Deeper, yet Deeper - Phantom Rising

[AR 1/5/4] CLOSED RP @Max | Dominus@Chegar@Isa Tekchen@Muro - Serahnus Trench, Uranus "Corporeal laws are unwrit, as suns and love retreat. To cosmic madness, laws submit, though stalwart minds entreat." - [LOHK]

~The Serahnus Trench on Uranus swallowed a length of a little over ten thousand meters of ocean. Three operable grineer subs dived into the pitch-black waters in a tight formation. The experience felt similar to cruising through the void of space. Sparse cultures of fluorescent algae and plant life defiantly clung to the trench walls despite the heavy environment. After half an hour, the subs finally glimpsed a distant ocean floor rising to meet them. The trench flattened out at the bottom, lit by its own moss cultures. In the distance rested the shadows of three orb structures. Thousands of darkened figures glid through the water, swarming them.~ Disruptis: "Okay guys, it's gametime," Disruptis announced from his vessel to Isa's and Chegar's. "Once we split up comms may get fuzzy, so you really need to communicate then run some morse code using whatever flashing light you can find. I'll take the furthest one away from us. Isa and Chegar split up left and right between you. Muro and Dominus? Keep them safe. Let's do this." The Limbo grabbed the speed lever and punched it forwards. His craft carved through the water at max speed.

CHEGAR Weapons: Online Guidance systems: Online Engine output: 98% "All green on my end. Unless otherwise directed, Heading to left power station." Chegar said over the radio, throttling up the prolusion system. In the illustrious words of SVYTOJ... "Rock and roll."

DOMINUS With Isa's sub, the modified Archwing floated just above, gripping onto a small jutting piece of metal from the craft to aid with navigation and maintain speed with the submarines. "Dominus here. All outputs look nominal on my end, this thing is working like a charm so far. We'll see how it operates in combat, but it feels good." In truth, he despised the ocean, at least when it came to swimming in it. Some sort of latent fear of the deep sea that he couldn't explain. But Max could endure it for the sake of the mission. After all, it wasn't much different from deep space. You were just as dead, stranded down here. Small comforts.

Isa "Good. Be be careful. It will try to self-seal any breaches in the armor but at this depth it may not be fast enough." She adjusted the weapons of the sub a bit, double checking to make sure they were working properly. Behind her sub, connected by a cable was a fourth, semi-funcional sub. It had no life support, but enough propulsion to move under its own power, and was filled to the brim with stable explosives. It shouldn't detonate by simply being shot at, but the utility of having a massive bomb could never be underestimated.

Muro: Clinging onto the outside Chegar's sub, Muro eyed the figures around them, a free hand ready to reach for his weapons. "You got it Dis. Dominus and I can keep these freaks busy until you guys are done. Still, make it quick, will ya?" Even under favorable conditions, Muro doubted even he could last that long against this many.

~The subs rocketed forward, drawing the attention of the mass of sentient shapes. A forward line of battalysts pulled into sight, flanked by a few Gyrix ships. The sentient fighter ships looked smaller and more disposable from a railjack, but now their size held significant presence in the tides of enemies.~ Disruptis: Disruptis flipped his armaments on. Bubbles churned out of the grattler attached to his vessel as it spooled up. He pressed in his triggers, tearing into the formation in front of him with controlled explosions. Bits of sentient broke off and quickly sunk to the ocean floor. He cracked a grin as an old memory resurfaced in his mind. Can't shift while you're submerged, can you? That's why we kicked you down here. Soon enough the wave crashed into them. Disruptis braced himself as battalysts battered his hull in a whirlwind of strikes, shaking his sub. "Muck!" he cursed, slamming the steering wheel downwards to shake a couple of them off with a sudden ascent.

CHEGAR A string of old earth expletives erupted from Chegar’s mouth as the sentients slammed onto his vehicle. He quickly focused his weapons on the center of his path, working to gun down anything that stood between him and the power station. “Void turbulence has NOTHING on this!!” He blurted out, watching as a group of sentients bounced off the view port. (edited)

DOMINUS Sensing that the submarines would be focused on most of all, the Excalibur released his hold on the fin and leveled the Latron rifle, firing rounds aimed for the Gyrix vessels as instinct, powered by a surely ancient memory, flickered. Sure enough to his memory, the battalysts lunged to get in the way of his rounds, trying to prevent him from triggering a collective explosion from the ships, but the Latron's piercing bullets had the lucky effect of taking multiple Sentients to slow down. Lines of battalysts slowly sunk into the depths as he fired, and as the section of the mass inevitably thinned, a couple shots snuck through, punching furrows in one of the Gyrix craft. As he reloaded, the lines reformed, but the damage was done. "We wipe out the fighters, and the battalysts won't have the firepower to do much to your sub! I'll buy you time, Isa! Just break down that structure!"

Isa: Isa's hands twitched slightly at the controls, testing the aim for a moment as the sentient host approached her, testing it one more time before they reached the ayunga's range. A few grenades were let loose into the battalysts to thin them out as she waited for the fighters to get into range. She pressed on without Dominus hanging on, her fire shifting to the Gyrix vessels once they were in range. She kept her aim steady, despite the battalysts beating on the submersible. Thankfully, even if the smaller opponents blocked for the Gyrix, they would be blown to smithereens as the water transferred the energy of the explosives far better than air. All the while her comms were eerily silent.

~Two Gyrix each launched a barrage of micro missiles locked onto Disruptis's sub, which was ahead of the pack.~ Disruptis: Disruptis yanked the controls to the right and flipped one of his turbines off, causing his vehicle to spin around like a top. He unleashed grappler rounds everywhere around him, which collided with the missiles and blew up to interrupt even more of them. He took down most of the initial barrage, but a few slipped by. BOOM! The Limbo's entire vessel shuddered. Emergency lights flashed laser red waves of illumination across the ship as digital alarms protested the current state of things. Disruptis slammed a button to kill the noise. He took two seconds to assess the situation and come to a single decision. "Muro, Dominus! They're packing way more heat than we thought. Focus on keeping Isa and Chegar safe, I've got an idea…" A devious grin broke across his face. "...and it might just be crazy enough to work." Disruptis plugged autopilot coordinates into his console and engaged the steering lock. He took his hands off the controls and backed away, stumbling a little as the ship rocked once again. He placed his hands on the bottom of his ship and drew a deep breath. He had to get into the right mindset for this. He had to remember the Proteus Gamble.

……………….. ………….. ……… …. The wind screamed through the air, yanking every piece of sword steel clothing Disruptis's Limbo Prime warframe had. Above him, dark clouds of plasma swirled through Neptune's atmosphere. Below his feet rested a liset that was battered and beaten into a sorry state. It would fly however, and that's all they needed. The scene around him was pure carnage. A dozen or more Tenno scattered about ripped sentients apart as they rained from the sky in a never ending crusade of destruction. Behind him stood three Tenno at the ready: a Trinity, an Oberon, and an old Slayer warframe model. The Slayer model was the predecessor to Chroma. "This is risky. If you crash up there your Oro could easily be snatched up by the nearest sentient warship. You'll be gone, almost everyone agrees! Are you out of your mind?!" The Trinity protested. Disruptis forced open the liset's landing ramp with resolution. "Listen, Kelle Yi, was it? Great job out there being our medic by the way. I wish we could've done missions together before this. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, the sentients have us trapped here and are going to destroy us eventually. We're cut off from Command and out of options. The higher ups don't care enough about us to rescue us in time, but if I get off-planet I can use what little authority I have to get us backup. I'm not gonna put anyone else through what I'm about to do in the hopes a miracle can happen without me, unless you want to come too?" Kelle Yi faltered. Disruptis climbed inside the ship and revved its engines to life. "Besides, I don't like running away from my problems. I'm going to dive straight into them, and this plan is just crazy enough that it might work," he finished. The Slayer stepped forward and the two shared an invisible look. "Build something for me if I don't make it, Jado. You and I made the best voiddamn team I could've asked for."

Jado nodded. “I still think this is a terrible idea, but you’ve convinced me that I can’t convince you. Although, you’re probably the only person I believe could even pull off a stunt like this. You’ll make it back, Disruptis. I won’t have to build anything. Plus, don’t think you’re getting off that easy- you still owe me after losing that bet from Skyresh!” Despite the looming doom that awaited him, Disrupits couldn't help but grin. "My luck may be terrible all the time, but that's only so I can win gambles like this. Give em Void, Jado." …. ……… ………….. ……………….. Disruptis remembered flying into the clouds of energy. The rocking of the ship. The cracking of its glass and denting of its hull. With reckless determination he reached out… ~Muro and Dominus caught sight of Disruptis's sub through the convulsing mass of battalysts that assaulted it right as a large whooshing sound reverberated through the water. In an instant, the entire submarine was covered in swirling purple light. The battalysts battered the viewport in confusion as all their attacks were harmlessly repelled. More and more swarmed around it like moths driven to a flame, drawing a helpful amount of forces away from the rest. The group's attacks heavily damaged two of the Gyrix firing on them. They split apart into four smaller versions of their craft and continued to fire with another untouched Gyrix in the back. The final two Gyrix still chased after Disruptis. Chegar and Isa's crafts sputtered as they approached the docking bays of their respective power stations. They both hung open, beaten and battered from some sort of previous struggle. They opened on the underside, much like typical sealab's undersea docking zones.

Chegar's sub breached the airlock to find a line of battalysts all charging tau orbs in his direction from the walkways. It looked like he was going to have to fight his way through. Isa's sub passed through the airlock to find it devoid of… well… air. Small leaks around the structure had submerged this part of the station, though with a far less pressurized environment. It would be safe to swim here, but the sub would not fit down the station's corridors.~

DOMINUS Rather than risk the reload, the Excalibur alternated to the Imperator Vandal the Archwing had stored, and began blanketing the endless battalysts and Gyrix ships with minigun fire. As he did so, he kept a close eye on Isa's sub. "What's it like in there? Are you going to be able to get to the objective?" Suddenly, his balance lurched, and Max felt one of the errant battalysts latch itself onto his leg, having slipped through the chaos. Without skipping a beat, the Excalibur took one hand off of the minigun and summoned the Exalted Blade to slice the offending Sentient in half. The sight of the purple Void-sword caused the cloud of Sentients still ahead of him to lurch back imperceptibly, but the sword disappeared quickly in favor of a renewed barrage of Imperator fire. Save the blade for emergencies. That's the best way to use an ace in the hole.

Isa Isa double checked the surrounding water pressure before responding to Dominus. "Unknown. The airlock is flooded. I don't know how well the rest of the structure has held up." She looked to the controls of the tethered sub behind her loaded with explosives. Tempting, but she would rather not resort to those immediately. She grabbed her weapons and scanner and opened up the sub, entering the water and proceeding to where she needed to go, keeping her scanner out to monitor the surrounding pressure and ensure she wouldn't be walking into a section fully open to the crushing ocean.

CHEGAR “Always a firing squad.” Chegar muttered to himself. He peered at the savaged console, weighing his options in anticipation of the coming bombardment. With its edges pulsing with desperate intent, his parazon latched into the interface, forcing the weapons systems to fire in large, repeating broad sweeps. Chegar set the motion to repeat until directed to stop, and removed the blade from the console. With the weapons now firing wildly, Chegar made for the subs hatch; he may have to jump for the dock, but it would be worth it to keep the sentients flailing. With that, he dashed from the sub, nikana in hand. (edited)

Muro: Hoping to get off the submarine before nausea set in, Muro kicked himself free from Chegar's sub and rose above the swarm currently throwing itself at the sub. He couldn't really tell if the sub's weapons were making much of a dent in the mob, but what mattered was that that piece of Grineer scrap stayed in one piece. He pulled his Corinth out, aiming it at an empty space somewhat to the left edge of the swarm before firing one of the shotgun's signature explosive charges. If nothing else, it would get their attention.

