[IC] Warhammer 40,000 - Chasing Chaos

[Rithy]

As Ben left to walk down the corridor, Adrianne stood still as a statue; her skeletal max simply fixed in the direction of Ben. But secretly, on the inside of her suit and armor, the woman was literally fuming! Ben's audacity to speak in such a way about her, questioning her control over her very powers to such an extent was nothing short of infuriating!

"Woe betide you, petty man. As soon as we are out of these cursed halls, I'll show you 'how little control I have over my powers'!"

The fingers in Adrianne's left hand were literally twitching as the psyker watched Ben's back, genuinely considering the option of using her powers to throw the man out the nearest window!
But, the danger such a rash action could cause Zhevon, alongside Stukov's attempt to mediate the situation was enough to dissuade Adrianne from exacting rightful vengeance on the feeble minded soldier - for the moment...

"The concern goes likewise. Do not get yourself killed." Adrianne would finally take a deep breath and turn to Stukov, nodding emphatically in return to the armsman. She choose to keep her speech short, lest her anger towards Ben be made too obvious in the presentation of her words.

She could appreciate Stukov's concern for her safety, and willingness to stick one out for her should something happen. The only thing the psyker doubted however was the man's ability. He was, after all, a mere man with no unique affinity for the warp. What resistance could he ever mount against a sizable challenge posed by the menacing energies of the warp that wouldn't just tear Stukov apart?

Supposedly the man had survived an entire ship that had been lost and devoured by the warp, so perhaps there was a spark in him, somewhere.

Watching Zhevon, now followed by Ben and Stukov as they all walked down the pathway in what could only be described as the most frightening conga line ever, Adrianne recognized that the time of idleness as up as she would eventually have to move as well.

"Sometimes I hate this job... "

Closing her eyes, Adrianne would take a deep breath, pausing, before exhaling. She would repeat this four times, feeling her thoughts, both hopes and fears evaporate from her mind.

As her mind was sufficiently empty, she would take the first step down the pathway, eyes still closed behind her mask and with her staff clutched tightly in her right hand. She walked down the path with the same tranquility of mind as that of a prisoner on her way to the gallows who had made her peace. There was no fear, no doubt, no second thoughts. The world could have ended at that moment, but she still would not have cared. The physical world, with all its drama and concerts of revolution mattered not in her mind.

Everything was quiet - until she stepped past the first row of statues. As her body passed the first set, it was as if she was met by a physical wall that immediately slowed her down, hitting her body like a heavy wave! Staggered but not broken, Adrianne would finish her step before walking onward.

Around her, the voices that had been mere whispers earlier at the entrance of the gallery were now screaming like a pit of a thousand mouths! But the orgy of screams was muffled outside of her head, sounding to her as if she was underwater. But despite the clarity and emptiness provided by her meditative trance, she could still feel some of the voices breaking through her head.

"Cast off your shackles, young one. You deserve your freedom!"
"Do not waste your potential serving an archaic order - you were born for greater things!"
"You are a puppet, Valenthin. A petty slave!"
"They have blinded you, child. They have taken away your destiny! How could you have let this happen?!"
"Come back to us. We still remember you. We forgive you. You will always be welcome, at Mordran V... "

"I will not waste my attention listening to inferior life forms. Your destruction is the proof of my supremacy. I walk forever forward without regrets, never looking back, while you are but faded memories, the only thing left behind in my wake."

The voices were all familiar to her. She had heard them before. Somewhere far, far away.

But she did not listen. She choose not to. She had defied them once before, and she would do so again. But though she choose to ignore them, it still felt as though the very fabric of time and space was shifting in the room as she walked through it!

She could feel energies coursing through the air around her, powerful sources of arcane might long hidden from the world. A low hum emanated from the staff in her hand, as if it was attracting the very energies of the room! Indeed, she felt like a conduit, attracting to herself the wild and chaotic energies that had once laid dormant around her! It was an exhilarating feeling. She felt renewed, as if someone had just stabbed a needle of adrenaline straight through her body! Her mind began to become unquiet, as an urge grew inside of her. She wanted to lash out against the petty voices of the room, to use their own power against them by demolishing the entire hallway!

Her fingers gripped ever harder around the handle of her staff, holding the wood with an unnatural strength that made the very structure creak! One could start to see small, purple lights appear even through the shaded visors of the skeletal eyes sockets of her helmet! Fueled by the energies around her, Adrianne felt unstoppable. Every being of her body wanted to just release her powers, but she choose to defy her instinct!

"No, I'll make it to the end... fifth statue, that's the fifth row. We'll get there, yes, we will... "

[Skyrte]

Zhevon reached the end of the hallway and opened the door, throwing caution to the wind he walked in without checking if anyone was inside. Fortunately, nobody was inside. He planted the tip of his sword into the floor and leaned on it, panting. He blinked several times and looked at his hands. No snakes. Which was good. He looked back through the open door and saw the others following, in order it was Ben, Stukov, and Adrianne as the rearguard. He took a second to gather himself, looking around. This corner room was similar to the lobby, suits of ancient armor standing by the walls, more shields and trophies on the walls. More glass cases, there were some tables. Perhaps this is where people would mingle and lounge.
He looked back to the hallway and opened his vox to his team.
"You can pick up the pace a little bit, they seem less aggressive than the others." He said to them, he leaned to the left to check on Adrianne. She had glowing purple eyes behind her mask. Zhevon muttered a curse, what these statues lacked in aggressive behaviour, at least one of them made up for cunning. A statue, or maybe multiple statues were pumping power into her staff, and thus power into her. If she released a bit of that power it would agitate the pack and bring them all upon them. He then checked on the Veteran and the Armsman, they were doing very well. He had seen an entire squad of Stormtroopers driven mad by the same creatures, causing the statues to screech with anger and then lunge into attack. He spoke again, "Come on, just a bit more. You're doing good."

[Lotta Pumpkins]

Ben would step out after Zhevon, and breathe a sigh of relief. He reached up, and wiped his face, and took a deep breath. Then he looked at the Inquisitor and stepped forward, he didn't have long.

