Chapter 9: Hunting Hunters

"May. This. Unit. Acquire. A. Moment. Of. Your. Allotted. Duration. Before. Military. Detachments. Arrive?" A voice droned nearby.

Cularities, resting in his designated sleeping space, looked up to see the explorator magos, Boltus Albrakan, standing above him. It had been half an hour ago that he was eating with the staff of the POR-O-22 facility, only to make a polite retreat to his designated sleeping spot in the guest bunk to take a nap before the flamer and scout attachments arrive. Blinking a bit, Cularities sat up from his sleeping bag, deciding to keep his helmet off. He saw that Boltus was in a better condition than before. "Uh... Sure, buddy. What's going on?"

Boltus nodded. "You. Have. Stated. Before. That. Requesting. Information. Of. Your. Equipment. Wasn't. Conductive. At. Previous. Time. Due. To. The. Risk. Of. Endangerment... This. Unit. Requests. To. Analyze. Your. Xenotech. Wargear. Now." Boltus asked.

"Hm! Alright! I suppose I can let you inspect my armor. What would you intend to do?" Cularities asked.

"This. Unit. Requires. Metal. And. Alloy. Samples. Of. Your. Armor. And. Weapons... If. You. Have. Knowledge. Of. Its. Schematics. Or. Blueprints. Then. They. Would. Be. Greatly. Appreciated... This. Unit. Requests. You. To. Remove. Your. Wargear. First." Boltus said, taking out some tools from his robe.

Cularities blinked. "... Um... This might sound silly, but... There is a method I use in taking off my armor. Are you prepared? It might get embarrassing."

"Proceed... Your. Vital. And. Squishy. Organs. Are. Of. No. Interest. To. Me." Boltus replied, almost sounding deadpanned.

Cularities nodded before he stood up. As he did, his powered armorsuit began to glow a soft white light before vanishing, which left behind Cularities in his vulnerable zero suit. "Well? Here I am. I imagine you would preferred a sample of my armor with me separated from my armor, but... Yeah, I don't know how to take it off completely. Sorry."

"Hm!" Boltus gently caressed Cularities' zero suited form. "Astounding... This. Unit. Concludes. Your. Wargear. Uses. Matter. And. Energy. Conversion. Processes. As. A. Form. Of. Storage..." He gently circled around Cularities and took note of the crystals around his body. "Hm? Hmm. Hmm... Crystalline. Formations. Detected... Suggests. Advanced. Power. Source. And. Construction. Process... Visual. Analysis. Indicates. Material. Is. Artificial. Quarts... Theory. Suggests. That. Damage. Upon. This. Crystal. Cluster. May. Reduce. Power. Suit. Functionality..."

"HAhahaHAHAHA YEAh! ... Um. Did you know that your hands are cold?" Cularities stated.

"Apologies... Will. Inform. To. Brace. For. The. Temperature. Differentiated. Surfaces. Of. My Appendages. And Mechadendrites." Boltus stepped back. "Equip. Armor... Sample. Is. Now. Required."

As Cularities donned his white armor in another flash of light, Boltus casually walked up to him and analyzed his power suit closely. Even though Cularities was more comfortable in his power suit than in his zero suit, he still felt the same level of discomfort around the prying Boltus. "... So uh... How are you going to take a sample?"

"There. Are. Plural. Ways. To. Remove. Epidermis. From. Felinid... This. Unit. Requires. One. Gram. Of. Matter." Boltus asked.

"If it's just one gram, then I guess it's fine. Hm... Uh... Maybe you can take a sample from my left arm? Maybe behind my bicep segment? That way if I face an enemy, I wouldn't be showing them a weak point for them to exploit." Cularities suggested.

"Acceptable. Suggestion." Boltus went to Cularities' left side and used his mechadendrites to begin cutting.

Cularities instantly heard the klaxon blare in his ears and head, but he ignored it. "The suit is registering damage. How are you faring?"

