Dinah kicked down the door and her Celestians rushed in, fanning out to either side. "Clear!" Dinah called out. Immediately the Seraphim came in the room and move up to the next portal. Eve booted the door open and her golden-armored squad cleared the next room.
Chamber by chamber, hall by corridor they had worked their way through the great manor of Senator Sextus Pompeii. Katherine led them through the dangerous operation room by room. They had lost one of the Dominions to a nest of Harpies in the great baths. Two more Acolytes had fallen to the vicious claws and teeth of a pack of Daemonettes in the kitchens. Nearly all of the sisters were injured in some fashion or another. The Canoness' glance fell on Acolyte Cornelia, her youthful and once pretty face marred by a horrific wound. Despite having half her cheek torn away, she had quickly wrapped the wound and insisted she fight on. Flavia had stepped up to take a leadership role among the Acolytes.
Katherine couldn't have been more proud.
They moved into another corridor, lined with fine, ostentatious tapestries and light fixtures of gold and rare crystal. Clearly the life of a Patrician and Senator was as far from the austere, Spartan conditions of the Adeptus Sororitas. As they moved quietly down the hall, the wall to their left exploded without warning, showering them with dust and debris. The Celestians immediately knelt on the tiles, leveling their bolt pistols at the huge hole in the wall that had appeared in the aftermath of the explosion. As the smoke and dust cleared, Sister Superior Dinah shouted "Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Her keen eyes picked out the distinctive armor of the Adeptus Arbites on the other side.
Katherine poked her head around the corner of the hole, an eyebrow raised, "Fedarsi? You have something against doors?"
There was a pause as the interrogator, now coated in masonry dust, picked his way through the blasted remains of the wall. He glanced around at the sisters and nodded. "No sense in going around instead of through, I say," he chuckled. "We started punching through the walls after the first firepoint. After that, I just followed the screams until I reached you."
"I'm glad to see you're still alive," Katherine said, though neither her voice nor her eyes held any mirth. "What's left of your forces?"
"About twenty arbites all told. I had to bring the repressor crews with me to make up for losses, so don't be suprised if we have to walk out later." Delphias continued speaking as he took a few steps to the opposite wall and began to study it. "Have you enjoyed the same luck?"
The Canoness' face was blank, but her voice held a weariness that was unmistakable, "Then count yourself lucky. Coming through the main hall we faced a legion of Daemons. My Acolytes have earned their experience with a hard lesson."
Delphias nodded, his humor quite gone. "I had wondered at the lightness of our enemies. I should have realized that our fortune came at other's expense." For a long moment he was silent, considering. Again, he looked up. "Where are you heading now?"
"We've cleared the southern and western halls of the ground floor," Katherine considered. "There are still the upper stories to be checked...and the catacombs." She pondered for a moment, her thumb idly rubbing the pommel of her sword. "I think we'll take the catacombs. Our heavier armor will be more protective in the close confines than the carapace armor of your men."
"Something tells me armor isn't going to be much use here, whatever we find up there." Delphias rapped against a tile, listening to it's echo. "I suppose we will cleanse the upper floors then. Does this sound load-bearing?" he asked, indicating the wall.
She raised her eyes to the ceiling with an unsure look, "I hope not..."
Delphias turned, half distracted. "Only one way to find out, I think." He started working back through the cluster of heavily armored men and women, gesturing to an arbites hefting several heavy bundles. "I think there's a stair through the neighboring passageway. We will head onward from there. You'll stay in vox-contact?"
"We will," Katherine nodded. "And be careful...we still haven't found any sign of Gaius. He's in here...somewhere..."
"He will be found. I will find him." Delphias murmured. He closed his eyes for a brief moment before regaining his composure. "Rest assured, Katherine. Gaius will receive the Emperor's judgment. In the mean time, I suggest that you get clear of here. I don't plan to leave this passage behind us."
"Try not to bring the house down around us," Katherine joked weakly. "Emperor watch over you, Arbitrator Fedarsi."
The interrogator strove to look innocent as several arbites began to clamp heavy charges onto carefully chosen points. "We aim to please, sister. The Emperor protects." With a final nod, he turned to his work, leaving the sisters to their's.
The place was deserted, that was the only word for it. Gorson had circled around the west entrance, parked his repressor in the verdant outer orchards, and moved in on foot, but still he had met no one. If Delphias and the arbites had been through here, he would expect to see corpses and gunfire marks, but there was nothing. The heavy bunkers that should have challenged him were empty, but instead of comforting the young arbitrator, the sight of the unmanned guns disturbed him. Best move on, and find Delphias. Gorson would have contacted his partner already had his vox been working, but the strange layout of the central structure bounced the signals back and all he could hear was static.
He was about to head for the central atrium, guided by holo-schematic he carried, when he heard the sounds of footsteps- Arbites combat boots marching! Gorson peaked around, and sure enough, corporal Makepeace was leading a squad of troopers through the wreckage of an outer wall. Before Gorson could speak, though, a blue-black blur out of hell tore into them. He could make out a glowing sword sawing through limbs and the foul shriek of a neural shredder blasting, things that could mean only one thing- the Callidus assassin was here.
