Break Free

[2 months before Jake, Rachel, and Cassie received the morphing power]

There were no light sources inside this place of atonement and despair, and there was no proper temperature control or ventilation, the builders of this place believed that putting those in place defeated the purpose of its construction.

Behold; The Pit. A place that depending on the whims of its master could be unyieldingly cold, or insufferably hot, worse yet, the entire place stunk to high heaven with a smell you could only get from confined creatures under perpetual restraint. The entrance to the cave was a door, and right before its end was another sealed gate leading to the end of the cave, which was a colossal pit, for which the place was named, the cells, spiraling stairs, and intersecting pathways were dug out from the rock, the walkable paths were barely smoothed over. The only real light sources the inhabitants inside the cave had were small devices the wardens gave only to the prisoners who were more compliant and benign to make their stay easier, the ones that were truly heinous beasts, they kept in the bottom half of the colossal pit.

There was only one species held in The Pit of the Fractured, making the logistics of containing them all the easier.

The cells in the bottom were more sturdily built, had more defense mechanisms in place, and had no expense spared at keeping the prisoners from ever getting out. The jailors knew many of the prisoners kept at the bottom had allies that wanted to bust them out very very badly. Despite being so heavily built and hidden, the prison was not impregnable, worsening the problem was the fact that the wardens were too few, only 3. Eventually said allies successfully sent an infiltrator through the defenses undetected, and in the dead silence of night, crept into the pit.

((Crush the Decievers)) That voice...?

It walked down the stairs soundlessly with its feet wrapped in soft artificial flesh, since it had no sense of smell, it did not mind the overpowering stench of the inhabitant's waste, it checked every single cell it could, most were empty. In most of the cells that were inhabited, the prisoners were in fitful sleep, trying to ignore the cold, long used to the stench of this place. There were some prisoners however, who were awake, unable to rest. Depending on their level of restraint, they paced their cages in circles or writhed against the walls they were strapped to an immobilized against. The robot moved unseen past those as well, it knew that them knowing it was there would most likely cause the prisoners to alert the wardens to its presence, intentionally or otherwise.

It tiptoed on the stone pathways and stairs with a precision and control no living person could replicate. The being was impossibly careful not to step on the pressure pads underneath the stone tiles that would set off an alarm.

The invisible robot, if found before it could break its target out, would be over, it knew it would not survive its mission. Each cell bar had a sensor that would alert the wardens should it ever be tempered with, and from that point on, it would have to work quickly to remove the bindings that constricted the prisoner's power in order to escape. It could only free one inhabitant, and it had a priority list.

There was one prisoner on the second to last row who was more colossally built than the rest of his race. He was sitting on his stone bed, staring at the floor, as deathly still as a statue, not even his breaths were visible. His features were harder than the stone he was surrounded by, and his physique was resembling that of what the humans would call a god.

((Crush the Decievers)) Who are you...?

Another was smaller than average, situated on the very bottom, her cell had special accommodations, she was on a table meant to keep her in suspended animation, her body was perfectly preserved. The seemingly ornamental mask she wore that covered her entire lower face seemed innocent, but it was meant to keep her asleep, she was so defiant that her captors put that mask on her to keep her asleep. If nobody removed it, she would never wake up, her body and mind forever remaining at the instant it was placed on her.

At the top there was another who was entirely wrapped in pale beige bindings with sparse bloodstains, his entire body was concealed as he was strapped to a chair. In his back a number of giant ambiguously colored rods were sticking out like porcupine quills, the cell was filled with operating equipment, and surrounding his chair were a multitude of life support systems that provided the only light in his cell. He wore a true stasis mask, one that was placed there for the purpose of preventing further suffering.

All of a sudden a red and gold light illuminated the room, and a blaring had sounded off. The robot flinched, feeling the slightest concern that it had been detected. If this robot failed they might not get another chance to break their ally out! But an explosion that shook the prison confirmed that the distraction had arrived in force. Many of the prisoners had been woken up and were voicing their concern.