~Chegar's sub traded blow for blow as it spewed gunfire across the line of battalysts. Plenty of blackened pot marks and a few dents ravaged its hull. Only the nearest battalysts turned to address Chegar, phasing out of physicality in order to charge beams aimed at him. Beyond the line of sentients, two tunnels flanked the outside of the dome. One held lines of sentients spilling out of it, while the other was barricaded by Symbilists jamming their shields into the entranceway. Isa swam through the fully submerged tunnel leading further into the station. The blueprints Disruptis extracted showed that this station only had one entrance from the loading bay to the central unit, unlike the other ones. Despite the raging battlefield outside, the area seemed vacant of enemy forces. It looked like the divide and conquer strategy was bearing fruit. She passed a few rooms until she came to a door at the end of the tunnel that led deeper into the facility. Peering through some of the frosted glass, Isa saw that the hall beyond lacked its ceiling. It had been torn into from the outside, and now the incredible weight of the ocean bore down on it. The doors themselves were emergency sealed due to the breach. She needed to find a way to get to the other side. The swarm of sentients took Muro's bait and peeled off to face him. A forward troupe of conculysts rushed in, dragging whirlpools through the water while a line of battalysts took aim from behind. A Gyrix lurked in the distance, pulling into position for the right opportunity. The Gyrix splinters screamed past Dominus, unleashing a flurry of missiles his way. From the front, five Symbilists advanced on the Excalibur in a shield formation, charging attacks behind their defense.~

CHEGAR Chegar made for the Symbilists, dropping Tesla Nervos along his path for any wayward Sentient that tried to contest him. He flung a bastille towards the opposite tunnel, hoping to delay the tied of enemy combatants entering the dome. With one final bullet-jump, Chegar flung himself across the room to the Symbilists. Focusing in on his target, He plunged the blade of his Nikana between the Sentient's shield and the passages wall, and threw his 'frame and Nikana's hilt against the opposing wall, hoping to pry enough room to get a clear shot. With his Vauban making impact with the wall, Chegar emerged; Amp crackling with void as he jammed it into the gap, and delivered a concentrated burst of void energy into the Symbilist's Side. With any luck, that would cripple the sentient enough to push it the rest of the way out.

Muro: Muro almost smirked behind his helmet. These bots seemed confident. The confidence of numbers. As the conculysts drew towards him, the Hydroid seemed to vanish into nothing, turning himself into an invisible wall of force that threw itself at the Sentients, aiming for the Battlysts and dragging their counterparts down with them. materializing on the ocean floor, Muro emptied four more explosive charges into the pile of Sentients he had gathered before jumping away and attempting to reload for another barrage.

Isa Seeing that her way to the reactors was blocked, Isa turned back, heading to return to her sub. Time was of the essence here, and she lacked the time to find a way around, and given present damage to the station means to try to drill through the walls to her goal didn't seem to be the route to go either. She contacted Dominus over comms. "The way to the reactor is open to the ocean. I can't get to it. You'll either need to proceed through the halls in the archwing or I'll send the secondary sub as far in as I can before activating it. You're the one with the suit. You make the call."

DOMINUS The missile swarm was nothing new, and Dominus took advantage yet again of the Imperator's firepower to blast the projectiles before they got too close, setting off a cloud of chained explosions as he briefly overclocked the throttle of the archwing to push himself through the opening. He collided with one of the Symbilists in the shieldwall, plunging the Pangolin Sword into the Sentient's chassis before wrenching it around and pointing its charged laser at its fellows. As he did, Isa's communications slipped through, thanks to her slightly better pressures not affecting the signal as much. "I can tag out with you, but the fight out here is dicey. If you're sure you can hold these things off long enough to link up with the others, I'll get in there and try and disable the tower. The extra sub we should save for if I can't manage it. That's our emergency option."

~Isa's and Dominus's communications came through as nothing but static to everyone else. Comm static came from the Disruptis's direction as well, finding similar success. The Limbo had pulled his craft into his station by now, but his current state was unknown. The sentient reinforcements engaged their phasing forms as Chegar's bastille flew through the air, but the effort was fruitless. The bastille's shimmering dome completely barricaded the tunnel from being exited, buying him a lot of time. One battalyst managed to sear Chegar's back with a beam before all of them convulsed under the high intensity tesla shocks. The vauban pushed through the Symbilists into a tunnel marred by scratch and burn marks. It continued a couple dozen meters forward before the rest of it was blocked with cargo boxes. Someone didn't seem to want anyone going back there. Three Symbilists injured by the Void blast turned to focus their own Tau beams on the intruder. Muro's charges exploded, tearing the stack of sentient bodies limb from limb and scattering them across the seabed. As the Hydroid leaped backwards, he caught the glimpse of a bright green light surge to life in the dark somewhere far in front of him. Three seconds later, a massive Tau laser blazed across the waters. Muro was blinded as the left half of his warframe was caught grazing the edge of the stream. Bubbles screamed upwards, summoned by the sheer heat. It burned, bad. When Muro's eyes adjusted back to the darkness, he glimpsed the source of the attack. The shape of a gargantuan sentient slumped onto a rock outcropping past the stations further ahead. What looked like a towering spike pinned its chest to the stone, slightly illuminated little specks of light all across the sentient's chest. Dominus hijacked the beam and totalled another Symbilist. A third Symbilist approached him from the back and slammed him over the head with its shield. The splintered Gyrix fired off another round.~ (edited)

CHEGAR Chegar could feel the slight slagging where the sword-steel met the ‘frames flesh, wincing at the transferred pain. Wasn’t enough time to patch it; he’d just have to wear the burns for a bit longer. He dashed towards the blockage at the end of the passage way. He spun to fire a bust of rockets from his Angstrum, redrawing his nikana, and dropping a vector pad to speed him on his way. Chegar took a moment for the tau orb volley to pass, taking care to either deflect or evade the path of the project tiles. He then turned his attention back to the cargo containers, and began trying to pull them out of the way; if a ‘frame could pull parts out of a Corpus orb-proxy bare handed, then trying to slide these out of the way would be worth a try. And if worse came to worse, He could always try using tether coils to fling the containers out of the way.

Isa "I'll be out in a moment then." She said as she reached the sub. climbing back inside and letting it empty the water from itself before re-opening the airlock doors and pilotinging it out toward the excalibur, firing away with its grenade launcher at the wall of Symbalists. The shots were quite well-aimed, the explosions able to destroy the symbalists while merely being uncomfortably close to Dominus, even factoring for the water ability to carry shockwaves more easily than air. If there was one thing Isa was good at in particular, it was precision with explosions, even if she did usually prefer not to have to have to worry about danger close.

DOMINUS The Symbilists were being more a nuisance than an actual threat, as the Excalibur was effectively flipped end over end from the ramming attempt. It hurt, sure, but ultimately he was about to stab at the offending Sentient when Isa's explosives tore into them, also catching up the Gyrix's fire in the process. Immediately, the modified archwing carried him away from the pack under Isa's sustained fire, further suppressing them with more rounds from the Imperator as he angled towards the opening in the tower, moving as quickly as the crushing depths of water would allow. "Alright, I'm going in! With any luck I'll be able to cut an opening. Stay safe!"

Muro: His first round of attackers handily dispatched, Muro surveyed the battlefield as best he could, trying to pick out another suitable target. The massive green light that blazed to life far from him caught his attention, though he had no way of knowing what it was at a glance, nor did he have any time to guess. "AAARRGGH!" Muro howled as the beam left half of his frame writhing in agony. In that seemingly infinite moment of impact, his own memories seemed to play out before him in lieu of his normal vision. Memories of his last great battle, and his abject failure that burned more harshly than this surprise attack. Muro barely managed to push himself away, half his body raw and screaming as he sank back towards the seabed. With the immediate source of pain gone, he was able to string together a coherent thought: He couldn't fight like this. Upon hitting the seafloor, the Hydroid dropped his his knees, assuming a meditative posture as his shotgun fell on the sand beside him. On the other end of the transference, the gaunt Tenno who piloted the ravaged frame breathed deeply, focusing all the energy he had into attempting to mend the frame.

~As Isa chunked through sentient infantry, finally taking down the splintered Gyrix in her fire. However, a second Gyrix drew near her craft, lurking behind her. Taking very careful aim, it loosed a barrage of swarming micro missiles, but spaced their locations and travel times so they would impact Isa's craft all around a 180 degree angle at once, so she couldn't spin her sub like Disruptis had. Dominus easily located the torn room and entered it from above. It looked like this was a part of the main hallway that led to the reactor, it had nothing special in it. When this section of the structure was compromised, the breach doors on both sides slid down to keep the water from entering the rest of the facility. He would have to find a way inside without an airlock. Muro snuck in twenty seconds of healing before a four foot spear sunk into the sand beside him. It cackled with light green sentient energy at the tip, which then exploded in a blinding flash of colour, shocking the Hydroid and decimating all deepsea wildlife in the area. Muro watched a tall sentient approach him in the darkness, illuminated by his own green lights. He felt its voice reverberate through his body.~ Sentient Commander: "TENNO. My lord commands your annihilation. Turn back now." It lifted a hand and the spear levitated itself through the water and right back to it. (edited)

SPOILER

~Chegar heaved a box out of the way, exposing an opening big enough to jump through. Just as the next volley of sentient attacks came upon him, the Vauban bullet jumped through the gap and to the other side. He felt the heat of the energies as they barely missed him. Chegar landed on the cold metal floor with a thump.~

???: Chegar found himself in a square room, about five meters on a side. The crates and boxes used to block the doorway seemed to have originally been stacked on either side of it, and the few that hadn't fit in the doorway had been left in their places. In the back of the room was a deep pool of water and a pictogram of something exploding, and a sign on one of the side walls said something about safe handling of mining equipment. That explained why the room was at the end of a long hallway - it was intended to store mining explosives, but it seemed to have been repurposed. The crates had obviously been stacked in front of the sign, and their labels said things like ogma cargo door hinge replacement. As Chegar landed, something stepped back, out of the way of his jump. Another symbilyst, hiding behind its shield and poking its laser around the edge of it. But the shield was battered, covered in burn marks that looked awfully similar to those usually left by Sentient weaponry. And just visible below the shield were a warframe's feet. "Tenno or mimic?" said the shield-bearer. It was a human voice, a tired and annoyed human voice, one that didn't really expect an honest answer but thought it may as well try anyway, just in case.

2

DOMINUS The Archwing floated along the shutters for a few precious seconds, Dominus running his hand along the structure to try and find some form of manual release. If he could fill the entire structure with water, it might actually be an improvement over switching between 'land' and 'ocean' operations with the archwing. Finding nothing, the Excalibur quickly darted for side doors, hoping to find any form of control panel or alternate route to slip around and get to the reactor. He didn't want to risk cutting through the breach doors, not yet. The archwing could handle the intense pressures of the ocean thus far, but a sudden rush of water might be the thing that overwhelmed it. Not to mention the process of cutting through might be impossible, even with his frame's enhanced capacity for it.

CHEGAR He was bemused. If the somatic link could convey bemusement on a warframes face, the Vauban would have been wearing it in plane view. “I could ask you the same thing…” Chegar began. “I’ve seen Battalysts scavenge weapons from their dead comrades, but this is-“ he stopped himself; binary question. If they don’t like the answer, it isn’t like he hasn’t shot his way out of a tough spot in the past. “Tenno. You?” He asked cautiously with his nikana still clearly in hand.

Isa Isa picked up the movement on the sub's sensors, she quickly maneuvered the dummy sub to intercept as many of them as she could. The explosives inside were stable enough that they shouldn't blow from a few hits. Then her hands went to the walls of the sub as she called forth her miasma into the water around the sub, focusing on the missiles, hoping the deconstructive nanites would be able to disable a good portion of the missiles before they reached the sub. More than a few of them made it through, but she was able to stop enough that the hull of her sub wasn't significantly breached. A few small leaks sprung in the hull, but she would last for now. The bigger issue was that one of the screws had taken damage, severely reducing her maneuverability as she now tried to turn to face the Gyrix to unload a barrage of grenades.

