Editing Heretical Love (section)

===Thread 16===

Well, Max appears… Safe… At least.

I picked up his trail again a short while after helping him outrun Abbadon by shooting the bike right out from under the Warmaster.

I wanted to help him with the massive sea monster, but with the randomness of the waves if I’d fired I might have hit him rather than the beast.

At least he and the wych are…

Oh…

I avert the gaze of my scope, giving them some privacy.

Something else has captured my interest anyways.

Blood Ravens? Out here? Interesting.

I watch them from afar, they have no way of knowing I’m up here. I’ll keep it that way, for now at least.

They appear to be talking to one another as they walk, though it looks as though they are keeping their voices low, as though trying to remain undetected.

Though I wonder what it is they could be after, there isn’t anything out this way that they could possibly want…

----

Esh gulps as she sinks down into the warm waters of the spring, she doesn’t take her eyes off of you.

She looks a bit wobbly after your… Oral assault, which is fine by you. Its rather cute seeing her like this, off her guard. A fairly stark contrast to her usual self.

“What are you staring at, idiot?” She glares, folding her arms underneath her breasts.

“Huh? Nothing…”

The crazy fact is, that despite you having the ball in your court here, something has you thrown off of your own a-game as well. The fact that you can still feel your mind in a way somehow merged with the Eldar blowing bubbles in the hot spring in front of you as she eyes you, annoyed.

“D-do you want me to do anything or not?! I don’t have all day you know…” She puffs her cheeks as she frowns.

Without a word you grab her by the waist and pull her through the blue pool toward you, until her chest meets your own. Carefully you lower yourself down, making sure she follows along with you.

Her eyes widen as Esh feels something prod her in the thigh.
“Eh? Ehhhhh?!?!”

You smirk.

“Don’t act so surprised, you should have known what was coming.”

Esh glares, trying to push herself up, but you don’t let her.

“Grrrrr… Fine, take THIS!” She shouts suddenly.

You don’t have time to stop her as she violently drops herself down, sending your inquisitor head-first into the webway with one fateful thrust of the power sword.

“OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!” Esh shouts, her face screwing up in pain as her nails dig into your shoulders.

You wince, it wasn’t the most graceful thing ever and she clearly wasn’t ready for it.

“Well what did you think would happen?” You ask, making no effort to conceal your sarcasm.

“Sh-shut up! Damn that Macha… She never said it would hurt! Well… She said a lot of things that I’m not sure were true…”

Esh looks like she’s relaxed, but you can tell without even trying that she’s faking it.

You put your arms around her lower back, and despite her tough façade, Esh sinks into you, her head nestling itself under your chin.

“Better now? This your first time?” You give her side a teasing pinch.

“Shut… Shut up! Of course it is, so you had better not ruin it for me, mon-keigh.”

You can’t help but smile, the pleasant warm feeling of your mind wrapping around her own is indescribable. Esh must be enjoying it too, because you can feel her body relaxing against your own.

“Hey Esh, do you like me?”

The short Farseer jumps slightly at your questing, sitting up to scowl at you.

“Me? L-l-like you? As-as if that were even possible, dolt.”
You frown.

“Well… I mean, its not like I hate you…” She continues, refusing to meet your eyes.

“I don’t buy it.”

Esh’s eyes snap back to your own, you are smirking and looking smug.

“In fact, I know you like me. A lot. And I’m not letting you leave until I hear you say it.”

Esh sits up, folding her arms again and trying to look surperior and confident.

“Hmph! As though you can make me do something like that.”
“Oh? Really?”

Even from your sitting position, you manage a decent thrust.

Esh jumps, trying to pull away, but you’ve got her in your clutches and you intend to keep your word.

“Hah! It’s going to t-take a lot more than t-that to make me say something so embarrassing.”

“We’ll see…” You reach up, intending to snatch away her top, but her hand blocks your attempt.

“Not so fast. Let’s see how much you’ve learned. Try again, with your mind.”

With little effort, you harness the power you obtained through smoking with Doomrider, and easily lift the white top away.

