A Candle in the Dark Side Thread IC

Felyx moved past the downed worker and looked at the other laborer. "I knowing your faces now," was all he said as he took off toward the exit.

He looked to Alistair, the shock of reacquainting not showing on his features. "In futures perhaps don't using mine actual names when pushing the gun in to someone's faces. Also, hello."

The trio shuffles quickly past the other terrified laborer, who was only too happy to run down another aisle. They duck this way and that to avoid other workers, making a route as fast as possible to the exit while remaining undetected. It should be right across one last aisle...

As the party darts across the aisle, they hear a voice shout from behind them.

"Stop right there."

A quick glance over your shoulder reveals a middle-aged, balding man in a bloodstained coat. One of the undertakers, it seems. He's holding a stub gun in your direction, an angry look on his face.

"We've sent for the arbites. Don't take another step..."

[Morgue Lobby]

The clerk looks on in concern as Marius looks like he's about to pass out for a moment.

"Well it's just a few blocks from here, I can draw you a map if you need...but are you sure you can even walk that far?"

A man busts in the room - the one who was held at gunpoint by Felyx and Marius.

Panting, he rushes over to the desk, leaning against it while he catches his breath. He ignores Egill entirely, focusing only on the clerk.

"Intruders! Get a call out to the arbites...boss says NOW!"

Alistair shuffles off with Felyx and Marius, his easy strides at odds with the surprise he felt.

"It's been so long! How's things? The kids treating you well?" Alistair asked happily. Before he could get his answer, however, the group was threatened by some idiot with a stub gun. Poor fool wanted to be a hero.

Alistair turned to look at the man, eyes hidden behind his photo visors, arms resting by his side..

"Did you fill out the proper paperwork for that coat?"  asks Alistair. Acute observers might note the slight shift in the reflection from Alistairs photo-visors. "I'm surprised you have it, it's quite holey." As Alistair finishes talking, he pauses briefly, before jerking quickly into action. Hands grab his lasgun from it's place on his combat vest, twisting quickly into a firing position. With a snap and crackle, the lasgun fires a burst towards the poor man.

Rolls:

The man's eyes flicker to Alistair, listening impassively as he speaks.

As Alistair draws the lasgun, he fires a shot with his pistol, but it's clear the man is no match for an ex-guardsmen in a shootout. The pistol fires pointlessly into the air above them as he collapses backwards with smoldering wounds.

Alistair's las bolts hit home, leaving the man quite dead indeed.

[Lobby]

As if the clerk wasn't concerned enough about the other man entering and talking about intruders, the gunshots make him pause in his tracks. His face goes pale and he mutters a curse under his breath before fumbling with the vox. He is now ignoring Egill entirely and focused solely on making the call, scanning the video screens while he connects.

"Are you being even seriously, rights now?!" Felyx yelled as Alistair straight up murders the guy just doing his job. Felyx didn't even have a chance to stop and rip out the man's brain stem.

This is a lose-lose scenario, he thought in binary.

When they neared the rear exit, he sent out a binaric code to Servitor: MAKE. READY. TO. MOVE. OUT. FULL. SPEED. WHEN. I. ARRIVE.

"I mean, not really?" Alistair looks at Felyx in confusion. "I'm here with you?"

"So, are you guys finished here? I wasn't quite yet done, but I don't particularly want to stick around when there's Arbites asking pointed questions to drugged up labourers. You got somewhere to go? Mind if I follow suit?"

The trio scurries out the door and down the darkened alleyway. Given that it is now "night-time" in the hive, gang members are especially active. You hear the wail of an arbites siren in the distance and stick to alleyways as you distance yourselves from the morgue. Eventually you find your way to a quiet spot by an abandoned factorum where you are fairly assured that there are no immediate prying ears or eyes, and have lost any potential tails from the morgue. Now's a perfect time to catch up with your old friend.

"So, what did you get from the morgue? I was chasing some lead about a xeno biologist. I might need to go back there. Hm... Security will be tight. Might be worth chasing something else till things calm down. Or make a diversion somewhere else..." Alistair thinks aloud.

