A side project I've been working on for a while now. I'm honestly surprised nobody has made a crossover for these two fandoms yet. Comments and criticisms are welcome. Part two will be up when I get the chance to work on it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Warhammer 40k or Elfen Lied

The scream of the Valkyrie's engines echoed through Rein's head as they approached the drop point. After having spent so much time listening to such things, the constant noise normally didn't even register to him. Today's target however, was anything but normal.

The planet Cyrridus Delta was a wasteland. A sandy ball of rock constantly blasted by windstorms that could rip a man's flesh right off when it got serious. Water was all but nonexistent, and the closest things to intelligent life that had existed here before the Imperials showed up were some rather large insects that burrowed into the cliff faces. The only reason this inhospitable ball of rock was valuable in the first place was due to the large deposits of valuable ores and minerals hidden beneath the surface. The extraction of which, certainly didn't help the whole 'dusty hell storm' reputation.

In all its history, Cyrridus Delta had only experienced one large scale conflict. A noble (if one could truly be called such in a place like this) by the name of Argentinus Vaserian had established a large facility in the hollowed out heart of one of the massive peaks that dotted the planet's surface.

For a long time what happened in that place had been a mystery, but rumors and speculations of the going-ons had apparently been sinister enough to draw the attention of the Inquisition. A member of the Ordo Hereticus had taken it upon themselves to see if these whispered words held any weight.

Rein was willing to bet that even the Inquisitor hadn't been expecting it to be anywhere near as serious as it had been.

Argentinus was a fething, grox-bred, madman. For years, he'd been working in secret to distribute what had been officially labeled as a plague to every major hive on the planet. This plague however, had nothing to do with Chaos or the followers of the god of disease.

In his crazed notes and writings, he'd gone into great detail about searching for the next step in human evolution. He'd gotten it in his head that the Emperor had tasked him personally with creating the perfect human. A creature free from the flaws and weaknesses of ordinary men.

Needless to say, things didn't quite work out that way.

The mutation rate skyrocketed to ludicrous degrees. Countless families had been horrified to find that their child was a twisted monster. Even as the number of abhumans born grew, Argentinus was already working to expand his testing grounds. He'd started sending out shipments of his experimental infections to confidants on other Imperial planets.

When the truth came to light the Hereticus Inquisitor had fallen on Cyrridus like the manifestation of the Emperor's wrath. He scourged Argentinus's forces from the surface with an army of Cadian Guardsmen as well as a detachment of Battle Sisters from the Order of the Argent Shroud.

The madman and his lackeys put up a hell of a fight, digging into the facility and enduring constant artillery and waves of conscript troops. In the end though, they'd all paid the price for their crimes. The Sisters acted as a vanguard force, smashing through the outer defenses of the traitors and allowing the Cadians to storm the place. From what Rein had heard it had been an all-out brawl in the confined hallways and narrow corridors. One that was quickly decided as expert training and superior skill led the Imperial forces to a crushing victory.

The traitors died, the facility was shut down, and all information regarding the insane experiments of Argentinus were taken away by the Inquisition. Argentinus himself was publicly flayed alive before being burned at the stake for his crimes. The Hereticus Inquisitor had returned to wherever he'd come from, likely with a nice promotion waiting for him, and the Adepta Sororitas had established a small convent on the planet, both to act as a supplementary guard as well as to remind the inhabitants that the God Emperor was always watching even in these barren wastes.

That was it. End of story. Everything wrapped up with a nice little bow on top. Sadly, things were never that simple.

Twenty years later, rumors surrounding the facility had started up again. Disappearances, gruesome remains, and unexplained screams echoing in the night, all supposedly being connected to the damned place. The facility was under new management, a man by the name of Padro something-or-other, and had officially been repurposed into a mine. Whether by luck or design, Argentinus had constructed it directly above a large mineral deposit.