"Sir, we need to reign in the psyker. Her behavior is unacceptable. If she was in the Guard, she'd have been shot already. Now I know, I understand we are not in the guard anymore. But her flippant attitude is going to fill bodybags soon. She was ready to try and warpstep us from there to here, with complete disregard for the fact that we just walked through a hallway of who knows what the fuck. She thought you were going to get killed in the cafe, and dropped Stukov 10 feet off the ground. He's lucky nothing broke. She can't use her powers responsibly, she thinks too highly of herself, " Ben would turn and look down the hallway and the approaching pair "And look at her staff, she can't control herself here. For her safety, and ours, and more importantly, this planet's, we need her under control. We need to be able to trust her. And from what I've seen today, I cannot trust her in combat if she's as likely to drop us behind the enemy's position as she would deposit us in it. If you want to disregard my opinion, so be it. But for the safety of this group, I had to speak it."

[Eisenhorn]

Stukov stumbled out of the tunnel, ears ringing from the volume that the voices had left in his ears, enough so he missed anything that Watchman had to say on the matter of Smiles and her situation as the resident psyker of the group. Emperor preserve him he hated whenever the Warp was involved in such a manner. That kind of devil trickery only served to damn good men to their deaths and worse, and for some damned reason it left him shaken on a mental level, they knew far too much to just be random daemons. Or they were random daemons and could look into their minds, pick out the best methods of corruption and turn them on the group. But he looked from Boss, to Watchman and back before pushing himself off the wall he was leaning against and brushing off his coat, thankful for the rebreather and eye protection masking any real reaction so far. "Gentleman, I suggest we NOT go out that way, if at all possible?"

Taking a chance to properly take in his surroundings, the Armsman turned to look back into the corridor, including the power channeling through Smiles. Well, that probably wasn't a good sign. If those statues went active it would be a very bad day. However, he had an idea if that went south that should be far more efficient then blasting the statues to pieces, and spoke back to the Inquisitor as he voiced his idea. "Those things go active, Boss, you might have some luck with that null rod. Daemons tend to vanish fast if something disrupts their connection, in my experience at any rate. Might be faster then blowing the statues to pieces, at any rate." True to his word, however, if it looked like Smiles was going to need a hand he was ready to go moving back in there if at all necessary. Even if that meant subjugating himself to that damned Warp cursed corridor of statues all but screaming into his ears again, and he muttered to himself as he stood by for the last of their group to be out. "Damn things didn't need to be that loud..."

[Rithy]

"Screwthis-screwthis-screwthis-screwthis-emperor dammit!"

Behind her mask, Adrianne was literally grinding her teeth together. The voices were mounting to an almost unbearable level, drowning out even her own thoughts! It became impossible to think, every attempt to visualize a topic or theme was immediately shattered by the chorus of nagging voices that came from every direction!

It was enough to almost drive her insane!

But then, without warning, they all ceased. The world became silent as a graveyard. And by the Emperor, it was a relief to hear nothing at all!

"Yes, at last! Peace! Oh blessed, I can hear my own thoughts again!"

However, what was unknown to Adrianne's mind was the fact that she had lost consciousness and collapsed right after crossing the last set of statues, and faceplanted right between the rest of the party standing at the doorway!

*BONK*

The psyker simply lay on the dusty floor for a couple of seconds, seemingly unconscious and not moving an inch. But just as quickly as she had been to pass out, her fingers lying limpy around her staff began to twitch before Adrianne reared her helmet to look up and around her at the rest of her group. The purple lights in her eyes seemed to have faded, replaced by the old darkness of her shaded visors behind the skull.

"Wait, what happened?"

After what seemed like a moment of confusion, Adrianne would shake her head.

"That hallway... wasn't so bad." She would eventually mutter through her mask, shaking her head. Fortunately for her, her helmet and armor had taken most of the brunt of her fall. What her armor had not managed to save however, was her pride...

"I hate blackouts!"

[WardenCelestine]

Aviza Niskaru

Freire II, a planet of unparalleled beauty and entertainment that stretched out across vast oceans and islands that covered its face. Many would call this a Pleasure World but for one Adeptus Sororitas known as Aviza that found herself stranded upon the planet’s surface, there was no pleasure to be found. It was hard to deny the fact that occasionally this Sister of Battle could be found on some of the islands that she disliked less than others, but corruption and sin ran rampant, unchecked and unpunished. How she had been assigned to Freire was beyond her, maybe it was because she made a mistake somewhere down the line, maybe she just had poor luck, or maybe for another reason. Surely a veteran Adeptus Sororitas such as herself would be placed somewhere in a battle or hostile area? Sadly the answer was no. She was stationed there for now, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it for the time being.

On the largest of the many islands upon Freire, the island laj held a vast city full of a wide variety of entertainment that one could indulge themselves in. Among the many occupants of the island was Aviza, patrolling the pathed streets below her feet, watching, judging, and mentally taking notes on all who passed by her with a fire behind her blue eyes. Occasionally, when someone was drunk, high, or a combination of the both, she would have to deliver a non-lethal swift blow to incapacitate whoever has harassing her. For a large amount of the time she spent patrolling, she wore her helmet, keeping her identity and face hidden from the degenerates that wondered the planet's surface. The only place of solace that she could find was the cathedral, quite a distance away from where she currently walked. It was shortly after 12:00PM when Aviza, clad in her full Adeptus Sororitas powerarmor, walked down the main street that lead to the docking bay for the island laj, stopping at a Cafe named the Die Hungrigen Wolf, well known for its cheap and high quality food.

The metal door to the Die Hungrigen Wolf swung open loudly, making an horrific scraping sound as it ran along the floor beneath it. Aviza tried to close the door quietly, but to no avail. An old man nearing the age of eighty five placed a hand on Aviza's left shoulder, guiding her to an empty seat. "Please, come and sit, relax and I will get you something to eat and drink, I know what you order every time you are here." The man hurried off into the kitchen before yelling and someone being hit with what sounded like a metal cane could be heard. Shortly after, he returned to Aviza and took a seat across from her, smiling softly and kindly at her. "My favorite Adeptus Sororitas, how are you Aviza?" he asked while cupping his hands over his left knee. "I am doing exactly the same since we last talked, Mr. Panzer." The old man frowned at Aviza, "We can't have that, here we go, eat some schnitzel and drink, you will feel better."

