The Multiverse Project: Warhammer 40,000

"Warseer Lita, what do we do?"

Lita had to admit, having a dozen pairs of unblinking eyes honed on her was not a thrilling experience, it was actually quite horrifying and stressful. Eldars and humans now looked to her in this crucial moment of life and death, seeking her leadership in the face of such overwhelming odds, yep, no pressure at all. Lita equanimity was about to falter when she saw Laura, Yuki and Nikki smiling and nodding encouragingly at her, absolute in their trust. The sight was the rejuvenation she needed. Gripping her Singing Spear tighter and standing a little taller, Lita turned to commissar Raine, who had just spoken, and said.

"The skaven must be destroy, we can't hope to hold the industrial complex if they're raising hell behind us. Therefore, we need to divert our forces to the rear."

"And leave the frontline unmanned?" Miriya asked incredulously.

"No, we got replacement," Lita traded wicked grin with Laura, who promptly tapped her earbud.

"Tovin! Get your arse up here, now!" Laura switched to her Scottish accent, causing the nearby Grey Watch and Frost Bringers to laugh uproariously as the PDF colonel and his lackeys sprinted up to them. Lita didn't like how…unnerved the young man was.

"Reporting for duty mam!" Tovin saluted hastily, stuttering every word.

"Colonel, I want you to redeploy all of your Planetary Defense Forces to the frontline," Lita said as calmly as possible. "You are to hold this position while we deal with the skaven."

"You want us to fight that?!" Tovin was losing his nerves pretty quickly, waving frantically at the Chaos horde assembling across no man's land, the wind carrying with it the inhuman baying of daemons.

"That seems pretty straight forward little man," Astrid grinned mockingly.

"Insanity!" One of Tovin's followers, a lieutenant, blurted. "They'll destroy us!"

"It is your duty to stand against the enemy of the Emperor," Evangeline glowered at the man.

"We'll die if we stay here!" A major now blubbered, eliciting quick agreeing nods from his fellows. "We must abandon the industrial complex and flee south to…"

A lasbolt splattered his brain into the air and he collapsed in a boneless heap, the back of his skull missing. Raine turned her laspistol on the lieutenant next and executed him too.

"If you will not serve in combat, then you will serve on the firing line!" Raine roared at the PDF high command, the men looked about ready to wet themselves. "Do we have an understanding, colonel Tovin?!"

"Y-Yes mam!" Tovin managed to stop quaking long enough to snap a salute.

"Get to your position!" Raine holstered her laspistol as the PDFs scrambled away, yelling hurriedly into their earbuds to summon more soldiers. "And not one step back, do you hear me?! Not one step back!"

"Holy shit Raine that was awesome!" Yuki clapped giddily.

"Thank you, lady exarch," Raine tipped her commissar cap, smiling handsomely.

"Why didn't you use the bolt pistol?" Colonel Xiphos asked.

"Bolt rounds are expensive, lasbolt cost nothing," Raine drew Penitence, her bolt pistol, and switched the safety off, "And those men are worthless."

"The heavy weapons teams and anti-grav gun platforms will remain with the PDF, with the field artilleries providing fire support," Laura tapped her earbud. "You hear that Vakon? Have fun mate!"

"We'll do our best, lady inquisitor," the artillery commander said.

"Tangmo, Damien, you got all of that?" Lita asked the commissar and the Space Marine.

"Loud and clear," Damien told her. "The Marines will stay here and coordinate the defenses."

"We're heading back to deal with the fucking rats now," Tangmo said. "Hey Raine, how many of the PDF pussies did you have to shoot before they behave?"

"Two," Raine told him.

"…Damn, I shot twenty," Tangmo said sheepishly. "Those sum bitches just won't listen, but hey, a dozen dead bodies got their attention quick enough."

"Did you try serenading them, lord commissar?" Isabel piped up and the Sororitas snickered lowly.

"I swear to the God Emperor, I'm gonna kick all your asses!" Tangmo shot back.

"That'll have to wait," Lita took off toward the rear, Singing Spear braced on her shoulder, the Immortal Spirit battlegroup thundering at her heel. "We're moving to the rear now. Stay safe guys."

"Catch you later dude," Tangmo said then cut off his transmission.

"So what's the plan?" Nikki, Yuki and Laura joined her at the front of the troupe, which comprised of about ten company worth of Sororitas, eldars and guardsmen.

"A counterattack," Lita skidded to a stop beside a large warehouse where the mortar teams and the reserves were positioned. Guardsmen and Guardians stood at attention as Lita approached them. "I want the mortar teams to continue providing support to the front, but I need the reserve to set up a defensive perimeter facing south. Skavens are advancing up the rear and I need you guys and gals to make sure that they're pinned down, is that understood?"

"Yes mam!" The reserves responded with gusto before rushing off to fortify the buildings around them, working together in fluid, professional tandem.

"Welp, guess that leaves us with the rats," Laura tinkered with her hellgun then braced it. "How do we proceed?"

"We should split up, that way, we can cover more ground and fight the skaven more effectively," Cain said to an animated agreement from the Valhallan.

"Of course! Why not split our outnumbered forces for the skavens, masters of ambushes and guerrilla warfare, to pick us off inside dark buildings and alleyways!" Yuki chirped brightly then flipped off Cain. "Shut the fuck up with that slasher film bullshit!"

"I agree with exarch Yuki," Min Jae spoke up before Cain can retort. "When we fought the skaven back on my home world, the first thing they did was break us up into manageable squads so that they can use their superior number to greater advantage. It would be wise not to give them such incentive."

"Front and center K-pop, you're the leader now," Yuki pushed Min Jae to the head of the troupe.

"Umm…thanks?" Min Jae narrowed his eyes suspiciously on the innocently smiling Yuki.

"Your orders, colonel Min Jae?" Captain Marwen asked him.

"Triple column," Min Jae did a quick check on his Zetton lasgun. "Keep the formation tight but with enough room to maneuver quickly and adapt to the unexpected. Be wary of the men and women behind, in front and beside you, be prepare to help them at a moment noticed." He glanced pleadingly at Miriya and Firnera. "I mean it, help each other. I doubt the skaven will make any distinction between human and eldar."

"Whatever."

"Fine."

Well, at least they're in agreement…sort of.

"Move out!" Lita held her Singing Spear high and led the Immortal Spirit column down the road, the battlegroup adopting the formation suggested by Min Jae. They made a handsome sight jogging through the industrial complex, but it wasn't long before Lita started to get a little nervous. Ten minutes in and they haven't seen a single trace of the ratmen. And to make matters worse, the forest of concrete around them was turning the din of battle into a confusing echo, making it impossible to tell the direction and distance of the fighting. Combined with the smog blanketing the sky that effectively blocked out the reconnaissance drones, they were practically running blind.

