12: A Lull in the Action

Octus wasn't really sure what to make of the heatsink. Sure, it was bigger than any other single piece of metal he'd ever seen and the folds and branches of it made it look impressive. But it just looked like a big fancy hunk of metal to him. They were fighting to defend this thing… and Octus just didn't really get it.

Sabine had tried to explain it to him. She told him how it drew heat from the 'geo-whatever vent' below the Hive and transformed it into power. And how it also sucked up the excess heat from the Hive itself 'cause people were hot and a lot of people + industry were even hotter or something. Octus thought he got the gist of it but all the technical talk went in one ear and out the other for him.

According to her, the heatsink was one of the main reasons a Hive City could even exist in the first place. It was kinda like the backbone of the Hive. Everything ran through the heatsink. It supported the Hive, both with what it did and with the superstructure that had to be built around the heatsink.

The heatsink was set in an absolutely massive room. It seemed to stretch all the way into the sky from Octus' perspective and he wasn't even on the ground floor of the thing. It was like being inside any grain silo Octus had ever seen times 100. It just kept going up and up like a great cocoon encasing the towering heatsink.

But the scale wasn't the only impossible-seeming thing about the heatsink and the 'room' (if it could even be called that at this point) it was in. There was also the strange feeling of temperature in the air. The space near the heatsink was both hot and cold and neither at the same time. Giant fans that were set into the walls blew hot air toward the heatsink. But by the time the breeze reached the heatsink, it was brisk and chilly. Various catwalks and platforms allowed access to the heatsink but no one wanted to get too close to the thing where the room was coldest.

Even just being in the same room as the thing was an odd experience for Octus. He was alternating between shivering and sweating. No one else seemed to have fared any differently. Well, except for Sabine but Octus was pretty sure she was just not letting her reactions to the strange temperature show.

These thoughts ran through Octus' head as he sat on the edge of one of the platforms overlooking the heatsink. His mind always went to weird places during lulls in the action. Once when he was on watch duty, he caught himself thinking about what space elf pussy must feel like. He wasn't proud of that one but to be fair, that deployment had involved a tentative alliance of convenience with an Eldar Farseer and her people. Still, Octus had made sure to send a dozen hail marys to the Emperor to repent. Strangely, he'd gotten the vaguest sense of amused approval in return for his prayers…

Octus had disregarded that sensation of approval at the time, dismissing it as something of a glitch or a misunderstanding. Now, though, his mind came back to it and lingered. It seemed… important somehow. Not for now, but for something in the future…

The sound of soft steps behind him caused Octus' thoughts to be lost in the ether. The steps were light, not bearing the weight of Sabine or Diana, and almost skittish like a small animal. They brought only one of his current companions to his mind. He turned his head, and yup, there was Violet.

She fiddled with her hands, looking everywhere except at Octus. It was rare to see her outside of Diana's presence. The relationship between the noble and her pet brought exciting but uncomfortable images to Octus' mind — Images like Sabine kneeling before him with a collar around her neck while he held her leash. And visions of Diana and Violet joining her while all of them looked up at him with devotion and love — He tried not to think about the topic too long… for the sake of his pants' stitching if nothing else.

"Hiya, Violet," Octus greeted the diminutive woman with a wave.

Violet squeaked and jumped, once again reminding Octus of a small animal, "Eeep! O-O-Octus! H-Hello…"

"Come 'ere. Sit and chat with me for a while," Octus offered. "I could certainly use the company to keep my mind from straying to weird topics…"

Octus' mind drifted back to the image of Sabine on her knees for him and Violet got a spacey look to her eyes as if she could see more than she should have been able to.

She blushed a vibrant red and whispered, "Y-Yes, I'd noticed…"

Octus didn't hear her whispers. Violet hesitantly set herself on the ledge he was sitting on. Her legs dangled over the edge and she couldn't help but notice how much smaller she was than him now that they were both sitting next to each other. It reminded her of how she felt next to Diana and inspired a mess of complicated feelings within her heart.

"So how are ya and Lady Diana doing with all of this?" Octus asked.

"F-F-Fine, I-I guess…" Violet stuttered. "Di really seems to be in her element. She always was good with ordering people around… N-Not just me! S-She doesn't actually order me around… t-that m-much… But she's been working with Sister Sabine to get all the defenses up. I-It's kinda left me on my o-own though…"

Octus watched Violet's expression change as she talked. She lit up beautifully when she talked about her mistress. She blushed when she was unnecessarily clarifying their relationship. And she kind of deflated at the end of it all when she said she was on her own at the moment.

It all reminded Octus of an overly attached puppy. One that thrived around its owner but was very socially anxious when they weren't around. It made Octus want to pet the gothic shortstack like… well, a puppy. So he did.

Violet stiffened even before he touched her. Like she knew what he was going to do before he did it. But then his hand made contact with her hair and she almost instantly relaxed into the petting. A shiver of warmth ran down Violet's spine.

