Note
Okay so i did something really stupid and deleted the second repost of this story, i'm not entirely sure why, i was just doing a bit of editing on my personal profile and i think i deleted it on accident(it doesn't help that i have ADHD) i was extremely hyped that i finished, it was one of those stupid Impulse decision that you make that at the time you think is a good idea but upon reflection you realize was just stupid.
so here's a remaster and repost. There are some changes I did make however, first of all for ease of writing I decided to make it all first person and I am also going to make the characters' story a lot less divergent from the main fairy tail storyline.
Though do expect a few changes to the canon and it's not going to follow the main fairy tail team as i said the entire story is going to be first person.
On another note the skin for my character is the Guilder skin that comes with the Hunter's Bounty Pack, and yes I am going to intentionally depower my character because I feel like otherwise there will be very little development in the story. The face of my character in this story is also the avatar of my profile and on the front cover so that should help you people reading this to picture him.
Prologue
Necromunda is the greatest hive world in the Imperium of man, within the many millions of worlds all ruled over by the god emperor of man, Necromunda is one of the imperiums greatest, as revered as Ultramar or Baal.
And It is the biggest shithole to be born into, the same shithole, I had the misfortune of being born on, not that I really minded, I liked being alive and I would like to keep it that way.
Unfortunately I had recently gotten into a lot of trouble and by that I mean a lot, somehow, that bastard Kal Jericho had my face and my name, Matthias Grendel, placed on a bounty poster with the outstanding reward of 250,000 imperial credits.
I was a young man at the age of 23, I had sleek black hair that was in surprisingly good condition despite my upbringing. My skin was pale, not unique though, there was no sunlight in the underhive so everyone was pale as death, though most of my body was metal.
Both my arms were also bionic, from just above the elbow down, they were metal pistons, joins and wires, my hands covered in leather gloves to add some sense of human softness to what otherwise would be a cold hard touch.
My left hand had a forearm mounted grapnel launcher which did bulk it up a little.
My clothes consisted of old flak armor covering my torso and leather trousers and thick heavy boots covering my bionic legs and feet.
My face was covered by a gas mask with the front molded into the shape of a skull, the teeth shone in a rictus green, either side of those teeth where oversized canister's, underneath my mask was a heavily scarred face.
In my younger years i had been mauled by one of Necromunda's giant rat's that left my left cheek torn open revealing my blackened and yellowing teeth. Not long after that i had been trapped in a gas filled chamber, the double event had encouraged me to get the mask, the skull feature was just to look cool.
The most notable part of my attire however was my greatcoat, a dark red and blue leather greatcoat that went down to just below my knees made of fine guilder leather given to me as compensation from the Guilder I rescued from the Silver Talon, and had buckles all down its length. It was sleeveless allowing room for my bionic limbs and the left shoulder was covered with a metal skull buckled to it.
I was sitting at my favorite table, it was in the corner near the main bounty cogitator servitor that was next to the blessed fountain bar, the main bar of Matyr's End. you wonder what I'm doing here? Trying and failing to get drunk, the owner of the blessed fountain, the Wildsnake priestess, was being very reluctant to give me any more Wildsnake, so I just sat and daydreamed in my corner.
It had been 3 damn weeks since my face first showed up on the bounty board, a handsome reward of 250,000 credit's, one of the largest bounties in the hive's history, most bounty's were in the hundreds or thousands not the hundreds of thousands.
Damn Kal Jericho, that bastard is the reason i'm in this mess in the first place, Damn him for recommending me to help with the job, to help him solve the mystery of the murder of that guilder, Veerax's brother, by the Silver Talon's hand's, and the archeotech inserted into my head, more accurately the base of my neck.
It was a powerful bit of lost tech that would make the Van Saar's or even the mechanicus piss themselves in jealousy. It did alot for me, it boosted my strength and speed, gave me an auger array inside my bionic eye, and a refractor field in order to add extra protection. My favorite was the luminum Capacitor, it was an energy generator that allowed me to briefly empower my fist with an orange eclectic flare to give my punches a little extra…well punch.
It had unfortunately gotten damaged during my final fight with the Silver Talon, the witch had used her warp lightning to damage it, it was still usable, but I could no longer fire energy blasts or shockwaves. It was still powerful enough to do damage to an Ogryn though.
Sitting next to me, on the ground was my ever loyal Cyber-Mastiff, Brutus. A large dark grey furred hound with as many mechanical parts as me, all four of his legs had been replaced with servo powered claws and his mouth was covered in a metal plated beak like jaw with jagged teeth. One eye had been replaced with a glowing blue replacement. His torso was covered in plated armor kept in place with bolts and nails.