"Movement!" Nikki yelled, and about damn time!

"Where?!" General Sulla was scarily enthusiastic as she swept her lasgun across the flanking high rises, worker's living quarter judging by the halfhearted upkeep.

"All around us!" Nikki cried and the battlegroup formed up into a circle, every barrel turned outward.

"We're out in the open!" Colonel Bruce of the Grey Watch growled. The big kilt wearing man was dual wielding a basket hilted claymore and a laspistol.

"We need to get inside the buildings, now!" Cain waved his chainsword in the air and started herding people toward one of the apartments.

"No, wait…!"

A cacophonic explosion cut Min Jae's warning short, the first three floor of the building Cain and the Valhallan were heading to disappear in a storm of pluming fire. Loud, high pitched horns blared around them and bullets started flying, the conventional kind, the rattling roar of stubber weapons enveloped the battlegroup as eldars and guardsmen jerked violently then dropped to the ground, their bodies riddled with bloody holes.

"Oh fuck!" Laura pointed at the building that got blew up. The once upright structure was now tilting down on them.

"Run! Everybody run!" Lita shouted over the hellish cadence, erected a barrier as big as she can managed and dashed down the street, away from the careening avalanche of rocks and metals. The destroyed building crashed down and Lita was thrown screaming through the air by the shockwave, the Warp shield not enough to protect her. She rolled painfully across the ground, the Singing Spear cartwheeling into the rushing clouds that washed over her. Groaning, Lita shakily pushed herself up, spitting dusts and gravels, swaying drunkenly from the powerful ringing in her ears, only to get knocked flat on her back by a black furry shape.

"Die, die elf-thing!" The squirming rabid clan rat raised his dagger and plunged it down on Lita's face. She caught his wrist with a squeal, stopping the rusty blade, the tip hovering above her eye.

"Ahhh! Get off!" Lita's free hand shot up and grabbed the clan rat's hairy, filthy neck.

"Cut your pretty face up!" The rat's demented laugh shattered into a pained shriek when Lita sent about five million volts into his body. His fur caught fire immediately and Lita threw the singed, charcoaled remain aside before springing back to her feet, grogginess completely gone now.

"Ew, ew, eww!" Lita was gingerly slapping the burnt fur from her bone armor when Dalthorn burst through the wall of dust behind her, firing his shuriken catapult in a wide arc at the encompassing haze.

"Lita!" Dalthorn heroically placed himself on her right like a stalwart knight, it was very cool. "Are you injured?!"

"I'm fine Dalthorn, thank you," Lita smiled sweetly then glanced around them. "Where's everybody at?"

"I don't know," Dalthorn said. "The smog is too thick, it's interfering with my sensor. I can barely see a thing as it is."

"Let me fix that real quick," Lita spread her arms wide and brought it together in a thunderous clap. A powerful gale bloomed outward, pushing away the clouds until the destruction was laid bare before them, crystal clear, revealing guardsmen and eldars locked in a vicious fight with the skaven. Upon seeing that their dust cover was blown the ratmen faltered, and it was all the battlegroup needed. Las and shurikens flew mercilessly into the thicket of skavens, the powerful fusillade of light cutting the ratmen into gory pieces.

"Motherfucking rat bastards," Nikki reloaded her sniper rifle and strode up to Lita. "They really got us good this time."

"But not good enough," Laura joined them with Yuki, holding out the Singing Spear to Lita. "I think you drop this."

"Thanks," Lita took the spear, her eyes roaming the men and women joining them, a beginning of a frown creasing her face, "is this everyone?"

"Aye lass, I mean, yes lady Warseer," colonel Bruce corrected himself, which was very endearing. "The Emperor's own luck is with us this day."

"Let's hope He continue to be merciful," Aileen glanced around at the group despondently. The Grey Watch and the Guardians led by Marwen and Dalthorn were the only ones presence. No sign of the Sisters of Battle, the Banshee or the other regiments that came with them, either cut off or buried by the fallen buildings. Lita hoped it was the former. "Which way, lady Warseer?"

"South," Lita started down the rubble strewed road, the main characters falling into steps beside her. "We need to get to where the skavens are emerging and plug the hole before they overrun the complex, come on!"

"What about the others?" Yuki asked.

Lita sighed, "they're on their own."

"Alnelle? Alnelle, where are you?!" Verity yelled broke into a hacking cough, the dust choking and blinding her as she stumbled through the swirling haze, her gaits wobbly from the earthshaking destruction the skavens had wrought.

"Verity?!" The soft reply drifted weakly in the wind, almost inaudible amongst the dull echoes of scream and death, the dreadful cacophony was without end.

"Alnelle, where are you?!" A volley of stubber bullets answered Verity. Squealing, Verity went prone and crawled toward where she thought Alnelle's voice had emanated from, now jumbled by the clashing thuds and booms of gunfire. "Alnelle, keep your head down!"

No respond came, and Verity's heart went cold.

"Alnelle?!" Verity shouted, straining her ears to hear anything of the eldar medic. Nothing. Only the vile clamor of gleeful slaughter roared around her, the skaven indulging in their victory.

"Alnelle! Answer me, please!" Verity continued to crawl and shout, despite knowing that her voice was sure to attract the skaven's attention, but in that moment she didn't care. She had told Alnelle that they would survive this, and she will not break that promise.

"Alnelle!" Verity yelled desperately and saw too late the dark shape that broke through the smog on her right, claws reaching out for her. Verity screamed and fumbled for her holstered laspistol when the skaven grabbed her shoulders, the fingers strangely soft and nimble.

"Verity?" The figure spoke and Verity let out a gasp of joy when Alnelle's face peered through the dust.

"Alnelle!" Verity pulled the crouching eldar down until she was flat on her stomach. "Oh thank the Emperor, you're safe!"

"I heard you calling me," Alnelle smiled weakly. "So I followed it, but I didn't dare make a sound, there were skavens everywhere. Sorry."

"It's okay," Verity very slowly, cautiously, rose to a crouch with Alnelle, their heads still lowered well below the waistline. "Are you injured?"

"I don't think so," Alnelle shook her head, "you?"

"I'm fine, see?" Verity tapped her Sororitas power armor. "We need to get out of the street."

"I passed a building on my way here," Alnelle held her hand out to Verity. "Take my hand. I don't want to lose you in the dust again."