The robot quickened its pace ever so slightly, as it knew that its creators could only buy so much time against the warden's superior firepower. It checked the remaining cells from a balcony with turrets lined up, the room was made so that the last two circles of cells were visible from just that one platform. Then it saw one cell on the second to last row, it smiled internally, this is the specimen the Saboteur was sent here to bust out.

The robot could hear the weapon's fire of his comrades from inside the Pit. Time was short, it could delay no longer.

((Crush the Decievers)) The decievers...? Crush them...?

The Saboteur extended its arm, and a sort of cannon was formed out of it, there was a crisscrossing of blue beams as the weapon charged. This one shot would completely remove all of the bars of a single cell, and immediately afterwards The Saboteur would jump down and remove the restraints from the prisoner. Then the robot would escort the prisoner to freedom, where it would distract the wardens while he escaped to their forces.

Any of the ones on the bottom would do, but with him back on their side? One shot, one shot to change their fate, one shot to turn in the tide!

The Saboteur noticed the giant staring at it, able to see the brightening lights of its canon. Knowing what the robot was sent here to do, the giant smiled with sharp jagged teeth and remained silent, his green glowing eyes filled with a gleeful spite he felt towards his captors knowing what the most dangerous inmate in the prison would do to them.

((Crush the Decievers)) Yes...Yes, I have been BETRAYED!

It locked its targeting systems on the bars of the cage, then it prepared to fire. But another explosion rang out, much heavier than the others, the entire facility was shaken as if hit by an earthquake, causing the Saboteur to stumble right as it fired.

The shot flew, but it missed the bars of the cell it was aiming for! The targeting systems had autolocked on another cell, and had removed the bars of that one. Though the one The saboteur meant to free would remain in his cage, today would not be a total loss, if they escaped.

A new alarm blared out throughout the facility, one of the cells had been compromised.

The Saboteur leapt down from the balcony and sprinted to the cell as the bars began to fall down.

This prisoner's orange eyes were wide awake, and when it laid eyes on the Saboteur, he stared at it as the restraints were removed. His chest heaved and his muscles flexed, prepared for an extreme bout of physical activity. This preparation only lasted a few moments, as the Saboteur and the prisoner immediately made a run for it. When they entered the bottom of the pit the robot grappled to the balcony twenty feet above while the prisoner leapt up onto it. Just as they stood up to continue their sprint to freedom, the doors to the chamber burst open and they heard a rapid series of footsteps.

The Prisoner leapt to the cells, jumping across the stairways that lead up to the entrance, then another robot entered the edge of the pit and looked down at The Saboteur, they both stared at each other.

The Saboteur then dropped its cloak, revealing a brightly colored, adorned, and shiny blue war machine made of a pale blue metal. It was vaguely humanoid, but it also had a tail that held a few nasty surprises.

The Warden was smaller than the Saboteur and the adornment on it was limited only to red markings on it's dark green and gold plating. The Warden stood up much taller, and though it was smaller it was much more heavily armored, and the inner workings of this machine were more advanced than anything else this robot would ever face. The optics of this thing were like purple glittering candles that burned in his helmet and extended to the sides of the head.

This machine was much older than the Saboteur, and far smarter, Dreadsteel.

Dreadsteel aimed his arm canon at the Saboteur and opened fire, purple blasts carving away at the stone floor where the robot once stood. The Saboteur grappled up to the next platform forty feet above, the war machine countered by firing an EMP Pulse blast at The Saboteur, it dodged to the side with small thrusters at its side. The Warden fired another EMP blast and it hit the saboteur, stunning the machine as it slammed into the bottom of the balcony.

Just as Dreadsteel prepared to fire a rocket to finish off the infiltrator, it was pierced in the shoulder by a javelin attached to a tether made of green energy. The prisoner had managed to equip his shoulder mounted harpoon, and pulled on it, trying to make the warden fall to the ground.

The warden identified the escapee.

ID: WT-074

Threat Level: Extreme

Threat Ranking: #3

Date of Birth: Unknown

Place of Birth: Unknown

Identity: Unknown

Alias: Warlike

Response: Swift/Relentless counterattack, Engage in Close Quarters to nullify ranged superiority

Dreadsteel leaned forward ever so slightly and grabbed the harpoon and began pulling on the cable. Warlike grabbed the bars of the empty cell he was in front of, struggling to not be pulled off, it only bought him a few more seconds. Right before Warlike would have been yanked away from the wall, The Saboteur launched an Electromagnetic Purge Cell at Dreadsteel's Chest, a weapon that kills most robots with ease.

