The flashing multifunction reconnaissance binoculars displayed countless data charts and range readouts, all working together with impressive efficiency to present the view in their sights accurately before the user.
The Imperium used these binoculars widely. The Astra Militarum, law enforcement, and Planetary Defense Forces all liked them, but artillery crews especially prized this kind of personal field glass.
They could automatically use infrared sensors to calculate distances and firing positions, saving their users a lot of trouble.
Unfortunately, Vito had no use for those functions. For one thing, he didn't have any artillery yet. For another, he was in the Underhive, with who knew how many metres of crust between him and the surface.
A ghostly green light reflected in Vito's pupils.
Underground canals. There were rivers beneath the Hive City, too—a complex network of underground canals. These natural waterways ran across the continent. Under the Adeptus Mechanicus's renovations, the banks had been widened and the underground spaces excavated even further.
Given that the surface of this Hive World was no longer particularly habitable, most transport took place underground. The Grand Canal system worked in tandem with a network of heavy freight railways that crisscrossed the continent. They carried raw materials, manufactured goods, and everything else imaginable from one end of the planet to the other, delivering each cargo to its destination.
After a thousand years or more, every Hive World had places like these—forgotten by the people, and even by the Adeptus Mechanicus themselves, who couldn't remember the last time they'd maintained them. Canals, railways, factories, and countless other things.
It had to be said: the Imperium could be incredibly wasteful.
And so these forgotten places, buried deep in the darkness underground, became assets for the Underhive gangs.
Vito lowered the binoculars and sat cross-legged, leaning against a cargo crate beside the dock. Marshall was already lying prone next to him, aiming his Master-crafted Lasgun at their target.
Vito smiled, pleased as he watched the large barge moored at the edge of the dock on the pitch-black underground canal. Hammer Gang members bustled about, carrying cargo or chatting.
A few massive shapes aboard were covered with tarpaulins. Even from their outlines, Vito could tell at a glance that they were Sentinel Walkers.
"Looks like the delivery's right on time, as always." Vito smiled and set the binoculars aside.
Marshall glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then focused on the scope again. "Silver Snake's intel is as reliable as ever. By the way, are you interested in her?"
"Marshall, tell me: what man wouldn't be interested in a woman like that?"
Vito spoke with a smile, teasing him. Marshall chuckled silently and rested his finger lightly on the trigger. "Want me to start this time?" "Please."
Before Vito had finished speaking—or even gotten past the first syllable—a laser beam sliced through the air and blew the man's head apart.
Everyone on the dock snapped to attention. The people carrying guns turned toward them, but two more men were shot by laser beams almost at once. A young Hammer Gang member standing beside the two unlucky men raised his autogun in shock. As he turned around dumbly, a bolt round smashed his head.
Vito leapt off the elevated container platform, landed in a crouch, and drew his Bolter. He swung it up and fired, taking out a dazed guard. The thunderous report echoed across the dock. The Hammer Gang boss at the docks turned in surprise, setting down his data-slate as he and his subordinate looked toward the containers.
At the dock entrance, the guards were also drawn by the gunfire.
Suddenly, three trucks came roaring along the road beside the enormous artificial ravine. They smashed through the barrier and drove straight into the dock.
The Hammer Gang members stared blankly at the incoming trucks. From the open beds at the rear, Devout Society faithful clambered out. The muzzle flashes of solid ammunition and the searing red glow of Lasguns lit up the dim underground dock.
Vito ran out through the narrow container yard, tilting his head as he took in the chaos before him with an amused look. Countless bolts and bullets crisscrossed the air as members of both sides began seeking cover and exchanging fire across the dim dock.
Vito leaned to one side. A laser bolt struck the container beside him, its searing beam burning through the thin metal. He watched the hole fade to darkness and rubbed the back of his head. "Wow, that was about ten seconds early. Looks like my badass speech isn't happening."
"For the God of Redemption!" A hysterical roar sounded nearby. Vito turned to survey the chaotic battlefield, then spotted a Hammer Gang member outside the workers' office on one side of the dock. At his boss's near-screamed command, the man rushed into the office with a shotgun.
Vito arched an eyebrow, grabbed his Bolter, and hurried over. He sprinted across the open dock, constantly changing his posture and trajectory as bullets and laser beams flashed and thundered around him.
But Vito was far more agile than any ordinary human. The Inquisition's augmentations fitted to his body were clearly exceptional. No, he figured there were implants from Mars in there, too. Well, there was no point getting hung up on exactly how many enhancements Vito had.
Vito skidded to a stop as a bullet whistled past his eyes. He turned and saw an excessively muscular Hammer Gang brute, roaring as he fired a Heavy Stubber.
A bolt round punched through a concrete barrier and turned one of Vito's men behind it into a cloud of blood. Clearly, the brute had started directing his fire at Vito.
Vito threw himself to the ground and rolled several times to dodge the bolts. The concrete floor erupted in flying debris, as if the planet's crust had been ripped open.
Vito ducked behind a wall, but the bolts quickly began to tear it apart.
"Marshall, shut him up!" Vito said into his comm. Before the words had left his mouth, a streak of red flashed past the corner of his eye. The roar of the Heavy Stubber stopped. Vito leapt out at once, grabbed his Bolter, and fired repeatedly.
A full magazine roared out, tearing through the men who had tried to lift the Bolter after the brute's head was blown open.
Several men crumpled instantly. The survivors scrambled for cover. Vito smiled and pulled the magazine from his Bolter. "Og, quit holding back. Shoot whatever you like today—just don't hit our own men."