"Density. Of. Material. Is. Unexpected... Resistant. To. Sample. Extraction...Suggests. Power. Suit. Segments. Are. Magnetized... Defensive. Barrier. System. Detected... Perhaps. Selective. Micro. EMP. Discharge. Can. Disable. Or. Create. Window? ... Increasing... Power..." Boltus said with mechanical strain.

With a bit of effort, Boltus was able to acquire a small sample from the power suit's bicep. Once Boltus was done, Cularities stepped apace from him. "WOW THAT WAS GRATING!" Cularities announced. He unequipped his cannon arm with a flash of light to touch the bicep armor that had its sample extracted from. It was a small, but sizeable hole, which looked just big enough for him to fit his thumb into.

Boltus held the suit sample in his mechanical hand. With a hum that might have been close to a sound of satisfaction, he pocketed the sample. "Apologies... Sample. Is. Acquired... Can. Repair. Armor. Segment. With. Replacement. Material. If. So. Wished."

Cularities checked his energy, noticing that his energy was sitting at 887/1299. "Uh... No thank you. I think I just need to find energy instead."

"Query... Energy?" Boltus asked.

Cularities nodded as he finished inspecting the hole in his armor. "Yeah. My power suit has the ability to draw energy into itself."

"May. This. Unit. Provide. Energy? ... A. Battery. Was. Procured. At. This. Outpost... Will. It. Be. Sufficient?" Boltus asked.

Cularities smiled. "Yeah, that would be good. Thank you."

Boltus left for half a minute before binging back what looked like an oversized car battery. "Begin. Charging."

As Cularities leaned down to the battery, he hesitated.

... Okay, I'm stumped. Is there a plus and minus connector on this thing? Wait. Do I need jumper cables for this? Uh... Hmm. Boltus is kind of staring. Uh... Okay. Idea. I'll just unlock the Grapple Voltage upgrade from the upgrade menu and he won't be any the wiser! ... Unless I tell him. And something tells me he is a few screws loose from sane. At the same time, I want him to be cooperative. ... Alright then! Let's just buy Grapple Voltage and let the benefit of the doubt coast me out of here. That way he would only have to know about my power up to syphon energy through mechanical means, rather than through my ability to drain energy from both mechanical and biological sources.

After purchasing the Grapple Voltage upgrade, Cularities' power was reduced to 532/1299. However, once Cularities used his new power up on the battery, his power had surged back up, coming at a stop on 1102/1299. Cularities sighed in relief, but he was quite sure he wouldn't want to give Boltus another sample anytime soon. "Fantastic. That worked."

"Aperture. Of. Weapon. Can. Siphon. Energy... Interesting." Boltus then gestured to Cularities. "Transform. Into. Spherical. Shape."

Cularities blinked. "Um. About that. I kind of want to avoid using that form when that Figgis Karkit guy might be around. He and I... Well... He doesn't know that it was me that sat on his sandwich when I was in my ball morph form."

Cularities could swear he could see Boltus blinking. "Query... Why. Haven't. You. Revealed. Your. Presence. To. Outpost. Personnel?"

Cularities sighed. "I did, but they shot at me. That, and I didn't unlock my suited form at the time, so I made a retreat into the jungle. Sufficed to say, I panicked a little..."

"And. The. Disease. In. The. Grass?" Boltus asked.

Shit. Might as well tell him.

"Yeah... Uh... I can also absorb energy from biological sources." Cularities stated reluctantly.

"Hm... Can. You. Absorb. Energy. From. Human. Sources?" Boltus asked.

Cularities shot a glare at Boltus. "I would never do that. If I was stuck in the jungle with only humans to rely on, I would draw energy from the trees, shrubs, and grass first."

"... Hm... A. Humane. Answer." Boltus said with a slight nod. "I. Will. Keep. This. Knowledge. Discreet. From. The. Human. Designated. Figgis. Karkit... However... Should. You. Require. The. Use. Of. Your. Morph. Ball. Form. And. He. Discovers. This. Subterfuge. He. Will. React. Negatively."