“Easy as pie.”

“Hmph, so the mon-keigh is actually capable of learning. Astounding...”

You don’t let her continue, pulling her back down again. She tenses up, but doesn’t object.

“Is it alright for you now?” You ask, genuinely concerned.

“St-still a little rough, but I’m no wimp…”


----

*meanwhile*

“Oh look brothers, what a fine gift left out for us.”

The Blood Raven picks up the nemesis axe, eying it greedily.

“Indeed, a fine gift. It shall make a fitting addition to our collection.”

They chuckle amongst each other as they sort through the buggy, checking around. One of them frowns as he pulls out Esh’s spear.

“Hmmm… Eldar wych equipment in the same transport as these relics? Something is afoot here, brothers.”

The leader shrugs, throwing a bag full of newly acquired gifts over his shoulder.

“No matter, we have everything we need. Let us not concern ourselves with such trivial matters.”

He activates his communicator.

“We’re heading back now. We’ve obtained some valuable relics.”

With that, he turns to lead the rest of them back toward their waiting rhino.

“Interesting bag you got there, mind if I check it out?”

I exhale a puff of smoke as I step into their vision. The astartes stop, their idle chatter cut off. They eye me wearily, tightening their grips on the stolen goods.

“Ah, what troubles you here today, Vindicare?” One asks, turning away in a crude attempt to conceal the bag over his shoulder.

“Well, the stuff you are carrying, for starters.”

The Blood Ravens drop their fake bemusement, their gazes growing tough and cold. Six of them, not the most eloquently equipped, the standard fare of bolter rifles and chainswords.

“A tough break for you then, Assassin. We have no intention of handing over these gifts.” The space marine fingers the haft of the chainsword at his side.

I smile.

“Really now, I must insist.” I lovingly rub the trigger guard of my Exitus rifle with my trigger finger.

It’s a standoff, we all know it.

I lower my rifle and nod my head in their direction.

“I see I came ill equipped, I’ll take this opportunity to bow out gracefully.”

The leader frowns, eyeing me.

I know it’s a tough sell, and only an idiot would turn his back to a Vindicare so quickly.

“And let you shoot us in the back? Hardly ideal for us, I should think.”

I raise my hand and wave, as though to dismiss his paranoia.
“Easy, space marine, easy. I’ve no intention of fighting with astartes today. Simply attempting to guard the equipment of the VP I’ve been assigned to guard is all. I’ll not risk my own skin for some rusted old armor.”

I take a few steps back, hopefully they buy that.

It appears to have worked.

Though they eye me nervously, they make no move to bar my leave.

Stupid.

Awfully stupid.

It takes me but moments to sink back into the thick cover and scale a tree, something I’d always had a knack for, ever since my youthful days.

With my suit and my skills, they won’t even know where I’m shooting from.

Even if they were to find out, it wouldn’t matter, it would already be over by then.

My crosshairs fall to the sergeant first, he made himself easy enough to pick from the bunch. Foolish, to make yourself so open to a sniper’s round and leave your squad leaderless.

I hesitate, wondering whether or not to kill him or disable him.
Killing him would be easy enough, but the blood of astartes is very staining to the hands.

No, I’d better just make them get the point.

*CRACK!*

The first shot knocks away his bolter, the second his chainsword.

The others bristle, trying to duck behind trees as they fire shots off in every direction.

Pointless.

The Exitus rifle sends round after round, each finding a weapon.

Soon enough, I have the Blood Ravens completely unarmed save for knives.

I start chipping away at known weakpoints in their armor, severing power to their systems, disabling various pieces, the like. It isn’t boring work, requiring a little more skill than simply caving in their skulls with the heavy rounds.

The space marines are all crawling around, trying to regain some sense of order when I step back into their midst.

The sergeant growls a guttural curse as he eyes me, reaching for his knife, which I lazily boot away.

He grabs my leg.

The barrel of my pistol presses to his head.

“You coward!” He hisses, glaring.

“You traitor! You-you…”

“Victor.” I smile, lighting up another coffin nail.