"Say... What are your plans? Feel like making a diversion later?"

Marius steadied himself against the factorum wall to catch his breath. While his carapace provided excellent protection, it was sorely lacking in mobility. He listened to Alistair's brainstorming for a moment before responding.

"It seems we were following the same lead, Alistair. And, no worries, no diversion will be necessary; I've already had time to perform an autopsy on the body." He took a moment to fill Alistair in on his findings. "I'm not certain what to make of the man's unusual demise. I have two theories... but I need a lab to confirm the first and Egil's expertise to confirm the second."

He paused, considering the serendipitous nature of their meeting. "So, Alistair, have you uncovered anything in your own investigations? What lead you to pursue this particular lead? All sources of intel are welcome, at this point."

"Hm... Well, I'm glad I don't have to go back, but I refuse to volunteer for any experiment with brains, Egil and you. " Alistair grins briefly, before turning away from Marius. "Unfortunately, this was the first lead I was working on. I really only just got here. It does seem you're progressing more than I am alone, so I'll tag along with you guys. If that's ok."

Alistair turns back, wearing a half hearted smile. "So, whatcha thinking? Brain melted by psykers? Felyx, what's the chances of some implants melting a brain?"

Egill took a moment to collect his wits as his eyesight slowly returned, he'd picked up enough though that he'd been given directions to his made up chapel and that there were intruders at the morgue.

He'd either been lucky that he'd actually named a chapel that was a few blocks away or the clerk was lying to him. He briefly considered violence as he assumed the latter. Now was not the time though.

The intruders could only be Felyx and Marius so as he also had an excuse to leave he thought he better take it. "I best be leavin' you to your problems. Thanks fer tha directions."

"How are you to being here now?" Felyx asked Alistair as soon as they had stopped running. To be fair, Felyx had not been running; he had been riding the back of Servitor much as he had done on the cursed Ice Moon they had previously been to. A brief flash of the tainted STC filtered through Felyx's mind and he had to blink to get the image out.

Regardless of how Alistair answers, Felyx responds matter-of-factly to the question: "Implants did not doing this brain melts. Possibles? Yes. Likelies? No. This is being something elses entirely."

Egill spots the group as they sprint down a back alley and caught up with them quickly. He listens and catches his breath as the others squabble, leaning against a rockcrete wall.

"How did I get here? I followed you?" Alistair tilted his head slightly, seemingly confused. "Oh, do you mean how did I get to the morgue? Well, as I said, I was chasing down a lead about a xeno-biologist. I don't know much about what you mechanicus types do, so I figured that having a look at the body was the best thing I could do. I'm glad I ran into you guys, widens my usable skill set so to speak. So, what's the next step from here?"

Alistair notices Egill approaching the group.

"Hi! Egill! You're here too! Marius has need of your expertises. Something about a missing brain?"

Felyx stops and stares at Alistair as though there was a penis growing from his forehead.

"Why. Are you. Being. On this. Planets? Saw littles of you after last missions, yes? Supposed you killing to yourself. But no. Here now. Why?"

He looks at Marius with a Fuckin' help me out here, bro look on his face.

When Alistair lands the joke, it takes Felyx a couple seconds. Then he starts laughing once it clicks and points at Egil.

Egill gave a nod to Alistair in greeting and listened to the trio speak while he collected his thoughts. The completely alien psychic surge he had felt proved that there was real heresy here, not something assumed because some important people had died. This pleased him greatly, there was nothing better than putting down a heretic.

He glanced back the way he’d come he ensure all was quiet before speaking, it was clear he’d missed some of the conversation as he wasn’t sure why the metal man was laughing and pointing at him. “You have something to say to me? I trust you found something before being found in the mortuary?”

