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Da Cybork Menace Chapta 9 | |
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Chapta 9 |
Warboss Kazkal Kromag
stared at the bodies laid out in front of him in his throne room. Hazug
had delivered the six corpses early that morning, along with a dire
warning that they somehow presented some sort of threat even though,
according to Hazug, they had now been killed twice each. Kromag had
therefore assembled his council of nobs and brought in a professional
examiner. “Well?” he said, staring
at his senior painboy who was crouched over the body parts, poking and
prodding them with an assortment of tools. “Hazug is right boss,”
the painboy replied, “besides all da bionics which are obvious, dey ‘ave
all ‘ad dare brains replaced with dem wot is normally found in
squigs.” Beyond the bodies Hazug
grinned as his statements were confirmed. “Ow is dat possible?”
Kromag asked. “Well ya scoop out da
brain wot used to be in dare, and just stick in one dat ya ‘ave cut out of
a squig,” the painboy explained, “so long as da squig’s brain is fresh
enough den da nerves will fuse together and da brain can control da ork
body as if it were its own. It may take a bit of runnin’ in, getting’ it
to walk upright and such, but it can work quite well, as we see right
‘ere. We is definitely dealin’ with a bad dok ‘ere, no sane painboy would
attempt it mind you.” There was a pause as the
assembled crowd contemplated for a moment the sanity of any painboy they
had encountered. Warboss Kromag himself broke the
silence. “So wot does dat mean
den?” The painboy stood up and
faced the warboss. “Well as I’m sure ya know
boss, certain types of squig can be trained to follow simple commands like
‘stay’, ‘come ‘ere’ and of course ‘kill and eat
dat’.” “Yes Fangpulla I knew
dat, but ‘ow does dat relate to puttin’ squig brains in ork
lads?” “If an ork ‘as da brain
of a squig, den ya can train ‘im to do the same
stuff.” Warboss Kromag thought
about this before he looked at Hazug and spoke to
him. “So why would someone
want to use lads with squig brains instead of proper ork
brains?” “Because if dey still ‘ad
ork brains den dey would still be as smart as orks,” Hazug explained, “so
ya would ‘ave to pay ‘em to jobs for ya, and ya couldn’t keep wot ya wos
doin’ a secret.” “Why keep it secret?”
another of the assembled ork nobs asked, “Who cares wot orks do so long as
dey do wot we tell ‘em to as well?” “Because if an ork ‘as an
army of des squig brained orks, den ‘e doesn’t ‘ave to do wot ya tell ‘im
to do,” Hazug replied, “’E probably wants to be da one givin’ da orders,”
then he turned to face Warboss Kromag, “Which means killin’
you.” “Da Blood Axe is right
boss,” the painboy concurred, “Whoever controls an army of dese cyborks
could tell ‘em to kill ya without worryin’ about ‘em bein’ loyal to ya
instead of ‘im.” “Can dat work den?”
Kromag asked. “Sure it can boss,” Dok
Fangpulla answered, “I ‘eard dat da great Mad Dok Grotsnik ‘imself ‘as
built an army dat way.” “Den we needs to find
who’s makin’ ‘em,” Kromag said at the mention of one of the most infamous
ork renegades. “Ya is lookin’ for a
painboy,” Hazug said, “only dey can put bionik bits into an ork like
dat.” “Ya should also look for
a mekboy, “ Dok Fangpulla added, “A painboy couldn’t make da bioniks, so
‘e’d ‘ave to get a mek to make ‘em for ‘im.” Hazug nodded in agreement
as Warboss Kromag looked back at him. “Makes sense boss, “
Hazug said, “da first one I saw wos in mega armour, and dare aint no meks
wot sell dat around ‘ere, so ‘e must be workin’ with da dok wot is doin’
da surgery.” There were general
murmurs of agreement from around the room as the ork nobs all nodded,
pretending that they understood what Hazug and Dok Fangpulla were talking
about. All that really mattered to them was that there was probably going
to be some fighting to be done, and they wanted to make sure that they got
their fair share of the violence. “Mega armour?” Kromag
asked, “Is ya sure?” “Yeah boss, it was mega
armour alright.” “Den let me make dis
clear,” Kromag said looking around the room at all of the assembled orks,
“anyone wot gets ‘old of any more mega armour ‘ad better makes sure dat
dey gives it to me, cos if dey don’t den even mega armour aint goin’ to be
thick enough to protect ya from me. Got it?” The assembled orks
indicated that they understood. Gretchin swarmed around
the burning workshop fighting the fire with an assortment of different
equipment ranging from simple buckets of water and snow to more
complicated pumps and hoses attached to tanks of water on carts. Further
back from the gretchin fire fighters a crowd of orks was also building up,
watching the smaller creatures as they tried to put the fire out. Here and
there mekboys also joined in the fire fighting efforts, they did so under
the pretence of not wanting the fire to spread to their own nearby
workshops, but in reality they were more interested in grabbing hold of
any technology not yet destroyed by the fire and taking it for
themselves. “Wait ‘ere da lot of ya,”
Hazug said to the other occupants of the battlewagon in which he was
riding, “I is goin’ to find out wot’s up.” Hazug clambered down from
the vehicle and approached the crowd, the heat of the flames in contrast
to the otherwise cold air around him. Recognising Mek Batrug he pushed his
way through the crowd towards him. “Oi Batrug!” Hazug
shouted, and as the mek turned he hid a slightly charred piece of
machinery behind his back. “I was just ‘elpin’ fight
da fire,” Batrug said, “I didn’t want it spreadin’ to me own workshop and
burin’ it down an’ all.” “Ya own workshop is a
pile of rubble,” Hazug said, “Ya own burglar alarm blew it
up.” “Yeah,” Batrug replied,
“but I don’t want da rubble burnin’ down do
I?” Hazug pondered that for a
moment, but opted not to get into that subject
further. “Wot ‘appened ‘ere den?”