Muro: Despite the discharge from the trident stinging him more than a little, Muro didn't move a muscle from where he sat, his mind racing. Twenty seconds. Were he able to heal the frame directly, that would have been more than enough to mend it. In this case however, he needed more time. Angling his head just high enough to look into what he assumed was the Sentient's eyes, he spoke. "Oh yeah?" Muro asked brusquely. "And who's this lord supposed to be? Must be pretty important if he thinks a Tenno's gonna listen to him." As he spoke, Muro continued to funnel all the energy he could spare into mending his frame. If this Sentient was as dumb as he looked, maybe he could keep the bot talking for a bit.

~Red lights and warning symbols flashed across Isa's sub as it rocked back and forth from multiple impacts. The Gyrix posited a question: how long could she last? Her sub still floated, but it wasn't pretty. Isa's answer, however, returned the question back to sender. The Gyrix failed to escape the blast radius, splintering into its final four fragments which flew around. The tail of one of the splinters then caught on another explosion and sunk it, leaving three left. Without Railjack sensors, it was hard to tell which one was the anchor for all four. A single pipe jutting out of the wall next to the door betrayed the remains of a control panel, though now there were only severed wires. There were no alternate routes and no extra doors. There was the door to the reactor, and the door to the hallway Isa was in on opposite sides of the room. Few options presented themselves, and Dominus was on the clock with sentients hot on his heels. The situation looked grim.~ Sentient Commander: The Sentient narrowed its eyes. Without another word, it aimed its left arm at the Tenno. The arm was fashioned similar to a battalyst's cannon, but much longer with way more capacitors. The entire limb shook as a fierce green Tau orb formed within the circular chamber at the tip which spread further apart as the projectile grew to half the size of Muro's hydroid. It unleashed the Tau orb, which flew towards him at a blinding speed. "Error. You approach blind as a bat?" It seemed to scoff in monotone, "are you a mere puppet, dangling by Orokin strings? You face the graveyard of Ikazu: father of the Phantoms. I am Tongar, his champion. I shall enact his vengeance. Take that knowledge back to the Void you came from, infidel." (edited)

???: "You're right to ask, given the circumstances." The shield was lowered, revealing its bearer to be a Yareli, colored in shades of dark blue and light grays and foamy green, like the spray of stormy waves on a rocky shore. In her right hand she held the shield and in her left a Shedu, both with the torn remains of a Symbilyst's arms hanging from them. "I'm a Tenno," she said. The warframe's limbs loosened and posture slumped slightly as transference was broken. "Here's my proof." A hand reached out of the warframe's chest, gave a quick thumbs-up, and disappeared. "Yours?" With the reestablishment of transference, warframe regained its tense stance. "I can test you if you're not comfortable showing yourself. I take it they didn't make you read the procedure before sending you here?" (edited)

Muro: For a brief moment, Muro wondered if this so-called champion was even trying to hit him. The weapon's charge-up time gave him ample opportunity to swiftly roll to the side, picking up his weapon again before standing back up. Luckily, it looked like this blowhard liked to talk more than Muro had expected. "You're calling me a puppet?" he asked sardonically. "That's funny, coming from a bot who's serving a corpse. Between the two of us, I'd say you're the only one with strings here." Muro stood ready for this Tongar's attack, the amount of energy he could direct towards healing reduced a trickle.

CHEGAR The Vauban briefly went limp as Chegar stepped out to show his face. He looked behind himself to check if the sentients down the hall had caught up to him yet, then transferred back to his warframe. Behind the Vauban's eyes, Chegar squinted; thinking: He couldn't place the voice, nor did he quite recognize the 'frame ahead of him. "I assume I missed the memo." He finally said. "Quite the act of improvisation with that shield. How long have you been down here?" (edited)

DOMINUS "Nothing? Dammit, so much for redundant construction...Alright, nobody better get mad at me for ruining the architecture around here." Returning to the center of the reactor doors, the Excalibur briefly scans the door, then ultimately decides not to bother with a subtle approach. With a click, the Veritux on the archwing detaches, unfolding into the frame's hand. Hefting the blade, he begins hacking away at the structure, pausing only for a moment after each chop to see if the water was flowing into the crevice. The archwing most likely could handle the shift in pressure and sudden deluge, but Dominus would much rather that the door caved in, and the water poured through, without sending him tumbling in the process. He kept chopping, hoping to see a breaking point.

Isa Isa wasted no time in taking aim and firing at each of the four fragments, one after another. Her turret had avoided taking damage for the most part, leaving it just as responsive and flexible as she had initially made it. Scattering would provide little help for them as she was able to target one after another, as enough distance was between them that they would be hard-pressed to get out of the turret's firing arc before she could hit them, especially given the effectiveness of explosives underwater.

~Chegar only left a small window at the top of the barricade which he stole a glance through. On the other side, a few sentient fragments arranged themselves in a defensive line. They didn't seem intent on following him in. The Gyrix launched a final missile volley at the same time Isa pulled the trigger on her turret, before the explosions destroyed the real aircraft. A final Gyrix spawned from the ashes of the splinters, but then scattered into pieces as the series of explosions continued. Unfortunately, a few missiles slipped past Isa's defenses and struck her thrusters with a BOOM. Alarms blared, screens shuddered and filled up with red error messages as the thrusters failed to keep the sub afloat. Isa began to sink to the rocky ocean floor. The laser edges on Dominus's blades carved through the door with resistance, but progress. Without warning, a large section of the door fell away, as if its backside had been corroded away. This opened an incredible current of shifting pressure right where Dominus was floating! The current yanked on the Excalibur's legs like a rat caught in a rope trap, hurtling him through the hole and across the rest of the long hallway that awaited him on the other side. Within an instant, the second set of breach doors clamped down to halt the incoming flood. Everything happened in a flash for Dominus. The next thing he knew, he was kneeling on the other side of the breach door, trapped inside the facility with ten centimeters of standing water and a hall that led to the large bay doors of the reactor room. The air was warmer here, but the steel floor felt cold as ice. The Tau orb violently exploded into a torrent of electricity, which struck Muro on the side as he rolled. His warframe's technocyte muscles spasmed in response. ~

Tongar: "Error. Father Ikazu lives still," Tongar interjected, "you Orokin failed to vanquish him: a mistake you shall sorely regret. I fight for his plan, but you know nothing of plans. Your ignorance speaks to that truth." The sentient commander launched his spear at Muro's torso with incredible speed.

Isa: With the thrusters damaged, she diverted her attention to the sub controls rather than the weapons. She emptied the ballast of her own and the tethered sub, allowing her to cease her descent. By having the tethered sub tug her around she still maintained some mobility. She started limping her way along toward the nearest surface she could rest her sub on, taking shots at anything that threatened her vessel but otherwise laying low.

Muro: Unable to dodge this attack, Muro seemed to disappear into the water around them, the only sign of his presence a circle of darkened water where he once stood. "Barely lives is more like it. The old junk pile wouldn't need to be hooked up to a Grineer base otherwise." The Hydroid stayed hidden, the barely visible circle slowly creeping along the sea floor. "You remind me a lot of the Orokin, puppet. Same pompous chest-thumping they always did. You wanna talk plans? Mine was to kill everything in this complex. And while I may not have known you and your owner were down here" He said with an almost joyful menace. "I'd be happy to add you to the list." From within the depths, Muro channeled a full-charge Tempest Barrage, loosing volley after volley of nigh-invisible projectiles on Tongar's position.

Unnamed Yareli: The Yareli gave a small bow, lifting the battered Sentient shield. "Thank you. Wish I didn't have to though, somebody stole my weapons. I've been down here maybe like a day? An Earth day. Long enough that reinforcements should've been here already." She craned to look over Chegar's shoulder, checking on the Sentients waiting outside. "Least you're here now, though, and we can lock Ikazu down again." She looked back at Chegar. "What took you so long? And they must've sent you in a rush, if you didn't read the procedures for coming down here. War's going badly up there, and we're stretched too thin? Or is there someone in charge I gotta yell at?" (edited)

CHEGAR Chegar let out a worried huff, glancing back at the sentients just out side before returning his attention to the Yareli. "We might have to discuss that after we get out of here." Chegar said, trying not to let his worry show through. "Do you know if there's a wired or analog communication line to the other stations? Something that can punch through Ikazu's interference? if there is, we have another group of people we need to get those procedures to, and fast"

DOMINUS "Mm...that's exactly what I was hoping wouldn't happen." He was no stranger to hard landings, no Tenno was, but to do it in water, and while wearing an archwing at that, felt particularly strange. Straightening out, the Excalibur immediately took off for the bay doors, looking for yet another terminal to try and force them open so that he could enter. Failing that, he kept the Veritux in hand, and if the door was also similarly not able to be opened from this side, he would waste no time cutting his way through. Getting to the reactor took expedience over any form of subtlety at this point.

~A tense couple of moments passed as Isa's sub limped to a hiding spot. Various figures flitted about in the water far above, but none seemed to follow her. She had a moment to rest. Until she heard a small popping sound from the back of her sub. At the stern of the ship, a leak sprung. Even though the hole was small, the intense pressure shot forth water like a jetstream. It quickly coated the belly of the ship in a puddle of salty seawater and kept rising. Dominus approached a very thick door. It looked like it would take an annoying amount of time to cut through, but even though a small service hallway devoid of lighting circled the perimeter of the reactor room he knew this was the only entrance. Though just as he stepped up to it, he came face to face with a battalyst walking through the service hallway! Its neon green lights betrayed its position, and Dominus saw it instantly draw an arm up to charge a deadly laser… …when a much larger sentient arm emerged from the darkness behind it. Its hand bore seven flat fingers that lifted the battalyst up in the air by its core.~ ???: "Sleep, poisoned one," a feminine voice reverberated off the cold metal walls. The hand closed, crushing the sentient's core. It spasmed as it died and was dropped to the floor. Dominus's eyes fixed on the cyan lights of a tall, lanky sentient commander lurking in the dark. She regarded him with piercing eyes. "Tenno," she muttered, yet made no sudden movements. (edited)

Tongar: Tongar quickly drew his spear back after seeing it pass straight through Muro. He began to charge another Tau orb when the cascade of water slammed into him. Small cracks splintered across his limbs as the projectiles threw him backwards. The sentient commander raised his hands forward to soften the blow from the hits when his body wreathed itself in a shimmering green light. The effect of the tempest barrage gradually reduced until Tongar floated in place, hand easily deflecting the onslaught. "Warframe ability immunity acquired. Error. Father Ikazu is now dead, but the enhancements he bestowed remain steadfast. You lack the power to destroy me. Despair now," Tongar shot back. The sentient unleashed the Tau orb, which flew floward and exploded and sent extra forks of electricity throughout Muro's form. (edited)

Unnamed Yareli: The Yareli spoke with a calm urgency. "Right. The Sentients are out now, so the only procedure now is to smack 'em. I don't know about comms, this structure wasn't built last time I was awake. I did try one console, but it seemed to be disconnected from any network, and also the UI was unfamiliar to me. How many other Tenno did they send, besides you?"

CHEGAR "There are four others that came down here with me." Chegar said quickly, his foot tapping quickly as he thought. "Definitely need to take a look at that console... What about locking Ikazu back down? From what we could tell, It looks like he's trying to draw enough energy from these stations to properly reboot. Any confirmation of that? Any other puzzle pieces we're missing here?"

DOMINUS While on alert as the battalyst came into view, the sudden appearance of the Sentient hand and its crushing of the drone caused him to settle back into a relaxed, albeit cautious, stance, observing the large commander. It wasn't attacking him outright, so there was no reason to go on the offensive just yet. "Sentient. I have important business with the reactor inside this tower, and I would see it done." There wasn't much time to fight, and even less to negotiate. But if he was dealing with the rare case of a Sentient that might actually cooperate, if only by inaction, Dominus wouldn't object to it. "You called the battalyst a poisoned one. Was something wrong with it?"