While he waited for a reply he glanced back again, it was clear he was a little nervous and on edge. “I have sensed a surge of psychic energy, something alien from far below us. Perhaps it has something to do with what we investigate, perhaps it does not. This is heartening that there is something to put down, yes”

The grinding and clanging of nearby factorums permeates the air, feeling the gaps in conversation with their clamorous din. The occasional truck chugs past down on arterial road a few alleys back, and you can also hear the regular crack of gunshots, undoubtedly warring gangs.

Sweat glistens on the everyone's faces - here in the lower hive the air is thick, humid and hot. Scents of brine, oil and excrement waft through the air, mingling to create a noxious blend.

But worst of all is the lingering stench of the morgue for those who stepped inside the "cold storage" room - the sickly smell of rotting flesh clings to your clothing, heightening tensions just a few notches further.

Another lovely night in the hive.

Alistair frowned at Felyx. "Oh. Well. Torquemada picked me up. Brought me here. As to killing myself, I did consider that. After we got... separated on that moon, everything went FUBAR. Still, you know what they say; From Faith comes honour, and from honour comes iron. I survived long enough to be rescued. And now I'm here. Does that answer your question, cog boy?" Alistair's earlier mood seems to have disappeared, and he turns to Egill with no sign of camaraderie.

"Do you have a location, a lead or something to work with? We can check it out if it's worth doing so."

No one says that, thought Felyx.

He ignores the final question. The response had told him absolutely nothing other than Torquemada thought him important enough to pick up. Instead, he focused on Marius.

"We are still needing places to work. You have sleeping dust to get better. I have bomb to make boom-time harder. Egil-barbarian, it is being good to kill bodies. Yes."

Encased in his carapace Egill felt stifled in the heat and humidity but he bore it stoically. Such minor irritations were nothing compared to which his Emperor endured on the golden throne.

He shakes his head at Alistair "Nothing exact, other than to say it came from below. The lower or underhive or perhaps deeper still. Something to be wary of but nothing we can pursue." Egill looks between the other two, he ignored Felyx's babble "By the stink of you you found mortuary, did you find anything of use?"

Felyx looked almost irritated. Apparently they were going to stand in the street all night chatting.

"Yes. Yes. He was having no brains in heads. Left out of official reporting. Covering up. Not naturals way to dies, no?"

Egill nods at Felyx "On the world of Strank there is a beast we call the illithodus that feed on brains. My tribe hunt them. Good eating." he holds up a hand to stop a quick reply from the metal man "But yeah strange here. How was the brain removed, must have been massive damage to the head yes?"

While they spoke he glanced again back up the alley making sure they were still alone. Ignorant of Felyx prior meaning he adds "We should get off the street, find some place to make plans."

Marius only half-listened into the banter of his compatriots. He had been mulling over the discoveries from the morgue, considering their future directions their investigation might take. Egil's comment about psychic energies brought him out of his ruminations.

"Yes, yes... Oh, right. Felyx is right, we have things to work on in the interim before we move forward with our investigations. While we're in transit to said location where we can do some research and development, Egil, would you have a look at this?" He fumbled around in his vest for the vial of brain sludge. He gingerly handed it to the psyker. "While it might be the case that this neurological damage is the result of some foreign agent, I wanted to clear any suspicion that the trauma to the man's brain was psychic in origin. Do you detect anything unusual about this sample?"

The party starts strolling deeper into the maze of alleyways, conscientiously moving away from any streets or roads with heavy traffic and deeper among factorums and warehouses. Eventually you find a relatively quiet space (for a hive), an abandoned factorum rusted and sagging.

The party members clamber through a broken window into a murky, gloomy floor room - it appears it used to manufacture ground vehicles of some sort, years or decades past. Looking for an even better hiding spot, you spot a ladder nearby and climb up to a catwalk. Poking a bit further along this raised walkway, you find a larger office-type room on a second floor.

The room offers a decent vantage point on anyone who might enter the main factorum floor, a few desks and tables, and plenty of area to sprawl out and rest. It's by no means cozy, but it will do.

Egill took the vial and peered at it and gave it a small shake "This is what remained of the brain? Give me a while with it while we find some where quieter."

