparent material.

Someone had dressed Pyrrha in a plain white gown, he could see with the slightly darker bed sheets tucked across her stomach and beneath her arms bandaged with slick and oily black substances. And properly seated the medicinal mask on her face, which connected to some other form of machines in the bay. Just like gauntlet very similar to his that was bound to her right forearm.

The Huntsman looked down to one of her physicians.

"May I speak with her?" He asked, in Vytan.

One of the golden giants at his back translated on Kad's behalf. A simple enough phrase that Kad understood the entirety. The man conversed with his colleague for a moment then rattled off a long string of grammar and words Kad almost followed for a moment. The gist of it was provided by the gilded sentry. Ire clear in his tone.

"You may attempt to. But be gentle."

Looking around and finding no other chair fit for his figure Kad sat down cross legged on the deck next to the box, near enough face to face with Pyrrha. Feeling every one of his injuries on still exhausted bones. The other guards took up their watch again a respectful distance away. Except for the one elected as translator.

After an awkward length of silence staring into the unmoving Kad told him, "I'm going to at least want my jacket back at some point."

The reply was curt and as courteous as could be expected, "As you wish Primarch Amaranth."

Kad's next words were in question, "What's your name?"

"To give my kenning it in its entirety would take the rest of this watch shift." Came the curious answer through a menacing voice filter, "I have many names. Each as true as the last. But for brevity they call me Aquillon."

"And… What are you?" Came Kad's next question.

"I am one of the Emperor's chosen. His companions, bodyguards, and praetorians. A proud and honored member of the Ten Thousand. The Custodes."

Another brace of memories remembering flowed across the back of Kad's head. Putting another name to things shared with him across space and time. Men not quite like the others as Ferrus. Nor the other black armored warriors elsewhere on this vessel. Something else his Father had created in the unknown depths of his command of science and who knew what else.

"May I have some privacy?" Kad asked Aquillon.

As gently as he could, testing the limits of just how far he could push these men. How much authority his position as his father's son was allowed.

"My orders are to watch you closely Primarch Amaranth. I cannot oblige."

"…Turn around."

And not so gently.

Looking inward to the force he knew laid there that sometimes pushed people by means he did not understand. One aspect of a face he rarely donned that might prove useful in this place.

The Custode did not budge.

Resigning himself to the intrusion Kad let out a deep sigh. Shifted and knocked the knuckles of his right index and middle fingers on the thing entombing Pyrrha. His hand was uncovered yet still heavy with scars, much of the charring done to that extremity having faded in the last hours.

The machine monitoring Pyrrha's heart rate with a slow gentle beep rose up in tempo. And the wounded Huntress rolled her head towards the noise. Her voice was weak and had to be dragged out of her throat across vocal muscles weighed down by her exhaustion and the foreign pain medication coursing through her veins. Muffled by the mask across her face and the barrier between them.

"Jaune?" She asked the blurry outline on the other side of the glass, whose super-human hearing picked out the barely audible name.

"Sorry," The giant answered, "Just little old me…"

"…Kad." She whispered in correction. Rolling her eyes back to the lights overhead. Pyrrha spent the next thirty seconds coming to grips with the fact the last brief stretch of her life had not been some fever dream filled with agony.

Then the next two minutes trying to nail down the first of a million questions. Before remembering the battle she had been snatched away from. And her heart rate monitor sounded out again. Pyrrha reached up and freed the mask from her mouth. "Kad. The Grimm… I mean… What happened? Did you?"

Kad placed his hand flat against the glass, "Easy. I… I kept my promise Pyrrha. Hit the monster with everything I had… But… But…"

He could not meet her eyes anymore. Drifting back to gaze at the diamond plated steel below.

Pyrrha's gentle voice passed through the grief and Kad's own pain. "What happened?"

He took one more deep breath, "That… That damn Grimm. I had to buy time to get the power we needed… I told Penny to… That monster knew. It baited me… She's dead Pyrrha."

"Penny? No… Oh, no…"

Kad said it. Now there was no more avoiding it. "After your accident we struck… Did what we could. But I knew I needed more energy and I told Penny to buy me some time… The Grimm was baiting me. I didn't want to throw anyone else in harm's way… But I had to… For, everyone else… And it ripped her apart like she was nothing."

"Oh Gods… But…" Pyrrha began again, fighting through the pain for every syllable. "You said you did it? You killed the Grimm finally? Didn't you? What happened next?"

