Chemical rack

The effects of Bile’s compound did not last long before dissipating into nothing within Lucius’ bloodstream. Just as any other kind of stimulation did. As glorious and invigorating as the brief period of sensation had been for him, it was quickly eclipsed by the crash back down into the dull needles of numbness that dragged at his sagging limbs, now as leaden and unresponsive as they had been before.

Fabius and Cesare had worked diligently once Lucius had got into position. The former circled the Eternal like a predator, the limbs of his chirurgeon prodding and clacking against armour. The latter had remained impassive and still, his eyes flicking between Fabius, Lucius and the data streaming from his narthecium gauntlet.

Lucius watched as the Apothecaries pored over his warped armour. He tested his bonds, eliciting a subtle groan of protesting iron. He could not stop his mind from going back millennia, to the night he found himself staring down at the figure of his primarch beneath Fabius’ chirurgeon, chained by his own sons.

‘I certainly hope that little shot wasn’t your gift, Fabius.’

‘No,’ replied Bile without looking up. ‘That was merely a confirmation of one of a multitude of potential hypotheses.’

Fabius came to a halt in front of Lucius.

‘I am going to enact a modification to your armour,’ said Bile. He opened a casket from a workbench, retrieving a bulky device and a trio of armourglass tubes capped in brass, trailing a mane of wires and injection feeds.

Lucius arched an eyebrow.

‘This is a chemical delivery system, with portions adapted from what knowledge and materials I have gleaned from this place, applied to specifications of my own design,’ said Fabius. ‘Once connected, it directly interfaces with power armour, allowing for the introduction of a variety of chemical compounds into the wearer. In your case, potent stimulants.’

Fabius looked up from the device to Lucius. ‘I studied you and your hangers-on in transit here. Such strain.’ He shook his head. ‘Such extremes you have placed upon your nervous system through your debaucheries. Synapses exhausted. Reflexes gone. It is no wonder you can feel nothing at all any longer. Cesare has shared his own observations of your condition with me as well. But, with the proper synthesis of materials, introduced in specific amounts over a consistent time frame, I could remedy such an affliction.’

***

Lucius: The Faultless Blade, III.V