// Toll Bridge, Scourers vs Reign in Blood //
“Top, intel report.” Colux limped across the control room, reaching out to Ventarion with a slate. Col’s leg hadn’t quite healed from the las bolt, yet he never stopped working.
Ventarion grabbed the pad and skimmed it.
Description matches Reign in Blood… Overpass Gamma Epsilon 3-2, where is that?...
“How reliable is it, Col?”
Col looked at him and cocked his head ever so slightly.
“Lasbolt proof, unlike my leg. Eis is adamantium-solid.”
Ventarion clenched his jaw.
*Who will it be this time? Mectus?*
He nodded at Colux.
“Put it together. This has to be surgical.”
Colux smiled.
“I know just the surgeon we need.”
--
Ventarion walked through the streets to the overpass in question, with his patrol in formation. Colux was still recovering, they had Solabus and Helis with concussion carbines, Avikus and Scaras with shotguns, and Kartole on his first op – he hadn’t qualified on any advanced gear yet, the Stub gun was challenging enough coming from the vox console.
He scanned the road as they rounded a corner. People moved out of the way, ducking into alleys – shops closed up and cleared out their customers when they approached. Ventarion told himself it was because they were all criminals of some sort.
Or do they think we’re the same as these street gangs… Thugs with ammo who think they’re the law now?
A citizen didn’t spot Avikus until the last moment, and he polited excused himself – the voice boomed through the helmet and they jumped, dropping what they were holding on to, and started backing away into an alley.
Avikus looked at them, then reached down to the jacket they dropped. He walked towards them with the jacket outstretched.
“You dropped this, don’t want to lose it.” Avikus was completely clueless to how threatening he looked, thinking he was just doing them a service.
“Scourers! Over here!” A head popped out of a window and waved at them. Avikus looked at the person calling out to them, and the frightened citizen snatched the jacket and bolted. He called back to them
“You’re welcome!”
They walked down to Diplomacy Supplies Incorporated, the patrol fanning out to hold 360º security while Ventarion walked up to the proprietor, he took his helmet off clipping it to his belt, and flashed the aquilla across his chest as a greeting.
“Eis?” Ventarion queried, the man nodded and returned the aquilla. Top looked around the shop, spotting arms, ammo, and armour of all kinds lining the walls.
“Diplomacy comes in all forms, Scourer.” Eis replied, the syllables soft as the words fell out of his mouth like wet porridge slopping into a bowl.
“They’ll be here shortly. You’ll hear from a friend on lookout.” Eis mumbled on, gesturing with a thumb over the shoulder to a nearby tower that overlooked the bridge.
Ventarion thanked him and turned to walk away. He stopped and looked back
“How did you know we were coming?”
Eis smiled, grabbed onto the shutters and replied curtly as he closed them.
“An old friend.”
Ventarion slid on his helmet and tapped it to ensure it was snug. The reply send a chill down his spine.
*How little do I know about the people I share a foxhole with?*
“Move out.” He said over the vox to the patrol, like clockwork, half moved from their positions – staying low and moving from cover to cover. Right now it was safe, but safety was relative.
“You’re late.” An unfamiliar voice came over the vox.
“Get off this frequency.” Ventarion barked back.
“Friendly, aren’t you? Sanctum 1-2, asked me to be here.” The voice replied.
They knew Col’s callsign, and they had the passkey for the encrypted vox channel.
“Don’t ask” the voice continued “I’m on long security up here, route to the bridge is clear. Double time it, you haven’t got any to spare.”
Ventarion sighed, and called out the patrol to double time. They climbed ladders and stair cases, fanning out perpendicular to the bridge. They were a few stories off the ground, the bridge was easily a couple hundred metres long – and the drop was stomach churning high, into a lethal sludgesea.
To their right was the tower, housing their unknown guardian angel. Across the bridge they could see some movement, but could barely make anyone out. Heads darted up and down and weapons were pointed at them – after a while, you get a sixth sense for having a barrel pointed at you.
“By the numbers, set.” Ventarion called out.
“Set” the unknown voice called out. There was a pregnant pause – it was the correct callback, at the right part of the sequence – Colux was Sanctum 1-2 and he should have replied first. It made everyone uncomfortable that their ‘friend’ was so well inserted into their groove.
The rest of the patrol continued on, and they were all in position. Ventarion laid out the plan, everyone knew it, but it helped.
“Hel, Sol, you form a base of fire here” he pointed at the position they were already at “don’t stop firing those carbines – I don’t care if you can’t see, you know the ranges, melt those barrels.”
He turned to Avikus
“Take Kartole and Scaras, push up to that next barricade and wait – we’ll cover your advance – wait until you can pepper them with scatter, and rain hell on them.”
He paused a moment.
“No arrests.” Ventarion added, and no one replied. They had heard what Reign was capable of, the slaughter in their fighting pits, the corpse farms… They didn’t deserve to stay alive.