"Well then," Octus drawled. "I guess it's a good thing I'm 'ere to keep ya company."

"I-I guess it is…" Violet sighed contentedly.

There was a moment of silence between them as Violet battled with what she was feeling. She'd never felt this relaxed around anyone other than Diana. He had the same sort of effect on her anxiety as Diana did. A part of her almost felt like she was betraying her mistress. But then she remembered her mistress' goals for them to join the harem Sabine would inevitably make for Octus — goals that Violet agreed with — and that feeling evaporated.

The entire time she was near Octus, Violet's gifts were allowing her to explore his mind. She reveled in the simple assuredness she felt there. The world through Octus' eyes was beautiful and uncomplicated. She'd been subtly connected to him since the moment he entered Zion with Sabine. She just couldn't bring herself to break the connection…

Octus' mind was like an open book to the hidden Psyker. It was like a roaring hearth warming her soul. He unknowingly accepted her presence as only Diana did. She felt like she could live there for the rest of her life, content and safe from the outside world and its dangers to her kind.

"How'd ya meet Lady Diana anyway?" Octus asked.

A bit of tenseness returned to Violet's body as she fiddled with her fingers and tried to put together a reply that wouldn't out her secret, "W-Well… I-I've known her all my life. I-I was born to a noble house that was allied to hers. W-We… we grew up together. E-Everything changed on my 14th birthday… I-I don't like to talk about i-it but I… did something bad. Something that could see me taken away from my family… from Diana.

"But the worst didn't happen… Diana took me in. We fled to Zion and started anew. She cared for me… loved me… hid me from our families and the whole world. I used my g-gifts to help her build her new empire. W-We became everything to each other…"

Octus let out a low whistle, "Damnnn, girl. Ya must really love her."

Violet nodded, getting a faraway look in her eyes, "I do… I really do… But I'm the reason she was basically exiled. I don't know how she'll ever forgive me for that…"

"That's some bullshit if I ever heard it," Octus snorted. "She didn't have to do all that. She did it 'cause she loves ya too. And what ya did probably wasn't even that bad. What'd ya do? Kill someone important?"

"Worse… I-…" Violet hesitated but the magnetic pull she felt toward Octus made the truth spill out. "I took someone's mind into my hands. I used them… took away their free will… made them less than Human…"

Octus blinked, "How the fuck'd ya do that?"

Violet was nearly in tears at this point, taking Octus' genuine curiosity as a sign of rejection, "I-I'm a Psyker… A freak… A witch! Diana and I have been hiding it ever since. That's why we had to flee the surface spires… That's why she'll never forgive me! I-I'm unnatural…"

Octus pulled her into his side as she burst into shuddering sobs, "There there, little Violet. I ain't gonna lie to ya. That's pretty bad. But ya've already proved to me that you ain't a rogue Psyker. A rogue wouldn't care about any of this. They'd just abuse their power until they got what they wanted or lost themselves to the Ruinous Powers. Ya've got someone who cares about ya, someone to keep ya in line. Sure, ya ain't sanctified but we'll work on that. One thing at a time, baby girl…"

Violet latched onto Octus as years of self-hatred and struggle and frustration poured out of her. He was her bastion, keeping her afloat in the Warp and the real world. Her connection to him deepened and impossibly, his soul seemed to reach out to touch hers as well.

A religious experience was the last thing either of them expected to happen next. But happen it did. A giant golden 'okay' sign flashed at Violet through the Warp. Through their deepening connection, Octus 'saw' it too. The giant golden hand seemed to fly toward them, using Octus as a sort of conduit to imprint itself on Violet's soul.

Violet gasped as the seemingly eternal struggle within her soul calmed in an instant. No longer was the Warp pulling her this way and that. Now there was only light and warmth, similar to what she felt when she was near Octus but magnified by a million. It was so incomprehensible that her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She went slack and only Octus' support kept her upright in both soul and body.

"Well, damn…" Octus muttered to himself as Violet passed out. "I just wanted some company…"

Somewhere thousands of lightyears away, something nearly dead and impossibly powerful was laughing at him…

"A little bit to the left, dear," Diana said.

A ganger hurried to follow Diana's instructions, pushing the barricade to the left. Sabine nodded beside Diana, looking over the defenses that had been mustered in a short time. The antechamber leading into the heatsink room had been turned into a makeshift fortress. Zionites bustled to and fro around the room, following Sabine and Diana's instructions to a tee to prepare for the second assault of the cultists.

Rubble and scrap metal had been repurposed into barricades and sharp spikes. Digging trenches was unfortunately impossible but they made do with what they had. Even the heretics' fortifications had been repurposed. Only after they were ripped apart and purified by Sabine of course.

