The muscles in Aviza’s arms and hands strained as they managed to finely stop Sleena’s blade from moving any closer. Looking up the blade, she held eye contact with Sleena who had a sickening grin spread across her face. “Give it up Sis, your life ends here with your friends.” Sleena quickly turned her head to the left just as the Galvanic rifle fired off its round. A bright flash of light erupted in the room as Sleena yelled out in horror. After a grand display of pyrotechnics, the Daemones was no more, and all that was left was her blade and a burned mark on the ground where she had been kneeling. A small portion of the Galvanics energy had traveled through Sleena , through her sword and into Aviza’s armor, shocking her body. The effect was the same as a high-powered Taser, leaving the sister of battle completely incapacitated for a couple of moments. When she awoke, the muscles in her body had tensed causing severe cramps that almost made it impossible for her to move. Slowly but surely, she pushed herself off of the ground and onto her two feet where the world felt as if it was spinning. When she finely came to, Astrid was in the middle of her grotesque transformation.

The abomination did not represent Slannesh at all, but was more Nurgle in appearance. Reaching up to her earpiece, she spoke into it contacting the rest of the sisterhood upon the planet. "This is Celestian Aviza, I need immediate reinforcements at my position, we have a class three abomination that could use a cleansing, request medical assistance as well." There was silence before someone responded to her request. "Affirmative Celestian Aviza, estimated time of arrival is one minute, hold on." Aviza pushed herself back away from the abomination giving herself quite a bit of distance from the daemon. Taking a knee, she readied to defend herself and the rest of the squad from the abomination until her fellow sisters arrived. "Zhevon, I have reinforcements on their way with a medic unit, they will be here shortly." She spoke into her com over the main channel so everyone in her squad could hear her.

"Will this madness never end?!"

Adrianne thought to herself as she looked up at the gruesome abomination situated on top of the platform in the center of the room. It was difficult to tell if there was anything left of Astrid in the warpspawn, the creature studying them as a newcomer.

"Are we sure we are fighting the forces of Slannesh? I could swear that the animal in front of us is a beast of Nurgle!"

The arrival of Zhevon seemed to draw the creature´s attention, as it turned its mutilated head slowly towards the door Zhevon had entered from. Though it was difficult to tell whether he had managed to offend it or anything. The misshapen face of the monstrosity hardly left any room for expression, its bulging eyes twitching curiously around in the room.

But the creature would soon break the silence as it suddenly unleashed a horrifying, psychic shriek that pierced the room, stunning anyone in it!

The lack of a visible mouth did not seem to prevent it from screeching. Or had the shriek merely been a product of their mind, brought forth by the wicked powers of the abomination in front of them.

"Bring it down!" Adrianne would call out as the psyker staggered back onto her feet, having been brought down by the deafening psychic howl of the creature. Her head was still ringing, the creature´s mere presence filling her mind with numerous whispers that caressed her every thought. But she did not need to think. She knew what had to be done.

The creature had to die!

Extending an arm, she targeted Astrid´s spear which lay on the platform, pulling it away from the creature´s feet and sending it back back into her grip! As she catched the spear, she brought it around, raising it over her shoulder and threw it forward with great force, amplifying her throw with further kinetic energies through her psychic might!

The spear flew through the room at a frightening speed, zooming straight for the grotesque monstrosity!

*TWACK!*

A sickening squelch could be heard as the spear plunged right through the narrow waist of the abomination, entering in the front and piercing through all the way to the back where it exploded in a shower of blood and gore, leaving the middle of the spear lodged inside the creature´s torso.

Yet Astrid´s abomination seemed to barely even register the wound. It merely gazed down at the spear lodged inside of its body, before raising its fleshy, skinless arms to either side.

A sickening aura began to pulse through the room, leaving a sense of lethargy and weakness among anyone in the room. But it was merely the beginning. As if the laws of gravity had ceased to function entirely, Stukov, Zhevon, Aviza, Maltheus and Adrianne soon found themselves being lifted up from the ground! Even the mutilated bodies of the dead guards floated into the air, blood starting to stream out of their mutilated limbs. Even blood scattered around the floor began to drip up into the air, floating towards the monstrosity in thousands of small drops!

Across the bodies of everyone in the party, thousands of tiny, microscopic wounds began appearing all over their skin; causing blood to flow from every pore and fill the insides of their clothes and armor with blood that struggled to escape through any crack or opening!

Any blood that escaped would levitate through the air, floating towards the abomination and coagulating into its twisted body. The air around the monstrosity began to crackle even more with blood red warp power in the forming of tendrils of pure energy!

Adrianne could feel the power building within the creature, literally pulsating out of it. Stukov could feel it too, as the blood seemed to fuel the monstrosity´s dark power. It was an utterly overwhelming feeling, as if standing in front of a burning hot star! The pain caused by the monster´s lifedrain would almost be equal in the sheer sense of vigor and power radiating from the abomination´s wretched corpse!

"I have faced worse hellspawns than you, wretch!" Adrianne exclaimed beneath her helmet, clenching her fists as her hands began to crackle with purple energy!

Fueled by fury, Adrianne would launch her hand forward, releasing a crackling wave of bright, purple electric tendrils of pure warp energy! The crackling wave would wash over the grotesque creature, causing it to back away and the invisible threads holding Adrianne to cease, allowing her to fall to her feet.

Without hesitation, Adrianne reached forth, using her powers to pull Astrid´s spear right out of the abomination´s abdomen, releasing a shower of blood as it fell onto the ground!

Feeling the veil separating their world from the immaterium growing immediately weaker following the gaping wound in the abomination created by the removal of the spear, Adrianne rose to her feet, her fist clenched together and crackling with purple electric tendrils!

"I will not be defied by a freakspawn with the audacity to think it can oppose me!" Adrianne sneered behind her helmet, the sockets on her skull mask literally burning with purple flames!
"FACE TRUE POWER!"

Adrianne screamed, before shooting her arms forward and unleashing a wild torrent of released, crackling purple energy that raced towards the abomination! The screams of a thousand lost souls filled the room as psyker unleashed her wrath, filling the room with a bright, purple light!
The abomination would respond, raising its twisted arms before releasing a current of blood red energy to collide into Adrianne´s own! The two powers collided in the air, scorching the ground and shooting sparks all around!

"POWERRR!" Adrianne screamed through her voicebox, stepping closer towards the warpspawn as she increased her effort, causing the electric current flowing out from her hands to amplify in both size and brightness!
"UNLIMITED POWER!"

The sorcery duel between the abomination and Adrianne would soon turn in favor of the latter, as the crackling wave brought forth by the psyker raced towards the monstrosity, pushing back its own blood red lightning! The purple, consuming wave of warp energies would reach the limbs of the monstrosity, immediately stunning it and causing it to its focus!

The monster emitted a sickening gurgle as the purple lightning raged through its body, a large electric tendril burrowing itself between its large, twitching eyes to suddenly split its skull in two; continuing down the monstrosity´s torso until the entire creature exploded in a shower of blood, bones and blood red flames that flew around the room!

