#she killed khorne berserkers in melee

[acornminiatureslog]

Guess who used the last of his thunder hawk blue to try and airbrush a tank, only to get fed up and start hand painting it

[icarus-the-eternal]

Apothecary Clash Part 2

Ahlseth was good to her word. The Webway portal held firm as Jaego stepped through, accompanied by Furio, Kaven, and his mutants as well as Dracon Iyshak and a squad of kabalite warriors. The portal was ancient, buried deep in the foundations of the ruins and forgotten. It was doubtful the current masters were even aware of it’s existence, or if they did they simply did not care. Distant rumbles of explosions told them that the forces of Ahlseth and Fuuko were begging the assault. It was up to them now. Iyshak gestured ahead with the barrel of his splinter rifle. “After you agaith.”

The fortress had been hastily constructed, slab walls of titanium and adamantine sunk into the foundations of the old ruins. With most of the masters facing the main assault, the most they had to deal with were slaved gun-servitors and maddened slaves. Jaego’s mutant fodder proved itself useful, slaughtering the foe and saving valuable ammunition. As their numbers dwindled the fighting became more involved, gland hounds and kabalites picking off targets in brief firefights as the Space Marines smashed through with ruthless efficiency. The druchari were reluctantly following orders and restraining their hedonistic desires, much more effectively so after Kaven gutted one with his lightning talon for choosing torture over efficient movement. As they pushed deeper in their opponents got more dangerous, slab muscle mutants driven by pain engines forced into their skulls, mortals with bladed instruments for limbs, rabid slavering canids hungry for flesh. They encountered their first Space Marine not soon after. The World Eater came hurtling at them in the midst of a horde of slave flesh, chain axe revving as he howled to the blood god. He cut down two gland hounds in a spray of gore, their last-fire scorching lines in the crimson paint of his armor. A druchari warrior darted forward, driving a sword into the exposed joints at the elbow. His howl of triumph rising into a shriek of rage as the maddened berserker twisted and crushed him beneath armored weight. Furio moved in then, hand held out like a spear as he drive pointed fingers into the weak throat seal. The World Eater’s war cry was cut off as he choked on his crushed larynx before the Night Lord finished him off by driving a combat blade through an eye lense. “They’ll know we’re here. Move!”

By the time they breached the blast doors they had lost several others. Contained inside was similar to Jaego’s own laboratory, a room filled with all manner of machinery, bubbling tubes of fluid, and large nutrient tanks along the walls. Standing in the center of it all was a warrior clad in the bloody crimson of the World Eaters. He was bare headed, revealing the scarred and broken features of a pit fighter against heavy augmetics, the Butcher’s Nails rattling against his bared scalp. The warrior snarled at them, an action mirrored by the horde of abominations behind him. Welding torches, spinning blades, aggression enhancers, all stitched and fused with grotesque steroid enhanced musculature, these things were restrained weapons of war. “Intruders! I hadn’t heard of any getting this far in!” Jaego motioned for all to hold fire and stepped forward, a hand raised in greeting. “Really Azariah? Is this any way to greet an old friend?” The World Eater blinked in surprise before his face convulsed in ticks of pain. The Butcher’s Nails were biting deep, demanding he fight and kill and destroy, but he’d always been strong willed. “Jaego? Jaego Nul? I heard you were dead, especially after that incident with the Black Legion.” Jaego allowed himself a chuckle. “I think you off all people should know I’m rather difficult to kill. I simply found employment under a.... less restrictive patron.” Azariah cocked his head, hand clenching as the ticks hit again. “Why are you here? Why are you attacking my warband?”

“I thought it would be obvious. I’m here for you. I’ve come to take you with me, just like we planned.” Axariah laughed then, harsh and rough. “Really? You came all this way just because of some fantasy long dead?” Jaego prickled at the insulting tone. “And so what? You have resigned yourself to be Angron’s ghost? Always pushing the nails into your brothers brain meat for all eternity?” Azariah threw his arms out, gesturing at the many tanks. “The truth was always there Jaego! The Butchers Nails were just a footstep to what I could create! Weapons of pure aggression, enslaved to the will if the blood god, even binding demons of khorne’s own rage into their flesh! Just look at the wonders I have made of my brothers! You always were among the best at making monsters brother, surely you can understand!” Jaego drew and leveled his bolt pistol, his words as cold as ice. “The only thing I understand is that I will free you from this madness brother, even if I have to kill you.” Azariah barked out a command and his creations attacked.

