[deathbringer]

She was alone, veiled in despair, entrenched in failure.

Her failure, her self worth as vacant as the stone plinth that had once supported holy relics.

Yet it had been replaced by a burning flame, an unyielding desire to prove herself. She had not failed, it had to be an inside job. it had to be, surely her sisters had not failed her, or had she failed them.

Had she missed a critical sign, a small portent that could have prevented this. She was sure she had not, repeatedly she turned over her actions in her mind, yet she had found no fault.

Now she had to know, she had to find out if she had failed. She had to....

Repent

She had been paying for her crimes since she reached this boring shit hole of a shrine world. Punished for crimes she could not understand, the ends justified the means. Yet she was punished, removed from service, beaten and humiliated every day, her fate in the hands of the repentia.

She looked through her eyes, felt them focus upon a long sinuous mass of cords and fibres, sparks of blue lightening jumped between the twitch mass.

She smelled the seering stench of flagellated skin, felt the brutal strokes across her back, felt the desire to scream, howl and beat at the air, to turn upon her attacker, rip her face off.

Yet she held it all in, refused to make a sound, felt the lashes across her back become more frenzied as her torturer tried to smash the resiliance from her body.

They had tried and failed, for she could see no crime and that made her a stone.

This stone had bled, tears had trickled down her cheeks forced from her, yet she had not screamed, held in the gasping sob of despair.

She would not give them the satisfaction, they cared not for her innocence

The mistresses eyes seem to pierce her though those celestial orbs peered in another direction. Her own repentence was coming, that was the only reason for a mistress, her failings would be punished.

If she had failed.

She clung to that If

It was her salvation, her get out clause.She would find the traitor and return these relics, prove herself innocent and prove her methods correct. The ends justify the means.

There was general chitter chatter in the room. A blade flashed across her vision and she turned to see a new figure within the room. His voice hissed with menace, his movements laced with a deadly cruelty as the blade slapped into the wood with a dull thunk.

Kay rolled her eyes, she couldn't match the assassin in a straight fight but for some reason she wasn't terrified.

She had never strayed from a fight, never been one to back down and somehow she had always come out alive.

Against an astartes she had nearly died, the bastard had escaped with the lives of several sisters, yet she had survived pulled herself back to the medicae, bleeding and delirous, ranting about a bastard in blue and gold.

She had spent 3 days on drips, tubes clearing her of foul toxins and infections, machines holding her on the brink. Yet she had survived.

Was an assassin more powerful than an astartes?

Who knew, both were stronger than her, yet survival gave one a sense of omnipotence that was difficult to quash.

She wasn't sure what possessed her. Yet she pushed foward slightly and yawned loudly.

"Finished tough guy" she rolled her eyes

"Personally i dont give a rats ass what you've killed or seen, they say those that act tough are covering other insecurities"

She stared pointedly in a downwards direction, her lips twitching as she turned to the room at large

"What i want to know is how the bastards got in and out without being seen over the surveillance."

She snarled, her face twisting

"Thats what I'm here to find out. We're going to find the bastards that did this and bring them to book. Thats all that matters, not whether were big bad and scary or the room is pretty."

She fixed the assassin with a stare, hard and merciless. Her fists were balled, the tom boy within her itched for a fight... come on then tough guy lets see what you've got. I'll survive... i always do

 

[deathbringer]

The assassin advanced upon her, his steps sauntering, the clatter of his footsteps resonating a deadly echo.

Kay wasn't phased, the pulsing irritation leading new strength to her brave soul.

Then he spoke, long hissing s's and daring horrific words.

"Well, well, well, brave words from a girl who failed her order, isn't that right? Your the reason why we are here right? If you had done your job, we could all be attending more worthy duty. I can't imagine what it must be like to fail your order, your life. They have given you everything, and you have returned to them with failure."

Her fists balled, her muscles trembling her face turning into a snarl of bright white teeth at the assassin. Yet he spoke once more and a cold paralysis seemed to take over her muscles. She wanted to strike to lash out yet something held her back, an internal fear? or an internal sense of self preservation?

Yet she hadn't failed, not yet it had not been proven.. this assassin knew nothing, he had only just arrived. It could have been an inside job... it had to have been or else he was right. she had failed.