He was chewing his favorite toy, a surprisingly durable stuffed Rat which squeaked everytime he bit down on it.
"Hey you going on a job or not?'' called the Wildsnake Priestess, she was a fine piece of work, long silver hair, a rebreather mask over her mouth and a bionic arm replacing her missing one, she was for all intents and purposes, in charge of Matyr's end.
she had a set of law's and probably the closest i considered a friend. I helped out every now and again to get some extra pay to pay off the bounty. I had also sold all of my weapon's save for my stub-pistol, Autogun and power knife.
My power knife was a simple piece of work; a circular bolster held the power field generator just above the handle and just below the blade, with an upper jaw bone engraved on either side of the Bolster.
My Stub-pistol, I had named Ironside, was also pretty simple, a gray gunmetal pistol with a revolver chamber and had a small gold skull hanging from a chain underneath the grip.
My Autogun, Striker, was the same, not much to it, but I had gotten very attached to it as it had been with me since the start of the whole Silver Talon incident.
I had even bit the bullet and sold off my refractor field, that sounds like a stupid move, but it was faulty and could barely survive more than a few shots before breaking. It was more of a burden than a life saving device so I had it sold to a Van Saar for a measly 50 credits.
"One more drink" I said.
"Get a job first so you can pay it, and that bounty, you want to be on Gor Half-horn's menu forever?"
I sighed, she was right, I had no doubt I could take the beastman of legend, not win but hold him long enough to get away, but he wasn't the nastiest Hired gun on Necromunda. The quicker I got that bounty off my head the better, so I stood up and went to the cogitator.
Looking through the bounty I found a good couple.
One was for a gladiatorial fight from the Slave guild, my least favorite guild, it was worth a few thousand credit's. Then there was another from the Cawdor's, they wanted someone to go purge some Ratskin's that were hiding somewhere near their location. It was the last one I chose.
It was from the Psi-Syndica, now the Psi-Syndica was technically an illegal organization that shouldn't have been allowed to exist, but due to their skill in collecting and training Wyrd's, or unsanctioned psyker as they were more commonly known as, they were given leeway. There was a rumor however that they bribed the Rust-damned Black Ships with the required psyker tithe in order to continue to exist and sell psyker's to any gang that would have them. Which was everyone that wasn't a frakking Cawdor.
Though that didn't stop Helmawrr from sending out psi-hounds to curtail their activities in order to loosen their hold and sabotage their efforts.
They wanted me to hunt down some escapee's and bring them back with or without their heads, i had plenty of experience killing wyrd's, the Silver Talon had hired a good many into her service and she herself was one along with the rival Orlock and Goliath gang.
They died just as easily to a bullet or blade as any other mortal person. The location was underneath it, I didn't recognise the name but I knew someone who would. I accepted the bounty and the servitor printed out a paper version of it. Taking it I walked down the catwalk and the stairs at the bottom and to the left was another friend of mine.
He was a Dome Runner who went by the name of Jado, he was an unpleasant character to look at, a very short man, i wondered if he was some kind of mutant or abhuman, he wore a gas mask that obscured his face and i can only vaguely make out his eyes through the green visor and a cloak covered his head and shoulders. On his back he carried a massively oversized sword.
Despite his appearance he had been indispensable in my hunt for the Silver Talon and still helped me out every now and again. I showed him the bounty and asked if he knew the location, it was an old temple of the Primarch Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fist's.
"Yeah I know it. Figures they would go their" Jado answered, he looked back up, "follow me" he grabbed some beacon poles, beacons which he used to guide people along the best path. The massive doors of Matyr's end opened with the grinding of Wheel's
"Let the hunt begin" I said as I followed Jado out the door.
A couple of hours later
The Temple was in surprisingly good condition, it was massive, the size of a factorium, and no doubt larger on the inside, with multiple levels below it. There wasn't even a bit of graffiti painted onto the temple and clean light escaped from the massive window. I was sitting on a ledge of one of the many cavern entrances that led to the temple.
There was no sky in the underhive, instead up above was the metal ceiling that supported the true surface of the planet, where the hive city proper was built over. Since no natural sunlight down here we underhiver's had the plasma fire of the generatoriums that powered the city above for the clan houses to keep the hive lit.
My inbuilt chronometer had the time at midday so i had stopped for lunch while Jado explored the temple to find the wyrd's, Brutus had caught some Necromunda giant spider's and we were cooking one over the fire while I took a bite out of the already cooked one's larger leg's. The legs were highly nutritious, and we cooked a couple of Rattus Suprema along with it for something more juicy.
