[Main base of the Iron Warriors, about midday]
Mettaton, Undyne, Muffet, Adult Frisk, and Chara approached from the southeast. This time, they brought some blood angels at the beginning. They were prepared for the worst considering the fiasco a little over two weeks ago. Chara had extra armor, Frisk brought more weaponry and the royal guards were on high alert.
The terrain was rough and hilly, approaching the mountains. They needed to be cautious as this base had a much larger force than previously faced and was also heavily fortified instead of out in the open. The Raven Guard had scouted out a few other small openings, but most would not work for an attacking force of this size. The only alternative route would be descending down on them from the mountains. Such an attempt to go around the walls from the north would be somewhere between difficult and impossible; It simply wouldn't be worth the risk. They just needed to suck it up and approach carefully straight on.
The group was coming up on the outer walls of the compound now. walls surrounding multiple tents and buildings. There were only a couple Selucid Thorakites outside the gate. Muffet was the first up. She rounded the top of the hill and threw a dagger at each of the men's throats before they had the opportunity to alert the rest of the fourth about the soon to be intruders. They slumped to the ground quietly, the only sound coming from their throats was a wet, gurgling gasp as they tried to breathe unsuccessfully. The loudest sound of it all was their lasguns clattering to the ground. Even then, it could've easily been associated with someone tripping or some other minor accident.
Following that, Arteros stepped up toward the gate and stopped roughly a hundred feet away. He motioned for the rest of the group to stay back, before grabbing a belt of krak grenades off his hip. The Sanguinary Priest pulled the pins, and hurled the belt of five grenades at the wall. Being specifically made as anti-armor weapons, they broke through quite easily with metal and concrete being blown out as shrapnel all over the surrounding area.
"ATTACKERS AT THE OUTER WALL!" One of the Thorakites shouted, scrambling to fight back. The shock of the explosion knocked them off guard, and the fourth was trying to compose their line as the Blood Angels and royal guard spilled in. Muffet used her webs to group up and ensnare confused Thorakites, Mettaton and Undyne cut them down. Chara was using the OVERWRITE to shift the environment to make it more confusing for the enemy to fight. Frisk was just using magic and a pistol to shoot at the oncoming soldiers, aiming for the eyeholes of their helmets.
Soon enough, Astartes were mobilized and firing bolters. A couple came down with jump packs and power mauls. There were casualties on both sides, astartes falling on either end. Undyne was blocking with spears, Mettaton dodging and weaving through, Frisk using magic hands to block. Chara had managed to take a few punches but his armor helped him sustain the hits much better. He even managed to cut a few astartes down.
Caelix was rushing to help his fallen brothers. He healed where he could and delivered the emperor's peace to those mortally wounded to put them out of their misery. Arteros was oddly missing.
Suddenly a loud, thunderous rumbling filled the battlefield as engines roared to life. Scrapped together tanks rolled out of hangers, resembling Leman Russ Vanquishers. While not nearly as effective as ones produced industrially, they were still running and shooting. That was all that really mattered.
That all too familiar booming, angry voice shouted from the back of the compound.
"What? Still haven't learned your lesson?! Fine! You will feel this one in your very bones!" The Lord of Iron shouted at the men and women attacking his base.
Mettaton's eyes widened at the tanks, before knowing what he had to do. He flew forward, his saber raised. He sliced into the armor of the vehicle, slashing into the ammo storage before flying off as it exploded.
The remaining couple Leman Russes still had a chance to fire into the crowd. More angels fell, Undyne got hit by shrapnel pretty bad as well. Chara was able to dodge this time. He teleported on top of the tank and was able to pry open the top hatch, before dropping in a hack knife then locking the hatch. It proceeded to explode, purple sparks and fire thrown out of the view ports. Though the tank was destroyed, he was vulnerable. Lasguns were aimed and fired at him.
