The Multiverse Project: Warhammer 40,000

Laura was panting when she, her mates, and their ragtag crew of badarses made it back to the citadel's first tier. Isha, the Aeldari goddess of life, was of great help despite her diminished state, easily leading them through secret paths hidden amongst the buildings, shortening their flight to ten minutes flat. She did all of this while getting carried by Galatea, the Martyred Lady canoness snarling at anyone who tried to make unhelpful comments. Galatea came close to combusting when the battlegroup, who were in the process of withdrawing back to the refugee camp, all turned to gawk at her and the beautiful elf goddess clinging to her neck like a bride. Laura's attention, however, was honed on Erik, the Swedish elf was jumping and yelling angrily atop the Ultramarine's Rhino.

"Stop singing you fucking pieces of shit!" Erik bellowed, arms pinwheeling across the air, the Imperial Guards colonels watched him with clear concern. "I said stop singing you fucking assholes! AHHHH!"

"What the bloody hell is wrong with him?" Laura strode up to the colonels, all of them started in surprise and snapped her sharp salutes.

"Good to see you safe and sound, lady inquisitor," Evangeline said then glanced over Laura's shoulder, one brow quirked in confusion. "Why is canoness Galatea carrying an Aeldari woman? Who is she? I don't believe I recognize her."

"Our target," Laura grinned. "Isha."

"That's the eldar goddess?!" Min-Jae was not able to hide his surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Seriously mate, did you honestly just asked me that?" Laura narrowed her eyes on the Jijurean colonel, his comrades wisely backing away.

"Sorry lady inquisitor, I didn't mean to question you," Min-Jae apologized with a bow. "I was expecting…something more, I suppose."

"Me too," Laura sighed. "She was getting gutted by Azarvhin when we found her, after getting thrown off a building. She survived and healed, the poor soul, and she's clean too, the canonesses made sure of that."

"Well…she's safe with us now," Min-Jae offered solemnly.

"That she is," Laura smacked Min-Jae friendlily on the shoulder then pointed at the gesticulating Erik. "Anyone want to explain that?"

"Apparently the lord commissar and the lord general are singing," Xiphos shrugged. "I honestly don't understand what is out of the norm, commissar Tangmo always sings to stir the spirits of the troops."

"I think I know what's going on," Laura tapped her earbud until she found the correct frequency

"We remember, in September, when the Winged Hussars arrived!"

"AHHHH! That's my line you motherfuckers! I'm gonna kill you both!"

Erik displayed his extreme displeasure by, seemingly, firing blindly down the road ahead of him. After a burst of no scoping, a great explosion erupted amongst the buildings immediately adjacent to where the battlegroup had formed their defensive line.

"A most impressive shot, High Ranger," Laura can tell major Emily was smiling on the other end. "You just took out a regiment worth of traitors and daemons, along with what looked to be a skaven Hell-Pit abomination. Thank you sir, I believe it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you have singlehandedly stopped the Chaos forces dead in their track."

"You're…welcome," Erik growled between great heaving breath, still pissed off at Tangmo and Henry for breaking their bro-code.

"What the hell just happened?" Damien appeared beside Laura, head cocked to the side as he watched Erik stalked back and forth across the Rhino's roof like a wolf with a bad case of rabies. "And what's wrong with him?"

"He's pissed off that Tangmo and Henry are singing Sabaton's song," Laura deadpanned and adjusted her awesome inquisitor hat. The sun was starting to set.

"Really? What were they singing?" Damien asked as the Ultramarines and Salamanders formed up behind him.

"Winged Hussars, for some reason," Laura said.

"Huh, strange choice," Damien shrugged then stabbed his thumb at an extremely big and ornate Immolator rumbling loudly on the other side of the square they occupied. "Isha and the girls are in there, along with the canonesses. Yuki's already missing you."

"Thanks love," Laura gave his armored chest a friendly tap, saluted her goodbye to the colonels, and headed off toward the aforementioned Immolator. She smiled when she saw Yuki waiting for her at the opened ramp.

"I heard Tangmo and Henry were singing Winged Hussars?" Yuki asked as the pair marched into the command Immolator, the wide interior lit bright by multitudes of neon and candles built into the ostentatious walls and ceilings, over the top but tasteful, the scented incenses adding a divine aura to the place. Beside the Sororitas manning the guns and computers, the transport was occupied by Nikki, Lita, the canonesses, Isha and her handmaidens. The demur goddess was being fussed over by her ladies in waiting, "what's up with that?"

"I don't know, but I'll be sure to ask them later," the ramp slammed shut behind Laura and the Immolator rumbled beneath her feet. She turned to Galatea and tapped her earbud. "Erik, Damien, are we clear to leave?"

"We are."

"Yes."

"Let's not waste any time then," Laura nodded at the Martyred Lady canoness, "on your command love."

"Of course, lady inquisitor," Galatea tapped her helmet. "We're falling back to the refugee camp, double time."

The Immolator lurched into motion, the canonesses and the Sisters of Battle let out a very audible groan when Isha's handmaidens squealed from the sudden movement. Although Laura was very glad that they were heading back to the refugee camp, the fact that she was encased inside a flammable APC without windows and blinded to what was happening outside was preventing her from relaxing. Laura and Yuki was joining Nikki and Lita when Morelia stomped up to Isha, easily shoved aside her handmaidens and smacked a compartment on the wall open, inside were rows upon rows of laspistols.

"Arm yourselves," Morelia started herding the frightened handmaidens toward the sidearms, the way they shied away from the weapons would've been endearing if the circumstance wasn't so dire. "I am not babysitting a bunch of deadweights, get moving."

"Very well," Elnys said primly and picked up a laspistol, at least knowing how to hold it correctly, before sternly ordering the handmaidens to do the same. "No dallying now girls, armed yourselves, we must protect her eminence against all who would do her harm." Elnys was glaring at Morelia when Isha got up from her bench and walked toward Laura. "Your eminence!"

"I am quite alright Elnys, thank you," Isha said kindly and started shrugging off the awesome inquisitor coat Laura had given her. "Here lady inquisitor, I thank you for your kindness."

"Keep it, you're practically naked as it is," Laura averted her eyes and Isha, after a very adorable squeak, pulled the awesome inquisitor coat tighter around herself. "Yeah, I have a dozen coats like that in my closet, you can have this one."

"Thank you lady inquisitor," Isha bowed lowly, her movement stiff but not as sickly as before, and sat back down.

"You should strap yourself in, it's gonna be a bumpy ride," Laura traded nods with Elnys, who was dutifully snapping the seatbelts over Isha when the canonesses gathered around the goddess, their regards ranging from unfriendly to outright hostility. Rolling her eyes, Laura shot Galatea an exasperated look. "Seriously? Can you maybe chill?! I mean, look at her!"

"She needs to be watch," Galatea said neutrally, yet sternly, and Laura honestly didn't know whether the canoness meant Isha was still perceived as a threat, or that she needed to be protected. Judging by how sour the hardliners has become, Laura guessed it was the latter. "The situation is still very volatile, anything can happen."

"Right you are love," Laura winked and tapped her earbud. "Raine, Cain, how are you guys doing?"

"We're in the Chimera behind you, with Immolators carrying the Celestians and the Astartes Rhino bringing up the rear," Raine told her.

"And Erik had calmed down too!" Damien added chirpily.

"That's good to hear," Laura snorted. "Anyway, Raine, I think it's time we demolish the citadel, don't you think? I'm sure Syrathel and her goons are still inside, so let's bring the house down."

"An excellent idea, lady inquisitor," Raine was totally beaming on the other end. "Wyck, do it."

"At once, lady commissar," the Wyldborn captain said gruffly and everyone inside the Immolator held their breath, bracing for the earthshattering bang that would herald the demise of the 40k Minas Tirith. It was close to a minute before all of them realized nothing was happening. "…What the fuck?"

"Wyck, what is happening?" Raine demanded snappishly.

"The explosive is not responding," Wyck said. "But how is that possible, I checked the wiring and the detonator thrice over."

"He's right, I checked it too," Mari Margot of the Valhallan chimed in. "Everything was set, and the range of the detonator is forty kilometers, we barely made it ten kloms!"

"Umm, where's the boom at?" Nikki demanded suddenly, poking her head above Laura's shoulder. "Where's my boom dude?!"

"Try pressing the button again," Lita piped up, she, Yuki and Nikki were crowding around Laura now, all of them growing more and more nervous.

"I'm doing it!" Wyck snapped.

"Hard reset the detonator then," Yuki suggested. "That should technically put everything back to normal."

"It's not working!" Wyck continued desperately.

"Okay love, calm down, it's not exactly a big deal, we actually don't even need to blow up the citadel, shit happens mate, something probably went wrong when you wired the stuff…"

"This is quite an impressive explosive, lady inquisitor. The Immortal Spirit battlegroup truly lives up to their reputation regarding technological superiority. Alas, I am not a neophyte when it comes to the working of machines, and dismantling this bomb proved to be quite an easy task."

A new pompous and extremely attractive feminine voice spoke up, causing the canonesses to stiffen visibly and Isha to cry out in fear. There was one problem though, Laura had no goddamn idea who'd just hijacked the battlegroup's frequency, but she did sounded vaguely familiar though.

"…Who is this?" Laura asked.

"Oh please, aren't you getting a bit repetitive with your joke, lady inquisitor?" The woman groaned in annoyance. "The insult losses it's novelty after a while."

"This isn't a joke you tosser, I seriously have no idea who you are," Laura glanced at her mates, all of them sniggering instead of being helpful. "Have we even met? You do sound very familiar though, I'll give you that much."

"Are you serious?" The woman was pissed now.

"I am serious," Laura went on heatedly, "so who the fuck are you supposed to be?!"

"Syrathel!" The woman roared and yes, Laura recognized Tangmo's psycho yandere stalker now, "the Champion of Tzeentch!"

"Oh Syrathel, that's right, I knew I heard your voice from somewhere before!" Laura snapped her finger. "I'm really sorry love, it's just that we've never met and you spent most of your time talking to Tangmo, my mistake!"