Hazug asked, indicating the burning workshop. “A fire started a bit
ago,” Batrug replied. Before Hazug could say
anything further there was a ‘whoosh’ and he turned to see a rocket shoot
out of the burning workshop and fly straight upwards before detonating in
mid air. “Down!” Hazug shouted,
and he dived to the ground and dragged Mek Batrug down with him a moment
before there was the crack of gunfire as the ammunition stored inside the
workshop began to cook off. The gretchin fire
fighters fled as the projectiles flew in all directions, while the
watching orks ducked for cover. A large explosion followed the random hail
of bullets, sending a ball of flame high into the air and spreading small
chunks of the building over a large area. Then the sound of bullets
detonating ceased. “I reckon dat was da last
of ‘em,” Hazug said as he got back to his
feet. Batrug stood up himself,
as did most of the assembled crowd. Only those hit by the bullets remained
on the ground, and nearby orks helped themselves to whatever valuable were
on the bodies. The gretchin reappeared from their hiding places and
returned to combating the blaze. “Wots with da ‘eavy mob?”
Batrug asked, noticing the open topped battlewagon full of orks wearing
heavy metal plates of armour and helmets parked a short distance away,
“Are dey with ya?” “Yeah,” Hazug replied,
“Warboss Kromag lent me Maggort and ’is lads for searchin’ da
workshops.” “Is dis related to dat
cybork ya was askin’ about?” “Yeah, I is lookin’ for
da mek and dok wot built ‘im. Dey tried sendin’ a mob of ‘em to do me in
last night but dey wasn’t tough enough for da job, so ‘ere I am. Now I got
a nasty feelin’ dat dat dare burnin’ workshop is where I wants to be
lookin’. I think dat I’ll wait ‘ere until da fire is
out.” Hazug had the armoured
orks accompanying him form a perimeter around the burning workshop to
prevent the continued looting, with only the gretchin fire fighters being
allowed through. “Sod off! Dare’s nought
to see ‘ere!” Maggort yelled as a small group of meks tried to get closer,
and with a few well-placed shots at them the meks withdrew carrying away
their wounded. The gretchin extinguished
the fire when the sun was high in the sky, and Hazug had Maggort’s mob
waste no time in clearing them away before they too could try and loot
what remained at the site. “Get lookin’ lads,” Hazug
shouted, “we is tryin’ to find anythin’ dat looks like it was an ork
once.” Most ork workshops are
messy places, with half finished projects scattered around until the
mekboy who began them can remember what they were intended for and finish
them, but the combination of fire, explosion and the fire fighting efforts
of the gretchin made this one worse than any Hazug had previously seen.
The orks moved carefully through the wreckage, looking for any sign of
bodies or anything small enough to slip into their pockets
unnoticed. Standing with Maggort by
the main entrance, Hazug watched them and took a deep
breath. “Dare was definitely
someone in ‘ere when it burned,” he said, “I can smell
‘em.” “Over ‘ere boss!” an ork
shouted, “I found an arm. Wait, no, its
metal.” “Metal?” Hazug repeated,
“Let me see it lad,” and he made his way to the ork. The ork had plucked
the limb from the surrounding wreckage by the time Hazug reached him, and
he took it from the ork when he held it out. The artificial arm was
larger than an ordinary ork’s arm, almost as big as one of Warboss
Kromag’s in fact, and each of the two fingers and thumb were tipped in
vicious looking blades. “Dis is it lads,” he
said, “Keep lookin’ for whoever was ‘ere.” “Dey is over ‘ere!”
another ork shouted, “Loads of ‘em!” Hazug went to take a look
at the discovery, and saw that the ork had indeed found the burnt corpses
of several orks. “Pick ‘em up and get ‘em
outside,” Hazug said, “but be careful with ‘em, and keep everythin’ dey
‘ave on ‘em together with ‘em, we needs find out who dey
wos.” Maggort’s troops cleared
the wreckage away from the burned bodies and carried them out into the
street where they lay them down in a line in the snow. As each corpse was
laid down, Hazug inspected it paying particular attention to the
cybernetic modifications carried out on each. After the eighth body was
removed Maggort approached him. “So wot ya doin’ now?”
the Goff nob asked. “I is tryin’ to figure
out who wos who,” Hazug replied, “It looks like we da mek and da painboy
‘ere and dare,” he said pointing at two of the corpses, “da mek’s got a
big bite mark where Ratish me grot bit ‘im in da
leg.” “Wot about da
others?” “Dey all ‘ave metal
plates on da tops of dare ‘eads, so dey was probably da
cyborks.” “So dis is it den?”
