Assault on Overseer
Lower Everdeen Mines
The moment they rounded the corner into the flooded cavern, Firewall raised his hands. A blue light emitted from both of his palms, creating a transparent blue barrier that extended out a few meters to each side.
"Shield's up!" He announced. Before anyone could say anything, the sounds of bullets slamming into his shield echoed in the cavern.
They don't waste time... Isaac thought, raising the assault rifle he had taken from Firewall's cave and scanning ahead for targets.
Four guards stood on top of the submarine's deck, half of which were already firing at them. Isaac's HUD picked up three additional guards on the rocky pathway to the ramparts, and each of those guards were scrambling to get behind something.
That so called rampart is more like a metal plank than anything else... Isaac thought as he eyed the objective, but quickly turned his attention back to the current threat.
"Caitlyn! Path guards!" Isaac shouted at the sheriff, thrusting a quick finger out towards the three guards scrambling for cover.
"On it!" She shouted back, and Isaac noticed her sniper rifle coming to bare through the corner of his eye. Isaac gripped his own rifle, aimed, and fired.
The rifle let out a quick burst, red tracer rounds flying though Firewall's blue shield and striking the first lightly armored guard on the submarine. The man (or woman) stumbled backwards from the shots, dropping his or her own rifle which bounced once off the deck of the submarine and off the side into the water. The injured guard stumbled forward screaming and followed after the rifle into the water.
By then Isaac had already let another burst off at the second guard who stumbled back from the shots, but stayed on his or her feet. Seeing that, Isaac let off another burst at the target, and this time a cloud of red liquid spewed from the guard's head, and he/she collapsed in a heap.
The third and fourth guards on top of the submarine's deck must have noticed how quickly their comrades had been dropped since both of them were now panic firing as they tried to get behind the conning tower for cover.
Not so fast! Isaac aimed at the two fleeing guards and fired again. However, the distance and moving targets created a major difference in aiming, and the majority of his shots never hit the target. Some bullets did, and the body of one of the guards arched awkwardly and stumbled; causing woman's voice filled with pain echoed throughout the cavern as the wounded guard rolled on the deck of the submarine clenching her back.
Isaac ignored the pained screams of agony and tried to aim for the last standing guard on the submarine, but the soldier had already ducked behind the conning tower. Damn it! He's just going to wait until we get parallel then shoot us.
That meant Firewall would need to shift his shield to face the submarine. But if there were still guards on the rocky path, then shifting to face the submarine would leave them all open to attack from the side.
So we'll have to kill them first. Isaac let off a few rounds at the conning tower where the hidden guard was to keep him from poking his head out, and then shifted his focus to the guards on the rocky pathway.
Only to see that two of them were laying on the ground in pools of blood while the third one had taken cover behind the rock.
"Cheeky little bastard." Caitlyn cursed, as she fired again at the target as he tried to lean out to shoot them. The round from her sniper hit the rock the guard was hiding behind, causing him to duck back down. To Isaac's curiosity, Caitlyn pumped her sniper as if it were a shotgun, and took aim again. This time, when she fired, a larger bladed projectile ejected from her rifle and soared towards the enemy guard. It stuck the rock and bounced off, sending bits of rock flying and cracking the rock the guard was taking cover behind.
Damn... Isaac raised an eyebrow in surprise. Quite the round she had there... He also wanted to question as to how the hell a sniper rifle could fire such a shot, but that would have to wait until another time. The enemy guard must've been shocked too, because he stumbled slightly away from the rock and was trying to recover his balance. But that could've been from the impact as well.
Regardless, he was wide open, and Isaac seized the opportunity. He quickly aimed at the guard, and fired another burst at the recovering guard. However, since it was a rushed burst, most of the shots missed, only striking the guard's shoulder and causing him to stumble backwards yet again.
Before Isaac could fire again, Caitlyn fired her sniper at the injured guard. The round hit him in the head, punching a hole through the visor of the man's helmet, and he lifelessly collapsed to the ground.
Only one left is that damn guard behind the Conning tower... Isaac thought bitterly, and as that thought passed through his mind, Firewall's shield took more fire.
"Only one left! Behind the conning tower!" Firewall said calmly.
Thanks...
"What's a conning tower?" Vi asked from behind Isaac.
"Not now!" Isaac barked. "Let's move up, keep an eye out for more hostiles."
The group advanced forward at a steady pace. Firewall turned to face the submarine, hands still up and holding the shield in place. As he moved, everyone filled in behind him, and they marched up the rocky pathway.
"Picking up readings, their raising the lightweight guns." Mute announced.
Perfect...
Isaac started to warn the others, but the dull noise of machinery coming from the direction of the submarine did it for him.
"That doesn't sound good..." Ezreal muttered.
"No, it isn't." Isaac replied, as he let off another burst towards the pinned down guard. We're going to have to take those guns out quickly, or else were just sitting ducks.
Isaac quickly glanced around. The group was almost parallel with the submarine, right inside the turret's firing arc. Firewall was now facing the submarine with his shield out in front between himself and the Overseer class. Behind him were Isaac and Caitlyn, with Ezreal, Vi, and Vega behind the two of them. All five of them we're huddled up behind Firewall and his shield.
Not the greatest formation, but it's working... until we take a hit from one of those lightweight guns, then we're all screwed.
Isaac looked back at the submarine, and groaned. The entry hatch had opened up, and another guard was trying to climb out onto the deck.
"We have new contacts." Mute announced.
"I see him..." Caitlyn said quietly, her eye to her scope. As soon as the soldier's head had come into view she fired her sniper. However the round bounced off the top of his (or her) helmet and the guard simply fell back down the hatch.
"That's going to leave a mark." Ezreal chuckled.
Isaac fired another burst at the pinned guard by the conning tower, making sure that he remained pinned as they started to become parallel with the submarine. However, his attention quickly turned to the two large metal objects that were rising up from the submarine's deck. A hatch on the closest metal object opened, and a large cannon barrel started to extend out.
There they are...
"Halt! We need to take out those guns!" Firewall shouted and the team's march came to a stop.
"Ezreal!" Isaac looked over his shoulder. "Take out the far one, hit it with everything you got!"
"No," Ezreal replied, his face's expression quickly turning into a grin. "I got BOTH of them!" The young blonde man raised his hand with the large gauntlet and gripped his wrist with the opposite hand. As he did so, a yellow light started to glow on the back of his gauntlet.
He's charging something up... Isaac observed. Can he really take out both of those things in one fell swoop?
We've only got one shot at this. Isaac exhaled slowly as he weighed in on the pressure that was on Ezreal. If he messed this next moment up, it could mean the death for all of them.
"Remember, if he messes this up, we're all dead." Mute gave him her two cents. "Better hope the kid isn't just being cocky."
Isaac let a slight groan escape his lips. Thanks...
"I'm going to lower my shield for a moment while you take them out. Caitlyn, Archangel, keep that guy behind the tower pinned down. Ready back there?" Firewall asked.
"Ready." All three said in unison.
"GO!" Firewall shouted and his shield vanished. Isaac let off another round towards the tower, keeping the last guard pinned. But the guard noticed that their shield was down and tried to take aim at them. As the brave guard did, Isaac heard Caitlyn's sniper fire, and red blood splattered in all directions from the guard's head. The guard's body ceased up, and fell backwards, his body sliding off the submarine and into the water below.
Ezreal let out a large cry, and a large yellow colored burst of mana, in the shape of a crescent, fired out over their heads. The yellow colored crescent zoomed in on the two sixty-five caliber lightweight guns, soaring right through both of them without slowing down, and then phased out of existence into the air. At first, it seemed that nothing had happened, but before Isaac could say anything, small scale explosions broke out from two guns.
"Woohoo! Good one kid!" Vi shouted out in triumph.
"Mute?" Isaac asked. Although the explosions likely meant that the guns were now disabled, he needed confirmation.
"A moment." Mute muttered. "Confirmed, both guns are offline. And I'm not picking up anymore contacts."
"Prefect!" Firewall nodded. "Let's get on board-"
"Wait..." Mute interrupted, "I'm picking up readings... the submarine's engines are coming online."
