Apocalypse (Game Thread : Closed, Dead)

[Anti-American Eagle]

Upon hearing a voice coming from behind him, the red robed man lifted himself slightly and turned towards the intruders. As he turned his face was exposed to them, scars upon scars covering his features blending things together as lines, leaving only his red bionic eyes to show that it was a face. Near him on the ground was a small black piece of flak and a piece of chalk. He picked them up and began scribbling something on it. After he was done scribbling he turned the marked side towards them.

In barely legible writing it said. "0RkRAid 2W. w0undEdmiNdScRAp. BR0ThERSdEAd BRASSAbANd0NEd. cL0ThABANd0NEd cr0SSESigN0RANT. L0ST?"

Anthony merely crouched down and stared the man in his eyes after he read it.

 

[mcpop9]

Sana stared at him and placed a hand on his shoulder, her body being calm and seeming soothing. "Now, i'm going to ask you some questions, do your best to give me a true or false answer. Shake your head yes for true, shake it no for false." she said to him, trying to appeal to the circuitry in his head.
"There was an ork raid to the west i assume?" she asked and looked at the man for confirmation or denial. "And you were part of this group of Techprists that were attacked... your brothers in this chapter of the mechanicus died.... and you were forced to abandon them during the attack... or woke up after it..." she said, and waited inbetween the pauses for his conformation to her questions to him.

[hr]

"Right, i'll change into something more fitting once i get into my room." She said and caught the dirty stares and glances being shot at her. "I've been meaning to do this." she said and took a deep breath before hugging the psyker tight. "Thank you for everything. You've seriously helped me in the place of a father i never had." she said to him, letting it sink in before letting go. "Now, is there anything in the galaxy i can do to try and help repay you in some way? I know i can never fully give you any amount of compensation to repay you for what you've done for me, but i want to do something for you." she said with a smile up at him.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Right, I'll change into something more fitting once I get into my room." There were a few dirty looks thrown in Solara's direction as she said this. "I've been meaning to do this." Solara then proceeded to hug Dante tight, which naturally caught him off-guard, it was especially tight given the bulky nature of Power Armour. "Thank you for everything. You've seriously helped me in the place of a father I never had." The remark actually made Dante blush a little; he never really thought of himself as a father figure. A friend yes, a mentor even, but never father before. Eventually, Solara decided to let go.

"Now, is there anything in the galaxy I can do to try and help repay you in some way? I know I can never fully give you any amount of compensation to repay you for what you've done for me, but I want to do something for you." Solara then gave him a smile. For a few moments, Dante was genuinely stunned by what she had said.

"M'lady, I mean Solara, I am grateful for your kind words. Perhaps... perhaps there is something that you can help me with. How about we discuss it over a drink at the hotel you found?"

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

"There was an ork raid nod yes to the west I assume?" shake no "And you were part of this group of Techprists that were attacked" nod yes "your brothers in this chapter of the mechanicus died" nod yes "and you were forced to abandon them during the attack." shake no "or woke up after it" nod yes.

Anthony watched the man give his answers and looked at the blackboard again. "He's gone local." he pointed at three recognizable words: BRASS, cL0Th, and cr0SSES. "These are guard slang for Officer, Ecclesiarchy, and Medic."

The man nodded quickly.

"I'm not sure of all of it but it looks like he's saying: There was an Ork raid. He was wounded and suffered code corruption. He survived longer than his brothers. He was abandoned by the priesthoods. And the medics here have no idea how to treat him." He paused "2W and Lost could mean lots of things though." He thought he saw Sana look at him confused so he answered what he assumed would soon be a question "I've seen things like this before" leaving it at that for now.

 

[sage42]

Helena grinned as Lith began her second charge. Almost too easy She thought she she brought her shoulder down in a counter charge. Before they collided, Helena quickly dropped to her knee and then rose, driving her shoulder into the womans stomach. With a grunt she shifted Lith over her shoulders and threw her to the ground with a heavy thump. With the wind knocked out of the fallen woman Helena wasted no time firmly planting a knee on her chest. "So, care to yield, *****?" She asked as she pushed, not enough to break something but enough to stop the air flowing.

She was struggling to breath, but still she managed "Not on your life skag." before driving a fist into Helena's exposed stomach. Helena stumbled back, breathing heavily. She glared at Lith as both women regained their breath. Helena was starting to feel the strain, it had been to long since she had sparred with anyone. She would have to end this soon.

 

[Lunar Templar]

As Urd made it back to base to find something was up at the gym. Curious, she made her way over and found Lith and Helena fighting. She debated weather or not she'd stop this, but ultimately just sighed a shook her head and left the two to beat each other senseless.