"… Once Penny died. The Grimm had me pinned. I didn't know how I was going to get out… Who else it would kill… Then, there was a light."

"…What? What light?"

"From Ruby…"

"I don't understand?"

"Nor do I. But that… Is something I will elaborate upon. Some other time."

Kad's gaze found its way back up to Aquillon who remained steadfastly immobile. Pyrrha briefly looked over to the Custodes as well. Speaking after taking what measure she could of the new giant then asking, "Did… Did everyone else make it?"

"Aside from all the ones who didn't?" Kad asked the unamused Huntress back. Her green gaze went stern and Kad stopped being so gratuitously coy. "I think so… Thanks to Ruby… I hit that beast with everything I could muster… Washed it clean from Remnant. And somehow, I know that it isn't coming back."

Speaking those words about their victory did little to raise Kad's or Pyrrha's spirits. The giant continued "Afterwards. I got everyone who followed us out onto the bullheads… And I stayed behind to draw the Grimm away from our ships."

Clearly finding some details left out of Kad's retelling that did not paint an entire picture. The Huntress shifted a little bit back up onto her elbows and the pillow behind her head. Soon inquiring again once the grimace of pain subsided. "What happened to the rest of the Grimm? Did you find the bombs anywhere?"

Kad shook his head. "No, I didn't find them… And my father destroyed the Grimm army."

"Your, fa…" Shocked back out of her barely begun recovery. Pyrrha's response to that claim was an entire minute in coming. The first of many things she had been holding back with all her strength to ask of the fate of her friends and loved ones many, many miles away. Finally selecting one of the more prominent mysteries to pursue.

"Kad… How did I get here?"

The giant sucked down his own tumultuous feelings for her sake. "My father tried to take me away from the battle… I had other intentions. And I am so sorry that his… Teleporter struck you when I smashed the beam away."

Pyrrha let out a long sigh looking down at the moist wrappings across her arms and all the other terrible burns. "I think I'll forgive you for that… Sometime… Once the world stops spinning…"

"Well… That is going to be a while yet my friend."

"And, where… What is here?"

"A ship. A space ship above Remnant… These are my people. My family."

As his words went through her ears and up to her brain Pyrrha fell backwards like a hewn down tree. "…I want to go back to sleep."

"This is not a joke Pyrrha."

"Well," She broke down into a coughing fit for a moment, "If… you look closely at my face I'm not laughing."

Breaking the scowl and stilling one twitching eye which manifested upon his face silenced the Huntsman for the briefest of moments. But he took a deep breath and finally spoke the truth as he knew it.

"A long time ago… My Father created me. In a distant place. Another planet, on an entire other world Pyrrha. Can you believe that?"

"I guess," She replied, giving him a pointed stare. Beckoning the Huntsman to continue.

"But... There was an accident. Or an attack I don't know. I, myself and the others."

"Others?"

"My brothers. More just like me. Built stronger, and better than Humans ever were." A thought struck Kad. "Did you meet my father? Or the one with the silver hands?"

"No," Pyrrha said. "I mean. I don't know. I woke up here with these… People, after that, the accident. They're like you? I mean I guess I always wondered where you came from. Just how you are like you are… You know… But I never would have guessed you were an alien like in the comics."

Aquillon shifted the barest fraction in his stance, still eavesdropping. And Kad was forced to correct the Huntress, "Alien to Remnant I may be. But I am some kind of Human I assure you."

"How? When did Humans get off of Remnant?"

"That is not the question to ask." The giant corrected her again. "More, when did Humans arrive on Remnant?"

As she chewed on that response, Kad carried on with his tale. "We were stolen away, before we had even taken our first steps… I was lost Pyrrha… For years, decades even in… Somewhere I do not want to burden you with the knowledge of it… It is too terrible to even describe… And I was trapped there for what felt like an eternity."

Whilst he recounted his earliest experience. Kad could not help but hear Aquillon shift inside his suit of armor at the last revelation. And a portion of his mighty brain wondered just how much even his Father's most trusted knew of certain things.

He had sworn to himself and the Hunters of Remnant he would never lie to them again. He pondered the wisdom of including these people in that vow.

Pyrrha spoke again. "And… How do you know all this? You remember? From when you were… A baby?"

"I'm not sure if I ever was one to be honest… Do you have any idea what it's like to remember everything? All the years. All the fights, the lessons… The mistakes I can picture as if it was not even a minute ago… I can be back anywhere. All in an instant."

