Ardgit Redaxe's Ambition

 "Wot's dis?" Ardgit Redaxe growled as he listened to the grot manning his heavy slugga above his mega-armor. He couldn't remember the grot's name, and couldn't be bothered. The git wasn't important, not to his grand schemes of conquest. What it was babbling, though, was a whole another matter. "Wot do ya mean, Blitzog krumped a humie supa-heavy tank?!"

This wouldn't do. As a rival warboss, Redaxe couldn't allow that git, Blitzog, to upstage him. Hamlicar was his to conquer, not that ursurper. He was gonna show the evil Evil Sunz who was the real boss around here.

"Let's go!" He roared, raising his mega choppa and shaking it angrily. "We ain't gonna let that Blitzog git get one over us! We iz gonna do better and get ourselves a humie supa-heavy tank too! WAAAGH!"

Gathering a fearsome force of Beastsnagga Boyz that had joined his growing Waaagh!, Redaxe led the charge. Clouds of smoke filled the air as the warbikers charged forward, their riders whooping and yelling excitedly. Opposite them, the Squighogz Boys galloped forward, the greenskins whipping their pink steeds into a loping run. Their Nob on a squighoz led the charge, keeping his Boyz in line. Behind them, a Kill Rig trundled idly, the Weirdboy manning it chanting something incoherent. Redaxe couldn't understand what the weirdo was muttering about. Probably communing with Mork or summat. Ain't his business.

All he needed to know was that the hocus pocus of the Weirdboy worked.

Then the Kill Rig exploded forcefully, bowing over the Nob on the Squig and dealing a couple of mortal wounds to him. The Nob being a Nob, simply shrugged off lethal injuries that would have laid low a pathetic humie and got back onto his sqealing squig.

"Wot iz zat about?!"

Nobody answered him. The Nob scowled and turned to his Squighogz Boyz, ready to give them a good krumpin' for ignoring him, for he was the Nob and Nobs don't get ignored by no dumb gitz. However, his jaw dropped.

The Squighogz Boys were...gone.

Instead, smoldering remains of green puddles and ashes scattered about, the aftermath of a searing plasma blast having reduced the poor Boyz to nothing.

"Where did zey all go?!" He demanded.

Opposite the charging Ork Waaagh!, the stalwart men of the Draconis Imperial Guard regiment stood. Or rather, sat within the armored confines of their venerable tanks and walkers.

"I thought this was going to be an uneventful holiday, but looks like the Orks are out to ruin our festive plans," Colonel Ikeda grumbled. The Emperor's New Year was due to be celebrated later that evening, but as punishment for their defeat at the klaws of Blitzog earlier, the 4th regiment of the Draconian Defenders had been posted as sentries in the outskirts of Hamlicar. Ikeda clenched his fists. "We may have lost the last time, but we shall not be found wanting tonight! Men of Draconis, we fight!"

"Yes, sir!"

Tenken rumbled forward, its plasma blastgun-turned-volcano cannon erupting in an incadescent beam of destructive fury. A ramshackle contraption, with some Weirdboy on top whipping a large squig, vanished in an explosion. Beside the Stormblade-turned-Shadowsword, the venerable Leman Russ Executioner, Taiyou, added to the thunder of Tenken's many guns. Plasma seared through the air and vaporized a trio of Squighogz Boyz.

The plasma cannons bellowed, spitting superheated death at the Boyz running in the open. The Greenskins were so caught up in their bloodlust that they were running ahead of their Warboss, only for over half of them to vanish. The twin heavy bolters of Tenken chattered, firing mass reactives at the Warbikers, but the skilled greenskin riders swerved and dodged, making good use of their cloud of smoke to obscure their bikes. One of the bikes disintegrated when a shell detonated within its mechanism, hurling its shrieking rider into the dirt. The poor Ork hit the ground with a thud and didn't move, even its legendary resilience helpless against a snapped spine and shattered skeleton.