"Perhaps it is because commissar Tangmo is more important than you?" Bloody hell Syrathel, less than a minute and Laura was already disliking the woman.

"Well that's just rude," Laura started channeling her inner Scotswoman. "So I guess we're not gonna be nice to each other then?"

"I'm afraid not," Syrathel didn't sound too choked up about it.

"Is there any particular reason why you're talking to me?" Laura asked. "Can't be just about the bomb, or are you just that desperate for a wee chat? Just so you know, I don't date crazy."

"You are beautiful, lady inquisitor, but not exactly my type," Syrathel giggled but her timbre hardened a nanosecond later. "How is Isha? She's not too damage after our little roughhousing, I hope?"

"Oh no love, she's totally healthy now, not a single scratch on her," Laura smiled and held her thumbs up at Isha, who was already hyperventilating and looking around in alarm, as if expecting Syrathel to materialize out of thin air and whisked her away.

"Calm yourself," Galatea hissed at Isha. "The place is warded. Nothing of the Ruinous nature can get through."

"Isha said hello," Laura went on, "was there anything else, because if this is your idea of gloating, you're doing a pretty bad job."

"I'm just asking after her wellbeing, lady inquisitor," Syrathel shrugged verbally. "It would be a terrible shame if she was permanently damaged in some way, considering that we have not even begun to truly…punish her insolence. But I digress, I am personally glad that her eminence is healthy. I hope you and my traitorous colleagues enjoy the little time you have with her, because that moment is about to end."

"How ominous, how unoriginal," Laura yawned and picked at her nail. "And like every time we fought, we'll kick your arse back into the Warp."

"But lady inquisitor, we're already inside the Warp," Syrathel crooned sweetly, sounding extremely pleased with herself. "Well, the more correct statement would be that the Warp is going to consume you and the Immortal Spirit fleet soon."

"What in the bloody fuck are you babbling about?" Laura demanded, teeth gritted as disbelieving murmurs rippled across the Immolator. Isha herself now wore a look of abject, desolate fright.

"Why don't you pop above your Immolator and look outside, lady inquisitor," Syrathel said sweetly. "I'm sure you're going to enjoy this very special twilight hour."

Mumbling extremely rude Scottish curses that made Crestienne blushed and Eldul guffawed loudly, Laura dashed to the ladder in the middle of the Immolator, tossed her awesome inquisitor hat at Lita, and started climbing, ignoring the fact that Syrathel knew their exact location. Pushing the hatch aside, Laura grabbed the heavy melta and heaved herself onto the turret, the wind whipping her hair furiously. The Minas Tirith citadel was already a couple of kilometers behind them, the glorious white façade consumed by thick palls of smog. Behind their column thundered Mavia's tank phalanx, the Tallarn rayiys herself leading the King Russes and Fire Prisms. Laura waved and Mavia returned the greeting energetically before glancing around, seeing that they were entering an arcadia looking town dotted with small buildings and filled with wide roads. The lack of cover disturbed Laura. She then looked up at the darkening sky and fucking hell, she shouldn't have done that.

"Holy fuck," was all Laura managed to articulate as she beheld the sickness that had completely enveloped the evening sky, an eldritch color of horrid spectrum that was an absolute anathema to reality. The aberration bled slowly across the twilight canvas, devouring the stars and the sun until the entirety of Thima-Chantra was drenched in an oppressive unnatural hue. The effect was immediate. The Ruinous conflagration needled Laura's skin unpleasantly and made her eyes watered as a rush of vertigo assaulted her, causing her to sway drunkenly. Teeth gritted, Laura blinked, looked away with an effort, and started praying, her hand pressed to the Imperial amulet nestled between her breasts. Now, Laura was a hardcore atheist, but if praying gets a favorable result from a deity that actually exists, then she's gonna pray her bloody arse off.

"Enjoying the view, lady inquisitor?" Syrathel giggled.

"Not one bit," Laura hesitantly looked up again and breathe a sigh of relief when the invasive fever from before didn't return. "God Emperor above that looks bad."

"Umm…guys, something's wrong with the sky yo," Tangmo piped up, meekly entering the conversation. "This is some Yomi shit all over again."

"Beautiful isn't it, lord commissar?" Syrathel declared sweetly, every bit the consummate villainess.

"…Why the fuck is she on this frequency?" Tangmo asked incredulously.

"She hacked it so she can gloat at us," Laura deadpanned.

"I speak to whoever I want, lord commissar," Syrathel went on snappishly.

"Are you fucking stalking me or something?" Tangmo snarled with clear disgust. "What the fuck, do I need a fucking restraining order to keep your crazy ass away from me?"

"Oh don't flatter yourself!"

"Solveig, do you read me?" Laura switched frequency as Tangmo and Syrathel got into another verbal catfight.

"Go ahead lady inquisitor," the supreme commander of the Immortal Spirit fleet answered, and Laura was relieved to hear how calm the man was.

"What the bloody hell is happening with the sky mate?" Laura glanced up again…was that a fuck huge tentacle covered in frills swishing slowly across the air?! "What the fuck kind of Warp fuckery just came over the planet?!"

"It's not the planet lady inquisitor," Solveig explained, blaring sirens and harsh conversations echoed loudly in the background. "The source of the anomaly is coming from the sun and the planets around the inner core of the system. Preliminary scan showed us that the celestial bodies had stopped rotating and appeared to be going through a catastrophic tectonic change at a startling speed."

"You're looking at the formation of a Warp Storm, lady inquisitor," Eurydice, the head Navigator of the Immortal Spirit, spoke up. "Those planets had since been turned into daemon worlds and are being used by Chaos sorcerers to rend the material realm asunder, and now the undiluted power of the Warp is spilling forth. The sun has since been corrupted and converted into a fuel to speed this abrasion."

"How long do we have until the Warp Storm completely engulfed us?" Laura asked hurriedly.

"I don't have a clue," Eurydice answered honestly. "But it will be soon, that I can say with confidence. If I were you, I'll start wrapping things up down there."

"And the Chaos fleet? What's the situation with them?" Laura now asked Solveig.

"All of our ships had assumed a tight defensive formation around the Immortal Spirit," Solveig said. "Since we're still evacuating civilians off Thima-Chantra, we cannot effectively move to engage the Chaos armada. Nevertheless, our armaments are plentiful and possess extremely long range. We should be able to hold the enemies at bay, for as long as it takes."

"Furthermore, the Black Stone amplifiers that we've recently install on every ship should, theoretically, be able to stop the Warp Storm from severely affecting us, creating a kind of bubble, similar to the Gellar Field, around the fleet," Eurydice added. "I however must inform you that this maelstrom heading for us is unnatural in strength and size, so I would not advise that we test the integrity of the Black Stones against it. Therefore, I need to reiterate the need to hurry the hell up."

"Things are looking terribly bleak for the battlegroup, don't you agree lady inquisitor?" Syrathel returned to the conversation after giving Tangmo a mouthful, her tone a little flustered. The Tzeentch Champion had missed Laura's conversation with Eurydice and Solveig, but she had to admit that the sapphire haired sorceress was right. Things were not looking up for the battlegroup. "It would be a shame for warriors of such caliber to die so needlessly."

"Let me guess, you're willing to cut a deal with us if we hand over Isha," Laura deadpanned and leaned across the hatch, quite bored by Syrathel's predictable monologue. "You can save your breath Syrathel, whatever you're selling we're not buying, so piss off and go bother Tangmo or some damn thing."

"A swift rejection, but unsurprising," Syrathel snorted. "I tried to be nice, lady inquisitor, but like the lord commissar you appear to lack any concept of propriety and civility. Must war be so uncivilized?"

"Are we done here?" Laura climbed back down into the Immolator, jumping the last few steps. "Because let's face it, this conversation was never gonna go anywhere, so how about we get on with the killing, yeah?"

"As you wish," Laura really did not like how amused Syrathel sounded, nor will she ever admit that the sorceress's little giggle was super-hot. "I'll see you very soon, lady inquisitor."

"That's pretty ominous," Yuki deadpanned as Syrathel left the frequency.

"And kinda hot," Laura and Yuki shared a begrudging nod then tapped her earbud. "Ambush imminent people, watch your flanks and the sky, all guns ready to engage. I repeat, Syrathel pretty much told me she's gonna attack, be ready."

"Copy that," Damien responded from the Rhino behind them. "Yo Erik, stop walking across the roof and get your ass inside."

"You got it," was Erik reply.

"We're at the main southern bridge, lady inquisitor," Evangeline spoke up from the head of the column. "How do we proceed?"

"Well fuck, if shit's gonna happen then that's the fucking place," Nikki growled and tapped her earbud, "Evangeline, set up a defensive line around the approach. Machvor, get your Warp Spiders on the bridge and sweep the place, I don't want the damn thing collapsing under me."

"At once, lady exarch," the Warp Spider exarch responded crisply.

"Shit, do we slow down or what? I need a second opinion here," Laura swept her gaze around the Immolator.

"I would advise against that," Galatea shook her head sharply. "If we slow down, inside a tight suburban area I might add, we could get bog down badly when Syrathel springs her ambush. The sooner we get to the bridge, the better."

"Looks like we stick to the original plan then, full speed guys, get us to the bridge – AHHHHHHH!"

Well shit, they probably wouldn't make it to the bridge after all. Laura screamed as she was hurled at the Immolator's ceiling, the entire vehicle corkscrewing, obviously no longer on the ground. Thanks to a lifetime of badarsery, Laura spun her body so that the hellgun pack took the impact, the collision emptied her lungs and made her teeth rattled painfully. Before she could reorient herself, she was thrown like clothes inside a washer at the wall, her shoulder crashing hard into the armored interior. With no air left in her lungs, Laura managed only a wet croak before getting tossed across the Immolator, eyes bulging when Heloise's heavily armored body careened toward her. This was gonna hurt, a lot, so Laura gritted her teeth against the bone breaking pain to come. Then she froze, midair, all locomotion ceased as Laura found herself starring at an equally flabbergasted Heloise, both blinking and sighing in relief, both levitating while the Immolator continued its tumble.

