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Everdeen Mines, near Piltover
"Is this the place?" Vega asked, as the group arrived at an entrance to what appeared to be a large tunnel. There were two railroads leading inside with various mine carts lying around.
Looks like it hasn't been used lately... Isaac thought as he scanned the surroundings.
"Yes." Caitlyn nodded. Vi on the other hand snorted.
"What? The railroad and the mine cart gave it away?" She said, lightly kicking the said mine cart to her right.
"Hey, there's supposed to be a lot of mines around Piltover." Vega retorted.
"Enough." Caitlyn muttered. "Let's go."
The group ventured into the tunnel, and it wasn't long before darkness was all that awaited them.
"Mute, get the lights." Isaac said to his partner.
"Got it." Mute replied, and the small LEDs mounted on each side of Isaac's helmet flickered on, lighting up the dark. Looks like a textbook mine shaft to me... He thought, scanning the area that awaited them. Dirt covered the walls, and the entire tunnel seemed to be unnatural. Looks like the entire tunnel was dug out.
The others did the same. Ezreal turned his hardhat's flashlight on; Caitlyn did the same with the light strapped to her sniper. Vega summoned up a light with his hand, waving it around and seemed satisfied. Vi on the other hand, was having difficulties.
"Uh, a little help?" Vi mumbled. She couldn't turn on the flashlight strapped around her forehead since she had her massive gauntlets equipped. Caitlyn walked over to her partner and flicked it on for her.
"There you go cupcake, need me to wipe your bottom too?" She joked.
"Oh shut up..." Vi grumbled.
Isaac focused on the task at hand. "Can you pick anything up Mute?"
Mute's face appeared in his HUD. "With our borderline broken scanners? No, not a thing." She shook her head. "If you want me to pick anything up, we'll either have to be looking right at it or standing directly on top of it."
Isaac frowned. "Great. That's going to make this a little more difficult." He let out a brief sigh. "Just activate our team-locater and GPS. If Firewall is actually nearby, it would be nice if we could find each other."
Mute nodded. "Got it, turning them on now."
"How deep do we have to go?" Ezreal asked. Isaac turned around to see that he was looking at Caitlyn, his hardhat's flashlight shinning in her face.
"Don't look at me!" Caitlyn mumbled as she tried to block the light with her hand.
"Oops, sorry." Ezreal looked away.
"Thank you, now it's about a twenty minute walk." Caitlyn said.
Isaac glanced back down to the dark tunnel. Who knows what we might find down here... better be prepared. Isaac closed his eyes and focused his powers out in front of him; his body rearing back a he did so. He pictured a rifle in his mind and after a charging-up sound and a pop, he opened his eyes to see his dark matter SCAR hovering in front of him.
There. Isaac grasped the rifle and shouldered it, a felt as if someone was watching him. He glanced around and noticed that Caitlyn was eyeing his rifle.
"Nice trick. What kind of gun is that supposed to be?" She asked.
"It's a SCAR." Isaac replied, and after Caitlyn made a slightly confused expression, he added. "Think of it a as a... small machine gun."
"Ah. That will be useful in close quarters." Caitlyn nodded, gripping her sniper rifle and walked past him. "Let's move." She stated and the group descended deeper into the mines.
For the most part, everyone remained quiet. Every now and then Vega would extinguish the light in his hand and re-light it within a few seconds, Ezreal would write something down in a book of his, and at one point in time Caitlyn stepped in a deep puddle and cursed, only to be told to "walk it off" by Vi.
Isaac on the other hand remained silent, keeping his rifle shoulder and scanning the area. Nothing so far... Mute hasn't picked anything up either.
Before long though, they reached a much wider area and Caitlyn came to a halt. "Down there," she pointed to a lower area of the mines about forty or so meters away. "That's where the exchange had gone down." She said and resumed walking towards said location.
"So, what's the plan?" Vega asked. "Do we split up and search the area?"
"We already checked this area over three times." Vi said.
"Yes, but we did so without the Grandmaster Explorer." Caitlyn stated, looking over her shoulder at Ezreal. "What do you think?"
Ezreal paused, covering his mouth with one of his hands, seemingly in thought. After a few moments he spoke. "I don't think splitting up would be wise here. If we run into Archangel's friend Firewall we'll need him to talk. And if we actually do run into trouble down here, it's best if we're all together."
Isaac nodded. Good points.