Cularities sighed with a nod. "Yeah. That's what I'm worried about."

Boltus patted his hand onto Cularities' shoulder. "This. Unit. Can. Keep. This. Information. Discreet... However... Transaction. Of. Favors. Must. Be. Owed."

"Favors?" Cularities asked, tilting his head.

"When. Our. Escort. Mission. To. Eliminated. Orkoid. Infestation. Completes. You. Must. Accompany. This. Unit. To. Auxiliary. Explorator. Temple... This. Unit. Wishes. To. Arrange. Further. Analysis. Of. Your. Xenotech. Wargear." Boltus added.

Cularities took a few seconds to think.

Yup. Sounds like he's trying to blackmail me. I'll have to rebuke him somehow. Maybe I can do it without hurting his feelings? Actually, he's probably more machine than man, so can I really hurt his machine feelings? Hm. Actually, I can go about this without being blunt. Time for a soft approach.

Cularities backed away from Boltus, breaking away from his mechanical hand as he sat onto his sleeping bag. "I was thinking I should break it to him anyway. Maybe like... I dunno... Amend to the wrong I did to him as subtle as possible? Maybe I can make him a new sandwich and then go 'Hey! Listen! I'm sorry that I flattened your sandwich. I turned out to be the fark ball all along and I'm sorry. Can you possibly ever forgive me?'"

"... This. Action. Is. Inadvisable." Boltus said.

"To you it is. But then again, it's better than being blackmailed." Cularities responded coolly.

There was a long, pregnant pause.

There was a shuffling sound outside. Seconds later, Private Douggindi Walking came into the guest bunk Cularities was using. "Cular. The detachment is coming soon. Are you ready?" He paused as he saw Boltus in the room. "... Something going on here?"

Boltus turned to stare at Cularities before changing his gaze back to Douggindi. "This. Unit. Was. Concluding. Business." He then began to depart.

"Hey." Cularities said sharply. This caught Boltus' attention, making him turn around to face Cularities again. "You think you'll be satisfied with the suit sample for a little while?"

Boltus paused before giving his answer. "... This... Unit... Will... Accept... This... Compromise... This. Unit. Must. Depart." Boltus then turned and proceeded to leave.

"... What was that about?" Douggindi asked curiously.

"Oh I was giving him a sample of my suit. Just a gram though, off of my left bicep here." Cularities said, lifting his left arm.

Douggindi looked at Cularities' arm, squinting. "... Uh... Where?" He asked.

Cularities sighed as he pointed his right hand at the sampled area. "It's right... Um... What?" As Cularities tried to point at the damaged area, Cularities was surprised to see that the sample hole had shrunken considerably. If his pinky was one tenth of its size, he could have fitted it into the hole left by Boltus' sample extraction. Cularities quickly realized that his power suit might have some kind of advanced repair function, capable of turning energy into usable material that can reconstruct whatever damage he sustains to his power suit.

"Oh wow. Now I see it. And I thought he would have taken more." Douggindi said, nodding. He then coughed awkwardly. "Anyway, the detachment will be here soon. I suggest we get ready."

"We?" Cularities asked.

"Yes, we." Douggindi pointed to himself. "Me, Corporal Karkit, the magos and one more will be accompanying the flamer squad and scout squad detachments. Lieutenant's orders."

Cularities blinked. Maybe there is still a chance to save face with Figgis after all. Just as well. He wasn't keen to find out what Boltus would have done to get a sample of his arm cannon.

As Cularities left the outpost building, he saw the arrival of several vehicles that had come to park around the POR-O-22 facility. He saw Lieutenant Ralpha Glosn overseeing the arrival of the vehicles. He also saw another man next to Ralpha, though it was someone he hasn't recognized yet. The newcomer looked to have olive colored skin with black hair swept messily into a tribal bun, while his piercing blue eyes spoke of hard years, with a small smattering of wrinkles that made him look permanently angry. He was adorned with an impressive flak jacket, and hanging on his neck was what seemed like a portable radio. As Ralpha turned to look behind him and saw Cularities, he motioned for Cularities to come. As Cularities came closer, he was able to hear them more clearly.