It was all well and good, with nothing conspicuous or suspicious or overly sinister rearing up to show itself. More out of formality than any real belief in heresy, Severus Cartwright of the Ordo Hereticus had taken his retinue to Cyrridus in order to meet with Padro and soothe the fears of an extremely paranoid colony. It was deemed a worthy goal seeing as a riot of the working class would cripple the mining operations, rendering the whole planet just another useless meteorite hurtling through space. Calming them with proof of the baseless accusations being thrown around was the simplest and safest answer.

There was just one small problem.

Shortly after arranging a meeting with Inquisitor Cartwright, Padro had stopped reporting in. All attempts to hail the facility were met with silence. Visual reports stated that the mining operations going on there had halted entirely.

The Inquisitor and his personal guards had quickly loaded up and set out to get to the bottom of whatever new catastrophe had taken shape. With any luck, it would just be a malfunction in the place's systems. Maybe a mining drill had exploded and killed a large number of workers. It could explain why Padro had stopped reporting in, and if enough of the higher ups had died it might also have forced the survivors to stop mining. It all likely had a perfectly reasonable story behind it.

Then again, Rein hadn't survived this long by expecting anything less than Armageddon level disasters. Any talk around the barracks about strange occurrences were undoubtedly the wicked interferences of Eldar witches, any shooting stars lighting up the night sky were certainly the first arrivals of a large scale Ork invasion force, and any stray cough could be nothing short of the touch of a fully-fledged Nurgle cult.

He'd once told that last one to a rather zealous Commissar Cadet as a joke. The look on her face had been priceless, but he'd started regretting it when he'd been forced to explain why she'd shown up at an Imperial Medica building, chainsword in hand, while loudly declaring that she would purge the place of the taint it contained.

Still, nobody had been killed other than a couple Servitors so there was no real harm done as far as he was concerned.

The Valkyrie shook as they started descending. Whispering a quiet prayer to the Emperor, Rein took his place at the front of the cabin. As the longest serving member of Cartwright's retinue, it was his job to be on the ground first in order to ensure the Inquisitor's safety.

A final shudder rumbled throughout the ship before the doors opened up. Mirroring an action he'd done countless times before, Rein took a step and a half-jump, bracing himself for the small drop to the ground. His hellgun gripped tightly in his hands, he rapidly scanned the surrounding area for anything that even resembled a threat. Not being gunned down right out of the gate was a good sign but it was no guarantee.

The outside of the facility was a mess. People were running around in disorganized jumble, shouting in an attempt to be heard but only really adding to the din that filled every inch of the precarious landing area. Off to one side, a group of local enforcers were desperately trying to keep a very upset looking band of Battle Sisters from storming through the barricades.

"Looks like the festivities have started already."

Cartwright's voice reminded him that he was meant to be looking out for threats rather than sightseeing. The Inquisitor stepped past him, his face holding the same amused detachment that Rein had come to expect from him.

Severus wasn't the most impressive figure when compared to those who ran around in full sets of power armor, boasting an entire company of marines at their back, but he was more than capable at his job.

His jet black carapace-style armor looked like the kind of thing Rein would have associated with a low ranking officer had he not personally seen it endure an almost direct salvo from a bolt pistol without more than a few dents and scratches. The man's ever present smile gave a false sense of disarming pleasantness while his piercing gaze did anything but.

Seeing movement, Rein lifted his hellgun a fraction until he spotted what had caused it. A figure quickly pulled away from the crowed, revealing himself as Jerimiah, one of the people who'd organized Cartwright's meeting here in the first place.

The man looked absolutely haggard, but a weary smile fixed itself on his features as he spotted the Inquisitor's retinue.

"Lord Cartwright!" He shouted, drawing more than a few heads much to Rein's annoyance. "Thank the bleeding Emperor you're here."

Jerimiah half-walked half-staggered up to Severus, moving to bow before thinking better of it. In his current state it probably would have sent him tumbling to the floor. He took a moment to compose himself, panting lightly before straightening out again.