The group reached the site of the exchange. "I caught the thieves down that way," Caitlyn explained, pointing to the tunnel on their left. "And the hooded figures went this way." She pointed to the right tunnel.
"We came back the next day, but we didn't find anything down the right side." Vi added. "It goes on for a long time though, the tunnel that is. Could've hidden anywhere."
"Or there could've been a secret passage." Caitlyn added to Vi's addition.
Vi sighed, rolling her eyes. "You and your obsession with secret passages..."
Caitlyn grinned and tipped her hat at her partner. "I caught you in one didn't I?"
That shut Vi up.
Back on task people... "So, we go right?" He half asked, half suggested.
"Bingo." Ezreal said with a grin. "I'll lead the way." Ezreal opened up his backpack and took out a familiar large gauntlet. He slid his hand into and a bright light emitted from it. He started to walk off in the direction they had decided on, and the light shone even brighter, illuminating the surroundings. "Follow me."
Handy gadget he's got there. Isaac thought, and he moved to follow the explorer. As he walked past Vi, he did notice the pink haired girl flip her partner off with her massive gauntlets.
Kasubel read over the letter he had received from Bligewater. He frowned as he looked its contents over, trying to process it all in his mind. Miss Fortune needs to work on her bloody handwriting... He sighed as he read on.
Strange sightings of unknown ships that suddenly vanish beneath the waves, strange sightings of lights floating in the air... Kasubel stroked his beard. All of these sightings have occurred in the Guardian's Sea. But… what are they?
According to the letter, the seafarers of Bligewater thought they were ghosts, but Kasubel thought that was just them being superstitious. Yes, ghosts exist, but I doubt they are the cause of all these sightings.
He let out a sigh, set the letter down on his desk and leaned back into his chair, staring at the roof. If it wasn't ghosts, then what was it?
Kasubel all too well wanted to link it to the missing people, but there really wasn't any connection between the two. But still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to investigate.
He had yet to hear from summoner Vega, who he had sent with Archangel along with Ezreal. With the summoned mounts they had, they should've reached Piltover awhile ago.
If there is no word from them, that means there busy. Kasubel reassured himself. He looked back down at the letter, trying to think of a way to deal with the sightings. Wait… He thought. Archangel said that there is a possibility that the kidnappers are from his world… which means that they have advanced technology…
Could they be the sightings? Kasubel wasn't sure, but maybe. He would have to contact them and ask for Archangel's advice, as loath as he was to do so. I'm not fully sold on his loyalty; I don't want to have so much resting on one man's shoulders. He frowned. He would have to contact them anyways.
Kasubel stood up from his desk and wandered over to his summoner's orb, placing his hands on it and closed his eyes. I better contact them anyways… He thought, and started to process his magic though the orb.
Wait! He stopped and opened his eyes. What if they're in the middle of their investigation? Wouldn't me contacting Vega now interrupt them? He removed his hands from the orb and sighed.
He would have to wait until they called him. The wait is killing me…
"Still nothing?" Mute complained. Isaac ignored her, running his armored hand along the tunnel's walls, hoping to feel a nook or something that seemed out of place.
They had been in the mine for hours now, searching the place for anything. But so far they had come up with nothing. We haven't even reached the end of this tunnel yet. They had been moving at an extremely slow pace, checking everything over as they ventured through the tunnel. He glanced around to see what the others were up to. Vega, like Isaac, was feeling the walls for anything strange. Caitlyn was checking the roof of the tunnel, using her sniper's flashlight to illuminate certain spots. Vi had her head down and was walking very slowly, checking the earth beneath their feet. Ezreal was a little farther up ahead, moving large rocks around and checking underneath them.
While it's nice to see everyone actually working here, we're not going to find anything like this grouped up... Isaac thought. It'll take all day at this rate to check the entire tunnel. Days if this tunnel branches off into multiples.
"Mute, did you pick anything up yet?" Isaac asked Mute again.
She let out a sigh. "If I had found something I would've told you."
Isaac left it at that, and resumed searching. A few seconds later he heard Vi grumble.
"Grr! This isn't getting us anywhere. We'll be down in this damn cave for days at this rate!" She complained. "Let's just split up already! We can take whatever comes at us!"
Everyone turned to look at Vi, and as they did their lights flashed all over her body and face, causing her to cover herself with her hands. "HEY! Those are bright!" she growled.