Typical... fucking typical...
Isaac thrusted his fingers at the submarine. "Everyone aboard! Now!"
Overseer class's Bridge
"Hostiles have boarded the deck sir." Someone reported.
"They're going to try to get inside, alert all remaining combat teams." The commander of the RVMS Overseer-class submarine barked out orders. He had long reached the end of his patience.
First that bastard of a meta-human escapes, then he traps us here above water and continues to harass us. Then he brings back up to finish the job. Curses! The submarine commander scowled. The moment that meta-human had arrived through the portal they should've killed him, not taken him prisoner.
Hindsight... The commander shook his head. The meta-human who goes by the name Firewall... who would've thought he actually would manage to get reinforcements down here?
The commander cursed his luck that he had recently praised. Not even a mere few hours ago one of his teams scouring the tunnels for the escaped super-soldier had captured one of this world's so called champions. He had praised the soldiers for a job well done and had the woman drugged and thrown in the brig. He thought that perhaps these last several days trapped in this tunnel had paid off in some sense.
He had thought too soon. Before they had realized it, the escaped meta-human Firewall and brought back up and actually attacked the submarine head on while his crew was still outside.
We've already lost nearly half our combat teams... Damn him!
His ship's scanners had picked up another meta-human signal among the attackers, as well as more of the world's champions. It was not a force to be taken likely and the commander knew that. However, the men and women under his command didn't seem to understand that as well as he did.
The submarine shook lightly, and the sounds of an explosive going off aroused the commander from his thoughts.
"Breach in section A twelve! Combat teams are en route." One of his bridge officers announced.
"Do not let them reach the bridge! Have all teams engage at will." The commander barked. "Shoot to kill, I care not how they do it, just kill those bastards."
The commander turned to his ship's helmsman. "Take us out to sea. We'll trap them aboard with us." No matter what, they cannot be allowed to escape.
"This is ill advised, commander, if we are spotted by the natives..." A cold, feminine metallic voice behind him urged caution. It was sound advice, the same advice that he had so easily agreed with yesterday and remained in the tunnel to repair the ship so they would be able to submerge again.
However, today, he would have none of it.
"If we get spotted by a ship, we'll fire at it." He said with a commanding tone.
"With your in-top-shape deck guns?" The voice retorted.
Damn her, damn them all. "We have torpedoes! We'll get by without the deck guns. Those deck guns that are now smoking ruins on my ship.
"Need I remind you, commander, that if this ship is about to fall into enemy hands, you must-"
The commander turned on the woman who was speaking. "I know what the god damn protocol is! We'll destroy all data! They will get nothing from my ship!" He barked at the woman as he stared her down.
The woman in question was clad in white armor, head to toe, that had a medieval gothic style appearance to it. It was sleek and slender, and outlined the features of its wearer. Various blue lines flowed up and down the armor, but the overall appearance of the suit gave off an angelic feeling. The armored woman stood arms crossed, back straight, her face and expression hidden behind her helmet.
"You speak as if you have already lost, commander." The cold metallic voice echoed from the woman's helmet.
The submarine commander scowled even harder. "I will NOT be mocked aboard my own ship, wench." He growled, "If they approach us, we will seal the bridge doors. They will be trapped aboard this submarine out at sea."
"And how long will you last, trapped inside your own bridge commander?" The woman retorted, without any motion at all.
Before the commander could vent his rapidly growing anger, another one of his officers spoke up. "Commander! Combat teams have engaged the enemy and are reporting loses."
The commander snarled at the armored woman before turning his attention back to his crew. "Report!" He barked; his anger apparent on his voice.
"The enemy has split into two groups, one heading towards the brig and labs section of the ship, the other is heading towards the engine room."
They seek to rescue their friend... and to stop us from heading too far out to sea...
"Show camera feed, on screen." The commander ordered. A screen appeared in front of him from thin air, revealing two smaller screens, each displaying a section of the Overseer class. On his left, he saw a black armored male with two young blonde males, one wearing a strange array of clothing, the other wearing a robe. On the other screen was a smaller black armored man with two women, one with pink hair, the other a brunette.
The three men are heading to the brig and labs, the others are going to the engines...
"Where are our combat teams?" The commander questioned.
"Sir! Teams six and seven are on their way to assist team nine at the engines, but we only have team five at the brig sir!"
"Where the hell are the rest?!" The commander shouted.
"Sir... those are the only teams still responding."
Damn this! Damn them all to hell! The commander curled his hands into his palms. I have one last option to stop these attackers.
He turned to the woman in the angelic, gothic style armor. "Time to see if you're not all talk." He said, fully aware he was still scowling at her. "Get down to the brig and kill the attackers there."
"I don't take orders from you." The woman replied, before lowering her arms from across her chest and made towards the exit. "But I will kill them."
Good enough for me... wench. The commander thought, still glaring at her as she briskly walked away from him and left the bridge, the echo's from her footsteps only ending when the automatic door sealed itself again.
"Lock the bridge doors." The commander ordered. Let her deal with them...
The Rescue
Inside of the Overseer class submarine
Isaac slammed an Ascension guard into the wall of one of the submarine's corridors with his shoulder. He felt the guard's body go limp from the shock of having his head smashed into a metal wall, Isaac wasted little time. He drew one of the blades on his back and plunged it into the trooper's neck and twisted it. The guard made a gurgling sound as blood spewed from the wound, and the trooper dropped to the floor.
One down. Isaac pulled the blade out of the dead soldier's neck as another guard rushed at him, trying to bash him with the butt end of his rifle. Isaac ducked and met the guard's charge with one of his own, slamming his elbow into the guard's stomach. The Ascension soldier let out a feminine grunt as the guard's momentum came to a halt; stumbling to the side as she dropped her rifle. Before she could recover, Isaac stabbed the guard in the stomach and drove his left fist into her helmet at the same time he pulled the sword out of her gut. While the woman flopped on the ground in pain as her life bled out of her, Isaac stepped on her chest and drove his sword through her helmet.
Mute' avatar appeared in the usual spot in his HUD. She was shaking her head with a somewhat sad expression on her face. "Must you always be so vicious in battle?"
It was me or her, any Ascension soldier would've done the same to me. He thought, but didn't say it. There would be time for discussion with his AI partner later.
Right now, he was fighting off an ambush.
Correction, we're fighting off an ambush. Isaac glanced around the corridor quickly. There was only two guards left of the five man ambush they had walked right into. Ezreal was ducking and dodging as a much larger Ascension soldier swung at him with large broadsword. Vega was pinned up against a wall by another Ascension soldier (this one a small female) who had her rifle pressed against his throat.
Isaac was just about to leap in, when he quickly realized he didn't need to help his comrades.
Ezreal dropped down to dodge a horizontal slash aimed at his head, the blade passing over him and nearly taking off a few strands of his messy blonde hair. Taking advantage of the situation of being in a crouching position while his opponent had just missed a wide swing, Ezreal bolted forward, his gauntleted hand aimed at the larger man. The young man let out a shout as his fist struck the man in the abdomen and a bright yellow light glimmered at the impact.
Before the larger guard could react, the light exploded, sending the guard flying past Isaac and slammed him into the wall where one of the guards Isaac had killed was lying. The large Ascension soldier dropped to the floor, lifeless.
Vega on the other hand had both his hands pushing against the rifle that was being pressed against his throat by his attacker. The young summoner released the rifle with one of his hands and grabbed his attacker by the helmet. Vega muttered something Isaac didn't catch, but a moment later the guard's head caught fire.
The Ascension soldier let out a shriek and dropped her rifle, releasing Vega who dropped to the ground on his rear. The guard however, grabbed her head with both hands, trying to put out the flames that had come from nowhere. She screamed and shrieked in horror as the flames spread from her head to down the rest of her body.
As the burning woman stumbled in Isaac's direction, he put her out of her misery with a slash across her neck, removing her head from her body.
"A little extreme... but effective." Mute commented, as both she and Isaac watched the still flaming head roll on the floor.
