Apollonius and the Claw: Chapter One

The 41st millenium.  A time of ceaseless war.  Battles rage throughout the galaxy without end.

 

Those days are now over.  Since the death and subsequent rebirth of the God-Emperor of Mankind, now dubbed the Reborn Emperor, glorious peace and harmony have prospered throughout the universe.  Xenos live and work alongside heretics and sanctified battle brothers alike; by the almighty Emperor's will, a new era of cooperation and acceptance has dawned.

 

However, this transition has not gone without its difficulties.  Old grudges are not so easily forgotten, and those who thirsted for the blood of war are not so quenched by their newfound peace.

 

Nowhere else is this more apparent than on the bustling streets of New Imperium City.  Here, crime is at an all-time high, as all manner of creatures seek out their place in the world the Reborn Emperor has created.

 

Now as ever, the honest, law-abiding citizens of the Imperium need protection from the horrors that lurk just outside their doors.  Mercifully, the Reborn Emperor provides: with the New Imperium Police Department.  Composed of several hundred expertly-trained officers, the NIPD is one of the finest law-enforcement agencies under the Emperor's control.

 

This is the story of two cops brought together under the most unlikely of circumstances.

Perhaps by luck, or perhaps by fate.

 

This is one of the many stories of

 

APOLLONIUS and THE CLAW.

 

 

CHAPTER ONE: BLUE BALLS

 

"Ugh, disgusting xeno filth."

 

Appolonius side-stepped his way through the Police Precinct door, sidling past a belligerant Earth Caste who had dug in her hooves near the entryway.  Brushing a bit of dirt off his immaculate azure power armor with an audible "tch", he made his way through the processing area, nodding deferentially to the Battle Sister who sat behind the desk.  At the moment, she was preoccupied with a pair of rambunctious cultists draped in bloody rags alongside a massive, crimson-suited Chaos Space Marine who were making a scene of the processing line.

 

She managed a sidelong glance at the Ultramarine, and with a wink, pressed the button to open the final door into the precinct headquarters. Apollonius expressed his thanks, and with a curt gesture towards the waiting room, offered "bring those heretics to the Emperor's justice, good Sister", before passing beyond the threshold.

 

The precinct was a hive of activity.  Imperial officers dashed from one holo-screen to the next, reading hurriedly over reports before returning to yell into their desk-mounted comm links.  Moving swiftly down the central corridor, Apollonius made his way to the large glass door in the very back of the office, marked "CHIEF OMALLIUS" in stark black lettering.  He had hardly opened the door before the Police Chief began to speak, at a volume that the Space Marine noted would have been better suited for the battlefield.  When issuing orders to a division in the next sector.

 

"HEY KID, GREAT TO SEE YA! DIDN'T GET LOST, HUH? SIT THE HELL DOWN!"

 

Apollonius adjusted the volume on his vox as he closed the door behind him, momentarily stunned at meeting the Chief for the first time.  He was a short, stout man with a bristling salt and pepper moustache that seemed to be in danger of igniting from the stubby cigar that was as much a permanent fixture of the Chief's countenance as his facial hair.

 

"Alright, let's take a look at these test results.  Seems here that you were the at the top of your class at the Academy. Expert marksman, tactical skills, close combat...I have to admit rookie, I'm impressed."

 

The Ultramarine bowed his head low, "I am honored just to be here, sir.  Serving the Reborn Emperor has always been my-"  Before he could finish his thought, the door burst open, and in a heartbeat Apollonius had whirled around and taken a knee, his bolt pistol drawn and pointed at the intruder.  

 

Standing before him was an imposing marine of chaos, outfitted in wicked, blood-red armor bedecked in daemonic horns and cracked skulls. The heretic raised his fist to the mouth of his power armor, and let out a small noise which was either a cough or a chuckle, Apollonius couldn't decide.

 

"Emperor protect us, you about gave me a heart attack!  Lower your weapon there, rookie, and meet your new partner: Sergent Claudius."

 

The space marine looked incredulously from the Chief to the chaos marine and back again.