"Sorry." Everyone mumbled and turned away.
Isaac agreed with her though. This was taking too long.
"I agree." Isaac spoke up. "We should split up."
Ezreal nodded, the light from his hardhat motioning with him. "Same, I was hoping we'd be moving faster but at this rate..." He paused. "Cait, you and me will move ahead a bit. You three keep looking around here."
"Sounds good to me." Vega nodded, he was the fartherest back.
Caitlyn shouldered her rifle and started to turn to follow Ezreal. "Just don't go smashing walls in Vi." She said.
Vi waved one of her massive hands around. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. No promises."
Caitlyn just shook her head and followed after Ezreal.
Silence followed for a good minute.
"So... do we stay here a little longer, or move up a bit?" Vega asked.
"Hmm..." Isaac mumbled, thinking about it as he examined the walls. We've checked this over good enough, maybe...
Vi answered in his place. "Yeah, the only things I've spotted are a couple of rocks I want to smash in. Let's move before I actually do it." She said, and Isaac heard her walking past him. Isaac followed, spotting the faint light from Ezreal's gauntlet in the distance.
We shouldn't move too far ahead... here should be good for now. "Let's stop here and give this area a quick check." Isaac said, after the group had traveled a good forty meters.
Vega looked back to the walls and started examining them.
"Yes ma'am." Vi mumbled, very quietly, but Isaac still heard her. He chose to ignore the woman's remarks and instead checked the side opposite of Vega.
"What do you think Mute?" Isaac asked his trusted companion. "Think this is a waste of time?"
Mute's face appeared in the usual spot in his HUD. "It could be, but then again I think we'd torture ourselves more if we didn't check the place."
"So... better safe than sorry right?"
Mute shrugged. "Pretty much. If it turns out to be a total waste, we can bitch about it later."
Isaac rolled his eyes. "Of course..." He mumbled.
"What the heck?" Vega's voice grabbed his attention. Isaac turned around and looked in the summoner's direction. He was hunched over a rock, examining it closely.
"You find something?" Isaac asked.
"I... think... but..." Vega seemed hesitant in his responses.
Isaac walked over to the summoner and stood behind him, peering over his shoulder. The hell? It was... something alright. There was a small lever in the wall with a sign that read "Yank me" strung around it.
"You guys find something?" Vi asked. Isaac looked to the side to see her walk up next to him with a puzzled expression. "Yank me? What?"
"How did you find this?" Isaac asked. More like, how the hell did someone miss this?
"Just now, it was hidden behind a rock." Vega answered. "What should we do?"
Mute's avatar appeared to Isaac's right, between himself and Vi. "Levers that have a "Yank Me" sign hanging around them generally are bad news." She cautioned.
"Yeah..." Vi muttered. "I'm going to agree with the glowing blue girl..."
"So... why is it here then?" Isaac asked. Nobody answered.
After a few seconds of them staring at the lever, Vi tilted her head. "That handwriting... looks familiar..." She muttered quietly.
Vega shrugged. "Fuck it." He said and reached out to the lever.
Isaac was about to say something, to caution Vega, but he noticed Vi's eyes dart wide open. "Wait! No!" She shouted, but she was too late as Vega grabbed the lever and pulled down on it. There was a quiet "thunk" sound as he pulled it, and Isaac noticed a motion above them.
His eyes darted upwards and he reached out to grab Vega, but he wasn't fast enough. He could only watch a wooden board of sorts drop down from a hidden place in the roof and come speeding down, onto the top of the summoner's head with a loud "Whack!"
"OW!" Vega shouted, stumbling to the side with his hands darting to his head where the board had hit him. "What the fuck?!"
Isaac ignored the summoner's complaining though; instead his eyes were now focused on the board that was hanging at his and Vi's eye level.
It's a sign...
It had too words on it, painted in pink; after reading them Isaac let out a sigh.
"Great..." He mumbled.
"Aw shit." Vi cursed.
"Uh-oh." Mute added.
"What?" Isaac heard Vega ask from behind as he stumbled, his voice still laced with pain. "What is it? A sign...?" Vega paused. "Get Jinxed? What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
I think, I have a hunch... Isaac thought gloomily. He noticed a small object drop down from behind the sign and hit the ground with a "ping", rolling to his feet. He looked down, and judging by the way the ground lit up with light, he wasn't the only one looking down at the sudden object.
