Firewall

Lower Everdeen Mines

The group followed Firewall through a series of twisting tunnels before arriving at a rusted metal door.

"Here we are." Firewall said, pushing the door open. "Sorry about the mess, but keeping my room tidy isn't exactly a priority right now."

Isaac followed his comrade into the small lit cavern where he suspected Firewall had been hiding in for a long time. Old wooden crates and chests littered the room; some of them were rotting from what he suspected was old age. There was also an aged lantern on top of one of the crates that seemed to be the sole source of light in the room (aside from everyone else's flashlights). A bed roll was laid out near the wall, with a much more different crate nearby with the Ascension logo on it. On top of said crate, were three assault rifles and several boxes of ammo.

"What is this place?" Vi asked as she entered the room.

"My guess was that this was some old pirate hiding spot from god knows when." Firewall explained, placing his assault rifle down on the crate with the others. "Since it looked like it's been vacant for a long time, I kinda just moved in."

While everyone else looked around the room, Isaac turned his attention to his old comrade. His armor was chipped and dented, covered in scrapes and scorch marks. Why isn't his suit self repairing those? Isaac wondered. There had to be only one reason. His self repair must be damaged, or destroyed. But was that done in the transit from our world to here, or was it done afterwards?

Firewall turned around to face Isaac, and tapped two fingers against his helmet where the mouth would be. Isaac nodded in response. He wants to open up a private channel.

"Mute?" Isaac asked quietly.

"Got it. Opening private channel and disabling external sound." His AI replied, and after a second, a small window with the words FIREWALL appeared in his HUD's bottom left corner.

"What happened to your armor?" Isaac asked right away. "Why isn't you're self repair working?"

"It's... damaged, along with most of my suit's systems including my shields." Firewall shook his head slightly. "Night vision is out, x-ray is out, thermal is out, and that's just the start of the list."

"Same here. Mute says it all got fried when that rift shocked us."

Firewall nodded. "I thought so too." He paused for a moment before adding. "Is Mute still there?"

Mute's face appeared in the usual spot in Isaac's HUD. "Of course, how could I leave you idiots alone?"

"Good to see you too." Firewall nodded.

"So, answer a question for me Adam," Mute started, "Where is CEO? I'm not picking him up at all."

What? Isaac narrowed his eyes for a moment. CEO was Firewall's AI partner, like Mute was his. How could CEO be...?

It was a good three seconds before Firewall answered. "He's... he's gone."

"How?" Isaac asked.

Before Firewall could answer, Vi walked up into Isaac's peripherals. "Hey, how long are you two going to stand there staring at each other all creepy like?" She asked.

Isaac sighed. That's because we have our external sounds disabled so no one can hear us you... ahh forget it.

"Mute?"

"External's back online."

"What is it?" Isaac turned his attention to Vi.

Caitlyn walked up to them and answered for her partner. "Well we've made it out of that water cavern, but now what do we do?"

Good question...

"While we're on that topic..." Firewall spoke up, no longer on the private channel. "What ARE you all doing down here?"

Caitlyn turned her attention to Firewall. "That is something I would like to ask you. These mines are privately owned, you shouldn't be here, let alone living down here."

"Uhh..." Firewall responded.

"Ahem!" Ezreal coughed, getting everyone's attention. "Were down here to find YOU actually, and the whereabouts of some certain individuals who I think we just discovered were called the... Ascension?"

Isaac nodded. "Yeah, them."

"Now while we're on THAT topic." Caitlyn turned back to face Isaac. "Who are they and why are they here?"

Isaac frowned. "I already told you, the Ascension is-"

"An evil organization that almost conquered the world, yes yes yes, I get that part." Caitlyn waved her hand around. "But what I want is details. And to have this question answered. Why are they here?"

Isaac bit his lower lip. "I... I can't answer that question. Not fully. Because all I have is speculation on WHY they might be here."

"Do we look like were part of the Ascension to you?" Firewall asked, shaking his head.