Zhevon, Aviza, Stukov and Maltheus who had previously been suspended in the air by the abomination´s magic would suddenly feel the powers holding them vanish, allowing them all to slump down into the ground below!

Breathing heavily behind her mask, Adrianne would look across the scorched and bloodied scene where the monster had once stood. To call it a bloodied mess would be an understatement, with blood and gore as well as scorch marks now littering the chamber which had once been ´beautiful´, at least by Slaaneshi standards.

Raising her hands in the air, Adrianne would exclaim in triumph!

"I won! ... "

" ... "

*CRASH*

No sooner had Adrianne proclaimed her own victory, than had the psyker lost all consciousness on the spot and began falling forward; landing face down onto the floor, her mask slamming into the ground with a heavy crash!

Stukov sighed, which was painful sounding due to the underlying gurgle of blood that came with it, as Golden Bitch decided to become cannon fodder for Maltheus and his newest, grandest method of trying to escape being taken as a prisoner by the Inquisition. Seems she was an unwilling participant as well, as she was taken by the force unwillingly and mutated, the guts and blood spewing everywhere made the Armsman holster his sidearm and take the Cogboy rifle in both hands, already drawing a bead as the thing roared, warp tendrils waving everywhere and creating all sorts of ruckus. If the headache and voices he heard before were bad, this was a whole other level of pain and suffering in his brainspace. He was not unshielded, having spent his entire career guarding himself from the warp while engaging it, even on its own territory, but with the sheer sensitivity and raw outbursts of power left him ragged to begin with. But he stood his ground, scowling as he lifted the rifle and trained it on the abomination, firing off a shot that seemed to take out one of its flailing limbs, but to no real avail as it also took the spear and other attacks the retinue added. Boss showing up and taunting it probably didn't help, and if he could speak, he would have probably been rather ticked about the man putting himself in harms way like that.

When the cruel aura of lethargy grew and begin lifting them off the ground, the Armsman growled as his eyes seemed to flicker between sapphire blue and their natural color, subconsciously fighting the influence of the warp abomination. His wounds bled faster, to be sure, and the blood loss was indeed there, but he struggled against the lack of gravity, lifting the Cogboy rifle to try and fire again, adding in another high powered round in addition to the massive waves of power coming from Smiles as she screamed and unleashed waves of powerful lightning against the warp abomination. Stukov faded in and out of consciousness during the ordeal, each fade in consciousness meeting with an increase in power from the sapphire glow, while struggling back seemed to bring him back to the natural order of his eyes. Soon enough they were dropped, and he hit the ground, collapsing under his own weight, barely catching himself with the Cogboy rifle. Groaning he forced himself up onto his feet, gaze pained but rapidly hardening as he turned to set his gaze on Maltheus. This one, the source of all this chaos and mayhem, he would not pay for his arrogance and heresy.

The Armsman slung the Cogboy rifle, drawing his Naval Pistol and reloading, the empty magazine clinking in the now eerie silence as the Armsman stood to tower over the heretical cult leader, and for all the damage he had sustained, exuded an aura of pure dread, although this was not so much a warp extension as it was that, no doubt in the eyes of Maltheus, this mortal Armsman, no augmatics or heritage of power beyond an apparent untrained, newly found, and raw connection to the warp had stormed through every defense he had, refused to die in the face of better trained, or armed, psykers, daemons, and thugs, and was now standing over him, armed with the means of executing the man. From what Sis had said, medical help was coming, and he levered the Naval Pistol towards the head of Maltheus, before lowering its aim and putting a round through his knee cap, blowing apart the man's knee and preventing any possible means for him to escape before slamming the hilt of the pistol onto his head, knocking him out cold, or intending to, and ripping the bayonet from his abdomen, binding the wounds in dead silence before standing and taking a step off the platform before collapsing, finally, under the weight of fatigue and injury. He was still conscious, and he gestured towards Boss, and then at Maltheus, attempting to indicate the man was of great importance and would have information, no doubt. Hard, considering his vocal cords were utterly destroyed.

The disturbing, psychic shriek that filled the room left Aviza disoriented and stunned, helpless to all that went on around her until she regained her consciousness. The room spun around and round before finely coming to a stop, her equilibrium resetting correctly. A splitting headache and slightly blurred vision were the after effects of the shriek, though Aviza managed to switch to the shotgun attachment on her weapon and fire incendiary round at the warp spawned abomination. The rounds hit the monstrosity and caught part of what appeared to be its torso on fire, though id hardly even noticed it and kept assaulting Adrianne. The spear that had belonged to the now heavily mutated Astrid, was picked up and tossed with tremendous force at the abomination. It punctured a whole and stuck itself inside of the abominations body but yet again, hardly noticed.

The warp spawn now had a speak sticking out of its body and part of its torso was on fire, bubbling and cracking apart in small parts as the phosphorus kept burning away. The spear was pulled out of the warp spawns body, and by the loud grotesque squealing sound it made, it was painfully clear that it had felt that. Suddenly, another nauseating aura filled the room, leaving all inside of it feeling fatigued. As Aviza was lifted off of the ground, she immediately stopped firing, not wanting to hit any friendlies and merely hung in the air quite a distance from the ground. It felt as if a very rough sandpaper was being rubbed across her body as she bled from inside of her armor, watching some of it find its way upon the broken neck-seal and float over to the monstrosity as if the room had suddenly lost all gravity.

Adriannes yelling was becoming a soft murmur of words before Aviza blacked out, only to regain herself as Adrainne unleashed a torrent of power at the abomination which was also defending itself with a beam of crimson energy that resembled blood. “Take it down Adrainne!” said Aviza through her com as she watched in amazement while flames shot out from her helmets eye slots. The beam of crimson energy would quickly fade as Adrainne proved to be more powerful than it. With a loud explosion and an impressive display of pyrotechnics as well as gore, the abomination met quite a messy end. Whatever had been holding them in the air had faded, without warning Aviza fell from the sky and landed onto the concrete ground with a thud, gasping for breath before very slowly standing up, her whole body shaking lightly. “Impressive Work Adrai….” The Psycher fell face first onto the ground, causing Aviza to cringe at the sight.

“That has got to hurt.” Aviza looked down at her own body to notice she had been shot multiple times from the Eurphorians. There was a wound on her left thigh, lower right abdomen, and upper left shoulder with some burn marks along her armor from something unknown. Keeping calm and knowing that her armor would help keep everything in place for now and administer some medical help, she contacted the Sisters of Battle to see when they would arrive. “I need an update on where you are, we are going to have casualties if you do not arrive very soon.” There was no reply over her com, instead she could hear heavy footsteps coming from down the hallway, and they ran together. Moving over to Adrianne, she rolled her onto her back and tried to move her out of the room before she heard a soft click from behind her. Aviza’s body went limp and completely numb, there was panic for a split second before two of her fellow Sisters of Battle carefully moved her out of the room and set her down onto the ground.