To drink I had a canteen filled with Wildsnake, the favored drink of the underhive, there was just something so soothing of the sting as the venom(non-lethal) it was made from goes down your throat and that shivers down your spine afterwards. I always carried one canteen to savor, most of the time you could only afford second best so best to save wildsnake while it lasts.
Brutus had just swallowed his portion of giant rat when Jado reappeared, "alright i've found them, they are in the baptism chamber, it's down the stairs from the old choir chamber." he informed.
"How many?" I asked.
"Only about 20, most young men and woman, only one child, only a few seem to be armed. No guns"
"Thank's" I said, checking the ammo in Ironside's chamber before pushing it back into place, "anything else i should know about?"
"Yeah they are performing some kind of ritual, they have a Phelynx, tied down to the floor, a sacrifice now doubt"
"Helmawrr's Teeth" I muttered, a dreadful thought entering my mind "don't tell me they're trying to summon a daemon?"
Jado shrugged, "maybe. There were no heretical sigils or ruinous icons that I could see"
"Shit" I cursed and stood up, "doesn't matter anyway, i'm gonna kill them all, maybe i can keep at least one alive" at least one live one would get me a higher amount of pay than all of them dead.
"Good luck in there" Jado said, as i pulled out my Autogun and checked it's magazine, I also had about 5 grenades, about 3 packs of med-kit's, I may have a refractor field but it could still break after enough damage taken and having medical equipment never hurt anyone. In Fact it could save lives, literally.
The first thing I found when I went inside was a completely intact statue of the Primarch, Rogal Dorn, the one who held the line against Horus Lupercal and his fellow devils from the outer hells. Everyone on Necromunda worshiped Dorn as other worlds would worship Sanguinius as the Martyred Angel or Guilliman as the returned son, but Rogal Dorn was the most stalwart out of all of the Emperor's son's.
It was Dorn that held Terra against the demons and the Astarte's they made in mockery of the Emperor's own gene crafted soldier's, and it was Dorn who found the Emperor and brought him back so he could sit on the golden throne.
I wasn't religious, I was no Cawdor, but even someone like Gorshiv Hammerfist respected Rogal Dorn. I decided to leave something, so I took out a small rat bone, one of my smaller charms I had for good luck and left it at the feet of the stone statue.
I then made the Aquila with both hands before following the beacons that led down the stairs.
And there they were.
20 of them, sitting cross legged in a circle, their skin the color of ash, some shaven, others had not had their hair in a long time and were disheveled and messy, they wore rags like sacks that could barely be called clothing.
They had tattoos as well, some were curving serpents whilst others were unknown runes. But not one of them had the eight pointed star on them thankfully.
Brutus slunked next to me, growling, his teeth bared.
"Go left, I'll go right," I whispered to him, he bobbed his head in a nod.
We seperated, Brutus going left, me going right, we snuck between the pillars, they were all chanting, some ancient tongue or another, I couldn't understand a word, but there was an electric tingle so strong I could feel it being conducted in my metal limb's.
There was power here. And a lot of it. I recognised the feeling from killing so many psyker's in the service of the Silver Talon.
The girl, the juve that Jado had told me about, was in the very center of the circle the wyrd's had made, waving a poorly maintained, bloodied dagger around like a conductor's wand at an opera.
In her lap was an open book, the pages seemed to glow a dim turquoise color, I couldn't say the writing on it, but I knew the girl was reading from it, the other simply repeating the words to form the chant.
In Front of the girl was a phelynx, It was not alive, it must have been killed when Jado returned to inform me. Its guts spilled out over the floor, its throat opened and blood flowed into a red puddle underneath it and the girl's crossed legs.
I was now only a few feet from them, parallel to me I could see Brutus on the other side of the chamber, looking at me expectantly. He was waiting for a signal. I drew out a grenade and primed it.
I waited about a second before lobbing it underarm. It landed next to one of the Wyrd's and rattled against his leg, he looked down, the look on his face was extremely satisfying.
"Grenade!"
Barely a second after the wyrd cried out the grenade exploded, taking him and four more Wyrds in the explosion, knocking the others out of position. The electricity I felt in the air waned as whatever ritual they were doing was interrupted.
As they tried to scramble back up however, I squeezed Brutus' ear and the Mastiff himself jumped from his hiding place and sunk his teeth into the back of his neck. A killing bite that could crush bone.
I then rushed out of cover, Ironside and knife drawn, I shot the closest wyrd in the leg as I dashed over and stabbed my knife up through the skull under the chin.
I kicked him off the blade and fired at another Psyker, they were still slow to react, these were easier than any Psyker the Silver Talon had owned, not properly trained. "Of course" I thought, "these were runaways. But then how did they find out about the ritual?"