"Everybody okay?!" Was Lita's worried, high pitched question as the Immolator rolled a couple more times before at last skidding to a stop, the ceiling now becoming the floor, the red glare of the emergency lights gave the interior a horrific hue. Looking around quickly, Laura saw that the other occupants were, like her, floating, thanks to the Mexican Warseer's power.

"I believe so," Galatea groaned, earning equally pained responses from the others, "thank you lady Warseer."

"Don't mention it," Lita turned to Isha, who was currently hanging upside down from her seat, suspended by the seatbelts. The goddess was hugging Laura's awesome inquisitor coat tight to her body, lest an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction occurred. Elnys and the handmaidens hovered nearby, all them amazingly okay. "Your eminence, are you injured?"

"I don't think so," Isha said dizzily.

"Alright guys, I can't set all of you down individually, so I'm just gonna cut my power, be ready to land," Lita spoke up. "Ready?"

"Ready."

They landed on their feet in a clatter of clanging metals, staggering and hissing, none of them escaped the crash unscathed. Laura was getting her bearing when Yuki placed a firm hand on her shoulder, steadying her. Not far away Elnys and the handmaidens carefully free Isha from the seatbelts, while Morelia, Lithia, Naledi and Myorin went about helping the Immolator's drivers and engineers.

"Is she alive?" Lithia crouched beside Myorin as the koso gently laid the Battle Sister who had manned a computer console down, her face sheened in dripping crimson. Myorin touched her neck, and frowned.

"She breathes," Myorin shook her head. "But I doubt she will be for long, the head wound is severe."

"If I may, honorable canonesses?"

Laura didn't know whether Isha was just absolutely tone deaf to the overt hostility the Adepta Sororitas had shown her, or she was simply a nice person to a fault. Whatever it was, the Aeldari goddess of life was fearless as she strode up to Lithia and Myorin, both of whom glared at her with unhidden, and quite unfounded, vehemence.

"This is none of your concern, eldar," Lithia hissed, her hand going to the bolt pistol at her belt.

"Please," Isha was undaunted however. "I can feel her life slipping away, she will die soon but I can help, please."

"I would give her the Emperor's peace before I let you taint her," Myorin spat, holding the unconscious Martyred Lady close to her chest.

"Emperor's peace?"

"She's gonna euthanize her," Laura answered Isha's question. The goddess gasped, horrified, as the British Inquisitor turned to Galatea with a pleading look. "For God Emperor's sake, are we seriously gonna let her die because you have to be fucking stupid?!"

"Heal her then," Galatea nudged her head curtly at the injured Battle Sister. Isha wasted no time and knelt down between the offended Lithia and Myorin and reached her hands out, softly touching the unmoving Sororitas's bleeding face. Pure silver light flowed from her opened palms and onto the Battle Sister's head, haloing her cranium. Myorin hissed and was reaching for her wakizashi when a sharp look from Galatea stopped her. "Do not interfere."

Those five seconds of healing seemed to last an hour, everybody inside the upside-down Immolator let out their collective breathes when Isha pulled her hands back and the injured Battle Sister stirred with a groggy moan, her eyelids fluttered lethargically like how one would wake up from a hangover.

"Easy sister, easy," Galatea helped the Battle Sister back to her feet. "How are you feeling?"

"I thought I was dead," the white haired Sororitas murmured and wiped her bloody face, shocked by the amount of blood that came away.

"Do you feel a taint?" Galatea pressed as Isha stood up, Laura didn't like how Lithia and Myorin was suddenly flanking her. "Your faith sister, is it true? Has it wavered?"

"It has not, the Emperor's light shine bright within me," the Battle Sister's conviction was undeniable, Galatea saw this too and nodded firmly. "Was it He on Terra who has healed me?"

"I'm sorry child, but no," Galatea sighed and waved at the kindly smiling Isha. "She was the one who performed the healing."

So seriously, there were several ways Laura thought this was gonna play out. First, the Battle Sister started screaming, catatonic by horror of having her life saved by an Aeldari goddess before collapsing to the ground, frothing at the mouth, dead this time, her mind unable to cope with what has happened. The second alternative was that the Battle Sister went berserk and attacked Isha, which lead to a scuffle that ended with several handmaidens and the Sororitas herself dead, creating unnecessary drama for Laura to contend with. The last scenario, and this one almost made Laura laugh, was that the Battle Sister, feeling that she had betrayed the God Emperor, seppuku her head with her own bolter. Instead, the Battle Sister turned to Isha and bowed lowly, respectfully.

"Thank you for your assistance," the Battle Sister intoned levelly and the hardline canonesses looked about ready to turn the young woman into a Repentia on the spot.

"You are most welcome," Isha never wavered in her warm politeness.

"Okay, seriously, does anybody need an emergency healing? Because we have a literal walking health pack here with us, and it will be downright criminal not to take advantage," Laura stepped into the conversation, flashing an apologetic smile at Isha. "No offense meant your eminence. How are you feeling by the way? Woozy? Sleepy? Because if healing drains your stamina, then I'm sure we can solider through."

"I am quite fine, lady inquisitor, and more than capable of healing all in this vehicle," Isha swept her gaze across the Immolator and her visage relaxed. "But I can tell that beside a few bruises and cuts, nobody is in any imminent danger."

"That is extremely debatable," Eldul, along with Heloise, Zhensu and Bellona, walked to the rear of the Immolator, faces grim as they slowly brought their bolters up to bear, glaring at the ramp that was now spewing sparks, "there's fighting outside, prepare yourself."

With all the drama going on, Laura mentally facepalmed herself for not noticing the sharp ambience of lasbolts bouncing mutely off the Immolator's thick armor. Drawing her hellgun, Laura tapped her earbud, "Erik, Damien, you guys there?"

"Oh thank God you're alive!" Damien bellowed loudly. "And everybody else? Anybody dead?!"

"We're all in one piece," Yuki loaded her eldar P90. "What's happening outside? And what the fuck happened to us?"

"You guys almost went into orbit!" Erik was extremely impolite in his mirth. "It's like the start of an American football game where one side kick the ball and the other side catch it and the damn thing went clear across the field, and you guys were the ball! But instead of getting punted it was a mine that launched you guys clear across the neighborhood."

"Well isn't that dandy," Laura rolled her eyes and the handmaidens started screaming when more sharp pinging resounded outside, the frilly dressed elf women scrambling over each other to get away from the wall, "would you tossers shut the hell up?! They're only prodding us, small arms fire will never get through the armor. Hey Erik, Damien, you got visual on us? How far away are you guys?"

"Three hundred yards and closing, the Celestians are going batshit crazy and plowing through the heretics," Damien said. "Look alive, Chaos eldars approaching from the west and north, they looked heavily armed."

"Thanks for the heads up mate," Laura cut the transmission and strode across the upside down Immolator until she was standing beneath a square hatch, wide enough for one person to squeeze through. "That's the escape hatch?"

"It is," Galatea nodded then quirked a pleased brow at Laura. "We are attacking them?"

"We bloody well are! I'm not waiting around for those fucks to come at us," Laura flashed a toothy grin. "Chaos eldars are closing in and they probably think we're dead, hence the reason why they haven't tore the Immolator apart with rockets and heavy lasers already."

"How are we doing this?" Yuki joined Laura.

"Eldul, is the ramp still working?" Laura asked the Frost Bringer elskerinne.

"The automated system is fried, but the explosive charges are still intact," Eldul told Laura and rested her hand on a palm size switch beside the ramp, her fingers easing around the handle, "when you're ready, lady inquisitor."

"Lithia, Zhensu, get over here," Laura waved over the mistress and the gaoseng, both of whom had their weapons out, a power scythe and a power guandao respectively, the polearms almost hitting the squeaking Isha on the head. "You two, along with Lita and Nikki, are gonna take the roof, or the underbelly, whatever, and watch our back while the rest of us charge outside. The Celestians and everybody else is inbound, the fight isn't gonna last long."

"I'll keep them safe," Lita nodded firmly.

"Please, it would be us who would safeguards you," Zhensu scoffed, but the timbre was more motherly than challenging. "In any case, I believe the heretics will have themselves a handful."

"Indeed," Lithia nodded and put her Batman helm on, the eye slits glowing dark red, "I shall take the lead, I can unleash a sweeping barrage on the Chaos Aeldari after shooting out of the hatch. That should be enough to drive them into cover."

"I'll be right behind you," Lita held her thumbs up perkily and Lithia nodded.

"Isha," Laura and Yuki approached the goddess, leaving Lithia and Lita to strategize. "I need you to stay inside the Immolator while we take care of the Chaos fuckers outside. Keep your head down and please, don't try to be a heroine and start running all over the place."

"Once a day is more than enough for me, lady inquisitor," Isha chuckled lightly, her handmaidens were not amused however. The life goddess started fidgeting then. "Are you sure I can keep your coat? It is very thick and it seems quite selfish of me to deprive you of such protection."

"Hey, I love a naked woman as much as the next gal, but it wouldn't be right for a goddess to prance around nude like lady Godiva. Keep it, the coat looks good on you," Laura winked with no small amount of cheekiness, managing to make Isha blush, and turned to the canonesses now gathered around the ramp, displeasure radiating from their helmed heads. "Right ladies, are we ready to go?"

"Are you done flirting with the xeno?" Naledi asked poisonously.

"Don't be jealous Naledi, you already have Eldul," Yuki's katana sharp retort caused Myorin, Heloise and Amaryllis to snort a laugh. Before the Dahomey and Viking Sororitas can countered, heatedly, Yuki put on her Aeldari mempo and threw her arm over Laura. "And yes, Laura is done flirting with Isha, because I'm the only xeno in her life. So how about we get the ramp open already?"

The canonesses grunted their assent, more than happy to be getting on with the killing as Eldul grabbed the lever, behind them Zhensu got hold of the hatch, ready to pull it down. Laura quirked a brow at Yuki, the Japanese exarch got a smooth, oval eldar grenade in her hand, "that's sounds a little possessive love, not that I mind but I've never really been a fan of yandere, you know?"