She headed over to the hanger, she had a tech priest to find and figured that's where he'd be, though she did initially see Egerion and Ru she didn't address them until she'd questioned a few people and found some one that said he saw him leave with some female tech priest. Figuring this girl was the same one they came down with she then decided asking Ru would be best. "Captain, Sergent." she said as she approach the pair. "apologies if I'm interrupting something, but I'm looking for our groups tech priest, and I have reason to believe he left with the young lady that was with you. Any idea where they'd likely go?"

 

[Athol]

Lith

As the two women circled each other, Lith was trying not show how battered and tired she was feeling. Sure she'd received augmentations, but unlike Helena, her were just to replace what'd been fried by Solara's powers; Helena's were meant to increase her fighting abilities. Fuck... It felt like Helena had cracked a rib.

Over the other woman's shoulder, Lith noticed they'd started to draw a crowd; PDF/IG troopers all in their own PT gear, all male. Enjoy the show boys... She tensed, and launched towards Helena, juking at the last moment to avoid the counter, while using her own momentum to throw a kick; unfortunately for her, Helena was quick enough to deflect that before she went on the offensive. Back and forth then went for at least five minutes, attacking and counter-attacking each other, but neither fighter gaining a decisive advantage.

Her lungs were on fire, every muscle ached, fatigue was starting to make her vision blur, and there was so much sweat soaking the mat the she was having trouble keeping a solid footing...and from the looks of things Helena wasn't in any better shape. Face it you can?t beat her...but hey, you DID fight a Sister to a standstill.

Lith took a deep breath, and let it out, letting her arms fall to her side while she stood up straight. "Okay..." She said finally. "I think we both know this isn't going to really go any further, so let's just call it a draw." Formally bowing to her opponent, she stuck out her hand.

[hr]

Egerion

Egerion mentally nodded in agreement with Ru's words, before chuckling across the vox. "Your powers of understatement as impressive Brother. To say that the Emperor was 'a bit more' then the common man, is like saying a Emperor Titan's Hellstorm Cannon is 'a bit more' powerful then a Bolt Pistol."

"Captain, Sergeant, apologies if I'm interrupting something, but I'm looking for our group?s tech priest, and I have reason to believe he left with the young lady that was with you. Any idea where they'd likely go?"

"Not at all Leftenant, we were just remembering days long passed." Egerion rumbled. "As for the Techpriests, I have not seen them since we landed. The Mechanicus most likely have a shrine or temple somewhere nearby; perhaps they went there."

 

[Outcast107]

Vym kept running towards the sound of battle. Getting closer and closer as he was ready for a fight. His body was being pump full of drugs once more. Making him fill with rage and adrenaline once more to take any kind of pain and keep on going. Seeing the battle just up head, he let out a insane laughter as he jump into the air. Eyeing his first target of the day, a ork shoota boy, down below him.

The Ork was to busy shouting out and laughing as he fire at the locals. He didn't even know what happen as Vym landed right on top of him and cleave off a good portion of his head. The ork falling over dead as Vym dodge a axe that was inches away from his face.

Seeing the Ork slugga attacking once more, Vym would meet him head in combat. Vym would dodge, block, and dive under the sloppy, but powerful attacks of the Ork. One wrong move and Vym would most likely be cleave in two. On the latest dodge, Vym rush forward and slam his claw hands into the Ork's skull. Two of the claws entering the ork's eyes as he scream out in pain.

Vym with all of his might, pull the skull out of the orks head. Leaving a skull-less ork to fall over. Cheering in victory he would toss the skull aside. He saw more enemies of the Emperor and he needed to deliver death to them all.

 

[sage42]

"Okay...I think we both know this isn't going to really go any further, so let's just call it a draw." Helena stared at the offered hand with distrust. Then she felt her body protest at the thought of continuing the fight. She didn't bow, but she did take the offered hand. "Fine, as much as I hate to admit it your right." She looked around at the IG troopers that had gather to watch their fight. "How dare you!" She snapped at the crowd. She noticed a few jump. "Did you miss the Soroitas mark on my face? Or the mark on nearly all of my augs? You gawk at a Sister of Battle! Clear out before I have each and every one of you dragged before the Sisters Superiors for mocking our order!" Severel pairs of eyes grew wide, some scowled, others shrugged, but all quickly dispersed leaving the women alone again.

"Now that our audience is gone...." She grumbled turning back to Lith. "I must admit your good, I dare say you may have missed your calling. You might've made a decent Sister." She forced the compliment out. She still didn't care for the woman, but she certainly had the skills to back up her attitude. "It has been too long since I had a decent.." she grunted in pain mid sentence. She reached into the back of her mouth and pulled a tooth that had come loose. "Good, It has been a long time since I had a good sparing partner." She corrected herself tossing the tooth aside.