"Indeed..." Isaac muttered in response before looking away from the rolling ball of flame. "You two ok?" He asked his comrades.
"Yeah I'm fine." Ezreal panted, waving him off. Vega just coughed and nodded, trying to get to his feet.
"How did you do that?" Isaac asked the young summoner. "You put your hand on her head, and then..."
"It was an ignite spell, a beginner spell they teach you at the Institute." Vega explained between coughs as he got to his feet.
"Damn that was close... they sure got the drop on us didn't they?" Ezreal commented on their run in with the guards as he nudged one of the fallen with his boot. "For a bunch of high tech soldiers they sure don't have much in a close range fight do they?" He asked with a chuckled before raising his head to look at Isaac. "Uh, no offence." He quickly added.
"None taken." Isaac curtly replied. Up at this range, their guns don't mean much... we can use that to our advantage.
"Archangel, what's your status, over?" Firewall's voice sounded though Isaac's helmet.
"We're almost at the brig, how about you?" Isaac responded to his comrade, tapping his helmet to show the confused Ezreal and Vega that he was talking over his COM.
They didn't get the message.
"What?" Ezreal scratched the back of his head as he gave Isaac a quizzical look.
"What about me? Huh, what?" Vega said with as just as much confused look at Ezreal.
Oh for the love of... Isaac shook his head and ignored the two.
"We're almost at the engines, but we're meeting some resist-" Firewall started to report when Isaac heard a grunt, followed by the sound of metal crashing against metal in the background.
"Come on! That all you got?" Vi's voice echoed in the background.
At least she sounds like she's enjoying this.
"This a bad time?" Isaac asked.
"No, the pink one is just... ahhh screw it, I'll call you back in a few." Firewall said before cutting the channel, but Isaac was still able to catch him starting to sigh.
"Hey Archangel, were you talking over that... radio thing again?" Ezreal asked.
"Yes, I was." Isaac nodded, looking around for the rifle he had been using prior to the ambush.
"Oh, well, why didn't you say so?" Vega exclaimed.
Isaac gave him a dead pan look that Vega couldn't fully understand since he was wearing his helmet.
"What?" Vega shrugged with his palms up.
Isaac sighed. "Moving on now... Mute?" He asked his AI companion.
"The brig is just at the end of this hallway." She replied, her avatar reappearing in Isaac's HUD. "By the way, if you're looking for that rifle..." She said before pausing as a blue box appeared Isaac's HUD, highlighting a damaged rifle on the floor. "It's trashed."
"Great..." Isaac muttered.
"Oh please, it's not like you can just summon guns out of thin air." Mute grinned.
Good point.
"Whatever, let's just move." Isaac gripped his drawn sword and led the way down the hall. As the trio arrived at the door at the end, it opened. Isaac raised his right hand, ready to fire off a blast of dark matter at whatever threat was on the other side, but no more guards greeted them.
The brig was a typical rectangular shaped room with three cells on either side of the room, with a single path leading down the center.
No hiding places aside from inside those cells...
"Nobody here it seems..." Ezreal muttered.
"They could be hiding inside one of the cells, waiting to jump us." Isaac cautioned and he slowly entered the room, with Vega and Ezreal following.
"So... what? We check each cell and hope our girl is in one?" Vega wondered.
"And if it's a hostile, we blast 'em." Ezreal said, walking past Isaac and up to the first cell on the left. The young blonde man tapped his knuckles on the black shaded cell door. "So, how do we open them?"
Isaac walked up next to Ezreal and tapped the console next to the cell door; the word VACANT appeared in bright green on the touch screen.
Not here... Isaac walked past Ezreal and towards the next cell, the younger man letting out a low whistle. "Fancy... so in the future prison cells are quite the thing huh?" Ezreal asked with a smart ass tone, earning a chuckle from Vega.
Oh hush... Isaac thought as he shook his head, tapping the console on the next cell.
VACANT.
"How do you work these things?" Vega asked. Isaac turned his head to see the summoner staring intently at the console at the first cell on the other side of the room.
"You touch it." Isaac replied, tapping the last console on his side of the room.
VACANT.
"Hmm..." Isaac said quietly as he walked away from the console and to the rear cell on the other side of the room.
"Oh! I did it!" Vega exclaimed, his voice full of enthusiasm. "Hmm, it says vacant."
"This one too." Ezreal announced from behind Isaac.
Mute's avatar appeared next to the console Isaac was approaching. "Ezreal, hun, we already checked that one." She grinned.
"Oh... my bad..."
What is this to you guys, a game? Isaac rolled his eyes as he tapped the console that Mute was hovering by.
OCCUPIED.
Bingo.
"Got it." Isaac announced, looking at his AI companion and giving her a nod. Mute got the memo, and her avatar's hologram vanished.
"One moment please..." She said, as lights and numbers appeared on the cell's console.
"I hope she's in here..." Vega muttered as he walked up next to Isaac.
"Well, where else do you keep a prisoner?" Ezreal asked with a shrug, as he stood at Isaac's right.
"Worst case scenario," Isaac began, "She's on the bridge." And wouldn't THAT be an adventure, worthy of our shit-tastic luck...
A beep came from the cell's console. "All done." Mute exclaimed. "Just tap it to open."
The moment of truth... Isaac thought, If I was religious sort, I'd start praying...
"The moment of truth..." Ezreal muttered.
Thanks Ez...
Isaac tapped the console again, and the black shaded prison door opened.
"Sweet mother of..." Ezreal gasped.
"My god..." Vega also gasped with a hand raised to his mouth.
Isaac on the other hand, remained silent.
Oh... Lord...
Inside of the cell, was Jinx, but she clearly had seen better days. She was suspended in mid air, with her arms held up by shackles suspended by wires. Her pale, limp, body was bruised and marked by sores, scrapes, and cuts that the Ascension had inflicted upon her, probably when she resisted capture. A grey, metal helmet with wires extending out the back covered her head and face down to her nose, leaving only her lips and chin exposed, with her two long blue braids still falling down behind her back.
In short, it was like a scene from a horror movie.
"Mute?" Isaac hoped his friend would have some kind of input on what they were seeing.
Mute's avatar appeared in front of Isaac, her back turned to him as she looked on at Jinx. "I'm... not quite sure what it is..."
Great... not even the talking encyclopedia knows what the fuck they've got her hooked up to.
"What. The. Fuck?" Ezreal asked, his voice still showing that he was shocked at the sight.
Vega on the other hand, stepped forward into the cell and gave Jinx's leg a quick tug, only to get no response.
"Her body is cold..." The summoner's voice was quiet, as if he couldn't believe what he was witnessing.
Cold? Oh no...
"She's alive, her heart beat is there." Mute put everyone's fears to rest as she said that.
We better not waste time then.
"Mute, are you picking up any readings from that helmet on Jinx's head that would give me reason NOT to cut her down?" Isaac asked as he stepped into the cell and crouched under Jinx's suspended body.
"No, it looks like the machine is off. I'm not getting any-" Mute began.
"Good." Isaac replied. I just ran out of patience.
He leapt up and swung his blade at the wires connecting to Jinx's helmet, hacking right through them. He then moved up to the wires holding her right arm up and repeated.
"Get ready to catch her." Isaac told the other two, as he made his way over to Jinx's left arm and made ready to do the same.
"Ready." Ezreal replied, now standing close by. Vega remained silent.
Isaac leapt up again and cut the remaining wire, causing Jinx's body to drop down into the arms of both the champion and summoner.
"My god, she IS cold." Ezreal exclaimed.
"We've got to get her out of here!" Vega growled.
He's not taking this well, not at all. Isaac thought as he hacked off the wires that were still attached to Jinx's legs. He sheathed his sword and stood over Ezreal and Vega, who had laid Jinx's body down on the floor and were trying to remove her helmet.
"How does this fucking thing come off?" Vega cursed as he felt around the helmet that encased Jinx's head.
Isaac tapped the young summoner on the shoulder. "I'll take care of this, go watch the door." Isaac motioned towards the door. "Ez, you go too."
"Right." Ezreal replied and got up from Jinx's side. "Vega, come on."