Aviza looked around the room and noticed it was empty, something she very rarely saw. A while would pass while the two of them talked about the old days when he was a younger man, one that fought with the Imperium of Man, but those days were long gone. The only price he asked for was that Aviza returned again tomorrow or as soon as she could, which she was happy to do. Standing up, Aviza thanked the old man for his company, the food, the drink, and for the stories of days long past. The door shut behind her with the same horrific scraping sound, "He really needs to get that fixed." she thought to herself before grabbing onto her helmet and placing it back onto her head, fixing it into place so that it would not move. In the distance, not far from where she stood, a strange occurrence unfolded before her. A group made up of what seemed to be a very unlikely set of thieves broke into the War Memorial Art Gallery, and shut the door behind them.

Inquisitor Zhevon Amoxa - The Gallery

Zhevon listened to Bens concerns, keeping his eyes on the rest of the team. When he brought up her intention to teleport past the statues, Zhevon looked at the Veteran. Thankfully she did not. That would have angered them right away. "I will keep your concerns in mind Sergeant Duren." He replied, "But do not act on assumptions, have some faith. If she were not a capable Psyker, she would not be on my team." Zhevon nevertheless placed his hand on top of his nullrod, despite being quick on its draw, he did it to ease Ben a little. The next to arrive was Stukov, "Gentleman, I suggest we NOT go out that way, if at all possible?" He said, "Those things go active, Boss, you might have some luck with that null rod. Daemons tend to vanish fast if something disrupts their connection, in my experience at any rate. Might be faster then blowing the statues to pieces, at any rate.""The statues are more bound to the material realm than most other Daemons." He explained, keeping his eyes on Adrianne, who was nearing the end of the hallway. As soon as she exited the hallway, she collapsed with a thud. Zhevon took his hand off his Nullrod and looked at her while she was on the floor, and then at Stukov and Ben, then back at Adrianne. "Uh..." She then woke up, "That hallway... wasn't so bad. She mutttered. Zhevon let out a small 'heh', "Walking by a pack of Saint. Ives' Statues is always bad, for anyone." He assured, he knelt down next to her, ready to help her up.

Aviza Niskaru

Aviza was many things, but she was not about to just let some honorless thieves break into an art gallery, even more so one that is a War Memorial Art Gallery. Grabbing onto her custom bolter, she ran towards the War Memorial Art Gallery and quickly but gently opened the main door and entered. Once the door was shut behind her, she readied herself for combat and took a right, heading down one of the hallways. When she came to one of the halls filled with statues, the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up, and an uncomfortable feeling flooded her body. She could see the group at the end of the hallway and slowly took a couple steps forward, not far from where they stood. Only a couple seconds would pass before something or someone started to whisper to her, she could not tell what was being said but something else caught her caught her attention at this moment. The eyes of the statues started to glow an inveigling pink, then began to move into a rhythmic dance. Without hesitation, she raised her bolter, and fired at one of them, at burst of light illuminating the hallway.

Inquisitor Zhevon Amoxa - The Gallery

Zhevon glanced down the hallway to check on the statues. Sometimes they were known to pursue whomever had passed them, he was just making sure. At the other end of the hallway, he saw an armored clad woman. He did a double take, "What the f-" He saw her raise her bolter, "Oh sh-" As soon as the bolt shell flew out of the barrel, he sprung into action. With haste, he had his nullrod in hand and switched on. The statue recoiled as the shell impacted with its right breast, severing its right arm. The arm became dull in color, and shattered into dust as soon as it hit the ground. The statue screeched in an inhuman anger. Where its right arm and breast was, a semitransparent pink ghastly arm formed.

Cheating! No shooting!

The other thirty nine statues repeated the words, and began to leap off their statues, their once grinning faces now twisted into scowls.

As Zhevon slid the nullrod across the hallway floor, he barked out orders, "No teleporting!" He said, specifically to Adrianne, "Stukov, Duren, cover!"

As the nullrod passed by the statues, they recoiled in pain, some falling off their pedestals, others shielded themselves with their hands. Zhevon darted back into the hallway, there were no more whispers now. Now there were only screeches of anger. He activated his power sword and sliced the leg off of a statue to his right. It fell over, but quickly regained its footing with a newly created, ghostly pink leg. Zhevon had no time to stop however, he continued, sprinting past several other statues. "Aim for their heart!" He yelled back to Stukov and Ben. As if in demonstration, he raised his offhand and fired his inferno pistol at another statue to his left, in a burst of bright blue heat, it's right torso melted into slag. But what was revealed, was a small pink gem, the size of a small tin. Zhevon twisted left, switching off his sword. The edge of the blade cut about halfway into the gem, and with a small amount of effort, he pried the gem out of its body, the gem still stuck on Zhevon's sword. It yelled in defiance. Zhevon twisted right and replied by smashing the pink stone into the face of statue on his right, shattering the gem into two. The statue with its gem now destroyed quickly became colorless and brittle, it then fell over and as it hit the ground, turning into a pile of dust.

Only 39 to go.

Aviza Niskaru

"What the fu...what the fuc...what the actual fuck!” yelled Aviza from under her helmet and into her com while she emptied round after round into the statues with anger and disgust that few had rarely seen, or lived to talk about.

[Rithy]

The moment Zhevon activated his null-rod next to them, it was as if a wave of emptiness suddenly washed over Adrianne! It was as if a dark hole had been created in her chest, an empty, spreading void that devoured all her will and vigor. Her instincts immediately screamed at her, urging her to get as far away from the item as possible, to run straight in the opposite direction.

Fortunately however, Zhevon would soon throw the rod in the direction of the stone daemons. It did not take long for it to pass out of effective range, and the moment it did, it was as if a pang of energies shot straight back into her body like a shot of adrenaline!

"No teleporting!"

"Of course, the inquisition never flees in the face of impossible odds." Adrianne remarked somewhat sarcastically as the psyker staggered back onto her feet. But when she finally managed to stand up and turned around, she was rather surprised by the sheer amount of daemonically possessed stone constructs that now filled the room, a large amount of which were coming straight for them!

"Appears that I have some demolition work to do. I can't say I ever liked the architecture of this place anyway. It's due a makeover!"

"Stand back!" Adrianne would soon instruct her allies, motioning for them to stand back with her left arm as she stepped forward towards the incoming horde of stone constructs.

"I'll send them straight back to the warp!"