He doesn’t say anything as he continues to glower up at me. The others groan and curse me, but they are harmless as kittens in dead armor with no weapons in sight.

“You know, on my home planet, Catachan, we have a saying…” I pry the bolt pistol out of the hands of another marine and slap him on his bald head.

“Never turn your back on a man with a rifle.”

I grin as they continue to curse.

“You’ve made a terrible enemy, Assassin.” The sergeant says as he forces himself to his feet.

“Impressive.” I mutter, clearly not impressed at the least.
I don’t even give him the satisfaction of thinking he stands a chance. I pounce.

The astartes does well to calm down, the sharp knife hovering so close to his eye that were he to blink his eyelid would be cut.

“Now take your men, get in that rhino, and leave. Before I get serious.” I pull the knife away.

The view is entirely satisfying, the downtrodden and infuriated magpies piling into their transport, nothing in their hands. Nothing to show for their trip.

I take a long drag as I watch them leave.

Ah, priceless.

----

Esh’s ear twitches and she turns her head to look into the dense foliage beyond the pool.

“Hmm? Hear something?” You ask, though really you are too distracted with your current fortunes to care.

“It seems your assassin friend is doing some shooting.” She comments, her gaze locked.

“Oh? Ah, kids these days, probably just shooting up some local wildlife or something.”

You push down on Esh’s hips, driving yourself deeper.

“Ah!? H-how can you still be doing that at a time like this?!”

You shrug.

“I’m sure it’s nothing he can’t handle, if it’s even a problem. So relax and quit worrying about it.”

Esh bites her lip, but turns to look back at you.

After a few minutes, and a small struggle to find a comfortable rhythm, it appears the farseer has completely forgotten about the incident in the distance.

You grab her by the hips, giving them a squeeze, as she digs her fingers into your back.

“D-don’t s-stop, mon-k-keigh!” She increases her speed.

You can feel every inch of your wraithbone inside of her, which is an incredible sensation.

“Ah! Max I’m…!”

One last thrust drives you over the edge as well, and unable to hold out any longer, you let yourself go.

Esh collapses on you, both of you panting hard.

"Hah...ahhh...Max...<3" The Eldar's chin rests on your chest, her eyes half-lidded and a happy smile on her generally frowning face.



“UNF!” Slaanesh bites its lip, looking away from the drink out into the warp beyond the window.

“DUDE, YOU ALRIGHT?” Doomrider stops mid-snort.

“Fine, fine. Better than fine.” Slaanesh coos, idly stirring it’s sparkly pink cocktail.

“SOMETHING HAPPEN?”

“Oh yes, something happened all right. A whole lot of something.” Slaanesh licks its lips, looking intensely satisfied.



You and Esh clean each other off in the spring, enjoying the moment while it lasts, unfortunately.

The Farseer answers a call on her communicator, her face becoming serious.

“I understand, I’ll be right there.”

She sets the device down and turns back to you.

“That was… My people received a message. Apparently your Emperor is asking for an alliance, which has everyone in some kind of panicked state. They want me there to help make the decision.”

“Huh? What decision?”

“Not all Eldar are as trusting of humans as I may be with you. It won’t be easy to get many on board for such a thing.” She puts a ribbon in her mouth as she starts putting her hair into a long ponytail.

“Do you think you can get them to agree to it?” You ask, focused intently on the conversation even as you stare at the Farseer’s exposed ass.

“Hmmm… I hope so….” Esh looks serious, and not like she just pretends to be around you either.

“Let me go with you, I can be some help I’m sure.” You start hastily throwing on your clothes until Esh embraces you from behind, her face pressing against your back.

“As much as I’d like you to come, I’m afraid your presence at such a meeting would not likely be met with warmness. This is an Eldar matter, and my people will want it decided among Eldar.”

You clasp her hand in your own.

“Fair enough, but as soon as they reach some kind of decision, you’ve got to let me know.”

Esh nods, you can feel it against your back.

“I will.”

You sit on the edge of the rear of the buggy as you watch the Farseer walk toward a waiting ship that came for her. You perk up as she turns back.

