Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

missed once, twice, the third time was the charm as my left hand finally managed it, but it wasn't enough as I kept on falling and I screamed in pain as the cord burnt quickly through my glove, then into my hand, but I didn't dare let go.

Even with my heart in my throat and panic pain overtaking me, my right still snapped out and successfully grabbed the cord. Almost immediately, I started to slow, and I clenched my teeth to fight the pain. Finally, after what felt like forever, I stopped and gasped for breath; I abruptly wrapped my arms and legs around the cord, pulling myself up to be vertical instead of horizontal, then looked down. What I saw made my heart skip at least ten beats; I'd somehow managed to stop less than a few centimetres from hitting the elevator.

Eyes wide and fighting for a breath, I looked up; the ledge I'd fallen off mustn't have been more than a metre and a half up how I'd managed to stop like that in what was sure to be less than a few seconds was beyond me.

"Attelus! Attelus!" screamed Castella down the line. "Are you alright? Attelus!"

"Yeah! I'm fine! I managed. "Just uhh hanging out!"

"What?"

"What the hell was it that hit the elevator a second ago?" demanded Hayden before I could make a response. "Gave me one hell of a fright!"

"Ahead," I gasped. "A severed head! From one of the mercs, Castella had hit with her pistol! Would've gone straight through the damned hatch if I hadn't hit it off course! Castella! Do me a favour, and please don't shoot anymore before Hayden's done! Please!"

"Good thing it didn't!" said Hayden. "The pressure plate is right under there!"

I rolled my eyes, I'd already guessed as much, and as quickly as I could, I drew my pistol. Hissing at the pain, and fired wildly back up the shaft. They wouldn't dare shoot at me hanging here, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Castella! Please, hurry!"

"Alright!" said Hayden. "I'm cutting the first wire; I'm gonna start from the left and work my way to the other side!"

"Make it snappy!" I snarled. "I can't! I can't hold on for much longer!"

"Cutting number one..."

The pause mustn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but it felt like forever before Hayden frigging finally announced. "Number one is cut! I repeat, number one is cut! Moving onto number two."

Hyperventilating and shaking from the shock, I started to slowly climb the cord, using only my legs as I steadied myself with my forearms. Pistol raised, ready to fire.

"Breath Attelus, you need to calm yourself and breath!" said Castella.

I didn't reply verbally, only nodded and swallowed.

"Number two is cut! I repeat, number two is cut! Moving onto three."

I screamed as my foot abruptly slipped off the cord, and I dropped, forcing me to grab the cable with both hands to stop myself, despite the pain it caused but letting go of my autopistol in the process.

My breath was bated as I watched it drop as I heard the sharp clang when it hit the elevator, then as it bounced and clattered straight toward the hatch, only to stop right at the edge.

"Oh no," I whimpered with tears in my eyes as it began to tilt to fall. "Oh no, oh no."

"What was that?" said Hayden. "I was almost in mid-cut when it hit; lucky I didn't jump and hit another wire."

"Hayden! You need to look up at the hatch, now!" I roared.

That was all I got to say before the pistol fell.

 

 

I screamed, and for all the good it'd have done, I covered my ears and buried my face in my arms. But the explosion never came; nothing happened. I waited for a few seconds before finally taking my hands away from my ears and looking down.

"What?" I gasped.

"Kid," said Hayden. "This is your pistol, isn't it?"

"What?"

Hayden sighed. "I caught it; I caught it before it hit the plate. You're not the only one who's got quick hands, kid."

I didn't reply; I couldn't reply just gape idiotically, then my attention snapped to the Left as I caught movement in the corner of my eye.

It was Castella who beamed a grin at me as she climbed Hayden's rope.

"Good work, Attelus," she said while pulling her lithe body onto the ledge, then moved to the nearest pillar and knelt behind it, plasma pistol raised. "Almost getting everyone killed, like that."

"Hey!" I snapped. "I wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't vaporised that merc and give me a hand, would you?"

Darrance then suddenly climbed into view. "The shooting has stopped," he stated.

I frowned, grabbed Castella's outstretched hand, then she pulled me onto the ledge and looked up to find Darrance right. The mercs had disappeared altogether, leaving the doors barred openly.

"Where did they go?" said Castella.

"Fell back, maybe?" suggested Darrance as he reached down to help up the skinny Hammer leader from before. "Maybe they want to lure us there so they can shoot us without worrying about dropping our corpses onto the elevator?"

I nodded; it made sense, either that or out of a misguided sense of self-preservation.

"Hayden?" I called. 'Hayden, are you there?"

"Yeah, kid, I've cut the third wire, now onto the fourth. Bear with me here, okay?"

Just after he said that, another idea hit me. "I bet they've fallen back because they know we're getting reinforcements, and Hayden! Check if they've got anything to detect if the bomb is disarmed!"

"I..." he paused. "Yes, of course, why hadn't I thought of that."

I clenched my teeth and looked up at the other elevator on the ninth floor.

"What's the bet," I said, "that elevator has no explosives in it. That this one is the only one."

"That's absurd!" spat the skinny Hammer. "Why in the Emperor's name would they only trap one elevator?"

Because Edracian, with his far sight, foresaw this was the one we'd check first, I thought because he didn't want this to seem too easy.

