Alvin carried the Grox Steak and Amasec through the chapel's rickety wooden door and found a familiar face waiting inside.
Tucker sat in a chair with his legs crossed, acting as if the chapel were his own home.
"Mr. Tucker, what brings you here?" Alvin asked curiously. But his expression soon shifted, and a sense of foreboding crept over him. "Did the cult make another big move?"
From Alvin's serious expression, Tucker could guess what he was thinking. He shook his head. "Relax, kid. It's not as bad as you imagine. Not yet."
Alvin breathed a sigh of relief. One piece of bad news after another was starting to wear him down.
"Where's Aruman?"
Tucker asked casually, still sitting with his legs crossed.
"He might've gone out on an errand. I'm not sure." Alvin couldn't help envying how relaxed Tucker was, though he knew he could never manage it himself.
Suddenly, Tucker's gaze locked onto the bottle of Amasec like a hawk's. "You're doing pretty well for yourself, kid. You can even afford this stuff now?"
"You may have misunderstood. This belongs to Tech-Priest Aruman. I'm just running an errand for him." Alvin's mouth twitched. He could see exactly what Tucker was after.
It was obvious. Tucker's eyes were practically bulging out of his head, and he looked ready to press his face against the bottle!
"Oh, so it's Aruman's." Tucker suddenly understood. Then, moving faster than Alvin could follow, he darted over, hooked an arm around Alvin's neck, and said with a broad grin, "Aruman and I are buddies. We've been through battle together. Let me help him taste it."
Before Alvin could refuse, Tucker snatched the bottle of Amasec right out of his hands.
Bang!
The bottle popped open. Tucker took a deep breath and wore an expression of pure bliss. "Magnificent! This is the kind of drink a real man should have. Amasec really does pack a punch!"
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Before Alvin could react, Tucker had downed nearly half the bottle in one go.
As luck would have it, Tech-Priest Aruman walked through the door just then and saw Tucker chugging the Amasec.
After a brief silence, Aruman shot Alvin a reproachful look, as if to say, "Why didn't you stop him?"
Alvin looked helpless. "Believe me, Tech-Priest Aruman. I swear by the Emperor, I did everything I could to stop him, but... I couldn't!"
"By the Omnissiah, I'll kill this damned parasite for the Emperor today!"
Without another word, Aruman's mechanical arm wielded a Power axe and brought it crashing down toward Tucker's head in a mighty overhead strike. The speed and force were astonishing!
But the Catachan veteran was no pushover. He easily dodged the axe, then hooked a finger through his long hair and flicked it back from his forehead, striking a rather flamboyant pose. "You're really going to get this worked up over a couple of swigs? Is it worth ruining our friendship, Aruman?"
"Fine. Go buy me another bottle, and I'll pretend this never happened." Aruman sneered and raised his hand, firing a bolt round.
Boom!
The door, which had been repaired only a few days ago, was blasted to pieces once again.
Alvin ducked into a corner with practiced ease. Once the two "veterans" had finished their little reunion, he still couldn't make heads or tails of their complicated relationship.
If Tucker hadn't dodged that axe, it would probably have split his head wide open.
Before long, the two had finally finished fighting, leaving the chapel in ruins once again.
Tucker and Aruman sat amid the debris, taking turns drinking the Amasec with their arms around each other, as if they hadn't just been trying to kill one another.
It was... unbelievable!
"What brings you here this time?"
Aruman, like Alvin, clearly suspected that the Underhive cult had made a major move.
"The Iron Hammer Gang wiped out the Bone Gang in the South District. Their territory now covers two districts." Tucker seemed more reliable when discussing business. He glanced at Alvin, then lowered his voice. "Our scouts say the Iron Hammer Gang somehow came into a large supply of standard-issue PDF equipment."
He paused for a few seconds, then looked at Aruman meaningfully. "You know what that means, don't you?"
"Some high-ranking noble is secretly backing the cult."
Aruman's expression shifted as he rasped, "And only a handful of families could supply standard-issue PDF equipment."
The PDF, also known as the Planetary Defense Force, was an armed force controlled by the Planetary Governor and entirely obedient to the local ruler.
On Losel Planet's Nest City, the only families with control over the PDF were the Planetary Governor, Garken Hadley, and the allied forces tied to him through marriage.
"I don't think Garken Hadley would do something like this." Even now, Aruman couldn't believe it. He shook his head. "If it really was Garken Hadley, why didn't he kill you back then? Why exile you to the Underhive instead? It doesn't make sense."
"I didn't say it was Garken Hadley." Tucker sighed. He, too, had always held some respect for the Planetary Governor.
Garken Hadley had once been a hero of the Astra Militarum. He had rendered outstanding service and been appointed Planetary Governor of Losel by the Imperium.
If a hero like him had embraced Chaos, Tucker was unwilling to believe it, no matter what.
"The possibilities are too broad. As far as I know, three families could provide standard-issue PDF equipment." Aruman furrowed his brow and spoke in a low voice. "The Hadley Family controls the military, the Meyer Family handles logistics, and the Cobdo Family manages recruitment and training."
"I... think I know which family it is."
Just then, Alvin spoke up. As the two men stared at him in surprise, he cleared his throat. "Actually, I saw that Cult Psychic from the Underhive again today."
"Where did you see him?" Tucker looked astonished as he sized Alvin up. "Wait, that doesn't make sense. If you really saw him, how could you have come back alive?"
Alvin could understand why Aruman was always so eager to split Tucker's head open with an axe. The man was being rather condescending.
"Today... Wait, did you see him at the 'celebration'?!"
Aruman was quick to catch on. The red light in his mechanical eye flickered, as if revealing his inner turmoil.
"Praise the Omnissiah. You're right."
Alvin's expression was solemn as he spoke each word clearly. "The cult's Psyker is Rashid Hadley, the Hadley Family's current... heir apparent!"
"Rashid Hadley? How could it be him?!"
Tucker nearly lost his composure at the news. Suddenly agitated, he growled, "Impossible! It can't be Rashid Hadley. You must have mistaken someone else for him, right?!"
Noticing Alvin's confusion, Aruman explained with a complicated expression, "Tucker assassinated the Hadley Family's suspected cultist and heir apparent. Rashid Hadley pleaded for him, so Governor Hadley changed Tucker's sentence to exile instead of executing him on the spot."
I see. But why had Rashid pleaded for Tucker?
Alvin looked at Tucker in confusion, only to see him looking dejected. "I know what you're going to ask. Rashid was the one who showed me evidence that Kallen Hadley had fallen to Chaos. He also gave me Kallen's movements and location, which let me carry out the assassination."
"So Rashid used you to remove Kallen, then?" Alvin suddenly understood and quickly pieced it all together. "Then, after Kallen was eliminated, he took the position of heir apparent and got rid of you, the one person who posed the biggest threat to him!"
Tucker was in agony. His fingers dug deep into his hair, and his eyes were bloodshot, like a savage beast. "I thought Rashid was a good man. He was always considerate of us veterans. But I never imagined... that he was the one plotting all of this behind our backs!"
"It's not that simple, Tucker."
A low, icy voice, thick with restrained fury and bloodlust, forced its way through Aruman's clenched teeth.
The Tech-Priest, who had always been known for his composure, now looked ready to devour someone alive. His teeth ground together with a chilling scrape. "Those of our brothers from the 175th Regiment who were discharged and then mysteriously wiped out while carrying out a mission in the wilderness... that bastard must have had something to do with it!"
I'm out of the warehouse now. I'm feeling a little conflicted.
Before you continue