Buck's final bellowed praise to the Emporer echoed deeply though the sewer tunnels, going on and on. Slowly though, the echos faded, and the blood grew cold upon his skin. Soon enough, there was only the cold, and the wet slosh of the running water. Buck found himself to be standing by a junction of two tunnels, his choices to either go straight on ahead or to either side.
Buck took up his new gains. A new helmet that didn't really fit right, two new pieces of body armor and two fresh Ork heads that he dropped into his bag.
Trying to pick directions, Buck spun himself in a quick circle. Then ran and found himself back at the Orks he'd just killed. "OH!" Turning around, Buck ran forward yet again and passed straight through the junction. "Better"
The sewers ran straight for what felt like miles, slogging along in the ankle deep muck. The only light came through gratings and cracks, letting in enough sunlight to see by, but offering no openings anywhere near large enough for the ogryn to fit through.
Mir
0832
The daemoness mocking laughter drifted after Mir. "Leaving so soon? Don't you want to stay for the fun?"
As he ran, Mir became aware of shouts rising behind him, and then the briefly silenced roar of gunfire erupted again. Over it all, he could still hear the daemoness laughing...
The street was lined to either side with shops, book stores, a food mart, general goods, a pharmacy, clothing shops. All looked tightly closed, but most sported glass fronted doors and large windows.
Picking the pharmacy Mir aimed his longlas at the front door and fired, shattering the glass in the door. He unlocked it and pushed his way inside and worked towards the back of the store. He gently set Solaria down behind the counter and turned her to look at the wounds on her back.
Solaria's flesh had taken on a red glow to put her hair to shame. The bleeding at least seemed to have stopped, but wicked looking blisters were starting to form. The whole thing looked incredibly painful, but as to exactly how life threatening it might be, Mir was at a loss to say.
Mir grimaced as he looked at her back. He wasn't a medicae and he had no idea how bad her wounds were. "Frak!" he snarled. He dumped his backpack on the ground and hurried back to the front door. He grabbed one of the shelving units, children's diapers and feminine products, and drug it in front of the shattered door. He hustled to the back of the store and looked to see if it had a back door.
There was a rear enterance to the store, along side a narrow loading dock, both of which lead out to small courtyard, connected to the main streets by a pair of alleyways.
Mir moved quickly to pile boxes and shelving in front of the backdoor, trying to barricade it. He then hustled back to Solaria's side and started to dig through his first aid kit. He daubed disinfectant on her back and then laid bandages across it. With what little medical care he knew administered he left his backpack beside her.
He picked up his shotgun and pulled the ammo drums off it. He dumped all his regular ammo in the first two drums then loaded his two blazers and then his two demon rounds into the third. Slinging it over his shoulder he also took the hellgun and longlas with him. He placed the spectre beside Solaria and stuffed the powder horn in his pocket.
"I gotta learn to fraking write," he complained as he realized he could leave nothing to explain things to Solaria. He headed back out into the front of the store and looked for matches.
The matches were prominately displayed on a stand by the front counter, along with several varieties of tabacco products. A massive detonation sounded outside, and several windows shattered up and down the block.
Mir ducked reflexively at the explosion and scooped up a box of matches. "I'll be back Sug...Solaria, just stay out of sight," he muttered as he picked his way to the front and climbed over the shelving and out of the store. Turning back towards the commotion he took off at a run.
Mir's first sight of the battle was of the massive cloud of black smoke rising into the sky. As he approached, he found the fires feeding that cloud issuing from the tower the sisters had taken refuge in, the top floors where the gun emplacements had been transformed into a blazing inferno.
The street about the building was an utter wreck. The road was ripped apart in places as completely as tilled earth, and the buildings all about were dotted with las and bolter holes. Debris of glass and brick and metal was scattered everywhere. And then there were the bodies.
A dozen or more of the Sororitas lay scattered among the wreckage. Few were in less than two seperate pieces. One of those few was Atella, the Novice impaled upon the post of a ripped up street sign, and hung like a holiday decoration upon the nearest building.
The battle had drifted during Mir's short absence, the Sisters having been pushed back into their temporary HQ from the direction of the noise.
Mir's stomach twisted into knots at the sight of Atella's body impaled above the street. Choking down the bile that was rising in his throat he hurried ahead and plunged into the building.
Inside, Mir found the daemon in the front lobby, sword to sword with Venus. The rest of the Sisters were half hidden behind a shimmering curtain of energy that they seemed unable to breech, though not from any lack of trying. Las and bolter rounds splashed with a fury against the barrier, to no noticable effect.
Parrying the daemon's blade, Venus's plasma pistol came up in the opening, and the blast caught the creature full in the face. The shot forced her back a step, but little more, and she blocked the Sister's next thrust and smashed the pommel of her sword into Venus's armor, sending her flying a dozen feet to slam into the wall.
The sewer tunnel opened up suddenly into a large, under ground carven. Raised walls created a large pool that the waste water flowed into, and a ladder on one of these walls climbed up to a small shack of a building; a waste management outpost.
Buck suddenly realized that there were smoldering piles of wood cast about the landing he had stepped out on, recently downsed fires. Then the mob was upon him...