Gorson ducked back behind the wreckage of the door frame and breathed a prayer of thanks to the Emperor. The assassin had been so lost in her bloodlust that she had failed to notice him. Gorson listened in silence as the dark figure sprinted off, his mind whirring. He hadn't heard from the Inquisitor or Delphias, which mean that he was the only one who knew about the betrayal. He had to warn the others, he had to find Delphias, and that meant he had to get upstairs. Taking a breath and gripping his shotgun, he darted out of cover and over the soft plush carpet towards the stairs. Even as he ran, Gorson prayed he would not be too late.
Gaius flexed the fingers of his hand, now wrapped in the deep purple of his armor. As strolled down the short corridor from his chambers toward the stairs to the main level. It was time to enjoy himself a little before absconding from the scene. A little slaughter was always good for a laugh. That, and he had to be sure his surprise in the catacombs was ready to spring.
Gorson skidded to a halt as he reached the top of the stairs and looked ahead in surprise. Before him was a man decked out in hideous purple power armor. There was little doubt that whoever this man was, it meant trouble. Gorson stood, unsure of where to go, nursing his shotgun. "By the order of the Adeptus Arbites, you are under arrest." he said, without conviction.
Gaius raised an eyebrow, "It's foolish to insist on something you have no power to enforce, Arbitrator." He strolled forward with languid grace, flexing the gruesome, clawed left hand of his daemonic armor with an expression of cold glee.
Gorson brought his weapon up, chambering a solid slug as he did so. "Take another step and you'll see my enforcement." he snapped, but he knew it was an empty threat. At this point all he could hope for was to alert the others. He watched the figure carefully, looking for an escape.
"Arbitrator Gorson...killed valiantly in the line of duty...martyred fighting the horrible corruption of Chaos," Gaius gestured broadly with his other hand. "I can see the headstone of your tomb in the mausoleum now..."
Gorson was silent for a moment, considering his rapidly disappearing options. He opened his mouth again, and stopped. He could hear, faintly, the clump of heavy boots, and the low tones of a familiar voice. Delphias. He had to warn him, somehow, but reaching for his commbead meant taking a hand off his shotgun. There was no other way. Gorson moved like lightning, grabbing his commbead and jamming the 'talk' button. "Delphias, he's here! Gaius is here!"
Delphias had been walking along a dark hallway filled with disconcertingly lewd artwork and talking with one of his troopers when he heard Gorson's call. In an instant he was running full out, all thoughts gone from his head except one: save his friend. He tore through a wrecked door ahead, his feet sinking into the plush carpet, swung around an ornate corner, and found himself in an Atrium. At the top of a flight of stairs he saw Gorson, and a menacing figure that could only be the Inquisitor. Delphias raised his shotgun but knew he was too late.
Gaius glanced down with a raised eyebrow, "Ah...you must be Delphias. If you'll excuse me a moment..." Gorson was turning, starting to run, and for a moment his eyes met Delphias. He would remember that moment for the rest of his life.
Suddenly, Gaius's right hand whipped forward, wrenching the shotgun from Gorson's hands, tossing it aside nonchalantly. "It's almost a shame to kill one of the few truly honest Arbites left on Byzantium..." His clawed left hand ripped into Gorson's lower abdomen, ripping apart the carapace armor like tin foil. Placing his right hand on the Arbitrator's shoulder to hold him still, Gaius drove his hand upwards through his torso, eviscerating him in gruesome delight.
As blood poured down Gorson's chin, Gaius whispered in his ear, "Almost."
Delphias stood, too shocked to move, watching his oldest friend fall to the ground. Gorson dead- it didn't seem to register for a moment. Only one thing did, and that was the Inquisitor, standing atop the stairs, gloating.
"Gaius Savitae." Delphias almost whispered. He took a step forward, raising his shotgun. "What have you become?" he could barely force the words out, for he could scarcely believe the sight before him..
"What have I become?" Gaius pondered, stroking his chin with his bloody hand. "I am the Messiah of Slaanesh...an Apotheosis from mortal man..." He spread his arms wide with a smile, "...to a demigod."
Now Delphias found his voice, as rage replaced shock. "You are nothing! You are the enemy of all that we strive for; you are a traitor of the worst type and the Emperor will punish you!"
The former Inquisitor laughed, rolling his eyes, "Let's test your theory, shall we?" He looked up to the sky, his arms still spread wide. "Oh Desiccated Corpse on the Golden Throne, strike me down for I am irredeemably naughty!" He cocked his head slightly, then looked back down at the Arbitrator, "Well...I guess you're on your own."
Delphias didn't answer, just started firing, his heavy shotgun bucking in his arms as he blasted half a dozen solid slugs towards the grinning, smirking heretic before him, power armor be damned.
He watched as each shell bounced off the purple plate Gaius wore, and as his shotgun ran empty he sank to his knees. His weapon fell from his hands, and Delphias closed his eyes and awaited the death that must surely follow. Gaius began to step forward...
Then, from behind, came the clatter of carapace armor as a dozen of the Arbites' finest came around the corner and began to move into firing positions...
Gaius raised an eyebrow as the squad of Arbites charged into the room, "We'll meet again, Delphias. Until then, think about how you failed to save your friend..." He disappeared around the corner, his voice drifting down to them, "I do have other guests to attend to."
Delphias didn't see Gaius depart, didn't see the rain of shells that vainly chased after the corrupted Inquisitor, didn't hear the reactions of his men as they saw Gorson. Delphias stood up, each step an effort of will. "Get the charges ready. I want this building to be brought down when I say the word." The other arbites fanned out to comply with his orders. Delphias looked down at Gorson's ruined frame lying in a pool of blood, and wept.