Isa Isa remained calm despite the leak that had sprung in the stern. She looked about for whatever supplies there may have still been inside, along with any tools she could have previously found. Always one to be prepared she would have made sure to have something to deal with small leaks at least, and went about working to patch the hole. She considered contacting Dominus over comms, but decided against anything that might draw attention to herself. For now she would prepare herself for a run at the tower using the bomb sub if necessary.

Muro: The orb and sparks seemed to fizzle out on contact with Muro's current state, their effect negligible if felt at all. "Looks like you're having trouble putting a scratch on me yourself, you oversized arc welder." The Hydroid sneered from his safe haven. "Sorry, but I'm not about be scared of an attack kubrow with a fancy stick." All bluster aside, it was dawning on Muro that this blowhard could actually be a problem. He could probably take him, but first he'd need a way to deal with that void adaptation...

~Isa's legs sloshed through the rapidly rising seawater as she swiftly dealt with the leak. By the time she managed to weld it shut well enough, she was already waist-deep. The water sloshed dangerously close to the front console. Fortunately the deep sea vessel had been thoroughly water proofed both outside and in, so it remained functional. Probably. The extra weight of the water made no impact compared to the crushing pressure the sub already dealt with. But for the time being, she was undisturbed.~ Sentient Commander 2: The eye slits on the sentient commander bowed downwards, as if wearing a tired or perhaps even mournful expression. "That… you do not get to know," she interjected in an oddly soothing voice. She reached a massive hand above Dominus's head and slammed its digits into a console on the side of the door. It sparked and cackled as her metal fingers dug in. After a second, the bunker door to the reactor cranked open. A blast of cold fog rolled across the Excalibur from inside. The center of the darkened chamber beyond was dominated by a grineer reactor the likes of which Dominus had seen many times. Amidst the whirlpool of new technology on display in the last number of hours, this felt almost nostalgic. "Go," the sentient continued, lowering her head, "do what you came here to do, void demon." Tongar: Tongar's neck spasmed for a split second, a motion Muro just about barely noticed. He charged another tau orb but this time held it at bay, pointed in his direction. Tongar himself seemd to find the situation as troublesome as Muro did.

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR "There are four others that came down here with me." Chegar said quickly, his foot tapping quickly as he thought. "Definitely need to take a look at that console... What about locking Ikazu back down? From what we could tell, It looks like he's trying to draw enough energy from these stations to properly reboot. Any confirmation of that? Any other puzzle pieces we're missing here?"

Unnamed Yareli: "Ahh. That's bad." The Yareli turned around, looking into the pool of water behind her for anything useful. "I wouldn't know about confirmation, though. As I said, I never saw any plans for this place." A suppressed trickle of righteous annoyance found its way into her voice. "Whoever built this station neglected to wake me up and at least inform me first. Even if Ikazu weren't drawing power from this, the proper thing to do anyway would be to shut it down until I can review it, but if what you say is true, then we'll have to resort to more extreme measures, and quickly." She pointed the torn-off shedu through the gap in the boxes, discharging its laser at the Sentients outside until it was almost but not quite empty. "And anyway, now that the cavalry has arrived," - she gave a nod to Chegar - "we can start fighting our way out of here. This severed arm can remove their adaptations somehow; and I know Vauban's helpful, but I don't remember exactly what he does besides Bastille. I've been lucky to have more waiting than fighting lately, until today. Any ideas besides just running out and shooting?" (edited)

CHEGAR "Sadly, I think 'run-and-gun' is what we're going to be left with" The Vauban responded. "That said, between us, we should have enough crowd control to focus on the running portion of that." He continued, eyes now focused on the crowd of sentient fighters just beyond the storage crates. He began readying a targeting reticule for a photon strike. "We get to the main power station, shut it down, and work the problem from there. is your 'frame good on energy?" He asked. (edited)

DOMINUS The Excalibur wasted no time, darting ahead as the air became cold, hefting the Imperator as it revved. As the bulky archwing and frame slid to a stop, he lifted the large minigun just across from the generator. "No time for subtlety, and I can't risk any of the Sentients turning this back on afterwards! If you're able to, I recommend leaving now before this whole structure crumples in on itself!" This was a stupid idea. He knew this was a stupid idea. He should've suggested they bring fuel cores or some other charges to sabotage the generators more directly, and more importantly, from considerable distance. But there wasn't time, and this would at the very least ensure the stoppage of one power line feeding into the system. It would buy them a little extra time. With that thought in mind, Dominus depressed the trigger of the Imperator, and the bullets began to fly.

~The Yareli's discharge crashed into a line of symbilists shields on the other side of the barricade. Their formation held for a couple seconds, but their armaments shuddered under its power. One broke, destroying the sentient bearing it, though the wall was quickly reformed by another. They held their ground.~ Sentient Commander 2: The Sentient Commander slinked into the hallway behind Dominus and slumped onto the floor. It almost curled into a ball as it sat watching the Tenno execute his mission, as if in some strange form of acceptance. Its lights flickered off one by one. ~Dominus's gunfire quickly stripped the coolant casing of the reactor's fuel rods. The rods began to melt and release gasses that quickly filled the room with hydrogen. Alarms blared and terminal screens filled up with rapidly blinking diagrams. At the end of the Imperator's clip, sparks flew out from the circuitry. KA-BOOOOOM!!!!! A massive fireball erupted throughout the reactor room, decimated everything inside and out to the hallway. The entire station broke its supports and fell over sideways onto the ocean floor. Highly pressurized water clamored into the ruptures in the reactor roof and quickly extinguished everything inside with a storm of bubbles. All the Tenno began receiving partial pings to each other. Not enough to communicate anything coherent through, but the connection was more present than it was before. Everyone immediately received some garbled text from Disruptis, though it was impossible to decipher.~ (edited)

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR "Sadly, I think 'run-and-gun' is what we're going to be left with" The Vauban responded. "That said, between us, we should have enough crowd control to focus on the running portion of that." He continued, eyes now focused on the crowd of sentient fighters just beyond the storage crates. He began readying a targeting reticule for a photon strike. "We get to the main power station, shut it down, and work the problem from there. is your 'frame good on energy?" He asked. (edited)

Unnamed Yareli: "No, I'm clean out. 'S why I'm hiding here. Feeling optimistic, though." She adjusted the Shedu on her shoulder, and crouched, ready to jump through the gap in the boxes... then straightened up and looked at Chegar. It occurred to her that asking this newcomer's name would not be possible for quite a while. Asking in the middle of fighting would be difficult, and there were quite a lot of Sentients to get through. The destruction of the reactor, wherever that was, could structurally compromise the facility and leave them entombed on the seafloor, with their warframes too badly damaged to speak. In any case, it was her duty to keep track of who came to her facility, and aside from that, for a host to never ask the name of their guest would be a bit rude, she thought, and now was the time to do so. "Y'know, I should probably ask your name before running out into battle. So I know who to scream for if things go pear-shaped, right?" Even hidden behind the faceless warframe, the grin was audible in her voice. It was a tired grin. Things weren't about to go pear-shaped, they already had. Ikazu was stirring, the containment seemed to have already failed, some idiot had done quite a lot of unauthorized construction, and she'd been under siege for the past day. Everything was going wrong, and that meant things could only get better from here. (edited)

DOMINUS Floating. The Excalibur slowly had its vision unscramble itself, as diagnostics gave Max a brief status update. His shields were, rather predictably, recalibrating themselves, leaving the archwing's modified structure to support him against the fast-accumulating pressure as water flooded into the wreckage. Casting his view around, Dominus was rather shocked to even be alive in the first place. He'd been worried that he, and his "ride" wouldn't have been able to take the explosion at all. Considering they couldn't communicate with their Orbiters, he'd been equally worried what that would mean for their Transference. But, there he was. Floating in a now sideways tower. As the telltale sound of his shields regenerating (albeit still quite slow) came across, the Excalibur gingerly began to look for an exit from the wreckage, hopeful that the others had managed some progress in the time he was out. Assuming it was a long time in the first place.

Isa Isa remained quiet in her sub for now, observing. She knew that showing herself at this point was risky, and as such was waiting until she was absolutely needed to strike.

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

Unnamed Yareli: "No, I'm clean out. 'S why I'm hiding here. Feeling optimistic, though." She adjusted the Shedu on her shoulder, and crouched, ready to jump through the gap in the boxes... then straightened up and looked at Chegar. It occurred to her that asking this newcomer's name would not be possible for quite a while. Asking in the middle of fighting would be difficult, and there were quite a lot of Sentients to get through. The destruction of the reactor, wherever that was, could structurally compromise the facility and leave them entombed on the seafloor, with their warframes too badly damaged to speak. In any case, it was her duty to keep track of who came to her facility, and aside from that, for a host to never ask the name of their guest would be a bit rude, she thought, and now was the time to do so. "Y'know, I should probably ask your name before running out into battle. So I know who to scream for if things go pear-shaped, right?" Even hidden behind the faceless warframe, the grin was audible in her voice. It was a tired grin. Things weren't about to go pear-shaped, they already had. Ikazu was stirring, the containment seemed to have already failed, some idiot had done quite a lot of unauthorized construction, and she'd been under siege for the past day. Everything was going wrong, and that meant things could only get better from here. (edited)

CHEGAR No energy... Damn... Chegar thought to himself. "Chegar" He finally Replied "You got a name?" He asked, and took aim through the gap in the boxes as he waited for the reply; Once he heard a name, Those Symbilists on the other side would be on the receiving end of a photon strike. And with any luck, they wouldn't be able to effectively regroup until after he and the Yarelli were in the wind.

Muro: Deciding that their current stalemate was accomplishing nothing, Muro charged upwards towards Tongar as another wave, rematerializing behind the Sentient. Without missing a beat, he turned and unloaded all five grenades into his opponent. With luck, he'd be able to slip back into cover before the blowhard got a chance to return fire.

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR No energy... Damn... Chegar thought to himself. "Chegar" He finally Replied "You got a name?" He asked, and took aim through the gap in the boxes as he waited for the reply; Once he heard a name, Those Symbilists on the other side would be on the receiving end of a photon strike. And with any luck, they wouldn't be able to effectively regroup until after he and the Yarelli were in the wind.

No-Longer-Unnamed Yareli: "Sharratmurī," said the Yareli. "I'm the warden here. Warden of Ikazu's Tomb." She prepared again to jump between the boxes. "You first, me first? My vote's on me, with the shield."

~Chegar's plasma slammed into the horde gathering on the other side. Chunks of sentient nanometal flew off their bodies. The Symbilists staggered. As they did, holes opened in their wall of defense. Dominus crawled out the massive tear in the ceiling he created. The temperature of the water rapidly dropped upon leaving the warmth left behind from the explosion. The Excalibur witnessed a flurry of neon green lights around him as the sentient foot soldiers flocked to fortify the other positions.~ Tongar: Tongar spun around a second too late. He barely unleashed his held Tau orb in Muro's direction as the grenades crashed into him, enveloping the commander in a cloud of bubbles and smoke. When the waters settled, he was already holding his spear again. More cracks spread across his shoulders and down his torso. "You shall he–" Tongar began to speak, then shuddered and spit out a few incoherent noises before finishing, "–nd brooding gulfs." (edited)

CHEGAR Name, Bombardment: Check. With the Symbilists now in disarray, Chegar simply nodded at Sharratmurī and said "After you."

DOMINUS As he emerged from the wreckage, Dominus watched the Sentients frenzy to reinforce their remaining towers, before slowly letting the archwing propel him forward, looking for Isa's submarine. As he did so, he chanced the now slightly less hazy frequencies. "One tower down. The generators are as susceptible to simple sabotage as I expected. Isa, are you still online? Do you need assistance, or should I carry on to another objective? With the Sentients repositioning, the others are going to need support soon." If she responded, all would be well, but if the signal was still too scrambled, or the worst had come to pass, he'd simply have to operate on his own volition. Either way, the Excalibur carried on, weapons at the ready for any ambush lying in wait.