"...I, I had no idea… Gods…" She replied. Another glimpse of just how different the Huntsman really was coming clear to her.

The Primarch continued. "But, my journey through that place came to an end… When I was spat out in the skies above Remnant… I crashed in the mountains of Atlas and fought my way out through the Grimm and through the cold. Until I was found by my old… By Emerald and Mercury. They took me to Cinder Fall. And I think you know the rest…"

Pyrrha brought her hands up to her forehead trying to flatten out the concentration wrinkles and smooth out the violent migraine that had blossomed while she listened to Kad. Laying there in pain, mulling all that information over about the one team JNPR had chosen to follow into the heart of darkness. And the slightest beginnings of what now was going to come down on their little world already troubled by so many things.

"A… Spaceship?" She repeated to Kad. The term completely foreign to her tongue.

"A spaceship." He echoed back.

"From another world?"

"Correct."

"Where there are Humans?"

"Indeed."

"Coming for you?"

"Yes."

"You, a super-human science experiment?"

"Hurtful, but accurate."

"And how long have they been here?"

This time it was Kad's turn to spend the next few minutes in quiet reflection. His fingers curled up in a white knuckle grip that could crush stone and bone. Pyrrha sensed his growing turmoil as the implications built up in the silence. Several times Kad glanced back up at the gilded Aquillon as if inviting him to elaborate on behalf of the visiting army of the one he knew as Aurum. Receiving nothing in return until the third time Aquillon finally moved back to take his post back along the short line with his comrades.

Moments before Kad's finely tuned sense of hearing detected a distant door opening wide. A heavy determined set of boots making their way deeper in the medbay. The exaltations the newcomer received and dismissed just as quickly, from the warriors within seeing this figure return to their presence.

And Kad ceased his reflections as the towering figure of his brother Ferrus returned to darken the threshold before him.

Neither the other Primarch nor the four Custodes acknowledged the other's presence. The once sedated machine tone that mimicked Pyrrha's cardiac beat on the other hand increased in tempo once again.

Sometime ago Ferrus had doffed his black armor. And clad himself in something not so dissimilar to what Kad now wore. Aside from the thick brown leather apron laced with well-worn tool handles. Emblazoned with the symbol of a black armored gauntlet. With the sleeves of his own tunic cut short at his shoulders laying bare the living metal that shrouded his arms. He was the first to quickly break the silence.

"Are you adequately rested?" Ferrus asked bluntly.

Kad did not respond.

"You seem to understand the basics of the situation." Ferrus continued without a pause. "Which vexes me. Yet shall save time. Follow me, as you have no equipment suited for the role you are about to assume. The Emperor has commanded me to rectify this."

Unsure what to do with this second reference to his supposed role. The Huntsman scowled again. "The Emperor…"

A term which did not fit so neatly into his memories. It was partially there. And he knew to whom it referred.

Ferrus allowed the interjection. "Our creator and liege lord to whom you owe your existence. The Emperor of Mankind."

Kad did not like it.

"Well, maybe not the entire situation." The Huntsman said.

The other Primarch continued to glower down. "But, you knew my name?"

"…Well, that's a. Whole thing. Which I feel got us off on the wrong foot."

The silver handed one did not reply. Nor correct his smaller brother.

"I know a little." Kad said then conceded, "But this might just be easier if you just explain everything."

Ferrus gave him a nod. "Very well. But we shall do so in the Iron Forge."

Not knowing what that was Kad still let out a deep uncomfortable breath. "…I think I might be more comfortable here."

"Time is of the essence," The words tumbled down like boulders in a rockslide. "You can tell the girl all you wish after we have finished."

The Huntsman looked down to Pyrrha out of the corner of his eye. And staring up at the distant ceiling flat on her back again. She told him, "Kad go… It's okay. I am going to need a minute… A few hours here."

His heart ached at the thought of abandoning her. But the call of destiny proved to be a louder thing.

Kad held out his left arm with the vambrance and tubes towards one of the Doctors. Who flinched when the limb think as a tree trunk, arrived before his shrouded face. Kad picked out a few of the exotic words to deliver his intent,

"Get this thing off me."

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A/N It's not a glitch. It's a feature.

Yeah did a thing. That I didn't think would bump me back up on the list, but have taken steps to rectify. So hey. 2023 Extravaganza posting commences. Before I get to hung up on looking for errors I know I'm not ging to find until I post this shit because that's just the way it fucking works.