"It's been a nightmare trying to keep everyone in line around here. There's been some kind of security breach in the mine. Can't get any details since nobody else seems to know what's going on either. There's something loose in there though, and from what I've gathered it's pretty bad."

"What exactly are all these people doing here?" Severus questioned. "I thought I ordered you to keep the landing pad cleared until I arrived."

He flinched slightly at that, offering a sheepish grimace in return.

"Apologies lord…" He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I acted as quickly as I could but with Padro's disappearance, a lot of people showed up before I could get here. I managed to get things under control, but a lot of damage has been done already."

Cartwright's expression never wavered, but Rein could practically hear the gears in his head blazing to life. His smile became almost indiscernibly strained by the prospect of dealing with damage control.

"Give me the full report. Everything that has happened so far. Why has the facility gone offline, what are we dealing with, and how did it get there in the first place?"

Rein silently took the statement as his cue to start glaring at passersby. Anyone who looked like they might be close enough to try eavesdropping was persuaded to distance themselves from the group with a dark look and a readied hellgun if they didn't get the message.

Wiping a nervous sheen of sweat off his forehead, Jerimiah began his explanation.

"Like I said, there hasn't been much in the way of information…" He started, quickly going on as Cartwright's lips twitched downwards by a fraction of a degree. "B-But from what I've managed to piece together, the mine has been put on lockdown. The Sisters confirmed that there are creatures loose inside, but even they don't seem to know what-"

"You allowed the Sisters to enter the facility?" Severus demanded, his voice deadly serious. He wasn't a man who liked having his direct orders ignored.

Jerimiah paled, opening his mouth several times before he managed to find his voice again.

"T-They entered before I arrived lord, I-I-I swear I didn't give them the clearance to do so!" He stammered. "F-From what they've shared, three initiates were sent in to determine the cause of the disturbance. One of the creatures dropped down in their midst and…"

Rein tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for him to go on before both he and Severus realized just what he was implying. The Inquisitor was silent for a moment, casting a sidelong glance at the group of Adepta Sororitas.

"Are you telling me that one of these… things… managed to kill three Battle Sisters?"

It was a pretty tall order all things considered. Still, if it was true it would explain why the other ones looked about ready to burn the whole place to the ground.

"T-Two lord." Jerimiah replied meekly. "The third lost her arm, but she managed to fight whatever it was off before dragging herself out. I've been doing everything I can to keep them from storming the mine. I've even had to bring up your name several times in order to keep them civil."

Severus closed his eyes, digesting the information carefully before opening them again. They now held a very direct energy behind them. He was going into field command mode, something that Rein was, unfortunately, very familiar with.

"And what of the miners?" He demanded. Though he didn't mention it, the look on his face made it clear that he wouldn't forget Jerimiah had used his name without his express permission. "Are there any still alive or have these things killed them all?"

"Only one made it out lord but…" The trembling man gulped heavily before continuing. "He refuses to speak of what happened or what is actually going on inside. Even when I mentioned that you were coming, he still remained uncooperative."

"Did he now?" The tone of Cartwright's voice could have sent a Tyranid Hive Fleet fleeing for cover. "Then I suppose I'll just have to question him personally."

Years of iron-hard discipline were the only thing that allowed Rein to suppress a shudder. He almost felt sorry for the stubborn fool.

"Rein, I have a job for you." Severus ordered, turning towards his bodyguard. "Take your squad into the facility and scout out the building while I'm dealing with the interrogation. You are to find out exactly what these things are, and locate any survivors who may have more information as to how they got here. If Padro is still alive in there, I want him captured and prepared for questioning as soon as possible."

It took a moment for the bodyguard to process exactly what he'd been ordered to do. When he didn't immediately jump to action, the Inquisitor gave him a piercing glance.

"Is there a problem?"

Rein knew better than to openly question his superior's orders, but that didn't mean he would mindlessly throw himself into a meat grinder.

