The Wheel of Time Begins to Turn1,240 words

Every Combination on a Rubik's Cube can be Solved in Twenty Moves or Less

$%$%$% Taylor's Pov $%$%$%

In that moment, staring up at the monster of a man who had once been a proud warrior, two things became very clear. One, I was shaking in a mixture of fear and terrible excitement; I would either die valiantly, or kill an enemy who may hold a record of thousands of men like me or better. It was a bit like fighting the Deceiver, only I wouldn't be taking anything away from this battle except whatever injuries I suffered. Dread permeated through the hive mind as every changeling realized I, as an individual and nowhere near part of the whole, was up against someone who would very much enjoy making my final moments as painful as possible if he managed to finish me.

The second thing I noticed, and this one was possibly more important, was that the ceiling was collapsing, and pipes were sending steam and boiling-hot water raining down on us. I knew enough about Space Marine power armor to know a power weapon like mine could slice through it, and so could Jacques's, but I had no idea about the Marine's chainsword. I never actually hit the Deceiver with my sabre, given that the entire battle had been an illusion, so I had no way of knowing how tough it actually was. For all I knew, the son of Horus could cut me clean in two.

A portion of the ceiling, a stone the size of a man, fell as a pipe burst. I dove to the left, and Jacques took the right; Dahl and Amos opened fire with their weapons. Astartes have augmented reflexes and higher brain activity than normal humans, so, in a way, I expected the swinging chainsword that appeared in my vision. A brought my sword to parry, not block, because his sword had a goddamn chainsaw whose teeth would take my weapon from my hands when they caught it. My blade's disruption field flickered for a second after the impact, but it safely deflected the corrupted Weapon.

The Ripper dug his claws into the back of one of the Marine's knees, then pulled and ripped through the thick muscle of his calf. That earned him a kick with enough force to knock him through the crumbling wall. I know some bones cracked, and he easily had the wind knocked out of him. The corrupted Marine turned to raise his bolt pistol the the two Imperials firing on him. I had a clear look at his damaged leg as I brought up Delphine's gun to shoot him up, but was horrified to see it was already healing shut. A shot there would only piss him off. I leveled the weapon's sights on the weakest point I had a clear view of: the joint of his pauldron.

The shoulder armor bucked up with the explosive blast, and a gout of bright red blood poured from the wound for a moment. The Marine, faster than I was, whipped and fired a round straight into my chest. It forced me against a wall, and my armor dented enough to snap my collarbone. I heard a slight click as I righted myself, and saw the Black Legionnaire had clipped his bolter to his belt, which meant he was focusing on melee now. Which meant the bigass motherfucker was running straight at me! Thinking on my feet, and knowing there was no way he would sacrifice a chance to cleave me into bits, I swung, hoping he wouldn't parry.

In my dazed state, I misjudged the distance between us, and as my sword sliced though the Star of Chaos emblazoned upon his breastplate, only the tiniest of cuts was made into his flesh. He was not so easily distracted. His sword roared to life as he brought it down onto my shoulder, right at my neck. The roar turned into a shriek as it bit and tore through to plates and into the soft skin and muscle beneath. He pulled back the instant I felt my arm start to lose feeling, and I saw why almost immediately. Jacques, ever loyal to the only man to defeat him, was ripping into the armor of the traitor Marine's back. He jumped off as soon as the chainsword swung after him.

“Why the fuck aren't the two of you helping us anymore?!” I yelled at Dahl and Amos, who both looked busy trying to find a decent shot. A massive hand wrapped around my head before I could give the order to just spray and pray, though it couldn't really muffle me. I suddenly felt the sensation of flight as I was hurled through the ceiling, and into what could only have been the Blue Sky Bathhouse's hot baths. Damned sprinklers were running full tilt, and made the marble floor too slick to get a decent footing. A massive black shape jumped through the hole I made on my way up.

“Death to the enemy!” I only had enough time to roll onto my back before he was upon me. His chainsword slashed across my faceplate, knocking out half my vision. I rolled out his reach and flicked my mask away, thinking it would be better to lose some protection in exchange for sight. Even the sprinklers' water was hot enough to scald my skin, and the steam hurt my eyes. I climbed to my feet with enough space between the Marine and I to steady myself. I was still shaking, though it was more from the adrenaline than anything else.

“Come on then, if you think you're man enough.” The Black Legionnaire paced back and forth about thirty feet from me. I was alone up here; Jacques was probably too hurt to actually fly up here, and there was no way Dahl or Amos could jump this high.

“You have some teeth, boy.” He stopped his pacing and stared at me, his helmet’s lenses biting holes through me. There was an almost perverse humor in his voice, as though he was legitimately surprised I was putting up even a mild fight. He revved his sword into a guttural roar, shaking some primal part of my mind and briefly weakening my resolve. “I have more.”

“Then bite.” I gripped my powersabre's hilt with both hands, making it clear that this was going to end now. If there was a Chaos Marine in the city, then Ophidia was here as well. Cadence and Shining Armor were in danger, more than they could possibly know. We ran at each other, swinging our weapons in the hopes of ending this so we could move on to kill more. As I feared, his chainsword's teeth caught on my sword's face, and pulled it to his hilt. His ceramite-covered fist slammed into my face; I let go of my weapon as my head flew back.

“What could these xenos have done to earn your loyalty?” Really? This from a traitor Marine? I suppose we shared a hatred of the Imperium, but that was where our symmetry ended. He had no right to even consider friendly conversation with me, or at least as friendly as he could be. “Would you not prefer your own kind, psyker?”

“They have earned my loyalty until death.”

“Then prove it.” He did not seem to like my answer, but he hardly had room to talk. I was in that wonderful area between lucidity and unconsciousness that I didn't give a fuck that he was raising his chainsword for the killing blow. I was too out of it to even track it as it hurdled to my broken armor.

“Look out, Boss!” The Ripper slammed into my side, knocking me from the path of death, and placing himself firmly in my place. I watched in horror as the roaring sword ripped through his body, splattering blood over the traitor's armor and everywhere else. I did not see where he was hurt, but he easily lost both legs, perhaps more. Some of his blood had splashed across my face on the chainsword's upswing, which reminded only too much off something else. A massive boot knocked what could have very well been the corpse of a friend down a hole in the floor.

He looked down at me, and for a moment, I thought I could see the smug satisfaction on his face. I was alive, but wished I wasn't. A second ally had given his life in exchange for mine, and he could see the shock on my face as plain as the blood running down it, thinned by the scalding water. He raised his sword to finally finish me off, and I wasn't able to fully move to stop him. My sword lay out of my reach, Delphine's gun was somewhere in the tunnel below, and there wasn't much I could do besides close my eyes and wait for the end.

A shot rang out, startling me enough to notice the Marine's pauldron was now thoroughly broken off. He looked at me, and decided I wasn't much of a threat in the state I was in. With my weapon only a little out of the way, and an obvious weak point now open, was was indeed the operative word in that statement. He looked ready to jump down and finish off whoever shot him.

“Don't you fucking walk away from me.”

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