Sharratmuri: A bullet-jump between the boxes, then running forward. A few Sentients pointed their lasers at her, leaving new burn-marks on her shield. Sharratmuri ran directly at them, shield-first, and did not shoot back at them until she was in the middle of them. She fired one shot. One brief sweep of a laser-beam, no effort to aim at anything specific, because it didn't matter if it hit anything. What mattered was that it was the last shot, emptying the Shedu's battery or bladder or whatever it was that Sentients had. The Shedu, thus emptied, started its reload with an explosive release of pent-up energy. Sharratmuri wasn't sure exactly what it was or why it worked, but she didn't really care. It messed with the adaptations of nearby Sentients, and that was good enough for her.

Muro: Muro wasn't quite so lucky with this engagement, though he was certainly the better off of the two. The Tau orb grazed his comparatively undamaged shoulder. Wincing at the pain, the Hydroid attempted to maneuver around the Sentient, trying to stay behind him as much as possible while he reloaded. 'Well, at least that looks like it hurt.' Muro thought. The cracks in its form and the audio errors it was suffering were proof enough to the Tenno that he wasn't completely outgunned here. "Want to try that again?" He growled at the sputtering Sentient, confident it could still hear him. "Sounds like you're having trouble."

~Dominus unknowingly passed close enough to Isa to communicate, but it was a rough connection. Isa received sixty-nine percent of the message, though that was enough to regenerate the message based on context clues. The Shedu's energies concussed the surrounding sentients, staggering them and removing the radiation and Blast resistances they had built. Chegar and Sharratmuri bounded through the stuff corridors, carving sentients as they needed. The station swarmed with them like an irritated ant hill vomiting a river of soldiers. They duo took a lot of hits, yet pushed onwards. They eventually came to the entrance to the reactor room, only to find a truly bizarre sight. The bulkhead door to the room had been replaced by… a sentient? A large sentient mass spanned the width of the doorway, sealing access inside. It looked like something straight out of a Murex. Typically motion detected near it would open it, but somehow the Tenno got the feeling it would be harder this time. Hordes of sentients closed in on their location from behind, keeping the pressure high.~ Tongar: Tongar swung around to witness the destruction of the first station. He fell into a bit of a stupor for just a moment. "Why… am I here?" He uttered. Without warning, Tongar flung the spear in front of him shaft-first. It burst out electricity and shot behind him towards Muro, but the trajectory was rough and its speed was not as it had been. (edited)

CHEGAR The Vauban slid to a screeching halt, stopping just a few meters from the Large sentient door. He quickly gawked at the mass, listing off in his mind some of the ways to pry it from. "I should have seen this coming..." He said quickly, Checking the progress of the horde behind them. "Okay, we can either look for a control panel and see if this thing has an over ride, or we can try to blowtorch our way through with our amps. Thoughts?" Chegar asked hurriedly, Eyes now darting about the room.

Isa: When called out for by Dominus on the comms, she immediately responded. "My sub is dead in the water. Hull is stable for now, but the only propulsion is having the tethered sub drag it. Check to see if it's something easily repairable, otherwise I'll remain here unless my payload is needed." She answers, still monitoring for any large threats or other problems with her sub.

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR The Vauban slid to a screeching halt, stopping just a few meters from the Large sentient door. He quickly gawked at the mass, listing off in his mind some of the ways to pry it from. "I should have seen this coming..." He said quickly, Checking the progress of the horde behind them. "Okay, we can either look for a control panel and see if this thing has an over ride, or we can try to blowtorch our way through with our amps. Thoughts?" Chegar asked hurriedly, Eyes now darting about the room.

Sharratmuri: "It's a Sentient," she said. "There won't be a control panel unless someone made one." Facing away from the wall, shield held up toward the approaching Sentient drones, she stepped back, placing herself just the right distance away from the wall, and cast Aquablades. Water condensed out of the air, circling around her, gaining speed and compressing itself flat until it became sharp. The disc of water would cut at the Sentient wall behind her for only a moment before it adapted, but any damage it did there was just a bonus. The main purpose was to keep the drones from getting too close. "Void it is, then." With Aquablades to keep melee-attacking Sentients from disturbing her work, and her warframe positioned to shield her from ranged attacks with its body, Sharratmuri stepped out backwards. She turned to face the wall, raised a hand, and... "...eugh." Fibrous gray growth, like a tree branch stripped of bark, studded with bioluminescent blue nodules and moistened with a greenish slime, had covered her arm. No, more than that. Mild disgust and annoyance exchanged themselves for horror on her face as she looked down at herself and saw. Her whole body was covered in the Infestation. She felt her stomach do a double-take. For a moment that felt too long, she stood staring, words failing her. My ship, my cryopod! What had happened to her ship? She took a breath and swallowed. Her hands, at least, were clean. Her face, her head - she reached up and felt it, a short mohawk of curly hair - yes, that was clean. She snapped her fingers, creating a grey-white spark. Void-energy still flowed, as strong as ever. "Well," she said dryly. "Shit." Infestation was a problem, but not the most pressing at the moment. She stepped forward, pressed her hands against the living-machine wall, and began to push into it the warping, sterilizing energy of the Void.

DOMINUS Almost immediately, the Archwing stopped, and casting about for the submarine, eventually revealed its predicament. Dominus floated down and towards the back end of the vessel, attempting to diagnose any possible issues with the propulsion from the rear. "Glad they didn't swamp you entirely, at least. Not sure how much I'll be able to do here, but so long as you have the bomb sub, the Sentients probably don't want anything to do with you. You can either wipe a crowd of them out, or one of the towers, in one fell swoop. Mutually assured destruction. Keep an eye out for inbound anyways, if you don't mind. I'm still a target they might want to take a stab at."

Muro: The Sentient's sudden bout of confusion only served to put Muro more on edge. With his Corinth reloaded, he took aim at the so-called champion again, fairly easily dodging the sloppily thrown spear. Not waiting for his foe to snap out of it, he unleashed another barrage of grenades.

~The damage to the outside actually appeared salvageable to Dominus. A lot of it were dents and scrapes that still left the sub operable, but what needed fixing was the wiring. Any welder found down here would be capable of wet welding, it was just a matter of getting one. Sharratmuri heard a cacophony of clicking sounds as she pushed Void energy into the wall. The wall itself began to screech in protest. At the same time, it budged a little in the Tenno's hands, as if it were unlocked. It was too heavy to open with her thin arms though. Behind them, an Aerolyst clambered into the hallway. It pushed off the ground with its wings and gave a deafening howl before launching a series of projectiles towards the two Tenno.~ Tongar: "Why… am I still alive?" The grenades decimated Tongar's waist, tearing his legs off. The sentient turned, spear returning to hand. Another burst shot forth, and what remained of his upper body zoomed along with it, brushing through the bubbly aftermath of grenade explosions. As he did, he charged a massive tau orb in his launcher. The commander reached Muro and fired it point-blank at his left leg, blowing it off at the knee.

Isa: "Yeah, I'll look around. I should be able to divert power from the engines to the sensors and comms." She manipulates the controls on the console, doing just that. "I'll try to warn everyone of any new threats as they come up. Don't take too long to get this done."

CHEGAR As Sharratmuri poured void energy into the door, the Vauban lobbed a vortex into the hallway behind him, hoping to slow the sentients' procession. He looked back, checking to see this new comrades' progress. Seeing Sharratmuri struggle to open the door, Chegar moved in. He pressed the hands of his warframe into the opening, working in tandem with this new companion to wrench the door open.

DOMINUS "I'll need a welder to fix this properly, but you're fine otherwise. I'm guessing you packed one onboard? If so, prep it in an airlock and I'll grab it." He pushed off from the submarine and floated towards open space for the airlock, keeping the Imperator ready for any potential ambushes. "Hopefully the others have almost finished. When I destroyed that first tower, I think it helped clear the comms, but not by a lot. If we can get in touch with Muro, I can back him up, or tag out while one of us makes your repairs."

Isa Isa finishes her temporary rerouting of the power before picking up the welder and placing it in the airlock. "There's also a leak." She describes its location. "I've sealed it from in here, but some exterior work could help as well." She closes her side of the airlock, then opens the outer door.

Sharratmuri: The Simbilyst's shield, ripped from its owner and held for so long in the hands of a Tenno, had been unable to adapt to the energies thrown against it. Struck by at least some of the Aerolyst's bolts, the shield finally broke, cracking along some of the burnt gashes in its surface. Sharratmuri's view was blocked by Chegar standing over her, but she wasn't looking. She continued to flow Void energy into the door, hoping to corrode and weaken it further, and thus make it easier for Chegar to open. She heard the sound of the Aerolyst's bolts striking her warframe and cracking the shield, but did not respond, for she had left her warframe holding the shield so that if something broke, it would that, and not her.

~Sharratmuri's efforts yielded fruit when Chegar heaved the Sentient door open. Inside lay a well-lit reactor room with a layout typical of Grineer structures. All that was left to do was to destroy it. Chegar's vortex halted the initial wave, but a couple conculysts rushed up from behind. They initiated their phasing forms and sharked through the walls of the hallway to avoid the hazard. One popped out with a powerful whirl and cracked the shield held by the disconnected Yareli. The others closed in. Dominus snatched the welder from the airlock and got to work. Every muscle in his body tensed as the minutes ticked by, waiting for an ambush while focusing on applying the right changes. It was moments like these where the deep, suffocatingly dark waters felt most like the awe-inspiring expanse of space. Any single movement of light indicated conflict was inevitable. …but none came. Dominus finished a little extra seal on the leak and peeled away from a fixed sub.~

Sharratmuri: As the door opened to reveal a reactor of a design unfamiliar to her, Sharratmuri hazarded a glance behind her, past Chegar. Her warframe stood in the same positions she'd left it in, holding up a shield that was now useless. A pair of Conculysts had gotten inside the circle of Aquablades, which was pretty easy to do even without phasing. One was taking the opportunity to do its worst to the undefended warframe, apparently unaware, or perhaps not caring, that there was no-one in it. And the Aquablades, left active, would surely have drained nearly all of the warframe's energy by now. But none of that was really a problem; the Unairu Way made it possible to revive a recently-downed warframe if needed. More important was locking down the reactor, and anyway, doing that would likely render the Sentient problem moot. She took a running stride forward, and slightly to the side to make way for Chegar, then was struck by two realizations. The first was that, without any weapons or tools on her except her own ability to channel the Void, it would be difficult to either damage the reactor or shut it down, so what was she doing running toward it? How helpful could she be there? Chegar had more than enough firepower (and with his parazon, hacking ability) to do whatever he wanted to the reactor. The second was that if the reactor shut down explosively, she would be facing a potential nuclear catastrophe at point-blank range, and she would rather do that from inside a warframe, even one that was damaged and depleted of energy. Midway through her second running stride, in one fluid motion, she turned and threw two wads, two packets of Void energy, back toward her Warframe. The first was a Caustic Strike. The second was herself, using Transference. ((1/2)) (edited)

The Caustic Strike caustically struck, a small explosion of nothingness that stripped the two nearby Conculysts of their armor and congealed into an Unairu Wisp from each of them that floated toward Chegar. Sharratmuri dropped the broken stump of a shield and deactivated Aquablades with just a drop of energy left, letting the swirling sharp water splash harmlessly to the floor. The Conculysts on either side of her seemed to have the advantage, despite being without armor. They were adapted for melee combat, and she couldn't shoot them with the Shedu at such close range - it was too large and unwieldy. Perfect, then, for striking one of the Sentients with the large and unwieldy barrel as she turned to face the reactor room. "Shut it down, Chegar!" she yelled, with a taste of triumph in her voice. "I'll hold 'em off for a bit!" ((2/2)) (edited)

