Chapter 349 (1/2)

The sound of water dripping was loud, louder than the quiet whine of the Hellspace Screens depowering. One gave it up, a curl of smoke wafting up from it that suddenly twisted into a Maktanan woman in pain who gave a small scream of despair before wafting away.

Palgret swallowed thickly, looking around. The rest of the squad looked all right, looked intact, but he had a sudden fear that whatever was inside the armor was no longer his friends, comrades, battle buddies, but something dark and sinister.

--shields clear-- 030 ordered. --facial check--

One by one the face shields went clear. Culvit's eyes were wide and the fur around them was silver, Lieutenant Mu'ucru'u had a long scar down the front of his face that was held together with pieces of wire, Nanuft's eyes had changed color to a dark red with black pupils, Jagler had long fangs that extended out past his lower lip and were on each side of his nose. The sarcastic black mantid ”Two” had a strange pattern between his antenna where Three had a red streak between his eyes and down to his mouth. 030 and 281 both had a metallic sheen to their green faces.

They all turned and looked at the human.

He was still large. Not as massive as he had been, but still much bigger than he had been.

He was also wearing some kind of heavy, ornate armor, thick ridged plates, bulky power armor with large shoulder pauldrons and streaked paint. There was purplish tacky fluid that glistened greasily on the spikes that stuck off of his armor. The datalink was completely wrapped around his head, engraved with strange sigils, the lights purple and blinking. Cables went from beneath his ears and into the armor. The skin had pulled away in spots on his neck to reveal warsteel cabling.

He was not wearing a helmet.

His skin was gray, a tube ran up his nose, his eyes were nothing but burning red fire set in empty sockets, and his mouth was full of sharp interlocked teeth. One each shoulder and on his chest was a cresent, the tips pointed upward, bisected by a sword, inside a wreath of leaves.

Three skittered back slightly, touching his fist to his forehead. ”Protect us, oh Digital Father,” he choked out.

Two flinched at the sight.

--sergeant report-- 030 said.

”All systems combat capable,” the human said, black fluid oozing from his mouth.

What is it with humans and drool? Why is drooling like a teething poppet so menacing and fearsome? Palgret wondered, his mind strangely running on random thoughts.

--buzz drone maps lets see if our host has changed-- 030 ordered.

--roger roger-- The little mortar tube on 281's back lifted up and chugged a dozen times, launching pumpkin-seed sized drones that oriented for a moment then whisked away.

Nanuft looked at how all four of the mantids seemed slightly apprehensive about the Terran, where before they hadn't even been bothered by the sudden monstrous transformation. To Nanuft the heavy plated armor looked better than the monster version, even if the Terran's skin was a weird gray color with thick purple veins pulsing below the skin.

”What's wrong?” Nanuft asked, leaning toward Two.

Two jumped nearly a foot in the air, grabbing at his pistol, which was back even though it had turned into a huge spider at one point that the Lieutenant had crushed beneath one hoof.

”Don't sneak up on me,” Two said, shifting around to keep an eye on Nanuft and the Terran at the same time. He opened his helmet, taking out his cigarettes. His hands were shaking hard enough he dropped one of the cigarettes, bending down and picking it up without taking his eyes off the Terran. He lit the cigarette and fumbled to put the pack and lighter away. ”What? Why do you think something's wrong?”

Lieutenant Mu'ucru'u looked at Captain 030. ”Is there some type of concern regarding the Terran's new form?”

--yes-- 030 answered.

Three moved slowly around the Terran, 281 on his back.

”By the Digital Omnimessiah's glittering ballsack, that's genuine Imperium combat armor,” Three said. ”Late generation, post Anthill armor.”

--yes-- 030 said.

281 responded with a flood of data. Palgret saw it was armor schematics, weapon system types, data on the heavy armor the Terran was clad in.

”I feel... the same,” the Terran said. He clenched a fist and lightning coursed up his arm. ”I'm angry, still angry,” the fire grew brighter in his eye sockets. ”I don't feel any different. Warmer, maybe?”

--who angry at-- 030 asked.

”The Mar-gite,” the human snarled. He suddenly slammed a fist against the wall, putting a deep dent in the black slick looking material that had replaced the brown battlesteel. ”They took everything from me! My wife! My husband! My children! My parents! My siblings!”

Each time he said what was taken from him, he swung his fist out to the side, slamming it into the wall.

”My mother! My father! My puffies! My matrons! My hatchlings! My broodcarriers! Everything! They ate everything!” the human's hand went to his waist and he pulled free what Palgret had learned was a cutting bar Mark 2 but something everyone called a chainsword.

”THEY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM US!” the human roared. The chainsword clattered to life, the teeth burning white and arcs of electricty snarling up and down the ornately decorated blade. ”ATE EVERYTHING! I HATE! HATE FOR ALL MAR-GITE! HATE UNTIL THE END OF TIME!”

Palgret swallowed, feeling the heat pound against him like soft pillows. He could taste tinfoil and berries in his mouth and his gums ached. The Lieutenant gave a low moan of pain, but his knees didn't buckle.

The human turned and began swinging the chainsword with both hands, slamming it against the inert body of a destroyed Precursor combat robot. Sparks and shards of metal flew out, the barbed chain howling and spraying sparks out as the human bellowed in rage and hacked at the downed robot.

After a long moment the human stepped back. The cutting bar's motor wound down and the teeth came to a stop. The Terran turned, a smooth exaggerated motion that Palgret knew every power armor troop learned.

The Terran put the heel of one hand between his eyebrows, pushing. ”I can feel them all, sir. Feel them all dying. Screaming to me,” the Terran looked up, blood running from his mouth. ”I can feel them dying all around me.”

The small helmet unfolded and the mantid officer looked up. ”Steady, soldier,” 030 grated out. ”Maintain discipline.”

The Terran put the cutting bar back on his hip and covered the flaming pits masquerading as eyes with his palms. ”I can see them, sir, see them all. I am them and they are me.”

”Reach past the rage, Sergeant,” the little green mantid grated out. ”It is a weapon, nothing more. It does not control you. You are Terran. You are the master of rage and wrath not its puppet.”

The Terran went down on one knee, putting one fist against his forehead, and began mumbling out a prayer.

Palgret couldn't blame him. The whole thing made him want to run away screaming.

”They call it Hellspace for a reason, kid,” Two said, moving up next to Palgret. ”He went through it unshielded, we're lucky he isn't a big blob covered in eyes, mouths, and tentacles.”

The Mantid exhaled smoke and gave a chittering laugh. ”Although, this is much much more dangerous.”

”Why?” Nanuft asked.

The mantid waved at the praying human. ”That's Imperium armor. He probably has the body mods to go with it. Hell, he's probably fused to it.”

The mantid gave a slight shudder. ”One of those big fists was the last thing a couple billion of my people saw a few thousand years ago.”

”But why turn him into that?” Culvit asked.

”All of our worst nightmares, not counting all of you,” Three said softly. ”The Imperium is one of the darkest chapters in post-diaspora Terran history. Even worse than the Combine.”