And if she had failed.. she would die before she let the artefacts get away.

Her eyes focused back on the assassin and she realised he was speaking again

"Know this Sister Kay..." "...your body is under the protection of the Ecclesiarchy, and therefore the Inquisition, and therefore I am forbidden to lay a hand on you unless provoked. But I have killed men and women for lesser insults. But, as you are clearly incompetent and have know clue of subtlety of infiltration, and as much as you hate me, you need me. So go on, try and fight me, but I swear to the God-Emperor, I will break you before you can even touch me"


Sister Kay was, contrary to popular belief, not stupid, not a dumb piece of muscle. It was not a deliberate illusion, her mind and muscle seemed to be mutually exclusive.

Yet something in the assassins words had awakened her intelligence, perhaps being in a fight she knew she couldn't win. Nay that could not be it, she had know from the moment she had set eyes upon the corrupted astartes it was a fight she couldn't win, yet she had charged anyway, charged because it was her duty, her purpose. The fight was a bonus, the challenge was an advantage, so that wasn't it.

Suddenly she was laughing long and hard, her voice shrill and singsong.
"I will break you" that was what he wanted, he wanted to break her mentally. He couldn't touch her but he could hit her where she was strongest.

Her mind was strongest, her body futilely weak compared to his. That was why she survived, why she won through when others fell. Her mind believed she could do anything, and he intended to crush that feeling, to break her body and soul.

Her laughter rang round the room drowning the protests of the interrogator and the eldery man from her mind. She cared very little there would be no fight now.

She saw the truth.

"Infiltration" she gasped, between long pealing laughs, her hands slapping her knees " I am your inferior assassin, I do not deny it, you are faster, better trained and older than I. Yet I have more balls than you will ever have. You sneak around and stab your opponents in the back when they aren't looking. I am strong and upright, even when an opponent is stronger than me, I don't back down"

She thrust her face till her nose was touching a broad beaming smile across her face, her fists unclenched, her body relaxed.

"So try and break me, others have tried and still try" she did not glance and the repentia but her words were laced with venom.

Slowly she moved her hand slowly and carefully and tickled his chin like a puppy

"Nice try tough guy, but your going to have to try harder to break me"

She started to turn away before turning back grinning

"I'd turn my back, but I know what you do in that situation"

She stopped before adding

"As for my failure... if I have indeed failed and it was indeed my doing that allowed the relics to be stolen, you will not need to break me. I will be broken upon the rock of my own confidence until the relics are found or death takes me."

 

[deathbringer]

"I hope I do not have to remind you of the Sin of Levity, Sister Kay. Your laughter is most innappropriate."

Kay fought not to roll her eyes yet the Cardinal's attentions had brought her back to earth, the assassin's idiocies wrenched for her minds., Instead she bowed her head murmering

"I apologise mother, I will control myself better in future"

She began to move forth, her previous indescretions blotted from her mind though they were brought back by the quiet words of Father Cato

"Are you touched by maddness Sister? Do you require the Word of The Emperor to heal you sickly mind?"

She could not help but grin as the wizened man made his way into the audience chamber parking himself upon a padded chair with a sigh of comfort

"If it is madness to stand up against the strong then indeed i am insane Father"

Yet now the cardinal deigned to speak and she chose to focus her attentions upon him listening eagerly to his words, her mind immediately focusing upon the tampered security footage. That was a job for her, her sisters new this island inside out, yet still considering her previous indiscretions it was best to be totally open with her thoughts.

"My curiosity lingers upon this footage. I believe my order can discover the cause of this disruption and if we can trace he who disrupted it, we can trace those that stole it and thus the artefacts themselves"

"However if the live guard footage was undisturbed surely somebody was watching the footage, and would have seen all who entered and left the vault, this would make our job easier if that was investigated."

"Other than that, the key to the reliquary boxes need to be accounted for. You said last opened two weeks ago? Is that officially, or is it possible for others to enter the room without official knowledge?"

She paused her mind running onwards

"I doubt the objects would be fenced here, its too close to the crime seems to me like too much of a risk. Thus these shuttles are a priority, especially if we can use them in conjunction with a definite time for the crime"

"Myself I will concentrate upon the footage and see where it leads me"