“We can’t have you moving around Aviza, it would only cause more injury to your body, relax and let the medic do her work.” Using the last bit of energy she had left, Aviza strained and said “We have a prisoner behind us down the hallway to our left, it is a…” before she could finish her sentence, the medic drugs kicked in and sapped the rest of her energy, leaving her in a deep sleep. The Sister of Battle that had been talking to Aviza was none other than Superior Canoness Andromedai of the Ebon Rose. While the medics tended to Aviza and her wounds, Andromedai would motion with her left hand in the direction of the Eurphorian prisoner, demanding that she be tended to then escorted to their prison at the Convent. Andromedai walked over to Zhevon before introducing herself.

“I am Superior Canoness Andromedai of the Ebon Rose, when Aviza contacted asking for reinforcements, I decided to join the squad as well to find out what truly is happening over inside of the warehouse.” She stepped past Zhevon and glanced inside of the room where Adrainne and Stukov remained with Maltheus. “Inquisitor Zhevon, is this Psycher a part of your retinue, or is she part of the cultists?” The two medic that had been sent to recover the Euphorian where bent over the solider, tending to a rather severe injury, they rather of let the woman die but did as Andromedai had ordered them. Not waiting for a reply, Andromedai spoke into her com before another two medical units walked in, stopping to look at all the gore for a moment then heading over to Stukov and offering to help him out of the room to where they would tend to his injuries.

Having lost her Galvanic Rifle and been knocked unconscious, the Euphorian; a member of the elite fighting order known as the Knights of Euphoria who herself had been tasked with guarding the cultist lair; lay on her back in the narrow concrete corridor, having been passed over by a number of Sisters of Battle, including the Canoness, as they headed towards the chamber where Zhevon and the rest of the party was.

Her name was Lucia, and she was just about to wake up...

Heavy footsteps originating from sets of power armored boots trundling along the concrete floor could be heard as the two medics from the Sisters of Battle walked over to her. A third sister stood nearby, holding her bolter weapon in her hands as she had been tasked with guarding over the bodies, both alive and dead, of the fallen euphorians who had been defeated earlier by Adrianne and Aviza.

As Lucia opened her eyes, she could see through the purple visors of her black, gold trimmed helmet as the medics knelt down next to her. The medics could not see that she was awake in return however, encased as Lucia was in her black and gold slaaneshian power armor, draped with purple cloth.

As the first medic leaned in to reach for Lucia's helmet, the euphorian would strike!

Bursting into life, Lucia sent her bound, power armored fists into the medic's face, who had not been wearing a helmet. She was knocked unconscious on the spot, tumbling back into the wall in a sitting position! Simultaneously, Lucia would kick out with her right foot, hitting the second medic in the chest and knocking her back and into the third sister, sending them both tumbling into a corner!

Using the force of her kick to roll backwards and into a standing position, she would step forward to meet the assault of the second medic who had gotten off the third sister of battle! The medic unseathed a razor sharp knife and swung it in a vertical strike down towards Lucia's helmet. Lucia met the blow, rising her hands forward as to catch it, but let the knife slip by, instead slicing through the metal bindings of the euphorian and freeing her!

Immediately responding to the liberation of her hands with a swift hook to the medic's helmet, pushing her sideways; Lucia quickly stepped behind her as the third sister of battle raised her bolter at her.

Using the medic as a shield, Lucia reached down the medic's side to grab the bolt pistol resting in her holster; pulling it up before firing two swift shots into the battle sister; the first hitting her bolter, knocking it aside, while the second hit her helmet, glancing off but leaving a heavy dent as the sister fell back into the fall.

The medic whom Lucia had been using as a meatshield would soon respond by sending the back of her power armored elbow into Lucia's chestguard, knocking her back; before completing with a kick to the upper leg to break free of her grip!

"I'm afraid I won't be returning this!" Lucia uttered as she raised the medic's own boltgun towards her, while simultaneously drawing her own blackened bolt pistol.

Dual wielding two bolt pistols, Lucia unleashed a quick torrent of six shots at the medic, exploding as they hit her all over the body. Most of the shots glanced off the medic's power armor, but the fifth bolt generated a sound of armor cracking as the medic fell to the ground next to the third sister.

With her three opponents lying down for the moment, Lucia turned around to run. But as she passed the next corner, she saw four sisters rapidly advancing down the corridor, whom all noticed her in return.

"The prisoner's escaping!"
"Slay her, my sisters!"

Lucia did not bother trying to return fire, simply quickly rounding the next corner as a stream of bolter fire was brought down the corridor by the advancing battle sisters, withering the wall Lucia had stood in front of a second ago with a punishing barrage of explose bolter fire that ripped it apart, cracking open water and steam pipes that filled the corridor with hot steam!

"That excludes the possibility of using the front door I guess!"

Sprinting through the corridor, using the third path, she would launch herself against an iron door, knocking it open as she entered a fire escape shaft. Glancing behind her at the steam filled corridor, she could hear the sisters but not see them through the steam.

Lucia had no intention of waiting for them, and so continued on. But rather taking the stairs to the surface that lead to the factory above, which was most assuredly on lockdown thanks to the sisters, Lucia would head down the stairway, a path that would eventually take her to the massive sewers running beneath the industrial complex in which the factory was located!

"Zhevon, I have reinforcements on their way with a medic unit, they will be here shortly." Aviza reported, taking a knee and readying her weapon.
"Good. We'll need the extra firepower." He replied, noticing that it was turning towards him. Expecting an attack, Zhevon readied his sword, instead it screeched at them. He flinched at the sudden scream, reminding him of a fun encounter with an Eldar Howling Banshee. What that Howling Banshee didn't have was the ability to lift him from the ground, and every object in the room. After having his blood sucked right out of his skin and witnessing an impressive duel of psychic might, he fell back down onto the floor. His suit felt disgusting, as the his robes hadn't let much blood out. When Adrianne fell over, he ran over to her and knelt next to her. Grabbing her wrist, he felt for a pulse. Finding it, he patted her on the back, "Knew I took you along for a reason." He muttered. Stukov then walked up to him and gestured to a body a bit away. Zhevon stood up, "VIP?" he asked, "Good work, get yourself patched up."
He walked over to Maltheus and looked at the unconscious heretic, knowing that he'd likely wake up in a dark room with a single light. He then heard heavy boots and the reinforcements arrived. Their leader, a Canoness went up to Zhevon.
“I am Superior Canoness Andromedai of the Ebon Rose, when Aviza contacted asking for reinforcements, I decided to join the squad as well to find out what truly is happening over inside of the warehouse.” She looked at his retinue, “Inquisitor Zhevon, is this Psycher a part of your retinue, or is she part of the cultists?”
"Psyker Valenthin is one of mine." He confirmed, "My thanks for your aid. From what I have discovered, the factory above is being used to cover for a heretic cult. However the factory itself appears to be clean, only the underground complex is used directly by the cult. I'll have one of my own people investigate further soon." Zhevon explained.

After a moment, he heard that a prisoner had escaped. After checking that Maltheus was still on the floor, he guessed that the other must have been one of the guards stationed here. He looked over his beat up retinue.
"Let's not pursue." He determined, "It's been a long day. Let's get back to a safehouse." Perhaps someone with a grudge against them could be used to their advantage.