The magical atmosphere in the room had changed completely ever since the statues had become enraged. Tainted, chaotic energies now flowed freely throughout the room, some of them entering her body as the statues closed in. Holding her staff forward with her right hand, she faced it towards the first line of statues as they came leaping towards her.

Closing her eyes, she took a moment to open herself up, drawing on the arcane energies in the room without hesitation.

Yet when she would raise her staff, it was as though all the sound in the room became muffled! The sound of shattering statues, cries and bolter fire disappeared completely - until Adrianne smashed the bottom of her staff down into the ground at her feet! As the bottom of her staff hit the floor, the muffling effect would evaporate from the room, only to be replaced by a thunderous shockwave that centered out from Adrianna's position!

The floor tiles were shattered to pieces, blowing gusts of dust up into the air! The grand windows that had once stood proudly on the wall were annihilated into millions of miniature pieces! Most of the shockwave traveled down the hallway, meeting the incoming wave of roaring statues! As the shockwave met the stone bodies of the first row, they were disintegrated into a rain of rocks that flew with the wave! The next wave of statues were blown away, tossed back into the other side of the hallway!

The destructive shockwave would dissipate almost halfway into the hall, leaving behind a wake of devastation in the hallway! The floor was ravaged, walls had been torn inside out, windows gone, and a thick cloud of impenetrable dust now hovered in the middle of the room.

But perhaps more curiously, the laws of gravity itself seemed to have been distorted at the area of the cast. At their end in the hallway, the stones thrown into the air by the shockwave did not fall, but instead remained in the air - floating around the group. Motes of dust swirled around the air, going both up and down with no clear direction or pull. Anyone standing in the area could feel a strange sensation, as if gravity was turned on and off around various limbs with complete randomness, causing arms and weapons to become light as feather one moment, and heavy as stone the next!

"That should slow them down! But the rest will soon be upon us!" Adrianne called back to Zhevon, fully expecting the remainder of the stone statues to charge out of the dust cloud any moment now! But she paused, turning instead to stare at Zhevon.

" ... the madwoman with the bolter at the other end, what should we do about her?"

[Eisenhorn]

Stukov hadn't a chance to kneel down to help Smiles back onto her feet as she picked herself up, and he looked down the corridor as he saw the power armored woman leveling a heavily modified looking bolter at a statue, and sighed and muttered to himself as the first round departed the weapon, replacing the ammunition with blessed slugs instead of buckshot, since it looked like he would not be storming the corridor, but aiming for more precise work. "Emperor preserve us, arrogant zealot is going to make this difficult." His grenades would not be useful, either since blinding wouldn't work, or the Inquisitor was in blast radius of the concussive force. As he took a kneeling position and careful aim, Smiles stepped forward and began channeling some warp trickery before launching off her powers, before launching a shockwave that sent his coat billowing as he thanked the Emperor for the rebreather and eye protection to prevent what little chips of tiles and glass ended up heading his way. He responded to Boss' command as he took aim, the shockwave done with now. Covering fire aye, Boss. Watchman, I'll prioritize close range targets.

Watching the statues get demolished and thrown back, the Armsman timed his fire carefully to avoid risking friendly fire in the direction of the Inquisitor. He was far less concerned with any accidental slugs hitting the Sororitas, having I.D.'d the armor before the dust bowl was kicked up by Smile's attack. It was kind of hard not recognizing all the gaudy color schemes and designs that they favored so much. While still well armed and armored, he did not hold much respect for the group typically, as their blind zealotry tended to create the very same damned situations they found themselves in now. Shoot first, ask questions later, and scream in horror as they unleash some daemonic threat someone who was looking two steps in front of them might have seen. The question Smiles posed about dealing with the madwoman got a half shrug as Stukov ducked his head back, reloading the shtogun as he spoke. "Remind me to get a better long range weapon for future work, eh Watchman? And you can make that damned zealot's head pop for all I care Smiles, let's get these damned statues cleaned out first!"

[Shadowman215]

James was leading the Sororitas Sister as she strode about, one of that nature and armament was bound to be a problem quickly after she saw the retinue enter the Museum.

As predicted, she entered the museum after them, unable to get the message out in time he simply followed her in his scope, waiting to fire. She was not part of the assigned retinue and was therefore a viable casualty in his eyes. However, as shit hit the fan inside the museum, James's mind diverted from the Sister and began picking off any statues he saw moving towards the retinue. Though he only took down one or two before the psyker did a number on the area. "Psyker how stupid are you? You no doubt just pissed off every tainted thing within the area. I do not have the ammo for this kind of prolonged combat." then he found the frequency the Sister was on and began to speak with the most commanding tone he could muster. "Sister of the Adeptus Sororitas, I am James Mathias Dyrdunn of the Officio Assassinorum, Temple Vindicare, you are firing on an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor of the Imperium and are ordered to stand down at once, failure to comply will result in your immediate execution. Do not test me, I never fail." He sound commanding, but as cold as ice as he spoke. He did not care what the Psyker or the Sister thought of him, all he needed for each was one shot anyway. Now he kept scanning the area, waiting for more statues, more daemons to purge. Also sometimes peeking at the Sister and Psyker, waiting for one of them to make another dumb decision that endangers the life of the entire retinue. Each moment felt like a few hours to him as he waited. Each corner seemed to hide a possible threat, his finger waited to squeeze the trigger and earn a few more kills for the night.

Tonight was a glorious night to purge.

[Lotta Pumpkins]

Ben looked at the psyker as she collapsed. He took a step to help her, when the Sister stepped into the hallway. He looked her, and his brow furrowed. "Who?" Was all Ben had time to say before she leveled her weapon and blew a statue apart. Zhevon was shouting things, and the statues screeched.

"Stulov, Duren, cover!"

The nullrod was sliding down the hallway. Time slowed down for Ben, his heart pounding in his ears. He stepped into the doorway, in the wake of the psyker's blast. Anyone who was concerned with the gallery, would know about them being here now. A statue lunged at Ben, and he raised his pistol in response. Ben felt his heartbeat in his wrist. He smelled the dust in the air, and saw small pieces on tile bouncing off the wall. Ben looked into the eyes of the statue and saw the skin flaying off his body. He saw his organs being removed one by one, but he was still alive. He saw the the death of the galaxy.