Vi cocked her head to the side and sighed. "Please tell me you didn't just ask that..." She groaned.

"Look." Vega waved his hands around in the air, trying to get everyone's attention. "While this IS an important matter to debate, now is not the time. If what you said is true, Archangel, then Jinx has been kidnapped by the Ascension." The young summoner said, before straightening himself out. "Now, as a summoner in service to the Institute of War, and as the summoner sent to find the causes of the missing people, I cannot allow a force from another world to take a Champion of the League prisoner."

Vi rolled her eyes and waved her massive hands in the air in a taunting gesture. "Ohhh look at me! I'm a summoner from the League! I cannot allow a FUCKING insane criminal to get kidnapped!" She spat.

Isaac rolled his eyes. We're going in circles here... but Vega is right, we can't let the Ascension go around kidnapping people. He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought, trying to ignore the verbal spat that had erupted between Vi and Vega. If the Ascension has been down here for some time, that means they have to have a base nearby. The fact that they just happened to be there when Jinx was attacking us is a little too convenient

Isaac turned to Firewall. "Does the Ascension have a base nearby?"

Firewall paused for a second, and nodded. "Yes. But I wouldn't exactly call it a base per say."

"What do you mean?"

"It's..." Firewall paused for a moment. "You know what, I think it's better if I just showed you."

"Wait, what?" Ezreal asked. He had apparently been listening to them amidst the verbal fight between Vega and Vi, which now had Caitlyn involved in trying to break it up. "You know where it is?"

Firewall nodded, turning around and walking off towards a large boulder at the back of the room. "Of course... it's where I came out of the rift." He said, and started to push the boulder with a loud grunt.

"What are you doing?" Vega asked, no longer arguing with Vi.

"Need a hand there shorty?" Vi asked, flexing her massive gauntlets.

"No... I got... it!" Firewall grunted, and with that last word, the boulder finally moved, rolling several feet and came to a rest against another rock. Where the boulder once was, another tunnel was revealed, this one much smaller.

How many hidden tunnels are there down here? Isaac shook his head.

"This way." Firewall motioned with his head before crouching down and walking slowly through the tunnel.

Overseer

The low roofed tunnel let them to a larger, but still narrow cave. Unlike the other cave where Firewall had led them to, this one had nothing in it other than rock. And Vi commented on just that.

"There's nothing here, it's just a dead end." She muttered.

Firewall pointed to one of the walls. "There." He said.

Isaac followed his finger and inspected said wall. At first glance it seemed like every other rock wall on this massive cave system that they called the Everdeen Mines, but as he got closer, he could see what made it different.

There's a ton of small holes... with light coming out... He frowned. But... why? What was so interesting about it that Firewall wanted to show them?

Pondering that question, Isaac walked over to said rock wall and examined it. Aside from the holes of light, there was nothing different about it. That means it's the holes. Isaac found one such hole near his eye level and pressed his helmet up against it, trying to look through. As he did, he bit his lip.

Well... mother fucker...

It was a peep hole, they were all peep holes. And on the other side of the rocks, was pay dirt.

It was a much larger cavern, the largest one he had seen in this cave system. It was also flooded with water, and on top of that it looked like the way out, since it had a massive entrance large enough to fit an airliner jet through. Looks like it takes us out to sea... Isaac thought as he looked around inside the cave. But it wasn't the formation of the cavern, or the fact the exit took them out to the ocean that had caught Isaac's eye.

But the submarine with the Ascension's stared insignia on it.

Well... Isaac bit his lower lip again. A god-damn submarine...

"Mute?" Isaac asked his AI. "What sub is that?"

Mute's face appeared in his HUD. Another screen appeared next to hers with the schematics for the submarine displayed.

