Go forth, for the Emperor!Distant in a boarded up building on main street that seems to stretch forever Dietrich, an Imperial Fist of the Emperor stood checking his modified armor's internal systems. He'd woken up removed from his armor surrounded by the strange abhumans professing their loyalty to the Emperor. No longer divided by an explosion expertly reconstructed like the best Apothecary his legs moved without complaint the dense body of a space marine retethered and rekindled. The creatures did explain what they'd done though it was not of Dietrich's liking. They'd rekindled his body, they said, though he'd failed to be one suitable for true rekindling under the Living Emperor. The Doom Eagle Gunnac Umbercaller, however, was indeed a true rekindled. A doom eagle deprived of death an ironic thing that made him laugh at the hell the enemies of the Imperium would experience for such a thing.
This place was too quiet for his liking though there were other imperial guard here there was another Imperial Guard that had taken a True Rekindling, as the abhumans called it, and it seemed like such a waste to Dietrich. Nevertheless he stood and could feel the ammo count push across his mind as the weapon loaded ammo into itself. Not quite the same as a mind impulse unit, Gunnac explained, but it allowed his weapon's machine spirit to communicate with Dietrich directly.
Dietrich made a feral grin imagining the bloody litanies they would sing to honor the empeor's name. The machine spirit seemed pleased. The force of his predatory will disturbed a imperial Guard as Dietrich looked at them, "We must go. The Emperor and battle calls us forth once more! This day is not yet done; there so much bleeding yet to do."
He stood and walked what felt like downhill through the building that was far too large for its confines. "Gunnac, I trust you will monitor the Abhumans. I must go to the front", Dietrich said in a terse statement to the silver clad Techmarine with ruffling crimson cloak. The sound of shredding paper came from the energetic locus of psychic power as it moved the black robed abhumans about or even the imperial guard.
Gunnac nodded as Dietrich could see the tearing cloak fold out tools to inspect his weapons one last time, "The Jinhai will psychoport you to Dorn. Bring glory to the Emperor's name and Mankind, brother marine."
The world deconstructed into patterns and letters around Dietrich's hidden smile as Jinhai leveraged the Way hub to move Dietrich to the front.
Can't I just die with honor?Among the hundreds of bodies a small point of light beacons like a firefly seeking something upon which to alight. It moves upward then through the area as a psychoport locus flits to an open area among the bodies. With the sound of tearing paper black humanoid forms known to the guard as Jinhai poured themselves into reality. They'd said multiple times to many guard that they couldn't evacuate humans with such a thing. Yet somehow at the center was a disaffected Imperial guard with repaired armor. Jinhai began inspecting the broken bodies, apothecaries of last resort, for signs of intact thrones of Mankind. As well as other useful pieces of broken civilian charnel with which to rebuild them.
Otto just shivered at the Jinhai moving through bodies heading instead toward his living counterparts. As Otto approached Small eddies of black mist whirl over the ferroplasm autoshotgun in his hands two drums of ammunition tethered to his back. Despite the Heavy look of his weapon it didn't seem to move like something with weight. It jerked toward targets on its own periodically and Otto gave it a light smack.
"You. Stay on focus. By the Emperor, I have to train your part of my head like a fresh guardsman, don't I.", He admonished it. He could feel the machine spirit animating it inside as it lived on using his own mind. A damned thing using an extra piece of his mind inserted by Jinahi to enable the machine spirit but it served obediently. Still, the weapon unleashed one hell of a punishment for being something that ought not to be portable or firable by imperial guard.
Otto sighed the death was done for now and he needed his hands to help. Otto tossed the weapon aside as if discarding it but the bolts bent and the eddies returned in force. The black metal shifted and bent as it collapsed inward to a
snake-like form. When it hit ground the head and pincers were visible as well as the muzzle centered on its mouth. The psitech construct slithered beside him with a wide swath.
He found the nearest sergeant or lieutenant to report for duty, "Corporal Otto Hannig reporting for duty, Sir! There's a dozen more reconstructed guard moving this way down main street, Sir!"[/b]
If they bothered to check the IFF for his suit, or if they knew him personally, they'd most definitely find that either memory marks Otto as quite deceased.
What new strangeness is this?As Kinara's medical droids went about the civilian population they'd rapidly discover an odd thing about some of the strong. That some are composed of parts while somehow cleared of immunological antigens nonetheless not the ones they were born with. More so than donor organs sheets of skin or individual sections of bone without apparent surgical evidence. DNA analysis would show the whole of some belonging to dozens of donors. The results of the Jinhai rekindling civilians from the depths of death.
The bloodied fistMuch like Otto that same firefly desperately tried to trail the hustling space marines but couldn't quite propagate at such speed. It elected instead with a hollow bang to pound Dietrich into existence. The yellow fisted shield held high Dietrich doubletimed to catch up with his brothers. Able and willing to fight and more than enthused about doing so.