"Cularities. I would like for you to meet Major Fulk Alyr Hind. He will be in charge of the flamer and scout detachments that you will be joining today." Ralpha said. He then turned to the major. "Major Hind. This is Cularities. He and some temporary transfers will be escorting your detachments to the infected zone and to the hidden ork base."

Major Hind looked Cularities up and down, sneering at him. "So this is the contractor with the xenotech wargear? Kind of looks like someone from a space marine chapter I don't recognize. Smaller than an astartes too."

"I've been ordered by Colonel Tobias to hire Cularities. Cularities? You are to escort these fine soldiers to their mission objectives." Ralpha mentioned. "Major Hind. After your mission is complete, I would like it of you can transfer Corporal Karkit and his company back to this outpost. However, Cularities and Magos Boltus Albrakan will continue to accompany your detachments, where they will be processed for questioning, at which point would be out of my jurisdiction." Ralpha then turned to Cularities. "That's military talk, and it means I won't be responsible for you anymore hereafter."

Cularities nodded. "Right." He then turned to Major Hind. "It'll be a pleasure to join your company."

"Don't get too comfy, outsider." Major Hind growled. After spitting something filthy into the grass, he looked Cularities up and down again. "... So. What can you do?"

"What can I do?" Cularities asked.

Fulk nodded. "Yeah. What are the capabilities of your wargear? Have you had any kind of training or experience with the Catachan military before? And are you willing to kill when the killing is necessary?"

Cularities nodded. "Ah, I see. Uh... My arm cannon can shoot a variety of beams, can shoot missiles, and can fire a grappling tether that can drain energy from mechanical sources. My suit can enable me to run very fast or launch me straight up into the air, has an auto-mapping function, and is capable of adapting to battle conditions. As for training and experience... practically none. However, I am willing to be a quick learner so you don't have to spend too much time training me. And as for your last question, I was able to completely destroy an underground ork fortress with a frozen Catachan barking toad."

Fulk nodded again with a sly smirk. "Oh did ya? So that arm cannon of yours is like a hellfrost weapon of some kind? Care to shoot some ice once at the ground for me?" When Cularities nodded to Fulk, he turned away to talk to the vox castor on his collar. "Major Hind to company, be advised. There will be a small weapons demonstration by our temporary escort. Take no action."

Cularities nodded again. Cularities pointed at a patch of grass that was near their feet, and peppered it with five shots of his ice beam. He then charged the arm cannon and unleashed a blast of freeze that covered the entire patch of grass. Afterwards, Cularities reached down to break a few frozen blades of grass and showed them to a surprised Fulk. Cularities couldn't help but feel a painful tickle coarse through his fingers, but he ignored it. "Not only is it useful for freezing enemies in place, but those frozen enemies can either be used as stepping stones or be shattered like glass. And that's just some of this arm cannon's capabilities."

Fulk's smirk turned into a grin. "You're making it hard for me to not like you, Cularities. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be having much use for ice during our mission. Catachan is a jungle death world, after all. You need a good knife, some flamer weapons, and some know-how to survive out here."

"I can unlock my plasma beam if we really need it." Cularities said casually.

"WHUHWHAH?!" Fulk's eyes widened. After an awkward pause, he coughed and adjusted himself. "May you demonstrate?"

Cularities nodded again. Upon purchasing and unlocking the Plasma Beam upgrade, his energy had been reduced to 703/1299. He aimed at a different patch of grass and began peppering it with angry green plasma. As he did, the grass conflagrated into small fires. "... And to make sure this fire doesn't spread through the grasslands." Cularities finished off the fires he started with an application of his ice beam. One thing Cularities noticed quickly was when he switched to the Plasma Beam, the Ice Beam switched off automatically.