"It's a RVMS Overseer-class submarine, designed and used only by the Ascension. Primarily based off the Astute-class submarine used by the United Kingdom during the early 21st century, although instead of nuclear power it uses hydrogen fuel cells, the Overseer-class is one of the rarer Ascension subs. Only two have ever been confirmed to be destroyed during the Ascension War." Mute explained. "Although, unlike the Astute-class, the Overseer's primary role is that of a "mother submarine", and it houses several midget submarines that play a role similar to that of aircraft fighters. In addition to this carrier role, the Overseer-class houses a research suite for Ascension scientists and researchers, as well as a prisoner bay for captured POWs and VIPs that could have been captured during raids performed by the midget submarines."

Quite the explanation... Isaac looked the submarine up and down. It judging by the schematics, the sleek dark blue submarine had to be around 135 ft long. Some of the crew members, all dressed in the Ascension's signature dark blue uniform and/or combat armor, were on the deck carrying crates into the sub. Isaac noticed that on the side of the hull facing them was a hole with three crewmembers attending to it.

Looks like it's been damaged... that would explain why it's parked here instead of out in the water. Unless it's a very important base, the Ascension never like to stay in one spot for too long, that's why they have so many damn submarines in their service.

He heard Ezreal whistle. "Damn... that ship is impressive!"

"How...? What kind of ship is that?" Vi asked.

Isaac turned away from the peek hole and saw that everyone aside from Firewall was now leaning up against the rock wall peeking through one of the holes.

"Is... that a submarine?" Caitlyn asked.

"Yeah... but isn't a submarine a little beyond your guy's technology yet?" Isaac asked.

"Heimerdinger has been working on a prototype submarine, but beyond that there aren't any such vessels." Caitlyn explained. "And it sure doesn't look THAT impressive."

"So... is this where the Ascension have been kidnapping people? From a submarine?" Vi asked. "No wonder we couldn't find them, we never looked UNDERWATER!"

"I don't think so..." Vega muttered, like everyone else he also had his face pressed up against the rock. "Some of the abductions have been far inland, nowhere near water... unless that thing can fly?"

"No, it can't fly..." Isaac muttered. Primitives...

But... if there's a submarine here... how come the Ascension hasn't found us yet..? Isaac pondered that question, looking the submarine over again. His eyes fell on a section of the submarine's tower where two crew members were attending what appeared to be a destroyed antenna. Ah... someone has been taking shots at the ship... that antenna might have been its radar...

He turned to look behind him where Firewall was leaning up against the opposite wall.

"I assume that those holes in the sub and that destroyed antenna were your handy work?" He asked Firewall.

The younger meta-human nodded. "Yep. I thought it would be best if I kept that submarine here and harassed rather than out in the ocean where we might never find it again."

"And this is where you came out of the rift?" Isaac asked.

Firewall nodded again, more slowly this time. "They have a rift onboard that submarine."

"What?!" Mute's avatar appeared for everyone to see, and hear. "That's impossible! There is no way that submarine could have enough power to keep one of those things running!"

Firewall waved his hands around. "No, the one on that ship was different. The one back in that base on Earth was massive, and didn't look like it was a finished product. A prototype. The one in that submarine IS the finished product! It's smaller, more compact. And right after I came stumbling out of it they shut the damn thing off."

"What... are you two talking about?" Vi asked, looking away from the peek hole and giving Isaac a confused look. "Rift... what?"

Isaac shook his head. "It's a long story... not now."

"That seems to be your excuse for everything..." She muttered before looking back through the peek hole.

But I have more questions for my old comrade... not for your ears... Isaac thought, tapping two fingers to his mouthpiece to signal Firewall to open the private channel. The window with his name appeared again in Isaac's HUD to show him that the channel was now open.

"What?" Firewall asked.

"Oracle?" Isaac answered with another question. "She got sucked into the rift first. Was she with you?"

Please don't tell me she's dead...

Firewall shook his head. "She wasn't there. I think she may have come out a different rift." He crossed his arms over his chest, lower his head. "Since they shut the rift down right after I came through, if there was anyone else who was sucked in afterwards they must have been sent somewhere else." He raised his head back up too look at Isaac, expression hidden behind his goggled visor. "Speaking of which, where did you come out? Was it another Ascension base?" He turned to look at the others. "And why are you with all the locals?"