CHEGAR With the door now cracked open, Chegar peered in to see the grineer's handiwork. Fuel injectors, Coolant lines, Core reactor: all possibilities flooding his mind at once with the line of Conculysts closing in. There wasn't much time: he quickly cataloged all the weak points he could see from his position. With his objective ahead of him, and the enemy behind him, he'd need to make every shot count. He quickly wedged his Vauban's leg into the door, helping to keep it open, and the reactor exposed. That's when he heard the shield crack. He looked back to see the result of the Caustic strike, and the wisp drifting towards him. Hearing Sharratmuri Call out, Chegar knew he was out of time. He'd have to time this perfectly. He quickly drew his Angstrum, narrowing in of the coolant lines. Not even a second had passed from the missiles being launched had the Vauban when slightly limp: a flurry of green-orange void erupted from it as Chegar stepped forward and out. Taking advantage of the wisp, Chegar lobbied an volley of explosive energy towards the straggling sentient Combatants, then followed up with a seeking stream of void towards those closest to his ally. Between Sharratmurit and the encroaching sentients, a thin shell of void energy began to coalesce, and Chegar disappeared in a flash. ~~His Vauban raised it's arm again, and took aim at he reactor, now focusing on the injectors.~~ ~~With one more squeeze of the trigger, he bluntly said "Bombs away."~~ With the coolant now leaking, Chegar moved, pushing his ‘frame into a full sprint. Best case scenario; the leaks would force a shutdown before he did. Worse case scenario; he’d have to force the reactor into a meltdown. And Given the unknown state of his sub, Chegar wasn’t too keen on resorting to a meltdown. Still, the option remained on the table. “Okay; here we go.” He said hurriedly, jamming the blade of his parazon into the console once he arrived. (edited)

DOMINUS If he could breath in the Warframe, he would've let out a sigh of relief. Tapping the side of the submarine, the Excalibur pushed off, hovering just off the side of vessel. "You're green, spool her up. I'll cover you while we head forward, your sensors are going to be a lot better than anything I can see. If we get closer to the triangulation point, we may be able to get in touch with Disruptis and the others." Their difference in speed meant he could patrol in a wide berth around the submarine while still being able to quickly react to any Sentient threats. Considering they'd gone totally undisturbed during the repairs though, he wasn't sure where they were concentrating their forces in the first place. "Be wary. We've gone without any issues for too long now."

Isa With the flicking of a few switches, the sub's engines restarted and it began to float up off from the spot it was resting on. "Good work. Let's get to the others." She was otherwise silent, paying close attention to the sensors on the sub as she and Dominus made their way to their destination, ever ready to unleash a stream of high explosives at any Sentient that dared venture into range.

~It eventually dawned on Isa and Dominus that the reason they had met so little resistance is that it was busy swarming the remaining two stations. Upon drawing closer to the station Disruptis went to, they begun to make out the simple binary message he was sending out. Te#2ti)_g. T@s$i%!, &e!s^$ng. Chegar watched the flickering numbers of the core temperatures displayed on the console skyrocket before his very eyes. A regular reactor would SCRAM into complete shutdown in event of a breach such as this. This, however, was a Grineer reactor. Even after years of war with Tenno sabotaging their systems, they never learned to shut them down once the coolant was removed. The good news was that the reactor wouldn't go critical for another five minutes. The bad news was that the reactor would go critical in five minutes. A hot vent burst beyond the hallway, showering the sentients outside with flames and finishing up what remained from the Tenno's assault. An explosion shook the station from somewhere below. The lights flickered momentarily and the entire floor tilted a couple degrees to the west.~

Isa Isa checked the sensors as they approached, especially now that they noticed the sentients warming around the station Disruptis had entered. She waited to open fire until she could get a read or visual on whatever priority targets there may be, particularly on the lookout for more Gyrix, as they posed the largest threat to the sub. She didn't respond to Disruptis's comms at all. Any she sent would no doubt be just as garbled and do little other than alert the enemy to their presence.

CHEGAR Seeing the reactor slowly begin its march toward nuclear Armageddon, Chegar quickly brought up its SCRAM protocol. “Okay okay okay-“ he quickly blurted, his semi-professional tone virtually gone “we got five minutes ‘till this thing goes boom! I can either scram this thing and hold our ground here, or we can book it and hope there something left of my sub to get its out of here!” He went back and check his estimates for the melt down.

Sharratmuri: Chegar's shield protected her warframe from damage as the hallway was sprayed with a pipeful of something hot. The Sentients were not so lucky. Sharratmuri took the opportunity to retreat a step, into the torn-open doorway. She glanced behind her at the reactor, wondering what kind of idiot had designed it without any sort of failsafe or emergency shutdown to deal with a loss-of-coolant. (For a moment she considered that perhaps Chegar had somehow disabled it - which would make him either incompetent or untrustworthy, and the designer would still be an idiot for making the failsafe possible to disable - and dismissed the possiblity as quite unlikely. Chegar so far seemed quite competent, and obviously not on a suicide mission. Though, on the other hand, was shooting the coolant lines really such a great idea, when the control panel presumably allowed a manual shutdown...? She decided that it probably was, since a careful shutdown would take time but a forced shutdown would immediately cut off the power to Ikazu, and time was of the essence. Perhaps Chegar had been expecting a failsafe, as any reasonable person would, only to find that there was none.) The tremor and the tilt of the floor shook her from her reverie of reactor-examination, and she quickly turned her gaze back to the hallway, berating herself for not keeping watch. Such a lapse seemed odd for her, and she speculated that perhaps the long cryosleep had somewhat affected her cognition. Or more likely, fighting to open a living door after single-handedly withstanding a day-long siege had finally started to tire her. Tenno of Unairu were hardy, but they had their limits. It was just lucky, she thought, that more Sentients hadn't come down the hallway and attacked her while she'd been distracted. (edited)

A moment passed of staring down the empty hallway, then she heard Chegar call out from behind her. Five minutes? ...Sentients will be here by then... But she knew she could hold them off. She'd done it not long before, and now with an ally and a mission, she had a reason for it beyond her own survival. She answered: "How 'bout scram it so we don't have to deal with an explosion, 'cause a sub probably wouldn't survive an explosion like this, and then run? You said there's more than one station to shut down, right?" (edited)

DOMINUS The slow creeping forward of the sub and archwing gave Max plenty of time to think, especially as the garbled message kept repeating. While it was scrambled in different ways each time, it held a specific pattern... ...Testing. He's trying to call. But if he called, or they responded, it would mean drawing the Sentients onto them. They needed to pull a chunk of them away from the tower. Floating in close to Isa's submarine, and laying a hand on it just to make the connection stable, and prevent from giving them away, he spoke. "Disruptis is trying to ring us. If I pull the wolfpack's attention away from the tower, do you think you can get close enough to pin down his frequency? Depending on what he needs, you or I can then go in for backup. Probably me so that we can keep your bomb as a last resort, but it's ultimately your call. How do you want to play this?"

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

A moment passed of staring down the empty hallway, then she heard Chegar call out from behind her. Five minutes? ...Sentients will be here by then... But she knew she could hold them off. She'd done it not long before, and now with an ally and a mission, she had a reason for it beyond her own survival. She answered: "How 'bout scram it so we don't have to deal with an explosion, 'cause a sub probably wouldn't survive an explosion like this, and then run? You said there's more than one station to shut down, right?" (edited)

CHEGAR The parazon flashed, more and more inputs rushing down the length of its blade. Chegar quickly worked to initiate the SCRAM. “Yes I did!” Chegar called out, making sure the shutdown protocol actually took. “Hopefully, if ikazu’s lost enough power, we should be able to contact the other teams in the area!” He did his final check, locking down the reactor, then withdrew his parazon. “Okay let’s go!” He then leveled his sobek at the console; even with their ability to subvert technology, sending a few rounds through the interface would, hopefully, keep the sentients delayed a bit longer. (edited)

Isa Isa took a moment to survey the pack. "Sounds like a plan. I can try to peel for you if you need it, but remember the archwing's abilities should still function fine." She started tinkering with the controls again, working the comms now to try to improve reception and transmission, though she didn't transmit anything yet. "Ready when you are. I'll slip in once you've grabbed their attention. Tell me if you need more ordnance."

~Chegar executed the subroutine for the SCRAM protocol, but didn't get the response he was expecting. Instead of a notice of shutdown, a message printed to standard output as the protocol abruptly ended and closed out: [note to sedf: funusr klus dategr] note to self: finish this later The overheating continued. Throughout the facility, sentients stopped in their tracks. They all turned their heads to a single direction, as if listening to something. After a moment, all of them began a mad scramble towards the direction of the exit.~ (edited)

CHEGAR It took a beat for Chegar to process what he was seeing. you gotta be kidding… SCRAM wasn’t and option, and fixing the coolant lines was going to take a lot longer than 5 minutes. He didn’t have time to sling his sobek; he made a mad dash towards the door, nearly bowling Sharratmuri over in his haste to usher her out of the area. “RUUUUUUNNNN!!” (edited)

2

DOMINUS "We'll see, if I get in over my head it could turn into me needing to be bailed out just as much as Dis might. That said, I think I'll be alright." The Excalibur separated from Isa's sub, the low thrumming of the vessel grew fainter, as he sailed ahead to the cloud of Sentients swirling around the tower. Pulling left, the archgun began spooling up, and then a steady stream of bullets poured towards the mass of foes, Dominus adjusting for the recoil trying to push him backwards in the water. After the first burst, he immediately rose up, hoping to essentially mask Isa's presence by making the Sentients rush around him without actually paying attention to their surroundings, planning to meet the first responders with yet another blast from the minigun. "Come on, you bastards! I'm built for this fight, and you're built to die!"

Sharratmuri: As Chegar passed her, Sharratmuri began to run, one step forward to get moving, a second to pick up speed, and after that her feet did not come back down onto the floor. Merulina had appeared there, already moving, a Creature of Waves summoned to aid the Queen of Rainstorms, swimming through the space between Sharratmuri and the floor. Sharratmuri landed on the back of the aquatic void-creature, one arm holding the Shedu, the other reaching out to pull Chegar onto Merulina's back as she passed by. Passing scenery blurred, like paint splashed with water. Doorways became tunnels of indistinct mist. Sentients stretched into grotesque forms and then disappeared, left behind as Merulina dodged between them. Sharratmuri crouched, pointy Shedu in front, small Yareli in the middle, bulky Vauban behind, piercing the wet air like a wedge. She asked him, her voice stretched into a hiss as it flowed past him and was left behind, "What happened, What did you do?" (edited)

~Sharratmuri slammed a fleeing battalyst to the floor and ground her board across its back, emerging into the loading bay. The sentients that once clogged the facility like an artery now flowed like a chaotic landslide out it, diving into the murky depths. Chegar spotted his battered sub being tossed mercilessly against the back of the dock by the churning waters. Another pipe burst in the ceiling, belching another plume of flame. A portion of the ceiling caved, spilling a raging current of high pressure ocean into the bay, showering the two Tenno. The water started to rise fast. A small battalion of conculyst detached from the cloud and ran Dominus down. Their spinning churned the ocean so that it looked like whirlpools chased him down. Dominus sprayed a couple of them down, but the others engaged. He was battered from all sides by the powerful blows of their tuning fork-arms. Isa went unnoticed through the chaos.~

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

Sharratmuri: As Chegar passed her, Sharratmuri began to run, one step forward to get moving, a second to pick up speed, and after that her feet did not come back down onto the floor. Merulina had appeared there, already moving, a Creature of Waves summoned to aid the Queen of Rainstorms, swimming through the space between Sharratmuri and the floor. Sharratmuri landed on the back of the aquatic void-creature, one arm holding the Shedu, the other reaching out to pull Chegar onto Merulina's back as she passed by. Passing scenery blurred, like paint splashed with water. Doorways became tunnels of indistinct mist. Sentients stretched into grotesque forms and then disappeared, left behind as Merulina dodged between them. Sharratmuri crouched, pointy Shedu in front, small Yareli in the middle, bulky Vauban behind, piercing the wet air like a wedge. She asked him, her voice stretched into a hiss as it flowed past him and was left behind, "What happened, What did you do?" (edited)

CHEGAR Between the commotion of the evacuation and the mild accusation, Chegar quickly blurted “I trusted the Grineer to have some common sense. SCRAM wasn’t installed; the bastard sent to do it left a note saying they’d do it later.” He watched as torrents of sea water began flooding the bay, straining to keep his footing on the board under his feet. “This is gonna be really close; we get in the sub, patch as we go, and hope to whatever deity may still exist that we can clear this place before it blows, or before the sub implodes: whatever comes first.” (edited)

DOMINUS The Excalibur turtled up under the conculyst barrage, his and the archwing's enhanced shields holding against the onslaught for now. As Isa's sub rolled through, he almost couldn't help but laugh, before the telltale purple energies swirled into being from his frame. With a sudden burst, Dominus let loose a Radial Blind, the Void-made light briefly piercing the crushing darkness of the ocean, and then, immediately following the disorienting shock to the system, gathered a collection of spectral blades around him, Skana constructed entirely out of Voidstuff. As the energy blades tracked their targets, he let them loose, the Radial Javelin salvo aiming to penetrate individual conculysts, disabling them, and draw even more towards him as he began a retreat, maintaining heavy fire from the Imperator on the cloud of Sentients. "That's right, keep it coming! I've got plenty left in the tank just for you!"