Fulk's grin widened. "Hahaha! Now THAT is something! It might be xenotech, but I never would have thought it would be quite the modular weapon too! I'm starting to wish I had ten men like you with that gear."

Cularities chuckled. "Really? That's quite high praise. Thank you."

"Is there a knife that pops out of that thing?" Fulk asked.

"Uh... No, but I can probably modify it to increase my melee range. Give me a second..." Cularities said as he gazed at his arm cannon. After some fumbling with the Gear menu, Cularities decided that the best beams he could use to extend his beam while using his melee attack was to use the Short, laser, and Solid Beams together in this weapons test. The beam emitted flashed out like a saber of bright yellow light. "... Hm. I think this is more like a sword than a knife. Maybe I can adjust the settings a little more? Maybe have it use Ice Beam or Plasma Beam while this is active? I wonder what the other beam types can do..."

Fulk nodded, though his grin turned back into a smirk. "Oh I can tell that you are gonna be FULL of surprises. Your weapon can turn into a melee weapon in this way, yeah, but if it's your only weapon, you'll be needing a fallback weapon in case it malfunctions. I would like to give this to you in the meantime." He said, taking out a knife and its sheathe from out of his flak jacked and giving it to Cularities. "Just be sure to give it back when we're done here."

Cularities used his left hand to carry the knife and sheathe. "... Uh... Okay. I promise. What is this for?"

Fulk pointed at Cularities' arm cannon. "Even if you can use that arm cannon as a melee weapon, it doesn't really give you much control as your wrist can't make it rotate. No matter how much power and speed you might deliver a blow to your enemy with it, it would seriously lack in technique and finesse. Having a knife or other melee weapon in a hand with a bendable wrist can reposition a blade, which would be useful in tight pinch situations. Knowing when to switch a knife into a different position in your hand can make a difference in a life or death situation. Remember that."

Cularities smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I will remember what you taught me, and I will keep your knife as sharp as possible. Do you have a backup knife?"

Fulk nodded back. "I do. I have my own little tradition where I always keep three knives on me. One for primary use, the other for when I lose the first and need a backup, and the other I lend out to people I like or who I intend to propose to." Fulk quickly lost his smile. "Don't take this the wrong way. Just remember that that knife will be given to a wife I intend to marry one day, so don't lose it."

"Sir, yes sir." Cularities nodded agreeably, as he attached the sheathe to fit snug on his left outer thigh.

Well this is cool. I got a low-tech weapon. I guess this would be useful if someone manages to somehow bring me out of my power suit. ... hang on. Can this knife be stored with the rest of my suit when I unequip it? Does it get stored while I change into my Morph Ball form? Can I use it while in my zero suit? Actually, I think I should avoid using my morph ball form while I'm with these guys. Which reminds me.

Cularities gazed back at Major Hind when he finished equipping his knife. "Will you be providing transport or do I have to run along the convoy?"

Fulk chuckled, pointing playfully at Cularities. "Actually, Lieutenant Glosn has requisitioned us to provide you with transport."

Cularities turned to look at Ralpha as he nodded in confirmation. "They shall provide one of their Taurox transport vehicles, which will be driven by Corporal Glenson. You will be riding with Sergeant Powell, Corporal Karkit, Private Walking, Explorator Magos Albrakan, and others from Fulk's company. As such, you will be following their orders as closely as any hired contractor or mercenary would. Colonel Tobias will be discussing your payment method when you return to Greatglade. Is this understood?"

Cularities nodded. "Yes sir."

Ralpha nodded back and turned to Fulk. "He's all yours, Major Hind. May I be dismissed?"

"You are dismissed." When Ralpha took his leave, Fulk turned to face Cularities. "Your chariot awaits right there. Complete with one vacant seat." He said, gesturing to one of the transport vehicles. "The flamer teams will be handling the gray areas once the magos biologis takes some samples back to their temple for testing and analysis. Once they're done, the scout detachment will begin scouting the southern jungles."

