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Da Cybork Menace Chapta 4 | |
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Chapta 4 |
“Why do we need help to go to the human area?” Sophie asked as Hazug drove them in the direction of Two Heads’ home rather than directly to Git Town. “Cos da humans dare may panic,” Hazug explained, “and if dey do dat, dey may try away from us. So I want dare to be more of us to catch ‘em with.” “Yeah stupid,” Ratish added from the back of the vehicle, “big orks goin’ to catch cowardly gits,” and he added a rude noise. Sophie ignored the gretchin’s comments and instead pulled her jacket around her tighter against the increasingly cold weather. “Can Ratish ‘ave a gun master? Ratish could ‘elp control da gits, “Ratish said hopefully. “Not dis time grot,” Hazug replied, “we is goin’ to be askin’ questions, not shootin’ da place up. Dat’s why left yours and Sophie’s guns at ‘ome. Now sit down and let me concentrate on drivin’.” Ratish did as he was told, as more pedestrians dived out of the way of the fast moving truck. Hazug braked sharply when they reached Two Heads’ home, causing both Ratish and Sophie to grab hold of something to prevent them from being propelled forwards out of the truck. “Right, everybody out,” Hazug said. Two Heads’ home was a multi level building that consisted of a ground level garage that stored his large, armoured battlewagon with living accommodation on the two levels above that. As Hazug and his servants disembarked from the truck there was a crashing sound followed by laughter from the garage. “Ya got ‘im now!” someone shouted from within. Hazug drew his blade and pistol and ran towards the open garage door. Ratish and Sophie followed after him. From the doorway Hazug saw that Two Heads’ Evil Suns mob was clustered around the battlewagon apparently watching something going on beyond them. Hazug returned his weapons to his belt before striding over to join them. “Wot’s goin’ on ‘ere den lads?” he asked as he reached the group. “Da boss is fightin’,” one of the Evil Suns replied. “Who?” Hazug asked, pushing his way to the front of the mob. “’Imself,” Gorrid said, pointing to where Two Heads was trying to prize one of his hands loose from one of his throats. “Wot ‘appened dis time?” Hazug asked as Two Heads broke his grip and kicked himself in the leg to knock him to the floor. “One of him took da last squig nibble dat da other wos savin’ for later,” another ork said, “now dey is both accusin’ each other of bein’ greedy.” “’Ere,” another ork exclaimed when he saw Sophie, “wot’s dis git doin’ in ‘ere?” “She’s with me,” Hazug said sternly, “lay a finger on ‘er and I’ll snap it off and stuff it in ya ear ‘ole.” “Alright,” the ork said nervously, “I wos just wonderin’.” Two Heads had picked himself up from the floor and grasped the hair squigs on each of his heads. “Dis’ll learn ya!” one of him shouted as he slammed the other head into a nearby crate. “Aye,” the other shouted in return, “well kop dis!” and he slammed the first head into the same crate. The two different heads then began to take turns in yelling insults at each other and banging them into the crate. “Sod dis,” Hazug said and he drew his pistol and fired a single shot into the ceiling, “Now calm down da pair of ya!” he shouted as everyone stopped and stared at him, “or I’ll just ‘ave to separate ya both. Permanently.” “Alright, alright,” both of Two Heads said as he stood up straight and wiped the blood from his face. One of them grinned as he discovered that one of his teeth had been knocked loose and pulled it out. “Dat’s mine,” the other head spoke, “I knocked it out.” “Don’t start,” Hazug warned, his hand reaching for his blade. “Yeah, yeah,” the head said, “We can share it. Now wot does ya want Hazug?” “Its about dat lad in mega armour from last night,” Hazug said, “da dok reckoned dat ‘e wos dead before he went into dat bar, and when ‘e cut ‘im open ‘e found loads of stuff dat shouldn’t ‘ave been dare. Bionics and da like.” “Who’d put bionics into a dead lad?” one of Two Heads asked while the other just scratched his forehead. “Dat’s da thing, I ‘ad Batrug take a look at wot da dok pulled out of da body, and ‘e reckoned dat some of ‘em wos made by humans.” “And da dok agrees with dis doe ‘e?” Two Heads other head asked while the first was no scratching his forehead instead. “Dat’s another thing, da dok ‘as snuffed it. ‘Is grot assistant turned up at me ‘ouse dis mornin’ sayin’ dat more lads with bionics turned up at da surgery and killed ‘im. Fortunately, da grot legged it with wot da dok ‘ad already pulled out of da body. I’ve been to da place, and it’s cleaned out. Grots got to everythin’ dat da killers left behind.” “Dat's weird,” both of Two Heads said simultaneously, before one of them had a thought and added, “‘ere, dis dok wot's dead. Did ya pay ‘im in advance.” “Yeah, two