Ben pulled the trigger, closing his real eye, while his bionic eye immediately compensated for the incredible flash of bright light. The first 'bolt' hitting the chest of the statue and causing the statue to immediately crumble as the intense heat scorched the chest to ash, and baked the entire chest into a brittle and weak clay.

The statue kept coming, and Ben could smell the overwhelming earthy scent of burning clay. He smelled ash. Ben's stepped into a fullbore punch into the chest of the Statue, his metal arm pulverizing the stone and gem into dust.

The statue crumbled, and Ben turned to the others, and raised his plasma pistol, firing down the hallway. "I hear you, drop." Ben said to the armsman. "What I wouldn't give for my powerfist right now, or a bolter like hers." He muttered aloud. The plasma pistol was requiring two shots to take down a statue, the first one weakening the chest, and the second one obliterating the gem.

Ben turned to Adrianne and Stukov. "Advance! Press the Advantage! Don't let the Inquisitor cut himself off! Break through!" The ghost of Sergeant Duren was back, urging soldiers onward into the cauldron of war against the many foes of man. And where else would you find a leader of men, but at the front, as Ben advanced just behind Zhevon, plasma pistol firing.

[Rithy]

"I do not have the ammo for this kind of prolonged combat."

"Then save them. I have my own ammo, and it's INFINITE!" Adrianne answered James as she literally screamed into the comm, not caring whether anyone else heard her.

The otherwise monotony of her daily life had finally been broken, and now she had an excuse to finally unleash her powers, foregoing any restraint! It was an exhilarating sensation to feel the powers of the warp course through her veins, and now; she did not have to contain any of it, but instead could let it all rip!

And there were a lot of statues. A lot!

The way the statues charged into battle could not really be described as a unified or coordinated charge, but rather as a loose collection of ravenous individuals who competed to get into the fray first - not at all above pushing or jumping over their destroyed comrades to reach the group!

The group would never have had the sheer firepower enough to keep them all at bay, if it had not been for Adrianne's destructive shockwave, and consecutive psychic blasts which she cast in front of them, pushing the statues away like a bunch of ragdolls!

As she unleashed another impenetrable wave of force energies, pushing six of the statues back and into the rest of their kin, one of them managed to slip around to the side, dodging the wave before leaping towards Adrianne! But as the ferocious statue flew through the air, its arms extended like claws and ready to pounce, it would suddenly stop in the middle of the air as Adrianne raised her staff towards it; catching it in a telekinetic grip right in the middle of the air!

The statue remained in the hair, hovering as it was stuck in Adrianne's psychic grip; before the psyker swiped her staff to the side, and flung the statue with it, and sent it flying through the corridor to crash into another one of its kin. The collision caused both of the statues to explode into a shower of fine pebbles and rocks, showering into the wall like a makeshift shotgun and cut the drapery apart!

"This is not going to work. We need something stronger!"

There were far too many statues in the room, and Adrianne feared that one of the statues would get lucky before they could ever manage to gun them all down!

"Hold them back. I'll create a vortex, but I'll need some time to finish the cast!" Adrianne called out to the rest of her team over her comm system as the psyker stepped back towards the group, before holding her staff up towards the center of the room.

Twenty feet ahead, in the center of the great corridor where the vast majority of the statues were still located; the clouds of dust began to swirl around a certain point in the air. The pull was subtle at first, but rapidly grew stronger as the seconds passed! While at first only the dust had been light enough to be pulled into singularity, soon the heavier rocks and loose tiles began to lift up into the air to spin around the miniature vortex as well! The nearest statues could feel a pull that was growing stronger around them, beginning to lift some of them up and pull them towards the center of the strange phenomenon. The visors between the eye sockets of her skeletal mask were now glowing bright purple once again, and anyone nearby could feel an overwhelming, almost sickening sensation that seemed to pulse out from her position like a twisted aura, amplifying whatever whispers that were already in the air a tenfold!

Adrianne was about to cast a Vortex of Doom!

[Eisenhorn]

Stukov barked back over the vox as the sniper chewed the Psyker out, rather unfairly in this case. Soon as the Sister opened fire, and the statues lost their cool, odds were they had all been rumbled anyways. He rebutted as the fighting continued and he paused to reload, ducking his head as he did so to allow fire over him without having to worry about getting his head shot off from behind, or from the Sister in front of them continuing to fire. "Snipes, if the bolter fire, screaming, and statues losing all sense of coy manipulation didn't tip off the rest of the blasted area than I highly doubt that the shockwave is seriously going to create many more problems at this point. Let's get out of this damned place in one piece, assign blame later." He saved the few remaining blessed slugs and buckshot he had left, considering these statues were, as Boss said, more grounded in the physical than immaterial. So it wouldn't matter nearly as much that there was active, holy disruption ripping through since once the crystal was gone, they were done. That, and he just did not have that much specialty ammo compared to contemporary.

The blinding fire from the pistol, Stukov noted, should have been, well, blinding. But the eye protection he was wearing seemed to flare into near darkness and return after the flash was gone, preventing him from being blinded. Stukov had been unaware of that little feature in the shades, so all the better as he couldn't decide whether Watchman punching a statue through the chest was sheer adrenaline on his part or something else. Either way, question later, fight now. It took the Armsman about three rounds, buckshot or slug, to punch through and destroy the crystal on one of these statues, demonstrated on the next one that charged him as he brought the weapon up again as the revolving cylinder snapped into place. First shot kicked into his shoulder and propelled the buck into its chest, second and third also both on target. The third punched through the failing stone and broke the crystal apart quite enough to disrupt its control, sending it to the ground and shattering into pieces. Which barely gave Stukov time to get a snap shot off to knee cap another assailing statue immediately behind it.

"Shit..." The next two rounds would not be good enough to put down the statue, but he had a plan to make up for that. He pumped the last two loads of buckshot into the damned statue's chest before throwing the shotgun back on its sling, drawing Foehammer and putting a slug clean through its chest. THAT put it down, and he lashed out with his bionic lower leg to trip up the next statue, reloading Foehammer with another slug and firing it into the back before bringing his bionic foot down through its chest cavity, smashing stone and crystal in one, very final thud. Re-holstering Foehammer, he saw the well of warp energy forming and unslung his shotgun, reloading as he kept by the Inquisitor, as Watchman had sounded off in orders, dropping to a kneeling stance again and opening fire, burning through ammo at a healthy rate. Might need to start looting for more weapons, at this rate, since it was clear this place was defended. Might be a conventional armory, or even a working piece amongst the weapons displayed. Ammo would still be a problem, but he would burn that bridge when he got there. "Watch your spacing! Got another warp trick building!"