It was a grenade, with the word "SURPRISE!" painted on the side in pink with a pink smiley face.
"Oh shit." Vi muttered.
With lightning speed, Isaac violently threw both his arms out at Vega and Vi, shoving them aside as he dove on the grenade.
"Mute harden!" Isaac shouted to his AI, and as he did, the grenade exploded with a deafening boom.
The Loose Cannon
Everdeen Mines, near Piltover
Everything was a blur. Every sound was mumbled. Every movement he made was uncoordinated. Every sense in Isaac's body was completely screwed up.
Oh... my head... Isaac thought, the ringing in his ears was driving him insane, and the fact that everything was a blur didn't help him either. He tried getting to his feet, but he couldn't coordinate his movements and instead dropped back face-first into the ground.
Shell-shocked... I'm going to have to wait for a few seconds... He thought, staying calm. I can move, so I'm not paralyzed, and I can still hear some mummers, so I'm not deaf.
The ringing faded slowly, and soon Isaac could make out various tones of voices behind him. His vision began to return as well. Now he could at least make out objects... somewhat. He felt something grab onto him, a hand he guessed? It rolled him over onto his back, and Isaac tried to make out the face that was hovering over his head.
Blonde... messy... hardhat... Ezreal? Isaac guessed. His vision was still just blurry enough that he couldn't make out the face perfectly. But the outline and the basic facial features told him enough. Yeah, that's Ezreal.
Isaac mustered his strength and sat up, waving his hand around as he did. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He mumbled, but even his own voice sounded distant. "Just, a little dizzy."
He saw another human shaped blur rush to his other side, this one seemed to have some sort of hood. Hood... hood... Vega. Isaac pinned the figure down in his mind. Damn, thoughts are still a bit slow. I must be more shaken up then I thought.
The blur that he suspected was Vega placed and arm on the top of his helmet, and Isaac could see a green light emit from the younger man's hand. Before Isaac could question what it was, his vision flashed green.
And suddenly...
"There!" Vega exclaimed. "How about now?"
What? Isaac blinked a few times and shook his head. He could suddenly hear and see fine. Huh?
"How...?" Isaac started. "What did you just do?"
"A healing spell. You looked a more than a little dizzy." Vega grinned as he said that, but his expression quickly changed to one of concern. "You ok? Does it hurt anywhere?"
"Archangel... with all due respect... ARE YOU BATSHIT CRAZY?!" Isaac heard Mute shout at him. Her avatar appeared in the air right in front of his face. She had her hands on her hips and thrust her head forwards; her expression clearly showed Isaac that she was pissed.
"You should know the answer to that by now Mute." Isaac tried to get to his feet again, finding it much easier to move now; although every muscle in his body was sore now.
"That little stunt you just pulled probably shed a few years off my life!" Mute cursed at him. "You JUMPED on a fucking GRENADE!"
"Relax, I stopped a tank shell once with a harden suit remember?" He waved her off. Sorry I worried you, but what other option did I have? Where could I have kicked it to? The wall right behind it? The other two would've been shredded by shrapnel.
"What happened?" Ezreal asked, his face also concerned. Both men were crouched down next to him. Slightly off to the side, Isaac could see Caitlyn helping Vi up.
"I'll tell you what happened!" Vi cursed, she seemed more pissed off then Mute did. "That crazy bitch left us a god-damn present!" Vi spat, her armored clothing was covered in dirt and dust and she had a small bleeding cut on the cheek opposite of her tattoo. Other than that she seemed ok.
"Who? Jinx?" Caitlyn asked, trying to brush off the dirt on her partner's clothing.
Vi cursed again. "Even down here she's fucking with us! God-damn it!" She shouted, and charged at the wall where the sign once was.
Oh shit! Isaac, Ezreal, and Vega all tumbled out of the way as Vi stormed past them, and smashed the wall with her massive armored fist. The rumbling sound from her fist filled the sound waves, and dust from the shockwave she emitted filled the tunnel, causing everyone to cough.
"Ahhh... its great having no lungs." Mute laughed, her previous angry attitude seemingly gone.
"Vi! Calm down!" Caitlyn managed to say between coughs.
"We're in mining tunnel!" Ezreal coughed. "Don't go smashing holes in the walls! You could release toxic fumes!"
"S-sorry." Vi replied, coughing twice. "Umm, guys? I think I found our passage."