Ueda's Armored Sentinels opened fire, the plasma cannons catching more of the Orks and obliterating the Boyz. The sole survivor broke when he saw the ashy remnants of his comrade, and fled.

"Stop!" Redaxe hollered. He shook his head in disgust and gestured to the grot on his shoulder.

"Yes, boss!" The grot swiveled the slugga about and shot the running Boy in the head. The greenskin tumbled over, his skull split open like ripe fruit. Redaxe sneered at the deserter and returned his attention to the approaching super-heavy tank.

"Ya iz mine! Blitzog ain't the only one capable of krumpin' humie tanks! I don't care how big ya iz!"

Despite the violent demise of the Kill Rig, the Beastsnagga Boyz hitching a ride in it miraculously survived the flames, shaking the embers off their thick hide and patting out ablaze leather as they tore their way free. While they did so, the Kommandoes struck.

Unfortunately, Sergeant Shirakawa had spotted them.

"You aren't gonna fool me again!" he snapped, pointing his plasma pistol at the supposedly stealthy Kommandoes.

"Take aim!" Major Murakami ordered, rushing forward. The Draconian infantry hefted their lasguns, sniper rifle, plasma gun and meltagun up, waiting for the Kommandoes to sneak within range before they scythed them down with a barrage of las, plasma and melta. The Kommandoes fell back, routed, only for Ueda's Sentinal squadron to hunt them down. With buzzing chainsaws, they cut the fleeing Kommandoes apart, though a desperate Kommando smashed a breacher round into one of the Sentinels, causing it to buckle. A bombsquig threw itself at the already teetering Sentinel before detonating.

"Hey!" The Sentinel pilot yelled, his walker swaying unsteadily on scorched legs. "What the hell was that thing?!"

"Quit your whining and keep your eyes up front!" Ueda commanded, only for the Nob on squig to ram right into the damaged Sentinel, bowling it over and wrecking it. Ueda tried to call for support, but Ikeda had problems of his own. A Deff Dread had just emerged from a building to careen right into Tenken, its power klaws digging deeply into the ablative plating of the venerable Shadowsword. Not to be outdone, Redaxe charged in and buried his axe into the front armor, sending a shower of sparks.

"Ya iz mine now!" He crowed.

"I'm not going to lose a Shadowsword twice!" Ikeda snapped. "Driver, reverse!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Mizuno, cover fire!"

"Uh, I'm busy right now, boss." Sergeant Mizuno was struggling to maintain calm in the crew compartment of Taiyou, which had just been smacked by a couple of Warbikers. They pummeled the thick armor of the Leman Russ Executioner, with little effect, but the tank was unable to run them over. While Taiyou struggled to back away, the front edge of the Leman Russ clipped a warbiker and sent it spinning into the dirt.

"Watch it!" The Ork yelled, waving his fist futilely at the reversing Taiyou.

"Crush them!" Ikeda shouted back, and Tenken lurched forward, the adamantium tracks colliding against Ardgit Redaxe with a crunch and sending the warboss toppling back. Fortunately for the Warboss, his mega-armor held, and he wasn't squished outright by hundreds of tons of adamantium and ceramite.

"I iz tough as nails!" He roared defiantly as he struggled to his feet, the grot hanging onto the slugga desperately. "Ya cannot kill me with zat!"

Ikeda ignored the dude for now and instead ordered Tenken to fall back. The volcano cannon erupted once more, and the Deff Dread vanished in a blinding explosion. Lascannons spat ruby beams, but Redaxe's mega-armor withstood barrages that would have felled a tank, a shimmering kustom force field enfolding him in a bubble.

"Hah! If ya want to beat me, ya gonna have to do it the 'ard way! In good ol' fashion combat!"

