I was nearly back to MB 4 when Mith started barking at an alleyway. It was an angry sound, and he seemed eager to get to that darkened place.

I decided to indulge him. I found a parking spot and slid the Emperor in between two other vehicles.

"Mith be careful and don't charge in without me." I quickly cast Nature's Blessing for the first time since my return. It felt off somehow, and still gave an energized feeling. A quick check of my stats showed that it still provided an insane plus eight to everything.

'Okay, hurry, hurry or we miss it.' He bounced and darted a short distance ahead before falling back to my side.

We rushed over to the gap that led deeper into the dark recesses. I could hear the sounds of a quiet struggle.

Advancing with quick soft steps, I soon found a fascinating scene at the junction of a few other alleys.

Two filthy and exhausted Kriegsmen were using their entrenching tools to slaughter a wave of those terrible things from the underground. Their las rifles lay broken on the ground at their feet.

A quick scan showed that three other Guardsmen were down, whether dead or just wounded I couldn't say.

Dozens of bodies of the strange cyborgs covered every inch of the remaining ground. An opened manhole was clogged with even more bodies. Their dark, almost black blood was splattered everywhere.

I admit I hesitated. To the servants of the Imperium I would now look like some odd member of the space elves. What did they call them? Ah, that's right the Aeldari. I remember, that the general order for dealing with any Xenos was to shoot them in the head.

However, they were still my responsibility.

I looked down at Mith. He was tense and ready to charge.

I sighed, "Fuck it." stepping into the junction with my pistol drawn, quickly shooting two of the cyborgs in their torsos.

Mith charged the remaining creatures and quickly began to hamstring them. Ordinarily a dog that leapt so quickly to violence would trouble me, but I knew that Mith and his kind were very different from the standard dog.

Two more shots got me to the closest downed Guard. I knelt to see if I could save them. Good, they were not dead, lots of blunt force trauma cuts and scratches and several bites, which are what caused enough blood loss to put the Kriegsmen down.

By the time I finished getting him clear of immediate death, only a couple of the cyborgs remained. I stood to walk over to the next Guardsmen, thankfully also not dead, I quickly pulled him back from the brink.

When I looked up one of the Kriegsmen was approaching me. The last of the cyborgs was down for the count. Mith walked between us, he didn't growl or threaten the Guard, but it was clear he wouldn't step aside.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I walked to the last Imperial, this one had a few bullet wounds, but was clinging to life with the tenacity I would expect of these hardened troops. It was no trouble to get them back to right.

That finished, I turned my attention to the two that had been fighting. "Guardsmen, report." I figured, why not? Maybe whatever bullshit the Company had put together to maintain loyalty would still work.

Luck was with me because it worked like a charm.

The Kriegsmen snapped to reflexive attention. Their salute were crisp despite their wounds.

"Watchmaster A-27 reporting," The one closest to me began, "Heavy Cybred resistance in this area. Squad function is below proper minimum strength. Standing orders are to return to base."

Cybred, as good a name as any for these twisted things.

"Why are you on the surface?"

"Large movements of Cybred forces have been using the surface to get behind our front lines. We were on patrol to monitor their movements." I could read nothing of his expression, the cold dark glass of his gasmask kept his eyes protected from scrutiny.

"Do you recognize me?" This was the critical moment.

"Yes, Emperor!" There it was. They knew me regardless of my transformation.

"Do you have... " What was it, oh right, "Vox communication with your base?"

"Yes, Emperor!" There was that weight again. The weight of lives settling on my shoulders.

"Hold fast for healing." I stepped over to the Watchmaster and laid my hand on his shoulder, there was a twitch as if he was going to attack but managed to hold back his conditioning.

After a minute he trembled, I had no idea why, his treatment was coming along just fine, and I kept it slow to prevent any accidents. It was easy to patch him up.

I moved to the last Guard, and the Watchmaster nearly collapsed behind me. He quickly righted himself, when he saw me looking back at him.

Mith followed right beside me, more at ease now.

I quickly set the last Kriegsmen to rights, and pondered what to do next. The others were beginning to stir.

It was bad that the underground conflict was spilling onto the surface, but I probably shouldn't get too entangled in it. Though I did need to find a way to supply them as I promised.

Just when I was starting to relax.

"Send word to your Marshall, I have returned, and will see what I can do to aid your efforts. But first, come and rest at my current outpost. We'll get you some weapons and food."

"Yes, My Lord!" Watchmaster A-27 barked. I felt my teeth grinding together a bit, yeah this was not a good development.

Mith gave a soft whine. I gave him an ear scratch. I saw the attention of the Guardsmen focus on Mith.

'Jealous.' He laughed in my mind.

Maybe so.

We cleaned up the site as best we could, throwing bodies back into the sewers. Liberal use of Purify managed to make it appear that nothing had happened here. I went over the Kriegsmen with the same spell.

"The Emperor Protects!" They responded as one. More like the Emperor cleans, but whatever.

This was a bad idea, but I wasn't going to send them back into the fray without some iron to play with. Maybe I should just take them on a quick shopping trip and grab them some food?

Yeah, that was a slightly better idea, lets keep the Mox and Rogue out of this.

So I spent the next couple of hours getting the Guardsmen some Heavy Duty guns and a crash course on their usage. It didn't take much, say what you will about them they were experts at mayhem whatever its form.

A trip to a local burger joint, got them fed. They ate like starving wolves. I shook my head at their enjoyment of the food. Poor fools.

"I was going to take you back with me, but my current allies should probably remain ignorant of your existence."

"As you wish, Emperor."

I dropped them off back where I found them. they assured me they could get back from here. I would meet them here in a week to get a Vox comm and give them whatever supplies I could cobble together. I didn't want to lose track of this conflict again.

Most of the day gone, Mith and I finally made it back to the Apartment.