But I only shrugged, deciding to keep this to myself.

All ten of the Hammers were now on the ledge, weapons raised to cover the doors.

"I think we should ask a more pertinent question," said Darrance. "Why would he put enough explosives in there to take out an entire block? And it seems to me that those mercs know about this, or else they wouldn't have exercised such caution while pinning down the Apprentice, here."

"Or not bothering to cut Hayden's rope," said Castella. "They must know how do they know? Surely he could've kept this a secret."

"I think the better question is," gasped Wesley as he was pulled onto the ledge by one of the Hammers. "Is why do they know."

I shuddered as a cold shiver went through my spine.

"Yeah!" said Hayden. "The kid was right! There's a vox alarm right next to the tank! I should've noticed it before. I can't reach it from here, so expect to be under fire very soon. Good thinking, kid."

"Thanks, Hayden," I said.

"This is just getting stranger and stranger," said Wesley.

"What should we do now?" asked the skinny Hammer. "Just wait here?"

"Hmm," I said, my finger and thumb musing on my thin chin. "I think we should head up."

"What?" said the skinny Hammer. "That's ridiculous! What if one of us falls!"

"No," interrupted Wesley. "I think the kid's got it right; right now, with the bomb down here, the enemy will be less likely to try to kill us while we climb. We can climb up, secure the elevator controls, then Hayden can follow us once he's done disarming the bomb."

"Of course, he'll be under fire," said Darrance. "A few of us will have to stay and cover him."

"We can do that," said another Hammer; the brute had arms as thick as Hams, and tattoos covered him almost head to toe.

Wesley nodded, "thank you, Selg."

I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, farseer Faleaseen.

There was no response, just silence.

Farseer Faleaseen!

+Yes? What?+ Demanded the Eldar's echoed, inhuman voice.

I sighed with relief inwardly. Can you use your power to heal my hands? I need them now.

The Farseer sighed. +What is it you did now?+

I'm sure you can read my thoughts and find out, I replied. Now, will you? Or won't you?

+Okay, I will,+ she said. +But remember, mon'keigh, I cannot do this all the time; even my power has its limits.+

I understand, I thought and slipped my hands into their pockets.

Immediately I felt the burned, torn skin of my palms begin to mould and warp, and I had to fight the urge to watch it, with everyone about someone was bound to see it if I did.

It only took around half a minute before the pain was gone, and I could flex my fingers properly.

+Thank you; now the wound on my side? Please?+

Do not push it, Mon'keigh, she replied. You will have to bear with it; I have to save my strength for now.

Save your strength? For what?

+The future, human, what else?+

"I have cut the fifth wire," announced Hayden over the vox. "If you're gonna move, you need to do it now."

"Got you!" said Wesley and waved us to begin. "Go! Go! Go! Attenlus! You first!"

I frowned and furrowed my brow, his constantly getting my name wrong was beginning to get on my nerves.

Wesley met my look with a frown of his own and nodded to my powersword sheathed at my hip pointedly, seemingly mistaking my look for annoyance at having to go first.

I sighed, grabbed the cord and began climbing Castella and Darrance, following just after.

 

 

To say it was nerve-wracking to climb that rope was quite the understatement, especially when passing the open doors. I expected in any second the barrel of a gun to suddenly be in my face. The bloody rope wavered and moved, caused continuously by the others after me. Not just that but Hayden's infernal countdown as he cut the wires one after another.

He was on the last when I finally arrived at the ninth-floor door. I clenched my teeth, gripped the rope with my left hand and drew my sword with my right, activating it in a blaze of blue.

"Be careful, Apprentice," said Darrance.

I gave him a withering glare and quickly looked over the door, checking for anything resembling tricks or traps. Using what Hayden had said earlier as a reference.

There was nothing, nothing obvious, anyway. I wanted to be surer, but time was very quickly running out, so I hissed through clenched teeth and sliced through the door.

"Hold on!" I yelled as I twisted and turned on the rope, roughly cutting as quickly and cleanly as I could. Which was hardly quick or clean, but I still managed to cut a decent-sized hole.

"I have cut the last wire!" announced Hayden over the link. "I repeat, I have cut the last wire!"

I growled and swung like Hayden to build my momentum, then threw myself through the still superheated hole.

The gunfire erupted a millisecond after I landed and I darted left, countless munitions ripping into the wall in my wake.

Twelve mercenaries stood in waiting behind a sandbag wall further down the wide, bright, ornate corridor; luckily, I'd cut the hole to the left of the rope, so it wasn't in their line of fire.

The elevators were in a small T shaped end, only about half a metre wider than the corridor, allowing me a wall to take cover behind. Most wouldn't have had the reaction time to make it there on time; I did evidently.

I cursed and reached for my pistol in its holster but found it empty.

"Frig!" I roared, remembering that Hayden still had it back in the damned elevator.

"How many?" came Castella's voice over the vox.

"Twelve!" I announced. "About twenty metres down! Behind sandbags."

"Easily within range!" she exclaimed.

"No! Wait!" I yelled but too late as the plasma pierced through the metal door and swept across the corridor.

The stench of burnt flesh and screams immediately followed.

Castella suddenly lunged through the opening, plasma pistol in her left hand, one of her power blades in her right and she charged down the corridor and