"Lead the way," Verity took Alnelle offered hand and gripped it tight as the eldar medic took off into the gloom. Within moments they came upon a squat building that was surprisingly intact despite what had just befallen, the door and windows undamaged but were covered in thick layer of brownish grey soot. Alnelle grabbed the doorknob, pushed it opened soundlessly and quickly slipped inside with Verity. Slamming the door shut, Verity and Alnelle let out breaths they've been holding, the muted silence of the dark interior was a soothing change from the constant rumble outside.

"Nice find," Verity grinned.

"Thanks," Alnelle slouched back against the thick wooden frame, heaving great lungful.

"Stay still," Verity crawled over to Alnelle and started patting her down, the hospitaller's hands moving deftly and clinically over the eldar's torso and legs.

"I said I wasn't injured," Alnelle said shyly, cheeks turning red from the intimate contact, which in turn made Verity flushed also, knowing how inappropriate and sacrilegious her action was.

"I need to be sure," Verity averted her gaze. "Adrenaline dulls the pain in the heat of battle, or panic. It is not uncommon for a solider to continue fighting even after taking a fatal injury. But once the fervor pass, the magnitude of the damage becomes apparent, and for most it is too late to do anything."

"Okay," Alnelle sat still as Verity continued with the examination. After about a minute, the hospitaller pulled her hands back from the eldar, both sighing in relief now that the awkwardness has passed.

"Well, besides a few scratches and bruises, you're perfectly healthy," Verity said.

"Thank you," Alnelle stared at Verity with something akin to trepidation. "Do you need me to check your injuries too?"

"No need," Verity said. "I'm perfectly fine, thanks to my power armor."

"That's not fair!" Alnelle cried, her tone less than serious.

"Such is life," Verity smirked and helped Alnelle up to her feet. "We need to keep moving."

"Agreed," Alnelle nodded briskly, more confident now that she was not alone, "do you have any weapon?"

"Only a laspistol," Verity pulled the sidearm from her belt, checked the magazine then held it lax in her hand, "you?"

"Shuriken pistol," Alnelle's grip on her weapon was awkward, the girl was obviously not used to handling firearm. "I thought the Sororitas carries bolter?"

"I'm from a hospitaller order, we are taught to be medic not frontline combatant," Verity told her. "I can use one, sure, but I never requisition one, it's bulky and get in the way of my medical supplies."

"At least you know how to shoot," Alnelle grimaced. "I've only fired a gun during combat drill. I've never shot anyone before."

"You'll do what you must to survive, instinct will kick in and drive away any fear or hesitation," Verity said encouragingly. "You'll be fine, just stay close alright?"

"Okay," Alnelle nodded. "But I think you should take the lead this time."

"It'll be my first," Verity chuckled then headed down the dark hallway toward the rear of the building. "Stay on your toes, there could be skaven lurking even in this building, be ready to fight."

"Okay," Alnelle said a little too breathlessly as they reached the slightly ajar backdoor, the sound seeping through the crack was haunting and animalistic, the pops and bangs of discharging weapons a ghostly, ephemeral thing. Swallowing hard, Verity made a brave face for Alnelle and reached for the door, unbelieving of the situation she now found herself in. She wasn't a leader like Miriya, yet here she was playing soldier when all she wanted to do was hide until someone comes and rescue her and Alnelle. Verity quickly banished such shameful, cowardly thought, steeled her nerves, and slowly eased the door open.

"Looks pretty safe," Verity poked her head outside, seeing the back of another building across the narrow road. Stuttering street lamps illuminated the alleyway. "Come on."

Pushing the door open, Verity and Alnelle stepped outside, the eldar turning her pistol left while she trained hers right. Nothing but empty gloom greeted them, but the howling acoustic was a ceaselessly hum around them.

"Clear," Verity said.

"Clear," Alnelle lowered her gun with a sigh, "where to next?"

"South, to where the skavens are emerging," Verity reached for her belt and groaned when her hand brushed the empty space where her data-pad used to be. "Damn it! You still have your data-pad?"

"Here," Alnelle flipped hers open, finger tapping quickly over the screen. "We need to go that way, toward the main shipping thoroughfare then take a left. That's should be the quickest route."

"Let's go then," Verity took off down the alleyway with Alnelle at her side.

"Is this a good idea?" Alnelle looked askance at Verity. "We're heading straight to where the fighting is thickest."

"Which mean there will be Imperial and Aeldari forces to link up with," Verity told her then added hopefully. "And maybe Miriya might already be there."

"I see," Alnelle nodded. "Left just hope we can get there in one piece…"

Not a heartbeat after those words left Alnelle's mouth, the pair walked straight into a great skaven war host. Ranks upon ranks of daemonic vermin prowled the street, looting, killing and eating what remained of the humans and eldars that had fought them, shrieking in delight to the cavalcade of gore they have unleashed, surrounded by war machines of evil, maddening design and abominable monsters twisted by the eldritch corruption of the Warp. And now all of them turned to glare at Verity and Alnelle, their revelry forgotten in the presence of new preys.

"You just have to say it, didn't you?!" Verity hissed at Alnelle.

"I'm sorry!" Alnelle squeaked. "I think we should run."

"Yes, we really should," Verity agreed wholeheartedly.

"Get the woman thing, thing! We need more mothers to breed our kin!" A skaven clad in a tattered mockery of a priest robe pointed at them, waving his horned skull staff wildly in the air. "Get, get them!"

"Run!" Verity sprinted back the way they came, Alnelle closed at her heel, both not caring about anything else besides surviving the next minutes. The skaven screamed in bloody exaltation and stampeded after them, hungry for a debauchery beyond mindless bloodletting, spurred onward by dark thought of the flesh. They were half way down the corridor when a horde of four legged rats the size of full grown hounds barreled toward them from the other end of the alley, barking and screeching.

"In here!" Alnelle took Verity's arm and dragged her into the adjacent building, shouldering the door open and throwing both of them into a cramp room littered with abandoned iron crates.

"Brace the door, quickly!" Verity put her backs to the door, the frame bulging and cracking to the skavens relentless assault, as Alnelle pushed a heavy looking crate forward. Despite the medic slim, one could say frail, frame she managed to block the entrance with surprising swiftness, not even out of breath or sweating. Verity and Alnelle backed away into the room but their moment of respite didn't last for the skavens broke down the windows and wormed their way frantically inside. The pair turned and sprinted deeper into the flickering interior.

"Miriya, we have to go!" Cassandra ducked beneath the broken wall that was their cover, waited until the skaven's volley subsided, then rose up and unleashed a barrage on the vermin, the heavy bolter roaring like the furious dragons of old.