Maggort asked, “Dey all burned up before we
arrived.” “Looks like it,” Hazug
said, “Da mek probably blew somethin’ up, ‘is body looks like it was near
an explosion. Or maybe one of ‘is grots caused it,” then Hazug paused,
“’Ang on a mo, ‘ave we not found any grot
bodies.” “Nah,” Maggort told him,
“but grots would ‘ave legged it as a fire
started.” “Suppose so,” Hazug said,
“in any case grots aint capable of doin’ ought without an ork to tell ‘em
‘ow.” “Well if we is done ‘ere,
can I pull da teeth from dat mek?” Maggort asked, “‘E’s da only one wots
got any.” “Wot?” “Da mek, ‘e’s da only one
with any teeth,” Maggort repeated. Hazug dashed to the body
that he had identified as being the painboy and crouched down beside it.
Sure enough it had the apron and tool harness that a painboy would be
expected to possess, although the flames had damaged them, and the tools
attached to him looked like those Hazug had seen painboys carry openly.
But as Hazug used his fingers to pry open the charred body’s mouth he saw
that there indeed no teeth present. “Dis aint ‘im,” Hazug
said, “dis ork was dead before da fire
started.” “So wot?” Maggort
asked. “So it means dat da
painboy we is really lookin’ for aint ‘ere, and dat means dat ‘e is still
runnin’ about somewhere with Gork’n’Mork knows ‘ow many more cyborks. Get
ya lads to go round all da other workshops in dis street, I need all da
meks and dare grot bringin’ ‘ere now.” “Tell me about da fire,”
Hazug said to the group of mekboys standing before
him. “It burned down Badcog’s
workshop,” one of them shouted back, “Wot more is there to
say?” “I wants to know who saw
it first,” Hazug said. “Dat was one of me
grots,” another mekboy replied, “tell ‘im
Snokki.” “Yes master,” Snokki
said, “I was goin’ for somethin’ for breakfast when I saw da flames. Den I
got da other gretchin and we put da fire
out.” “So ya didn’t see da fire
actually start then? Or who started it?” “No lord, when we broke
in most of da buildin’ was already burnin’ and da was no one left alive
inside.” “Wot do ya mean ya broke
in?” Hazug asked. “Da front door was bolted
from da inside,” Snokki explained, “so a gretchin ‘ad to go in through da
window first to open it.” “Ya can all go,” Hazug
said to the crowd, and he turned and walked back towards the burnt out
remains of the workshop. Maggort ran after
him. “Wot ya doin’?” he
asked “Da grots ‘ad to force
dare way inside to put out da fire,” Hazug said, “and dat Snokki said dat
da door was locked from da inside.” “Yeah, so
wot?” “So ow did whoever
started da fire get out?” Hazug said, and Maggort
stopped. “Its true wot dey say
about ya isn’t it?” he said. “And wots
dat?” “Dat ya is da sneakiest
git lovin’ ork dare is,” Maggort answered, but Hazug didn’t
reply. Now that the cordon of
armed orks was gone, gretchin had begun to go through everything that was
left inside the workshop. Any scrap of metal, no matter how small was
picked up and removed so that it could be sold on to another mekboy. This
time Hazug wasn’t interested in looters, he just wanted to find out how
someone could leave a burning building after locking it’s only door from
the inside. He stood still in the
doorway and looked around the blackened interior of the workshop, trying
to detect another exit, but aside from the stairs that led up to the next
floor there were none. But then he heard something that attracted his
attention. One of the gretchin had
discovered a half built bike engine and was dragging it towards the door,
a find like that would earn the gretchin two or three teeth from anther
mekboy. The small creature dragged the heavy engine a few paces before
letting it drop to the floor. Then he paused for breath before lifting one
side once more, dragging it another few paces and dropping it again. It
was the sound of it hitting the floor that Hazug noticed, the dull ‘thump’
had sounded hollow the last time the gretchin dropped the engine and that
could only mean that there was a hidden chamber beneath the
workshop. “Out of me way!” Hazug
shouted to the gretchin as he strode to where the floor sounded hollow.
Once there he stamped on the charred floorboards, and sure enough he was
rewarded with a hollow sounding ‘clump’. He crouched down and began to brush away debris from around his feet. Then he saw what he was looking for, a crack in the wooden floor that ran across multiple wooden boards, Hazug grinned and drew his blade. He then forced the blade down into the crack and pushed it to one side. There was a groaning sound as the blade rubbed against the floorboards before a section of the floor about an ork’s pace long in each direction popped up away from the rest of it. Hazug kicked the loose section away and looked into the darkness beneath it. “So dat’s where ya went,” he said to himself, “into da grot tunnels.” |
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