Isaac shook his head. We don't have time for me to give you the whole story. "It's a long story, but the short version is that I got pulled out mid-flight and got a massive job tossed onto me."

"What kind of job?"

"The kind we're good at." Isaac shook his head. "But let's save the Q and A until later." I've got some questions for you too. Like why are you beat to shit, where is CEO, and how the hell did you escape a submarine?

Firewall nodded. "Ok, but what are you going to do now?"

Before Isaac could answer that, Caitlyn interrupted them. "Bullocks... look!" She cursed.

"Where?" Ezreal asked.

"Over there, near the back of the submarine."

"I don't... oh." Vi muttered.

"Shit, I see it too." Vega cursed.

Isaac cut the channel to Firewall and his external sound came back online. "What is it?" He asked.

"They got Jinx." Vega muttered.

Well we knew THAT. Isaac peeked through the hole again. On the opposite side of the submarine, were three armored Ascension soldiers walking around the outside of the cavern. The first one was carrying a skinny limp girl, her long blue pigtails dragging on the rocks. They're taking her to the submarine... Isaac bit his lip.

The second soldier was carrying Jinx's weapons, while the third was limping behind them. That's the bastard I should've finished off... Isaac cursed again.

"They're taking her to the submarine? Why?" Vega asked.

"Uhh duh?" Vi rolled her eyes. "If their kidnapping people they have to take them somewhere."

"So... we have to rescue her from aboard a submarine?" Ezreal asked. "That's going to be... difficult?"

"Woah, woah!" Vi pushed away from the rock wall and waved her massive gauntlets in the air, almost striking both Caitlyn and Vega in the process. "You guys can't be serious!? She's a criminal! A killer! Whatever those bastards do to that bitch she deserves!"

"No..." Isaac muttered. "What those bastards do to people, no one deserves." You haven't seen the inside of some of their labs... where they do their human experimentation...

Vi cursed again, and rounded on Isaac. "Look Archangel-"

"Vi that's enough." Caitlyn cut her partner off, standing up and marking herself eye level with the pink haired girl. "I don't like the idea of rescuing Jinx anymore then you do, but-"

Vi spun around to face her partner, back facing Isaac, waving her massive gauntlets around again. "Cait! You're siding with THEM!?"

"Don't get me wrong, we're not doing this for Jinx, we're doing this to stop the Ascension from kidnapping anyone else." Caitlyn walked over to Isaac, ignoring her still fuming partner. "But we have one condition: After we rescue Jinx she comes with us." She said to Isaac, before turning her head to face Vi again. "To her cell."

Vi snarled, biting her lower lip. After a few seconds she let out a sigh. "Fine..." She grumbled.

Caitlyn patted Vi on the head. "That's more like it cupcake." She chuckled, as Vi tried to swat her hand off with her massive gauntlets.

"Can't believe I put up with you..." Vi muttered.

"Why, the feeling is mutual my dear Vi." Caitlyn replied.

Now that that's settled... Isaac turned to Firewall. "You asked me what the plan was? Have you figured it out yet?"

Firewall let out a sigh. "I was afraid you'd say that..." He shook his head. "A full on assault on an Overseer-class submarine... this is a terrible idea..."

Ever the voice of caution...

"Yeah... while we're on that subject..." Vega started. "How ARE we supposed to get on board?"

"There has to be a tunnel that wraps around to the other side." Ezreal said.

"What makes you so sure?" Vi asked. "In case you've forgotten, we've been down here all day because these mines twist and turn."

"And blow up." Vega added.

That was your own damn fault you... Isaac rolled his eyes, and noticed that Caitlyn was giving the summoner a similar look.

"Well... he got over here somehow." Ezreal pointed at Firewall. "Which means I'm sure you know the way BACK over there?"

Firewall let out a sigh. "Yes... I do. But I still think this is a terrible idea."

