Garrick gripped the Milliasaur in his fist of steel. The foe writhed in his grip, before the electrodes drove his hand shut. The flailing beast’s neck spurted blood, bone fragments leaking out of Garrick’s fingers; the monster’s head slipped and began its long road down the ancient rock staircase. Garrick’s other hand went for the ancient pistol and flicked it around the near pitch blackness. His aim fell upon an even greater shadow.
‘Careful where you point that thing.’ The shadow slowly and casually walked down the wide staircase. ‘We are allies, you know.’
Garrick let the pistol fall. ‘We are allies until this is over. And not a second longer.’
‘Of course,’ said Lekico, waving a hand in dismissal. The black cloak of his form parted, bringing forth a golden and detailed sphere. The metal of his hand transformed into a series of liquid metal appendages. The numerous tentacles of silver water rolled over every detailed key of the device.
Garrick watched, transfixed by what his eyes were showing him.
‘Impressive, is it not?’ The shadow’s masked face gave no trace of emotion, but Garrick could feel the smugness rolling off his ally like thick vapour. ‘One of the many gifts the Dark Mechanicus can provide.’
‘Gloat all you want; the only listener is yourself.’ The red-robed mechanicus adept turned and continued downwards.
‘Of course,’ said the Shadow, finally getting the locator orb to function; a display of a grid appearing above the orb. ‘Whatever you say.’
It was embarrassing how much he was resisting.
Lekico could see it in the adept’s all too human eyes. The waves of temptation flowing off him, how much it killed him to deny the power and truth he saw from only gazing upon a fraction of his form.
The golden sphere hummed. Lekico fiddled with what he could. What this was, he did not know. All he knew was that it would lead them to what they wanted. It could be a simple locator, or it could be something else: a personal device like a Dataslate.
]Only with infinite time could one begin to understand the many mysteries of this universe.
Luckily, time was something he was soon to have an abundance of.
But for the moment he was reliant on the half-translated codes Garrick had.
With any other Imperial slave, he would have simply cut them down and taken what he needed, but Garrick…
Garrick intrigued him.
Garrick had hunted him down near the rift to propose their strange expedition to the very edges of the known universe.
He should have cut him down, but in his eyes, those all too young and innocent eyes, he could see a shadow of himself within them.
Plus, he was about to be busy for a long time. He could always use a helper to assist in his goals. And turning a Mechanicus faithful to his side brought him a rush almost resembling human excitement.
But only resembling.
He could remember those emotions. When he was younger, when he was weaker.
Of course, he was not about to throw away his life based on an unknown factor. Internally, he had already converted his second mind to running through the calculations. By the calculations, he had a near 99% chance of converting his target. Already, he had used his numerous warp viruses to plant seeds of doubt inside the young man’s mind. No doubt, as soon as they came upon their treasure, Garrick would fall to the touch of chaos.
It was this confidence he walked with as they approached the end of the staircase. They both took their parts of the key they had independently found. Silently, they inserted the fractal-looking keys into the locks.
Lekico could feel the anticipation within him rising. The doors opened slowly, agonisingly so.
Eventually, the ground opened, revealing what he had hoped.
Positioned vertically in front of them, on a type of advanced circular table, was their treasure.
A Man of Gold, perhaps the last of his once fabled kind, and now…
It stood before him, so close and yet so impossible far. It seemed to pull him in, his legs almost hypnotically walking towards the creature because although it looked human, it was not in any sense of a world. This was a man engineered to be the purest and finest man there could be.
‘Finally,’ he murmured. A universe of possibilities blossomed within him. Finally, he could become like them. He could transcend not only the weakness of flesh but also the weakness of his steel.
He would almost cry if he could still feel joy.
His dreams were interrupted as a satchel of Grav bombs landed at the feet of the Man of Gold.
Lekico turned, his numerous Mecadendrils awakening from his black cloak, ready to tear his ally apart. But they stopped as he saw the detonator grasped in the steel hand of Garrick.
‘Don’t even try it. The detonation is tied to my heartbeat and brain waves.’
‘What?’ Was all the shadow could say as its eyes of pixels stared into the cold flesh of Garrick’s own.
‘You thought you could turn me, didn’t you; you might see yourself as a manipulator, but those viruses were as subtle as a Volcano Cannon.’ Garrick’s other hand rose; the pistol barrel was close enough to kiss.
‘The numbers…’ Lekico said weakly.
‘Of course, the numbers.’ Garrick’s stare was colder than intergalactic space. ‘It’s a shame that for all your powers of calculation and mind, you could not calculate loyalty; you can’t even comprehend it, but I suppose that is the disease of traitors.’
Lekico was stunned. So this was his single fault, this was where the numbers had betrayed him.
‘I’m not here for speeches,’ said Garrick.
The shadow began to think, to wonder where it all went wrong. But the bolt of electricity was quicker, as it turned the head of the dark admech into a smear of red.