It probably didn't matter, I had already holstered my sidearm and blade in exchange for my autogun, Striker barked as I shot it in burst's as the Wyrd's scattered, taking cover behind pillar's.
Three of them however had surrounded the girl who had scrambled back into a cross legged position and was now babbling the words, desperate to finish whatever rust-damned ritual they were performing. A haze swirled in a dome around them, some kind of psychic field no doubt.
A fireball zinged past my head, I smelled some burnt hare, on instinct I raised Striker and fired a burst, killing the witch where it stood. Next to it I saw another raising its hands, sparks shooting off. I fired my Grapnel launcher above me where a catwalk was. I was launched up at breathtaking speed just as a stream of electric bolts shot underneath me.
I didn't need to finish him off, as Brutus pounced, biting down onto her head and crushing it.
This allowed me to focus on the witch that teleported behind me, I was alerted to her by the sound of flames bursting out of nowhere then disappearing, I slammed my elbow up behind me.
I felt bone crack as her nose shattered, blood stained my iron elbow as I whirled around a knife drawn and stabbed her in the stomach.
"Why can't you leave us alone?!" She demanded, I didn't answer, and didn't allow myself to feel anything but the thrill of bloodshed as I raised my knife to her neck and decapitated her in one clean slice.
That was my favorite move, there was a jolt of excitement every time I performed the decapitation.
Jumping back down I landed on a young bald Wyrd, knocking him to the ground, and killing him with a final burst.
I looked back up ready to gun down the next Psyker, only to find it was over. Brutus had killed the rest, he was just swallowing the bit of witch he had torn from the dead one's skull.
"Over already?" I thought slightly disappointed, "that was far too easy"
Now all that was left was the four in the circle.
I whistled and Brutus bounded over to my side, his mouth was bloodied and bits of flesh were caught in his teeth. I smiled nastily, even an easy job like this had its fun moment's. I enjoyed the feeling of lingering adrenaline in the blood, this had been far too short.
That was short lived however.
As flashes of iridescent blue light began to light up as the blood of the Phelynx began to rise upwards in liquid towers, flowing upwards like a reverse trickle. It then began to circle in the air. Now I knew I had to stop this.
The three older witches had moved further to the front, know doubt trying to strengthen that part against my attack's. Alright then I like a challenge. I raised my left arm, orange electricity flowed through it as my Luminum capacitor activated and energy flowed down my left arm, I drew it back and punched the energy shield.
The shield shattered and the three Wyrd's were knocked to the ground, i aimed my rifle and sprayed all three of them, blood began to seep around them, satisfied that they were dead meat. I looked up.
CRASH*
A invisible force hit me in the front and me and Brutus were launched all the way to the other side of the room, the back of my head was knocked against the stairs, i felt blood there, but luckily my skull hadn't shattered. But I was dazed, everything was doubled and stairs sailed across my vision.
Helmawrr's teeth. That hurt.
Looking up, my blood ran cold, the blood was now a swirling vortex hovering in the middle of the room, a tendril of blood shot out and wrapped around the girl's waist who had her arms spread wide open, welcoming it.
The tendril pulled her in and swallowed her completely. Nothing else happened for a second.
Then another bloody tendril shot out and attached itself to my leg. I kicked, desperately trying to get the unnatural appendage off me. Brutus barked and in my peripheral I could see a second tendril Had wrapped itself around his leg too.
He tried to bit it, but then three more bloody tendrils shot from the orb of red liquid iron and trapped him, dragging him in like a chameleon's tongue drags an insect, i watched and cried out in dismay unable to do anything as my beloved pet was dragged and swallowed into the center.
I didn't have time to mourn as five tendrils attached themselves to my other limbs, still had hold of my autogun but I could not fire it. The tendril had covered my hand, it was sticky and completely restricted my movement.
I was pulled towards the red mass waiting to devour me. At the last moment I closed my eyes, and prayed.
Note
I'm just gonna knock it out of the park now, the beginning of a story is always the hardest for me, not so much the beginning itself but how it plays out especially when you just want to get to the meat of the story.
Speaking of the story, I am taking a lot of inspiration from the Evil West(underrated game), RDR, wolf among us, the Eisenhorn series, Mad Max, ect for these stories.
I based the choreography off of how I play in Necromunda, up close, looking down sight, with the Refractor field completely wasted(or in this instance not present at all), summoning my Mastiff every chance I get and the frequent use of grenades.
Also don't expect a reasonable power scale or warm up/cool down time for the Luminum capacitor because those will be "when the plot demands it" sort of scenarios.
But feel free to comment and please like and follow this story. Last time this is going to happen