"No sir, not a problem as such." He replied, choosing his words carefully. "I just felt that… considering one of these creatures managed to bring down a few Battle Sisters… wouldn't it be better to wait until more is known about them before sending a team in? Or at least, waiting until reinforcements get here in order to have a higher chance of success?"

It always felt nerve-wracking to voice his concerns to Severus. Despite the way he'd tried to phrase the statement, he knew full well that his Inquisitor saw it for what it really was. He was more concerned with getting killed from an unknown foe than he was with the overall chances of completing the mission.

Much to his relief, Cartwright didn't seem to be particularly annoyed by the hesitation.

"Tell me something Rein, what have you noticed about these creatures so far?" He asked, turning so that he was facing the other man. "Think carefully now."

He was silent for a short while. Severus was trying to get him to think about the situation beyond what he'd been told. It was a tactic the Inquisitor would sometimes use to get him to look at the bigger picture.

"Very little." Rein replied truthfully. It never paid to try and over-speculate to make himself seem more intelligent. "They're deadly and we have no idea what they are. That's about all I've got."

Severus nodded, not disappointed but certainly not impressed either.

"Let me tell you what I see." He began. "One of these beings attacked a group of three Sister Initiates, killing two and badly injuring the third. Even so, the survivor was supposedly able to fight it off even after losing her arm. What does that tell you?"

Rein waited silently, knowing that he didn't expect an answer.

"It tells you that they rely on surprise more than power. While dangerous, they don't seem capable of head on engagements with prepared foes."

"What's more…" Severus continued on, not giving him a chance to speak. "They haven't tried to break out of the facility yet. That would imply that they are either too timid to fight their way out, or they lack the organization to do so."

The Inquisitor fixed him with a final look, drawing himself up.

"To recap, you would be up against a foe that relies on ambush tactics and either lacks courage or leadership. That doesn't sound like too difficult a task for you, does it?"

Rein was grudgingly impressed. It was times like this that he remembered why Cartwright was the Inquisitor and he was simply a man with a gun.

"No sir." He replied, still not entirely comfortable with the prospect but feeling slightly more confident. "It doesn't."

"Good. Now get to work."

A short span later and Rein was standing at the entrance to the mining facility with four heavily armed troopers at his back. They were a menagerie of assorted soldiers, each hand-picked by Severus for the potential he saw in them. Rein himself was the veteran of the group, and by this point he'd given up trying to memorize the names of those who served with him. While the Inquisitor didn't waste men he was far from gentle with them. In order to make his own life easier, Rein had taken up the practice of assigning nicknames in place of actual titles.

Choir stood nearest to him. He was both the youngest and the newest member of the group. A fresh-faced, blonde haired, blue eyed youth from a prominent family, he'd earned his label with his constant humming of Imperial hymns before and after engagements.

Des, short for despair, was next in line. A middle age woman with dark hair, he might have found her attractive were it not for her perpetual air of depression. She hardly ever spoke and when she did it often ruined his whole day.

Fang stood behind her. He bore a Catachan heritage, and was named for the massively oversized knife that he had on his person at all times. Rein didn't know how the jungle fighter had ended up so far from home, but he'd proven to be an able combatant on many occasions. Unlike Choir, Des, and himself, Fang sported a close range shotgun instead of a hellgun.

Bringing up the back was Stitch. He was the only one who had a nickname before Rein had met him. A notorious mass murderer in the main hive of a colony world, the man had earned his reputation by dissecting the bodies of more people than Rein cared to know about. When he'd asked Severus what scum like that was doing here and not gracing a pike atop one of the Imperial churches, the Inquisitor had responded by saying "a little evil goes a long way." He couldn't deny that at this point. Next to himself, Stitch was the longest serving member in the squad.

"Are we going to enter or simply stand around all day?" He asked from the rear, checking over his laspistol. It was the only weapon he ever used.

