Eisenhorn

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

Stukov had, alas, not been resting nearly as comfortably as the rest of the retinue had during their treatment. Upon being escorted to transport the armsman had collapsed fully, no longer running on adrenaline and sheer determination coupled with a feverish obsession with his job. It was at that point that he had flatlined for the first of quite a few times which, if it were not for the timely intervention of the escorting and attending medical personnel, would have been his end. On some world far from where he was comfortable, let alone what could be considered home. But he would not die walking out of that Emperor forsaken place, and he was hauled off to the largest medicae facility the Sisters maintained, noting the importance of an Inquisitorial acolyte, or presumed as such since his formal standing with Zhevon had never been clearly defined. Upon casual examination during the trip, it seemed that he had merely undergone blunt force trauma and complete evisceration of his vocal cords. The latter would only be repairable via bionic augmentation, and the implants were on standby upon arrival at the medicae facility. However, once under more formal investigation, it was apparent more invasive bionic replacements and medical treatments would be necessary to restore him to functioning order. With local tech priests preparing the bionics, a more thorough list of issues and problems to be mended were made.

Despite numerous blood leaks from his head, no overt augmatics were required besides reinforcement to his skull do to numerous blunt impacts and spiderweb fractures along his skull. It was considered a miracle his skull hadn't caved in prior to that, unaware of the possible alternatives as to how he was still effectively in one piece. But the bionics were put in place, reinforcing his skull from the damage sustained by it as they registered that large portions of his skeletal structure were fractured or outright broken and they were set and, as necessary, replaced as well as several internal organs, including lungs as one was collapsed and the other barely functioning still. The surgery itself took quite a long period of time before the armsman was allowed to even awake and be informed as to what happened. Needless to say, his vocal augmentations were temporarily shut off to properly explain what was going on after they sedated him again, the armsman panicking due to the fact that he, last he remembered, was still in a hostile environment with allies, not in a medicae facility being repaired.

Once it was properly explained what was going on, Stukov calmed down and underwent the remainder of his surgery in cooperative peace, lost in thought when he was still allowed to be awake. He couldn't fathom what had been going on, not in its entirety, back at the factory works they had stormed, but in due time the Armsman was discharged from the medicae facility, in one piece again and finally not in some degree of pain. Several Sisters of Battle and a Rhino were waiting for him as he marched up the walkway and the vehicle tore off for parts unknown. While on the way to the safehouse he was briefed on what was going on, in the form of a dataslate, and by the time he had arrived at the Safehouse, he was effectively up to speed as he was marched into a lift and sent up to the safehouse proper. It was not a long ride, either a fast elevator or the building had not been nearly as tall as he had imagined before reaching the safehouse itself, walking in just in time to hear Sis calling for both him and Smiles. He caught what she said and a smirk was on his face as he spoke, having been moving quietly before that point.

"Not words I expected out of a Sister of Battle's mouth, anything being considered good enough for the Emperor in mortal terms." The armsman paused, surprised by the inhuman, mechanical tone his voice now carried due to the mechanical bionics that now replaced his vocal cords, and would be obvious to the rest of the retinue as well. Well, long as he could yell and make himself heard, that was all that really mattered. A bunch of the bionic work that had been done and, afterwords, explained to him certainly upped his odds for survival in most cases. Lot less to go wrong from biology failing, that much had been made clear by the tech priest explaining the installed parts. But, leave it to the Armsman to not just say hello or greet them, but be snarky. He had lost most of his patience at this point, and some semblence of R&R was quite necessary at this point. That, and this residual pressure and weight sat on him, giving him a constant, throbbing headache while a previously unheard background noise was now constantly buzzing. Unable to filter it out, he was forced to deal with it, making him far more irritable and less friendly then usual. Which wasn't necessarily saying a lot for the man, but it was notable to most.

"Everyone made it back in one piece, I hope?" He could see both Sis and Smiles, but he had yet to lay his eyes on Boss yet. Stukov highly doubted anything happened to the Inquisitor, but things would certainly be going to shit if something had after he had collapsed and passed out. He couldn't help but think back to what had happened at the factory, and lied to himself thinking it was just the interference of the warp there, and nothing more. It would take another member of the retinue to convince him otherwise, at this point.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

Welp, finally getting my post up, since I am settled into a temporary place to crash for a few weeks before I continue moving.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

Well, I am in the process of moving so apologies for a delayed response thus far.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

<Snipped quote by Eisenhorn>

We barely managed to kill that one. Would probably have been close to a total party wipe if Stukov had turned into a second daemon unless Zhevon had some trick up his sleeve xD

@Rithy

Yea, and might as well save the TPK for a better time than right at the beginning, relatively speaking.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

<Snipped quote by Eisenhorn>

Or worse, he might have done an Astrid ^_^

@Rithy

Hah, entire body exploding into a monstrosity of a daemon? Yea, that is worse than a 'eadbang, that is for sure.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

@Skyrte Timeskip sounds like a good plan at this point.

Should probably drop by a medical station on the way to let Stukov get his voice augmentation, seeing as he's currently resigned to communicate purely through hand gestures and various facial expressions, as if he had just starred as the vocalist in half a dozen death metal concerts xD

@Rithy

That teeeends to happen with untrained, near uncontrolled use of psyker powers. All things considered, it is fortunate that ol' Stukov did not go the way of the Weirdboy (ala the 'eadbang).

