The three sweepers from Blinx's team, Skye, Skitch, and Blinx himself; felt their stomachs drop, the cloaked figure they had chased into the narrow cave stood next to the large lever, both hands firmly clasping the top. The sweepers stood in front of the cloaked entity, directly in the firing line of three large cannon muzzles. Skye, with her hand behind her back, eyed the lever for the slightest movement. Sure enough, the figure pulled the lever with a strained motion. Skye's hand reached a button from her sweeper; the TS-2000, a sweeper with a look somewhere between a 'V' shaped guitar, and the classic circular sweepers that used to come fully standard with all personnel. Pressing this button caused a loud sound from her sweeper, akin to a cassette tape slowing to a crawl. The entire corridor around her, Skitch, and Blinx changed hues from cold blues and whites, to warmer shades of yellow and beige.
Skye activated a Slow time control, and her teammates were not affected by it, still leaving them in danger. Skye snapped her head to her right, checking the muzzles of the cannons. The rounds were slowly moving out of the muzzles, followed by loud, low pitched rumblings from the firing. Skye's eyes snapped back in front of her, and without hesitation, Skye sprung forward into action. Taking a half dozen steps forward, grabbing Skitch's jumper by its collar and yanking him behind her as she used her other hand to grip Blinx around his waist to help her tackle him to the floor.
Skitch felt this entire experience at full speed, the manner his collar had been pulled twisted him back to back with Skye, leaving him face up. The cannon rounds traveled past his eyes, shattering on their way out into smaller missiles designed to pepper the target in an undodgeable folly of ammunition. Most of these smaller fragments were too far and too fast to see, yet one stayed in his gaze. This missile traveled straight over his eyes, close enough to rustle the few whiskers on his face from the wind resistance. The projectiles crashed through into the opposing wall, shattering the thin ice, and exposing the explosives encased on the other side. Skitch, wide eyed, saw the last missile graze pass the carnage to continue traveling deeper in the room, onto a rounded target. Skitch's mind tripped into one word. Fuse.
Without hesitation, Skitch rolled in place on his stomach, grasped Skye and Blinx by the waist of their work's trousers, and with all he could muster, pulled the two sweepers to their feet, knocking himself backwards onto his rear. As he did so, screaming out a mix between the words 'bomb', 'fuse', and 'move'. Skye and Blinx eyed the destroyed wall; followed by the target, freshly smashed into from the final missile. Blinx and Skye's eyes widened in peril, turning about, and grabbing each of Skitch's arms. Hoisting him up as they sprinted away from the carnage.
The explosions from the numerous bombs inside the cave rumbled and echoed through the icy ravine the sweepers had entered from. These rumbles soon became worryingly strong tremors. Above the entrance to the cave, still aboard the bisected ship, Roland paced towards the gap, scanning his eyes through the wreckage for the source of the explosions. Below him, just within his view, he noticed Blinx, Skye, and Skitch sprinting away from under him, back across the ice bridge, with a large fireball just grazing behind them.
The three sweepers charged at full speed. Blinx and Skye an arm's length away. Skitch kept pace for a small distance before being overcome with two painful experiences at once. one being an excruciatingly cold sensation all over his fur, and the second being a shortness of breath, mixed with a burning in his windpipe. This sensation lasted for a split second, but just long enough to have Skitch stop and look at his hands. his entire body flashed red for a few counts.
Whilst Skitch stood still for that brief moment, Blinx and Skye continued to run, only breaking stride when the bridge they stood upon emanated a loud crashing sound from right behind them. The two turned to look for Skitch, instead met by a large gap punched through from a falling stalactite, the first of more that would follow. Skitch stood at the other side of the gap, mouth gaped open. He steadied himself. Pulling his sweeper out, he aimed at his teammates. Taking in a breath, he shouted out 'Catch!' and fired his sweeper. The long ladder shot through the air at speed, yet still managed to be caught by Skye and Blinx without much difficulty. The ladder was too short to cover the gap. But once the other members of the team held it off of the edge for him, he sprinted as fast as his feet could allow anyways, leaping as far as he could once his left foot took its last step, right at the edge of the break in the bridge. Skitch flailed his arms as he soared through the air. He soon straightened them, and arced his entire body into a crescent shape, he hit the ladder hands first, swinging his legs as he clasped a firm grip on the last rung to cancel any momentum left over. Blinx and Skye pulled the ladder back towards land, dragging Skitch back onto solid ground. Skitch climbed to his feet with a relieved huff.