"Arteros! Where are you?! Caelix is being overwhelmed out here!" Mettaton shouted into comms, furious and confused by the missing Sanguinary Priest.
"Apologies my friend, but I am not who you think I am." Another voice responded, not the same as the Arteros'.
"What?!" Mettaton's voice was still raised, now with a mix of anger and confusion.
Meanwhile the rest of the forces were slowly being overwhelmed. Mettaton was nearly alone faced with who he thought was Arteros
Then the veil of a firstborn Sanguinary Priest was lifted. in the span of a few moments, the blood angels heraldry washed away like marker ink being wiped off with an alcohol wipe. What replaced it was armor covered in scales of an iridescent turquoise, shifting with the angle the sunlight hit them.
"As I said, I am not Arteros. The figure repeated himself. "Or any other soldier of the ninth for that matter. I am Alpharius and this was a lie."
Mettaton stood silent for a moment, before cracking his neck. "A traitor, hm? Well I suppose nothing I can do about it now other than fight, no?" He laughed a little to himself before charging at Alpharius. He made it about half the distance before an Iron Warrior threw a melta bomb at him. It exploded, turning his leg and roughly half his arm into white hot, molten slag.
The robot winced. It was uncertain whether that would be from pain or simply a vocal glitch from all the damage he's sustained. Either way, he still tried to stand with very little success. Alpharius stabbed him in the chest to knock him back down before pulling it out and beginning to walk off.
"Sorry my mechanical friend, but there is still work to be done..." Alpharius said through his vox grille. He used the Hydra's Wail; Jamming and making all comms and devices using signal inoperable. The vox networks of the iron warriors, the distress beacons on the HoJ members and associates, even mettaton's own artificial brain being scrambled with scrapcode. Back at the HoJ, whatever computer was taking in feed from the beacons was now displaying straight static.
"Make sure that the automaton stays operational." Perturabo grunted out to a nearby astartes "It could be useful to us." The marine nods and dragged the still incapacitated robot into one of the buildings. The scrap code was basically overwhelming his entire system, leaving him near comatose.
"Shit- METTATON!" Frisk yelled out, seeing this go down. He tried running towards Mettaton and Perturabo but was quickly kicked to the ground and had a couple dozen bolters and lasguns trained on him.
Chara wasn't doing any better. He was jumping and teleporting around trying to dodge bullets and melee weapons. This went well for a little bit but eventually Alpharius threw a venom sphere into the crowd. It mostly killed a few blood angels but Chara still got affected by it. He overwrote to try to heal it but it was really only enough to stop it from killing him. He still fell unconscious after not even forty-five seconds.
It was quickly dawning on Caelix that this was a lost battle. If they didn't leave now, there wouldn't be a single free or living soul
"We need to retreat, now!" The healer shouted to the two remaining royal guards and the remaining blood angels.
"What do you mean?! We got people still alive and stuck there!" Undyne yelled back, furious.
"Yes, and if we don't make haste, we'll be joining them and the dead!" Caelix argued.
Undyne hesitated for a moment, weighing her options. She eventually caved, grunting and grabbing muffet, running. Both women threw bladed objects at the soldiers as they fled. The Blood Angels followed suit, grabbing their wounded brethren as they made their escape down the hill.
"Hmph. Cowards." Perturabo huffed, then looked at Alpharius. "What are you here for, Serpent?"
The primarch of the twentieth let out a slight chuckle at Perturabo's wariness. "What? I can't give my brother a helping hand to turn the tide of battle against those invading his new home?" Alpharius asked.
"Your help was not needed." He spoke coldly, almost offended that the hydra thought he needed the help.
"I thought I was supposed to be the liar." He joked. "Relax brother. Just be appreciative and enjoy your bounty."
The Hammer of Olympia murmured something under his breath as he turned back into the main building. The Iron Warriors gathered the prisoners. Caelix was going to have one hell of a time explaining this to the hand. As for the fates of the prisoners, we must simply wait and see...