Isa While the Excalibur in the modified archwing lured the sentients away from the tower and to their own destruction, the humble submarines scooted their way silently on past them. Isa started heading toward the airlock of the tower, opening comms as she did so. "This is Isa. Do you require assistance?" She asked, making her way along while keeping a lookout for any unwanted attention, the gun swiveling, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR Between the commotion of the evacuation and the mild accusation, Chegar quickly blurted “I trusted the Grineer to have some common sense. SCRAM wasn’t installed; the bastard sent to do it left a note saying they’d do it later.” He watched as torrents of sea water began flooding the bay, straining to keep his footing on the board under his feet. “This is gonna be really close; we get in the sub, patch as we go, and hope to whatever deity may still exist that we can clear this place before it blows, or before the sub implodes: whatever comes first.” (edited)

Sharratmuri: Any well-designed system, in her opinion, should have its failsafes built inseparably into it. A reactor with a whole subsystem missing should not have even been possible to turn on. And even still, design issues aside, no competent administrator should allow such corner-cutting to happen under their nose. Not only had the worker screwed up, but so had their supervisor, and the operators must have been aware too that their equipment was missing a critical safety system. There was only one possible response to such incompetence. "...jeez..." This was the tomb of a Sentient. Every Tenno and every Orokin knew how much depended on keeping it sealed -- potentially billions of lives were at stake. No matter who had emerged victorious from the Outer Terminus, surely they would have kept close supervision on any projects down here, and spared no expense to make sure it was done right. Surely they would have known to get the Warden's approval first. Just how bad were things going on the surface, that the proper resources and command structures had not been devoted to something so important? Instead, she and Chegar were going to be lucky to escape with their warframes intact. She hoped, to whatever deity may still have existed, that Chegar's sub would be of a standard design, something she knew how to patch up on the fly, and not something unfamiliar, like the illegible consoles and unsafe reactor in this unauthorized facility. Merulina shot out of the doorway into the docking bay, scattering Sentient stragglers. With a playful flip of its tail, it sent its riders flying on a surprisingly accurate throw toward the submarine, and disappeared into the water. Sharratmuri's landing on the tossing submarine was ungraceful one, with limbs spread out in all directions. It was all she could do to not bounce off. "Shaken and stirred," she mumbled, moving to open the hatch. (edited)

~Chegar and Sharratmuri squeezed into the sub and took off at full speed as the support struts of the ceiling fell down around them. They watched sentients tossed around in the flurry of the rising current as they put as much distance as they could possibly muster behind them. The entire station violently combusted much more powerfully than the last one. It illuminated the entire battlefield, revealing a thin layer of sentient corpses piling at the bottom of the trench. The uncomfortable feeling of a mild aftershock coursed through Dominus's arch-suit. Muro felt it in his bones. The aftershock sucker-punched Chegar and Sharratmuri's sub a couple kilometers, sending it spinning out of control. The two were viciously tossed, badly bruising their technocyte flesh. Chegar dislocated his shoulder, but Sharratmuri broke her leg. As the dust settled, so too did the interference. Just enough for Isa's message to go through, and receive a reply: Oh awesome, I was worried I'd have to improvise.~ (edited)

Disruptis: Disruptis stood inside the third station, gazing out a nearby window. An entire armada of sentients surrounded him, launching volley after volley and swing after swing against the black and yellow Limbo to absolutely no avail. The veil of Rift surrounding him shrugged it all off. Disruptis twisted his bright red gammacor to a different module and turned to give the reactor one last look. At the very end of the hall, it sat with its bulkhead doors wide open. A myriad of wires and equipment lay strewn across the floor after Disruptis had practically disassembled the entire thing and put it back together. "Sorry," he spoke aloud to his chorus of enemies, "but you don't get time to regroup." He flicked the switch, and a low whirring sound filled the hall. In three seconds the primary lights flickered off. In another two, the backup lights failed as well as every drop of energy ceased to flow through the station. Disruptis ignited his plasma sword, casting cyan light over the shadows of his assailants. That involuntarily heat flared alive in the pit of his stomach as he looked over them with burning wrath. "Now, which one of you muckers dies first?" All the sentients froze in place. Disruptis flinched. He hadn't even ripped a cataclysm open yet. Then all in perfect sync, they turned their heads to look out the window. The Tenno spun around as well. There in the depths of the trench, a massive shadow moved. Neon green lights flickered to life all over a Mother class sentient. Its fractal design consisted of three ring-like structures surrounding a triangle in the middle. "WHAT!?!" Disruptis shouted in utter disbelief, slamming the window pane with a fist. (edited)

The remaining sentients gathered around him fled the facility in an unholy current of metal. Disruptis flipped on his comms to find almost all the interference gone. No connection to the surface, but he was receiving physical ping bounce backs from the edges of the trench. All the Tenno could talk again. He hopped in everyone's main communication channel as he sprinted back for his sub. "Hey guys? I disabled the third generator. He didn't nab anywhere near enough energy to come online, but he's up anyways! Ikazu is AWAKE! Regroup and hit him with everything we've got, NOW." ~The Tenno all watched as Ikazu rose off the ocean floor. Before he could get far, his movement halted as the charging cables embedded in his body now shackled him downwards. All his sentient forces flocked to him like a tempest and mounted an offensive on the restraints.~

Muro: Muro howled in agony as the shot ripped through his frame's leg, unable to take up any countermeasures against his similarly decimated opponent. Sinking to the sea floor, the Tenno tried his best to keep his focus despite the searing pain. Instinct told him to do something to staunch the damage to his leg, but he couldn't. Not here. Amidst his own nerves screaming in his head, Disruptis' voice managed to cut through the noise. That announcement was the last straw. Drawing up all the strength he could, he dragged open a massive portal in the seabed in front of him, itself a void in an inky blackness darker than even the ocean around them. From the depths of that portal, a mass of tentacles and scales tore loose, its gigantic shape obscured by the murky depths. The beast floated there for a moment before loosing an impossible number of cyan colored tentacles at the wounded Sentient champion, grabbing, pulling and tearing at it with terrifying ferocity. With the portal open and his ace in the hole free, Muro fell forward onto the sandy seafloor. "Kill 'em all, big guy..." He growled faintly before slipping into a near-unconscious state.

1

DOMINUS Suddenly, his desperate struggle with the horde of Sentients ceased. Dominus watched in confusion as the mass streamed away from him, before Disruptis's voice suddenly cut through the static. They had comms back! "Ikazu is AWAKE!" He really wished they didn't have comms back. With no time to waste, the Excalibur set the archwing into high gear, following the stream of Sentients until he saw the massive body that comprised Ikazu's form. He was here, but...how was he supposed to fight this? "Dominus here, I'm in position over Ikazu. I, um...I'll try whittling down the Sentient numbers, keep them from getting this big bastard free! If we can find an opening, I say we hit it with the bomb and cripple it before killing it for good! Has anyone heard from Muro? Could really use the extra help in the water!" This time he wouldn't sit in place and just fire the Imperator at one or two pockets of enemies. Dominus threw himself into motion, maintaining a steady stream of fire that he'd drag along the surface of Ikazu, attempting to force its retainers to move to protect it from the blasts, splitting their forces between defense and attempting to free the Sentient from the ocean floor.

Isa Isa maneuvered her twin subs around the facility, keeping them away from the sentients for now. "Disruptis, Chegar, get out and begin firing to draw their attention. I have the payload but we need to make sure it gets in range. My knowledge is somewhat lacking on Ikazu. Tell me where I need to aim this." She sat still for now, biding her time for the right moment to strike.

Sharratmuri: For several moments, Sharratmuri lay on the floor(?) of the submarine, staring up at the ceiling(?) splattered with technocyte hemolymph, in pain but glad to at least be alive. Lucky that the submarine hadn't been crushed by the hydraulic shock. A voice cut through her reverie, sharp and urgent. "Ikazu is AWAKE! Regroup and hit him with everything we've got, NOW." This was no time for resting after a difficult job. This was the beginning of the real job. She quickly glanced around, Chegar seemed to be in a similar situation as she was, and the Sentient arm-cannon was also scuffed and dented, but less so than the warframes. Perhaps it had managed to partially adapt to blunt-force impact, but not quick enough to avoid damage entirely. Whether it was still safe to use was an open question, which she hoped she wouldn't have to answer. She sat up, and noticed the leg of her warframe bent in a way it shouldn't have been. Broken. She Transferred out, and stood up in her own Infestation-covered body, as chatter began to come through the submarine's comms system. Lucky that it still worked. ((1/3))

"Dominus here, I'm in position over Ikazu. I, um...I'll try whittling down the Sentient numbers, keep them from getting this big bastard free! If we can find an opening, I say we hit it with the bomb and cripple it before killing it for good! Has anyone heard from Muro? Could really use the extra help in the water!" The first voice had been unfamiliar, but this one she recognized, and the name. Dominus, huh. Doesn't sound as confident as I remember. She stepped through the Void toward the pilot's console, and searched for some form of communications equipment (a headset, a button to push to talk, anything would work), debating internally whether this was really faster than trying to drag her warframe and its parazon over to the console. Like the reactor and consoles in the facility, the submarine was not a design she'd seen before, and the damage from shaking two warframes inside it didn't help. She gave up, and transferred back to her warframe, making sure that its own comms were open. ((2/3))

A third voice came through, level and clear, authoritative. "Disruptis, Chegar, get out and begin firing to draw their attention. I have the payload but we need to make sure it gets in range. My knowledge is somewhat lacking on Ikazu. Tell me where I need to aim this." Disruptis, she recognized that name. A famous general, and he'd been among the squad who'd initially captured Ikazu. It seemed he wasn't actually in charge here, though. She remembered that Chegar had said there were four others who had come with him, and she mentally tallied up who she'd heard. The first voice who'd announced Ikazu's awakening, Dominus who said they had a bomb, Muro who seemed to be missing (and so the first voice was probably Disruptis), and this last voice who seemed to be in charge and had "the payload". She answered the last transmission, in the same calm, no-nonsense tone: "Hit 'im in the head. It's the bit in the middle, right smack in the center. This is Sharratmuri. I am, or was, the warden of this tomb. Chegar is here also. We destroyed a reactor and have escaped, but our warframes are damaged." ((3/3))