[Skyrte]

"That should slow them down! But the rest will soon be upon us!" Adrianne yelled to Zhevon, but he had already dived into the dust cloud, bits of tile and glass peppering his coat. He kept his eyes peeled for the signature glowing pink eyes of the statues and attacked where he saw them as he sprinted towards the other end. He heard Adrianne's voice through the vox. "...The madwoman with the bolter at the other end, what should we do about her?"

"They can't see past their nest, I'll get her out of the hallway! Everyone else should get out as well!" He replied, ducking under a stone fist. As the dust settled, the statues began to speed up again.
Another voice crackled through the vox, it was James, his Vindicare. "Psyker how stupid are you? You no doubt just pissed off every tainted thing within the area. I do not have the ammo for this kind of prolonged combat."
"Then save them. I have my own ammo, and it's INFINITE!" Adrianne yelled back.

"Pick your shots carefully James, only fire if needed!" He replied to the assassin, "And don't insult the Psyker." He added, glancing back at his team. They had come after, which he half expected. With the rug now in shambles, he twisted and slid on the dusty floor for about a meter, ducking under a swipe, he brought his inferno pistol up and blasted a Statue in the chest, throwing it back several feet. That's when he noticed the small whirlwind of dust. It quickly gained traction, as rocks and pebbles was brought into the whirlwind. He narrowed his eyes. The whirlwind was vaguely familiar, he had seen many psyker abilities over the years, and he had seen this particular one a few times before. Then he recalled that Adrianne said something about a vortex. That jotted his memory.
"No vortexes!" He said over the vox, fearing that it would tear the walls right out and reveal a new foe. He glanced behind him to check on their new guest, he was close enough to yell at her, but the problem was the twelve or so Statues between him and her. "Nevermind! A small one, tiny vortex!" He said to Adrianne. Several of the Statues noticed the Inquisitor and turned their attention to him. He turned to face his new aggressors, the first lunged right at him. Zhevon expertly dodged the attack by ducking under the statue, it's momentum sending it right into the growing vortex in the middle of the room.
Zhevon looked at the Sister and yelled at her, "Get out of the hallway! They won't chase you there!" He turned off the power field on his sword and stabbed it into the ground, the blade cutting into the floor fairly well, giving him an anchor.

[WardenCelestine]

Aviza snapped from one statue to the next only pausing for a second or so before she opened fire once more onto another one of the statues. They would ignite in a brilliant white flame that illuminated the hallway before turning to ash upon the decorated tile floor beneath them. Everything around her was happening so very quickly that she barely had time to react. The dirt and the dust upon the ground started to move away from her slowly as if being pulled into a vacuum. Looking down to the end of the hall that was filled with murderous statues from the warp, she saw Adrianne, and quickly braced herself upon the floor after watching the motions that the Pysker was doing with her hands. She wasn’t exactly sure, but she thought she could see the shockwave travel across the ground, creating a ripple in the air before hitting her head on. Everything had gone completely silent, as if going deaf after an extremely loud explosion. What happened next even caught Aviza off guard, who merely brought her weapon back up and started to shoot at the statues that were floating in some sort of zero-g field behind her. The amount of destruction and carnage that one person could cause with a simple cast was quite impressive, at least to Aviza. Her hearing came back all at once, causing her to jump ever so slightly as more gunfire echoed through the building.

It was at that moment that she heard a man speak to her in a cold, serious tone, threatening her life if she did not cease fire immediately because of that fact that an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor of the Imperium and that she was shooting at him. “James Mathias Dyrdunn of the Officio Assassinorum, Temple Vindicare.” She responded in the same hostile and cold tone while switching her ammo, “I am Aviza Niskaru of the Adeptus Sororitas, Bloody Rose.” There was a pause as she shot a statue that lunged at the Inquisitor, it exploded in midair showering him in small debris. “I know exactly where my shots are going and who they are going to hit.” There was another pause as she fired upon a statue that was trying to attack her. “I am fighting alongside you, the Inquisitor, and the rest of your squad so focus on the battle at hand, then we shall have ourselves an actual conversation, in private if you wish.” The Inquisitor had yelled at her to leave the hallway immediately, and that is exactly what she did. Now standing next to the Pysker, she bent down on one knee and returned to shooting the statues, watching the warp vortex grow in strength upon the middle of the room.

[Rithy]

"Nevermind! A small one, tiny vortex!"

There was no reply from Adrianne, as the had all her focus on the summoning of the destructive Vortex of Doom, to the point she didn't even register one of the statues that charged her during the channeling, only to be blasted away by a shotgun blast. The usually dark eye sockets of the skull adorning her helmet were now burning with a ferocious, unholy light!

A strong wind was now blowing through the room as purple tendrils of pure warp energies lashed out from the center of the growing vortex! The walls of the hallway began to murmur, creaking, as a deep groan, almost roar emanated from the structure around them!

The vortex gained momentum at a steady pace, but the slow buildup would soon be interrupted by a terrible, metallic daemonic roar from the center of the vortex!
A thousand screaming voices soon filled the entire corridor as the vortex just quadrupled in size. Lights flashed as the haunting voices echoed through the hallway, and the speed at which the the vortex rotated had now become blindingly fast! Nearby statues were picked up from the floor without a warning, alongside whatever pieces of glass; tiles and everything else that was unable to resist the pull of the vortex; to be sucked up into the center of the destructive vortex where they were obliterated into nothingness!

But the vortex would not stop at the statues.

On the outside, James got quite a view as the very walls of the hallway began to move, before suddenly caving in! Large stone pillars, stones and bricks, not to mention tonnes of dust soon fell inwards into the hallway, threatening to crush anyone or anything in its path before the walls were sucked into the annihilating center of the vortex! Where there once had been a wall with a series of ornate windows, there was now a clear view straight up into the sky for anyone standing in the hallway!