Stukov was still kneeling on the ground, having managed to inform Boss about the captured heretic leader Maltheus. As soon as he could speak he would continue to inform Boss about what he had discovered down here. The important fact, though, was that the cult leader was in their hands now. His head throbbed painfully, and he could still hear more voices than speakers were present in the room, but he could not say a word about it. Damn warp spawned place like this probably was affecting everyone like he was being affected, unaware that this was most certainly wrong. Only one other person would have noticed but they had training he did not. But he was doing the best to shut out the voices as the two medical Sisters walked over, offering their services to get him out of the room and patched up. He slowly forced himself onto his feet, leaving a fair amount of his own blood on the ground as he stood. Between that last ditch effort by the daemon to sap all their blood, and his own exertions drawing far too much blood from the internal damage, the Armsman was lucky he was still standing. Add in the internal trauma, fractured and probably broken bones, and stress from the exhaustion, it was a miracle in and of itself that the man was able to stand under his own power at all. Far too stubborn for his own good, that much was apparent to the fellow Sisters of Sis's order.

When the cry went out about the Prisoner escaping, he was aware it wasn't Maltheus since he was still securely right here. He tried to run out after the prisoner, but not a half dozen steps did his body finally force him to collapse, dropping to his knees and wheezing, blood and bits of more solid material left on the ground. Boss decided that it was time to get back to a safehouse and recover. He would be detouring to a medical facility to have an augmatic voice box and his injuries bound and set properly. Say what you will about the Inquisition, the Armsman thought, he had heard rather legendary tales of the amount of equipment available to not only extend their lives, but maintain bodies in the primes of their lives. Glancing down at his crude augmatic lower leg, the fighting had torn his trousers enough to reveal that much, he slowly stood up under the firm grasp and care of the two nurses, power armor would ensure he had not tried to run off again as they carefully marched him off for treatment. Boss would have to send coordinates to the Armsman so he could catch up later, after treatment.

Awakening with a soft groan of mild pain, Aviza opened her eyes slowly, only to find herself laying upon a firm bed while she stared up at the celling. It was painted darn brown with a smooth finish, a long shot away from the cold concrete bunker they had entered many hours ago. Sitting up slowly, Aviza looked around the room to find there was one other person inside of it, a medic from the Sisters of Battle. In her hands she held a book, though slowly lowered it and looked over at Aviza with a smile of satisfaction across her face. “Welcome back to the world of the living, Celestian Aviza. I have taken care of your injuries and assure you that after another couple hours of resting, you will be ready to continue your duties with the Inquisitor. I personally spoke him and told him that neither you, the Psycher, nor the Armsman should leave this safe house until I give the all clear for you to do so. As I said only two hours or so and you will be ready to continue.”

The medic stood up and placed the book upon the chair she had been sitting upon. “You and your retinue are very lucky you came out of that alive, there were more injuries than I had expected. I am just glad you and your friends pulled through, I also had a big hand to play in this but I am merely doing what I am good at.” The medic had walked over to the side of Aviza and offered her a hand to help her off of the bed and onto her feet. “I thank you for all of your assistance, I am in your debt and so is the rest of the retinue, even if they do not verbally thank you.” The medic nodded her head once at Aviza while saying, “Think nothing of it Celestian Aviza, you will want to head downstairs to the living room and join Inquisitor Zhevon, that is where I saw him last, at least.” Aviza thanked the medic once more before noticing she was in her simple under armor, a set of rather snug fitting, one piece outfit that was worn under power armor. Aviza felt naked and uncomfortable but grew more and more at peace with every step she took down the stairs towards the large living room.

“Superior Canoness Andromedai, my most sincere apologies I am not in a presentable form for your presence, if I would have known you were here I would have…” Aviza was stopped as Andromedai raised her hand and silenced the Celestian. “Worry not Aviza, those rules are there for appropriate times, this is not one of them. I am glad to see you are awake and recovering quickly from the encounter with the abomination as well as the cultists.” The Canoness placed a large and well protected box onto the counter before walking over to Aviza and looking her over quickly. “I have a fresh suit of power armor for you in your room when you feel ready to continue. Until then, I have brought food and numerous other helpful items to help speed along the recovery process. Please enjoy and know that you will hear from me again soon. As for now, I must speak to someone some of your fellow Sisters and prepare for what is to come next.” With that, the door shut behind Andromedai and could be heard being locked. Aviza walked over into the kitchen and opened the box that Andromedai had brought over for them.

“High quality, very rare and expensive foods with treats of the same nature.” Aviza did not show it but was quite excited to find out what else was in the box. To her surprise, she found one of her favorite treats and very carefully unwrapped the coffee cake cheese cake and cut herself a large slice. Once it had been placed upon a plate with a fork, she walked over to the living room once more and took a seat on the lavish couch and started to slowly eat the well-deserved treat. This did not last long however for the medic from before walked over to herself and handed her a letter that was addressed to her and signed to Andromedai in exquisite handwriting. Quickly, she opened the letter and found that inside was a very neatly folded card that had elaborate patterns and designs on the outside of it.

“Hey! Adrainne, Stukov, Zhevon! You need to see this immediately!” The card was an invitation to a lavish party of legendary porportions that would include entertainment from across the galaxy and foods very rarely seen outside of the wealthiest and most important Slannesh leaders. “I just received a card from Superior Canoness Andromedai, she said she found it on one of the dead Euphorians and asked us to attend.” Aviza would hand the card to the first person to come up to her so they could see the invitation for themselves. “Also, very high quality food and treats, courtesy of Canoness Andromedai and the Ebon Rose are in the large box upon the counter.” It was about that time that Aviza noticed how impressive this new safe house looked, and was infinitely better than the last one they had ended up being stuck inside of for a while. “This is quite the impressive safe house you have here Zhevon, looks fit for the Emperor himself.”

A dark wind blew across the desolate hellscape, a charred and burnt out desert consisting of nothing but plains of ash and scorched rock stretching far into a series of black mountains in the distance. The sky was blood red, filled with noxious orange clouds and with massive tendrils of pure, crimson tendrils of uncontained warp energy coursing miles up into the air across the planet's failing atmosphere.

What had once been a lush, green paradise had now been turned into a burnt out barren wasteland with the coming of chaos. There was no hope for the planet anymore. Only her mission...

Marching through the cursed landscape would be Adrianne, the psyker wearing little more than a purple set of acolyte's robes now torn and blackened by sot. Her silver white hair was covered with ash and grime, flowing freely behind her back. Walking with her staff in her right hand, she would be carrying a cloth bundle under her left arm. Her expression was tired and worn, as if she had not slept for days, yet she pushed herself along across the never ending slopes and hills of the chaotic desert.

In the distance, carried by the unnatural wind haunting the land, she could hear faint whispers from afar.

They spoke in a crude and harsh language unintelligible to her. Though subtle, the voices were angry. Some of them shouted. They were filled with fury, a lust for revenge, a mad desire for destruction.