Vega hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. "Okay..." He muttered and stood up as well, the two of them leaving the cell.
Ok... time to get to work... Isaac knelt down beside Jinx, Mute's avatar appearing on the opposite side.
"What do you think?" Isaac asked her, as he felt around behind the back of the helmet. Most Ascension designs have a release around... here! He pressed a button on the back and the grey metal helmet let out a siss, popping open slightly at the front. Isaac pulled the helmet off slowly as not to injure Jinx anymore then she was already.
"Hmm... judging by her current state and my scans, it seems she has been drugged. Quite heavily I might add." Mute raised a hand to her chin, with her elbow resting in the palm of her other hand. "Well, she seems to be still breathing quite nicely, given her state. Her heart rate is also starting to increase back to regular rhythms, it appears just removing that helmet is doing wonders."
"So she'll live." Isaac nodded. "Good. But why the hell was she hooked up to that thing?"
"I'm not sure, a machine like that isn't in any of our databases..." Mute closed her eyes. "It could be some sort of new device they've been using on these abductions on this world."
Great... gotta hand it to the Ascension... always something fucking new...
"Well, if she's drugged, then that means they didn't just try and execute her." Isaac reached under Jinx's body and gently lifted her up, making sure her head was resting against his shoulder. Damn she's light...
"My, my, quite the gentlemen aren't you?" Mute chuckled.
"Now isn't the time Mute..."
Mute shrugged in response and her avatar' hologram vanished.
"We should contact Firewall and tell him mission complete, now, about getting off this submarine..." Mute voiced the other part of their plan.
The escape... and we're probably too far out to sea now since the engines haven't been shut down... what's taking Firewall and the others so long?
Could they have failed?
Isaac pushed that thought aside, as failure probably meant death.
His dark thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a quiet moan. Isaac looked down and Jinx, and saw her eyes moving under her eye lids.
"Fish..." Jinx quietly murmured.
"Huh?" Isaac blinked. Fish?
"Fish..." She mumbled again, still clearly under the effects of whatever drugs the Ascension had given her.
Fish? Really? You're near death Jinx and you're dreaming ABOUT FUCKING FISH?! Isaac couldn't believe it, just when he thought that the day had ceased to surprise him.
"Fish... bones..." Jinx muttered, her head motioned slightly once before she ceased to move again.
Fish bones? Oh come on... Isaac shook his head and took a step to leave the cell.
Then it hit him. Wait... Fish bones? I've heard that before...
It was what she called her missile launcher in the tunnel, when she had attacked them.
Fishbones! Her weapon! Is she muttering about her weapons? Isaac closed his eyes for a moment. I think she is... she seemed very attached to them...
Isaac thought about it for a second. Her weapons would still be aboard the submarine. They COULD still retrieve them. However, it would be a total waste of time and utterly pointless from a strategic point of view.
But... Isaac opened his eyes and glanced back down at Jinx's unconscious face. Ah screw it, I've made dumber choices.
"Mute, where would they be storing weapons aboard this thing?"
"Huh?" Weapons? In the barracks probably. As for capture weapons, the lab is my best bet." Mute replied, her samurai helmeted face appearing in his HUD. "Wait, you're not thinking about actually retrieving her weapons are you?"
"And if I said I was?"
"I'd tell you that you're going loony. It would be utterly point-"
The sounds of a blaring alarm cut Mute off.
"That can't be good." Isaac heard Ezreal mutter off in the distance.
"Alarms are never good. Ever!" Mute shook her head.
"No, they're not." Isaac replied, as he left the cell and joined Vega and Ezreal, who were both standing by the brig's door.
"Is Jinx going to be...?" Vega asked, his voice full of concern.
"She'll live, yes." Isaac approached the summoner and motioned for him to take the girl. "You carry her, I'm more suited to fighting then you are."
Vega nodded. "Good idea." He agreed as he took Jinx from Isaac's arms.
Isaac raised a hand to the side of his helmet. "Firewall, what's going on? Why is there an alarm going off?"
There was a brief pause before Firewall responded. "Well..." His comrade began. "We... might've messed up a bit on our end..."
Piltover's Finest
(Earlier)
You've got to be kidding me... Firewall thought as more bullets rained past him. The young meta-human leaned up against the corridor wall, both hands gripping his rifle. He leaned out for a second and let off a few rounds down the hall, trying to return fire.
"I can't get a shot off!" Caitlyn shouted from the opposite side of the hall. Firewall looked over at his comrade and saw that she too was leaning up against the metal hallway of the Overseer class.
"Hah!" Vi's voice came from behind him. "A lot of good that sniper is inside these close quarters huh?"
"She's still doing better then you..." Firewall muttered, leaning out again to fire at the guards down the far hall.
Vi growled. "That's because their way down there!" The pink haired woman smashed her two massive fists together. "If they were up close, this would've been long over."
Damn it, we're not making any progress. Adam thought. I hope Isaac is making more progress than us... at this rate we're going to be out in the middle of the sea by the time we shut those damn engines down.
He raised one hand to the side of his helmet. "Archangel, what's your status, over?" Firewall radioed his teammate over the COM.
Caitlyn tried to lean out to fire off a shot, but she quickly jumped back into cover as more rounds hit the metal walls.
"Balls!" She cursed loudly.
This isn't going well... I knew this was a bad idea!
"We're almost at the brig, how about you?" Archangel replied.
Adam let out a sigh of relief. At least doing alright. "We're almost at the engines, but we're meeting some resist-"
Adam's reply was cut off, when an Ascension soldier appeared right in front of him, holding a large riot shield.
Oh shit! Adam made to raise his rifle, but the soldier swung a baton horizontally at him, knocking his rifle from his hands.
Damn it! Looks like I'm doing this the hard way! Adam thought as he reached for his combat knife behind his back.
But before he could draw it, he felt another force from behind shove him out of the way.
What the heck? Adam wondered as he rolled on the metal floor, and looked to see what had hit him. Where he had been standing a moment ago... was Vi.
The pink haired enforcer grabbed the Ascension soldier's riot shield with one of her massive gauntlets and ripped out of the man's hands, throwing it to the side.
Right in Adam's direction.
Oh hell! Adam rolled to the side as the shield slammed into the wall right where he had been a moment before. Is she trying to kill ME?! He wondered looking back at Vi, only to witness Vi grabbing the guard and smashing him against the wall.
"Come on! That all you got?!" Vi shouted her taunt as she drove her other fist into the guard's face.
Correction, his body.
There was a loud bam as Vi pounded the soldier with her massive fist. The guard was hit with such tremendous force that his body dented the wall and limply fell to the ground. As a finishing blow, Vi slammed the guard against the ground.
I don't think that finishing blow was needed... at all...
"This a bad time?" Archangel's voice echoed over the COM.
Right! I didn't finish replying!
"No, the pink one is just..." Adam began to respond when he noticed that Caitlyn was in trouble. The navy blue haired woman was on her back, with another riot armed Ascension soldier standing over her. He swung his baton down at Caitlyn, who raised her sniper rifle to block it. As the two weapons connected, Adam saw Caitlyn's face scowl and her arms shake from the force. Her attacker however, didn't seem fazed at all.
"Ahhh screw it, I'll call you back in a few." Adam sighed, and left it at that. He reached for the knife at his back and gripped the hilt. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the back of the soldier attacking Caitlyn. His eyes darted up and down the man quickly, looking for a weak spot.
Back of the neck, armor is weaker.
Adam drew his combat knife, and threw it with all his might at the back of the man's neck some seven meters away. The knife sailed true, and plunged itself in the back of the riot soldier's neck.
The guard dropped both his baton and shield, screaming as he fell to his knees, hands darting to the back of his neck where the knife had struck him.
Bull's-eye.
Caitlyn blinked at the sight of her attacker suddenly reeling, clearly surprised. Her surprise didn't last long though, and she quickly shouldered her sniper, taking aim at the man's head, and firing off a round. The guard's helmet did little to protect him from the round, and after a loud bang, blood and brain matter splattered the ceiling.
"Damn, nice throw." Vi complimented Adam, giving him a thumbs up with her massive gauntlet.