"Oh sweetie, that's just me being nice. Trust me, you'll know when I really go full yandere," Laura gulped loudly when Yuki flashed a horridly demented smile, the kind you see before getting vivisected alive. Thankfully, Yuki resumed her normal, pretty face and spun around. "You guys ready?"

"We are," Nikki flashed her a thumbs up.

"Eldul, open the ramp, I'm gonna flashbang them," the handmaidens shrieked when the locking mechanism was blown apart and the ramp dropped outward with an even louder bang. Pulling the pin, the shapely oval glowing neon blue, Yuki threw the primed grenade outside and dragged Laura to the ground with her, "fire in the hole!"

Cries of pain erupted, followed by a slew of elvish curses and spastic barrages of shurikens that pinged furiously off the Immolator's thick armor.

"Lithia, go!" Zhensu pulled the hatch down and, as if gravity had forgotten she existed, Lithia shot vertically up the opening, brutal reports of bolters resounded beyond. Lita followed a second later and thunders rattled around the Immolator like a machine gun, the evil elves were melodic even when getting sapped to shite by lightning.

"Forward sisters! Domine libra nos!" Galatea and the canonesses dashed outside, bolters roaring as they sally forth into the surrounding enemies. Laura and Yuki bounded after them, and if they had been a split second faster there might have been something left for the pair to kill. The Chaos eldars were either dead or dying, bodies blown apart in a mangled mess. Those unlucky few of the latter sort were savagely dispatched by the canonesses.

"Oi, watch your right, more of them are coming in!" Laura and Yuki went to their knees and unleashed a barrage on the nearing gaggles of heretics being led by the Chaos eldar knight samurai hybrids, called the Immaculate Guardian according to Tanrion. Four of the bastards were dashing at them, swords brandished and moving impossibly fast.

"Yep, not close quartering your arses again," Laura trained her hellgun at the nearest Immaculate.

"I wholeheartedly agree," Yuki braced the eldar P90 to her shoulder and, together with Laura, held the trigger down. The pair of them burst out laughing when the Immaculate, in a display spurred by hubris or abject stupidity, waved his sword prettily in an attempt to deflect the lasers and shurikens. What did he bloody thought this was, fucking Star Wars?! Things went as expected for the Jedi twat, and Laura and Yuki laughed even harder when the 40k lasers and projectiles tore fleshes and armors into unrecognizable sizzling gibs. That one went down easy, but the problem now was the other three making a beeline for the pair. Laura was just getting the lead Immaculate in sight when a singular bolt from Lithia punched into the side of his head, his graceful stride tumbled into a boneless somersault. On her right another Immaculate wailed in pain, Zhensu's cackling guandao lodged through his torso, impaling him to the ground. Yuki shut him up with a decapitating slash from her katana. The last Immaculate, seeing his comrade killed so easily, lunged at Laura with a booming war cry, and would've skewered her if Crestienne didn't battered his longsword away with a mighty sweep of her power halberd. Sparks flying, the Immaculate was sent spinning by the impact, pirouetting gracelessly into Myorin who clocked his kabuto helmed head with her power nodachi. The evil elf was trying to get his bearing when Morelia dislocated his neck with a savage swing of her thunder hammer, Laura and Yuki winced from the brutal snap of bones and cartilages. The Valorous Heart canoness had to be sure though, so she brought the hammer down again, the Immaculate's head bursting like a ripe watermelon.

"Thanks love, I owe you guys one," Laura tipped her awesome inquisitor hat at the three canonesses as a group of heretics exploded into mist of bloods and meats, those that survived the barrage were plowed to mush by the charging Space Marines. The melee was comically fast and tragically one sided.

"You guys alright?!" Damien, after sending a lanky cultist through a building with a punch, turned worriedly to Laura and Yuki.

"We're fine love, don't worry!" Laura waved at him as Tanrion and his Dire Avengers joined them.

"Your eminence! Elnys! Are you alright?!" Tanrion skidded to a stop beside the smoking ramp, peered inside, and let out a breath of relief, taut frame sagging. "Oh thanks the stars, all of you are safe."

"Oi Tanrion, keep watch over her for a while, yeah?" The captain commander of the Solace Sun nodded as the pounding of heavy sabaton sounded behind Laura, announcing the arrival of the Celestians. Laura turned around and smiled reassuringly at Miriya and Firnera, the Martyred Lady and the Banshee having taken the lead, the warrior women relaxing when they saw that everybody was okay. "And how are you lovely ladies doing this fine evening?"

"By the Throne, we did not think you would survive such a blast," Miriya commented, around her the Celestians and Banshees were spread out in a protective circle.

"Oh yeah, that IED was pretty freaking bad," Yuki baulked at the thick pillar of smoke churning about a hundred yard away from them. "Holy shit, what the fuck happened?!"

"The Immolator flew from that crater, bounced off the ground and careened to a stop over there," Firnera pointed at the Immolator, where Isha and her handmaidens were clambering out. "So all in all, it was bad, very bad. As Miriya said, we had all assumed the worse."

"We would've all been mangled to shite if it wasn't for Lita," Laura frowned at the nearing din of gunfire. "And we're obviously not out of the wood yet. Do we have visual on the attackers?"

"Converging on our position from the surrounding neighborhood," Miriya went on as Laura, Yuki, the Celestians and the Banshees spread out amongst the minimal covers around the road, that being deserted buildings and waist high garden walls. "And the Steelwall Brigade had regrouped and is now pursuing us."

"That's cheerful news," Yuki snorted then narrow her eyes at Isha and her handmaidens, all of whom were milling around Tanrion, in the fucking open. "Sweet Christ, what in the hell are you people doing?!"

"…Are the fighting not going in our favor?" Isha asked and Laura facepalmed herself. Of course the goddess of life wouldn't know jack shit about war, and simpering idiots like Tanrion and Elnys were more inclined to simply let Isha do what she want instead of, you know, tell her to stop fucking around or a bullet was gonna catch her in the head.

"Get into the cover you gormless tossers! What the fuck are you dumb cunts doing standing around for?!" Laura shouted, her ultra pissed Scottish accent made Isha squawked in fright. "Get over here right fucking now – rockets! Hit the deck!"

Well shit, here comes a massive casualty event. Elnys and the handmaidens screamed as six rockets shot toward Isha, too fast for any of them to scramble to safety, the eldar women dropping flat to the ground, for what little good that would do. Lita, herself sandwiched between Bellona and Victrix and getting mercilessly suppressed by an advancing column of traitor guardsmen, managed to spare some of her magic and detonated five missiles, but the last one was undeterred in its trajectory. It exploded brilliantly, but the screaming didn't stop, Isha, Elnys and the handmaidens continued to wail long after the smoky fireball dissipated, revealing the nine foot tall hero who had just used himself as a human shield to protect the Aeldari goddess.

"Are you alright?!" Damien bellowed, his pauldron and power pack scorched black but the Canadian Astartes was otherwise unharmed, his armor functioning as it should.

"Y-Yes, thank you my lord Astartes," Isha, along with Elnys and the handmaidens, bowed profusely at the Ultramarines, Tanrion was less enthusiastic with his thank however, the snooty bastard.

"You are most welcome, now please get to safety like Laura said," Damien was waving away the elves when Miranda, the She-Hulk Celestian of the Avenging Knights, thundered toward the building where the rockets had come from, her twin storm bolters turning the place inside out, the screams within drowned out by the furious barrage. The barrels of Miranda's storm bolters were glowing white when Castrum, the Punisher Celestian, took aim with her modified assault bolter and fired a single shot. The building exploded into pieces.

"I got that covered!" Miranda yelled at Castrum, the Celestian was now standing beside Damien.

"You were wasting ammo!" Castrum retorted loudly as Isha and the eldars scrambled to safety. "And calm the fuck down, your lover is fine!"

"Yes, I'm fine, but thank you Miranda, that was awfully nice of you," Damien told Miranda, probably the only woman on this side of the multiverse who was of height with him, and Laura didn't need to see the faces under their helms to know that the pair were smiling. The lovey dovey scene was interrupted by a cacophonic explosion rolling down the road they'd just came, blue and red fire rippled prettily across the air as a Chimera swerved blindly into a building. "Fuck! Gallus, Antalok, Manaus, with me, the rest of you hold your position. Yo Erik, you okay?!"

"Well, our convoy just got fucked," Erik deadpanned, cool and calm despite the encompassing firefight, the deep booms of discharged ordnance were that of tanks. "Janet and the Steelwall Brigade are closing in and traitor regiments are pouring out of the buildings, I can really use some help right now."

"I'm on my way, hang tight," Damien and his Space Marines buddies dashed back down the road, Laura was about to follow the Astartes when the ramp of the wrecked Chimera slammed open and the armored form of Duskhounds, led by Jurgen of all people, sprinted on to the street, bend the knees, and laid down a suppressing fire on a cluster of buildings immediately adjacent to them as the rest of the Valhallan and Antari stormed out of the flaming vehicle.

"Give them covering fire! Cover them!" Laura and Yuki dashed for the pinned guardsmen, the Celestians and Banshees thundering behind them. Ducking behind a low wall, Firnera and Navaris squads on the right, Miriya and Astrid's to the left, Laura and Yuki braced their hellgun and P90 on the rim and send a full auto barrage at a house directly in front of them, the nuns and elves adding their firepower to the fray. The hunkered traitors were just starting to turn their weapons at them when the Bloody Rose tore the place apart with three well placed rockets. Screaming traitors, cultists and Chaos eldars staggered outside, where they were brutally put down by the Celestians and Banshees, smearing the ruin with ichor and viscera.

"The way's clear, get your asses over here! Move it!" Yuki waved animatedly at the Antari and Valhallan, spurring the guardsmen toward them, most were sooty and bruised but otherwise okay. Unsurprisingly, the trio bringing up the rear was none other than Amberley Vail, Severina Raine and Ciaphas Cain, the Hero of the Imperium! The inquisitor and the lady commissar appeared to be enjoying themselves, while Cain was doing a pretty good job of hiding the fact that he was moments away from shitting himself. "Will you three of stop showing off and get the fuck over here already?!"