Yet, there was one word that caught her attention in particular. Someone called her name, a voice that kept going closer. Turning around, Adrianne would suddenly find herself gazing up at the roof of what could only be described as a luxurious apartment complex. She was resting in a bed of clear white sheets and blankets, her head resting on a large, cushy pillow.

"Where... ?"

As she raised a hand to reach out of the bed, she immediately felt a terrible ache throughout her entire body, as if she had just returned from the galaxy's most intensive workout ever! Her brain was pounding with pain, a headache enough to make her grit her teeth.

Yet from outside of her room, she could now clearly hear Aviza's voice, calling out with her and Stukov's name.

Forcing herself out of the bed, Adrianne would step onto the floor. She found that she was wearing a thin, white silk morning gown. Her armor and equipment was gone.

Letting out a painful groan, she would take her first step; every muscle in her body flaring out in discomfort as they were finally activated once more. Then another step. Then a third step. Finally, after almost losing her balance, she would embark on a calm walk out of the room, heading into a lavishly decorated living room and finally into the kitchen where she found Aviza.

"Fohhn,-"

Adrianne would open her mouth to speak, only to find that her tongue was dry as a piece of sandpaper, barely able to formulate an intelligible word through her throat. Without saying anything, the psyker would pass by Aviza in a quick march, only to throw herself at the kitchen sink where she promptly began to swallow gallons of water to quench her thirst!

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.

"Not words I expected out of a Sister of Battle's mouth, anything being considered good enough for the Emperor in mortal terms." 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.

"Everyone made it back in one piece, I hope?" 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.

The front door slowly swung open and Zhevon stepped through, carrying four paper bags of groceries. He wasn't wearing his armor, instead, a pair of casual pants, shoes, and a hooded coat. He still had his helmet, and leather gloves, concealing any skin that may have been showing. He shuffled past Stukov with a simple greeting. He noticed Aviza, sitting on one of the couches. Wearing a snug one piece often worn under power armor, the kind that often left little to the imagination. He quickly glanced away, instead he examined the card she was holding. It turned out to be an invitation to a party.
"Looks like our party is later today, in the evening. So we'll have some time to relax." He informed the others, he went to unpack his groceries. Taking out several bottles of juice, expensive alcohols, boxes of tea, recaf. Crackers, typical groceries. He looked to the left and found Adrianne wearing only a white morning gown, guzzling down water from the sink. He looked down at his groceries and practically buried his face in the stuff. After a second, he spoke up again.
"So... How do you guys like the place?" He asked, "It's actually the fall vacation home of Inquisitor Cattleya. So don't get rowdy and make a mess."

“Fohhn…”

“What in the Warp? I can’t understand you Adrianne, try drinking some water perhaps?” The unintelligible Psycher walked past Aviza quickly into the kitchen where she started to drink both impressive and concerning amounts of water. “I’m not sure if there is a warp portal in your stomach or you are secretly an amphibian but I would be careful with the amount of water you drink, could come right back up and out.” There was also a possibility of dying from drinking too much water but the chances of that were extremely slim. Leaning back into the firm but still extremely comfortable couch, Aviza could no longer feel the ominous aurora that had been radiating from the warehouse. The Adepta Sororitas medic that had been taking care of Aviza and Adrainne was sitting in the living upon a hard wooden chair, her legs were crossed and she was reading the same book for earlier ago. “Sister?” asked Aviza who turned herself slightly on the couch so she would be facing the medic, “What happened to the warehouse we were inside of, the one that was being used by the cult and daemons?” The medic merely smiled and said, “We cleansed it.” Aviza knew what that meant, it meant that they had most likely destroyed it using a high powered explosive.

“Also just to inform you, I have been ordered to stay with all of you until you depart for the party. I will keep my distance and only help when necessary, other than that I will try my best to remain unnoticed.” Aviza shook her head, “Do not worry about remaining unnoticed, I am sure the others will find comfort in the fact that an advanced medical Sister will be here watching over us.” The medic nodded her head twice at Aviza before returning to her book. A couple moments passed before the door to the safe house opened, Aviza was half expecting it to be Superior Canoness Andromedai to enter, but it was none other than Armsmen Stukov. It was painfully clear that he had been sent to a medical facility so that his life could be saved. The application of modifications as well as what seemed to be numerous augmentations were part of the procedure, Aviza kept her mouth shut about this and said “Stukov, it is good to see you my friend, I am glad you made it out of the warehouse alive. Adrainne is in the kitchen imitating a beached whale, I am just resting , and our advanced medic is reading a book next to the fireplace. She will be keeping an eye on us and our health until we depart for our next mission.” Returning to her comfortable position, Aviza leaned once more against the back of the couch and tried to relax, letting her mind wonder.

This did not last long however, for the medic with the book in front of her face said “Aviza and Adrainne, you will find a couple sets of clothes upstairs in your rooms. Since a male has shown up to the safe house, I would recommend picking out an outfit from your room to wear while you relax and spend the day here. There is a dresser in each of your rooms, inside you will find your equipment and armor from the warehouse cleaned and fixed. You will also find three different outfits, one for lounging around here, one for sleeping in, and one for the party of course.” Aviza let out a long yawn stretching her body then letting it once more go limp upon the couch. “I will change in a moment.” In truth, Aviza was putting it off for the moment, her under armor was very comfortable and to lose it would be a shame, then again it did fit rather snug to her slim but well fit body. The door to the safe house opened once more, but this time Zhevon entered and Aviza handed the card to him to read before standing up and stretching once more. Zhevon had promptly shoved his face into one of the bags of groceries he had brought back to the safe house.

“Stay calm and take ahold of yourself, we are only females here and I am sure you have seen worse. ADRAINNE, I am going to go change, maybe you should do the same? Or you could always stay the way you are and bother Zhevon!” For the first time since they had met, Aviza laughed, breaking her militaristic look. The medic would walk over to Zhevon and helped him with the grocery bags, setting them down next to the large container Andromedai had brought them. “Superior Canoness Andromedai has very thoughtfully brought everyone very high quality treats, that is what is inside of the large crate. I was personally ordered by the Canoness to make breakfast and lunch for all of you when you become hungry. To disobey her orders would bring great dishonor down upon me and perhaps even death. I mean no offense in this Inqusitor but you have no choice in the matter, it is going to happen if you like it or not.” The medic was now sharpening a rather ominous looking knife upon a small metal grated stick. Sparks would fly off of it every once in a while as she made sure it was overly sharp. “Go away and relax, I know what I am doing here.” The medic spoke through narrowed eyes. Turning her back to him, she moved over to the refrigerator and started to gather ingredients, using up some of what Zhevon had brought back from the store.

In a short amount of time, the medic showed she not only knew advanced first aid but also how to cook. When Aviza came walking down the stairs in clothes that were merely sweatpants, socks, a shirt and nightware, the smell of something wonderful assaulted her senses. In front of her in the dining room and upon the large hard wood dining table sat a large assortment of food for breakfast that the medic had managed to make in a short amount of time. The state of pure amazement wore off and Aviza quickly finished walking down the rest of the stairs before moving over to the table and taking a seat.