 

[Lunar Templar]

"Not at all Leftenant, we were just remembering days long passed." Egerion rumbled "As for the Techpriests, I have not seen them since we landed. The Mechanicus most likely have a shrine or temple somewhere nearby; perhaps they went there."

Urd frowned an odd frown, a mix of 'oh yeah, they have those don't they' and disgust. "I'd sooner go into battle wearing nothing then set foot in one of those places again" she said grumbled reflexively though didn't apologias for it. 'Shoulda stayed with Dante' she thought as saluted the two ancients and turned to leave, though stopped a few paces away, clearly conflicted as to where she wanted to go next.

 

[Athol]

Lith

"Fine, as much as I hate to admit it your right."

Geez, that must've been like pulling teeth. Lith thought, then promptly rolled her eyes as Helena snapped at the crowd. It's amazing she can fight so well with that poles so far up her ass...

"Now that our audience is gone...I must admit you're good, I dare say you may have missed your calling. You might've made a decent Sister. It has been too long since I had a decent...Good, it has been a long time since I had a good sparring partner."

"I thank you for you compliment...I think." She replied with a nod. "It was nice to spar with somebody who's on a similar level to me for once" Wiping some sweat from her face, she prodded a few areas that were promising to bruise quite spectacularly. "Gotta say though...was it really necessary to lay into those men like that? Our fight was probably the closest thing they've had to 'entertainment' in a long time."

[hr]

Egerion

"I'd sooner go into battle wearing nothing then set foot in one of those places again."

Urd's vehemence surprised Egerion. While he knew the Mechanicus' faith sometimes made people uneasy...to some it was borderline Heresy...for the most part, it was treated almost like the Imperial Cult; to hear someone say such things out loud was surprising. As the will and mind of an Inquisitor go, so do their followers...

As he pondered such thoughts, he spoke to Momaru over their private vox channel. "When I first heard about the Inquisitor I was...hesitant. Inquisitors have a tendency to be rather, dogmatic, in their beliefs; but from what I have seen of the Inquisitor, and with what the Leftenant has just said, I think we may have cause to tell them the Truth."

 

[mcpop9]

Solara nodded to Dante, happy to spend some more time with him after their long freeze. She also giggled at his correction to the formalities of the time. "You're family to me Dante, so please don't hesitate to call me by my first name." she smiled at him and began leading the way to her hotel room. 'You know we can communicate telepathically as well, but i assume you'd like to have this conversation in spoken word for an amount of significance.' she sent to him via telepathy.

[hr]

"Aye my Battle Brother, i think it would do them well to learn of it, but we'll need to get them disarmed and in a rather isolated place, do you have any in mind?" he asked the ancient over their private vox com. Whenever a priest would come near him with any sort of machinery other than to simply clean his armor, he would give a glance through his helm and they'd back off as only Kura would be permitted to work on him.

[hr]

Kura looked at the man, biting her lower lip before deciding. "I will try to help you as much as i can, is this ok with you? i am just short of becoming a rune priest, so i cannot promisethe condition, only that my cloning line will attest to rather great deeds for the mechanicum." She explained to the techpriest, offering a hand for him to take.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Urd decided to send a messenger to the Mechanicus Temple over going her self, though finding some one to go was a touch problematic, but after a little figurative arm twisting she did finally talk some one into going and delivering her message to Anthony.

With that settled she was on her way to the hotel when she noticed the crowd from Lith and Helena's fight exiting, so out of curiosity she decided to go see who was put on the mat. After all, some one would like need to carry some one somewhere. So it was a touch surprising to see the both still up right. "So, you two finished kissing and making up now?" Urd said, unable to stop her self for 'poking the bear' a little.

 

[sage42]

"Gotta say though...was it really necessary to lay into those men like that? Our fight was probably the closest thing they've had to 'entertainment' in a long time."

Helena snorted. "Yes, I am a Sister of Battle. I will not be gawked at like some animal in a cage." She said walking over to where she had thrown her towel and canteen. "Besides it also comes with a certain pride as a woman. I prefer not to be looked at like a side of meat on the hook." She said taking a drink from her canteen. She offered it to Lith.

She turned her head as she heard someone quip from the entrance. "So, you two finished kissing and making up now?"
Helena rolled her eyes. "Yes for now apparently."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"You're family to me Dante, so please don't hesitate to call me by my first name." Solara then smiled before heading off in a seemingly random direction, and so he decided to follow suit. "You know we can communicate telepathically as well, but I assume you'd like to have this conversation in spoken word for an amount of significance."

"Something like that yes. It's important, and that's all I'll say for now, at least until we're at the hotel." Dante replied, taking care not to reveal too much too soon.