"What?" Isaac asked, trying his hardest not to cough. She found something by smashing a wall in!?
When the dust cleared, it all made sense. Vi stood in the center of a newly punched hole in the wall, revealing a hidden tunnel on the other side. She twister her upper body to look back at the group.
"Well... like I always say." Vi shrugged. "Sometimes, you gotta make a door."
Isaac got to his feet and walked over, peering into the new tunnel. It didn't go very far, maybe twenty meters. He turned around and searched the ground for where he dropped his DM rifle. There it is. He thought as he picked it up, shouldered it, and wandered into the new cave Vi had found, right behind the rest of the group.
As the group got close to the end of the new tunnel, Isaac saw all of them stop and look down.
"Can't see anything down there." Vi said. Isaac peered over their shoulders to see what they meant. Sure enough, there was a hole in the earth, and it was pitch black. Ezreal removed his backpack and began to search it. A few seconds later he drew out a torch and a match.
"This'll help." He said, striking the match and lighting the torch. After letting it burn for a few seconds, he held it over the hole, and dropped it. All five of them peered into the hole to see it fall.
After a several seconds, it landed in what seemed to be water, and extinguished.
Ezreal gave a whistle and Vi cursed again.
"It's a lake... great." She muttered.
"Are we even sure that this is the right way?" Vega asked.
"It's the only thing we've got right now." Ezreal replied, reaching into his backpack again.
An underground lake... Isaac thought.
Mute's face appeared in his HUD. "Don't forget about your oxygen tanks being FUBAR."
"I haven't." Isaac muttered. If that lake turns out to be deep, I'm going to sink like a rock.
"Here." Isaac felt Ezreal shove something against his hand. He looked down to see what it was. A rope? Isaac threw a curious look at the explorer. He was hooking up a belt around his waist and attaching the rope to it.
Oh... I see. Isaac nodded, and took the rope. "You got something to anchor this with?" He asked.
Ezreal handed him a metal spike over his shoulder. Isaac took it and looked around for a good place to plant it. Nothing but rocks in here... going to need a lot of force... He looked at Vi. Bingo.
"Vi. Plant this somewhere so I can tie a rope around it." He nudged the pink haired police officer with blunt end of the spike. She looked down at it for a moment with a questioning look, but after throwing a glance at Ezreal, she clued in.
"Ok..." She took it and looked around for a good spot. "Here!" She slammed it into the wall with a grunt. Isaac took a few steps over to it and gave it a tug. That's stuck in there alright. He nodded; satisfied it wasn't going to give out right away.
"You're going down there?" Vega asked.
"You got a better idea?" Ezreal responded, walking up to the hole. "Come on, it's not like I don't do this for a living."
"Well, it's a good thing you can swim." Caitlyn said, using her sniper's flashlight to try and spot anything in the hole.
Ezreal looked at Isaac. "We good?"
Isaac gave the rope another quick tug. "Yeah, that'll hold you. If worse comes to worse, it's not like you can't teleport right?"
Ezreal tossed the remainder of the rope to Isaac. "Just take it slow." He said, and he started to descend. Isaac held onto the rope with his feet firmly planted to ground. The others also grabbed on, making it easier to support the explorer's weight. Although he really doesn't weigh much... Isaac thought about it, as he watched the others in front of him slowly slack the rope for Ezreal as he descended.
"See anything?" Vi called out.
"Not yet. This underground lake is really big." Isaac heard Ezreal call back.
"Any sight of dry land?" Caitlyn shouted back.
"Uh... Yeah, there's a big rock sticking out of the lake. Looks traversable, but aside from that I don't see anything else..."
"So... nothing then?" Vega asked.
"I hope he finds SOMETHING." Vi muttered.
"Stop!" Ezreal shouted, and all four of them gripped the rope.
Oh I hope he's not in shit...
"What's wrong?" Caitlyn shouted at the out of sight explorer.
"I just want to look around." Ezreal called back. "Just hold me here for a bit."
"Whew... thought he was about to get eaten by a shark." Vi muttered.
Isaac raised an eyebrow at that. What?
"You... think sharks live in underground caves?" Caitlyn questioned.
"Well, THIS one does!" Isaac heard a new voice say. Familiar higher pitched voice. Everyone turned their heads to look at the source of the voice behind Isaac, and each one had a surprised expression on his or her face.
Uh-oh.