"We are not showing off, lady exarch, we are doing our duty!" Raine snapped at Yuki when everyone was finally in cover.

"Come now Severina, you can't deny that it was invigorating," Amberley smirked, blatantly ignoring Cain's horrified look, "quite hazardous without my power armor, but still, what a rush!"

"Save it for the WrestleMania match," Yuki spat as she signaled for them to withdraw back to the downed Immolator. "I swear to God, the prices of those fucking ringside tickets were criminal, and I'm not returning it because you two got popped in the heads!"

"Yes lady exarch, you and the lady inquisitor have made that abundantly clear several times," Raine rolled her eyes, emptied her clip of Metal Storm bolts on a group of pursuing cultists, and dashed off after the Duskhound, Laura, Yuki, Cain and Amberley close at her heels.

"And we'll keep reminding you until we win this!" Laura said chirpily then tapped her earbud, "Mavia, you there?"

"I am lady inquisitor, but I'm afraid the situation doesn't much appeal to small talk," Mavia said quickly, her voice muffled by the rushing wind.

"What's going on at the rear?" Laura traded corna with Damien as he returned to the dead Immolator, Erik, Marwen and eldar Guardians sprinting after him.

"Bad lady inquisitor, I've already lost two King Russes and a Fire Prism to the Winter Maiden, and I'm pretty sure Janet has caught my scent," Mavia said. "We'll hold them back as long as we can. Last I heard the bridge over the river is still intact."

"Fuck that, I need you and your remaining tanks to head for the bridge immediately and form a defensive perimeter on the other side," Laura said. "I'm not letting you die out there Mavia."

"As you command lady inquisitor," Mavia was obviously winking before she cut the transmission and the pounding of tank engagement slowly, but steadily, rumbled down the southerly direction.

"Evangeline, do you read me, over?" Laura and Yuki kept their heads low as they sprinted to where Lita and Nikki were hunkered down with the canonesses, Isha and her followers, lasbolts and bullets occasionally ricocheting off the half destroyed apartment. Damien, Erik and the other main characters soon joined them, making the rubble a bit cramp.

"Where are you?!" Evangeline blurted, the Mordian's usually impeccable manner shattered by genuine concern. "Me, Min-Jae, Xiphos, Alistair and Akecheta are holding the line around the bridge. So I'll ask again, where the hell are you?!"

"Still inside the city, my Immolator got blown up. We're okay, don't worry," Laura went on quickly. "What's the condition of our troops on both end of the bridge?"

"We've transported most the wounded back to the refugee camp and had the Anguirus howitzers deployed on the other side of the river," Evangeline went on. "What are your orders?"

"Hold your position," Laura said. "We'll be coming in hot with Isha and I need a secure route to withdraw."

"We'll be waiting lady inquisitor," Evangeline's tone turned into a nasty growl then. "But you better hurry up, because the traitors are making another push. I can see Chaos eldar and Fallen Sororitas amongst them."

"Stay safe Evangeline, Mavia and what remains of her tanks are heading to reinforce you right now," Laura tapped Galatea pauldron and nodded, the canoness returned the gesture sharply. "I'll be seeing you later love."

"Roger that," Evangeline said and terminated the transmission.

"Raine, Cain, Marwen, Tanrion, I need you guys to form a protective ring around Isha and her handmaidens, keep their heads low and blast anything that try to shoot them," Laura told the two commissars, the Guardian captain and the Solace Sun commander then fixed Isha with a hard stare. "I need you to do everything they tell you, follow their command and you might just get out of this alive. Do you understand?"

"I do, lady inquisitor," Isha nodded firmly, having no problem with being bossed around by a human. "And I will be sure to apply my healing power accordingly."

"Thank you your eminence, we are grateful for any assistance you can render," Cain very much liked the idea of sticking close to someone who can keep him alive, and glanced at his odorous aide. "Jurgen, I believe you will be better suited along the outer perimeter, we need the best marksman to keep her eminence Isha safe."

"Right you are lord commissar, I'll get right on it immediately," Jurgen shambled off with his trusty heavy melta toward the very rim of the protective circle.

"I'll watch his back sir," Andren Fel, Raine's sweetheart, started off after the Valhallan but stopped when the lady commissar shot him a stern look. "If the lady commissar would permit me, that is."

"To your position then colonel, prepare for blood," Raine said crisply and Andren took off with a salute.

"Thank you Severina," Cain nodded firmly and laid a comforting hand on Raine's shoulder, the lady commissar didn't look too pleased with the physical contact. "Rest assured Jurgen will keep him safe."

"I know Ciaphas," Raine politely shrugged Cain's hand off. "If anything, they might be safer than us."

"You guys cool with everything?" Laura asked and the Valhallan and Antari nodded their confirmation. "Top job loves, now get into position, we'll be moving out soon, all weapons free. Come on guys."

Laura and her mates walked to where the Sororitas, the Banshees and the Astartes were gathered, Damien and Erik waving at them with friendly vigor.

"Ready to go?" Laura asked Galatea, who nodded firmly and hefted up her power zweihander. "Alright, simple plan ladies and gentlemen, we form another circle around Isha and the guardsmen. The Celestians and the Banshees will be spread out in a loose defensive formation with the Space Marines sprinkled between each group, that way nothing is gonna get through. Lock and load everyone, we're not stopping until we reach the bridge."

"Oh yeah, just like the final part in Black Hawk Down," Damien made a final check on his bolter before he and Erik joined Laura and the girls at the forefront of the formation, alongside Galatea and the Martyred Lady Celestians.

"Goddamn, that movie was fucking brutal," Erik commented and shouldered his sniper rifle.

"Well mates, it's about to get worse," Laura tapped her earbud. "We're moving out. Let's go people, double time to the bridge!"

They took off with the expected martial prowess, none of the stupid blind heroic charge one would expect from Warhammer 40k, nope, the scene playing out was more akin to how a Special Force commando went about their business. The battlegroup were fleet in speed and movement, bolters, lasguns and shuriken cannons sweeping across the ruinous landscape. Things went a little too slow for Laura liking though, but that could hardly be helped with a buncha squealing noncombatants lumped up with them, at least the Valhallan and Antari were herding them along adequately enough, like over enthusiastic sheepdogs barking along the sheep. Despite getting harassed by the enemies every inch of the way, some charging down roads or alleyways, while the more cheeky bastards sprayed suppressing salvos on them from doorways, windows and roofs, Laura was pleasantly surprised to find that they were advancing easily through the suburb, barely slowing down from the obstacles. Not surprising, given that it was the Sororitas and the Astartes spearheading the charge, the heretic's weapons having no effect on the thick ceramites the Imperium's finest wore. It was comical seeing las and bullets pinging off the armors in great cascading rattles, only for the Battle Sisters and Space Marines to dispatch the attackers with barley a glance.

"Whew! Now that's a freaking rush!" Damien laughed after turning a wall and the poor wankers behind it to mincemeat with a burst of bolts. "At this rate, we'll be home free in no time!"

"I know, right?" Erik responded chirpily. "Syrathel ain't got shit on us!"

"Erik, Damien, for the love of God, can you two idiots shut the fuck up before you jinx everything…"

"Halt! Everybody halt and form a defensive perimeter! Quickly!"

The sentence had barely left Nikki's mouth when the entire vanguard skidded to a stop, Celestians of the Martyred Lady, huskarls of the Frost Bringers and the Howling Banshees swiftly formed a firing line, backed by Damien, Erik, Sidonius and Manaus.

"Why have we stopped?" Cain asked across the intercom.

"We just hit a massive technical difficulty, mate," Laura gritted her teeth and pointed her hellgun forward. "And when I say technical difficulty, I meant that the world is literally breaking apart and some nasty shite is coming through."

Not the most apt description, but it was the closest Laura can managed given the Warp fuckery she was witnessing. The air in front of them simmered, bending and contorting until the fabric of reality churned nauseatingly, an aberration on all that was right with the world. And that was not the worst of it, because something was trying, and succeeding, to get through. Laura didn't know what was worse, the inhuman howl, the horned daemon staggering into the material world, or the sickly stench of cooked meat as its skin burned and sizzled. Then, with a great torturous heave, the daemon stumbled fully out of the Warp, ichor dripping from charred bubbling skin.

"Well, at least he's hurt," Laura observed dryly as the daemon tried to move forward, managing only a weak shamble. "Badly hurt too."

"Good for us," Galatea lifted her zweihander and easily cleaved the poor bugger open from shoulder to hip, a pretty anticlimactic end to the daemonic invasion. "Be careful, more aberration in real space are bound to happen, stay clear of them."

"At least the one in front of us is gone," Lita tapped her earbud as the simmering subsided and everything returned to normal. "Evangeline, be advised, daemons are literally emerging from thin air, be prepare to repel."

"We've already made contact lady Warseer, thankfully our priests and monks are able to make sure that their transition into the material world are not done with ease," Evangeline said. "I'm more worry about you lady Warseer, we're seeing a lot of anomaly pulsing inside the suburban area. Be careful."

"Having a little trouble, lady inquisitor?" The top arch of the bridge was just coming into view when Syrathel hacked the battlegroup's channel again, consummated in her villainous bearing, haughty and boastful to just the perfect degree. "With the entire system now consume by the Warp, reality itself is surrendering to the empyrean majesty. As you can already see, the denizens of the Immaterium are just dying to make your acquaintance."

"You got one thing right love, they're totally dying, and in droves too," Laura smirked as she gunned down a group Nurglings skittering out of another tear in reality, most were already dead, reduced to flaming gibs before she blasted the rest back to hell with her hellgun. "Seriously, were they supposed to suck like this? I mean, they're bursting into flame the moment they stepped over to the other side."

"…What?" Syrathel was gobsmacked for a moment before gathering herself. "I respect your effort to keep steady the morale of your troop, lady inquisitor, but to lie so blatantly? And I had hoped you were above such lowly dealing, even if it was for the sake of the battlegroup."

