Evan nimbly leaped into a cavern with no man-made passageways. It was slippery and difficult to traverse; water had polished the rocks for millions of years, leaving their surfaces impossibly smooth.
His enhanced Astartes vision constantly scanned the cavern. There were strange tracks here. Something had definitely been moving around.
He went farther in, rounded several bends, and spotted something rather funny.
A Military Restricted Area sign and a Servo Turret. Well, yes, certainly... but wasn't this a little odd?
Two more bends ahead, Evan laughed.
All clear. No danger.
His own warriors had found something good that was inconvenient to carry away, so they had marked the location and hidden it for the main force to retrieve.
What a scare. I thought there were enemies here.
The sealed box was a combination-lock case used exclusively by the Crimson Tide. Evan personally hauled it back to the Land Speeder. Damn, it was heavy.
Brothers, time to head home!
Elsewhere, the warriors had gotten into a tiny, tiny, tiny little disagreement with the officials.
Among these nobles, who strutted around like arrogant roosters, a few bolder ones believed they had done nothing wrong. They approached the transhuman warriors and walked right past the Astartes.
Normally, that would have meant nothing, and the warriors would not have cared. But Sisyphus was with the group.
After receiving orders to search for anomalies, the old Librarian had brought along his Gourd Hammer and occasionally switched to the Dark God's perspective to check their surroundings.
And sure enough, he spotted something.
"Stop! You, mortal over there! Submit to inspection!"
Sisyphus raised his Gourd Hammer and pointed at a noble.
A familiar power. The taint of Slaanesh.
"You have no authority to investigate me." The noble lifted his proud face. He was no ordinary mortal: he