One of the Warbikers was caught by a stray mass-reactive shell from the rumbling twin heavy bolters and turned into a mist of blood, but the Nob deftly pulled his bike away, turning to charge the Shadowsword at the same time as his warboss. Redaxe bellowed in triumph when his kustom force field actually blocked a hasty volcano cannon blast, the anti-Titan weaponry sizzling ineffectively against his mega-armor.

"I told ya! Ya cannot kill me with gunz and dakka! For I iz da best! Better than that git, Blitzog! Waaagh!"

"Where is my Sentinel support?!" Ikeda yelled, trying to have Tenken retreat from the near immortal Ardgit Redaxe. "Ueda!!!"

"Uh, I'm getting slaughtered here myself," Ueda said tersely. The Beastsnagga Boyz had snagged the other Sentinel in his squadron and brought it down with choppas. Even though their deadly chainsaws had cleaved a trio in return, they were getting overwhelmed by the whooping and jeering Beastsnagga Boyz.

Until Major Murakami intervened.

His power fist glowed a deep blue before it punched a hole through a stunned Ork's chest. The others turned to face him, but another Beastsnagga Boy had his head obliterated by a hook. Darting out of the way to avoid a second choppa slash, Murakami lashed out and tore out the heart of a third Boy, causing him to fall to his knees, gurgling in blood.

"I learned from the Catachans themselves!" The major yelled triumphantly. "It doesn't matter if you are Orks or Traitor Marines! I'm gonna punch your lights out!"

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me! We iz not gonna lose to humies like zis!" One of the Beastsnagga Boyz yelped in frustration, only to have his head taken out by a chainsaw. Ueda spun around, his Sentinel almost flying through the air, before the buzzing chainsaw carved through the Nob on a squig. The Nob's mouth gaped as his head transformed into mush, and the squig wailed as its spine was severed by the grinding weapon. It flopped on the ground before being stomped to oblivion.

"Dis iz not good..." The remaining Beastsnagga Boy murmured, backing away.

"Don't run, ya gitz!" Redaxe roared, undeterred by the intimidating silhouette of the Shadowsword. He charged once more, swinging his axe and cleaving an entire track guard off. Sparks flew from the Shadowsword, promethium bleeding from cut pipes.

"Not again!" Ikeda groaned, clenching his fists as he stood in his cupola. "Just crush that damned Ork already! I'm not going to lose my Tenken to another greenskin barbarian who thinks he can tear apart a super-heavy tank with nothing more than a giant axe!"

With a thunderous bellow, Tenken charged forth once more, and this time the venerable Shadowsword finally crushed the shrieking Redaxe beneath its adamantium tracks.

"No! NOOO! Dis can't be! I iz as good as Blitzog! I can't die like dis! Ya gotta be kiddin' me!"

Redaxe thrashed violently underneath Tenken before he disappeared, his mega-armor chewed apart by the sheer weight and bulk of the super-heavy.

The sole surviving Warbiker nob and the tattered remains of the Beastsnagga Boyz looked at each other for a second before they promptly spun around and fled. Ikeda watched them go and raised a hand.

"Don't pursue. I repeat, don't pursue." He sighed. "We're pulling back. Don't forget, we're having fireworks tonight to celebrate the New Year."

As the battered armor regiment of the Draconians returned wearily to their fortress-bunker, there was a slight movement from the crumpled mega-armor.

"Boss? Iz ya all right?" The grot sqawked, carefully running its hands over the dented metal. There was another tremor, and then the mega-armor burst open.

"Does I look all right to ya?!" A bloodied Ardgit Redaxe snapped, limping out of his ruined mega-armor. The grot shrieked and ran off, cowering behind a totaled warbike. Muttering to himself, Redaxe wiped the blood off his misshapen face. "I iz gotta find a Painboy. And den I will get my revenge on those damned humies! I iz not inferior to that git Blitzog! If he can do dis, den I can too!"

Using the broken shaft of his once glorious big choppa for support, the warboss disappeared into the night, his beady red eyes shining with vengeful fury.