"Do you want a fucking clip sent to you?!" Laura barked sharply at Syrathel. "Don't you have, like, some bloody Chaos third eye or some shite? Why not use that damn thing to see for yourself you hoity-toity cunt?!"

"She's right," a calmer voice interceded, which Laura assumed was the elusive Luscinia. "The transition into the material world is being met with difficulty, despite the miasma of the Warp having since covered Thima-Chantra. Something is affecting the daemons."

"That is not possible," Syrathel hissed.

"I would never expect a heretic to understand the radiant majesty that is the God Emperor's purify light," Galatea now spoke up, her timbre dripping venom. "Your daemons may have breach this world, but for every inch of their intrusion the burning flame of He on Earth seared their skin, boiled their blood and melt their bones, our faith in the Golden Throne sanctified the very ground we tread upon, safeguarding us from the disease of the empyrean." Galatea affected her own villainous anime laugh, leaning more toward velvety condescension. "Then again, a tainted psyker such as yourself was always a poor student in matters of faith. If you had been stalwart, perhaps Tzeentch might not have corrupted you in the first place."

"You fucking whore!" Syrathel roared, all manners and decorum cast to the wind. "I'm going to finish what I started on Tera-Antebellan, do you hear me?! You and your whores will be begging for death for the next thousand years!"

"Do you not get bored of spewing the same nonsense, Syrathel? I know I am," Galatea chuckled lowly. "Is this all you do now? Kill us with boredom? At least commissar Tangmo always leads from the front, and here I was expecting you to make an appearance."

"I'll do more than that," Syrathel growled and cut the transmission.

"All units, maximum alert, I repeat, maximum alert, prepare for the worse, Syrathel's about to throw some very nasty shite at us," Laura announced over the intercom then glared at Galatea with clear sufferance. "You know, you're a very mean person."

"You cannot imagine how little I care," Galatea shrugged then fixed Laura with a dagger sharp look. "Feeling sympathy for the heretic, lady inquisitor? For all your unorthodoxy, I must warn you that this one seems dangerously misguided."

"I don't fucking care about that blue hair cunt, you knobhead!" Scotswoman Laura snapped at Galatea. "I'm more worried about us! Syrathel is a lunatic, an unstable psychopath with a hair trigger on her temper, unpredictable at the best of time. If we continue to prod her, what's stopping her from turning into Carrie White and going berserk on us?!"

"We shall meet her with faith and fury then," Galatea's confidence was awe-inspiring and absolutely annoying in equal measure. "Nevertheless, you are correct in your mental evaluation of Syrathel's character and psyche, I'll make sure everyone maintains full vigilance."

"Thank you love, that's all I'm asking," Laura nodded and let out a sigh when the bridge, and more importantly the guardsmen's defensive line, came into view. The breach in reality were numerous, no doubt, but thanks to the Imperium faith power the daemons that had emerged were already half way dead, mutilated and burned, so a concentrated application of las and bolts and shurikens were more than enough to bring them down.

"You are most welcome," Galatea raised her zweihander, the guardsmen and eldars manning the bridge cheered loudly. "Let's not waste anytime then."

Laura needed no further prompting and, after waving quickly at the column behind her, sprinted for the battlegroup's line. Within a few heartbeats she, Yuki, the Celestians and the Banshee had leapt over the sizzling sandbag walls, situated two hundred yards from the bridge, joining the Mordian, the Fire Guard and the Homeland Rifles who were gunning down the pursing heretics with gusto.

"The drooling, nasty little Chaos beasties gave you any trouble Evangeline?" Laura smirked at the Mordian colonel.

"Quite a bit lady inquisitor, but we handled ourselves commendably," Evangeline decapitated a couple of charging heretics with well-placed shots from her laspistol. "Personally, me and the Mordian have ample practice in this regard."

"Don't get cocky, Tangmo isn't here to cushion you again," Yuki grinned nastily, earning an unpleasant frown from Evangeline.

"I'm sure you two will substitute nicely if the need arises," Xiphos's comment drew a healthy peal of laughter from the Mordian, Kolasian and Jijurean within earshot. Laura and Yuki awarded his smart arse quip with a double raspberry. "But it is good to see you unharmed. What are your orders, lady inquisitor?"

"Fall back colonel, it's our turn to cover you guys now," Laura nudged her head across the bridge as more Celestians fall into place around them, their weapons spewing death on all who tried to pursue. "Keep your head down, I'll see you on the other side."

"At once lady inquisitor," Evangeline whistled sharply and started waving the guardsmen toward the bridge. "Initiate tactical withdraw! I repeat, initiate tactical withdraw and fall back to the main defensive line! Mavia, I need you to provide covering fire for us."

"Roger that," Laura could just make out the shape of King Russes and Fire Prisms lining the far bank of the river, about eight hundred yards away, the raised elevation gave the tanks an advantageous position over the neighborhood beyond.

"Are the Anguirus batteries in position yet?" Evangeline asked as she saluted Laura and started off toward the bridge, "and the Charon?"

"ETA ten minutes," Mavia told her.

"I want it in five," Evangeline cut the transmission and crouched down beside one of the many wounded sprawled on the ground about thirty paces from the sandbag wall. She was talking to a shallowly breathing Ekkaroqian when Min-Jae joined her. "How soon can we get them out?"

"We're going as fast as we can," Min-Jae gritted his teeth when a lasbolt flew way too close to his helmeted head. "But it won't be fucking fast enough."

"Watch your steps," Laura turned away from the colonels and went to help Yuki pulled Isha over the sandbag, Elnys and the handmaidens were already amongst the wounded, heads held low. "Easy there, you're almost over the top."

"Thank you – ahhh!" Isha landed flat on her face when Laura and Yuki pulled her swiftly, and maybe a little too roughly, over the parapet, good timing too because a salvo of bullets tore into the spot where she had been a second earlier. Nearby Tanrion squawked in distress at seeing the goddess manhandled so.

"Sorry about that," Yuki helped Isha up and dusted off her burrowed coat. "But it's either getting a face full of dirt or having your ass riddled with bullets, and that definitely doesn't sound good at all."

"I concur completely lady exarch," Isha's start of a smile ruptured into sadness when she saw the injured guardsmen and eldars being tended by desperate medics, many didn't looked like they were gonna survive the next hour. "Oh, by the stars…how many more must suffer in my name?"

"Your eminence, we have to go," Elnys raised her voice from behind a pile of crates, the handmaidens huddled fearfully around her. "The way is clear. We have to cross the bridge now!"

"You go on ahead, get out of the combat zone Elnys, and take the handmaidens with you," Isha started shooing them away, the gesture was so kindly that it failed to disperse her flabbergasted charges. "Please, you need to go, I can be of more use here."

"Your eminence, no!" Elnys yelled, like a mother at her misbehaving child. "You will not do this again! You will come to me right this very moment!"

"I will not abandon them," Isha put some iron into her timbre. "I am a goddess Elnys, please don't make me command you."

Elnys's mouth moved but no words came, no matter how hard she tried, until finally she let out a frustrated scream that made even Isha flinched. Taking a moment to compose herself, Elnys started barking the handmaidens into motion, and within moments the eldar women were sprinting away amidst grimy guardsmen. When the last of the handmaidens were safely on the bridge, she turned around and fixed Isha with a glare, "don't take too long, your eminence."

"I won't," Isha waved as Elnys stomped away.

"Holy shit, is she always like that?" Laura and Yuki stepped away from the sandbag wall and followed Isha into the rows of bloodied cots occupied by dying men and women.

"Only when I become incorrigible," Isha smiled lightly as she stopped at the approximate center of the impromptu field hospital, the goddess was starting to glow bright silver. The medics and guardsmen gasped in terror, their fears barely placated by Laura's presences. "And I am notorious for being pigheaded."

"The best of us are," Laura nodded as Isha unfurled her arms, the posture godly as she send healing power rippling across the field hospital, the air glittered like diamonds in the wake of unleashed divinity. The guardsmen tried to crawl away, some clutched tight their aquila amulets, prayers to the God Emperor hot on their lips, but the prevailing fear and pain melted away and were replaced by sighs of contentment. Wounds healed before Laura's very eyes, blood stopped flowing, bones mended and fleshes joined. Within heartbeats all that remained of the injuries were white patches of scars. The guardsmen rose slowly from their cots, unbelieving of what had just transpired, while the few Aeldari soldiers among them turned to Isha and prostrate reverently at her.

"I think you better get going now," Laura told the head medic, who quickly nodded and guided the now spritely guardsmen and eldars toward the bridge. She spun around and found Isha leaning on Yuki, breathing hoarsely and heavily. "Are you alright? Do you need a minute?"

"I…I think I can walk, lady inquisitor," Isha let go of Yuki and took a few tentative steps, grinning as she easily found her footing. "Yes, I believe I can walk."

"Lady inquisitor, come in," Mavia's voice boom over Laura's earbud. "The Anguirus howitzers are in position and everyone had run back across the bridge. I think it's time for you to leave, because a large Chaos contingent is heading straight for you."

"Think your tanks and howitzers can give us covering fire?" Laura asked.

"It will be my pleasure, lady inquisitor."

"Then let it rip Mavia, we're heading back now," Laura reached out and shook Galatea's pauldron, nudging her head back at the bridge when she got the canoness's attention. The blonde Sororitas nodded and tapped her helmet, relaying the command to the others. "We'll see you later."

"I look forward to it," Mavia cut her transmission as heavy guns across the river opened fire. Beyond the killing field, behind rows of crumbling buildings, thunders bloomed in thick clouds of dusts and fires, the accompanying howls were pained, and very angry.

"Alright ladies and gents, time for us to be…" a bright lance of blue light crashed into the bridge, the blast of heat forced Laura to her knees, and the resounding explosion that followed knocked her flat on her arse. "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Yeah, I don't think Syrathel is playing around babe," Yuki grabbed Laura's arm and hurled her up, Isha on the other hand was lifted off the ground none too gently by Galatea, the canoness barely effected by the blast thanks to her power armor. "The bridge's gone."