teeth.” “Anyway,” the other head spoke, “Wot is it dat ya want from me den?” “I’m off to try and find out who made one of da bits da dok pulled out of da body, and I reckon dat a wagon load of boys will make it easier to get answers.” Two Heads though for a moment. “Da last time I gave you a hand me wagon got shot up and most of me boys wound up dead.” “Yeah, I know,” Hazug replied. “Aye,” Two Heads added, “so ya can count me in, with any luck dis’ll be as much fun as dat was,” and then he pushed past Hazug to address his mob, “Right lads listen up!” both of Two Heads shouted together, “load up da wagon, we is rollin’ out,” then he raised his axe and both heads bellowed, “Waaargh!” The assembled orks joined in the war cry and then rushed to board their vehicle. “So wot’s da plan den?” Two Heads asked Hazug, “Kill gits until one of ‘em talks right?” “Actually I wos plannin’ on just askin’ ‘em,” Hazug replied, “Sophie knows where dey meet up to sell stuff, and I figure dat if we go dare den we can see if dare’s anyone selling stuff like wot wos in da body.” “So no shootin’ den?” Two Heads asked, his face falling. “Only if dey shoots at us first,” Hazug answered, and Two Heads both grinned. “Well dat’s somethin’ den,” he said, slapping Hazug on the back and following his mob into the battlewagon. Hazug and his servants joined Two Heads’ mob inside the battlewagon after Hazug had moved his truck inside the garage for safekeeping. Gorrid, who had been one of the more junior members of the mob Two Heads had taken to the old human capital the last time Hazug had worked with him was now the most senior of the orks he employed, primarily because he was the only to have returned alive from that expedition, and as such he had the right to drive the battlewagon despite of his feet both belonging on the same leg. He revved the engine as Hazug and his servants found somewhere to sit. “Right den,” Two heads said, “now we is all ready. Let’s roll!” Gorrid put his foot down on the gas pedal and the battlewagon lurched forwards, and promptly stalled. “Wot’s up with it?” Hazug asked. “Just a dodgy fuel pump, dat’s all. It got hit when we attacked da tau colony,” one of Two Heads replied, then the other added, “it’ll be alright once we gets goin’.” Gorrid restarted the engine and accelerated more gently this time, then when the battlewagon was clear of the garage he pushed down harder and the heavily armoured half track sped off through the packed streets causing not only pedestrians but also other drivers to get clear as quickly as they could. The human enclave, known as Git Town to the orks, lay to the north of the city. Most orks who went there did so looking for trouble, boredom having driven them to seek out someone to fight. So as the battlewagon entered the area the humans that the occupants caught sight of were mainly fleeing in fear. A flash of light came from an ancient box shaped device attached to a lamp post that had both been overlooked by the orks somehow as the battlewagon sped past it, and one of the orks crewing the machine gun turrets opened fire. The device exploded as the burst of heavy calibre bullets shredded it. “Quit it!” Two Heads shouted at the gunner, “We aint doin’ no shootin’ till we gets shot at first. Alright?” There was no response. “I said alright everybody. Alright?” Two heads said, looking around the inside of the battlewagon, staring at as many of his orks as he could make eye contact with. “Alright boss,” the Evil Suns replied in unison. At Hazug’s beckoning, Sophie moved to the front of the battlewagon, supporting herself by holding onto the back of Gorrid’s chair. From there she could see through the driver’s narrow vision slit and direct him towards the market area. “You’re driving too fast,” she protested, “I can’t tell where we are.” “Ya ‘eard ‘er Gorrid lad,” two