“My my, Ventarion… How far you’ve come… They’re on the bridge now.” The voice replied in his helmet. He scowled in his helmet, stood up, and roared.
“Open fire!”
Ventarion looked up at the tower as he didn’t have a target – he couldn’t even make out their ally. No muzzle flashes, no movement, he strained as Helis and Solabus charged their carbines and set the fuses. Then he saw it, a faint puff of smoke.
He looked across the bridge and could see a one of their enemy go down, one of them bolted out of cover.
“Contact, moving left to right!” he aimed his boltgun but couldn’t line up the shot, then a puff of smoke erupted and occluded their view.
Avikus, Scaras and Kartole had advanced up and dived behind cover, staying low. Solabus stood to fire his carbine when a round buried itself in the barricade in front of him – he flinched, but stayed up.
A scummer burst through the smoke, and Solabus fired his carbine – knocking them off their feet. Helis was scanning with his carbine levelled, and Ventarion leaned next to his helmet and bellowed, not bothering to key his vox.
“Fire Helis! Frakking fire!”
Helis’ hesitation was overcome by the verbal assault and he started lobbing rounds. The first one impacted near an injured scum, and they were vaulted off the bridge – their scream changing pitch until it was abruptly ended by a loud plop as he landed in the thick toxic sludge.
The rain of fire maintained it’s torrential volume as the smoke began to clear. Ventarion looked and he couldn’t see any of them left on the bridge.
“Cease fire! Cease your fire!” he called over the vox, as silence fell and the smoke cleared.
“Avikus, clear it!” He snapped, half the patrol moved forward, darting between cover. They got to the other side and they called back the all clear.
“Regroup at Rally Point Alpha.” Ventarion chirped on the vox and fell back. Their guardian angel was already gone, without even so much as a word.
--
The Scourers were performing a weapons check and inspection out the front of Eis’ shop – it was protocol you checked each other for wounds, in the middle of a firefight you don’t always feel it. Ventarion patted down Kartole who then did the same to him, then Top dropped his boltgun mag into his dump pouch, cleared the chamber, caught the round, and dry fired into the ground. Boltgun went click, he clicked on the safety and slung the gun.
Solabus was holding his carbine up, and he was patting his rig…
“I thought I brought more ammo.” He said dejectedly.
Eis swung open the door lugging a crate of ammo, and he put it down by the Scourers. They all looked at each other for a moment.
“Keep that up, and I’ve got more of this for you Scourers… Plus, it would be good to see Colux again.”
The Scourers all looked at Ventarion – he could have seized Eis and all of his armament by force, as was his remit, however he knew that with what they were up against, and what was pouring out of Crow’s, they’d need allies.
“The Reach provides, the Scourers protect.” Ventarion said poetically.
Eis nodded, and booted the lock on the crate – it sprang open.
“I’ll get the rest of it.” Eis turned and headed back into the shop, Ventarion called out to him.
“Wait, I thought you said you didn’t know Colux.”
Eis shrugged.
“I don’t.”
// back at Gravitas //
The patrol returned, winding their way through the corridors of the precinct – the place was still mostly a mess. Exposed cabling, empty crates, and rusted bulkhead marked every metre of the hallways. They made their way to the armoury, with lockers lining the walls and tables in the middle, they began to strip their weapons and armour. This was the worst part, after the adrenaline dump and the stress, trying to clean their gear to calm down.
As they started, a loud shot range from the range. Ventarion’s Boltgun still had the oil from the last clean on it, he didn’t fire a round, and his armour was just a little dusty. He stowed it and walked into the range, finding Colux lying down next to Holun – one of the newer guys, who had been ‘in the shit’, he was capable, but needed work.
“Impact High-right. Range estimate?” Colux said, almost whispering.
“350.” Holun said, running the bolt well after he fired – making sure to observe the impact.
“300 – check height of standard mechanicus crate against your stadia reticle, reference… ‘frak the police’ banner.” Colux corrected.
“Eyes on. Confirm.” Holun almost imperceptibly adjusted his position and fired again.
A concussive blast picked up dust around the range, and Ventarions ear’s deafened for one fraction of a moment, another fraction later, the reactive target rang out from impact.
Colux picked up his head.
“He’ll do.” He said to Ventarion.
Ventarion nodded, and moved to leave. He stopped at the threshold and called out over his shoulder.
“Who was that by the overpass?” Ventarion questioned.
“Eis? Local not so legal arms dealer. Old friend.” Colux said as he stood, dusting himself off. All 3 of them knew that wasn’t what Ventarion meant.
“You know what’s not what I meant… They knew our protocols and had our encryption, but they said they don’t know you.” Ventarion pressed. Colux simply smiled.
“I don’t know them either… Not anymore. Had to leave that behind.” Colux said as he slipped passed him, referring to the Scourer’s oath.
// Workshop to the Scourers! //
) right now as they have to isolate for being a close contact till wed..but not myself so we made the call to split the house so i could still work and bring them food etc. It just so happens my study/hobby room is in my section of the house 
