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They gathered and spoke, introducing themselves. Driscoll, the knight. Shadow Moth, a mystery yet. Cyrus, master of xenos beasts. Bonesaw... the most perplexing of the bunch. Each of them he scanned for weaknesses, vulnerabilities either physical or mental. This was a reflex that came as naturally to him as blinking. Most of them did not prove themselves to be immediate threats. Auspex scan of Driscoll indicated that he was wearing some unknown pattern of power armor. Horus didn't need the auspex to know there was something wrong with Bonesaw. The way she moved and spoke, her body was either mutated or altered in some way. The signs were subtle, but Horus was well-accustomed to sniffing out the taint of mutation in human populations. She, he would have to keep an eye on most.

None of them had any leads on what had happened to them, or why, but they were given precious little time to discuss the matter. The proximity sensors in his armor indicated an impending artillery strike, with scant seconds until impact. Knowing his terminator plate would not clear the blast radius, he took the time to don his helm, and as the impact struck, he grabbed Worldbreaker and stabbed it into the ground to serve as an anchor. As the dust of the impact settled, Horus rose from one knee at the lip of the crater that had been formed. An armored humanoid form emerged, and Horus readied his weapons in case it attacked. Rather, it chose to attack Driscoll instead when it saw him. The man had called them Techadons... had these been responsible for their capture?

Horus directed his auspex scan at the Techadon. Scans indicated no organics, but rather a robotic automaton. Men of Iron. Horus swallowed, his mouth dry as he felt trepidation for the first time in many decades. He gripped Worldbreaker tighter, raising it to strike. There was no time for fear or hesitation. As he closed to crush the machine, his auspex indicated unusual technological structures within the unit, likely due to nanomachine interference. Horus stepped back, reconsidering his approach. As he did, however, the Shadow Moth struck at the machine with his concealed blade.

"[color=9bc2b1][b]No, fool-[/b][/color]" This was all Horus could say before Shadow Moth cut the robot apart, and the machines promptly multiplied. "[color=9bc2b1][b]Nanomachines.[/b][/color]" He said simply, hoping not to state the obvious. The scene erupted into chaos as the emergent machines each broke off and attacked a different person. Horus pulled back, and bellowed out across the battlefield, "[color=9bc2b1][b]Driscoll! You know what these things are! How do we kill them?[/b][/color]"

One of them reconfigured, assembling what Horus immediately recognized as missile salvos, and emptied them into him at close range. A huge cloud of smoke and dust enveloped Horus, obscuring him from sight. The cloud was silent and still for only a moment before Horus erupted from it, his maul raised furiously. Soot and superficial damage blackened his armor, but Horus had not been slowed. His speed at a full charge was something to behold; he seemed less like a man, and more like a runaway locomotive. He barreled into the Techadon, shoulder-tackling it, before drawing his Talon to strike. He activated the lightning claw's energy fields, and scintillating electricity coursed across the weapon's cruel blades. He stabbed with full force where his auspex had indicated the greatest concentration of vital components, likely the central processor.