"Our ideas are always terrible." Mute chuckled. "Why else do you think WE have to carry them out?"

Best Laid Plans

The group returned to Firewall's cave, where they tried to formulate a plan.

"We need to board that submarine before it sets sail." Firewall began. "The Ascension set up a rampart for them to get to and from the submarine's deck and thus, its entrance. But all they need to do is power up the engines and set sail, and we'll never catch it."

"So, we need to make a mad dash for the ramp then right?" Vi asked.

"It's not that simple." Firewall shook his head. "Aside from the guards that will be trying to gun us down as we approach, the submarine itself is outfitted with several armaments." He looked at Isaac. "Mute? Can you give them the rundown?"

Mute's avatar appeared next to Isaac, and took a sitting pose on his shoulder. Isaac rolled his eyes in response.

"Of course Firewall." Mute began, taking a relaxing pose on Isaac's shoulder with her legs crossed. "The RVMS Overseer-class submarine is armed with a single thirty-one cell VLS, generally outfitted with a mix of anti-ship and anti-surface guided missiles. It is also armed with four twenty-nine inch torpedo tubes and two six-inch, sixty-five caliber lightweight guns that are hidden below deck."

While Isaac and Firewall fully understood what Mute had said, the other four only exchanged confused glances.

"Uh... so... it's got some... guns?" Vi asked, scratching the top of her head with her massive gauntlet in confusion.

Isaac rolled his eyes. "English Mute..." He muttered

Mute let out a brief sigh. "The only weapons we'll need to worry about in there are the two lightweight guns, which fire rounds that are designed to puncture think plated hulls that are on naval warships."

"Uh..." Ezreal rubbed his forehead. "So... how fast do they fire?"

"Up to twenty rounds per minute." Mute stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Wait, wait wait wait!" Vi waved her hands in the air. "I'm all for a good fight, but we have to dodge all those shots from each of those guns, shots are meant to sink warships made of STEEL?"

"It's not exactly steel, its-" Mute began, but was cut off by Isaac.

"The bottom line, one shot from those guns, and you're done for." He summed up. "But if it was impossible, we wouldn't be doing this. Mute, go on."

"Thank you." Mute cleared her throat, looking graceful as she did so.

She's enjoying this WAY too much... you're a god-damn AI you don't need to clear your throat!

"The two guns are stored below decks, as they are useless when submerged. They take about seven seconds to be raised to deck level, and from there they take another three seconds to load their first round. So we have a ten second window before they are ready to fire. Since we will be approaching from behind the ship, they will be unable to hit us until we are parallel from the ships' midsection and up."

"So in short..." Firewall spoke up, "They can't hit us for a bit since we'll be approaching from the rear. Unfortunately the ramp is at the front of the ship, so we'll have to face the reality of those guns eventually. They likely won't raise the guns until we eliminate the first guards, since they might not perceive us as a threat until then. But we might still be too far back at the time, so we need to be ready to handle those guns by the time we reach the midsection."

"So, what do we do about the guards?" Caitlyn asked. "From what I've seen and heard, those guns from your world fire rounds at an incredible rate, we'll be gunned down before we even reach the midsection."

"That's where I come in." Firewall pointed to himself. "Like Archangel, I'm a meta human too. My power allows me to bring up a large one-way shield that'll be able to take any incoming fire from those assault rifles." He paused. "But I'm not willing to beat that my shield can block those rounds from those deck guns."

Isaac nodded. "Hopefully we won't have to deal with that problem. Since the shield is one way we can fire back from behind him." Isaac nodded back to the others, who all nodded in return. They understand that part at least.

"What about magic? Can we fire that from behind the shield?" Vega asked.

Damn... good question... we've never tested that...

"Wait... what?" It seemed to be Firewall's turn to be confused. "Magic? Don't ask stupid questions! There's no such thing!" He waved his hand around.

