Emperor dammit! And we may still have incoming or something.
Angry at just how callous the mutant treated the death of Gustav, Asbjörn quickly repeats his previous action and charges once again.
"He wants blood!? He can have yours!"
"Father. Let us show the worm what the Emperor thinks of his honor. Heard him towards my attack!"
The Commissar is not dissuaded by by the Khornates' whining. Instead he steps in once more to finally show him the fist of the emperors fury.
Sizzle seems to calm down a bit and get more focused. He tries to take advantage of his brother's arrival and ignore Gustav's blood around his boots.
As you will Commissar! For the Golden Throne! Bolus shouts and in a smooth practiced motion, the priest and the Commissar switch their attack vectors.
The battle between Commissar, Priest and Mutant is one for the history!
Massive punches are met with unnatural limb parries and twisting dodges.
Chainsword strikes are deflected aside.
Twice, the shaft of the lance is shattered by the disruption field of Yetas powerfist, but each time the mutant recovers quickly, gripping the remainder of his weapon in a shorter grip.
But between the two righteous and loyal fighters, the chaos adherent is dearly pressed and unable to counterattack.
As the end comes, the Commissar lands a devastating hit against his hip, breaking the right leg and sending the creature to the ground.
Bolus is ready and delivers the killing blow by sinking the chainsword deep into the barrel-like chest of the mutant, turning its organs into a bloody mess.
The mutant twists and bucks several seconds, screaming profanities and curses, trying to reach the neck of its killers and choke them until the very end.
Meanwhile, half the squad comes down on the sole remaining enemy and killer of Gustav in a fury of bayonet stabs and chainsword strikes.
Blood flows in rivers down the heaving chest of the mutant and is sucked into the deepening red mist swirling around it.
It exhales a bubbling red foam and gurgles:
"YES, YESS, YESSSSS,
BLOOD...
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!"
Its muscles swell and rip apart the battered and rent flak armor with the defiled emblem of the Imperial Guard on it.
Its eyes start glowing - and so do its talons.
As it straightens up, it towers above the squad, at least three meter high and menacing beyond description.
You feel a very real, deep-down terror rise from primitive instincts, telling you to run and hide from such an unnatural monster.
Sizzle barely holds it together. He cries his teeth, re-doubles his grip on his lasgun, and tries not to close his eyes as he stabs!
Asbjörn, overwhelmed with shock at seeing the unnatural warpspawn in front of him, freezes in terror, unable to act beyond simply staring at the horrid creature.
Bolus strides around the Chimera just in time to witness the blasphemous transformation and see the loyal guardsmen start to falter.
He opens his mouth to yell everyone back in line
But it comes out as a terrified squeak
Which he marshals into a roar of pure anger.
WITNESS THE END RESULT OF TURNING AWAY FROM THE GAZE OF THE HOLY EMPEROR! FIGHT IT! END IT! KILL IT! CLEANSE IT FROM THE FACE OF THE GALAXY LEST OUR SOULS BE CONSUMED BY THIS HERESY!
Shaking his head to clear away the last vestiges of fear, Asbjörn lets the fathers word echo in his skull for a moment.
That...that actually sounds like a pretty good idea. I quite like my soul as it is, thank you very much.
The Commissar watches Father Bolus deliver the Berserker his just 'reward' as the mutant starts screaming and he turns around.
Seeing the beast he is about to open his mouth to 'inspire' the troops to keep fighting when Bolus makes his own declaration and so Yeta does the only thing that makes sense to him - he charges the beast head on.
Anderson hesitates for a moment just like Asbjörn but is also rallied by the fathers call to action. His sword swing is still quite a bit shaky and bounces right off the rapidly scaling hide of the monster.
Sergey is too far gone in battle fever to care what exactly he stabs at this point, all he wants is revenge for his close comrade and his bayonet thrust is right on point.
Then Sizzles and Yeta come rushing too and the mutant-turned-monster is stabbed and power fisted from multiple sides all at once.
Despite the horrendous wounds, it just isn't enough to stop the transformation.
Wounds close nearly as fast as they are inflicted.
The leg Yeta has blasted clean off grows anew, now twice as thick and scaly as before.
The flow of blood from the bayonet wounds is immediately soaked up into the swirling red mist surrounding the ... thing.
And some of your start to wonder whether it is really a good idea to be in melee with such a monster...
Then the red swirl suddenly vanishes right into the monsters hide and it gazes down on the squad with a strange expression, as if surprised to see the lot of you.
"WRAAAAAAAR!"
A long forked tongue lolls out of the gaping maw and an axe materializes in its clawed hand, covered in runes that make your eyes hurt and brain frizzle.
"WHO'S THE FIRST TO ADD HIS SKULL TO THE THRONE?"
Yeah, I see where this is going. And I'm still hurt from before, no way am I going to stay in melee with this.
Fortunately, the demon was big now, more than big enough to tower over the others, which meant that it was also a nice big target.