“Hey Max!” She calls out.

You raise your arms as though to say “What?”

“I… I-I… I like you! Idiot!” She shouts, whipping back around and running toward the Eldar ship.

Well, as sad as you are to see Esh go, something else has piqued your interest.

“I want to be, the very best~” Your ringtone goes off.

“Like no one ever was!~” You sing along slightly before answering.

“Sup.”

“OhmygoshMax!” Two excited voices from the other end.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“We didn’t think you would answer!” Senna sings.

“Senda thought you were dead…” She whispers.

“Did not!” Her twin retorts.

“Err… You guys up to anything?”

“No! Well, kinda! Its why we called you! Daddy’s given us his personal luxury skiff for the day, and we wanted to invite you along!”

You pause, mulling it over. You don’t know what a Dark Eldar pleasure cruise entails, but it’s an intriguing thought.

“Is it safe for me to be around you all now?”

The twins laugh.

“Oh yeah, VERRRYYY safe. Daddy made quick work of the dissenters.”

“Cool. So uh… How do I find you?”

“Easy! Just send us your location and we’ll have someone pick you up!”

“Alright, will do. See you in a bit then.” You hang up and send them your coordinates.

You sit on the buggy as you wait, wondering what to do with the pile of equipment in front of you.

As much as you want to trust the twins, the last time you found yourself in their company you had to fight to the death in their arena. Where you almost did actually die. You put on the armor.

A few minutes pass after you finally get settled into it. Your stomach rumbles, reminding you that you didn’t let Esh cook you anything as you’d kept her too preoccupied…

A transport roars into view, slamming to a quick stop in front of you. The side door opens and you recognize the same pilot you’d had before.

“Get the fuck in, I don’t have time to be carting your punk ass around.”

You frown, but clamber into the ship, which speeds off before you can even get the door shut entirely.

“You’re kind of an asshole, you know that?” You mutter.

“So I’ve been told.”

“How’d the date go?”

“Awful. No whips involved at all, total bust.”

“Sucks.”

“Indeed.”

You and the pilot keep up the smalltalk, and it seems like maybe he’s not as big a douche as you’d first been inclined to think.

Finally you spot the twins out of the window, both jumping up and down, waving at the transport.

The pilot brings it in for another jarring stop, and you pop open the door.

“Thanks for the ride man, we should totally go to this “Vegas” planet you’ve been talking about sometime.”

“Totally bro, now get out, I’ve got shit to get done.”

“Word.”

You jump out, landing in front of the twins, who are squealing with joy at the sight of you.

“Oh Max! We’re so excited, this is going to be so much FUN!!!!” Senna has her hands held to her mouth and is jumping up and down.

“Yeah but first, Daddy wants to meet you.” Senda smiles.

The twins lead you, locked arm in arm, down the dark hallway.

“Are… Are you sure he’s going to be cool with this?” You ask, feeling increasingly nervous.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.” Senna laughs.

“Don’t worry, if he gets mad, it will be at us, not you.” Senda tries to alive your doubts.

“That just makes me more worried…”

They push open the great black doors, revealing a dark lit room inside. A tall and busty Dark Eldar clad in a flowing and quite revealing black dress greets the three of you.

“Oh my girls!” She hugs them, smooshing their faces into her.

“Mooommmm!!!” The twins protest.

“Stop it, you’re embarrassing us!” Senda huffs.

“Oh? Who’s this you’ve brought?” The older one looks up at you, locking your eyes to her own.

“That’s Maximus! The one who survived the arena!” Senna cheers happily.

“Hmmm… This is him then is it? Your father is very anxious to meet this one. Now you two come with me, he wants a word with him alone.”

The twins mother starts to drag the thrashing and whining twins away, before looking back to you.

“He’s right through that other set of doors, just doing some office work and the like. Good luck!” She drags the twins out of sight.

You swallow.

Hard.

With a shaking hand, you push open the set of doors the twins mother pointed you too.

“Don’t just stand there, come in.” Barks the voice from inside the room.