Oh... Isaac exchanged a look with Mute, who was still on his shoulder. She shrugged in response. "He's been on a submarine and in a cave ever since he came here, he won't know." Mute muttered to Isaac quietly.

"What do you mean no such thing?" Vega asked, raising his hand, and a flame sparked to life in his hand.

Firewall took a step back. "What the hell?!" He half shouted, before turning to Isaac. "Archangel, you never mentioned that there metas!"

"No! Were not-" Vega started, but Isaac cut him off.

"Firewall, listen. There not meta-humans, and yes... I was sceptical of it too at first, hell I still am, but Mute's scans confirmed it. Its... magic. Or something like it." Isaac tried to explain. Firewall just crossed his arms and turned his head to the side.

"I can't... I can't believe you bought that... but... Mute..." He stumbled.

Forgot... this guy lives on logic more so then me...

Caitlyn let out a sigh. "You people, from your world. Do you ALL require scientific evidence to explain every little thing? Or is it just your ability to process normality that is so deeply rooted?

"Firewall, we can debate this later." Mute interrupted. "For now, just refer to it as such to avoid confusion, I'll send you the data from my scans at a later date."

"I... ok..." Firewall shook his head. "Umm, where were we?"

"We were asking if magic, or whatever the hell you want to call it, would affect your shield?" Vega asked again.

"Well... we never... uh... tested that. So let's just go with no... umm... magic." Firewall fumbled with his words before nodding. Whether the nod was to them or himself, Isaac didn't know. "Yes. No magic lets go with that."

"Ok... so, what? Ezreal and I have to stand back and do nothing behind that shield?"

"Can either of you fire a gun?" Firewall asked.

"I've never tried..." Vega muttered.

"Never had to, I've got this." Ezreal shrugged, patting his single oversized gauntlet.

"Then yes, while we move up, nothing."

"Join the club..." Vi muttered with her hands on her hips. Her massive gauntlets would prevent her from firing anything.

"Its fine, I've got a plan for you two." Isaac said. "So let's go over this, clearly this time, Mute?"

Mute nodded. "First, we have to clear the tunnels of any possible Ascension threats. Once we reach the cavern, we'll be approaching from behind the submarine. The Ascension will likely have guards both on the surface of the submarine, and on the rocky pathway to the ramp that connects the submarine to the cave. The guards on the pathway will be the first priority for elimination, since we can't afford to be taking fire from two angles. After that, we'll focus on the guards and security on the submarine's deck."

"Why the guards on the paths first? Why not the ones on the submarine?" Vega asked.

"More Ascension troops and crew members may emerge from the submarine's hatch, and it would lead them out onto the deck. If we eliminated the guards aboard the submarine first, then tried to focus on the guards on the path, new troops may appear on the deck sending us back to square one."

"Oh..."

"There is also the possibility that the Ascension will bring out their elite shock troops during the approach and subsequent fights. These shock troopers will be both heavily armored and will likely be equipped with jetpacks, which allows them to fly. If these troopers appear, they will be the new priority targets."

"If there flying, they could try to fly around my shield." Firewall added. "If they GET behind us, feel fire to fire off... you magic... stuff."

Ezreal and Vega nodded.

"Best case scenario of course, is that once we eliminate the first guards, the Ascension crew will retreat to the safety of the submarine's interior, and try to bring their lightweight guns to take us out without any further causalities."

"Wait... THAT'S your best case scenario?!" Vi asked, her expression clearly showing her shock at that. "The guns that are meant to sink ships?!"

"The guns have a hundred-and-eighty degree range from the front, so all we need to do is stand farther and back and we'll be behind the firing arc. The guns are armored, so this is where the magic users and Archangel's dark matter come into play."

"Oh I get it!" Ezreal snapped his fingers. "We blow up the guns and prevent them from firing at us!"

Mute nodded. "Exactly. Should we be inside the firing arc, we'll have to act quickly. It would be in our favor if they bring them out first before we enter their range, but we have to be ready for the worst."