That was how Sabine had spent most of the preparation time. While Diana ordered the 'troops' around, Sabine was using her faith and conviction to purify and bless the fortifications to the best of her ability. She was not a sanctified priest but she was a Sister of Battle. Her faith would work in a crunch such as their current situation.

Octus had been sent away by Diana after his hardworking form proved to be a distraction for the Sister of Battle and some of the others. He'd been putting in the work of half a dozen men, drawing appreciative and respectful glances as he went. Of course, menial labor like this was sweaty work, especially in the strange combination of temperatures around the heatsink. So when Octus eventually whipped off his Flak Armor uniform to work shirtless, it was the last straw that broke Sabine's concentration.

There was a noticeable increase in blunders and accidents after he did that. Not just from Sabine either. Many of the Underhiver women and even Diana herself found their focus drifting to Octus' glistening, muscled form. The way he manhandled pieces of rubble and scrap that needed two or more others just to lift was certainly… distracting.

So Diana decided that it was best for everyone's work ethic that he took a bit of a break. The last she had seen of Octus had been him walking into the heatsink chamber looking somewhat dejected. It almost made her giggle. That man had no idea of the effect he had on the people around him.

She'd seen Violet going after him a little while later. That made Diana frown slightly. She could feel how isolated and useless her pet was feeling through their connection. At the moment, though, there was nothing Diana could do to avert those feelings. All she could do was sigh and up the pace of work so she could get back to her pet as soon as possible.

That had been a little less than an hour ago. Since then, the fortifications had been prepared as best they could be. All that was left was for the 'troops' to dig in and wait. Sabine had long since run out of things to bless and now stood by Diana's side, overseeing the Zionites' work.

Suddenly, the impending feeling that something was going to happen struck Diana like a slap to the face. She didn't even have any time to process the premonition before her connection to Violet was cut momentarily. Diana couldn't help herself. She panicked. All of her composure went out the window with the prospect of something happening to her pet, her best friend.

Then the connection was back but it was… different. It was smoother and calmer, less turbulent and choppy. Diana breathed a sigh of relief before she realized she wasn't getting any feedback from Violet's side of the connection. For the second time in a second, Diana's heart stopped.

It started beating again when Octus walked out of the heatsink chamber with Violet in his arms. He carried her in a bridal/princess position and she was snuggled up to his chest. She looked calm and safe in his arms and Diana relaxed a bit more. She knew Octus wouldn't harm a hair on Violet's head. Her unconscious state was still cause for some alarm though.

Octus walked straight to Diana and asked, "Got a sec? I probably shouldn't tell ya this in the open…"

Diana nodded frantically, worry clear on her face, "Is she safe?!"

"She's fine," Octus soothed her worries. "Better than fine… But you should probably know what just happened."

Diana let out a sigh of relief. The tension slowly began to drain out of her. She motioned for Octus to lead and followed him back into the heatsink chamber. Sabine started to follow as well but Octus shook his head.

"Sorry, Sabine. This should be for Diana and Violet's ears only. If I get their permission, I'll tell ya about it later."

Diana worried at her lip. She was starting to get an inkling of what this could be about. It seemed Octus was now privy to her and Violet's secret… That… could be very bad. But considering the way he hadn't reacted with hostility yet, Diana held out hope.

She gave a slight nod, not meeting Sabine's eyes. Sabine frowned but accepted it when she saw the conviction in Octus' gaze. She turned back to the defensive preparations but her mind was elsewhere.

Octus led Diana back into the heatsink chamber and an isolated corner of the room. He settled back against the chamber's wall and sighed, thinking about how he was going to do this. This was the first time he'd seen Diana anything other than completely composed. She was wringing her hands with anxiety and looked like she was a hair away from breaking then and there.

"Alright," Octus eventually said. "I've got bad news, good news, and even better news. The bad news is I know about that lil' secret of yours…"

Diana gasped and Octus quickly continued, "Good news is that I ain't gonna tell anyone. I've come to like Violet here and if anything, I just respect ya more for protecting yer friend like ya did.

"Now… the even better news is gonna seem impossible. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself… Err, how should I put this?… Ya don't have to worry about Violet's powers getting out of hand now."

"What do you mean?" Diana asked, relieved but curious.

"Well…" Octus scratched the back of his head sheepishly, casually transitioning Violet to one arm and still holding her up easily. "She's kinda sorta sanctified now. I reckon she got the blessing of the God-Emperor and everything. Don't ask me how that kinda stuff works but I know what I saw."

Diana gaped at him, "H-How?…"

Octus snorted, "Fuck if I know. You'll have to ask the God-Emperor that."

Diana didn't get to respond because Violet started to stir in Octus' arms. Diana rushed forward, getting right up in Octus' space out of worry for her pet, her friend. Still, when Violet's eyes opened, they were locked onto Octus, seeing something more than what was visible.

"His light truly is beautiful…"