He looked over his shoulder to confirm his fears. And there, in the smashed entrance to the hidden tunnel Vi had found, stood a lone skinny figure carrying a something that looked like a rocket launcher.
"Oh, bullocks..." Caitlyn mumbled.
The lights from their head/helmet flashlights lit up Jinx's face, revealing her signature crazy smile and pink eyes. If the lights bothered her, she didn't show it. Instead she leveled her rocket launcher, which had a shark head for the cannon, right at them.
"Hey Fishbones, do you think we otta' help these people find their way back home?" She asked, her head turned and looking at her rocket launcher. Jinx reached up to the jaw of her rocket launcher's shark head and started to mimic it talking. "Yes. They look awfully lost; helping them would be a good thing!" She said in a lower, stranger tone of voice.
Jinx growled, and punched the side of her rocket launcher. "No you dummy! We're gonna' enjoy this!" She snarled, and an immediately, her insane smile returned and she laughed.
Isaac was speechless.
"Did she... just talk to her rocket launcher?" He heard Vega ask, his voice betraying his disbelief.
"Yes... yes she just did." Caitlyn muttered.
"JINX!" Vi shouted, and Isaac felt the rope lunge forward slightly. He renewed his grip and twisted his head to look at Vi, who had let go of the rope, and now stood facing Jinx with snarl on her face.
"Whoa!" He heard Ezreal shout in the distance. "What's going on up there?!"
"Vi! So good to see you again!" Jinx laughed. "Really, you never call, you never wanna' hang out anymore..."
"Shut it!" Vi shouted at their soon-to-be attacker. "I've got the punch line to your stupid joke right, HERE!" She pounded her fists together and made ready to charge.
Jinx responded to Vi's aggression by taking aim with her rocket launcher. "Duck!" She shouted and squeezed the trigger. "Just kidding, that won't help!" She finished with a laugh as a single rocket ejected from her launcher.
Aimed right at Vi.
Shit! Isaac cursed, doing the only thing he could do. He swept Vi's legs out from underneath her, causing the pink haired officer to come crashing to the ground, and causing the rocket to miss her.
Wait... that rocket was too wide... which means.
The rocket hit the wall behind them and exploded, sending bits of rock, dirt, dust, and smoke everywhere. Before he could shout anything, the sounds of something collapsing drowned all noise out, and he felt the ground give out from underneath him. Oh shit!
Isaac let go of the rope and twisted his body around, trying to grab onto the rocky floor. As he did, the ground gave out and his body dropped down. Cursing in his mind, he grabbed the earth where he had been standing moments before and his chest slammed into the solid rock. As he did, he could hear Jinx laughing.
He also could hear his companion's screams quickly grow distant.
Oh no...Isaac looked over his shoulder back at where his companions should have been, only to see nothing but a much larger hole. Next, he looked down, and saw that there were now faint lights in the water, revealing several ripples in the lake.
I hope they can ALL swim... Isaac shook his head, trying to get himself to focus on his own predicament. He was now hanging from the edge of the enlarged hole. I'm a sitting duck here, the moment I try and pull myself up into sight, Jinx is going to light me up!
But not if I shoot her first.
Isaac closed his eyes, and released his grip on the rock with one of his hands. Knowing full well his rifle was either at the bottom of the lake, or just straight up gone, Isaac focused his power into his right hand, picturing a pistol, and felt the same pain sensations as he did whenever he used his powers. After a few seconds of charging, he heard the popping sound and felt the grip of a pistol in his right hand.
Perfect.
"Don't do anything reckless Isaac!" Mute cautioned him.
"Just let me do my job." He muttered, and focused hard. Time slow.
As fast as he could, Isaac grabbed the earth with both hands and vaulted himself up. He managed to gain enough momentum to nearly pull himself out of the hole, but he only managed to get himself up halfway. He tilted his body forwards, and managed to get his torso outwards and onto the floor.
This posture will at least let me shoot... Isaac lifted his DM pistol and aimed at Jinx, his time slow wearing off as he did.
Only to see that she was no longer alone.
Three new figures had showed up, each clad in body armor that covered them head to toe. The armor was a dark blue, almost black color, and the visors had a slight glowing blue tint to them. The armored suits looked too advanced to be native to Valoran. And Isaac recognized them instantly.
Ascension...
One of the three had Jinx by one of her long pigtails, yanking her head back. A second was holding a rifle with a larger then average barrel and drum clip. The third had a sidearm held to Jinx's stomach.