Any statue located near the center of the hallway would be sucked in and annihilated in the vortex. Zhevon, who had been anchoring himself to the ground with his sword could feel the vortex's grip on him increasing, threatening to pull him alongside the very floor beneath him straight up into the vortex as it grew constantly in strength!

Adrianne had stopped channeling the vortex, her eyes returning to normal as she stepped back. The vortex had now become a phenomenon of its own will and action, and continued to grind the hallway, tearing anything it could pull into it apart at a sub atomic level!

Utter chaos now ruled in the hallway, between the screaming voices and the destructive & constantly expanding vortex in the middle of it!

"This is why I love my job!"

Adrianne thought to herself, studying the destruction taking place before her almost awe behind her mask. But before the psyker could really sit back and enjoy the show, she soon found herself gripped by the vortex's expanding reach! The vortex had expanded to begin pulling to every end of the hallway, and anyone in it would find themselves lifted up into the ground, and pulled straight towards the core of the vortex!

"Oh-no, crap-crap-crap-crap!" Were the only words Adrianne could fathom to say as she found herself being pulled towards the center of the vortex like a ragdoll; alongside anyone else in the hallway who wasn't literally anchored to the ground; straight at her own vortex!

But further away, another one of the miscellaneous objects nabbed by the vortex's pull was the null-rod lying on the floor. It began to slide across the floor, before it too was pulled up into the air and brought towards the center of the vortex. As the null-rod reached the center of the vortex, its effects would be immediate!

With no warning, the vortex would immediately disappear in the blink of an eye, alongside any screaming and lights that had haunted the room! Neutralized by the aura of the null rod!

But even though she had been saved from assured annihilation by her own creation, Adrianne realized that - she was still flying through the air at an alarming speed, and heading on a collision course with everyone else(including debris) in the room who might have been picked up by the vortex's pull before it had been dissipated!

[Shadowman215]

James stayed cool as Zhevon ordered him to fire "Only when needed" which he did, only firing at targets that got too close for them to stop, or were too dangerous, each shot was elegantly placed whilst he did this he replied to the Inquisitor about insulting the psyker thusly: "She should not provide me with things to insult her about, such as drawing warp-tainted creatures with her powers like moths to a flame." each shot shattered a statue, which was aided by the fact his bullets were fucking massive things. Each statue destroyed sprayed debris everywhere as Aviza replied her chapter, name, and purpose. "Hm, I was not informed of this. Either way welcome, and be wary the statues are grouping-" the information giving was cut short as he saw the psyker's vortex grow, immediately yelling out to try and awaken her from her focus, and hopefully stop the casting "Psyker! Stop the casting your gonna bring the whole hallway dow-!" Once again, he was interrupted by a phenomena he could not stop as the wallls of the hallway were sucked in, and most of the retinue was launched by the pull. Off of comms he said to himself "She had better give me a good fucking reason not to shoot her...She's a threat to the whole retinue!" After his personal micro-rant, he called out on the comm-link to the retinue, praying to the God-Emperor for a reply. "Zhevon, Psyker, Aviza, anyone? Do you read? It's James, come on you don't have time to lay down, more warp-tainted statues are coming, I can hold them off, barely, but I can for about a minute if you're lucky. So hurry and get up!" He spoke as he thought he saw more statues coming through his giant peep hole in the building. Get up....Get up you fools... James thought internally. The retinue's whole existence was threatened, and he was going to kick that psyker's ass when he was free to, outright reckless actions like that are idiotic, and get good people killed.

[Eisenhorn]

The pull of the vortex grew heavy on Stukov, a familiar pull on his gut that was not too unlike a breach in a voidship's hull, or the very same pull when repelling Daemons under transit. Problem was, he didn't have any anchors to hold him to the deck plates, or floor tiles in this case, and he jammed his heels into the group, bionic limb digging up tiles and relieving pressure on his natural leg as he slowly skidded forward. Snarling, there was little recourse in preventing the pull of the warp right now, and it would be a rather quick death if he couldn't avoid being pulled until that damned vortex got sealed or dissipated under its own volition. Since it didn't really look like Smiles was controlling it anymore, and thankfully for the sniper, Stukov had no time to continue berating him for his commentary. They survived this, he was going to have to have words with the assassin about this little thing called following orders. Not remarking back at the superior on said orders. His train of thought was disrupted as Smiles slammed into him from behind, sending them both hurtling right for the vortex. The armsman was biting back every curse he could think of at this particular moment in time, and it was either luck or divine intervention the null rod landed where it did.

That certainly did not stop the momentum Stukov, or Smiles it seemed, had as he hit the ground past just past the landing point of the null rod, his heel catching onto the device and dragging it as he skidded. It would not have been that bad if not for the fact Smiles helmet slammed into his gut as she landed, which not only completely knocked the wind out of him but probably cracked or outright broke some ribs. He had drug the null rod along, though the impact involuntarily forced Stukov to kick the thing clear of him as he fought to get his breath back, forcing himself up on his feet despite the pain in his ribs. Still breathing, shotgun was nowhere to be seen, he still had Foehammer and his knife, not all bad news then. For all he knew his shotgun had been smashed by the vortex, considering his loss of footing from the impact from Smiles losing her footing. He wasted no time hauling Smiles onto her feet, assuming she had not bounced back up already, coughing hard and managing out a side comment as he looked to make his way back to the Inquisitor, if at all possible now. The others could lose their shit and berate all they wanted, now was not the time for arguments between group members. They could resolve differences later. "Looks like you were right, Smiles. Guess humans are aerodynamic enough to be slung across distances like that after.. Another coughing fit, which wasn't good, and the Armsman noted his rebreather had been lost as well, and there was blood on the hand he covered his mouth with as he started coughing. Not a good sign, but he would burn that bridge later.

[WardenCelestine]

The unanticipated response from James left Aviza somewhat confused, if not curious due to the fact that the reply was interpreted as friendly. She was left partially paranoid and was still being cautious because only a moment ago, and most likely still, the assassin had his crosshair centered on her head or a vital area of her body. After a short while, she decided that trust was the best option for now, and she responded by simply saying “Thank you, I appreciate the warning.” By now, the vortex that the Psyker was forming had grown to considerable size, and was drawing in large number of the statues in the area. “Eliminating all of the statues before we have had our fun, Psyker?” asked Solares with a soft smirk from under her helmet. The smirk quickly vanished though as purple tendrils of pure warp energies reached out from the vortex and violently thrashed about.