Disengaging, from the fight, Asbjörn quickly huffs around the corner of the Chimera, planing on lighting the demon up with a little plasma.
As he finds shelter, he taps his combead.
"Oi! You in there, can't you draw a bead on it with the multi lasers?"
"It's stuck.
The spirits are all upset and unresponsive, damn them.
Can't even open the lid!"
"Well, grokk...
ENGINSEER!"
Ah, wonderfull...
"Commissar, the Chimera is out of it, and so is the enginseer. I don't think either will be going anywhere until this big 'un is toast!"
FOUL DEMON. YOU WILL BE JUDGED FOR THE DEATHS YOU HAVE CAUSED! YOU WILL BE JUDGED FOR SULLYING THE EMPEROR'S WORLD WITH YOUR CHAOS! YOU. WILL. BE. BANISHED!
Sizzle withdraws from the battle in a mirror of his brother's move, taking cover beside the other side of the Chimera. Sarge, I still have that rocket in the tube, if we can clear out I can hit it!
=104
"STAND."
"YOUR."
"GROUND. TROOPERS!"
The monster takes punishing blows from the Commissar and the Sergeant as well despite impressive display of speed in its attempt to block Yetas attacks.
Each blow results in a steaming hole punched right through the unnaturally swollen body.
But the creature remains standing despite taking punishment that would have killed an Ogryn - or disabled a Chimera for that matter.
"SO, IT IS YOU.
KHORNE APPRECIATES THE EFFORTS OF YOUR KIND."
This time the daemon axe swings not to parry but to kill.
The Commissar is wide open after his second strike and there is no way in hell that he can get out of harms way - nor survive such a lethal attack...
"Watch out si-grglll"
Out of nowhere, the trooper from Bolus' side has appeared at Yetas side and shoves the Commissar out of harms way - only to be split in half in his stead.
The commissar and the two halves of the very dead guardsman hit the ground at the same time, barely half a meter apart.
Anderson, last man standing in front of the monster hurls himself to the ground beside the Commissar and shouts:
"BREACHERS: NOW!!!"
Asbjörn, safely in cover quickly retrieves his plasma gun, switches it to maximal mode, and fires at the now mostly clear target.
"Sarge, sir, I think we may have more incoming!"
Sizzle spins around and drops to a knee. His launcher is up in an instant. He takes a breath, aims
Asbjorn's plasma shot streaks into sight just as Sizzle is pulling the trigger. The small sun burns his eyes, but he holds the Krak rocket on target as it roars from the tube and covers the short distance between it and the target in a fraction of a second.
The boom brothers bring an end to the monster with an impressive cross fire from missile and plasma fire, removing the entire upper half of the monster.
The feet twitch a few times as if trying to take a step forward before they fall to the ground, already starting to smoke as if on fire.
"Father! Sir!"
Rushing over to the others, Asbjörn quickly gets the father up to his feet.
"Nobody else seems to hear it, but I hear some otherworldly singing coming closer."
"I don't know, but I think there is some warp shenanigans going on, and we might have more fiends incoming!"
Asbjörn points to the Chimera.
"Look! The ground wasn't swampy like that when we came here!"
Sizzle immediately reloads a Krak in his launcher and switches back to his las while wondering to himself, Was this side of the chimera always this swampy?
He sweeps for more foes as he advances to check on his squadmates who are probably now the proud owners of a massive headache and temporary hearing loss. Being that close to a Krak is never fun.
Bolus grits his teeth as he recalls the whispers he had shut out through the force of his faith and tries to recall what must be done in such a foul place to combat the heresy all around.
Bolus nods at the Breacher. You are not alone, we all fight the stench of the Warp here
Commissar! Bolus calls out. We must keep any from dying and bring cleansing flame to those that are already dead before we move on. This chaos is feeding on death and decay.
If there is a moment of clam he then starts singing a hymn exalting the shining glory of humanity's emperor and how the filth of the universe is staved off just by his righteous gaze, as he retrieves his flamer and starts to burn those that are definitely dead.
The gunner, Hela, may still live, Commissar.
Sizzle kneels next to the Sarge and rolls him over to check for obvious signs of wounds from the overpressure wave or the explosion itself.
Hey, Sarge, can you hear me?
Over your combeads you hear the disturbed voices of the chimera crew.
"Frak, what is happening out there?
Where is that enginseer?
And why does slick oozes out from our air filters anyway?"
The NCO looks rattled and it takes a few seconds for his eyes to focus on you.
He then blinks several times and points to his ears and shakes his head.
(he does not look wounded though)
Bolus pauses his hymn to move to the Commissar. Commissar, I suggest gathering the dead and giving them to the purity of flame. As well as much as we can we should clean this muck and filth of off ourselves and our vehicles and equipment, our faith is our shield and our faith demands cleanliness. As well any warpspawn that comes that moves ponderously must be destroyed at range. They are avatars of disease and decay. Anything unnaturally... filthy... MUST be burned.