Rein cringed inwardly at the sound of his voice. It was something he'd never get used to. Stitch had always sounded creepy, but an unfortunate encounter with the grill of an ork truck had left him with several bionic organs and a specially modified rebreather grafted over his mouth. The mechanical parts left him sounding like something out of some old horror vod.

"If you want to be the first one in, be my guest." Rein shot back, giving him a glare that made it clear he'd use the man as a meat shield if he kept complaining. Stitch merely rolled his eyes at the look.

"All right, everyone stay close. Keep your eyes open, watch your corners, and be aware of the ceiling. These things will want to jump us so don't give them the chance."

Several confirmative noises answered him as he made his way to the main entrance. The Arbites who'd been guarding the doors stepped aside to let them pass before closing ranks behind them. He could hear Choir doing his pre-battle ritual as they advanced.

The heavy metal doors that marked the entrance to the mine were massive in size. Designed to instill a sense of awe and subservience in those who passed beyond them, they were built strong enough to endure a siege. Rein made his way over to the sensor built into the side. It was a bit unusual to see a skull-probe bearing the insignia of the Inquisition in a place like this, but he supposed that after the events that had transpired this place did technically belong to the Ordo Hereticus.

The morbid looking device flashed a few times while he stood in front of it. After a short pause, the sound of metal grinding against metal signaled the entrance opening up. The doors pulled apart like the gaping maw of some massive beast, waiting to swallow the intruding mortals whole.

Shouldering his weapon, Rein took the first step inside with the others following a short distance behind. Much like the Arbites, the doors moved back into their former positions once the squad was inside. Should they fail, this would keep whatever was inside from having a direct shot at freedom.

The mining facility was uncomfortably warm on the inside. Whatever power sources had been keeping the place in working order had either been damaged or shut off. The main lights were disabled, leaving only the emergency backups on to bathe the halls in an eerie half-light. The soldiers unconsciously drew closer together with the exception of Stitch who was the only one that seemed unbothered by the detrimental conditions.

They hadn't even taken half a step before the stench of death hit them full force. A repugnant mixture of blood, fear, rot, and several other things best not mentioned in polite company. Rein peered into the shadowy blanket that cloaked everywhere that the light couldn't reach. Nothing stood out, and no sound alerted his senses. As best he could tell they were alone for the moment.

The mine was large, encompassing much of the inside of the mountain it was built into. It could house and sustain a staff of several thousand workers along with guards and overseers to keep them in line. Due to the massive scope of the building, it took several minutes of walking before Rein's squad encountered the first bodies.

"Bloody Emperor…"

Choir's quiet exclamation encompassed what they'd all been thinking fairly well. A dozen corpses lay strewn about a moderately sized room that looked to be some sort of a recreational area for those who were high enough on the ladder to enjoy such things. From the arrangement of furniture, it looked as though they'd tried to barricade themselves off from whatever was hunting them.

It hadn't worked.

The troops that had taken shelter here had been slaughtered. Blood stained the otherwise pale and unmarked metal walls while a discarded assortment of autoguns and shell casings littered the floor next to their fallen wielders.

What stood out to Rein was not the brutality with which the guards had been killed, but rather the variety. Several appeared to have been sliced to pieces with precision that went far beyond what a standard chainsword could hope to rival. Others looked as though they'd been pulled limb from limb with strength that would rival an Ogryn. One man had his head twisted around a hundred and eighty degrees. Major overkill if the goal had simply been to break his neck.

Rein nudged one of the bodies with his boot. Behind him, Choir was swallowing heavily as though trying to keep himself from gagging. Des looked over each body with a distant sadness and Fang had taken a moment to relieve one of the dead of his pack of lho sticks.

"What do you think Stitch?" Rein asked, turning to face the man. While he detested his presence, he knew that the psychopath was very skilled at recognizing weaponry and the effects they had on the body.

"I think they're dead."