Cularities nodded as he made his way to the designated Taurox vehicle. "Thank you, Major. I will help whenever you need me." Cularities hoped that he could be alone with Figgis. However, Cularities could settle with compromises. He was also surprised that Liddy was also coming with. Cularities wondered what this mission might develop into.

Tarog was silently seething. He had already killed twenty of the gretchins that asked him if they had found Cularities yet. After the twentieth gretchin, nobody in Tarog's hunting party dared to ask him if they were closer to their goal in finding and hunting the adversary that got away.

The expedition was going poorly. More poorer than Tarog had ever experience in past expeditions. Usually it was the gretchin servants that joined in on the hunts whom typically end up being the first ones to die, since they were often used to distract a predator or test if certain plants were safe to traverse on or around. But now, Tarog's hunting pack was starting to feel the effects of the fatigue and morale drop. Huntboss Tarog knew very well that small WAAAGHS tend to dither and dwindle if they had nothing to fight. Without something to fight, the ork WAAAGH would get restless and start fighting itself.

Half of his hunting party ended up getting caught by the unexplained deluge of poison gas that seemed to eat the very ground beneath them. Tarog didn't know what happened, but he had a gut feeling that one of those toads had something to do with it. Weirdboy Razza was the one that told him of the destructive power of the toads, which was the main reason he made the frog effigies on all of the hidden entrances that lead to his underground base.

Now, Tarog was carefully hiking between the trees to look for tracks in the grass. There was one set of tracks he found that might have looked like they belonged to Cularities, but the impressions were deep and were spaced quite far apart. This meant that Cularities had either gained weight and grew longer legs, or he had began running like a Catachan devil was after him.

He silently wished and prayed to Gork and Mork that he could find that small beaky again.

"Tarog?" A deep voice asked behind him.

Huntboss Tarog turned around to see Skark, one of his last nobs. Tarog contemplated if he should kill him like so many gretchins that asked him one stupid question after another, but thought against it. "What?" He growled.

"My git-finda iz pick'n up someth'n. Dey're not beasts. I'z gett'n 'umie frequenciez." Whispered Skark as he pointed towards the jungle forest. "It's a konvoy dat's kom'n dis way."

"Iz Cularitiez wit' im?" Tarog growled in a whisper.

"Um..." Hang on." Skark fiddled with his git-finda for a few seconds before he growled with a smile. "Heh. Ya're not gonna believe dis. Ma git-finda iz detect'n dat git's energy signature. 'e's 'n wun uv dose 'umie karts. 'der's ten kom'n dis way."

Tarog's grin broadened widely, threatening the stitches of his new and repaired skin. "Dis iz gunna be fun."

A/N: Wow, this has taken me a long time to get back into this story. I apologize for making everyone wait.

List of upgrades already attained:

Morph Ball.

List of purchased upgrades:

Morph Ball Bomb, Energy Tank, Energy Drain 1, Boost Ball, Spring Ball, Spider Ball, Timed Bomb, Remote Bomb, Trap Bomb, Weighted Bomb. Energy Magnet, Fusion Suit, Power Beam/Arm Cannon, Scan Visor, Long Beam, Combat Visor, Scatter Beam, Charge Beam, Rapid Beam, Short Beam, Solid Beam, Stun beam, Plasma Beam, Aeion Tank, Grapple Beam, Grapple Voltage, Missile Tank, Energy-to- Missile Conversion, Aeion Generator, Force Ball, Cross Bomb, Spazer Beam, Armored Powersuit, Power Bomb, Spider Magnet, Speed Booster, Shinespark, Ice Beam, Zero Suit.

List of unlocked purchasable upgrades:

Death Ball, Wide Beam, Laser Beam, Wave Beam, Diffusion Beam, Spin Boost, Accel Charge, Scope Visor, Thermal Visor, X-Ray Visor, Dark Visor, Echo Visor, Command Visor, Scan Pulse Radar, Lightning Armor, Beam Burst, Phase Drift, Phantom Cloak, Flash Shift.