Jaego fired but his shot was off, smacking into a hulk of muscle instead. He cursed and fired again, aiming for the blue of movement that was the World Eater. The kabalites and gland hounds wasted no time, spraying fire into the oncoming horse. Very quickly it devolved into a melee of screaming, stabbing, shouting, and screaming. Jaego darted past Furio wrestling with something with snapping metallic jaws and rolled aside as Kaven landed bodily on something with too many thrashing mechadendrites. He fired as he moved, emptying the pistol into weak points and sutures he could see. He caught a flicker of red movement, barely jerking aside as a chainsword came slashing down. Instead of cleaving his skull the whirring teeth scored across his helm, crunching through ceramite. Jaego lashed out blindly, knuckles cracking into something soft and giving him space to tear the helm away. Azariah grinned and spat blood as he looked on the complexion of crisscrossing suture scars and hydra tattoos. “Blood for the blood god!” Jaego lunged in this time, momentum carrying them to the ground in a tumbling heap. Fingers dig into nerve centers, forcing the chainsword to drop uselessly. Azariah roared spittle as clawed at Jaego’s face, seeking to gouge vulnerable eyes or strangle him. He would never overpower the World Eater but that was not how he fought. Jaego spat and his opponent cried out as the acid ate at his eyes. There was a whir of servos and sparks as the narthecium drill spun to life, pushed down into th armor. Again and again Jaego drove the drill down, punching through ceramite and reinforced bones to the meat beneath. An armored fist crashed into his head, throwing him aside. Azariah staggered to his feet, one hand pressed to his leaking torso but Jaego was already moving. The renegade apothecary seized his old friend by the head, his jaw stretching unnaturally wide to reveal pulsing organs nestled in the pink throat meat, and he screamed. A wave of sheer sound sent all in range reeling, clutching their ears even as they bled from their orifices. Azariah had it the worst, the blood pouring from his eyes , ears, and mouth as he struggled. Then it was over and Jaego dropped him, falling to his own knees his throat feeling like he’d swallowed burning promethium. A hand clasped feebly at him, Azariah’s voice barely a whisper. “Brother.... brother are you there? I can’t see.” With great effort Jaego pulled himself upright, cradling the World Eater’s head. “I’m.... here.... brother.” Azariah sighed and relaxed, like a child sinking into bed. “It’s gone brother, it’s finally gone. I can’t feel the pain anymore....” He gave a great sigh then he was gone, sightless eyes gazing at nothing.

Jaego was so tired but he looked up as bootstraps approached. The battle was over, the abominations slaughtered though they had lost many of their own. Dracon Iyshak spat on one of the corpses before turning to look at the mostly intact equipment. Already his scheming brain was planning how to turn this to his advantage, sequester some away for his own use. If he could reach a homonculus perhaps they would craft him an army of his own, strong enough to dispose of Ahlseth and her mon-keigh allies. He grinned down at Jaego over the barrel of his splinter rifle. “Not a bad fight mon-Leigh. But I’m afraid it ends here. You fought bravely but were killed, despite our greatest efforts. I will relay- AAAAGHH!” The Dracon drooped his weapon, muscles locked in agonized spasms as Furio loomed over him. The Night Lord smiled cruelly as he prepared to drag his prey away, screams echoing as Kaven and the glands hounds fell upon the few remaining kabalites. “Fool. Why do you think your Archon sent you with us?” He glances down at Jaego. “Ready to go?” The apothecary shook his head as his narthecium chainblade spring to life. “I’ll catch up with you.”

As they slipped back into the webway Jaego stared at the cryo tube in his hands. He’d left the lab in ruins, scavenging any data he could find and destroying the rest. But he couldn’t leave without this, he just couldn’t. A delicate hand brushed his face and Jaego looked up from Azariah Kell’s progenoid glans to the kind face of Fuuko. Somewhere in the background he could hear Zelda screaming and cruel nostramon laughter. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t have to, the words just came tumbling out. “At one time he was my brother. I fought alongside him in the heresy. He was brilliant, driven, dedicated to finding a way to save his primarch and legion from the Butcher’s Nails. He saved my life and I swore I would help him. I tried and I tried and I tried, I hunted every scrap of knowledge, I made deals with demons, I sought the mind of Fabius Bile himself. But he lost himself in the rage and pain. I’d hoped that he would come with me, that with your power I could save him......” Jaego trailed off as Fuuko lightly kissed his forehead, one delicate finger tapping the cryo tube. “You did. With your actions your brother will live again, in some small way.” Then she turned and left the renegade apothecary to his thoughts

@fuukonomiko @nosy-night-lord