But Dreadsteel was better than anything else, such a weapon isn't nearly enough to kill him, but it was enough to stun him so that Warlike was able to pull him off the ledge. The Warden's body went prone and fell into the pit, Warlike removed his harpoon before Dread Steel landed on the first balcony, the war machine slid off and landed at the bottom of The Pit. At that time The Saboteur was ascending toward the first balcony with its grapple hook, Warlike aimed his harpoon and shot it at the ledge he pulled Dreadsteel off of.

The two raced to the very top of the Pit and had climbed over it, when they did Dreadsteel awoke and jumped up, activating his thrusters. The two started sprinting for the large door into the next room, Dreadsteel woke up and began flying at incredible speeds towards the top. When Dreadsteel poked over the top of the ledge, Warlike and his rescuer had already closed the door. Dreadsteel sprinted towards the door and ran through it as fast as he could, confident that he could stop the Saboteur and its rescue by himself.

He had entered a much more brightly lit chamber, this one was connected to the storeroom, the generator, the medical bay, and most disastrously, the entrance. Before he even closed the door Dreadsteel aimed at the escaping duo. He noticed Warlike press a button and he was consumed by an explosion, Dreadsteel noted with shock that Warlike had one last remote det-charge in his arsenal, he was temporarily blinded but closed the door and rushed forward, aiming his cannon at where they would be he prepared to open fire when his senses cleared up.

But then his arm cannon started taking hits as Warlike opened fire.

Twutwutwutwutwutwutwutwutwu!

It was essentially an alien machine gun, one that his morphing capabilities hid away in his subspace, ensuring they were unable to be confiscated. The Torthon Rake is a heavy weapon designed with armor penetration in mind, and was unfortunately powerful enough to damage Dreadsteel's Cast Beam. Warlike wasn't supposed to be able to recover something from his subspace so fast, but clearly he could as the gun had replaced his forearm. Dreadsteel sprinted faster, pushing a large curved blade out of his left arm as the pair reached the door.

He contacted the other wardens, who were fending off the attack on the gates.

((Gafinalin, Mertil, you have a Nimba with a prisoner coming out!)) He sent out, but nothing, the bomb had jammed his comms!

Dreadsteel ran a process to clear away the interference, it required a reboot of his comm systems, a process that only took two seconds of him rapidly closing the distance. Once his comms were reactivated, he sent out the message again just as they went through the door, not even bothering to close it.

((There's a Nimba escaping with Warlike! Behind you!))

If either of the pair were human, then the other wardens would have easily been able to stop their advance. But the both of them were too fast for them to properly react, when Dreadsteel entered the gatehouse, he heard one of the two Andalites cry out in pain. The Nimba was holding a long shiv that was covered in very dark Andalite blood, Mertil was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, sharp purple crystals were growing out of the middle of his tail like an out of control cancer. The Sabateur immediately made a break for the other side where the outer gate had been broken through.

Mertil would live, but Dreadsteel rushed up and opened fire on the group of rescuers, vaporizing all of them in one shot with the Cast Beam on his other arm. As the bigger warden tended to his wounded comrade, the Nimba Droid and Warlike had already made it past the enemy lines, but the Nimba's creators all gathered up in front of Dreadsteel. They were each vaporized in one shot, making sounds of pain and shock cut short by the swiftness of their deaths, he killed them easily as he charged forward, but their weapons were inflicting considerable damage.

One of the rescuers rushed at Dreadsteel, uttering a battle cry. Dreadsteel knocked him to the ground easily, and in the next step crushed his head underfoot. But Dreadsteel noticed that something had been placed on his midsection, when he looked down it exploded. A cloud of black soot and smoke to emanate from him, leaving a massive gaping hole below his chest. Error messages flashed across his screen, one was more important than the others: Emergency Hibernation Eminent.