“Psyker, do you not think that now would be an appropriate time to close the vortex?” a torrent of violent wind was causing the cloth areas of Aviza’s armor to flap against the wind. It was around this time that Aviza was starting to regret following the group into the War Memorial Art Gallery. The vortex grew and gained momentum at an alarming pace now, causing the very building or perhaps reality to bend around it with a demonic straining sound that almost sounded like a growl coming from all around them. Then the sound of an endless amount of voices that screamed out in agony and terror attacked their senses. The sound alone almost is bringing Aviza to the brink of insanity, and most likely the rest of the group not far from madness themselves. There was no other word to describe what was happening in the hallway besides complete and absolute chaos. Having very little time to react, Aviza and the rest of the group were now being pulled towards the vortex.

She had seen what had happened to the statues when they got close enough to the epicenter of the vortex, and being ripped apart at a sub-atomic level was not how she wanted die. Listening to the Psyker regret her life decisions, or at least the vortex, Aviza tried to grab onto the anything in the room to slow her decent, but failed and simply glided towards the Vortex. At that time, she had completely forgotten about the null-rod and was trying to accept her death, though thankfully it to was being sucked towards the vortex. Once the null-rod came within range of it, the vortex instantly closed, leaving Aviza relived. There was another problem though, the group had gained so much momentum while being sucked towards the vortex that they had now become projectiles flying down the hallway. Aviza hit the ground hard, to the point of where she bounced in her power armor and managed to knock her helmet off of her head, which rolled across the floor.

When she opened her blue eyes, she found herself lying mostly on top of the Psyker, staring directly into her eyes. With an emotionless look on her face and a matching tone, Aviza said “The forces of the Warp have spoken, and we already have step one down.” Carefully and gently, Aviza pulled herself off of the most likely very sore Psyker before struggling to stand on her own two feet, letting Stukov help the Psyker onto her feet. The voice of James who sounded legitimately worried about their well-being was asking for someone to reply, "We are here James, wounded and shaken, but we are here." Her body was in quite a lot of pain, but she wasn’t going to worry about that until the rest of her newly found squad was on their feet. They were most likely all in bad shape, but thankfully Aviza had been trained in advanced medical aid for situations such as this. There was little she could do though, without a full medical kit at the ready.

[Rithy]

*BANG*

*CRASH*

"Oooffhh!"

After a series of mid air collisions and crashes, Adrianne finally lay groaning on the floor, trapped as she may have been under the fat backside of a sister of battle!

"Get, unghh, - your fat-ass off me!" Adrianne would gnarl through her helmet, trying in vain to push the heavy sister of battle, Aviza, off her with strength alone. It was not until the sister of battle helped by rolling off her herself that Adrianne was finally able to remove her, the psyker letting out an audible sigh of relief as Aviza got off her!

"By the Emperor, what do they feed the sisters Adepta? Cakes?!"

Adrianne rolled meekly around on the floor. It was not until Stukov stepped over and helped her up that she was finally able to get back onto her feet. Covered in dust and grime from top to toe as she may have been...

"Looks like you were right, Smiles. Guess humans are aerodynamic enough to be slung across distances like that after!"

"Heh... " Adrianne managed to form a small, if ever so half-breathed laughter at Stukov's comment as she leaned forward with her mask, still trying to regain her breath after it had been promptly pumped out of her by Aviza!
"It comes from experience."

But when Adrianne suddenly noticed another statue closing in from behind Stukov, the psyker would immediately reach down towards her holster to grab her heavy pistol! Raising it up, she aimed it directly at the left chest of the incoming statue! Taking a moment to channel some telekinetic energies into her arm to stabilize it ahead of the impending recoil of her heavy slugger, she would focus; anticipate the statue's next move, before firing off a heavy round! The round passed beyond Stukov to immediately pierce the statue's chest, punching through its stone body to hit its vital core perfectly! The statue crumbled into pieces, that rolled across the floor and up to their feet.

"I think... that's the last of them." Adrianne commented as she took a deep breath, gazing out across the hallway. The vortex had done quite a number on the hallway, having torn it apart almost completely. Floor tiles had been torn up from the very ground, and an entire section of wall(including windows) was now missing, giving them a clear view of the sky above! The last statues had either been annihilated by the vortex in its last phases, or been buried beneath the rubble that now cluttered the hallway, out their sight.

"We just cleared the first room! ... heh, hehe... "

Adrianne's immediate attention had originally been moving towards Aviza, but when she just noticed the blood appearing from the armsman's coughing fit, the psyker's attention would immediately move towards Stukov instead!

"That looks serious! Are you alright?"

[Lotta Pumpkins]

Ben turned to see the Vortex of doom start to manifest. He stepped back a few feet, and looked at his plasma pistol, it was starting to turn pink. He held it at arm's length and pressed a button on the side, releasing a stream of hot air that whistled loudly. Ben looked back up, pistol now much safer to fire and saw the Vortex swirling out of control.

Ben turned and looked at the psyker and had time to step to the side and laid down, pushing his feet against the platform a statue had been posted on it. He felt the pull, and crouched up against the platform, feeling anger at the Psyker getting him killed. He literally just warned the inquisitor. This just proved his point.

And suddenly, the vortex was gone. Ben slowly stood up, looking at the motley crew lying on the ground, and brushed himself off. Ben would head over to Zhevon and help him up, and would brush his shoulders helping. He spoke quietly as the group adjusted themselves. Truly, he didn't care if anyone overhead, but he was polite, and tried to keep it down. "I told you, sir. She has no regard for our safety. Here she is almost getting us killed! Three times now, every single time she's tried to use her powers down here she's put us in danger. You, me, the planet, the mission. It's becoming very hard to trust her sir, even on your word. We were not so poor off in that fight that we needed her to try and kill us all." Once he was done talking, Ben would walk over and scoop up the null rod, and walk back over. "We need to keep this on right now, we cannot trust her. If you ask the group, I'm sure some of them will agree. Do not misunderstand my words, I don't dislike her, but I'm starting to fear for my life around her wanton misuse of power." Ben held the null rod out to Zhevon, looking at him.