Heads said, “Slow down so da git can see.” Gorrid slammed a foot on the brake and, with a loud screeching; the battlewagon ground to a halt while its occupants struggled to prevent themselves from being thrown about the vehicle’s interior. “’Ow’s dat for ya?” Gorrid asked as Sophie struggled to get up from where she had fallen beside him. She looked out through the vision slit again, then turned to Hazug. “I need to get out and figure out where we are,” she said. “Right den,” Hazug replied, “I reckon dat I could do with stretchin’ me legs an’ all,” and he opened one of the battlewagon’s side hatches. Sophie followed him out into the street, and began to study the area around them. “See anythin’ ya recognise?” Hazug asked Sophie. “No,” she responded, “we’ve driven past the streets I know.” “We’ll ‘ave to drive around a bit more den,” Hazug said. “We could try asking for directions,” Sophie suggested, and she pointed to a corner from where a pair of humans watched them. Hazug turned to look at the humans, and as he did so he caught sight of a flash from an upper storey window at the end of the street, followed by a ‘whoosh’ sound. “Rokkit!” Hazug yelled, and he pushed Sophie to the ground as the explosive projectile struck the front of the battlewagon and detonated. The armour at the front of the battlewagon was both thick and tough, and the warhead of the missile failed to do anything more than blast some of the vehicle’s red paint from it. The battlewagon’s turrets began to turn towards the building, while orks led by Two Heads began to pour out of it. “Big shootas let rip up dare!” Hazug shouted, pointing towards the window from which the missile had been fired, “Don’t use da kannon!” and he picked himself up and ran towards the entrance to the building while the Evil Suns fired the battlewagon’s automatic weapons towards the source of the attack. “Follow ‘im lads!” one of Two Heads yelled, while the other just screamed “Waaargh!” as he ran in pursuit of Hazug. Hazug swung his blade at the building’s door, and it splintered before him, then he crashed through what remained of it into the building. He waited in the hallway inside when he heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs ahead of him. Turning around he waved to the Evil Suns moving up behind him and shouted, “Stay back a mo!” then he pressed himself up against the wall just out of sight of the bottom of the stairs. Moments later a human ran past him and turned to run down the hallway towards the back of the building, straight into Hazug who grasped him and lifted him off the floor to look him directly in the eyes. “Goin’ somewhere lad?” Hazug said in the human language, Gothic, before he head butted the human and heard his nose break. Hazug let go and the human dropped to the floor in heap, clutching at his ruined nose, blood pouring out onto the floor. Hazug looked round as he heard Two Heads and his troops entering the building. “Any of da lads ‘urt?” Hazug asked. “Nah,” Two heads said together, then one continued, “me wagon’s way too tough for any wimpy git rokkit to do anythin’ to it from da front. Is dis ‘im den?” “I reckon so,”
Hazug said, “’e wos in a right ‘urry to get away.” “I want to take a look at where ‘e fired from first,” Hazug said, “I aint ‘eard of humans ‘avin’ rokkits round ‘ere before.” “Wot about ‘im den?” Two Heads asked, pointing at the human. Hazug drew his pistol and fired a single round into the human’s chest. “Dat good enough for ya?” he asked. “Yeah, dat’ll do,” Two Heads both replied. Hazug led the way up the stairs, followed by Two Heads and the Evil Suns not crewing the battlewagon. As they ascended they heard few sounds that indicated there were any humans in the building, but occasionally a whimper would be heard behind a door as the occupants silenced youngsters until the orks had passed by their home. Hazug stopped when he found a doorway that was wide open. “I think dis is it,” he said, and strode into the apartment beyond. The inside of the apartment was filled with the acrid smell of burning, an after effect of the launching of the missile from the poorly ventilated location, and there was a large scorch mark on the wall opposite the window where the weapon’s back blast had damaged it. “Yep,” he added, “dis is definitely it,” and as Two Heads entered they both stood and stared at the crates