Legends of the Smoke Jaguars Chapter 61
The first Axiom of Stealth is to be other than where the enemy believes you to be. So taught Corax to his sons, who in turn passed down the lessons to their successors. Well the Smoke Jaguars learned this truism, though they applied their own slant to the concept. Knowing they could not penetrate the toxic sky of Xilbalba undetected, even in a Shadowhawk, they had chosen to make a show of their entrance, landing in the open and driving brazenly across the landscape. Fifteen kilometres short of Sonyhu city they jumped from the Rhino's side hatches, leaving the servitor unit to drive on. Spectre of Woe would bypass the city and drive into the wilderness, following a circuitous route to a preselected rendezvous point. Any hidden observer should conclude the Smoke Jaguars were heading to the wilderness and assume they'd lost them in the barren wastes.
The four Astartes instead made their entrance down an atmospheric exchange shaft, slipping past acid covers and poison filters without tripping an Auspex. The way was impenetrably dark, and yet they moved with swift confidence, utterly accustomed to the shadows. Xavaar led the way, Takana behind, with Hanphu following and Aapo bringing up the rear. Not a word was said, not even over closed vox-link, the slightest transmission may give them away. Aapo was not unnerved, he had stalked past Orruk patrols and arguing Gretchin without making the sound of a single tread, this was simple by comparison. What came next was trickier.
When they exited the shaft Aapo found himself gazing upon an upside-down city. A vast sinkhole sunk into the depths, ringed by squared-off houses. They covered the inner wall of the shaft, thousands of staring eyes, dark and yet filled with motion. Tens of thousands of people lived in this underground warren, the only daylight coming from a circular opening in the roof a few kilometres wide, which illuminated a fetid pond of oxygen-producing algae directly underneath. Broad arches and zigzagging steps were in fashion, allowing passage, but what made Aapo's head spin was each descending tier of buildings regressed slightly further back into the walls. Overhangs were everywhere, teetering over nothing and the lowest tiers of all were finely wrought but few, creating the illusion the vast weight of the city was resting on a few spindly pillars, sure to collapse at any moment.
Aapo found himself thinking of the poorest folk, living over a vertical kilometre drop. Surely their homes were rudely constructed, liable to give way at any moment. Every step they took must bring the chance of a plummet to their deaths, one broken support from extinction. His head swam and the palms of his hands itched with vertigo. He'd thought gene-forging had removed such weaknesses from his spirit. He was unpleasantly surprised to learn how wrong he was.
Thankfully Xavaar didn't let them dwell. The Skinned Man moved with purpose, heading across the descending levels with a specific aim in mind. In total silence they advanced, the merest suggestion of wind the only mark of giants in Ceramite passing by. Never did they walk where expected, not touching a walkway or stair. They free-climbed down the outsides of habs, skipped between gaping windows and jumped from drainage channels to public lumen strips. At one point they moved within arm's reach of a sleeping babe, lying in a crib near a barred window, the child did not so much as murmur as the Smoke Jaguars glided past.
Soon they came to a middle-tier building, seemingly indistinguishable from any other. Buildings at this level must belong to the rich, for the walkway outside was divided from the courtyard by high walls and guard posts, with stern men in heavy rubber coats and carrying lascarbines. The house's front was set into the cavern wall and the interior was carved out of the bare rock. It was grim and forbidding, but hardly the den of a Traitor Marine.
The Smoke Jaguars approached from above, dropping onto the guard posts without warning. Takana took the left, Xavaar the right. Not a cry was raised, but death came for the guards regardless, by the time Hanphu and Aapo entered the left tower only two dead bodies were to be found. Aapo trusted they were wicked men, deserving of execution, but Takana was already slipping out and making his way into the house, as Xavaar did the same on the other side.
Aapo knew his role and fell upon a nest of data-cables, as Hanphu levelled his Multi-las towards the courtyard. Aapo took tools from his belt and began splicing a comm-unit into the network, beguiling the Machine Spirits with soothing programs and false all-clears. A further minute's work sent malicious data-djinns into the system, filling the exterior links with scrapcode. No alerts would escape this house to warn others of the attack. The first Axiom of Victory was to be other than where the enemy desired you to be, and the Smoke Jaguars were now in the enemy's own comms.
A touch on Aapo's shoulder made him look up, and he saw Hanphu nodding over the exterior wall from where high-pitched shouting was echoing. Aapo frowned, this was not part of the plan, and he inched his head over the lintel to see what was occurring. His twin hearts sank at the sight of a gaggle of penniless urchins, playing in the narrow street between high wall and heart-stopping drop. Not one a one among them with stubble on their chin, all dressed in rags and with filthy feet. They jostled and scraped as youths do, arguing over nothing and seemingly unafraid of the nauseating drop mere metres from their toes.
Aapo's hand slid to his Obsidian Blade, ready to draw it, but his arm froze in indecision. The hunt could not be imperilled by anything, their presence must remain covert else the quarry would flee beyond their reach. These children threatened everything, and yet Aapo hesitated. They were innocents, unburdened by sin and committing no crime against the laws of Sedaxus. To take their lives was required, and yet this was not justice. To slay the innocent without qualm was the way of the Dark One, a thought Aapo reviled but Xavaar had been clear, this hunt was not done in the name of justice, it was vengeance they sought, and vengeance has no bounds. Do it, Aapo's head commanded, but his hearts rebelled, leaving him torn in his hearts, caught betwixt the nobility of Corax and the twisted murderlust of the Dark One.