 

"I...you...how..."

 

 Claudius reached out a massive armored glove and wrapped his fingers around the space marine's bolter pistol, hand, and all, giving it a curt shake.  "Hey kid. Only dead men and this old codger call me Claudius.  Everyone else just sticks with 'Claw.'"

 

Apollonius returned his bolt pisol to its holster, still in shock from the handshake, and watched dumbstruck as Claw procured a cigarette from a small wooden box on the Chief's desk, holding the tip of it to the mouth exhaust of his power armor.  With a dry hacking cough, a miasma of sparks and smog spewed forth, lighting the cigarette and filling the room with the stench of brimstone.

 

Turning back to Omallius' desk, the Ultramarine slammed down his hands, "Chief, by the righteous light of the Reborn Emperor, you cannot possibly expect me to work with this...this..."

 

As he paused, Claw took a single, deep puff on his cigarette, turning every inch of it to ash, right through the filter until nothing at all remained.

 

"This heretic!"

 

Jumping out of his chair to meet the young marine's gaze, Chief Omallius pointed a single stubby finger in his face, "You listen here boy: that cop standing right there is the best damn officer we got in this Emperor-forsaken city!  I figure I put my best in with our new brightest, and we may actually get something fucking done around here! Now you just sit right back down, this place is falling apart at the seams as it is, we don't need you guys going at it too."

 

The chaos marine snickered, smoke escaping through tiny cracks in his helmet. "Flattery only works on them Pretty Marines, chief."

 

"Can it warpspawn, you may be good but that last stunt you pulled cost the city millions in damages.  The mayor's been all over my fucking ass since then - one more screwup like that and he'll have BOTH our heads! You hear me?"

 

Claw nodded his head in a wide, exaggerated arc, dropping down into a chair at the side of the room and lazily slinging his feet up onto a nearby filing cabinet with a deafening CLANG!

 

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it.  So what is it that's so fucked you brought in the kiddy cavalry over here?"

 

Apollonius turned a glaring eye to him as the Chief sat back in his leather chair and continued, "Here's the story.  Word on the streets is that there's been trouble down on the East Side."

 

"Isn't that area mostly populated by Tau?" the space marine asked, "I thought they tended to stay out of trouble."

 

"If you couldn't win a fistfight with a kitten you'd stay outta trouble too." Claw added, reaching over the desk for another cigarette before the Chief slapped his hand away, "No smoking in my office, Emperor damn it," Omallius said, puffing on his cigar, "And yes, you're right, we got blues crawling all over that part of town, but that's not the problem.  Our sources on the frontlines tell us that they've been getting pretty friendly with the Slaaneshi fucks that have been peddling skin uptown."

 

Apollonius and Claw exchanged glances, finding their first point of agreement in being dumbstruck at that idea.  "The Tau..." the space marine began, breaking the silence as his partner finished the thought, "...allying with Slaanesh?"

 

"I know, it sounded crazy to me too, but that just made me believe it more.  So I looked into it, and sure e-fucking-nough, there's apparently a newcomer to the red light district uptown, some Tau pimp calling himself 'Blue Baller', out there selling his girls for what he calls 'The Greater Pleasure.' That's Slaaneshi handiwork if I ever saw it."

 

Leaning back in his chair, Claw nearly toppled over as he tried to stifle his laughter, snorting quietly to himself and shaking his head.  The space marine beside him shared none of his mirth.

 

"Xeno heretics...I never thought I would see the day..." the Ultramarine mumbled, somewhat overwhelmed.

 

"Well? Don't just sit there you fuckfaces, get out there and find out who these guys are!"

 

Up in an instant and at attention, the Ultramarine puffed out his chest, "Yes sir, Chief! By your orders, we shall apprehend these xeno heretics to be brought before the Reborn Emperor's justice!" he declared, before marching out of the office.

