Stukov had, alas, not been resting nearly as comfortably as the rest of the retinue had during their treatment. Upon being escorted to transport the armsman had collapsed fully, no longer running on adrenaline and sheer determination coupled with a feverish obsession with his job. It was at that point that he had flatlined for the first of quite a few times which, if it were not for the timely intervention of the escorting and attending medical personnel, would have been his end. On some world far from where he was comfortable, let alone what could be considered home. But he would not die walking out of that Emperor forsaken place, and he was hauled off to the largest medicae facility the Sisters maintained, noting the importance of an Inquisitorial acolyte, or presumed as such since his formal standing with Zhevon had never been clearly defined. Upon casual examination during the trip, it seemed that he had merely undergone blunt force trauma and complete evisceration of his vocal cords. The latter would only be repairable via bionic augmentation, and the implants were on standby upon arrival at the medicae facility. However, once under more formal investigation, it was apparent more invasive bionic replacements and medical treatments would be necessary to restore him to functioning order. With local tech priests preparing the bionics, a more thorough list of issues and problems to be mended were made.

Despite numerous blood leaks from his head, no overt augmatics were required besides reinforcement to his skull do to numerous blunt impacts and spiderweb fractures along his skull. It was considered a miracle his skull hadn't caved in prior to that, unaware of the possible alternatives as to how he was still effectively in one piece. But the bionics were put in place, reinforcing his skull from the damage sustained by it as they registered that large portions of his skeletal structure were fractured or outright broken and they were set and, as necessary, replaced as well as several internal organs, including lungs as one was collapsed and the other barely functioning still. The surgery itself took quite a long period of time before the armsman was allowed to even awake and be informed as to what happened. Needless to say, his vocal augmentations were temporarily shut off to properly explain what was going on after they sedated him again, the armsman panicking due to the fact that he, last he remembered, was still in a hostile environment with allies, not in a medicae facility being repaired.

Once it was properly explained what was going on, Stukov calmed down and underwent the remainder of his surgery in cooperative peace, lost in thought when he was still allowed to be awake. He couldn't fathom what had been going on, not in its entirety, back at the factory works they had stormed, but in due time the Armsman was discharged from the medicae facility, in one piece again and finally not in some degree of pain. Several Sisters of Battle and a Rhino were waiting for him as he marched up the walkway and the vehicle tore off for parts unknown. While on the way to the safehouse he was briefed on what was going on, in the form of a dataslate, and by the time he had arrived at the Safehouse, he was effectively up to speed as he was marched into a lift and sent up to the safehouse proper. It was not a long ride, either a fast elevator or the building had not been nearly as tall as he had imagined before reaching the safehouse itself, walking in just in time to hear Sis calling for both him and Smiles. He caught what she said and a smirk was on his face as he spoke, having been moving quietly before that point.

[color=9e0b0f][b]"Not words I expected out of a Sister of Battle's mouth, anything being considered good enough for the Emperor in mortal terms."[/b][/color] The armsman paused, surprised by the inhuman, mechanical tone his voice now carried due to the mechanical bionics that now replaced his vocal cords, and would be obvious to the rest of the retinue as well. Well, long as he could yell and make himself heard, that was all that really mattered. A bunch of the bionic work that had been done and, afterwords, explained to him certainly upped his odds for survival in most cases. Lot less to go wrong from biology failing, that much had been made clear by the tech priest explaining the installed parts. But, leave it to the Armsman to not just say hello or greet them, but be snarky. He had lost most of his patience at this point, and some semblence of R&R was quite necessary at this point. That, and this residual pressure and weight sat on him, giving him a constant, throbbing headache while a previously unheard background noise was now constantly buzzing. Unable to filter it out, he was forced to deal with it, making him far more irritable and less friendly then usual. Which wasn't necessarily saying a lot for the man, but it was notable to most.

[color=9e0b0f][b]"Everyone made it back in one piece, I hope?"[/b][/color] He could see both Sis and Smiles, but he had yet to lay his eyes on Boss yet. Stukov highly doubted anything happened to the Inquisitor, but things would certainly be going to shit if something had after he had collapsed and passed out. He couldn't help but think back to what had happened at the factory, and lied to himself thinking it was just the interference of the warp there, and nothing more. It would take another member of the retinue to convince him otherwise, at this point.