Jinx on the other hand, had both her hands behind her head, trying to free herself from the grip of the man who held onto her hair.
"Let go!" She shouted, her smile gone.
"Ah, shut up cunt!" The third Ascension soldier held his sidearm up to her neck. "Unless you want me to taze you." He laughed as sparks emitted from the sidearm. Jinx spat in on his visor in response.
"Oh, you WHORE!" The man shouted in anger, and reared his arm back to drive the tazer into Jinx's head.
Oh no you don't!
Isaac aimed at the man with the tazer and fired his DM pistol. Purple sparks emitted from the barrel as he shot. The first two rounds hit the man in the side, one in the shoulder, one in the midsection; the locations where the dark matter bullets had impacted on the man left a scorched purple, black mark.
The man grunted in pain and stumbled away from Jinx, revealing his back to Isaac. Isaac didn't let up, and fired again and again. The rounds hit the man multiple times in the back, and he let out a howling scream of pain.
The second man spotted Isaac, and shouldered his rifle. Isaac shifted his aim and fired at the second man, the round striking him in the shoulder and causing his target to stagger. Damn it, hard to aim like this... Isaac squeezed the trigger again, but one of rocks he had been using to hold himself up slipped, and he stumbled. The shot hit the roof instead of his intended target.
Shit! I'm slipping! Isaac gritted his teeth as he tried to rebalance himself without falling backwards down the hole. But he had given the other man enough time. He aimed at Isaac and fired.
But as he squeezed the trigger, Jinx's leg darted upwards and kicked the gun up. "Psyche!" She shouted.
A round fired from the gun, hit the roof of the tunnel, and it bounced to the ground with a loud ping.
It bounced? Isaac looked down at the round, and saw that it was a grenade. A grenade launcher... ah shit.
Isaac had no choice, he pushed himself backwards to get away from the explosive, and fell into the hole. As he fell, he saw the man holding Jinx by the hair throw her to the ground and jump on her.
Thanks Jinx. Isaac thought as he fell, and slammed into the water below.
Reunion
Lower Everdeen Mines
He grunted from the impact as he hit the water, fighting to keep himself from sinking. Shit! He cursed, as he slowly sank deeper and deeper into the water.
Mute's face appeared in his HUD. "Isaac! Relax! The only oxygen in your suit is-" She began.
"Right, right!" Isaac muttered closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, and calmed himself. Ok... I've only got minutes... maybe less, before I suffocate.
He opened them again and looked around. The lack of light made it impossible to see where he was, his helmet lights weren't doing much to help him underwater. He looked down, trying to see the bottom. Nothing but pitch black He frowned, looking up. Shit! I'm sinking!
Isaac rapidly swam upwards, trying to get his head back above water. Even though he was giving it everything he had, he wasn't making much progress. Suit's too heavy! I'm barely moving upwards, more so just staying in one spot!
A bright light suddenly filled the water around him. Huh? Isaac looked around, trying to spot the source. He spotted Ezreal and Vega not far away, swimming over to him, light emitting from Ezreal's gauntlet.
"Looks like they see us." Mute said.
Then they better hurry up! Isaac thought. He could already taste the difference in air as the oxygen in his suit started to get used up.
Sure enough, the pair swam over to Isaac and helped him resurface.
The moment his head broke free of the water, Isaac took in a deep breath. Whew. He thought.
"You okay?" Ezreal asked him.
Isaac nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
Vega scoffed. "What? You can't swim or something?"
"The suit's too heavy. Heavy things sink." Isaac shook his head. He was able to tread water, but doing just that took a ton of effort, and that was with the aid of both of the men keeping him above water.
Ezreal and Vega guided Isaac over to the big rock that Ezreal had spotted earlier. He could see a couple of lights on the rock as well. Flashlights? Must be the others. Once they reached it, Isaac pulled himself out of the water and rolled onto his back, glad to be out of the water.
"You ok Archangel?" He heard Caitlyn's voice. Isaac looked over to his right and saw that both Caitlyn and Vi were soaking wet.
"Yeah, I'm good." Isaac responded. Caitlyn was trying to get the water out of her sniper rifle, and Vi had removed one of her gauntlets, trying to get as much of the water out of it as well.
"That damn bitch!" Vi cursed. "Why did she have to show up now?"