Rein resisted the urge to jam the butt of his weapon into Stitch's side, instead shooting him a serious glare that allowed for no banter.

"I can see that." He stated. "But I'm having a rather difficult time figuring out what it was that killed them. Would you be so kind as to lend your expertise on the subject?"

A raspy crackling that might have been a chuckle issued from behind his mask.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Stitch replied. "These injuries don't look like anything an Imperial weapon would inflict. Nor does it match the arms of any xenos that I'm aware of. If we want to figure out what did this, we'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

Rein cursed under his breath. He couldn't say for certain what was causing it, but this whole situation was starting to get to him. It shouldn't have been so bothersome. He had a fair amount of experience with life threatening situations, but this whole place just gave him a bad feeling.

"All right, enough gawking at the dead." He said at last. "Everyone form up. We won't get this job done by standing around."

The others all stood to attention at his words, making ready to proceed. All except for Choir. Instead of falling back in line, the boy was looking off into the distance with a frown on his face. It didn't even look like he was paying attention.

"Hey kid, I said we need to get moving." Rein repeated, growing annoyed by his actions.

Choir turned to him, an odd expression on his face.

"Sir…" He started, looking decidedly nervous. "Do you hear that?"

He was about to ask if the kid had hit his head on something when he became aware of a very faint sound. It was soft, barely audible, likely coming from far away. It was hardly there, but when he realized what it was the sick feeling at the back of his neck intensified tenfold.

It was crying.

"Shit." Fang growled, his eyes narrowing. "That's just disturbing."

"Someone is still alive in here!" Choir insisted. "We need to find them. They might be hurt, or stuck or something. Come on, it doesn't seem too far off, if we hurry we should be able to get to them in no time."

"Hold on one damned second." Stitch interrupted, his arm latching onto the boy's shoulder. "You hear the sound of weeping in a facility that has an unknown enemy lurking around and your first instinct is to run towards it? Are you suicidal or has your naivety wiped away all common sense?"

"Does that sound like some kind of monster to you?" He shot back, wrenching his arm free of the iron grip. "There's a subject of the Emperor in need of assistance! It's our duty to come to their aid."

"Last I heard, the boss didn't sound too happy with the people in here." Fang stated, putting himself between the two. "If someone is still alive, they probably won't stay that way once we get them out of here."

Des merely nodded, not feeling the need to voice her own feelings on the subject.

"You don't know that they had anything to do with what happened here." Choir insisted, looking to the commander for help. "Right sir? We should help them shouldn't we?"

All eyes turned to Rein who had to fight to keep himself from burying his face in his palm. He was supposed to be a soldier of the Inquisition damn it, not a nanny for Throne's sake.

He wanted to agree with Fang and Stitch. Chasing after strange noises was a surefire way to get yourself killed in the field. Unfortunately, Severus had ordered him to find any possible survivors for questioning. He feared disobeying the Inquisitor more than he feared a grief-stricken miner.

"We go to find where the noise is coming from." He stated, directing a stern frown at Choir when the boy wore a triumphant expression. "Only because Severus wants someone to question when this is over. Remember, the mission takes priority. If you wanted to spend all your time saving pedestrians you should have joined a different branch of the military."

The rebuke sobered Choir's mood a fair amount. At a gesture from Rein, they all fell into line once more and began to make their way towards the unnerving presence.

Each step forward caused the sensations of unease to grow stronger. Rein couldn't shake the feeling that he was making a mistake by following the sound, but orders were orders. His reflexes hadn't let him down yet.

Nothing leapt out from the shadows as they drew closer to the source. No horrific creatures tried to bar their path. Far from being a comfort, the lack of resistance only made the whole experience all the more strenuous.

He could hear it more clearly now. It wasn't the sound of some traumatized worker as he'd originally expected. Instead, the whimpering moans seemed more like those that a child might make. What a child was doing in a place like this he could only guess.