(Foods she made) [+]

= Mocha With regular coffee in the background
= Strawberry pancakes
= French Toast
= Omelet
= Sage fried Chicken and Waffles

Having finished gulping down what could only have been enough water to hydrate half a continent, Adrianne finally shut the kitchen sink and stepped back with a relieved sigh.

"Delicious... " Adrianne muttered along the sigh, before she turned around to scan her surroundings with her purple eyes.

"Where are we anyway?"

"ADRAINNE, I am going to go change, maybe you should do the same? Or you could always stay the way you are and bother Zhevon!"

Initially confused by Aviza's comment, Adrianne narrowed her eyes as she gazed out towards the living room, then to her right, realizing that Zhevon had entered the kitchen while she had been busy with the sink. Eyes widening for a moment when she realized what little she was actually wearing, a thin silk gown that was almost transparent, Adrianne would take a step back before the psyker suddenly disappeared into thin air on the spot, vanishing from sight!

*

Reappearing a split second later back in her new room, Adrianne would look around in a hurry!

"Where is my equipment?!"

It did not take long before she spotted a large, towering dresser made out of ornate, gold painted wood rising up in the corner of her room. Marching over to it with quick, determined steps; she swung the doors wide open to reveal a small arsenal of clothes and civilian paraphernalia contained within.

And lying in the tall side section of the wardrobe would be her old clothes and armor. The metal surface of her armor had been cleaned and polished to the point it was almost gleaming, with little but some old, minor dents and scars across the surface to suggest that the armor had ever been used. The black, metallic spine that ran up along the back of her chestplate laid dormant, the yellow lights emanating from the sides of the vertebraes turned off as the refractor field generator contained within had not been activated.

Bending forward, she found her bio-jumpsuit lying at the bottom of the dresser, neatly packed together in a small bulk.

Holding it up, Adrianne moved to only hold the corner of the suit. A sickly, disgusting sound emanated from the suit as it unraveled itself, as if the pieces had almost melted together. But slowly but surely, the whole jumpsuit would roll out into its full height.

"I guess whoever tried to wash this had no idea what it was made of... " Adrianne commented to herself as she studied her jumpsuit, which while cleaner looked remarkably more disheveled and disfigured. Removing her gown, she would reach into the dresser again.

Finding her ceremonial knife from the wardrobe, Adrianne would make a small incision down the front torso of the suit, cutting the fleshy, brown material apart. With an opening, she would step into it, taking it slow as she gently guided her feet down into it at first, before pulling it up around her body.

Despite having been lying in the dresser for hours, the suit felt wet inside - as it should be. The moment it touched around her naked skin, Adrianne could immediately feel the suit begin to convulse around her body. In areas where there had been pockets of air, the suit would neatly move itself into place, as if it was molding itself to fit her skin. The way it placed itself onto her body was almost like a second layer of skin, a small biting sensation appearing in places as the parasites within the suit made contact with her body. Moving her hands up to her torso, she would grab the two pieces she had cut apart at the frontal torso area before squeezing them together around her chest. As the severed ends of her suit connected and were pressed together, they would slowly meld together, almost like a rapidly healing wound or slow moving liquid.

Adrianne reared her shoulders as she suit latched itself onto her body. It felt tight at first, but it soon became more viscous and stretchy as she began to move around the room, making her last few adjustments.

"I'll never grow out of you, will I?" Adrianne muttered to herself with a smile as she ran a hand across her body and over the surface of the suit, gently grazing the thin metallic threads woven into the organic material.

Reaching into the dresser again, Adrianne contemplated whether or not she should don her full armor. It seemed a little out of place for a minor breakfast or normal dinner meal. But the words of her old mentor crossed her mind in that moment, his favorite motto "better safe than sorry".

Grabbing her armor from the dresser, she would begin to equip it all, which took some minutes as she she had to put it on piece by piece, beginning with her chestplate and greaves, tweaking them in place with a little help from her psychic powers, before putting on her heavy metal greaves and gauntlets. Finally fully equipped with all but her helmet which she held under her arm, she would grab her staff and march down towards the living room where the rest were.

And probably considerably more later than anyone else, as she had spent quite a time getting fully dressed.

"Sorry about that, I can be a little slow in them mornings... it is morni,- wait... " Adrianne suddenly stopped halfway down the stairs, sniffing through the air like a bloodhound that had just caught a scent!

" ... is that... are those strawberry pancakes I smell?!"

Right now, Stukov decided, there was far too much going on for having just effectively hopped off an operating table and rode over here. Sis was bombarding him with info, then Boss waltzes in and the medical Sororitas was going a mile a minute. Coupled with Smiles teleporting, and the sharp increase in grating noise in his head that it generated, a low level of painful feedback kicked in, and he suppressed a pained expression while trying to keep up with everything that had gone on. Some sort of high form party, far above his paygrade (very much like most of this pleasure world had proven to be), and probably requiring some uncomfortable variety of formal wear. Great, and here he thought he could avoid doing that? Before anything else, he turned to Boss and reported, the mechanical tones in his voice breaking up the neutral tone he had before, giving him an odd sort of accent now. "Morning Boss, medicae center got the damage repaired, or replaced what they couldn't fix. Vocal cords included. If I might request, don't put me in any sort of formal wear. The augmatic leg tends to stand out rather sorely. Some fancy place like that would expect fancy replacement parts. Not my brand of repair work, I'm afraid."

Stukov had replaced his breastplate and, as some form of good will gesture from the Sisters, he had a more complete set of Carapace now, including greaves and bracers as well as a more well built breastplate. No helmet still, rebreather hanging around his neck whenever it wasn't in place, and the Galvanic Rifle looped over his shoulder in a carry position. The coat concealed his Naval pistol, which somehow was not only still on him but undamaged, which the Armsman was relieved about. Overtly, very little stood out about his treatments as most of it was internal. His leg needed rewired, apparently something had surged and damaged the connection between replacement limb and flesh. It was still the rather crude twin pieces of metal and a boot like ending, but the Armsman refused anything fancy or elegant. He had put kicks through far tougher material than one would normally consider with that foot, and he wasn't going to pass it up for some fancy thing that fell apart under the slightest level of stress. All the work done was functional over aesthetically pleasing, so it might certainly dehumanize him in the eyes of some, but if it meant still doing his job, perhaps even better than before, all the better for him then, right?

Smiles teleporting created a rather interesting effect in his mind, the residual energy from the move setting off what felt like an ice shard jammed into his brain, numb and painful at the same time. So he only caught bits and pieces of what the medical sister said about food and cooking, barely suppressing the urge to allow a pained expression to bleed through onto his face. Instead he made a beeline for the stairs, making an offhand comment as he walked away, sounding more distant as an subconscious driven aura of cold seemed to form around the Armsman. "Not hungry. Appreciate the gesture though. Sound an alarm if you need me, Boss." Stukov quickly found a room as far away from the rest of the retinue as possible, as far as he was able to tell at any rate from the state of occupancy found by the others. Place was too fancy, too nice, for his tastes. Seems he had found a servants quarters of some sort or another. Far more spartan, utilitarian, and didn't have all the needless fancy garbage. Unslinging his rifle and setting it against the wall before throwing his coat onto a wall hook, he all but collapsed into a chair in front of a bare desk, burying his head into his hands. He was scowling, a low hiss emitting from his throat as he held his head, pushing away the pain and noise through brute force. It was not efficient or effective, really, so it was hard to consider it being any sort of long term solution.