Aapo's grip closed on his knife and he tensed to leap over the lintel, but events overtook him. A small furry object was scampering along the high wall, heading straight for the children. Aapo's eyes widened as he saw K'oy brazenly moving in the open, right where everyone could see him. A small girl cried out and pointed at the cyber-simian, drawing all eyes. Aapo's guts clenched as they gathered even nearer, but then K'oy reared up, spreading his vestigial wings and shrieked a roar straight out a of feral nightmare.
The children screamed at the bowel-loosening tones. They turned to run, panicking at the hideous noise, elbowing each other and kicking at shins as they fled with tears in their eyes. K'oy jumped after them, arms raised over its head, snarling and spitting as it waddled along. Its footsteps were too loud, as if ten Marines were marching after them. The children ran in terror as faces appeared at windows along the street, only to curse at their fleeing backs, assuming the noises were children's pranks.
Aapo let go of his knife, relief pouring through him that he had not needed to draw it. He glanced at Hanphu's back and broke silence, "My thanks."
"For what?" Hanphu's helm whispered.
"For dispatching K'oy."
"He did what?" the Magpyr puzzled.
"You... you didn't send K'oy?"
"K'oy gets around, I'm sure he's finding some interesting diversions. Good noise he makes isn't it, he does vox emissions too, thermal bleed, tremors to set off motion sensors. Anybody with an auspex can be tricked into thinking a whole Prowl is on their doorstep."
Aapo shook his head in disbelief, but more pressing concerns were at hand. The comm-unit spliced into the network was flashing red, indicating distress calls were being blocked. His eyes rose to the house and he saw billowing darkness leaking out of the high windows, the mutated Shadow-path of the Dark Fury at work. Screams rang out, only to be cut short, the snap-hiss of lascarbines hitting nothing but stone and the subliminal crackle of lightning claws dicing flesh. Further down misshapen forms dashed past the windows, vulgar sprites as to sicken the eye. They walked free, given life by Xavaar's mastery of illusion, driving the inhabitants of the house out, straight into the kill-box.
A crowd of men and women ran screaming for the far gate, only for Hanphu to greet them with hails of las. His multi-las thrummed as wicked torrents of energy scythed down fleeing cravens, stabbing into their shoulders and chests from a steep angle. The terrified crowd stumbled, unable to understand where the attack was coming from and Hanphu swept his aim about again, cutting down half the milling crowd. Coherent light flash-vaporised water molecules in the air, making a distinctive snap-hiss, the effect on flesh was worse, thermal exchanges blowing off layers of skin and bone, as skewers of fused meat stabbed deep within. The survivors turned to flee, and Aapo went for his bolt pistol, but Hanphu swept his aim about a third time and ended their lives. It was over before Aapo could fire a shot.
Silence fell as Xavaar and Takana emerged, dragging a single man by the neck. Aapo retrieved his comm-unit and sent a fire alarm through the network, then he jumped from the guard tower, followed by the heavier thud of Hanphu. They picked their way over the fallen bodies, and he told himself they were only criminals, or the willing servants of criminals, and so deserving of death. It was easier than thinking they were mere scullery maids and boot polishers, with no idea of their master's rotten hearts.
"Five minutes till the fire crews arrive," Hanphu announced.
"We'll be swift then," Xavaar declared as he tossed the helpless man to the floor, "You! Where is the Bronze Beast?!"
The man was finely attired in a rich, yet loose suit that allowed free movement. A few torn patches revealed where hidden knives had been ripped away and the scars on his knuckles showed this was no feeble noble-born, but a man who had clawed his way to the top with copious applications of violence. Yet he hid his face behind his hands and pleaded, "Please, I know nothing!"
Xavaar crouched and peered intently, "You are the sub-Underboss for Xilbalba, there is no Underboss, for the Bronze Beast runs the criminals of this moon directly. Tell me where he is!"
The cur dropped the pretence, "You are fools, he doesn't just run the gutter trash, he runs everything. Everyone you see serves him, knowingly or not. He owns this world, you're all dead men walking!"
"They will not save you," Xavaar hissed.
Takana butted in, "Stand aside Skinned Man, let me cut out his heart."
Xavaar shook his head, "No, that is not our way. First we go for your eyes, then your tongue, then the feet and the hands. "
"Let me guess, they'll never find the body?!"
Xavaar growled, "Oh no, they'll be finding parts of your body for four months, and you'll still be alive for three of them."
But the cur spat, "You don't scare me, the Bronze Beast has might you cannot dream of!"
"We're running out of time," Xavaar sighed, "The hard way it is."
His hand flashed forward and wrapped about the man's skull. The mortal jerked as his eyes rolled so far back that only white was visible and froth began to bubble from his lips. Aapo sensed the air chill as Psyker power went to work, peeling open the man's mind, flensing his memories and disembowelling his consciousness. Quick and brutal, tearing a man's intellect to shreds so to sift his knowledge. When Xavaar let go the cur was a drooling vegetable, his mind obliterated, he would never form a coherent thought again.
"I have a location," Xavaar announced, "Deeper, on the lowest level."
Takana nodded, "I set fires going as I killed, they will spread fast. There's Promethium stockpiled within."
Xavaar nodded, "Douse these bodies to ensure our presence remains undetected, then we depart."
"Wait, I have to collect K'oy," Hanphu protested.
"Where did... no... I don't want to know... just get your toy and be swift! Nobody can know we were here."
The trio scurried away, but Aapo lingered for a moment. He looked over the piled corpses, wondering if they all deserved to die. The fire crews would be distracted fighting the blaze, it was doubtful any of these dead souls would have their names recorded. A pauper's grave awaited their charred bones, and Aapo could do nothing save accept it. He left them with a bleak epithet, "The sun sets on all men."