Sizzle gives him a thumbs up and helps him to his feet. Sarge is deaf for the moment. Let's get ourselves sorted and move out! A warp-fueled swamp is the last place I want to be. Asbjorn! How's the Commissar?
"If they come from the filth, and the air filters are oozing..."
Yes, the filters must be burned along with the dead, we have no time to waste. Bolus explains.
"The enginseer is connected to the Chimera, and unresponsive.
If the Chimera is getting compromised, what about him?"
I have no knowledge of mechanics, but if the affected components can not be extracted from the rest of the Chimeria, then the safest would be to abandon the vehicle and take the hill on foot. We must get the guardsmen out of it now!
The Commissar, being all up close and personal with the Khornate, is blasted off his feet when the Daemon is exploded via krak missile. He doesn't get up right away but from the heaving breathing you can be sure he is still very much alive.
The urging of the priest resound deep and the mauled squad work quickly.
Bodies are dragged together and fed to the priests flame and prayer.
Uniforms are hastily scrubbed free of the worst dreg and a couple of gore splattered jackets and trousers are added to the pyre to be replaced with spares.
Hella is found unconscious but alive.
The quite shell-shocked looking Sergey rumbles something about a bad concussion after checking her over.
With a deep shuddering rumble, the Chimeras engine comes back to life, exhaust belching out thick smoke.
Sickly green-yellow smoke.
Com-beads:
"Ahh, finally.
Good work enginseer.
Uergh, why is my console all grimy?
Jeff, how often do I have to tell you to sneeze into you arm pit, damn you!"
"With the Chimera back online, we should be able to get the hatches open so we can give it a quick once over father."
Leaning a little closer to the father, Asbjörn speaks more quietly.
"Grokking voices are still there father, sounds like whatever it is, it's trying to emerge now."
With slight reluctance, Asbjörn moves over to help the Commissar back on his feet.
"Let's get you back into it sir, We still got a battle to win and all, for the emperor sir."
The Commissar stirs, then one of his hand snaps to put his iconic Commissars hat back on his head. He sits up with a muffled groan and looks around for a second before getting up completly. He starts to dust himself off but the front of the commissarial greatcoat is suprisingly clean - because all the dirt is burnt from having his melee target krak rocket-ed. So he shakes off the worst of what is on his back and is back into action, looking aroud once more.
He looks at Asbjorn and nods in recognition of his help. Then takes in the change since the world went white-ish for him.
"Good work on the pyre! Hope theres a separate one so our men didn't have to burn with the heretical filth. Well, no matter now."
Taking a quick look at the Chimera and the not so far off Bunker.
"Men! This is still a pincer attack! If the Captains side does not receive our support in time then he'll have our hides! And if he does not survive to do it then I will in his place!
The vehicle is up! We're moving! The Enginseer can continue the repair while we're on the way.
If the inside is still choked then cling to the sides! And anyone who objects gets the side facing the bunker!"
Sizzle helps Sarge back to the Chimera and finds himself agreeing with the Commissar for once, even if he does look like he's just been run over by a Russ.
C'mon boys, we still have a job to do! Let's get a move on! I don't want the Captain to have all the fun!
Bolus pulls the Commissar in for a whisper. Commissar, From what the guards inside the vehicle are saying the... machine spirit... of the vehicle is lost to chaos. Send it in on a suicide charge. It has mutated the same as the flesh of the heretics we have just cleansed!
Com-bead:
"Hey, we got power...
Why isn't the hatch opening?
And...
Oh my Emperor...
What is this?!?!?
*Caught*
Bleurghh"
The Commissar looks Bolus in the eyes, then to the Chimera, then back to Bolus.
"As noble as that sounds - we are a mobile infantery regiment. If we can't keep up with the regiment we are dead weight - worse than a guardsmen who lost his gun! Let us see whether or not there is anything salvagable in there"
He steps over to the Chimeras to the closed up ramp - and swings his active power fist!
Asbjörn grabs his head and groans, he then stumbles over to the father.
"Father, I think they are materializing now, inside the Chimera!"
Who's they!? Sizzle asks in sudden alarm.
Then flame inside. Our only hope is to keep those inside from turning on us! As soon as there is a hole cleanse it with fire!
Bolus hefts his flamer and follows to the Commissar opening the vehicle up like a can opener and readies it to flame into the breach...
"I don't know, but I don't think they are "nice" at all."
Retrieving his flamer once again, Asbjörn makes ready to use it with extreme prejudice.
The Commissar takes a look into the hellhole that used to be their Chimera - and makes a decision:
"Cleanse it now! Those inside will either have the taint burned away if they make it out or at least die with their souls intact!"
"Then step back sir, gives us a little room!"
As soon as the commissar gives Asbjörn some room, he levels his flamer at the hole and fires a ray into the Chimera.