"Thanks." Adam nodded, running back over to where he was prior and grabbed his rifle.
No damage, good.
He leaned against the metal wall again, and threw a glance at Caitlyn, who had already recovered and was standing up against the wall on her side.
Adam leaned out slightly to the side and peered down the corridor. Now there were only three guards left, two in crouching positions and the third standing up behind one of them. All three aiming their rifles down the hall towards Adam and his team.
That makes it easier. Adam thought, ducking back behind cover as the guards fired at him.
"Great, we're back to this again..." Vi mumbled her complaint.
"No." Adam shook his head. "Now that those riot soldiers are gone, we can move up." He slung his rifle over his shoulder and raised both his hands into the air in front of him.
"Follow behind me!" He shouted, and felt his power flow from his back, down his arms, and from his fingertips, flowing out to form a blue transparent barrier.
"Oh not this again..." Vi sighed.
"Sorry cupcake, but it's our best bet." Caitlyn nodded. "After you, good sir."
And I thought it was supposed to be ladies first... Adam grinned at his own inner joke as he rounded the corner, blue shield out in front. The guards immediately opened fired at him, but all the bullets slammed into his shield, harmlessly.
Adam marched up the hallway at a steady pace, the guards still firing at him and his team.
Nothing gets past this shield... NOTHING!
Adam heard a loud bang go off to his right, followed by one of their attackers drop to the ground, blood flowing from a hole in his head.
"One down." Caitlyn announced coolly.
The guards must've realized that the tides had turned, as the two remaining stood up and tried to run for it.
Neither made it.
The first fleeing guard took a shot from Caitlyn's sniper in the back of the head, sending him sprawling to the floor in a heap.
The last guard followed suit, with a sniper round piercing the back of his head and painting the dark grey metal wall in front of him red.
"Clear." Adam announced and lowered his shield, feeling his energy return from his fingers, back up his arms, and to a rest at his back.
"Not bad there Firewall." Caitlyn nodded. "I don't believe they were expecting that."
"Well, let's hope that trick works again, these halls are narrow." Adam nodded as well, shouldering his rifle yet again as they made their way down the hall.
"Aren't you two cute..." Vi muttered, still annoyed at the fact that she couldn't do anything.
The trio reached the engine room with only minor resistance from that point on. One Ascension guard met his end to a hail of bullets from Firewall's assault rifle. One guard had his ribs smashed in by a straight punch from Vi. And another guard met his end at the hands of Caitlyn's percussion.
Upon reaching the engine room, however, things got a bit more dicey.
"Knock knock!" Vi shouted as she charged the doors to the engine room, her fist smashing the doors inwards and off their rotators.
"You do realize those doors are automatic right?" Adam shook his head as he stepped over the door's remains.
"Eh, more fun this way." Vi shrugged with a grin on her face.
"So, this is the engine room, I presume?" Caitlyn asked out loud as she looked around the room they had "entered".
Adam took a quick glance around. Half of the room was taken up by a massive generator that seemed to be in a fenced off section of the room, save for a single console that stood by the generator. The rest of the room was pretty unremarkable, just the same old metal look all the corridors had.
"Yeah, and that generator is the engine." Adam slung his rifle back over his shoulder as he made his way to the console.
"So... what? We just smash it and we're good?" Vi asked as she causally walked up to the fenced off generator.
"Do. Not. Touch." Adam said in a very clear fashion. "That thing has got hydrogen fuel cells inside. If you hit it too hard-"
"Yeah, yeah, fire, explosions, that sort of thing." Vi waved one of her massive gauntlets around as if it was a small manner they were talking about.
Adam sighed and shook his head. She's a cop... right? That's what she said?
"Just watch the door for any incoming while I shut this thing down." He said with a somewhat fatigued tone as he tapped the console, bringing it to life.
Let's see here... Firewall reached for a small slot on the back of his armor and tapped it, causing a small cable to eject itself from his armor. He pulled the cable out and plugged it into the port on the console.
This is gonna take longer than usual without CEO to help me...
Adam let out a sigh as he felt the depressive feeling wash over him. CEO... His AI companion had been lost to him when he had been captured by the Ascension aboard this same submarine weeks prior. Rather than let "himself" be dissected and their secrets revealed, CEO deleted himself before the Ascension could get anything out of his AI core after he had been removed from Firewall's armor.
My old friend... Adam closed his eyes briefly. I should sink this fucking ship to avenge you... but that would be pointless right now. I'll see this war to its end for you.
"We got company!" Vi's voice brought him back to reality.
"How many?" Adam asked. But before he got his answer, he heard Caitlyn's sniper firing off.
"Five now." She answered, "They've got shields again!"
Damn, just our luck! Adam cursed. His vision lit up with data and binary code to show that he was in the system. All I have to do it tap a few buttons and THINK and I'll have this shut down.
"Can you hold them off?" He shouted.
"Not with those shields cupcake, here they come!" Caitlyn responded. The sheriff back pedaled from the door to gain some distance. Vi, on the other hand, took up a position near the entrance. In her hands were the remains of the door frame she had destroyed earlier.
Damn it, no time... I can't hack in with my mind like this. Adam felt the frustration grow on him. He unplugged himself from the console, the code vanishing from his vision. Hacking with my mind takes too much focus; I can't fight and use my meta-human power like that at the same time.
Adam gripped his rifle again, and took up a position near Caitlyn on the other side of the room, a good distance from the generator.
"We can't let the generator take any hits during the fight, or..."
"Boom..." Caitlyn finished for him.
"Yeah..." Adam muttered. "That..."
Without another word spoken, the enemy arrived.
Two Ascension soldiers carrying riot gear burst into the room, charging right at Caitlyn and Adam. Both fired their guns at the soldiers.
Won't do anything to those shields, but it will distract them.
As if scripted, the soldiers raised their shields to block the incoming fire, still advancing towards Caitlyn and Adam, but at a slower pace.
"Eat this!" Vi shouted as she threw the remains of the door frame at the guards. The metal frame hit the guards from behind, sending them both sprawling to the ground towards Adam and Caitlyn.
Adam took aim at one of the falling guards, while Caitlyn took at aim at the other. In the background though, Adam spotted another two guards storming in, one carrying an assault rifle, the other had a railgun.
Oh shit... a railgun...
The assault rifle carrying guard rolled into the room and immediately faced Vi, weapon raised. At the short range, there would be no way the guard would miss. However, before the guard could shoot, the sound of Caitlyn's sniper echoed through the room. The sniper round struck the guard in the shoulder, causing his aim to go off. The soldier still fired his rifle though, and the bullets all went wide.
In that time frame, Vi had charged forward, her fist smashing into the guard's face.
Adam didn't have time to watch what happened next. Instead, he focused on his own fight, with the two riot guards.
He squeezed the trigger on his own assault rifle, firing at the first of the two guards who had been hit by the door frame. Without the shield to block the shots, the bullets struck the guard in the head, several of them punching through. The other guard however, managed to get his riot shield back up in time to block the shots as Adam aimed at him.
Ah crap... Caitlyn was supposed to finish that one... but she had to save Vi instead...
The guard resumed his charge at Caitlyn and Adam, storming towards them with his shield out front.
This is gonna suck...
Without a second thought, Adam shoved Caitlyn to the side and met the charge on full force. The riot shield slammed into his body, sending him sprawling backwards into the wall with a crash.
Ouch! Adam let out a grunt of pain from the shock of having his body smashed by the shield, and then the wall behind him. The guard, however, wasn't fazed from hitting Adam, and continued to charge at him.
Oh hell! Adam rolled to the side, causing the riot soldier to smash into the wall with it's shield. As Adam leapt back to his feet in a crouching stance, he reached for the combat knife behind his back.
Only to feel nothing.
Right... I left that in the back of that one guard's neck... Adam cursed his own carelessness as the guard drew out a metal baton and reared his arm back to strike him. Plan B it is then...