While they walked he kept the sample in his fist and focused his mind on it, it took a while for him to get a sense of the alien power as his 'third eye' wasn't the most trained. But sure enough he started to get a whiff of powerful psychic power, it felt similar to the surge he felt back at the mortuary although slightly different. As he continued to put one foot in front of the other the trace came on a little stronger sending a shiver from the base of his spine to his brain.

"Gah! Take the thing back." grimacing Egill holds the vial out to Marius "Whatever did this was a powerful psyker, an abomination." he pauses for a moment before choosing his words "Alien. Similar to the one I felt back in the mortuary but different, related at least."

Once they had started to settle into their new 'lodgings' Egill directed a question at Felyx "Metal man, the area that is avoided out to sea, where is it in relation to our current position? The world is round, I wonder if the power I sensed might be on the other side of it, err opposite to where we are"

Alistair glances at the psyker. "Alien, as in, xenos? If that's the case, that's a possible avenue of investigation."

-- --

Alistair glanced around the office, it seemed like a reasonable place to the crew to hole up for a time. "Alright. Make yourself at home. I'm off, I'll be back. Have fun, set up a watch, I'll take over once I'm back."

Felyx absently responded to Egil, noting his insistence on calling Felyx "metal man" even though the Tech Priest had very few cybernetic augmentations and no mechadendrites to speak of.

"Yes, hairy man. Be useful and help me clear this desk, yes?" Assuming Egil helped, Felyx relayed the information back to the team's psyker.

Spoiler:

Marius furrowed his brow. "I'm not familiar with your sensitivities to psyker activity, Egil," he began slowly, "when you say 'alien" do you mean... this psychic activity is clearly non-human in origin? Or merely alien in the sense that it is unusual? Specificity is crucial, here."

Marius began unloading some of the various supplies from his medkit and assorted vials and reagents. Their temporary "workshop" was ill-equipped for him to do anything more than the most basic of tests on the brain matter, but he figured he could at least establish the presence of any foreign agents. Though Egil had confirmed psychic activity, it could yet be the case that there was more to learn from the sample.

Chymistry:

Egill leaned against a wall and unbuckled his claymore from over his back so he could get comfortable, he'd positioned himself so he had some view if anyone approached.

He chewed over Marius' question for a moment before answering "During my training on Terra I encountered some extremely potent psykers, so I think its not human. I said 'alien' because its unlike anything I have come across before." he smiled, he was happy he had such a foe before him "so it is not human and unusual is my best bet. Is it xeno, possibly but I've never encountered one measure it against"

He was the typical barbarian but he was measured and thoughtful in his field at least.

Felyx pulled out the krak grenade and studied it meticulously for a moment before placing it on the table. There was an almost unheard blurp of binary and Servitor rolled over to assist.

He didn't tell the group exactly what he was doing. It wasn't because he didn't trust them or thought they would have something to say, he was just simply too caught up in his work to give them a thought in the matter.

Modify Payload:

After several hours of rest and tinkering, the group prepares to move. Alistair volunteered some information he had found in his investigations prior to the linking up with the group - namely that Vonreuter's body was in a morgue on the north side of the lower hive, in a specialty, high-security morgue.

It was one kept away from prying eyes and the public - it appeared to maybe be run by the arbites, Alistair theorized. Perhaps a place for them to investigate what happens to the remains of certain hivers without getting bogged down by the concerns of the deceased families or associates?

The party leaves the abandoned factorum and takes a mag-train to this section of the hive. Down the street from the morgue's location, you can see a relatively quiet, empty street. Although the streets to the east and west are rather crowded, this dead-end offers little reason to venture down it. There's a few rundown shops (a liquor store, a gun store, a small market for fish). A large apartment building sags on one side of the street, looking like it's about to collapse any minute.

The morgue itself is tucked in among these buildings, a nondescript blocklike structure of concrete.

A few beggars line the street. The rumble of a promethium refinery in the hive level above fills the air. Time to figure out how Vonreuter passed...