"Sent out another search party!" Miriya fired her plasma pistol at a group of clan rats, the bright blue energy bolts liquefying the skavens into steaming mush. "She could still be around here!"

"The rats almost have us surrounded!" Isabel let loose a burst, the bolt rounds tore through the building opposite them and scattered the skavens within.

"We are not leaving Verity behind!" Miriya roared and unleashed another salvo on a pack of charging rat hounds, the plasma making short work of them.

"Then you will die without purpose," the eldar Banshee Firnera deadpanned besides her, the xeno firing her machinegun at the advancing skavens. "And in your stupidity, drag all of us to the grave with you."

Miriya swung her plasma pistol at the xeno wench, "if I hear one more word out of your damn mouth…!"

"Your kind has never been fond of the truth," Firnera sneered insolently, "and suicidal to add."

"The xeno has a point," Miriya glare at Cassandra, despite knowing that the Banshee was correct in pointing out her obtuseness. Not that she'll ever let the eldar know, of course. "We can't hold out much longer. We need to go!"

Miriya almost wiped that smug look off Firnera's face with her fist, but reeled in her anger and directed it at her surrounding instead, scanning the swarm of skavens rushing across the ruins toward them, the rats growing bolder by the minutes, confident in victory.

"There!" Miriya pointed at a wide corridor between two residential hubs, the skaven were only starting to gather there, numerous but motley and ill organized. "We need to make a break for the southern road and rejoin the rest of the battlegroup. Prepare to move out! Danae, Rubria, Ananke, give us smoke cover, on my mark!"

"We'll clear a path for you," Firnera stepped up beside Miriya, put away her machinegun and drew her two swords, giving them a few showy twirls, "when you're ready."

Miriya nodded, reloaded her bolter, and shouted, "now!"

The smoke grenades flew and the Banshees dashed forward, their earsplitting war cry piercing the night, the shockwave shattering every window in their path as the skavens cowered in fear, hands clasped over bleeding ears. The eldar's dance of death was elegant and devastating, war personified in its most terrible splendor, sickening in its alien perfection. The Banshees moved as an ethereal storm, the song of their blades enshrouding them in furious scarlet. In a blink the performance was over, Firnera and her Banshee now taking cover between the buildings, swords sheathed and guns out, dead skavens sprawled before the Sororitas like a welcoming carpet.

"Move!" Miriya waved her Celestian squad and the huskarls after the eldars, she and Astrid bringing up the rear.

"The eldars can really move, huh?" Astrid smirked as she threw a grenade into the rising cloud of dense white smoke, the muted explosion was accompanied by ratty squeals.

"They have their uses," Miriya responded curtly as they rejoined the group. She glanced back at the wall of cloud behind her, sighing, hoping beyond hope that Verity will emerge safe and sound.

"She'll be alright," Miriya turned to find Isabel with a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Verity will pull through, trust me."

"Thank you Isabel," Miriya clasped her hand over Isabel's own, sharing a smile with her friend. "Are you hurt?"

"No, none of us are, thank the Emperor," Isabel led Miriya back to where the Sororitas and Banshee had formed a defensive perimeter around the buildings. Seeing the sisterhood working with the xenos was still pretty jarring.

"Which way?" Firnera demanded as if she was Miriya's superior.

"Let me check," Miriya tapped her data-pad and crossed reference their current location with the map. "We need to keep to the main road and stay on it until we reach the steel refineries."

"We'll take point," Firnera and the Banshees made to take the lead, but the Martyred Lady Celestian refused to give way for the xenos. Miriya had never been more proud of her sisters in arms.

"The Sororitas will lead," Miriya shouldered Firnera aside and tiled her head backward. "Get your Banshee to the rear."

"We'll give you a whistle when we need you," Cassandra grinned nastily and the squad snickered.

"We don't take orders from animals," the Banshee Isenris spat at Cassandra feet, bringing the laughter to a sharp, sudden end.

"Know your place, xeno," Isabel made to approach Isenris but Baeleth intercepted her, both of them standing an inch apart, noses almost touching.

"One more step, and I'll make you crawl like your ancestor," Baeleth barred her teeth and Isabel clenched her shaking fists.

"Tell your Banshee to stand down," Miriya spun sharply on Firnera.

"Not until you put a leash on your Celestian," Firnera's hand was already resting on the grip of her sword.

"Do as I say you xeno bitch," Miriya pulled the chainsword from her belt and pressed the ignition rune, the blades whirred to life.

"Or what, you mon-keigh whore?" The delicate eldar sword slipped out of its scabbard with a gentle whisper, Firnera's glare never leaving Miriya's own.

"That is fucking it!" Astrid materialized suddenly between Miriya and Firnera, and before she or the eldar could react the huskarl grabbed their armors and pulled them close, stopping just a hairbreadth before a cranium collision. "Me and the huskarls are leading, you got that?!"

"But we…"

"That is not…"

"No! We're leading!" Astrid cut it before neither of them can speak, adding a shake for good measure. "I'm not going to get kill by a bunch of rats because you idiots can't stop fighting like a bunch of she-wolves in heat!"

A glare passed between Miriya and Firnera, but the feral gleam in Astrid's eyes killed any words or actions that might have followed. With reluctance, a truce was settled with a curt, grunting nod. Satisfied, Astrid released them with a toothy grin.

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Astrid unslung her shield and tightened it on her left arm, six magazines were strapped to the underside, then fastened her bolter to her right wrist with a lanyard. "Now get behind us. Combined formation like what Laura and Yuki did, quickly!"

"Cover our advance!" Miriya gave her ordered as the double column sprinted down the alleyway, Marcia and Aemilia bathing the rear with flaming promethium, immolating a few skavens that were emerging from the smoky veil. Two Banshees, Ariska and Ylsae if Miriya remembered correctly, laid down palm sized mines to deter any pursuing ratmen.

"Which way again?" Astrid asked when Miriya and Firnera joined her at the head of the column.

"Straight down the road," Firnera said, her machinegun sweeping across the high rises around them. "Keep close to the wall and be weary of the buildings! The skaven will make use of them!"

The column closed ranks and pressed themselves against the building on the left, moving swiftly under its shadow, the flickering light painting the group, eight huskarls, eight Celestians and eight Banshees in a spectral hue, ghosts amongst the battlefield. Miriya's heart skipped a beat when she noticed Verity's absent, and with great effort pushed away the anger, sadness and worry for the hospitaller before it consumed her. Verity will be okay. She has to be okay. A powerful wrench pulled Miriya back into a shaded alcove, just before she stepped onto an intersection. Snarling, Miriya spun around to find Firnera holding her back, hand tight on her pauldron.