Adam leapt forward to meet the guard's downward swing. Both of his forearms met the guard's, blocking the strike. Without pausing, Adam grabbed the guard's arm with one hand and drove his fist forward at the larger man's helmet, punching him in the face. Before the guard could counter, Adam dropped down and swept the larger man's legs out from underneath him, sending him crashing to the ground.
Now that he had the upper hand, Adam focused on his inner energy again, feeling it flow from his back, down his right arm, and to his fingertips and palm. Instead of forming a shield however, Adam sharpened his energy, causing a blue circle formed around his right hand.
Die you bastard! Adam reared his arm back as the blue circle of energy formed a blade at the end that extended two feet out from his hand. With a battle cry, he brought his energy weapon down at the fallen soldier, striking the man in the center of the helmet. Adam felt no resistance as the blue blade he had formed pierced through the man's metallic helmet; wasting no time, Adam wrenched his energy sword to the side, cleaving the man's head and helmet in half.
Done... Adam let out a sigh as he stood over his fallen foe, letting the energy in his hand return from his fingers, back up his arm, and to his back. He looked down at the decapitated enemy and frowned. I never liked killing... that's why I've always been glad to be my squad's techie. How is it that Archangel can handle all this blood and murder and still be able to stand tall?
But maybe, it's because he's used to this close quarters blood work... I hope I never do...
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang noise. Adam spun around quickly, only to see Vi standing over the guard who had been carrying a railgun. The soldier clearly got the shit kicked out of him by Vi, but judging by the red glow at the end of the railgun's barrel, he had managed to get a shot off.
And Adam's heart dropped when he spotted where the shot had fired off at... the engine generator's console.
Oh no... that's not good...
Before anyone could say anything, an alarm sounded.
"Uh oh..." Caitlyn muttered as she got to her feet, from where Adam had pushed her over.
"I swear, I didn't touch ANYTHING!" Vi waved her hands around as she looked from Caitlyn to Adam with a somewhat worried expression on her face.
"No, you didn't..." Adam said as he pointed to the damaged console. "But that round just screwed us all over..."
"Hey, at least he didn't hit the generator!" Vi exclaimed.
Yeah, but that's a silver lining to a shitty situation!
Caitlyn turned to Adam, still rubbing her shoulder. "Can you still stop this thing?"
"Maybe..." Adam jogged over to the console and examined it. The railgun round had punched a hole clean through the center of the screen, and out the back of the machine. Thankfully though, the port where he could plug himself in was still there.
Worth a shot. He tapped the back of his armor again and pulled the cord out that ejected itself. As he connected his armor to the computer console, his vision filled up with data and binary codes.
Come on... come on... Adam bit his lip as he scanned though the coding with his mind, trying to figure out a way to shut the console down. If it was even possible at this point.
After a long three seconds, he realized that it was impossible.
Damn it! It requires a manual input in order to shut down, to prevent hacking from over a network... He thought bitterly as he looked down at the new hole in the console. And the computer is totally trashed now... I can't shut it down without the screen!
"Well?" Vi asked, peering over his shoulder "Can you do anything about it?"
"No..." Adam muttered bitterly. "I can get it ready for shutdown, but I need to be able to physically hit the button..." He tapped his fingers on the edge of the hole. "And that button was right here... where the round had fired though..."
Silence fell over the trio, with the only sound in the room being that of the alarm going off.
"Firewall, what's going on? Why is there an alarm going off?" Isaac's voice came in over the COM.
Ah shit...
Adam raised one hand to his earpiece. "Well..." He started, before pausing. "We... might've messed up a bit on our end..."
"What do you mean, you MIGHT'VE messed up a bit?" Isaac's voice sounded half resigned, and half irritated.
Adam let out a sigh and rolled his neck. "Long story short, we had a fire fight in the engine room, and the main console got hit. So..."
"So we can't shut the engines down, am I right?"
Adam unplugged himself from the console and shook his head. "Yeah... we can't stop the submarine from moving."
There was a full second before Isaac responded. "Shit."
"I hope..." Caitlyn walked slowly over to Adam and Vi. "This is the part where you tell me you guys have a plan B..."
"Yeah! And it better not be swimming all the way back to Piltover!" Vi grumbled.
Adam sighed and shook his head. "Well, Archangel? You got that plan B?" Please tell me you actually do...
There was a pause before he heard his COM come to life again. "Yeah, we do... but it's gonna be rough..."
The Siren's Call
"What do you mean, rough?" Firewall voice sounded as if he was stepping on egg shells.
Oh you have no idea... Archangel managed to allow himself to grin as he relayed Mute's plan to his comrade.
"This is an Overseer class submarine, so it houses several midget subs right? If we hijack a couple, we can escape that way."
"Wh-what?! That's a crazy plan!"
"And diving from an airplane into an underground base wasn't?"
"... Good point."
"Damn right it is." Mute muttered her two cents in.
Isaac threw her avatar a "hush" look before continuing to explain to Firewall. "Look, there should be at least a pair of three-seater midget subs in there. Between you and Mute's hacking, we can gain control of them and use them to make our escape."
"And if there isn't any three-seaters?"
"Then its gonna be a damn tight fit in the two seaters."
Firewall let out a sigh. "You know what I'm going to say, right?"
"That this is a bad idea?"
"No, I was just going to say that this is really going to suck."
Isaac grinned again at that. It's just like old times. "When does it ever NOT suck for us?"
"Yeah, yeah... you know how to get to the docking bay?"
"Mute has a map. We'll see you there."
"Roger, Firewall, out."
Isaac removed his hand from the side of his helmet and looked back at Ezreal and Vega, who were both staring at him intently.
"Well? What is it?" Ezreal asked.
"Plan A is a no go, we're going with plan B." Isaac moved between both of the younger men towards the door. "Come on, we're getting the hell off this sub."
"How? By taking some... smaller submarines?" Vega asked as he trotted after him with an unconscious Jinx over his back. "That's what you said right?"
"In a nutshell, yes." Isaac nodded as he left the brig, taking a careful look around the metal corridors of the Overseer class submarine. No contacts, where are the guards? Where are the shock troopers?
"Mute? Which way?" He quietly asked his AI companion.
Mute's avatar reappeared in his HUD. "The fastest way is to cut through the lab, then down one short hall, and we'll be in the docking bay."
Through the lab? Good, we can retrieve Jinx's weapons there. He waved his hand forward to motion Ezreal and Vega to follow. "Come on, we're picking up Jinx's weapons along the way."
"Do we really have time for that?" Ezreal cautioned.
"It's along the way, come on."
Vega let out a groan. "That alarm, is really starting to get annoying..." He complained.
"Tell me about it," Ezreal shook his head as the group carefully made their way down the corridor to the door that led to the lab. "Does it ever stop?"
"Probably not." Isaac muttered as they reached the door. He tapped the console screen to open it, and instead was met with a big red word that said LOCKED.
Typical...
"Mute?" Isaac nodded at the console.
"On it." Mute's avatar vanished, and two seconds later, returned.
"Done." She announced, and the word LOCKED was replaced by the word OPEN.
Nice. Isaac thought as the door slid open, revealing the laboratory. Like the brig, it was rectangular in shape. But unlike the brig, which was empty aside from the prison cells, there was workbenches and computers lined up along the edges of the room.
"Think we can salvage anything of use from those consoles?" Isaac asked Mute as he cautiously walked into the room.
"Negative, I already scanned them. Picking up nothing but dead links and empty drives." Mute sighed, rolling her eyes. "Looks like they already triggered the fail safe and purged their systems."
Damn it! But I wasn't expecting anything otherwise.
"Jinx's weapons might be in here, look around, but be careful." Isaac informed the other two with him. "We'll delay here until the others arrive."
"Sounds good." Ezreal responded as he walked away from Isaac to peer around the room. Vega set Jinx down carefully onto the floor, leaning her up against one of the workbenches, and began to channel a spell of sorts.
Maybe he's trying to use that healing thing on her that he did on me after I jumped on that grenade... Isaac wondered as he watched Vega, noticing a green light appearing in his hands as he placed them on one of Jinx's many injuries. Within a few seconds, the cut closed itself up, and vanished. Leaving no trace of it left.