Alistair turned to Felyx and gestured towards the fish market.

"Felyx, I need your expertises. That fish market. It doesn't seem quite right. Something about it is fishy." Alistair turns to peer at the fish market suspiciously, before turning to the rest of the crew.

"So, what's the plan? Last I heard, this place was crawling with security. My leak couldn't tell me what kind. I'm not sure we can talk our way in without a strong alibi. We would need more firepower for a frontal assault. My bet is going in quietly, grab what we can and bolt. Go loud if we need to."

Marius chuckled, more at his certainty that Alistair's pun had been entirely unintentional than anything else.

"Well, our last morgue outing had little in the way of security, not that we couldn't work around anyway. If this one is a better guarded then we may have a bit of a problem on our hands. Our track record with subterfuge is less than prestigious, which is unfortunate since it appears that tact is what we need more than anything in this instance" He grimaced. "And I don't fancy a frontal assault on a civilian enterprise; we've done a reasonable job thus far of keeping our investigation under wraps and that would undue that hard work in an instant."

He wrung his hands in frustration. "Frankly, it may be time that we exercised a bit of our authority, if you catch my drift. No arbites in their right mind would dare stand in the way of inquisitional authority. And, while I realize that certainly doesn't help our presence go undetected, it may be the least risky course of action if what you're saying is true, Alistair."

"Well yes of courses it is bein... ha... haha... 'fishy'... hahaha" Felyx started genuinely laughing as though this was the funniest joke he had ever heard. It may well have been the first joke he had ever processed and thus was the funniest joke he had ever heard.

It took him a moment or two to regain his composure, and when he did tears could be seen in the corners of his eyes. When he finally got himself together, he was all business again.

The logic of Marius' approach was apparent. They would fail in a frontal assault - they had neither the firepower nor the numbers. Their subterfuge was shit; that had been apparent from the start. They could attempt to lie, as Felyx had done before with the Arbites, but then again that might not work. Then where would they be.

He looked as though the most logical outcome was the one Marius had put forth.

"Playing the aces in the holes, yes? Is this reference being correct? Going into there and laying this metaphorical 'big dicks' onto this metaphorical tables and then...?"

Surely they needed to do more than just ask to see a body. They were putting down some SERIOUS authority.

"Needing more than just bodies probe. Needing files, log books, pict records, names, dates, every bits of infos surrounding the deceased down to and being who broughts them in, who authorized such lockdowns on bodies and why. We must orders to them to give us everything. After doing this, we are to be highlighted in extremus."

Egill mulls the ideas over. He certainly didn't like the idea of assaulting nor breaking into a potential arbites facility. He did however like the idea of presenting the 'badge'. They were inquisition after all even if only acolytes, they represented their inquisitor.

"I like the idea." he nods at Marius. Then listened to Felyx before adding "Inquisition don't go laying out their hand for all to see. If we're inquisition we demand, yes"

The party approaches the building.

A few passerby at the end of the street watch with apprehension - perhaps they've learned some lesson in the past about getting too close to this mysterious structure.

A staircase cuts sideways up the outside wall of the building, leading to a reinforced metal door. There's no markings or signage anywhere. The door itself won't budge.

After sitting at the door and knocking for a few minutes, someone spots what looks to be a very small, hidden camera above the door. Not long after, a gravelly, monotone voice crackles over an intercom.

"Citizens. This is government property. Vacate the premises immediately or we will notify the Arbites. You have been warned."

Egill pushed to the front, he thought he had an advantage in that he was Adepta. Felyx was to of course but he couldn't be trusted not to say something inappropriate.

He stared intensely at the camera "I am Skalagrimson, Adepta Telepathica." Egill pauses and reveals his sanctioning brand. "We are inquisition. We require access to continue our investigation. I warn you not to impede us. Open up."