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

Stukov was still kneeling on the ground, having managed to inform Boss about the captured heretic leader Maltheus. As soon as he could speak he would continue to inform Boss about what he had discovered down here. The important fact, though, was that the cult leader was in their hands now. His head throbbed painfully, and he could still hear more voices than speakers were present in the room, but he could not say a word about it. Damn warp spawned place like this probably was affecting everyone like he was being affected, unaware that this was most certainly wrong. Only one other person would have noticed but they had training he did not. But he was doing the best to shut out the voices as the two medical Sisters walked over, offering their services to get him out of the room and patched up. He slowly forced himself onto his feet, leaving a fair amount of his own blood on the ground as he stood. Between that last ditch effort by the daemon to sap all their blood, and his own exertions drawing far too much blood from the internal damage, the Armsman was lucky he was still standing. Add in the internal trauma, fractured and probably broken bones, and stress from the exhaustion, it was a miracle in and of itself that the man was able to stand under his own power at all. Far too stubborn for his own good, that much was apparent to the fellow Sisters of Sis's order.

When the cry went out about the Prisoner escaping, he was aware it wasn't Maltheus since he was still securely right here. He tried to run out after the prisoner, but not a half dozen steps did his body finally force him to collapse, dropping to his knees and wheezing, blood and bits of more solid material left on the ground. Boss decided that it was time to get back to a safehouse and recover. He would be detouring to a medical facility to have an augmatic voice box and his injuries bound and set properly. Say what you will about the Inquisition, the Armsman thought, he had heard rather legendary tales of the amount of equipment available to not only extend their lives, but maintain bodies in the primes of their lives. Glancing down at his crude augmatic lower leg, the fighting had torn his trousers enough to reveal that much, he slowly stood up under the firm grasp and care of the two nurses, power armor would ensure he had not tried to run off again as they carefully marched him off for treatment. Boss would have to send coordinates to the Armsman so he could catch up later, after treatment.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

It seems I hold the record of giving identities to our otherwise nameless foes! ^_^

What can I say, I like making it more personal...

@Rithy

Hah, only problem is I don't think anyone is in any condition to pursue, except maybe Boss himself, eh?

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

Stukov sighed, which was painful sounding due to the underlying gurgle of blood that came with it, as Golden Bitch decided to become cannon fodder for Maltheus and his newest, grandest method of trying to escape being taken as a prisoner by the Inquisition. Seems she was an unwilling participant as well, as she was taken by the force unwillingly and mutated, the guts and blood spewing everywhere made the Armsman holster his sidearm and take the Cogboy rifle in both hands, already drawing a bead as the thing roared, warp tendrils waving everywhere and creating all sorts of ruckus. If the headache and voices he heard before were bad, this was a whole other level of pain and suffering in his brainspace. He was not unshielded, having spent his entire career guarding himself from the warp while engaging it, even on its own territory, but with the sheer sensitivity and raw outbursts of power left him ragged to begin with. But he stood his ground, scowling as he lifted the rifle and trained it on the abomination, firing off a shot that seemed to take out one of its flailing limbs, but to no real avail as it also took the spear and other attacks the retinue added. Boss showing up and taunting it probably didn't help, and if he could speak, he would have probably been rather ticked about the man putting himself in harms way like that.

When the cruel aura of lethargy grew and begin lifting them off the ground, the Armsman growled as his eyes seemed to flicker between sapphire blue and their natural color, subconsciously fighting the influence of the warp abomination. His wounds bled faster, to be sure, and the blood loss was indeed there, but he struggled against the lack of gravity, lifting the Cogboy rifle to try and fire again, adding in another high powered round in addition to the massive waves of power coming from Smiles as she screamed and unleashed waves of powerful lightning against the warp abomination. Stukov faded in and out of consciousness during the ordeal, each fade in consciousness meeting with an increase in power from the sapphire glow, while struggling back seemed to bring him back to the natural order of his eyes. Soon enough they were dropped, and he hit the ground, collapsing under his own weight, barely catching himself with the Cogboy rifle. Groaning he forced himself up onto his feet, gaze pained but rapidly hardening as he turned to set his gaze on Maltheus. This one, the source of all this chaos and mayhem, he would not pay for his arrogance and heresy.

The Armsman slung the Cogboy rifle, drawing his Naval Pistol and reloading, the empty magazine clinking in the now eerie silence as the Armsman stood to tower over the heretical cult leader, and for all the damage he had sustained, exuded an aura of pure dread, although this was not so much a warp extension as it was that, no doubt in the eyes of Maltheus, this mortal Armsman, no augmatics or heritage of power beyond an apparent untrained, newly found, and raw connection to the warp had stormed through every defense he had, refused to die in the face of better trained, or armed, psykers, daemons, and thugs, and was now standing over him, armed with the means of executing the man. From what Sis had said, medical help was coming, and he levered the Naval Pistol towards the head of Maltheus, before lowering its aim and putting a round through his knee cap, blowing apart the man's knee and preventing any possible means for him to escape before slamming the hilt of the pistol onto his head, knocking him out cold, or intending to, and ripping the bayonet from his abdomen, binding the wounds in dead silence before standing and taking a step off the platform before collapsing, finally, under the weight of fatigue and injury. He was still conscious, and he gestured towards Boss, and then at Maltheus, attempting to indicate the man was of great importance and would have information, no doubt. Hard, considering his vocal cords were utterly destroyed.

Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

<Snipped quote by Eisenhorn>

I´ve always wanted to say that!

Adrianne is defo a Palpatine fangirl xD

@Rithy

Hah, guess I'll post in the aftermath then. Good ol Smiles making the Emperor proud this day (Which one, well, I'll let you decide!) Maltheus is about to have a real bad day.