The three sweepers, now regrouped, heard another voice from across the ravine. It was loud, commanding, and straddling the line between smooth and coarse. 'Blinx! What happened back there?'
'This entire place is coming down on top of us, Roland. Get your team out now!' Blinx called back, in the same urgency.
Roland nodded, turning back, facing back to his team, who had slowly gathered back round to him. Roland held his left hand out at a right angle, and motioned circles with his right, repeating the instruction 'Go, go, go' and telling the team to head back to the gate. Roland himself staying behind to watch how Blinx and his team were faring.
Blinx stood at the back, with Skitch and Skye running back toward the rope ladder that led back up to the first galleon Blinx's team navigated through. Another stalactite crashed through the floor near the three sweepers; ripping cleanly through the ship they were standing on. The shift in weight and stability moved the remaining pieces of the ship. Leaving the rope ladder fully out of reach for the sweepers. Skitch growled in anger, before seeing that the ship in front of them was both neatly perched on a ledge as well as jammed in the wall. Out of reflex, he fired his last item out of his weapon. His sweeper flung forward a missile, akin to the one that almost hit him earlier. The missile ripped from his sweeper's nozzle, soaring across the small distance effortlessly, and exploding on impact on the exposed rear corner or the hull. The explosion tore a chunk out of the galleon, and exposed a narrow path up near the portal, obfuscated by a ledge about Skye's height. The two flinched and instinctively ran toward the portal.
Blinx cheered and began to follow, but was immediately caught off guard from the ship fragment shaking and shifting. Angling itself toward the centre of the ravine a little more. Blinx stood frozen in fear. Looking up near Roland's position, a thick slab of ice slowly began to crack. The splinters around the slab were so large, Blinx could see it rocking back and forth, shifting into balance.
Roland gazed at the same slab of ice, watching it shake and rock under its intense violent cracking. He flicked his gaze back to Blinx. 'Come on, Blinx. Move. Jump. Shoot. Do something.' He mumbled to himself. Anxiously waiting for Blinx to react. This angst turned to fear, as Blinx's body flashed a hue of red. Blinx's retry activated, causing Roland to panic.
In a frantic manner, Roland eyed the floor around him for something, anything, to hopefully save Blinx. Roland spotted a long length of rope tied to the mast of the ship he was stood upon. It might not be long enough, his mind warned. But warning or not, Roland still tied the length over his shoulders and around his waist. Holding the makeshift harness together in his right hand. The slab of ice slipped forward from its perch. Roland backed as far as he could, and using his left hand, activated a time control from his sweeper before stowing it on his back. He triggered a Fast Forward. The caverns flooded in a hot shade of orange, with objects starting to move much faster than normal. Roland, harness in hand, charged toward the ledge, moving at a much faster momentum than usually possible. Without a hint of pause, Roland leapt out from the ledge.
The wind rushed through Roland's already exposed fur, chilling him further. The rope itself traveled in an arc, at first away from Blinx, but his swing would change course as the rope's anchor, the mast, pulled the line taut. Changing the angle of travel straight toward Blinx, and by proxy, toward the portal. The ice slab tumbled forward, moving straight toward Blinx. A direct hit staring him in the face. The shadows of the ice enveloped him, but Blinx remained steadfast in fear; eyes widened, body stiffened. With the slab too close to escape, Blinx pulled in a sharp breath of air, and jammed his eyes shut. Waiting for impact.
Blinx felt a strong tug from the front of his jumper, a loud whistling of air, and a strong, cold breeze wash over him. He felt himself at peace. Comfortable enough to open his eyes. His gaze locked with Roland's, who pulled a small, yet genuine smirk at Blinx's safety. Blinx, however, was met with a wave of shock. Before he could say anything, Roland let go of the rope. The rope unslung itself from his waist, cast itself over one shoulder, crossed over the other, and cast itself away. The two sweepers found themselves flying tangent to their arc, straight toward the portal. Roland focused on his target, noticing Skitch and Skye jumping through. Roland pulled Blinx up towards his core, forcing the two through the portal together. They slipped straight through, with the crumbling cave dislodging pieces of ice that crushed and destroyed the portal gate's perimeter seconds after the two sweepers passed through