"Damn, I wish our top of the line technology was THAT effective." Mute commented.
No magic in our world Mute... if it weren't for the events of the last several days, I still wouldn't believe it... Isaac thought as he turned away from the summoner and champion, and looked around the room.
There were four entrances to the lab, one from behind them that they had entered from, two on the far side, and one on the right side of the room. Too many ways to get in. Isaac frowned, spotting Ezreal trying to open some metal box on the floor. If we get attacked in here, at least there is plenty of cover... but since all the computers have been wiped clean, the Ascension won't care about firing their guns in here now...
"Hey!" Ezreal shouted as he opened up the box he had been trying to get into. "I found them!"
"Already?" Mute exclaimed, "That boy has got some luck indeed!"
Isaac watched as the young explorer leaned over into the metal container. Upon standing back up, Ezreal had Jinx's pink mini-gun, her blue rocket launcher Fishbones, and her laser pistol in his arms. Ezreal turned around to face Isaac, a wide grin on his face. "Hey check it out! I'm bringing guns to the knife fight!" The blonde laughed.
Isaac brought one hand to his face and shook his head. Oh brother... They sure don't take being in enemy territory seriously here don't they...?
"These things are surprisingly light..." Ezreal continued as he walked over to Vega and Jinx with her weapons in tow. "I wouldn't mind seeing how these things were made."
"Well, think about it Ez," Isaac voiced his own opinion. "If they were heavy, how is a anorexic hundred pound female supposed to carry three of them around?"
Ezreal halted for a second and looked up to the ceiling as if contemplating what Isaac had just said. "Hmm, good point."
"Well this is a rather light-hearted mood isn't it?" Mute chuckled.
"Indeed it is..." Isaac let himself chuckle slightly with her.
As if on que, one of the doors on the far side slid open, revealing a single figure on the other side that Isaac didn't recognize. On instinct, Isaac drew one of his swords and raised it to his shoulder level, already focusing on the dark power inside him. Ready to strike.
"Oops, spoke too soon." Mute said with a half apologetic look on her face.
Thanks Mute... Isaac would've completed that thought with a roll of his eyes, but he was too busy looking over the new contact. What the hell?
The figure was clad in very light grey, almost white armor that had a medieval gothic style look to it, with an almost angelic appearance. She was covered head to toe, with bluish lines and lights flowing up and down the armor at various points on her legs, torso, and arms. The armor was slender, outlining the features of a woman on the wearer. The visor on the helmet had a faint blue glow to it that went in line with the rest of the suit's appearance.
The figure entered the room slowly and casually, as if she didn't feel threatened by Isaac at all. Her armor's high heeled boots echoing every step she made as she moved closer to them.
"Who the hell is that?" Ezreal muttered, Isaac noticed through the corner of his eye that he had dropped Jinx's weapons and had entered a combat stance.
"I have no idea..." Isaac quietly responded, looking the newcomer up and down. She's armed too...
Isaac spotted a strange looking sidearm strapped to the woman's leg armor; the small gun also followed suit with the hybrid gothic/angelic style the rest of the woman was clad in. Across her back, was a sword still in its sheath, with the hilt sticking out over her right shoulder. Isaac could also see what appeared to be some sort of round metal shield that carried the overall look.
That shield looks like it's about two feet in diameter... big enough to block attacks, small enough to swing effectively.
The armored woman came to a halt twelve meters away from them, with her arms hanging by her sides.
"Is she... one of them?" Vega asked from behind Isaac. He watched the woman carefully, but she made no move. She just stood still, motionless, as if she was some sort of robot.
Only one way to find out! Isaac swung the blade in his right hand horizontally, focusing on his power as he did so. A purple/black streak of dark matter appeared in the air from his cut, and it launched itself at the new target. She'll have to dodge that if she wants to live!
The streak of dark energy flew at the woman, nearly closing the twelve meter gap in the blink of an eye. However, the armor clad woman did not move; did not roll out of the way or make any attempt to dodge the attack. Instead, like lightning, she swung one of her arms in an upwards vertical chop.
To everyone's surprise, her hand went clean through the dark matter, splitting it into two. Both halves missed the intended target, flying past her into the metal walls behind the woman. The dark energy dispersed upon hitting the wall, leaving a dark purple scorch mark where they struck.
Isaac was dumbfounded.
"Wha?" He mumbled, completely taken aback by what he had just witnessed. She, just... cleaved my dark matter in half... with her hand?
"Look there." Ezreal said quietly. "Look at her hand."
Isaac eyes darted to the hand that the woman had used to cut his attack in half. She still had it raised above her head, with her hand in the form of a chop. Around her hand, was a shimmering white light.
What the fuck?
"Mute, scan target." Isaac ordered his AI.
"Scanning... hmm..." Mute's avatar appeared in his HUD, with a rare look of confusion and concern on her face. "Isaac... that armor is blocking my sensors, but I'm picking up a strange energy reading around that hand that she just used to nullify your attack... it's like... the energy is the polar opposite of your own."
The opposite? So... what? It's like... "Light matter"? No, that just sounds stupid...
Isaac's thoughts were interrupted by a low, metallic laugh that was coming from the mystery woman.
"She's... laughing?" Ezreal asked, furrowing his brow.
"It appears so..." Mute muttered, her own expression now showing one of concern. "Isaac, be-"
"Was that all?" The gothic/angelic armored woman asked with a tone of amusement. Her voice sounded cold and metallic coming from her helmet.
Isaac snarled. This bitch... she sure is confident...
Maybe overconfident...
Overconfidence gets you killed...
"Who are you?" Ezreal asked the million dollar question.
"Me?" The woman slowly lowered her arm, the white light vanishing from her hand. She let out another low chuckle, as if the question amused her. "Just a phantom..."
"Oh really now?" Isaac cocked his head to the side as returned the remark with a tone of smart-ass-ness.
The woman mirrored his movement, tilting her own head to the same side. "Yes... but call me Siren."
Isaac scoffed. "Siren? That's a clichéd name you got there."
"So is Archangel."
Isaac felt his body tense up at the mention of his code name. How does she know that? "You know who I am?"
The woman nodded slowly. "Yes... your attack confirmed it." She said, then took a casual step forward, as if she was totally unaware of the tense atmosphere that filled the room. "But do you know who I am?"
Isaac shook his head. "Not a clue, but I'm guessing some Ascension attack dog?"
The woman came to a halt again. "No..." She shook her head. Then, with lightning speed, she reared her arm back. And then she screamed at them, her cold, metallic voice sounded full of rage and fury.
"I'M YOUR GRIM REAPER!"
And then that was when Isaac noticed it. She's got a grenade!
Without thinking, Isaac lunged to the side and grabbed Ezreal. The young explorer's expression quickly changed to one of surprise. Before he could get a word in though, Isaac threw him to the side.
And in that same moment, the armored woman threw her grenade.
"Mute!" Isaac shouted out to his AI comrade, hoping she got the signal.
She did. "Hardening!"
Isaac's HUD lit up with a yellow light for a moment as his suit hardened, and at the same time, he tried to tumble to the opposite side of where he had thrown Ezreal.
This is gonna be hell...
As the grenade went off, Isaac's vision filled with a white light and his ears rang loudly. He felt himself get thrown to the side in the direction he had been trying to roll too. Several warnings, alarms, and lights went off inside his helmet.
Before he could do anything, or get a grip on his senses, Isaac felt himself slam into something.
Damn it! Isaac shook his head and blinked several times, his vision clearing up much quicker than the last time he had been near an exploding grenade.
He also saw that he had just rolled into a wall.
Oh... well... that's harmless...
Isaac felt a chill go down his spine, and without a moment's pause, he rolled to the side again. As he tumbled to his feet in crouching position, he saw Siren with her sword drawn, holding it out right where he had been a second before.
Close, she almost had my head there...
Isaac looked her up and down again. Her sword was a Japanese katana, with a slightly shorter hilt to better suit a one handed fighting style. The shield that she had previously strapped around her back was now held by her left hand, facing towards Isaac.
A sword and shield style of fighting? Looks like it.