Abandoning caution and completely ignoring the voice panicking in your head, you push the door open the rest of the way and enter the room.

This one is well lit, unlike most Dark Eldar room’s you’ve been in.

A massive one sits at a gigantic desk, pen in hand and papers scattered all around the room, littering the desk.

“So you must be the famous champion of the arena my girls won’t shut up about…” He eyes you over, looking quite unimpressed.

“Yup…” Is all you can manage. This guy looks like he could tear you apart with a flick of his wrist.

The Dark Eldar sighs, rubbing tiredly at his eyes and reaching for a mug.

“So let me get this straight. You get captured, entirely legally by our code I might add. Tossed into the arena, also legal. Where you fight and win, perfectly acceptable. Before killing, or at least helping my adorable but idiotic daughters kill, one of my best up and coming henchmen? Do I have it right?”

You gulp, your throat feels as dry as one of Yagis V’s arid wastes.

“W-well… I mean, it’s not…”

The Dark Eldar sighs, interrupting you.

“While as troublesome as losing my envoy here was, I can’t fault you for his death, as it was more or less went perfectly per-code. I can however, call you an asshole for giving me this much work that I have to do. Do you have any idea how damn hard it is to find good help?”

He throws up his hands, gesturing around to all of the paperwork.

“I… Apologize?”

The Dark Eldar sits as still as a statue for a moment, before nodding.

“Fair enough, Vect.” He says, all business.

“Max.”

He extends one hand, which you shake.

He pulls you closer with the grip.

“Pleasantries aside, let’s get one thing straight. You hurt my daughters in ANY way, and I mean any, and I rip off your limbs and sell you to a pleasure cult on some shithole of a planet. Clear?”

You nod furiously.

“Good, now get the fuck out of my office and get those two out of here. As much as I love them, I can’t get any work done with those two around me, they are too hyper for their own good.”

“I’ll keep them off your hands for a while.”

“Good. I can finally get some work done. You don’t happen to know any good Dark Eldar around here, do you? Stupid question but I’m looking for up-and-comers to take over managing this place.”

“Well, I do know of a good pilot…” You give Vect everything you know.

“Thanks, I’ll see if he’s got what it takes. Now get those daughters of mine out of my hair… And do enjoy the skiff, but don’t wreck it. Cost me a fortune.”

“I’ll do my best sir.” You turn and walk back through the doors, closing them behind you.

You exhale in relief, that could have gone a lot worse, actually.

"Well???" The twins grab you, looking genuinely concerned.

"He... He said to have fun?"

"Yay!" They both yell, grabbing you around the middle.

"I'm impressed you made it out alive." Their mother says, crossing her arms and looking like she's seeing you for the first time.

The twins quickly escort you away, both of them practicality buzzing with excitement.

You stare in awe as they stop you in front of a massive vessel, an intimidating brass colored hull bristling with weapons and topped with three masts.

"Pretty cool huh?" They both chime smugly at your look of awe.

"We get to ride that?"

"Yeah! You might even be allowed to drive it for a bit!"

"Err... Maybe later...."

No less than a hundred crew stand at attention as the twins lead you up onto the main deck of the vessel, each of them looking like a seasoned veteran.

"Wow, this is a lot... Your dad wasn't lying when he said this thing was expensive."

"Hah!" The twins laugh in tandem.

"Daddy's always yammering on and on about money, he worries too much. We try to get him to worry less by keeping him occupied but then he just gets mad and boots us out."

You don't have the heart to tell them that's exactly what he just did, though maybe less literal boot and more planned shipping them off to be someone elses problem for a day.

"So what exactly are we going to be doing on this thing anyways?" You reach out to touch a cannon, but a crew member stops you, shaking his head.

"Oh the usual stuff. The food is great first off! We can swim, sail around, fish..."

"Lets not fish..." You cut in.

"Well, whatever, but we can have an all-round great time!" The twins look as though they are about to explode in glee.

"Ladies, it is time to depart." A giant of a Dark Eldar approaches you. He must be the captain, he just looks captain-ey.