"So Solara, how did you find this place then?" He then asked, changing the subject.

 

[Athol]

Lith

"So, you two finished kissing and making up now?"

"What she said." Lith replied, gesturing to Helena as she accepted the water bottle. Taking a grateful swig, she handed the bottle back and shrugged. "Must be something you get in an all-female unit." She said, referring to Helena's 'meat on the hook' comment. "When I joined the 112 I was only one of five females in the Regiment, and the only one in the Company; very quickly I stopped caring what the 'boys' thought...and those that pressed the issue sorted themselves out after a quick trip to the Medicae."

Lifting her shirt some, she tentatively poked at a greenish yellow blotch on her side, about the size of a canteen tray. "Ow...well done 'Lena." She said. "I think you cracked a rib or two..." Her face twisted once more in pain. "...defiantly two." Letting the shirt fall back in place, she stretched gingerly. "I'll let you get back to...whatever else you were going to do." She said with a nod, walking over to Urd as she did. "So, how are you doing?"

[hr]

Egerion

"Aye my Battle Brother, I think it would do them well to learn of it, but we'll need to get them disarmed and in a rather isolated place, do you have any in mind?"

"I am glad we are of the same mind Brother." Egerion replied. "But as to your question, no I do not have an appropriate location in mind as of yet. We must also be mindful of Mister Machaiah and the Inquisitor, as they are both psykers and potentially quite dangerous even without any weapons."

 

[Lunar Templar]

Urd gave silent approval, what ever the issue was they seemed to have beaten it out of each-other. She just watched the exchange, she'd clearly missed something on the way in but mentally shrugged it off.

"So, how are you doing?" Lith asked after appraising her wounds and excusing her self from Helena's company. "Eh, Been trying to track Tony down, he's probably at the Mechanicus Temple, at least thats what Capetian Egerion thought. I found some one to deliver a message to him if he's there, I do need my suit fixed after all." Urd said, then paused "Though given the state we found him I should probably brace for him not remembering" she said with an indifferent shrug, not like her original gear would be hard to replace in their current surroundings. "Other then that, I'm about to head to the hotel 'Lara set up for us and see if Dante is there, and wait for word from Tony."

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

The man took Sana's hand and nodded.

Anthony looked at the two of them and said "I'll check the generators and round up servitors then" before walking off.

[hr]

Anthony stood infront of the artfully designed power generator hidden under the unassuming shrine of a temple. Beautiful but offline, rites appeared to have not been done in weeks and the spirits shut it off before it went critical.

He started going through the lists and calculations engraved into his mind as a child. The pattern was wonderfully familiar to him for once, though he doubted it was the same kind he had maintained in his youth it was close.

He went through the rites, reimplementing runic scripts into the dataslate on one side of the chamber. Placing genplugs into their proper positions. Inserting hydrogen casks...

Coding in place. Settings correct. Capacitors online. Purifiers online. Converters online. Catalyzer online. Rituals complete... He flicked the final switch and waited for it come online.

Five minutes later, diagnostic reports started coming in. A smile came to his lips as he read that everything was online and no anomalies were reported.

He wanted to stay longer, to feel its current within him. But he knew his current implants hadn't been reinforced enough to withstand direct contact.

Anthony arrived at the servitor pens to find decaying cybernetically enhanced corpses littering the ground. Full cans of sucrisol sat on shelves across the room. He immediately came to the conclusion that they had starved to death in the absence of anyone functioning well enough to maintain them.

He grabbed a few of the cans of the white fluid and headed off to find Sana to assist her with however she was to deal with his damage.

In the main chamber near the entrance to the temple was a trooper. Standing terrified and awed waiting for someone to greet him.

Anthony walked over to the man and as he was about to open his mouth, the man shoved a note into Anthony's hands and sprinted off.

The note was simple, Urd was asking for his presence at a hostel of some sort. He pocketed the note and continued on with his business. Whatever it was could probably wait until the priest was dealt with.

 

[Athol]

Lith

Lith flushed slightly at Urd's mention of 'their' resident techpriest. Oh he's not going to be happy that I've misplaced both my helm and the plasma gun...maybe if I'm lucky he'll have forgotten about them...

The mention of accommodations though brightened her mood considerably. "I think I'll join you." She said, stretching...and then immediately regretting it. Damn "Emperor knows I could use a shower and some clean kit while I wait for them to finish with my armour."

 

[Lunar Templar]

"I hear ya there." Urd said to Lith as they started toward the hotel. "I'm looking forward to a warm bath and a soft bed my self. After everything that happened before and after our little nap, I think we've earned a little bit of real rest." she continued as she flagged down a ride and had the drive take them to the hotel Solara had mentioned.