He's outside, Warlike is outside, this is bad, impossibly bad, Dreadsteel cannot let any of them out! He saw that The Saboteur and Warlike had both reached the edge of a cliff, he charged his Cast Beam and took aim, the Nimba droid turned around and stood behind Warlike arms and legs spread out to shield him from the blast. Dreadsteel fired a spray of glowing purple and caused the entire cliff side as well as The Saboteur to explode into atoms.

That should have shredded him, but Dreadsteel noticed that Warlike was still alive, he had been protected by that Nimba's force field and jumped off the cliff.

Dreadsteel limped forward, desperate to prevent even one prisoner from escaping. The war machine stepped on glowing hot rock that crunched like glass underneath his foot.

He collapsed at the edge of the cliff, and before his eyes the Grand Canyon was laid out in its vast glory. This site was chosen as a prison not only because it was isolated, hard to reach, and undiscovered by humans, but because the hostility of the landscape would make rescue efforts incredibly difficult.

Dreadsteel's eyes scanned the horizon, he had a few precious seconds to find the only survivor of the breakout attempt. There! A Peregrine Falcon was diving down the canyon, making considerable distance towards away from the prison already.

The Cast Beam was primed and ready to fire, Dreadsteel targeted the Peregrine Falcon, then fired just as his systems went dark.

...

...

...

For many hours Dreadsteel had remained there, after Mertil had been stabilized, the remaining warden ventured out to the cliff and found Dreadsteel shut down. Gafinalin would look out to the Grand Canyon and scan the horizon, all he would find would be a small black scorch mark on the canyon's walls. Knowing his job had been successfully carried out Gafinalin carried the war machine back inside the prison, hoping to be able to repair him.

Though Mertil would be able to make a recovery, Dreadsteel would remain in hibernation mode for years.

The night was late around Lake Mead, a Peregrine falcon was falling from the sky due to exhaustion after flying as fast as it could away from the Grand Canyon. It dive bombed one last time and landed in the shallow edge of the lake. The bird began to twitch, a sharp but muted snapping sound was produced by the prisoner's body as he returned to his true form.

As the transformation completed itself, Warlike began to make the crawl towards the Western Shore of Lake Mead. He was tired, and his release from his imprisonment was not anticipated. Warlike kept on crawling towards the shore, he would not allow himself to rest until he was clear outside of the water. His movements were agonizingly slow, and he only sat down once he was several feet away from the lake's western edge. The place he was in was deserted, no humans to be seen anywhere.

With nothing to do he looked up at the sky, what he saw was not a ceiling of rock, but a night sky with glittering stars scattered all around as far as he could see. With his night vision he could see it even clearer than most humans.

I'm free, was Warlike's first thought. He smiled, spread his arms out and couldn't do anything except laugh in utter derangement at the sheer impossibility of his situation.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

His laughter continued until he was out of breath and collapsed, with his bare back to the ground. It was as if Warlike had entered another world, the horrid smell of his cell was finally gone, he could see the sky for the first time in years, sure, he was cold, but that didn't matter. Warlike then felt a gentle breeze, the first wind he felt since his imprisonment. After the brutal chill of The Pit, the wind felt like a sweet warm breeze.

Warlike's eyes then hardened as his thoughts returned to the vengeance he was promised.

"Elfangor," Warlike said as he sat up. He looked over his body, he's quite strong, strong enough to kill a human without needing to actually try, but his form had become atrophied from years of forced inactivity. He was locked into that pit to rot and shrivel until his body wasted away to nothing, Elfangor betrayed him, and locked him into that pit, he MUST PAY! Warlike knows what he must do next, take revenge on Elfangor, and kill every single last member of his kind on this planet! But before that he would need to spend some time regaining his former strength, yes, he needs to prepare, and recover.

And then, once his strength had returned, he would begin his crusade against the Andalites, and they will know fury like never before! Every drop of Andalite blood will be culled! He'll break their bones, tear apart and devour them!

"You have no idea what's coming to you, you should never have betrayed me," Warlike said with a smile before soundlessly walking back into Lake Mead and disappearing without a trace.

((Crush the Decievers)) The Deity simply commanded.