"Ok... so after we make it to the submarine... then what?" Vi asked.

"Once we are on top of the deck, it should be easier. The Ascension may attempt to stop us from getting inside by sending out more troops, but since we'll be fighting head on we can use the same strategy that we did on the approach. Once we clear the surface of all contact, we simply need to get to the main hatch and enter."

"What if they lock the door?" Vega asked.

"Why," Caitlyn started. "I do believe that is where our dear Vi comes in."

Vi grinned in response. "Can't be any harder then breaking into a safe." She laughed.

"Once we are inside the submarine, things will be a bit more... chaotic." Mute continued to explain the plan she had devised. "The interior of an Overseer-class is between one to three people wide, depending on the section. So fighting will be difficult. You must all be very careful not to inflict too much damage to the submarine itself, or we may have... problems."

Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. "What kind of, problems?"

Firewall shrugged. "Anything from taking on water, sinking, explosions... you get the idea."

"Ah... yes."

"When we are inside." Mute continued. "We will split into two teams. Team alpha will head to the prison cells to rescue Jinx and anyone else held there. Team bravo will go down to the engine room and disable the ship's means of propulsion to prevent it from leaving the cavern. The key here is disable, NOT destroy. The submarine is powered by hydrogen cells, so best not to take any unnecessary risks."

"We won't need to worry about it submerging since it's got that hole on the side." Isaac stated. "The Ascension isn't going to risk flooding and sinking their own submarine just to stop six invaders."

"Seven." Mute added.

"You don't shoot guns." Isaac muttered, cutting her off.

"What if it DOES try to leave before we get aboard?" Ezreal asked.

"The submarine's cells will take time to charge the engine to be able to move. We will have enough time to board the ship, but we best not take our sweet time nonetheless. Should the ship get too far out to sea where we will be unable to return..." Mute tipped her head and smiled. "Well, I have a plan B..."

Operation Start

Well, here we are... Isaac thought, leaning up against the rocky walls of the cave. Firewall had led them through the twisting tunnels and caves to reach the other side of the cavern where the submarine was. And now they had reached what Firewall had called, the last tunnel before the sub.

Only there was a problem. The Ascension had learned from Firewall's harassing that leaving this certain tunnel unattended was a poor idea. So they left a single small all-terrain robot with a camera to watch over it.

"So... now what?" Vi asked, her voice coming from behind Isaac. The entire team was now idling in the tunnel, with the camera bot on the other side of the rocky wall in the next tunnel.

Firewall, who was in front of Isaac, let out a light sigh. "Should've known they would've set something up in here... actually, I'm surprised it took them so long."

Isaac glanced over his shoulder. Right behind him was Caitlyn, gripping her sniper rifle. Right behind her was Vi, followed by Ezreal, and then Vega. Isaac was second in their single file line, right behind Firewall.

"Well, how are we going to deal with it?" Isaac tapped his comrade on the shoulder. We could run past it, but it would show us all off to the Ascension and kill the element of surprise. We could blow it up, ruining the element of surprise but keeping our numbers a secret... or...

Isaac bit his lip. In movies there was always a way around this sort of problem. Some remote hacker, some guy using some stupid trick to damage, distract, or destroy the camera without being seen, but in reality no such tricks ever worked.

If we damaged or destroyed it the Ascension would notice the loss of signal. And distraction is out of the question, since rocks don't just throw themselves or randomly fall inside a cave...

That left only one possible option. Isaac peered over Firewall's shoulder and saw that he was thinking the same thing. Sparks began to emit from Firewall's left gauntlet as he used another one of his powers.

Firewall turned his head to face Isaac. "For the record..." He said. "I still think this is a terrible idea."

Before Isaac could respond, Firewall rounded the corner and fired the EMP from his left hand. After a second pause, there was a loud static sound.

Take the camera out with an EMP. Quick, and keeps our numbers a secret.

"Camera's down! Let's move! Let's move!" Firewall shouted, and the entire group stormed forwards.

Here we go...