One last twist in the halls took them directly to the doorway that the mourning was coming from. Lying halfway through the partially opened door was a corpse whose head was missing. Not a promising sign. As they shuffled into position outside it, the noises from inside cut off as though the one making them was fearful of being discovered.

"Fang, Stitch, watch the rear. I don't want anyone sneaking up on us." Rein ordered, speaking quietly and gesturing back the way they'd come. "Des, you cover the entrance with me. Choir, since you were so eager to get to the bottom of this, you get to enter first. Be sure to keep a low profile. We can't give you cover fire if you're blocking our shot."

He'd expected the noble to protest at being thrown into the line of fire like that, but the boy surprised him by giving an affirmative nod and stepping into position.

Rein's grip on his hellgun tightened as Choir edged forwards, nudging the door open with his foot while keeping as far to one side as he could. Once it had been opened enough for him to walk inside without directly stepping on the decapitated body, he silently slipped through the gap.

Rein carefully monitored his own breathing, spacing out each one to ensure that his aim didn't waver. Beyond Choir's shoulder he could see an overturned table. From what little of the room was visible to him, he assumed that their little guide was hiding behind it. Beside him, Des was eyeing the same area, her weapon aimed at chest level and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Choir took a couple more tentative steps forwards, raising his own hellgun into a ready position as he peered around the corner of the table. After a brief pause, the tension rolled out of his posture and he turned to give a wave to the waiting pair.

"It's all right sir." He called, dropping his weapon into an at ease position by his side. "It was just a child hiding back here. She looks-"

Several things happened at once.

First, a loud ripping sound filled the hall followed by the appearance of a crimson spray tracing across Choir's chest and through his right arm. A look of uncomprehending shock was plastered on his face as his top half fell backwards and his bottom fell forwards.

Second, the table that had been blocking Rein's view suddenly launched forwards as though it had been fired out of a cannon. The metal projectile slammed into the edge of the doorway, its trajectory interrupted causing it to skid into the wall rather than flatten him.

Finally, a pair of eyes met his own. Two orbs filled with the desperate hatred of a cornered animal. A tiny figure dashed forwards, running in a headlong sprint towards him. The sense of danger was blaring like an emergency siren now, drowning out all other instincts with a wave of self-preservation.

Rein fired. The superheated beam of energy from his hellgun cut through the air in an instant, impacting the creature's midsection. It let out a strangled cry that was quickly silenced as he pulled the trigger twice more. Two lasbolts lit up the hall, blasting through the body that had been running towards him and sending it spiraling to the floor.

For the span of several breaths, nobody moved. Both hellguns were trained on the fallen assailant while Stitch and Fang stood vigilant at their backs. The two of them ignored the urge to turn and see what had happened, knowing that it could lead to disaster if they got caught off guard by another.

"Hold." Rein ordered, his eyes never leaving the body. "Keep me covered."

Des gave him a barely perceptible nod, her own weapon primed and ready to put it down for good if it had somehow survived the first three shots.

Rein edged forwards a little bit at a time, taking caution over speed. When he got close enough to see the shape of the attacker more clearly, a grimace formed on his face. It was dead to be certain.

It was a kid, just as Choir had stated before he'd been cut in half. A young girl looking to be no more than five or six years old. For whatever reason, she was devoid of any scraps of clothing.

"Move up." He called back to the waiting troops. "This one isn't going to be a threat anymore."

Regrouping, they showed varying degrees of surprise and apprehension at the sight of the body. She'd nearly been torn in two by the high-powered lasbolts. There wasn't much blood thanks to the cauterizing effects of the beams, but it was a gruesome sight none the less. More so knowing that he'd caused it.

Fang stopped to check on Choir, confirming what had been a foregone conclusion. The boy was very dead at this point. With a frown and a shake of the head, the Catachan relieved him of his hellgun, slinging it across his back in case they needed it later.