"Is she still up there?" Ezreal asked, turning to face the hole in which they had fallen from.
"I guess we've got some explaining to do..." Mute grinned. She was still in his HUD, so only he could hear her.
Isaac nodded. Right... He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"She's not up there anymore. But we've got a new problem." Isaac started, getting to his feet and looking at everyone's faces to make sure they were listening. Each one of his companions we're looking right at him, waiting for his next words. I hate being on the spot...
"Jinx has been... captured, by an organization called the Ascension." Isaac rubbed the back of his neck. "And their likely the ones behind these... missing people." Might as well drop the bomb now. He thought. He hadn't believed they were responsible for the kidnappings, but the fact they had had just captured Jinx like that made it rather clear. A bit.
"The Ascension?" Caitlyn asked. "Who are they?"
Isaac paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to make a short version. "The Ascension is... a major terrorist organization from my world. They used to be a huge military force that the world had feared, but today they're a shadow of their former selves." He explained. Although the world wants to labeled them as gone, they were only defeated, not destroyed.
"So... they're the bad guys from your world?" Vi asked as she shoved her free hand back into the gauntlet she had been draining.
"Why didn't you mention them before?" Caitlyn asked with a raised eyebrow.
"There was no evidence to connect them to the missing people." Isaac shook his head. "Not until I just saw them capture Jinx back there."
"Guys?" Ezreal interrupted. "Look I know we need to debate this, but shouldn't we figure a way out of here first?"
Everyone paused.
"Yeah... how do we?" Vi broke the silence with the million dollar question.
"Isaac?" Mute began, "I'm picking something up."
That got Isaac's full attention. He turned away from the rest of his group as they tried to come up with a way out. "Friendly or hostile?"
"Friendly... and it's coming closer."
"How far?"
"About..." Before Mute could finish, there was a rumbling sound.
"What was that?" Vega asked.
Before anyone could answer, there was a loud splash off in the distance. Everyone turned to face the direction of the splash, their lights shining over the water to try to spot the source of the sound. The lights from everyone's helmet flashlights (and Caitlyn's sniper) shone over a newly formed hole in the wall about a meter above the water, which was rippling from whatever had fallen in it.
In the entrance to the new cave, stood a figure with a similar black suit of armor, with a slightly difference helmet then Isaac's. In his hands he held an assault rifle, but he wasn't pointing it at them.
"Who is...?" Vega started.
"Isn't that...?" Vi tilted her head to the side.
"He's about that far." Mute grinned.
Isaac couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. "I'll be..." He said. He really was down here.
"He's hailing us, patching him through." Mute said.
Ezreal turned back to face Isaac. "What's going on?" He asked.
"He's contacting me over our..." Isaac started, "Radio." Technically it's a radio... but the real name is too complex to explain right now.
"Didn't expect to see you down here." A new yet familiar voice spoke to Isaac. Isaac nodded in response. Firewall. He raised one hand and saluted. "Corporal Adam Chase, Shadow Team. Firewall, reporting in." He stated his entire title.
Isaac saluted back. "Archangel, good to see you alive and well Firewall."
"Thanks sergeant." Firewall seemed to relax. He glanced around the cave, the flashlights on his helmet shining around as he did. "How did you get down here?"
"It's... a long story." Isaac rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ok look," Vi interrupted. "As much as you and your buddy seem to be enjoying the reunion, can you ask him if he's got a way off this rock?"
Good point. Isaac sighed. "Firewall, you got a way out of here? Preferably without swimming."
"I got a way out." Firewall said, pointing over his shoulder into the cave in which he was standing in. "But you're going to have to swim over here."
Great... Isaac sighed, and turned to face Vi, and pointed to the cave. "Exit is where he is, but we got to swim."
"Shit." Vi cursed. "Why did I even bother to drain out the water of these things?" She muttered, waving her massive gauntlets.
"Lighten up cupcake, it's only water." Caitlyn poked at her partner.
Vi snarled at Caitlyn. "Good point." She said, and gave her partner a violent shove. Caitlyn let out a brief yelp as she fell back into the water.
"It's only water, cupcake!" Vi shouted at the submerged Caitlyn, and laughed.
Isaac shook his head, and turned to Ezreal and Vega. "Hate to ask you guys for your help again..." He started.
"But I'll sink like a rock if you guys don't help me, right?" Ezreal laughed. "Let's go."