"Focus Celestian," Firnera let go of Miriya and put a finger to her own lips, shushing for silence. Miriya took a deep breath and concentrate, picking through the din of battle until she heard one noise growing in volume and drawing nearer. It soon resolved into the all too familiar howls of war machines, the bangs of gunfire and shrieking rats.

"I'm open to suggestion," Astrid told Miriya and Firnera with a quirked brow.

"The skaven must not reach the frontline," Miriya said. "We need to stop them."

"Agreed," Miriya was surprised by Firnera easy consent, she had expected a disagreement from the eldar. "How much ammo do you have left?"

"More than enough," Miriya said. "You?"

"Adequate for the moment," Firnera injected the machinegun magazine, checked it, then slammed it back in. "What about anti-tanks weapons? We only have melta grenades with us."

"Our heavy bolters and flamers should be enough to disable anything the skaven cobbled up," Miriya told her.

"Pin them down, and we will give them steel," Firnera said adamantly, her Banshee murmuring their assent, a brave gesture Miriya knew the eldar will carry out absent hesitation.

"No," Miriya shook her head. No matter how much she despised the Aeldari, such wasteful, needless death was abhorrent. And despite their attitude, Firnera and her Banshee had proven their worth on the battlefield. "We need to stick together. They outnumber us, so a full-frontal assault is inadvisable."

"What do you have in mind?" Firnera asked.

"We wait for them to come to us and ambush them, just like they did us," Miriya glanced at the delipidated building behind them. "This place will do nicely."

"They're getting closer," Astrid barred her teeth at the nearing screams and gunfire. "You got a plan?"

"Follow me," Miriya hurried to the door of the establishment and pushed it opened, waving everyone inside. The place appeared to be a tavern of some sort, with wide windows granting a musty view of the street beyond.

"Cassandra, Rubria and…what's your name sister?" Miriya addressed those carrying heavy bolter.

"Thora," the ponytailed Frost Bringer said curtly.

"I want the three of you on the second floor," Miriya pointed upward. "Rubria, Thora, do not fire until I say so. Cassandra, load the armor piercing rounds, your targets are the vehicles, nothing else."

"As you command Elohim," Cassandra headed for the stairs with Rubria and Thora in towed, the wood creaking from the weight they carried.

"Ligren, Kaytys, go with them," Firnera ushered two Banshees after the Sororitas and turned to Miriya. "They're the best markswomen in my host. They'll keep your companions safe."

"Thank you," Miriya nodded then headed to a long, heavy table, nudging her head for Firnera to follow. "Help me barred the door with this."

With Firnera and Astrid help, the three of them flipped the table onto its side and pushed it against the entrance.

"Isgerd, Una, check the backdoors and barricade it," Astrid ordered the huskarls and flexed her arms, readying herself for a fight. "What about us?"

"We stay here," Miriya went to the window and eased it opened, back braced against the frame, bolter at the ready, eyeing the road beyond. "Get into position."

She was joined by Astrid and Isabel, the huskarl ducking beneath the sill while the Celestian took her place at the opposite end of the window. Within the span of a minute all six windows were occupied, every barrel trained on the road as the rumble became a physical reverberation that loosened dust and sent furniture hopping. Miriya trained her bolter at a wide alleyway yawning to the left, finger easing on the trigger, ready for the war machine to emerge. The building across the road exploded in a spectacular plume of woods and metals, the Sororitas and Banshee quickly took cover as flying debris peppered the tavern.

"What in the fuck?!" Astrid's cry was answered by a deep throated roar bellowing from within the swirling dust where a dark massive shape was emerging.

"Cassandra, do you read?" Miriya tapped her helmet, the transmission wrecked by loud static.

"Your orders, Elohim?" Cassandra's voice was a garbled mess, but still understandable. Ever since the skaven showed up, their communication instruments have been rendered near useless, effective only in the shortest of range.

"Make sure to aim for the head, that thing isn't a tank," Miriya hissed as a lumbering abomination stumbled out of the dissipating dust. It was a skaven, but twisted by unholy sorcery and mad science into a mountain of bulging muscles, bigger and wider than a Space Marine. It reared its head high and screamed, terrible and forlorn, blood fountaining from its mouth, adding another slick layer to the crimson sheen already coating its body.

"The beast is injured," Astrid observed.

"And fleeing," Firnera added as more skaven emerged, running passed or under their mutated cousin, firing blindly back the way they came, disorganized and panicky, a complete rout. "Shall we put them out of their misery?"

"Let's," Miriya grinned as she yelled into her helmet. "Every gun open fire! In the name of the Emperor, let none survive!"

"Destroy the Sha'eil spawn! Mael-Dannan!"

There was a strange, musical harmony to the bangs of bolters and twinkles of shuriken catapults, a union of purpose that was pure and righteous. Humans, eldars, in that moment it didn't matter as the Sororitas and Banshee were joined in a matrimony of fire and death. All that remained of the skavens when the barrage ended were smoking clumps of meat splattered across the street, the gory pieces barely recognizable as a living thing. The rat giant knelt at the center of the carnage, its torso ripped to shred by the Kraken bolts, a monument to the bloodletting.

"That went well!" Astrid smirked, low laughter rumbled from her huskarl companions as they reloaded their bolters.

"Be quiet!" Firnera hissed at them, the piercing pitch amplified by her Aeldari war mask, silencing the Frost Bringers. "Something moves beyond, make ready."

"Do not fire until you have clear visual on the target," Miriya said, the information display of her visor calibrating the distance and wind speed as the targeting system locked on to where her iron sight was aimed at. One of the many enhancements the Immortal Spirit STCs had made on the Sororitas's armament was upgrading the power armor's software, making their gear more effective and deadly, similar to that of the Astartes. A figure crept slowly out of the rubble, straight back and tall, lasgun sweeping across the carnage, joined moments later by more soldiery shapes, moving with tactical alertness.

"Stand down sisters," Miriya went over to door, pushed the table aside, and walked onto the street. "Min Jae!"

The Homeland Rifle colonel spun toward her and lowered his lasgun, a smile splitting his face in two as he jogged up to her.

"Am I glad to see you!" Min Jae extended his hand and she took it, shaking firmly. The young colonel was about to lean in and embraced her, but wisely decided against it at the last second.

"It's good to see a friendly face," Miriya nodded and released his hand. "You were pursuing the skaven?"

