Malith had done many things in his life and regretted very little. Now was one of those moments, as he really wished he had brought something other than a combat knife instead of a chainblade so he could carry more grenades and explosives. However, he would never admit this to any of his brothers—even now, as he struggled with the Crimson Fist trying to kill him.
Thankfully, when Varik lured away that Loyalist, the other two had moved up—the ones who had been raining bolts on them. Malith wasn't complaining that it had stopped, but now he was having to avoid getting his throat ripped open by the Crimson Fist in front of him. Decarion was having to deal with two of the Loyalists and was barely holding on.
Then the sound of a bolter going off was heard. While Malith couldn't see what happened, since the Crimson Fists pushed even harder to kill them, Malith could at least deduce that Varik had killed another one.
Malith decided he would also contribute to the tally—and not because his knife had just broken and he wasn't certain he could grab a grenade in time.
Malith blink-clicked a rune in his helm, and the first of the explosives went off.
He was sure he could almost hear someone shouting, "Dammit, Malith!"
Ah, so Varik did win his fight.
The vox tower began to collapse around the Astartes, but it didn't stop the Loyalists from trying to slay the Night Lords—though it did throw them off balance.
Varik decided that it wouldn't be in his best interest to get into melee while a giant tower was falling on their heads. Shame the Loyalists didn't share his opinion on this, as they were still trying to murder Decarion and Malith. Though the one trying to kill Malith looked to have lost their weapon, so the focus was on Decarion then.
Marcus mag-clamped his chainblade and fired at the Crimson Fist about to take off Decarion's head. Just as he did, a piece of rubble landed and hit the bolter, throwing off his aim. The shots weren't fatal, only striking the Loyalist's pauldron and side, but they did their job—allowing Decarion to regain his balance and block another strike.
But now the Loyalist Marcus shot charged at him. Before the two could meet, a whole section of the tower landed between them. Now both sides realized it was all coming down!
Decarion forced his opponent away and shouted to his brothers, "RETREAT!"
Order given, Varik ran hard for the exit. He decided to give the Loyalists a gift and shot at the legs of one who had nearly shot Malith in the power pack. The rounds struck true, injuring the leg of the son of Dorn.
Marcus could hear laughter and realized it wasn't just Malith—it was also coming from him. He couldn't lie that the act did amuse him, especially when he could hear the Loyalist cursing them as cowards, traitors, and whatever else they could come up with. Marcus just couldn't help but laugh like a child who just got away with a prank.
Decarion, as the three of them ran away from the collapsing structure behind them, spoke through the vox. "Glad to see you got your sense of humor back. You being quiet all the time was far too strange for my liking, though I did enjoy the silence. Maybe if we hit Malith hard enough in the head, he'll stop trying to tell his jokes."
Malith mocked the Sergeant as they ran, still laughing at the Crimson Fists' misfortune. "You just don't have a sense of humor, Decarion. Even Vosk isn't so boring all the time."
Marcus was still laughing as the two argued and jabbed at each other, barely escaping from the collapsing vox tower as it was buried by its own weight.
Vosk could hear Kael's flamer setting alight the guardsmen who had tried to retake the gate controls. His right hand refused to move for a moment before Vosk slammed it against a wall.
Kael and Vosk had been pursued by five Crimson Fists who refused to give up. Each time the duo lost the Loyalists, they would find them again. Vosk and Kael's armor was damaged in each encounter, and now one of Vosk's gauntlets was acting up.
However, that didn't matter now. They had reached the gate controls. All Vosk had to do was open the gates, then they could rendezvous with the rest of the claw.
As Vosk opened the gates, he could see in the distance the vox tower falling as the Red Corsairs' mortal forces were sent forth ahead of their Astartes masters. With that done, Vosk decided to let the Red Corsairs deal with the Crimson Fists that had arrived. After all, who was he to take the glory of the kill?
"Time to go, Kael. Decarion will be expecting us at the void shield generator. Then our job will be done."
Kael was trying to see what trophies he could find amongst his kills. Disappointed in finding nothing of worth, he followed behind Vosk—only to stop and see that one of the Crimson Fists had gotten separated from the rest of their brothers.
By the time Vosk realized what Kael was doing, he swore to kill the flame-crazed fool.
The instant Kael managed to get in range, his flamer unleashed a stream of fire that enveloped mortals on both sides—all in an attempt to get the Crimson Fist.
Kael wanted a real trophy from this. So far, all he had gotten were the skulls of mortals, and none of the Sisters were all that impressive. But the blackened skull of an Astartes was always worth it, regardless of what his claw said.
Kael had seen the other claws—they claimed trophies and said nothing. Yet Decarion always complained when he sought his own, saying that he wasted his time. The others didn't collect trophies, though he understood them at least.
The Crimson Fist was fast. The Loyalist avoided the flames, trying to draw Kael's aim toward the Red Corsairs' mortal forces. However, Kael had—he would admit—far more practice with a flamer than a normal Astartes, and the Loyalist nearly got to experience the joys of burning alive.
A shame. But Kael would be getting that trophy. The struggles of the Loyalist would only add to the fun of taking their blackened, charred skull.
A mortal, to Kael's delight, got in the way of the Crimson Fist, slowing the Astartes as the Loyalist batted the mortal aside. Kael fired.
Only to hear the one sound that Kael hated more than Decarion's complaints—he was out of promethium.
Decarion would never let him hear the end of it. As this thought went through Kael's mind, he was already moving to reload. The Crimson Fist raised his bolter right at him, only for the Loyalist to be struck by a bolter round on his helm from the side, and another on his chest plate from the front, causing the Crimson Fist to be knocked off balance.
Kael, not wanting to lose his chance, finished reloading his flamer. Just as the Crimson Fist recovered—blood flowing from the breach in the Fist's helm—flames enveloped the Crimson Fist. The Loyalist attempted to move back, even as the flames clung to them. Why was revealed moments later as the rounds in the bolter detonated in the Loyalist's hand.
Soon enough, the flames overwhelmed the Fist—the fire too much for an Astartes to handle, especially when their armor was breached.
Kael looked to see where the two rounds had come from. One was from Vosk, who, despite having his face hidden by his helm, Kael knew was probably very angry. The other was from an advancing squad of Red Corsairs. The other Crimson Fists were leading the mortals in a fighting retreat.
While others fought, Kael made sure to perfect and collect his trophy, though he would have to properly prepare it later.
Kael could hear Vosk approaching, so he quickly set to work removing the head and helm from the Fist—just in time to receive a punch from Vosk, which made Kael take a step back from the force of it.
"Let's go. We are already running late."
Kael didn't care. He had gotten a new trophy. Once he got back to the ship, it would be a fine addition. However, before the two could depart, the Red Corsair sergeant and his squad approached. They numbered seven total Astartes, and the sergeant leading them stood out—horns protruded through his helm, his mutation clear to the two Night Lords.
"Night Lords. Thank you for your... assistance. Soon everything here will be ours, and your lord will have his payment. I assume the rest of your... claw is elsewhere? Correct, since my scouts reported seeing the vox tower fall. They were there."
Vosk and Kael were silent, but the Red Corsair simply took that silence as the answer and ordered the rest of his forces to move in. As if waiting for just that, more and more Red Corsairs entered through the gate. Kael counted thirty-two of them, not counting the numerous mortals that flooded in.
Vosk then walked off, and Kael followed, hanging his trophy on his waist. The Red Corsair's eyes never left the two Night Lords until they were out of sight.