"Yessir, boss!" came a rough, somewhat dim-witted voice. In the shadows of the dock, a massive silhouette appeared behind Vito. It was an armoured Ogryn, carrying an even bigger, thicker Heavy Stubber in his huge hands.
The Ogryn's broad teeth bared as he roared, spittle flying from his mouth. The heavy ammunition belt of his Bolter also sprang and bounced as the weapon's fierce muzzle flash blazed beside Vito like a sun appearing out of nowhere.
Almost immediately, a storm of firepower smashed through countless obstacles—and the people behind them.
A second Ogryn stepped out from a corner, carrying an enormous shotgun.
Vito loaded a fresh magazine, smiled, and immediately set off again. He hurried along the outside wall of the dock office, leapt over a Devout Society firing position, and headed straight for the office entrance.
The Hammer Gang boss seemed to realize what he was after. He roared orders, commanding his men to shoot at Vito.
But the first man to turn his gun toward him had his head pierced by a laser beam. Then another man was shot. Everyone else scrambled back behind cover.
The boss crouched behind some sandbags and stuck his head out to look. He saw red light flashing above the container yard in the distance. "Where's the sniper? Take him out!"
As the boss cursed furiously, a Hammer Gang gunner armed with a plasma weapon leaned out from behind a wall and pulled the trigger, aiming toward Marshall.
Blue plasma lightning howled through the air. The plasma shot struck a container, and a burst of surging energy exploded in an instant. Vito stopped and looked toward the container, where lightning crackled.
"Marshall, you still alive?" Vito asked. After a moment of static, a clear voice came through. "Alive. Though I wouldn't say I'm in great shape."
A quiet curse came through the comm. Vito smiled. "Can you still fight?"
A laser beam pierced the head of a Hammer Gang member not far from Vito. That was answer enough. Vito smiled silently and took a step back. "Pike! Punch through the wall! Find me a shortcut!"
With a rough roar, the Ogryn gunner swung his weapon around. The enormous shotgun blasted a gaping hole in the office's outer wall.
Vito leapt through and immediately saw a young Hammer Gang member clutching a phone, frantically fiddling with the communications console. The young man stared at Vito in terror.
Vito smiled faintly, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger. Brain matter and fragments of skull splattered across the wall. He walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver. Amid the static and garbled noise, it was clear that the call hadn't connected.
Vito smiled in satisfaction and dropped the receiver. "Well, I thought I might've cut the wrong wire earlier. Looks like The Emperor has blessed me again."
Honestly, when Vito had cut the dock's phone line earlier, he'd simply grabbed a random cable in the communications duct and snipped it. He hadn't expected to pick the right one.
Vito gave an amused smile and kicked open the office's inner door. He emerged into a deserted alley beside the dock and looked in both directions. Seeing no enemies, he smiled in satisfaction, then hurried down the empty street toward the barge's bow.
In the midst of the fierce, chaotic battle at the dock, no one noticed a figure launch himself across the wide Grand Canal with strength that defied human biology, landing directly on the barge.
Vito rolled to his feet, rushed down the stairway, and shot a crewman who hadn't yet understood what was happening. He raced across the deck, shooting the unarmed crewmen who had been left aboard one after another.
Vito reached the machine covered by the tarpaulin. He drew a knife from his belt, cut the straps, and yanked the cover away, revealing a large machine crouched beneath it.
The Inquisitor whistled and clapped his hands in delight. "Oh, you're a real beauty. I'll have to get Omega to scrounge up two of these for me when we get back."
Vito holstered his Bolter, grabbed the handrail, and leapt into the cockpit of the Sentinel Walker. He started it up with practiced ease. The displays on the console lit one after another, and after the Imperial Aquila swept across the main screen, the two-legged Adeptus Mechanicus creation rose to its feet.
Its huge feet stamped across the barge's deck. Vito piloted the Sentinel to the edge of the vessel with heavy steps, then waved goodbye with his left hand at the dumbfounded Hammer Gang boss on the dock and squeezed the red trigger with his right.
The Sentinel's twin-linked Lasguns unleashed a dense hail of fire. A storm of dazzling red beams swept across the edge of the dock.
Everything the lasers touched—flesh, steel, all of it—was instantly vaporized or blasted into scrap.
The Hammer Gang boss and the subordinates around him turned to ash.
The Hammer Gang member with their only plasma weapon prepared to make one last stand. He raised it, aimed at Vito—who hadn't noticed him—and pulled the trigger.
But this time his luck ran out. The plasma weapon's barrel suddenly bulged and exploded. Its ion plasma engulfed him, and he screamed as he was reduced to a pile of scraps.
Vito raised a finger as he watched the astonishing scene, then stood up with an amused look. Resting one hand on the frame of the Sentinel's command compartment, he looked down at the Devout Society survivors rising to their feet after the battle ended.
The two Ogryns stopped firing and walked onto the dock. Marshall also jumped down from the containers. Along with everyone else, he gathered on the dock, staring in utter amazement at Vito—who had somehow appeared on the barge and was already driving a Sentinel.
"Boss! How'd you get up there? You were just standing next to me!" Og asked, perplexedly scratching his head with one huge hand. His fellow Ogryn was just as confused, scratching his head too.
Vito smiled and leaned over the Sentinel's command compartment. "Today, I'll teach you a true saying."
"Only the plasma of the faithful never overheats."
Before you continue