"We were," Min Jae said as more soldiers emerged from the ruin. "They tried to rush our position but we outmaneuvered them, flanked them, threw a few explosive charges down the sewer and then gave chase. Thank you for mopping them up."

"It was our pleasure," Miriya said, the Sororitas and Banshee joining her. "Apologies if we stole the thunder from your hunt."

"Not at all, we were getting pretty tired anyway," Min Jae chuckled good-naturedly and Miriya noticed then that the Homeland Rifle were accompanied by the Fire Guard, led by colonel Xiphos himself, a significant number of eldar Guardians of the Biel-Tan persuasion, and Celestian of the Ebon Chalice and Sacred Rose, Emmanis and Gwynael at the head of their squad.

"Mind if we tag along colonel? I'm pretty sure we're heading in the same direction," Miriya said.

"The more the better," Min Jae drank heartily from his canteen then held it out to Miriya, she declined with a polite shake of the head.

"Colonel, have you seen Verity?" Miriya asked, dreading the answer.

"The hospitaller? No mam," Min Jae said and Miriya thanked the helmet for hiding the heavy disappointment playing across her face. Icy fear clutched her hearts as her mind went through every possible scenario, each one worse than the last. "Isn't she supposed to be with you?"

"That is not the case, is it?!" Miriya snapped at him, her accumulated frustration finding an unfortunate target. Shame quickly doused her anger, and she bowed in apology to the startled Min Jae. "I'm sorry colonel. That was out of line."

"It's okay sister, no harm done," Min Jae offered an understanding smile when Xiphos sprinted toward them, clear urgency peering through his Corinthian helm.

"We have to move, Pollius and Hera spotted another skaven horde closing in behind us," he told them. "And we got some radio chatter coming our way. Al-Rahman and Salahdin is just two clicks southeast of our position, I say we join them."

"Good idea," Min Jae nodded and raised his voice to the soldiery. "We're heading out, let's go! Two columns, double time!"

"She'll be alright, Miriya," Cassandra offered her soothing reassurance. "There's more to that girl than meets the eye."

"I know Cassandra," Miriya nodded dispassionately then waved her own squad, and those of Astrid and Firnera, after Min Jae's forces. "Stay alert and don't fall behind, go."

As the squads jogged passed her, Miriya took this moment to empty her mind, banishing all thought of Verity, no matter how much it pained her, and fixed herself on the present. Exhaling slowly, Miriya opened her eyes and found Firnera staring at her.

"You have a heart after all," the Banshee said and took off after her kinswomen. Miriya followed close at her heels, all the while wondering whether she was just insulted or not.

She knew she made a mistake the moment she ran into the building, but there was nothing she could do now but run, faster and faster toward the jaws of death itself.

"Keep running Alnelle!" Verity looked back as she ran up the apartment complex stairs, the eldar medic only a step behind her, panting and sweating like she was.

"They're getting closer!" Alnelle hazard a look behind her and screamed, even in the gloom the skittering ratmen were hard to miss.

"Come on! We're almost at the roof!" Verity reached the top of the stairway and found a rusty door.

"But we'll be trapped!" Alnelle cried out.

"We don't have a choice!" Verity turned her shoulder to the door, running at it full tilt. The exit slammed opened on to a flat, empty roof, the skyline of the industrial complex, shrouded in the fog of war, were hazy monoliths around them.

"Lock the door," Verity turned around as Alnelle pushed the door shut.

"I think you broke it," Alnelle fumbled with the dangling doorknob and chain lock.

"Shit! Umm…here!" Verity picked up a pathetically empty plant pot and braced it against the metallic frame. "Guess that will have to do."

"What now?" Alnelle glanced hurriedly around them, fear at last seeping through her tired visage and Verity would be lying if she didn't feel the same. The skavens has herded them into a dead end, where the only choice that remained was submission or death. Verity had chosen her fate, but would Alnelle possess the same mettle?

"Alnelle," Verity took the eldar's shoulder and guided her to the center of the roof, the hospitaller locking eyes with the medic. "We will hold them off as long as we can. But if things go from bad to worse, remember, leave one bullet for yourselves."

Alnelle's eyes widened in shock, "but…"

"Would you rather they take you alive?" Verity asked.

"No!" Alnelle blurted then reached her hand up to the crystal amulet at her neck, trembling fingers tracing the shimmering facet. "But…my soul stone…who will take it back to the Infinity Circuit on the Immortal Spirit?"

Verity cursed herself for forgetting about how the Aeldari deals with their death. With both of them likely to die, Alnelle's soul could not be taken to its safe refuge and would be consumed by Slaanesh. And she was the one who had led her to this damnation.

"Alnelle, I…"

A bullet struck not an inch from where they stood, creating a crater about a hand span in size next to their armored feet. Verity and Alnelle jumped with a squeal as more bullets rained around them, so close that they could feel the air shudder.

"Get to cover!" Verity grabbed Alnelle's wrist and dragged her toward the walled edge of the roof, but the hail continued ceaselessly until all they accomplished was dashing from one place to another. Through the din, Verity could hear the laughter of the skaven snipers hidden amongst the skyline, taking immense pleasure in their torment. Growling in frustration, Verity grabbed Alnelle and threw her to the ground, the hospitaller landing on top of the eldar.

"What are you doing?!" Alnelle shrieked.

"I'm wearing ceramite, it should be enough to shield you," Verity pointed her laspistol at the door. "We're not giving them the fun."

"But you'll die! Ahhh!" Another bullet struck so close that it sent gravels peppering Alnelle and Verity's face.

"I'll be fine, they don't want us dead," Verity found no comfort in that statement, knowing what the skavens had planned for them. They've been screaming their intent throughout the chase. A loud thud and the door bulge a couple of inches outward, the pot miraculously delaying the skavens. "Here they come, get ready!"

Beneath her Alnelle started praying in the Aeldari tongue, voice jagged with tears, the shuriken pistol shaking in her grip. Verity herself sends a prayer of deliverance to the God Emperor, to grant her the courage to face the coming darkness, and to beg forgiveness in failing her duty. Alnelle started sobbing and Verity was tempted to join her, but she needed to be strong for the both of them, even to the very end. A deafening explosion went off above Verity, the burning gale battering her body, drowning hers and Alnelle's scream. Around them, the mad laughing of the skaven snipers ruptured into howls of pain, shrieking long and loud into the wind that carried their agony across the desolate vista. A shadow dropped down in front of her, wide and encompassing, framed in the furious glare of rolling fire. Verity was raising her laspistol when the figure spun around, braced his long rifle and fired a rapid burst at the door, the white bolts tearing the metal and skavens behind it to pieces. Verity was helping Alnelle up when their rescuer, a man in a hooded cloak she now saw, tossed a grenade down the stairway, plumes of bloods and meats erupting a second later.