Isaac reached to his back and drew two of his own swords. Siren simply took up a stance of her own, with her round shield out front and her katana held at an angle.
Behind Siren, Isaac spotted Vega trying to get Jinx behind a workbench for cover. I can't let this girl find them, Jinx is still out like a light. Isaac snarled under his helmet. Bring it on!
"Come on!" Isaac shouted at her, rising up from his crouching stance, to stand up straight.
And without another word, both fighters charged at each other.
Siren brought her katana down at Isaac, who met it by holding his blades in an X shape. The blades met each other with a loud clang of metal striking metal. Both the dark armored dual wielder and the white armored sword and shield fighter pushed forward, their helmets coming up to a halt mere inches from each other, glaring one another down from behind their visors.
The stare down lasted only a second before both pushed away from one another. Isaac swung his right sword horizontally at Siren's head, who raised her shield and blocked the blow. The gothic armored woman tried to do the same with her own blade, but was parried by Isaac's second blade.
Siren took a quick step back and swung again, only to be parried by Isaac again, who tried to stab the female fighter in the gut. However, with her sword she knocked the attack off course.
Rather than let himself be open to attack, Isaac dropped downwards to a crouch, dodging a savage swing by Siren's shield. Isaac tried to take advantage of the mishap by making a cross swing with both blades at Siren's legs, but the white armored woman leapt back, causing him to miss.
Siren bolted her right leg up, attempting to kick Isaac in the face from where he was crouching down. However, to her irritation, Isaac leaned his body backwards, narrowly dodging the strike. Rather than counter, Isaac rolled backwards and came to his feet quickly, taking up a combat stance with one sword held over his head and one out in front of him horizontally. Siren also took up a stance, holding her shield out in front of her so the top of her round metal shield was just below her eye level. She held her own sword out at the side of her shield, pointed end aimed at her foe.
Both foes stood there for several seconds, staring one another down. And then in a flash, both charged again. With speed that rivaled lightning, both fights swung and parried one another's blows countless times in a blurry flurry of strikes. After several seconds, which felt like several long minutes to Isaac, both fighters leapt back again and took up fighting stances yet again.
How the hell did she do that?! Isaac bit his lower lip. He had slowed time down during that last series of blows, yet he had failed to make anything connect. Instead, every move he made was parried and countered, and he was forced to do the same. Either she's really fucking fast or...
Or she can speed herself up just like me...
"Isaac, she's moving just like you! She can-" Mute's voice was one of complete concern. Her avatar didn't appear however, since Isaac needed to be able to have full vision.
"She's doing the same as me... I know." He muttered quietly, still staring the woman who called herself Siren down.
She's good... damn it!
He charged at Siren again, who in return charged at him. Siren swung first, trying to take his head off.
Oh no you don't! Isaac dropped down to his knees and slid under Siren's strike. At the same time, he tried to slash at Siren's leg with his right blade as he passed her by. However, he had the same luck she did, and Siren leapt over his sword and tumbled past him.
Fuck! Isaac got to his feet and spun around to face his enemy again, only to see Siren do the same.
We're right back where we started, before she threw that grenade!
He bit his lower lip again, trying to think of a way to end the deadlock that the dual had been in since the start. If I use any of my powers, she'll likely just have some sort of way to nullify it again...
Isaac heard Ezreal groan off to the side, but paid it no attention. Hope the kid is ok, but I can't take my eyes of her for a second. He thought as he slowly stepped to the side, still facing Siren in a fighting stance.
Siren followed suit and slowly moved to the opposite side, still holding a combat stance of her own.
She's good... oh yeah, without a doubt...
Isaac heard a noise from behind him, followed by several footsteps.
"Archangel!" Isaac heard Firewall shout. Only this time, it was without the COM.
"What the hell?!" He also heard Vi shout.
"Freeze!" Caitlyn on the other hand sounded far more calm then either of the other two.
Isaac heard Siren let out a tisk. "It appears we're out of time..." He heard her mutter, her tone still cold and metallic.
"No, YOU'RE out of time!" Isaac motioned his head at his foe.
"This isn't over, Archangel..." Siren's voice sounded full of contempt.
And then she made a run for it.
"Don't move!" Caitlyn shouted, and Isaac heard her sniper go off. At the same time, Siren raised her shield, to her head, and the bullet deflected off of it.
Firewall fired his rifle at the fleeing foe, but the rounds either struck the wall behind it or deflected off her armor, leaving small blue ripples in the air where they had struck her.
Her armor has shields!
Isaac tried to stop her too. He threw one of his swords right at Siren's torso, trying to get her while her shield was up high. However, she rolled forward as if she saw it coming, causing the sword to bounce of the wall behind her.
As Siren came back to her feet, the automatic door she had entered from opened, and she tumbled through.
"Shit!" Firewall cursed as he his rifle ceased firing, making a ticking noise as he ran out of ammo.
The door Siren had fled through closed, leaving the rest of them alone in the now trashed lab.
"Who the hell was that?" Vi asked with an irritated voice.
Isaac turned around to face them. "Aside from the fact that she called herself Siren, not a clue..." He shook his head, sheathing his remaining sword and walking away to retrieve the one he had thrown. "But I believe she's a meta-human."
"A meta? Like you and Firewall right?" Vega asked as he stood up from his hiding spot, with Jinx slung over his back again.
"Jinx!" Vi's expression quickly changed into that of a snarl.
"Yeah, Jinx, but she's been drugged and... well..." Vega trailed off and looked at the floor.
He's probably remembering how we found her... Isaac thought back on that horror scene as he picked up and sheathed his thrown sword. "They had her hooked up to something I've never seen before." He explained, turning around to face all of them. "But that's a story for AFTER we escape."
Ezreal slowly got to his feet from where Isaac had thrown him, rubbing the back of his head. "What about the part where you threw me head first into a wall?" He grumbled.
"That was for your own good Ezreal," Isaac shook his head. "Had been standing where you we're, you'd be nothing but a half smoking sack of meat by now."
Ezreal let out a sigh, one hand still clutching the back of his head. "I know... it's just..." He paused and rolled his eyes, "Ah forget it, let's just get out of here."
Caitlyn nodded. "Agreed. We can argue and swap stories later."
Firewall reloaded his rifle, and motioned to one of the other doors. "This way, let's go."
Overseer class's Bridge
"Commander, someone is hacking into our system in the docking bay!" One of the bridge officers shouted.
The commander of the Overseer class submarine just snarled in response.
"Sir! We've lost control of two of our Broadsword class submarines inside the docking bay!"
Damn them...
"The docking bay doors are opening! We can't close them! Someone else is inside the system."
Damn them to fucking hell!
"Commander! Two of the Broadswords have launched! The enemy is escaping!"
The commander slammed his hands on the railing in front of him. "Can't we do ANYTHING to stop them!?"
"Negative sir! There moving around behind us, we can't fire at them!"
"Then turn the fucking ship around! We'll blow them out of the water!" The commander barked out his order. They will not escape! Not escape humiliating me, and damaging my ship!
"Belay that order." Came a cold metallic voice from behind him.
How?! The commander spun around to face the newcomer. The white, gothic and angelic hybrid style armored woman walked into the bridge casually, as if she was taking a stroll in the park.
"Sir?" One of his officers voiced his concern.
"How the hell did you get back inside? The door was sealed!" The commander spat at the woman.
"Indeed it was," The woman responded in a causal tone, "Too bad I have all the passcodes to everything aboard this ship."
Damn that wench!
"Matters not, we're going to turn around and destroy the escapees." The commander waved his hand, turning around to face his crew again.
"And I said, belay that order." The woman said in causal tone again.
"What?!" The commander turned on her, temper fuming. "What makes you think you can over ride my command you wench?!"
The white armored woman walked up to him, halting only a mere meter away. "There is someone I wish to kill with my own hands aboard one of those subs. Let them go."
The commander scoffed. "And like a pathetic reason like that is going to stop me?"
"No..." The one known as Siren shook her head. "But this will."
Before the commander could react, he barely got a glimpse of Siren's metal fist striking him square in the face.