 

Grunting and moaning all the way up, Claw slowly returned to his feet, drawing an angry look from Omallius, "Emperor help me, Claw, if you don't do everything, and I mean EVERYTHING by the books this time, I'm gonna strip your spiny ass naked and drop you off hogtied uptown with a sign shoved in your asshole that reads 'FRESH MEAT'.  You hear me?!"

 

The chaos space marine paused for a few moments in front of the Chief's desk, before reaching down and snatching another cigarette from him, "Hey kid," he said, turning to follow Apollonius out the door, leaving the Chief red and trembling with rage behind him "I think I just got an idea of how you can lure out this Blue Baller guy!"

 

Outside in the processing area, Apollonius had taken to his knees to assist the Battle Sister who had apparently dropped a number of papers.  "Please, Battle Sister, allow me to assist you in this endeavor," he said, pausing for a moment as he heard a distinct stomping noise growing closer.

 

Reaching over the partition as he slid past the reception desk, Claw nodded to his partner, then looked down to regard the Sororitas.

"Hey there Sister, you over there workin' hard or do you need a hard workin' over?"  he said, slapping his hand against her raised metal skirt-plate, producing an audible "clink!"

 

Frozen in horror, a similar noise could be heard as Apollonius' jaw hit the bottom of his helmet.

 

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"Man, so the Chief really went out all out, huh? Gave us our own brand-new squad speeder and everything!"

With his seat reclined to an almost completely horizontal position, Claw sat in the passenger side with one foot on the dash and one out the window, resting on the now greatly strained side view mirror.

 

"Technically, it is MY squad speeder, and as such I would greatly appreciate it if you would keep your power boots off of my dashboard.  Also, can you advise if this the correct route to the East Side? It seems my sense of direction has been vexed by these recent construction detours, and..."  

 

Apollonius took a few moments between watching the road to glance at his new unwanted partner, who was apparently too engrossed in his latest issue of "XXXenos Action" and a bag of what appeared to be puffed cheese rations to aid in his navigation.

 

After a bit of grumbling, Claw reached out his left hand and pulled himself up using the Ultramarine's pauldron as a handrail, leaving a powdery set of greasy, orange streaks behind.

"Oh, in the EMPEROR'S name!" he said, looking down at his once-spotless blue armor as his partner stuck his head out the passenger side window to look at the neon burning out on the dark city streets.

 

"Hm...no, I thought we were in the wrong place at first, but this is definitely the north end of the East Side.  We're only a couple of blocks away from uptown."

 

"At first? Did your foray into heretical xeno pictography cloud your judgement?"

 

"Naw, it's just that usually this part of town is crawlin' with tail.  There ain't even a soul to catcall out here."

 

"Tail?"

 

"Yeah, you know, a guy like me, he gets off from a long day at work, comes on down to these parts lookin' to get himself a slice of Blueberry Pie."

 

"...Don't tell me you are referring to the women of our Tau allies as confectionary goods!"

 

Claw fumbled around on the floor of the speeder for a moment, and came back up with his magazine opened to a page peppered with cheese powder showing a less-than-optimally equipped female Earth Caste.

 

"Don't tell me you ain't never seen an Earthy struttin' her stuff and wanted to cut yourself a thick slice of that!"

 

Claw's helmet slammed into the dash with a hard, hollow thud as Apollonius slammed on the brakes, stopping the speeder dead in the street.  "By the Reborn Emperor and all of his Primarchs!  You heretical fiend, I have never once even DREAMT of putting my hands on a xeno female, and if you ever-"

 

"Ah, xeno males more your thing then? It's cool kid, I heard you Ultramarines were pretty close, but you know, what you guys do with your uh...power fists behind closed doors is totally your business."

 

The space marine stared silently at his partner, his power armor rattling as he shook with a righteous fury.  Claw waved his hand dismissively and shoved another cheese snack into his mouth vent, "I'm just pullin' your loincloth kid.  I know you - hey, waitaminute!"  Craning his head out the window, the chaos marine pointed to a building just ahead of where they were stopped, "Go take that spot right up there, I know that place, I bet the guys in there will know all about any newcomers in the area."

     

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