"Where we headed, captain?" You ask, really wanting to know.

"Who, me?" The giant points at himself.

"Yeah? You are the captain right?"

He shakes his head no.

"Silly Max, he isn't the captain today." The twins chide you, grinning ear to ear.

"Oh. Who is it then?"

"Why YOU, dummy!" They cheer, placing something on your head.

They hold up a mirror to show you. Its a cut-out of a hat...

Dear Emprah...

Its turned hat-chan into a tricorner.

"All hand ter deck, full sails! Ladies, present the captain with ye poop decks!"

You get swashbuckling, and the crew snaps to life. They toss ropes off the sides, casting the ship to the seas.

"Your orders, Captain? I'm the helmsmen, you can call me Teach." A ferocious looking Dark Eldar gives you a curt bow, looking like he's anxious to get underway.

You look to the twins, who both give you their best salute.

"Ca'pn!" They both shout.

"Raise the anchor, ready all guns!"

The crew snaps to life again, busy carrying out your orders.

The twins hand you a map, which you give a quick glance.

"Where are we headed, cap?" They ask.

"We're going here!" You snap your finger to the T.

The helmsman's face falls.

"Trust me, Captain, you don't want to go there..."

"Damn the consequences, I am the Captain of this ship and my word is the law!"

You pull him aside and switch to a hushed whisper.

"But seriously, what does the T stand for?"

The giant grimaces, as though he doesn't really want to say.

"Tortuga, Captain... The T is for Tortuga."

"...And...?"

"Well, its a pirate stronghold, Captain. Certainly no place to take these fine young ladies."

You look him over.

"...You're fucking with me, aren't you?"

Teach grins.

"Of coarse I am, its one of the funnest places on this damn world. Provided, of coarse, that you can show that you're tough enough to belong."

You bristle, doing your best to look the part of Captain.

"Yo ho!" The twins call out to you. You hadn't noticed them slip away while you were talking with Teach, but apparently they had because they come back toward you dressed entirely different. Each of them now sporting their best pirate attire, swords at their sides and pistols in their belts.

"Avast ye scoundrels, ye look so good that I should plunder yer booties!"

"Oh Captain~!" The twins giggle, holding their faces with both hands.

With that, the ship departs, headed for the far port, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

You stand on the open bridge of the ship, falling more and more into your pirate captain persona as you bark out orders.

The twins seem to be getting into it as well, both of them looking incredibly pleased at this entire turn of events.

You look out into the vast expanse of ocean with the monocular the twins had given you, along with a few proper pirate-y additions to your getup such as a sabre and a pistol belt.

A younger Dark Eldar crewmen runs up to you, looking both excited and nervous. He appears out of breath, stopping at the foot of the stairs leading to the bridge.

"Captain!" He starts.

"Spit it out lad!" You yell down at him, putting away your monocular.

"Sir! We've sighted three ships, each within reach!"

Hmm, this isn't something you had considered before, the actual piracy part. You aren't sure if its something you want to get involved in, though it might be.

"Well, what are we looking at son?"

"Captain! A Chaos vessel running due east! A Rogue Dark Eldar ship heading north! Lastly, a Necron vessel steaming hard directly at us, sir!"

"Alright lads!" You shout to the crew, who look at you for direction.

"The Necrons are headed right at us, eh? Turn hard port, bring us around for a broadside!"

The crew snaps to, moving at incredible speed. The vessel easily turns, and quite nimbly so for a ship of such a size.

You swallow hard. You don't know why the Necrons are heading right at you, or who they are. All you know is that you have a bad feeling about this...

Teach steers the craft with well seasoned hands, his steel eyes watching the approaching Necron ship, growing ever larger in the distance.

"Hold..." You tell the gunners, each looking anxious.

The Necron ship gets closer, and closer, and closer.

Finally, its within range, and you can see what it really looks like.

The ship is massive, with several decks each armed with a plethora of gauss weapons jutting from the sides. Oh shit, this boat is far bigger than your own.

Large enough, it seems, to house a Monolith atop it.