"I kinda figured," Laura spat soot from her mouth and grimaced at the empty spot where the bridge used to be. "So…what happened actually?"

"It's Syrathel's fault, she's the one who blew up the bridge," Nikki pointed at the citadel looming far away on the horizon, obscured by billowing dust but for the neat circular hole where the beam had cut through. "I saw the beam coming from the top floor."

"…You think she can do that again?" Laura felt her blood turn to ice. "As in, blast us to hell from all the way over there?"

"I'm not waiting to find out!" Lita waved her Singing Spear high in the air. "To the river! Let's go people we're fording the freaking river!"

"You mean…we have to swim?" Colonel Kasteen and the Valhallan jogged up beside them, the Ice Warriors were all wearing frightened expression.

"Don't fancy a little splash, colonel?" Major Cassia Tyl, Andren Fel right hand woman, sped passed with the Antari, all of them snickering at the very miffed Valhallan.

"They are from an ice world major, all body of water on their planet are solid. So no, they don't fancy a swim," Raine of all people reprimanded Cassia. "And we shall assist them if it comes to that, now move out."

Cain nodded his thanks to Raine, who in turned tipped her awesome commissar cap in respect as the main characters made their way down to the river. Amberley watched the two commissars for a moment, shrugged at the friendliness displayed, then jogged after her boyfriend.

"Oh thank God, the river's shallow," Damien spoke up. "The water barely came up to our knees, Astartes's knees that is, but its murky and smell like shit! Phew, good thing I got my helmet on!"

"You three will be right at home then!" Yuki's laughter earned nasty growls from Miriya, Firnera, Astrid and their squads, because that shit filled episode, courtesy of her number one mate Tangmo, was one of the most talked about incident around the Immortal Spirit. Even Galatea was unable to stop a snort from escaping. "At least it'll only come up to your waist this time!"

"Love, we're joining them," Laura deadpanned as the canonesses and the Celestians finally evicted the sandbag walls, sprinting with head held low as the Anguirus bombardment tore into the town behind them, she and Yuki close at their heels.

"Welp, that can't be helped," Yuki and Laura swiftly joined the canonesses, the Celestians and the Banshee as they splashed into the river, their faces scrunched up in disgust. "Eww! Damien wasn't kidding, it's like jumping into an open septic tank!"

"Don't expect us to carry you like Galatea did," Astrid smirked and the Celestians laughed good naturedly as they waded across the river, on the far bank Imperial and Aeldari vehicles lined the rise, pouring an uninterrupted volley of shells, las, bolts, plasma, meltas, pulses and shurikens at the town, the covering fire was so powerful that not a single heretics or daemons followed them.

"Oi, what's the hold up?!" Laura demanded when they caught up with Isha, who was ambling extremely slowly along with her retinue of guardsmen and eldars. "All of you should be half way to the other side already!"

"I'm sorry for our slow progress, lady inquisitor, but we're trying our best…"

"We can't fucking swim, alright?! Give us a fucking break!"

Mari Margot snapped at Laura, rudely interrupting colonel Kasteen as she and sergeant Grifen shambled fearfully through the murky river, both Valhallans were clinging to an extremely resigned corporal Crys, using the Antari as a lifeboat. Laura, her mates and the main characters guffawed loudly when they saw that the Valhallan had all collectively decided to use the Antari as floatation devices, something the feral world guardsmen begrudging accepted with clear resignation. The sight of Broklaw holding hand with Wyck was the highlight of the campaign so far.

"Umm, Isha? Your eminence?" Lita, who had taken her place beside Laura with Nikki, glanced warily at the Aeldari goddess, who was helping along Jurgen without any visible distress, guiding him through the river with a calming smile, like how a mother would sooth her son on his first swim. "Do you need any assistance? Are you feeling, I don't know, woozy or troubled?"

"No trouble lady Warseer," Isha waved at them, causing Jurgen to cling tighter to her arm. "I am a goddess, so I am not one bit bother by those whose soul doesn't shine in the Warp, surprised, sure, but nothing else."

"Thank you for seeing to my aide's assistance, your eminence," Cain was doing his damnedest to appear polite and collected whilst having a beaming Sulla clinging to his back, the Valhallan general was floating on cloud nine after getting a piggyback ride from her hero. Welp, she might as well enjoy this brief moment of happiness, because Amberley was glaring at her like a reaper who's about to bring the scythe down.

"You are most welcome, lord commissar…" Isha staggered to a stop suddenly, frowning as she wrenched her leg upward until it came free with a slimy splash. "As I was saying, you are most – argh!"

Isha was pulled under. Not slipped on muck, not tripped over a rock, no, something just pulled Isha under water.

"AHHH! HELP ME!" Isha screamed when she surfaced again, her naked body now wrapped up in…oh, fucking shit tentacles? Seriously?! And not just a few tentacles, but several dozen of those slimy motherfuckers, too much to count, all converging on the wailing Isha, the Aeldari goddess writhing helplessly as the cephalopod like limbs tightened its hold and repeatedly dunked her into the slushy water. "ARGH! STOP – AHHHH! HELP!"

"I'm coming Ms.!" Jurgen hefted up his melta and heroically bounded after Isha, her hand reaching out desperately to him. The mass of tentacles ululated in distress, the shrieking timbre coming in terrible multitude, each sounds uniquely horrid, and recoiled away from Jurgen, an expected reaction for a daemon when faced with a blank. The Valhallan was taking aim when a thick coil of tentacle lashed out of the water and struck him square in the chest, sending him flying across the river and crashing painfully on the far bank with a loud thud.

"Jurgen! Oh fucking hell!" Laura spun around and threw herself in front of the Sororitas who were taking aim at the – holy shite the tentacles were multiplying fast and starting to molest Isha's sanctity. "Hold your fucking fire, you could hit and hurt Isha, don't fucking shoot!"

"She can't die!" Galatea shouted back but nevertheless lowered her bolter. "And what are supposed to do then, it's dragging her away!"

"I think we have to go medieval on the ecchi pervert," Laura unslung her claymore with an unhappy grunt. "Not the best cause of action, I admit, but we have to minimize collateral damage because we don't know how much Isha can take. So if you're feeling a little icky then stand back and let me and Yuki deal with – the fucking wankstain just grabbed my ankle, this is bad – ahhh!"

See, Laura and Yuki enjoyed tentacle hentai as much as the next person, it gets the mood going on a sexy night, but never in her life would she want to experience that shite for real. Welp, looked like she was about to get it now, but like hell she was gonna go quietly. With a roar, Laura swung her claymore down, the blade hacking deep into the slimy pink tentacle that got a hold of her leg. The appendage was sliding ponderously upward.

"Get the fuck off me!" Laura managed to slice three more slithering tentacles, the severed limbs spraying her with disgusting, and extremely sticky, translucent pink ichor, before the hentai daemon got smart and wrapped her arms up with more appendages, coiling tight until she could barely move, all the while dragging her deeper into the river. "I swear to Christ you fucking tosser, if you don't stop groping me I'm gonna – YUKI!"

"Stop dragging me! Let go!" Yuki's twin katanas flailed in madden arcs, twitching fleshes and splashes of blood danced across the air, but more tentacles swiftly seized her legs and chest. "Motherfuck, stop squeezing – Laura?! Are you alright?!"

"Can't complain," Laura hacked off another tentacle, only to get more slimy appendages wrapped around her waist, at least they were pulling her toward Yuki. Not much of a consolation, but hey, at least it was something, "how about you?"

"I'm not in the most enviable position either," Yuki shrugged and together they continued the desperate fight against the closing tendrils.

"Ah, I see you finally ran into one of Miriael's pet," Syrathel had to be a massive bitch and started talking again, obviously watching the unfolding scene with a smile. "It was one of the many creatures that were specifically design to combat the…fairer sex, shall we say?"

"Indeed my friend!" Miriael joined the conversation with inappropriate giddiness, and Laura saw that indeed the Sororitas, female eldars and guardswomen were getting snatched up by the tentacles, girlish screams and squeals abound as the tendrils, ululating in delight, started to get extremely handsy. "But don't you ladies worry, my little pumpkin there only kills men, but he plays with the women. Just a warning though, he gets extremely rough and thorough."

"You sick twisted fuck!" Nikki roared as a swarm of tentacles dogpiled her. "I'm gonna kill all you bitches!"

"Count me in," Lita starts of a growl ruptured into a high pitch, and admittedly very sexy, squeal. "AHHH! No! Not under the skirt!"

"We got Isha," Azarvhin no nonsense declaration cleaved through the din of feminine distress. "Tell your daemon to stop fooling around, there'll be plenty of time for that."

"Hmph! You're no fun at all!" Miriael huffed and Laura felt the mass of tentacles moved up the river, back toward the citadel, slowly at first before picking up speed.

"We'll see you later then, lady inquisitor," Syrathel said sweetly and cut the transmission.

"You fucking cunt I swear to – blrghhh!" The tentacle pulled Laura under water, causing her to swallow a mouthful of muddy, disgusting water before she managed to hurl herself back up into the air, spitting out gobs of muck as she dug her heels into the riverbed and desperately fought off more tendrils. "Let me go you bastards!"

"I ain't ending up like those hentai bitches!" Yuki managed to hack a few tentacles before she became as overwhelmed as Laura. Amidst the mad chopping, Laura took heart in knowing that she wasn't the only one who's currently screwed. If she was truly honest, seeing a bunch of Sororitas, female eldars and guardswomen getting manhandled by Slaaneshi tentacle monster in the most intrusive and slimy manner was totally the kind of kinky hentai Laura enjoyed, but that doesn't mean she wanted to join in! God, if she and Yuki weren't fighting for their lives, seeing Raine and Amberley mashed wetly together, the innocent Verity and Alnelle squealing as vine like limbs snaked under their armors, the Celestians and Banshees pulled and stretched into uncompromising positions, and the canonesses getting squeezed this way and that, would have been a joy to watch.

"Unhand me abomination!"

"Eek! Let me go, let me go, let me go!"

"Is that the best you can do you horny bastards?!"

