This story is an unofficial story based, without permission, on the Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property owned by Games Workshop Ltd.
Lucius spun round, throwing himself down behind a broken wall section as the gunman opened up with his lasgun. He tried to ignore the bright strobing flashes of las bolts streaking above him, clutching his own weapon, a much-used necromunda pattern lasrifle covered with scrapes and scratches, tightly to his chest. Fumbling at his comlink, he struggled to make his voice heard above the screaming wail of lasfire around him. "Boss, were pinned down! Im at the west entrance with Phil, but theres a guy covering the doorway! We need help if you want us in there with you!"
He huddled down behind the smashed wall, the sharp smell of las shots mixing with the cloying, thick smoke from Phils cycling cannon as the mutant returned fire. The noise was deafening, and he clamped his hands over his ears to block it out, sinking into the rough rock of the floor. He hoped his boss was having an easier time at the east gate. Then again, considering his boss, maybe he didnt.
"Come out come out, you loyalist filth! My blade thirsts for your blood!" Rahvin stalked through the destroyed chambers of the abandoned building, a dark giant moving in stark contrast to the still, dead ruins of the castle, bellowing challenges to his unseen foe. "I know you are here, Fury! Cease your pathetic hiding and let us finish this!"
The buzzing of his comlink was almost lost in the echoes of his enraged cries, but the insistent, tinny static emerging from the device was impossible to ignore. He halted by a grey column of half broken stone as he listened in growing anger, half his attention never leaving his surroundings, scanning for any sign of life. He swore to himself, trembling in rage at this newest piece of bad news. Screaming in anger, he whirled round and smashed his sword through the column, the daemon-possessed metal tearing through the stone, reducing it to rubble and dust, the spirit bound to the sword echoing his scream.
He forced himself calm, staring at the powdered fragments of stone scattered over the cold rock of the floor, pushing the anger out of his mind, leaving him with clear logic and reason. The anger did not leave completely though, it never did these days, it remained with him, nestled at the back of his consciousness like a hot splinter, eroding his resistance. It was getting harder and harder to fight the anger off. No matter. He could do nothing about it now.
Rahvin made himself concentrate. Lucius, that infernal imbecile, was pinned at the west gate, along with his pet mutant, Phil. For a moment he debated leaving them and pressing on alone, but he knew he would need them, no matter how inept they were, if he managed to find the ever-elusive Fury. He activated the comlink and brought it to his mouth, saying just two words before stalking down the destroyed corridor, his thirsting, eager weapon held by his side.
"Hold him." The voice that came over the comlink was sharp and angry, telling Lucius that his master had not found any resistance at the east gate. He leaned over to his left, risking a shot as he motioned hurriedly for Phil to move to him. He waited for the mutants nod, then shuffled back, creating room. The gunman behind the arch began firing again, responding to the movement and sending a shower of las bolts towards them. Lucius waited for the shots to stop, then signalled to Phil. He lifted his lasgun over his head, resting it on the top of the increasingly fragile wall, and squeezed the trigger. Phil started running as the first of the red bolts cracked out over the rubble-strewn ground, making the gunman step back into cover or risk a hit from the blind fire. He stopped firing when Phil was safely behind cover, conserving his precious ammunition.
"What did the master say?" asked Phil, securing his disproportionately large cannon to the strap around his shoulder. His voice was thick and sibilant, as was to be expected when it was emerging through a mound of writhing tentacles.
Lucius hushed the mutant, then replied in a whisper, "We have to hold this guy here until the boss can get to us." He looked at the mutant. "Any suggestions?"
Phil didnt reply for a moment, staring forward with glazed eyes, then he nodded to himself and lifted his weapon, squeezing the trigger just long enough for the rusty barrels to start to rotate, a shrill clanking whine filling the air for a second before Phil released the trigger.
"I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Lucius motioned for the mutant to get ready, before creeping around to the other corner of the wall. When he reached the broken, crumbled edge he looked back, seeing Phil crouched ready with his gun.
"Now!"
As one they both stood, opening fire on their assailant and driving him deep into cover behind one of the columns of the arch. Phils heavy stubber shot streams of heavy tracers at the arch, each shot creating a small crater where it hit, tearing up the terrain with its hugely inaccurate fire, the recoil proving to much for even Phils prodigious strength to hold. Lucius shot with more accuracy, trusting Phil to keep the gunman pinned down and contenting himself with shots at any exposed part of their enemy, making him huddle closer down in the shadow of the arch to avoid the laser bursts and the destruction unleashed by Phils cannon. The gunman tried to return fire, blind firing round the arch, but quickly withdrew after a round from Phil nearly blew his hand off at the wrist, creating a crater in the dusty stonework instead.
A monstrous voice that Lucius knew all too well boomed through the ruins, echoing off the bare, smashed walls. "At last, something to kill!"
Lucius saw the shadow of the gunman change as he stood up and turned towards the source of the voice, but before he got there there came a hideous ripping noise, like canvas being torn. Lucius turned his head as he heard a horrible gut-wrenching scream and saw a thick gout of blood spray out from the now slack figure of the gunman, painting the walls the bright crimson colour of blood.
When he looked back again, standing to see over the low wall, the gunman was gone. Where he had been stood Lucius master, darkly imposing in his massive suit of armour, silhouetted against the smoke and flames, the two halves of the gunman discarded at his feet, lying in a slowly spreading pool of dark blood. The stench of death and gunfire filled the air, an unholy combination that at once repulsed and attracted him.
"What are you just standing there for?" asked his master, a satisfied tone in his voice now that blood had been spilled. "Well? Weve got more killing to do yet!" With that he turned and walked back into the building, disappearing into the haze of smoke that wreathed the archway.
Lucius turned to Phil. Lowering his voice he said, "Hes fething mental, he is!"
Phil nodded his agreement, and lumbered off into the smoke, his cannon held out before him like a charm to ward off evil. Not that such a thing would work now, thought Lucius, not when they were the evil, anyway.
Hive World Terra