The man was unsure if he had been truthful about not being hungry or not, Stukov knew he hadn't eaten since well before the foundry, but he didn't feel any sense of hunger. Shock, maybe? Not good if it was, he thought grimly, shock would make him far less useful or effective in a combat scenario. Looking up from the desk, and his hands, at the mirror, a thin layer of hoarfrost had formed, and the room felt frigid, well below freezing. No one outside the room, even if they leaned on the door, would notice the temperature shift, but it wasn't the temperature that caught him off guard. It was the feint sapphire glow in his eyes, the ones looking back at him from the mirror, and with a growl his fist slammed into the mirror, thoroughly shattering it and cutting his hand up something fierce. Breathing hard, he withdrew his hand from the now destroyed mirror, the temperature warming up some but still well below the norm for the given area. He needed sleep, food probably, but he was going nowhere right now. Binding his hand, he stood up and crashed on the bed, grunting from the impact. He couldn't sleep, but he stared at the ceiling anyways, avoiding the questions that part of him wanted to ask. Something residual from such a heavily warp infested place was haunting him, he would have to seek out a priest's aid before subjecting himself to that again. That was what he told himself, at any rate, the image of his face, sapphire energy burning in them, refusing to remove itself from his mind, lurking at the back at best.

“Stay calm and take ahold of yourself, we are only females here and I am sure you have seen worse. ADRAINNE, I am going to go change, maybe you should do the same? Or you could always stay the way you are and bother Zhevon!” Aviza laughed, Adrianne then realized what she was wearing in front of Stukov and Zhevon, and promptly disappeared. Likely into her own room to change. Stukov stepped forwards with a face of mild discomfort and spoke,

"Morning Boss, medicae center got the damage repaired, or replaced what they couldn't fix. Vocal cords included. If I might request, don't put me in any sort of formal wear. The augmatic leg tends to stand out rather sorely. Some fancy place like that would expect fancy replacement parts. Not my brand of repair work, I'm afraid." He explained. Zhevon listened closely, the augments must have been installed very recently. Judging by how he seemed unused to his new voice.
"I see." Zhevon replied, eyeing Stukov's new leg and rifle, "No formal suit for you then." He agreed. The Medic assigned to watch over them then approached him and explained that the Canoness had delivered a box of treats, and that she had been tasked to make breakfast and lunch for them. Zhevon said his thanks and was about to offer his help, but stopped when the Medic had begun to sharpen a kitchen knife while insisting that he relax. He got the hint, and went to the couch to sit. Stukov declined the offer of food, instead opting to leave to find solitude. Zhevon understood, augmentation without the proper therapy to ease the patient into the new parts of their own body could potentially be traumatic. And then there was the event of the Factory mission. It was a lot to take in. He sat in silence, closing his eyes and thinking of what to do with the Armsman. Gradually the room smelt of freshly made pancakes, waffles, and other assorted foods. When the Medic finished placing the dishes on the dining table, he moved over there.

From the second floors stairs, Aviza appeared dressed in casual wear, then took a seat. Adrianne was not far behind, albeit dressed in her full equipment.
"Sorry about that, I can be a little slow in them mornings... it is morni,- wait..." She began, stopping mid sentense and halfway down the flight of stairs, " ... is that... are those strawberry pancakes I smell?!"
"Yes, take a seat." He motioned with his gloved hand. In front of him was a plate of toast, a small breakfast. Once she sat down, Zhevon began again, "Now then. Before we go into another mission, I would like to discuss what happened with Armsman Stukov. As we know in the previous mission, he suddenly was blessed by the Emperor with speed and strength." He was much more comfortable now with the women in his squad dressed in more revealing clothing. He poked his toast with his fork, "Captain Horner and I are of the opinion that we need veteran Armsman more than anything else as of the moment." He poked the toast again, and began to slide it around on his plate aimlessly, "I am thinking of allowing Psyker Valenthin to evaluate the extent and potency of the gift, as well as investigating if it is beneficial, or detrimental. Perhaps also providing in-field training if the gift appears to be permanent. Until we know more on the matter." He remembered the attack on the Flame Falcons, a quick decision that ended a thousand space marines, made without all of the evidence possible. Although it was his belief that the decision was too rash, he often wondered what he would do in the Inquisitors place. "I would like your opinions on the matter, Psyker Velenthin, Sister Niskaru.

Adrianne had wasted little time in walking as fast as she could down the stairs, pretending to take her time but obviously hurrying as she rush-walked towards the table.

Sitting down and looking around for a moment when the attention of most of the people in the room was away from here, she would take the opportunity to fill her plate with two large strawberry pancakes droused in no small amount of sugars. With a work and a knife held firmly in her hands, she assaulted the defenseless pancakes with the savagery of a khornate berserker and the precision of a howling banshee, slicing it apart and gobbling it up almost simultaneously; only slowing down whenever she realized someone was looking in her direction before continuing her murderization of the pancake whenever they looked away.

"I would like your opinions on the matter, Psyker Velenthin,"

With a large piece of pancake still in her mouth, Adrianne would immediately pause to look out across the breakfast table at the Inquisitor.

Swallowing the mouthful, Adrianne would place her knife and work back down on the table as she gained a more thoughtful look on her face, realizing that most of the attention in the room was now diverted towards her.

"Hmmm... well." She started, moving the back of her hand up to the bottom of her face as she looked out into nothingness with her purple eyes.

"Unless our armsman is suffering from some kind of curse, spell or possession, any psychic feats done by the man could be a suggestion of a psychic gift which as far as I know - are permanent and lifelong." Adrianned reasoned while looking back at the Inquisitor.
"Most psykers start their training when they are young. At least that's how the institution that I was raised in worked. Not many accept psykers who are already in their adult years... "

Adrianne then paused, playing casually with her fingers against the fork on the table before leaving it in peace.

" ... but I am qualified to tutor and guide fellow psykers, in accordance to the principles of my institute. I could take him under my wing, enabling him to still accompany us, but!"

The psyker would note, raising her hand as she leaned forward across the table.

"People experiencing sudden revelations, such as discovering psychic powers into adulthood, are often shaken by such experiences! Stukov may have taken a physical beating in our last encounter against the cultists, but for an untrained psyker to be in such a close proximity to demons and warpspawns as we were, he may have taken serious mental wounds. And I'm not just talking about his psychic powers. I am referring to his mental health. The dangers of the warp are not only in the physical destruction it can cause or the daemons they can summon forth, but in how they can shatter the sanity of people who come into contact with them. If Stukov really has psychic gifts, it is time we have a group conversation with him!"