"You will not claim my soul stone, foul creature of Slaanesh!"

"Get that damn thing away from my face or I'm gonna bite it off!"

"SPACE MARINES TO THE RESCUE! HANG ON LADIES!"

About fucking time, Laura was beginning to wonder whether or not the men were all dead. That was thankfully not the case as Damien, doing a perfect imitation of Rob Van Dam's Five Stars Frog Splash, leapt over the trapped women and, a combat knife in one hand and a roaring chainsword in the other, crashed into the central mass of tentacles, or the close approximation at least. The tentacles shrieked in pain as bits of tendrils, mud and ichor fountained skyward in great blooming pillars, amongst the flying debris was Isha, a very naked Isha, who cartwheeled into Verity and Alnelle, knocking the pair loose from groping appendages in the process.

"What the fuck took you so long?!" Yuki shouted and yanked her arms free from the tentacles. Now that Damien went full berserk on the Slaanesh daemon, many of its appendages were recalled back to defend the core mass of the creature. It wasn't long before the other Marines, along with guardsmen and male eldars, entered the fray, all of them fighting with melee weapons as to not caused any friendly fire while the women freed themselves from the slimly tendrils.

"Trying not to die!" Erik appeared in front of them and unleashed a no scope barrage on a thicket of tentacles, cutting them down like harvests before a swooping scythe. "Did you not see the walls of tentacles blocking our way?!"

"Well excuse us for trying not to get tentacle raped!" Laura snapped at him and stomped vehemently on a tentacle trying to slither away, the pained squeal was music to her ears. "The fucking tossers went full hentai on our asses! Did you not here that blue hair bitch gloating a moment ago?!"

"Oh yeah…sorry about that," Erik made an apologetic face then glanced around urgently. "Where's Verity, is she okay?"

"I'm fine Erik," Verity, carrying a dazed Isha between herself and Alnelle, stomped quickly away toward the other side of the river, flashing him a pretty, if a bit messy, smile. "Thank you for saving us!"

"Glad I can help," Erik's coy smile and wave earned him dark glares from Miriya and Firnera.

"We're fine too, thanks for asking you asshole," Nikki deadpanned, not too thrill at being ignored, a sentiment shared by Laura and Yuki.

"Right! Sorry! Nice to see all of you too!" Erik flashed a nervous thumb up and blinked. "Where's Lita?"

"Disengage! I repeat, disengage from the target and fall back!" Gallus bellowed as the Space Marines started backing away from the mass of furious tentacles, the many tendrils now writhing with angry animation, the ululation bestial in timbre. "Brother Sergeant, fall back! The abomination is rising to its full height!"

"Huh? Oh fuck!" Seeing that the tentacles were indeed heaving themselves higher up from the water, Damien gave the daemon a few parting chops before bulling his way out of the spasming thicket, kicking up great gouts of wet earth as he hauled ass. "Eh yo, Lita, what the hell are doing?!"

"No one gropes me and gets away with it!" Lita, teeth barred in a rictus snarl, messy hair plastered to her mud streak face, was simmering, a bluish white translucent aura now enveloped the Warseer as she lifted her hands high into the air, arms outstretched, palms opened as if she was charging for a Kamehameha. "I'm gonna hurt this pervert bad!"

"Right on love!" Laura and her mates jogged up to Lita, Damien and Erik positioned themselves behind her while she, Yuki and Nikki took their places in front of the Mexican Warseer. "Anything we can do to help?"

"Keep me safe and make sure nothing grabs me again," Lita grunted, her body quivering slightly. "And if you can somehow give me more power, that would be very nice. Good God, he's heavy."

Getting into a HEMA guard, Laura shuddered in disgust when the true, humongous mass of the tentacles was revealed as Lita lifted it off the ground with her power, a disgusting writhing entity composed of wet tendrils that snapped and twitched with macabre animation, the ululation reaching a fevered pitched. It didn't take long for the tentacles to find out who was responsible for its current predicament, and with a royally pissed shriek lashed out at Lita with needle filed tendrils.

"Not this time bitch!" Damien barked and started popping off tentacles with his bolter, Erik and Nikki adding their high power shuriken to the fray, with Laura and Yuki slicing and dicing any appendages that survived the barrage. They were soon joined by the Sororitas, Space Marines, eldars and guardsmen, all of them forming a loose battle line around Lita as they let their weapons fly, a loud payback in las, bolts and shurikens, the women most vehement in dishing out vengeance. Blood and fire bloomed brilliantly across the tentacles but despite the concentrated salvo the roiling tendrils were barely diminished, worse, the damn thing was slowly drifting back to the ground, many appendages now latching on to the riverbed as it tried to pull itself back down.

"Oh shit! Lita, put your backs into it, the motherfucker is almost on the ground again!" Yuki bellowed as she cut down four tentacles.

"I'm trying, but I'm running out of steam here!" Lita breathed heavily through gritted teeth.

"Mavia! Evangeline! Open fire on that goddamn tentacle rapist motherfucker!" Laura bellowed, her octave becoming more hysteric when no supporting fire came despite the fact that she can clearly see the armor units turning the turrets in their direction. "What the bloody fuck are you waiting for?!"

"For you, stupid girl!" Mavia snapped back. "All of you are too close, unless you fancy getting blown to pieces along with that daemon."

"Forget about us, as long as Isha is far away from the river, fire away," Laura decapitated another tentacle, the aches that came after long hours of combat were starting to leaden her arms.

"That's the thing, lady inquisitor," Evangeline sighed. "Isha is not coming toward us."

"What the fuck do you mean she's not coming toward you?!" Laura got her answer when bloody Isha, being trailed by Verity and Alnelle, waded naked through the slushy river and positioned herself beside Lita. "Are you fucking serious right now?!"

"I'm terribly sorry, lady inquisitor," Isha offered her an infuriatingly sheepish smile and reached her hand out to Lita. "Brace yourself, lady Warseer."

"I'm sorry wha – OH MY GOD!" Lita's eyes bulged open as her fading aura suddenly flared back to life, brighter and sharper than before. Yuki laughed out loud when Lita roared, boisterous and hot blooded, her hair blazing, fluttering like a furious flame. "Holy shit, I just went super saiyan!"

"The daemon is rising again!" Antalok pointed at the tentacles as he slammed a flesh magazine home, and indeed the shrieking mass of tendrils was shooting skyward, quicker and with more force than before.

"Mavia, Evangeline, it's off the ground!" Laura waved her claymore at the tentacles as another brutal volley went off around her, ichor and chunky pieces of meat splattering all over the place. "Kill the bastards!"

"With pleasure!" The words had barely left Mavia's lips when the King Russes and Fire Prisms pounded the tentacles daemon, shells and lasers tearing the writhing monster apart in great gouts of flames and gores, the ululation conveyed nothing but pain. The guardsmen and eldars on the riverbank added their full auto barrage a moment later, amongst the vehement flashes was Jurgen's stream of melta.

"Sutoriumu Kosen!" Yuki guffawed loudly when Lita, being the Eight's resident ultra-massive tokusatsu nerd, got into the correct pose ala Ultraman Taro and unleashed a blindingly powerful Warp beam at the dying tentacles daemon, so injured was the beast that it could barely summoned a death howl when the Mexican Warseer's finishing move struck it square in the central mass, obliterating every last speck down to the atomic level. "I have the power of Isha and Ultraman on my side! HAHAHAHA!"

"Lita, that's very nice and hot love, but we need to get the fuck out of the river before more of those things show up," Laura strode up to Lita, firmly took the Warseer by the arm, and started hurling her after the main characters. "Seriously though, I'm absolutely turned on by evil queen Lita."

"You are most welcome, but you're right, we better get going before Syrathel throws any more surprises at us," Lita winked sweetly at Laura then glanced right. "Thank you for your help your – ahhh! Isha!"

Laura and her mate squealed in unison when they beheld a motionless Isha floating face down in the water, weak bubbles popping around her head. They quickly pulled her upright and started shaking her, the way the life goddess flopped bonelessly, every limb nonresponsive, was freaking all of them out.

"Oh my God Isha, please don't die, please! Wake up!" Lita was starting to cry when Isha blinked blearily, moaning weakly as she took in the people around her, a ghost of a smile flitting across her face. Seeing that the Aeldari goddess didn't die because of her, Lita threw her arms around Isha and hugged her fiercely. "Oh thank God you're alive! Yay!"

"Indeed I am – gah!" Isha squawked from the powerful embrace and started tapping Lita's back urgently. "But perhaps we should get out of the water, as the lady inquisitor had suggested?"

"Oh, yes!" Wrapping her arms tight around Isha as if to give her a belly to belly suplex, the Aeldari goddess squealed when, still infused with godly power, the super charged Lita carried her to the far bank. Laughing, Laura and her mate followed swiftly.

"My baby!" Miriael shrieked as Laura, her mates and the main characters at last managed to reach firm ground, all of them panting and laughing beneath the comforting shadows of the tanks. Soon enough, the Slaanesh Champion's tone turned furious. "You're gonna pay for this!"

"Try it, bitch!" Laura declared boisterously as she and Yuki, arms draped over each other's shoulders, trudged up the incline to where the rest of the battlegroup were waiting. In front of her Isha was getting mobbed by the hysteric Elnys and handmaidens, relieving Lita of the life goddess. Trudging to her left and right, the Sororitas, eldars and guardsmen grumbled as they, with very noticeable speed, put distance between themselves and the river, the women were especially displeased. Damien, Erik and the Space Marines, being the heroic gentlemen that they were, remained by the river to make sure nothing else showed up. "You'll never get a piece of me!"

"Don't be so sure lady inquisitor," was Miriael's ominous parting words.

"Well ladies, that went a lot better than expected," Nikki appeared beside Yuki and the Japanese exarch drew the Russian exarch into her arms as well, the three of them matching steps. "I for one I'm glad not to star in a tentacle hentai."

"I agree, but…" Yuki frowned as she glanced at the roiling, grotesque sky of otherworldly spectrum, the brightness and hue more sickening than before. "It's not over yet."