Alistair hung to the back of the group. This was their plan, their skill set, and thus their problem. Not that he had any better alternative. As the the Camera becomes evident, and Egil addresses the occupants, Alistair straightens up. Maybe I can pass as an inquisitorial stormtrooper, Alistair mused, blissfully unaware that he was one step away from being an actual inquisitorial stormtrooper. He was significantly more aware that he looked nothing like one, and quickly gave up on his efforts and moved to lean against the wall.

A long moment of silence follow's Egill's order.

"Prove it. Let's see the badge."

When the question came, Felyx's electoos began to glow a light blue. It might have been intimidating had he not been riding damn near on Servitor's robust shoulders like a human backpack as the automaton carefully went up the stairs.

Egill nods his head at the reply "You are right to question, but what do you know of our ways. We are acolytes and do not carry the badge." the big man eyeballs into the camera "our work is dangerous, you think our inquisitor would give us the badge that if we fall others could use against us. You know nothing. I say again 'We are inquisition' ,how often do you have an Adeptus Telepathica and an Adepta Mechanicus at your door. If you need to defer to your superior do so, but you think they'd be happy to know you'd block our way?"

Another long silence follows, this time no one answers you. Instead, you hear the sound of some complex locking mechanism clanking and shifting before the door grinds inward.

Inside stands a middle-aged woman wearing gray scrubs. She regards you with a disgruntled look on her face. A bald man in work clothes at her side stares blankly.

The woman mutters a greeting. "Good evening to you too."

She scowls and steps backwards, her body language permitting you to enter.

"Let's get on with it, shall we?"

Egill steps through the threshold "You make a wise choice, lets get this done as painlessly as possible, yes." he regards the man staring blankly for a moment and wondered if he was some kind of servitor or just a simpleton. The latter didn't seem likely if this was a secure location of the arbites.

"You have a morgue here or at least are storing an arbite body. Take us there. Now."

Felyx moves in, only stepping off of servitor once they were inside. He immediately began a scan of the area to see any obvious security countermeasures inside, and ordered Servitor to do the same with a blurt of binary.

Spoiler:

The woman leads you down a hallway. The building is well-kept and orderly - a world apart from the morgue you were in before. Stainless steel and white fluorescent lights. You pass by a room where it appears a doctor is performing a quite exhaustive inspection of a body...he's certainly not saving anything for an open casket funeral, at least.

She leads the party into a cold storage room. Her expression and dry response betrays a sense of arrogance toward the barbarian, inquisitorial acolyte or not.

"Who is it you are looking for, precisely?"

Felyx spots no security measures aside from what you would expect - cameras, an armed guard toward the front of the building (light armor and a lasgun), quality locks on all rooms...it appears they mostly rely on the thick rockcrete walls and sturdy door to keep troublemakers out. Surely it's nondescript appearance from the street helps as well.

"Arbite Vonreuter" Egill stares at the woman as he answers to see if she gave anything away, some concern that a heresy might be uncovered."We will view the corpse." Egill liked this direct approach which gave him some confidence, he disliked skulking in the background although he knew it was needed in his line of work, and this direct approach would rarely be used.

The woman raises her eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

"Ah yes, Miss Vonreuter. A curious case indeed..." She strides over to a wall of drawers, pulling it out to reveal the corpse of a woman covered with a sheet, which she pulls off in one smooth motion.

The corpse has a few bullet holes in the torso.

"Tough place to be an arbites. Never found out who killed her, not sure if they ever will."

"This is not being enough," Felyx chimed in. An inspection of the body was necessary of course, but he needed ALL of the information that went along with it.

"I am needing immediately the names of who broughts her here, contact informations,
all reports surrounding to her death; names of all chirurgeons or others medicaling profesionalios who have seen to her body; anyone who came physically into contacts with touching, seeing, hearing, smelling this arbites - names/contact informations. Nothing is to being lefts out. Nothing."

Felyx had gotten uncomfortably close to her face. Whether or not he realized it was impossible to tell. Behind his intense glare, Servitor looked on... at the woman. At her eyes. It never blinked. But it saw her.