"You guys alright?" The man, an eldar Ranger, strode up to them, worry plain on his very handsome visage.

"High Ranger Erik?!" Alnelle squawked when she saw who he was.

"Yep, that's me," Erik nodded, his warm smile turning into surprised recognition. "Wait a minute you're Verity, from Miriya's squad."

"That I am, Ranger Erik," Verity bowed.

"And you must be her ward, Alnelle right?" Alnelle nodded. "Good to see Sororitas and eldar being nice to each other for a change."

"I wouldn't have survived without her," Alnelle threw herself at Verity suddenly, hugging her tight. Chuckling, Verity returned the embrace gently, surrendering herself to the rush of relief, no matter how brief it might be. She was a bit amused by the fact that Alnelle saw her as the savior, when it was Erik who had rescued them. "Thank you for not abandoning me."

"I promised to keep you safe, remember?" Verity tapped Alnelle gently on the back before breaking the embrace. "But you should be thanking Ranger Erik. He's the one that came to our aide."

"Oh! Yes! Sorry!" Alnelle squeaked and bowed profusely at Erik, "thank you Ranger Erik."

"Hey, it's Verity who did all the work," Erik braced his eldar rifle over his shoulder. "I just showed up at the end, she the real MVP."

"Umm…thank you?" Verity didn't quite understand what Ranger Erik meant, and why did he talk like commissar Tangmo? She decided to change to subject. "I'm quite curious actually, how did you get here? And in the nick of time, I might add."

"Luck, mostly," Erik pointed at a burning spire to their left, and now that Verity got a good look every building appeared to be connected by thick, interlocking webs of electrical cords. "I was following those skaven snipers after the buildings came down. Tracking then was easy and it wasn't long before I found them making a sport out of you two. Predictably, I didn't like what they were doing, so I slow roast them with napalm, then I used my rifle to zip line my ass over to this roof."

"I see," Verity didn't quite understand the last part, did he said he used his weapon to propel himself here via the cables?

"What about the other skavens below?" Alnelle asked. "There must've been hundreds of them."

"Tangmo's taking care of them right now, apparently the rats botched the demolition job on his front," Erik started off toward the destroyed door, Verity and Alnelle falling in behind him. "He's super pissed by the way."

"In this situation, that is most preferable," Verity said as they headed back into the building, tiptoeing over strips and chunks of meat that used to be their pursuers and descended the stairs. By the time they reached the third floor, commissar Tangmo's curse filled tirade was already louder than gunfire.

"Motherfucking rat pieces of shit! Get fucked you pussy ass motherfuckers!" They stepped outside to find commissar Tangmo and a group of Imperial Guards and Guardians firing vehemently down an alleyway. "Suck a dick and die you fucking bitches!"

"You got all of them dude?" Erik strolled on to the gore strewn street, Verity and Alnelle following gingerly, trying their best to avoid the twitching corpses.

"Not yet bro, but I'm getting there!" Tangmo barked a laugh and turned around, his brows rising in surprise. "Wait a minute, Verity? What are you doing here? Where's Miriya? And who's the eldar?"

"I got separated when the buildings came down," Verity told him. "And this is Alnelle, I'm showing her the finer point of being a battlefield medic."

"And Miriya's okay with that?" Tangmo asked.

"She doesn't control me," Verity puffed her cheeks up petulantly.

"Hey, don't be mad, you actually have my full support on this," Tangmo held up his hands defensively. "If anyone's gonna teach Miriya to stop being a dick, it's you."

"…Thanks?" Verity wasn't sure whether to agree or defend Miriya's honor. She loves the Celestian as a sister, but there was no denying how obtuse she can be.

"Leilatha, is this sector clear?" Tangmo asked his lady commissar lover.

"As far as I can tell," Leilatha frowned and reloaded her bolt pistol. "The radio communication is in shamble, and the pictures the drones took are scramble to the point of incomprehensibility."

"Goddamn it, what in the hell is going on?!" Tangmo took out his data-pad, growling at the screen.

"The skavens are obviously the culprit here," Erik joined Tangmo, looking over the commissar's shoulder. "See how everything is pixelated to hell at the big crater they made? And how our radio signal goes to shit the nearer we get to it? All the bad stuff is happening there and we need to kill it."

"You heard my bro, prepare to move out, due east people!" Tangmo raised his voice, the guardsmen and eldars responding crisply to his command, "Krillen, damage report!"

"Light, a couple dead and a score injured," Krillen told him on behalf of his colonel colleagues. "Give us two minutes and we'll be ready to move out."

"Good," Tangmo started off with his entourage of colonels, waving Verity and Alnelle to join them. "Stay close you two, things are about to get really hot. Erik, protect them, if they die on my watch Miriya's gonna chop my balls off."

"Will do," Erik saluted lightheartedly, and Verity felt a lot safer now that the Ranger was accompanying her and Alnelle.

"You know she plans to do that anyway, right?" Meko made his snarky comment.

"Yeah, but if I get her sweet little sister killed, she's gonna do it for real," Tangmo and the guardsmen laughed, even Verity joined in despite being part of the joke. Because knowing Miriya, castration would not be the worst fate awaiting commissar Tangmo.

"The lads are in tiptop shape lord commissar," Alistair announced, "awaiting your orders."

"Okay ladies and gents, move out! We got more rats to kill!" Tangmo raised his fist in the air and led the battlegroup down the dusty, destroyed street illuminated by flickering, dying streetlights, the buildings around them pockmarked with savage wounds of las and bullets.

"I got your back, don't worry," Erik smiled reassuringly at her and Alnelle.

"And we got yours," Verity traded grin with Alnelle and trudged onward with the battlegroup.

"Fucking rat wankers ain't letting up!"

"No shit!"

Nikki and Laura dashed from cover to cover, dodging bullets and returning fire on the pursuing, and seemingly inexhaustible, skaven horde. No place was safe, but at least they have plenty of room to maneuver on the wide open road, where Lita can maximize her Warseer power without causing friendly fire.

"Get behind me! Now!" Lita shouted, her shaking fist engulfed in blazing white fire. When Laura, Nikki and the Grey Watch guarding the rear ran passed her, Lita punched the ground with a roar, the Warp energy rushing from her hand and into the ground. Tarmacs crested up like tidal waves, bleeding silvery fire as it crashed into the oncoming skavens, swallowing them under burning, rolling earth. Lita staggered drunkenly backward and felt herself titling.