that nearly filled the room. “Wot does dis say Hazug?” Two Head asked, pointing at the labelling on a nearby crate. Sophie had been teaching Hazug to read the human script, and he read it carefully, mouthing words as he did so. It read ‘LAUNCHER, MISSILE, HYROS PATTERN’. Then he looked around the room once more and read the writing on a smaller sized crate, mouthing the words to himself again. ‘LASGUN, MARS PATTERN, x3’ he read. “Dese are all rokkits,” Hazug said, pointing towards the crates along one side of the apartment, “and I think dat dese each ‘ave three shootas in ‘em,” and he pointed towards the smaller crates. “Dey any good?” Two Heads asked as his troops tried peering around him at the crates. “Da rokkit
launchers aint much different to ours,” Hazug told him, “but da shootas
are dem weird zappas wot is dead puny. Da meks may be able to use ‘em for
parts though, and if dare is any batteries with ‘em dey is worth
somethin’.” At the back of his mind was the alien warscythe he had
captured when he battled the necrons. There was a chance that, with human
energy cells, mek Batrug would finally be able to get the weapon working
for him again. “Oh yeah. Wot do ya say to a third each?” “A third?” Two Heads repeated, “Wot about da rest?” “For da warboss,” Hazug explained, “as soon as Kazkal finds out da we got da rokkits, ‘e’s goin’ to want some anyway. So third each, plus a third for da boss sound good?” “Deal,” Two Heads both spoke together, then stepped away from the door, “Right lads,” one head yelled, “its lootin’ time, get dese boxes in da wagon.” Cheerily, Two Heads’ orks began to remove the various crates from the apartment and carried them down to the waiting battlewagon on the street outside. “Mind out lads!” Two Heads had to yell as one of them was dropped, spilling a human made missile launcher and several rounds of ammunition out onto the stairs, “Dey go bang ya know.” “Right boss,” an ork replied as he scooped up the explosives and put them back into the crate. It was then that Two Heads noticed that Hazug had opened one of the smaller crates. “Wot ya doin?” he asked the Blood Axe. “I wants to see exactly wot’s in ‘em,” Hazug replied as he flipped through a small book he had removed from the crate, “dese look like instructions to me,” and he stuffed the book into a pocket before plucking one of the three guns contained within the crate and a belt of power cells to go with it and he took them down into the street. Outside he saw Sophie returning from the corner where the humans who had earlier been watching the orks were leaving. “I know where the market is now,” she said as Hazug approached, then she added, “What are those for?” indicating the gun the power cells. Hazug passed the weapon and a single power cell to Sophie, then pulled the instruction manual from his pocket and gave that to her also. The remaining power cells he stuffed into his bag. “’Ere ya go,” he told her, “See if ya can work dat.” “Err, right,” Sophie replied as she tried to keep hold of everything that Hazug had just given to her, before saying, “What’s that noise?” Hazug paused to listen. At first all he could hear was the sound of the battlewagon’s engine still running and the conversations of the Evil Suns discussing how they were going to spend their share of the looted weapons. But then he caught something else. It was a wailing sound, made by a machine rather than something living, and it was getting louder. It was getting louder because it was getting closer. “Look sharp lads!” Hazug shouted, drawing his weapons, “Somethin’s comin’!” and as the orks readied themselves a trio of human vehicles rounded the corner. Each vehicle was similar to a lightweight ork buggy, but with the customary human regular smooth outline. They all held a pair of humans in an enclosed cabin behind the forward mounted engine, with another five or six in the open rear area. Each vehicle mounted a belt fed weapon and a flashing red light on its roof. The wailing sound seemed to be coming from speakers mounted next to the flashing lights. Hazug saw the look of surprise on the face of the driver of the first vehicle to round the corner when he saw the large ork battlewagon and troops ahead, and he instantly slammed on the brakes. The vehicle’s tyres squealed and smoked as it came quickly to a halt, meanwhile the following two vehicles both