“... is that... are those strawberry pancakes I smell?!"

“You would be correct Psyker Velenthin, by order of Andromedai I have created a large and undoubtedly delicious breakfast for all of you to enjoy this morning. Alongside the strawberry pancakes I have made an assortment of other foods that should greatly satisfy everyone here. Please excuse me though, I have a couple of important tasks I must finish before this afternoon.” The medic turned on her right heel and walked out onto the balcony that had an impressive view of a beautiful ocean below. Next to her upon a coffee table was her own breakfast, a cup of hot tea and the book she had been reading since they arrived. Clearly this was not an assignment but the Sister of Battle wanted to give the group some private time alone to speak to each other.

She had also spent over twenty four hours awake with little to no rest while watching over Aviza and Adrainne while they were unconscious. This was her time to relax and recover while watching the rising sun in the distance slowly spread its loving warmth across the land. Golden rays shot up through the fog that slowly burned away and before long the clear blue sky above could be seen. Back inside of the lavish safe house, Aviza slowly sipped the contents from the extremely hot mocha she was enjoying while her French toast that was soaking up the syrup slowly cooled off. Every once in a while she would glance over at Adrainne and observe in disgust but also curiosity at how the woman could down massive pancakes as if they were nothing.

When asked by Zhevon for her opinion on the matter regarding Stukov, Aviza finished her bite of food before speaking. “I have been with the Adepta Sororitas for most of my life and I have never seen anyone discover their warp powers on a scale of that magnitude before. I was half expecting Stukov to explode and take most of the block around the warehouse with him. I have seen that happen before, the warp is too much for them to handle, they reach a breaking point then it is as if a small violet neutron bomb goes off. Alongside random detonations, I have seen Psychers lose their minds not long after they discover their warp powers. I personally witnessed one go insane before opening himself to the warp and becoming a vessel, kind of like what happened back at the warehouse but with a lesser daemon."

"My point being is that until we know he is capable of taking control of his own newly found powers, as well as staying mentally stable, he will remain a threat to not only us but all those around us as well.” Aviza would glance to her left where Adrainne was sitting and place her arm around her shoulders, “I have faith that Psycher Velenthin here can help council and teach Stukov about his new powers. I am just concerned that this may have a heavy effect upon our mission, only time will tell.” Returning to her regular position, Aviza pulled her arm away from Adrainne and returned to her food. “As a side note, we have around eight hours before the party begins and I am contemplating if I want to put on my armor or not as well as what we are going to do with our down time.”

"I should probably go to check with Stukov." Adrianne mentioned as she leaned back in her chair and looked at the others around the table.

"Right now it's most important that he 1. Is Calm, and 2. Learns the truth about what happened at the cultist lair." Adrianne spoke as her eyes slipped up towards the stairs where Stukov had disappeared earlier. Finishing the slice on her plate, Adrianne would rise up from her chair and head towards the kitchen.

"I will go talk to Stukov alone. It's probably for the best before he meets the rest of us."

Adrianne explained, before she ventured out into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Finding a package with two ice cold beers and a package containing a collection of various nuts and fruits, she would venture back into the living room and journey up the stairs as she headed towards the room Stukov had gone to.

Upon reaching the door, Adrianne would pause, taking a moment to lean in and listen towards the other side.

Upon not hearing any audible disturbances or sounds from inside the room, Adrianne would then raise her staff up, her other hand holding the goods she had brought; and knocked on Stukov's door with the head of her staff.

"Stukov, are you in there?" She would ask, leaning towards the door.

"It's Adrianne. Mind if I come in?"

Stukov wasn't asleep, it was unlikely he would be able to sleep soundly for some time to come. He was lost in thought, staring at the ceiling, knowing full well any sane man would rather have him executed then risk an untrained psyker, one who spent more of his life in the warp, exposed to its full effects, than in normal space where most men spent their entire lives fighting, dying, and working for the Emperor. The room was frigid, although he didn't really notice it anymore, it was comfortable more than anything else. A reminder of where he was from, and where he hopefully would die. Out in the void, fighting for the sake of the Imperial Navy's continued success as agents of the Emperor's will. Not at the end of some bolt or las pistol, executed for warp knows what.

The first knock snapped him out of his trance, and he was already on his feet, pistol drawn and aimed at the door. The second knock snapped him back to reality, and he lowered and holstered his sidearm. Of all the people knocking now, Smiles had to come looking for him. Made sense, in a twisted way, and he sat back down on the bed, laying back to stare at the ceiling. His mechanical voice echoed out in response, already knowing why she was here. It didn't take a psyker to know that. "Its unlocked Smiles."

Adrianne's first attempt at the door might prove more difficult than anticipated. That was due to the frost and ice on the interior of the door, fouling the hinges and lock. A hard enough push would break the door free and open, sending a refrigerator like gust of frigid air back out into the house. Once in the room, Adrianne would find the room with frost over several surfaces, including the shattered mirror over a sink, glass and dried blood laying in the sink beneath it. The Galvanic rifle, untouched by the encroaching cold, sat propped up on the wall next to the bed, and Stukov himself was laying in it, facing the ceiling, left hand uninjured but his right hand out of sight. He didn't even shift, still unaware of the items she brought with her.

"Your here to pass judgement on whether or not I'm a walking, ticking time bomb. Doesn't take a psyker to realize that, does it?" Whether he was being sarcastic, or not, was no longer apparent. That level of inflection in his voice was lost, replaced with the machine drone of his augmatic replacement vocal cords. He crossed his arms over his chest, right hand clearly bandaged, and he added on a piece of clarifying information. "I'm not possessed, I know the symptoms. Yet Boss is the only reason the Sisters haven't marched up here and executed me already, I imagine. Can't blame them, not really."

Stepping into the room, Adrianne would notice the cool temperature of the place as soon as she entered.

The frigid air was stopped by her suit, though easily made its way to the exposed skin on her face. Gazing forward, Adrianne would notice Stukov lying in his bed, his surroundings and parts of the man himself covered in layers of frost. Had he been sitting upright, he would have almost looked like a kind of frozen king, sitting lonely on his throne.

"Your here to pass judgement on whether or not I'm a walking, ticking time bomb. Doesn't take a psyker to realize that, does it?"

Adrianne merely smiled at Stukov despite his grim comment, walking into the room and closing the door behind her.

"We are all ticking time bombs in the fight against chaos, psyker or not. Do not forget that it is not psykers, but normal men that makes up the vast majority of the legions of chaos." Adrianne spoke with a calm voice, stepping over to the bed and pulling a chair with her.
"But, then again, it is normal for the majority to blame the minority when they feel at unease, to concentrate the collective guilt on a select few. It helps put their minds at rest."

Sitting down in the metal chair next to the bed, Adrianne would notice the biting cold that had entered the metallic structure, but did not pay it much attention. Instead, she held up the package of the two beers so that Stukov could see them.

"I brought you something to drink." She explained with a soft smile, before tilting her head slightly and looked towards Stukov's throat.
"I do hope your new augmentations allow for the consumption of food and drink, and that we won't fry any circuitry."