"Lita!" Yuki grabbed Lita before she crashed to the ground and quickly righted her. "Lita, talk to me! Lita!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Lita stabbed her Singing Spear into the ground and leaned heavily on it. "Just a little woozy, that's all."

"Woozy? You almost passed out!" Yuki threw Lita's arm over her shoulder and half dragged, half carried her after the battered battlegroup, all of whom had taken cover inside what appeared to be a minimart. Not the best place to hide, but with the skavens closing in from every direction, any cover will do, even bad ones.

"Oh shit, Lita!" Nikki dashed out of the empty doorway and went to help carry Lita inside, las and shurikens flew passed them as guardsmen and eldars laid down suppressive fire on the skavens, driving the rats back into cover. The three of them had just hunkered safely inside when a savage storm of bullets peppered the minimart, a few Grey Watch and Guardians jolting backward in a mist of blood and went still.

"Fucking cunts!" Laura joined them and returned fire with her hellgun, "keeping firing you bastards! Don't let up!"

"Where's Dalthorn?" Her wits returning, Lita glanced hurriedly around the dark interior, the only illumination coming from the muzzle flashes.

"Over there somewhere with Bruce, trying to hold the western flank," Laura waved to her left.

"And Marwen?"

"Here, lady Warseer," the Biel-Tan captain knelt down beside her. "Are you injured?"

"I'm fine Marwen, and look!" Lita fished Isha amulet out from under her bone armor. "It's still safe!"

"What are your orders, lady Warseer?" Marwen sprayed a group of skavens trying to rush the minimart, turning them into a shower of gibs.

"We're surrounded, aren't we?" Lita deadpanned and stuffed the amulet back beneath her armor.

"Yep," Nikki answered in the affirmative.

"With bigger skavens now joining the fight?" Lita continued dryly.

"The rat ogres, yeah, they're right behind the Storm Vermin," Yuki peered outside. "And some of them have miniguns and plasma cannons for arms. Goddamn, they looked like something straight out of Doom."

"And our chance of escape is getting slimmer by the seconds?" Lita went on, her tone almost bored.

"You got a plan love?" Laura asked her.

"Yeah, you guys make a break for the south while I stay behind and drew the skavens away. They're obviously after the amulet, so I'll act as bait while you guys get to safety."

Laura, Yuki and Nikki stared at her blankly, their faces a stupefied mask.

"Are you fucking high?!" Nikki blurted.

"I'll cover your escape," Lita repeated sternly. "I can blast them with a powerful Warp magic then slip away when they go down for the count."

"Bullshit, I just hauled your semi-conscious ass across the street," Yuki said. "If you go super saiyan again, you'll pass out for real this time."

"I'll be fine, trust me," Lita tried to smile, but even she knows it was a weak, brittle thing. It's not her best idea, she admits, but given the situation Lita was willing to pay the ultimate price to buy her friends and the battlegroup time to flee. "I can do this."

"Me and the Guardian will remain behind to cover your escape, lady Warseer," Marwen offered. "For Isha's sake, we are prepared to lay down our lives."

"The skavens have grey seers with them, they know where the amulet is," Lita tapped her armor. "Even if you guys stay behind the skavens will still come after me, and they're numerous enough to finish all of us off. But if I stay here, they'll leave you guys alone."

"Are you daft?!" Lita squawked when Laura bonked her hard on the head. "You're not staying here!"

"Do you have a better idea then?!" Lita shot back testily, rubbing the tender spot on her head.

"Well…fuck, I don't know!" Laura threw her hands exasperatedly in the air. "But you're not staying and that's final!"

"And if you really want to stay, then so will we," Yuki spoke up. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving you with the rats."

"Same here," Nikki nodded.

"That's right love! We're staying with you!" Laura added enthusiastically. "Besides, it's a bit too early for you to be doing the whole heroic sacrifice shtick."

"I'm not trying to be a hero, I'm trying to help!" Lita huffed, and yes, she was totally going for the epic last stand routine.

"We're staying and that's final," Nikki chuckled good-naturedly and laid a comforting hand on Lita's shoulder. "We stick together, no matter what."

"Are you guys sure about this?" Lita was getting a bit misty eyes, touched by the depth of friendship she shared with Laura, Yuki and Nikki. "I don't want you guys getting hurt because of me…"

"We're with you to the bitter end love," Laura smiled warmly at her.

"Damn straight, no friends get left behind," Yuki smirked toothily. "And stop crying already, we haven't even reached the climax yet."

"I wasn't!" Lita wiped her eyes then threw her arms around the three, drawing them into a hug, a gesture they reciprocated heartily, "thank you guys."

"Don't mention it," Yuki broke the embrace and glanced at Marwen, who was watching the scene with rising impatience. "Give the order to retreat captain, we're staying."

"Affirmative," Marwen was about tap the side of her helmet when a dark shape dropped down in front of them, a hunched rippling blackness that slowly rose to its full height. Lita's Singing Spear was half way raised when she saw that the lithe womanly figure now standing with her back to them, silky cape billowing epically down her shoulders, was definitely not a skaven.

"Mistress Tenebris?" Lita stopped herself just in time before calling her Madam Lithia.

"A pleasure to finally meet you, Warseer Lita," Tenebris made an impressive Batman growl.

"Nice to meet you too," Lita peered nervously over Tenebris's shouldered, eyes widening at the tsunami of filthy, screaming rat cresting toward them. "Please tell me you're here to help us."

"For now," Tenebris's reply was followed by a storm of bolts and plasma that collided into the skaven horde, the rats barely had time to shriek before the barrage struck them, heads, limbs and torsos tore to pieces, leaving behind a ghostly red mist that drifted slowly down to the gore splattered ground.

"Well that was easy," another Avenging Knight made a superhero landing beside Tenebris, and oh my God, it's the fem Iron Man.

"The battle had just started, Eisen," Tenebris unfurled her power scythe and jogged toward the killing field. "Come on, we still have work to do."

"Everybody stay close, we're moving out," Lita stepped outside and found the Avenging Knights either flying through the air, leaping across buildings in great bounds, or simply running really fast across the street, all of them decked out in heavily modified, but still very obviously 40k weapons and gears. "The Avenging Knights are here to help us, so please be nice to them."

"Wait a minute, so all that mushy stuff back there was all for nothing?" Laura asked as the quartet ran after Tenebris and Eisen, the battlegroup following close behind.

"You want it to end the other way?" Lita asked with a mischievous quirk of a brow.

"Nope, I like this better."