"So we are to kill children are we?" Des asked softly, her voice causing icy fingers to run up Rein's spine. "Is this what our work has come to?"

"That is no child." Stitch scoffed. "Just look at it. And if that doesn't convince you, look at what it did to him." He gestured towards Choir's remains.

At a glance, the girl looked very human. It wasn't until Rein focused on it more closely that he saw the differences.

The first thing that stood out, and perhaps something he should have noticed earlier, was her hair color. It was an odd shade of pink right down to the roots. While it wasn't entirely unheard of for people to have their hair pigments forcibly changed to a certain color, it was a procedure that was both very expensive as well as being highly painful. So either this child had an incredibly high endurance threshold for her age, or it was naturally that way.

The second was a pair of white protrusions coming out of the top of her head. They looked almost like the ears of a cat, but a quick prod confirmed his suspicions that they were made of bone rather than flesh.

"Great." Fang remarked, eyeing her warily. "We've got Psyker mutants running around."

"She wasn't a Psyker." Rein replied, earning him a few questioning glances.

"Not a Psyker?" Fang asked with a skeptical expression. "So does that mean our squad mate just decided to fall apart on the floor? I don't see any power-weapons lying around that he could have been carved up with."

"I don't know what happened to him." He said. "But I know she wasn't using any kind of witchcraft." After having spent a tour tracking down an Eldar strike force, he was far more familiar with warp-sorcery than he'd ever wanted to be. It had a way of distorting the air and leaving behind psychic residue.

He was about to say more on the subject when a buzzing in his earpiece interrupted him. There was only one person who would be looking for him at a time like this.

"Rein here." He said, answering the hail. "Is there something you needed sir?"

"Good to see you're still alive. I've been having a pleasant conversation with the survivor from the mine, and I've come across some information you may appreciate."

Knowing his employer, if Severus was contacting him in the middle of a mission it either meant things had changed or what the Inquisitor had to say was vital to his survival.

"I'd appreciate anything you could offer sir." He replied. "We've had an encounter with one of the things already."

"Have you? Were you able to subdue it?"

"It's dead now." Rein replied, pausing before finishing the rest of what he'd been going to say. "But so is Choir. He got near the creature and he was cut in half."

Cartwright was silent on the other end. He could practically feel the other man's displeasure at hearing the news. Not daring to risk bothering him further, Rein waited patiently for him to finally speak up again.

"That is… unfortunate." Judging by his tone, unfortunate was the tamest phrase he could have come up with. "Still, I have learned a fair amount about the creatures you are up against. Listen carefully, I don't wish to repeat myself."

"Yes sir." Rein answered, preparing to commit the information to memory.

"According to my friend here, they are beings known as Diclonius. A human sub-species that was originally sought after by Argentinus Vaserian. He attempted to create them by modifying human test subjects into what he believed to be the perfect form. It would seem that Padro has taken up his mantel and managed to succeed where Vaserian failed. These creatures are human in appearance, but bear two distinguishing physical features that set them apart."

"The hair and the horns." Rein said. "Yea, we saw that on the one that we encountered."

"Good. That will save time explaining. While the man I've been questioning has been vague in describing the weaponry Diclonius have at their disposal, he did mention that they can only reach targets within a certain range. Two meters seems to be the average limit, but within that range they can rip apart just about any substance and even deflect projectiles up to a certain caliber."

"Lasbolts work well enough." He commented. "She wasn't able to block those. I'll be sure to inform the others to keep their distance. Thanks for the heads up sir; we'll contact you if we run into any more trouble."

"Hold on now, that was only part of the reason I contacted you. The parameters of you mission have changed."

"Changed how exactly?" Rein asked. The sense of danger was coming back, and he had a bad feeling about the way Severus sounded.

"Put simply, the Diclonius are a rather unique strain of mutation. They could prove useful, but more must be known about them before deciding whether they should be put to the torch. Your new objective is simple. Find as many as you can, and capture them alive."