swerved to avoid the now stationary lead vehicle and also came to a rapid halt. The humans riding in the backs of the vehicles all jumped out as soon as they were stationary and took cover behind them. The occupants of the cabins all ducked out of sight before also crawling out and taking cover, only the humans crewing the mounted weapons stayed in place but they did not fire, apparently unsure of what to do. Hazug knew that these humans outnumbered the orks, but the battlewagon would be able to smash the far lighter human buggies apart with no effort at all. Already its turrets were traversing to face the three vehicles and the humans hiding behind them. “Steady lads,” Hazug said sternly, “let’s wait and see wot dey do.” As the orks in the street waited for the humans’ next move those who had still been in the building, led by Two Heads, spilled out onto the street. “Careful Two Heads!” Hazug shouted, “We don’t know wot dey wants yet,” and two Heads signalled to his troops to stay put for now. Just then he noticed that Ratish had crept out of the battlewagon, and was now standing beside him, staring in the direction of the humans and scowling. “Master kill ‘em now?” Ratish asked, but Hazug ignored him because one of the humans was now doing something. The human in question was one that Hazug recognised as having ridden in the front of the lead vehicle. He had raised his hands above his head so that Hazug could see that he held nothing in them and was approaching Hazug slowly. He was tall for a human, but barely larger than an average ork so he was still much shorter than Hazug. His clothing reminded Hazug of a Goff ork, it being entirely black and it appeared that his was wearing some form of armour that covered his torso. Though he was not acting aggressively, Hazug guessed that this human was well practiced in fighting. “Can you translate for me?” the human called out in Gothic while he looked at Sophie, he kept his hands raised. “Hazug
understands Gothic,” she replied, “you can talk to him directly.” “Oi, human,” Hazug shouted in fluent but heavily accented gothic, “I’m over ‘ere. Now who are ya and wot d’ya all want. ‘Urry up cause dese lads is wantin’ to fill ya all with ‘oles.” “My name is Dariel Thyane, and I am the chief of the constabulary here,” the human explained. “Constabulary?” Hazug repeated slowly, unfamiliar with the word. “They keep order,” Sophie told him. “Right, I get it,” Hazug said to Sophie before addressing Thayne once more, “So wot d’ya want ‘ere den?” “An explosion was reported,” Thayne answered, “we came to find out what had happened.” “Well we sorted it,” Hazug said, “da lad wot shot at us is dead, and we is takin’ all da other rokkits and guns wot ‘e ‘ad with us.” The human looked surprised, and he lowered his hands. “Rockets?” he said. “Dat’s right,” Hazug replied, “’e ‘ad a great stash of ‘em, and dey is ours now.” Thayne didn’t respond for a moment. “You say the man who had them is dead?” he said eventually. “I shot ‘im meself, ‘e’s still in dare,” and Hazug pointed to the building behind him, “ya can ‘ave a look if ya like, but we is goin’ now. Don’t try and stop us.” “We won’t,” Thayne said, and then Hazug turned to Two Heads. “’Ave we got it all now?” he asked in the ork language. “Dese are da last boxes,” Two Heads replied, indicating the crates that had most recently been brought down from the apartment. “Well Sophie knows where da market is, so once dey is loaded we can be goin’.” “Ya all ‘eard
‘im lads,” Two Heads shouted, “get dis stuff in da wagon and lets get
goin’ again.” Inside the battlewagon, Sophie took up a position next to Gorrid in the driver’s seat once more and began to give him directions to the marketplace. “Stop a bit short of it,” Hazug said to Gorrid, then turned to Two Heads and added, “I don’t want to panic ‘em and set all runnin’ off.” Two Heads both nodded in agreement as the battlewagon began to accelerate. In the street they left behind Chief Constable Dariel Thayne directed his enforcers to investigate the building that Hazug had indicated. Keeping out of earshot of their superior, two of them discussed the arms taken by the orks and the body left in the hallway. “It’s
him alright,” one of them said, “the idiot tried to take out that
battlewagon with one of the missile launchers.” |
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