CHEGAR Dislocation: The Vauban had gotten lucky. Chegar quickly looked around, trying to gauge where everything had ended up: Weapons, Controls, Ally's Warframe: Then came the Radio chatter. he recited what details he could in his mind, trying to fight through the pain: -Ikazu Awake -Whittling down Sentient number -Where's Muro? -Pay load En-route Chegar righted himself, Pulling himself to his feet with his remaining good arm. If he could get to the controls, he could get this vehicle moving in the right direction again. But not with his warframe down a functioning arm. He moved towards the controls, looking for a good way to get back in control with the sub in its new orientation. Once he had found a good anchor point, he grab the part the limb just distal to the dislocation, and quickly wrenched it back into place. His body lurched from the sudden relocation of the joint. He took a few brief, ragged gasps, steadied himself, and moved into position at the controls, using whatever anchor-points he could to keep himself oriented to the controls. With whatever hand(s) remained free, he directed the sub to face towards Ikazu's possition, making sure not to roll the vehicle; He wasn't about to cause any more damage to the Yareli than he help. He began checking the weapon systems during the turn, Hoping to get them back up and running in time. With a damaged sub, and so many sub systems to be checked, he was going to be cutting it close. "Chegar Reporting in." He said, Finally lining up on his quarry. "Moving to engage." He set the throttle to maximum. ((1/2)) (edited)

With the Sub under way, Chegar locked down the throttle, making sure that even once he left the controls, the sub would not stop. He directed his warframe away from the controls, then promptly transferred out. He quickly slid next to Sharratmuri, taking stock of the injury. Broken leg: Never good for a combatant such as a Tenno. "Alright; this is gonna hurt a bit. Take a breath-" Chegar said just before manually realigning the broken leg bones, making sure to give any long bone breakages proper traction. With the leg back in its rightful configuration, Chegar began moving his hand over the leg, spark of regenerative void exploding from his fingertips. He winced with each movement of his arm; even with the link cut, the psychosomatic effect of his Vauban's recent shoulder dislocation was still fresh. -Injured team members -Vehicle in motion -Residual somatic backlash -15 seconds from first throttle-up -Estimated time until contact: ...-.-....._... Chegar's mind was a flurry as he tried to keep all the details straight: If he didn't time this perfectly, both he and his new ally were going to be in for an even more hellish time. He continued to force more rejuvenative void into the damaged limb, hoping he'd have it patched in time to reassume control of the vehicle. The cold-sweat forming one Chegar's brow would be plainly obvious to anyone within sight of him. ((2/2)) (edited)

Disruptis: Warden? The Orokin tomb'd someone down here with Ikazu's wreckage? Disruptis thought, Fathermuckers keep finding ways to make me hate them even long after they're six feet under. If only a Tenno had known she was down here… The thought of being locked this deep in these mortifying depths gave the Limbo shivers. He gained a new sense of appreciation for the wake-up squads still scouring the system for sleeping Tenno. "Yeah, the head'll do," Disruptis chipped in, pulling away from the station in his sub. He caught a view of Ikazu's form from the myriad of lights that dotted it and felt the bottom of his stomach drop. Muckmuckmuckmuck all of that for this?! I… He fished the cylindrical object out of his syandana. It was a simple metal stick with a red button on top. All of Disruptis's most important triggers were simple, as if a message to himself that life need not be complex. A fitting conclusion that this switch held his. An easy out, engineered from the dark places he found himself in the period after his soured reunion. It would destroy the place he now kept his operator body in with the fury of the Void, permanently sending him to the beyond. However with his Tenno form now on transference, it was no longer there. The switch would do little more than send a message to some important people that he was dead. Perfect then, if he was not planning on coming back without completing this mission. At all costs. (edited)

~Tenno are capable of many incredible feats that strike fear into the very souls of their enemies. A Hydroid unleashes only a portion of a much greater existence into the world, and as they do the being feeds on their opponents. How much more fearsome is it then when the Kraken itself is unleashed. The giant monster engulfed Tongar as the bleeding sentient looked up to glimpse it. Tentacles tore him limb from limb as if he were made of paper. Drained from the long battle, the commander could muster no energy to even struggle. In a matter of seconds, he was nothing but glittering scraps across the sea floor. Instead of luring fragments to him, Dominus caught something else. A massive circle of neon green light flickered on the front of Ikazu's form. Without another warning, a massive beam of plasma slammed Dominus on the side, searing half his Excalibur's torso through the diving suit before the ocean cooled him off. The pain was excruciating. The blast bathed everyone in another round of light.~

DOMINUS Blinding. The light from the beam, and the pain that lanced through his entire body. Ikazu was angry with him. Good. It meant less energy that the behemoth was dedicating to freeing itself. The Excalibur rolled over, the impact from the attack having flung him backwards. "He's not just awake, his weaponry is online! That plasma just ripped right through my shields and scorched me bad! Be careful getting close to this thing!" Reactivating the thrust, Dominus started paying more attention to Ikazu itself, keeping up the barrage of fire, while watching for a repeat shot of that same weapon, or any other attack it might try. In the meantime, he took his chance at banter. Anything to distract this thing from its objective. His sword arm was itchy, but it was still too soon. Trying to carve through this thing was an exercise in futility, especially with all of the drones covering it. "Where's the quips, Ikazu? Usually at this point you Sentients like to remind us how worthless we are, or how everything we're doing is according to your grand design. Come on, this ocean's dreary enough, let's get some color commentary!"

Isa Isa was silent in her sub as she watched Dominus take the hit. Still, she didn't move. She wouldn't do so until she saw at least one other sub come out to play. With a target this big she would need to make sure she could deliver the payload to the right place. She fiddled with the crude interface with the bomb sub, plotting her route to the target and calculating the fuse time necessary to loose the sub toward its final destination and allow it to detonate while Isa moved her own damage craft away. Her allies knew what she was armed with and would stay far enough away if they knew what was good for them, or at least know to fall back when she gave the signal. She really should have mounted a weapon on the thing as well, something to make it seem like no different a threat than any of the other subs... then again with how laden it was with explosives, the thing couldn't carry enough ammo for anything particularly significant.

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

With the Sub under way, Chegar locked down the throttle, making sure that even once he left the controls, the sub would not stop. He directed his warframe away from the controls, then promptly transferred out. He quickly slid next to Sharratmuri, taking stock of the injury. Broken leg: Never good for a combatant such as a Tenno. "Alright; this is gonna hurt a bit. Take a breath-" Chegar said just before manually realigning the broken leg bones, making sure to give any long bone breakages proper traction. With the leg back in its rightful configuration, Chegar began moving his hand over the leg, spark of regenerative void exploding from his fingertips. He winced with each movement of his arm; even with the link cut, the psychosomatic effect of his Vauban's recent shoulder dislocation was still fresh. -Injured team members -Vehicle in motion -Residual somatic backlash -15 seconds from first throttle-up -Estimated time until contact: ...-.-....._... Chegar's mind was a flurry as he tried to keep all the details straight: If he didn't time this perfectly, both he and his new ally were going to be in for an even more hellish time. He continued to force more rejuvenative void into the damaged limb, hoping he'd have it patched in time to reassume control of the vehicle. The cold-sweat forming one Chegar's brow would be plainly obvious to anyone within sight of him. ((2/2)) (edited)

Sharratmuri: "Don't worry about me - I can't pilot the submarine, you can," she said, as Chegar began to pour the healing Void into the broken leg of her warframe. "an' there's not really anywhere to walk to." Ikazu's energy blast lit up the sub for a few moments, blinding bright even through minimal windows. Dominus reported an injury. Six Tenno are just flies to him, we need something that can match his range and power... the bomb-payload is probably either a cascade bomb or nuclear (because what else would they bring to a Sentient fight, nothing else works), that'll work but we'll only get one chance... Need something that can whittle him down repeatedly... Over the comms she said, "Anyone got a necramech handy?" Off of comms she said, "Chegar. How far away can you call a photon strike?" (edited)

CHEGAR He was obviously still focused on the medical work at hand: It was the sudden surge of light from outside the sub that finally brought his focus back, having lost his count of the seconds that had passed since throttle-up. He'd poured as much void into the injury as he could at this point, and quickly reassumed control of his warframe. "I can lob a targeting beacon as far as any other Tenno." He said, now quickly trying to survey the battlefield ahead of them. "If it's a matter of keeping us of of that things range, Strapping it to something and shooting it out a torpedo tube would be our best bet. Best as far as I can see, anyway." He took a moment to check his COMM systems again, hoping that some of the interference had died down. "On that same note, I'll see if I can get a mech down here. hopefully we can get more than one; see if they'll hold under the pressure." Chegar continued, resuming his control of the sub. "See if you can put pressure on that leg now: I'll be easier to pilot this thing if I can get it upright." He said, unlocking the throttle, and continuing to push the sub towards Ikazu's position. That is strange...Normally it's smaller sentients that keep quiet during skirmishes like this. Why isn't this one calling out?

~While Chegar's communications reached his squad, they failed to reach his orbiter. Summoning a necramech down here wouldn't be possible yet, if it even was at this depth. The sub briefly rocked as something very big swam past it, pulling it in the current churned by its movement. Its silhouette resembled a giant octopus. An impossibly deep sound reverberated out from Ikazu and throughout the rest of the trench, as if he were growling. The Tenno could feel it in their technocyte flesh. It was a guttural mix of emotions too jumbled to make sense of, but it seemed to convey something heavy nonetheless. Dominus's barrage continued to chip away at the massive entity. Until the bullets stopped making contact. Its body had transformed into a blue-black shimmering veil of energy, much like an Oculyst. The chains fell from his torso like they were merely kelp dragging along his body as Ikazu slowly rose upwards, impervious to the realm of the physical.~

Disruptis: Disruptis stood there, pale faced. His hand still gripped the switch. He should've expected something like this. Nothing added up. First, the long-dead sentient is now alive despite being guarded by a warden. Second, they evolve new abilities like choking out all signal traffic in a much too large radius. Third, the thing rises from its grave like a zombie despite having no power to do so. And now this. Why shouldn't such a development occur? Why not? The Limbo racked the library in his mind for information. Had any sentient exhibited these behaviors? Not really. Had any SED exhibited these behaviors? No. Dead end. I suppose… it doesn't even matter now. There he goes, Disruptis thought with a sinking feeling settling into the weight of his gut. "Ikazu evolved the power to phase in the waters, everyone regro–" he started to call out. And then, like another churn on a violent rollercoaster, Ikazu stopped.

~Large tentacles twined around the limbs of the concentric Sentient as a bulbous shape lurked behind it. The Kraken, defying Ikazu's intangible properties with its own otherworldly existence, pulled on it downwards to the sea floor. The two titans contested each other into a stalemate, remaining in place. Not even a mother class sentient could defeat the will of the king of the depths. As they did, the swarm of sentient fragments assisting in shackle removal spread out around their leader.~ Disruptis: And just like that, the bleeding ember of hope flared in Disruptis's heart in utter defiance. A tidal wave of thoughts washed over him at once until they settled into a still pond with one, clear idea. A single plan, that just might be crazy enough to work. "Isa, ON ME! Bring the payload and follow behind me, to detonate on my mark," Disruptis roared, "Chegar, Dominus, Sharratmuri, keep those PIECES OF SCRAP fragments OFF OF US! We've got ONE shot at this so let's make it count. He slammed his accelerator once again and took off, headed straight for Ikazu's head. (edited)

Isa

"Izaku evolved the power to phase in the waters"

That sentence rang through Isa's skull for a moment before she responded. "Excellent. I know your plan." She responded as she moved her sub now, heading toward Disruptis' to fall in line with him. It was easy to guess really, and quite convenient. Limbo's own phasing could act as a counter to the sentients', and more importantly phasing out the bomb sub could mean it would affect only phased Sentients, rather than the Tenno subs. She shortened the fuse time. They wouldn't need to worry about escaping, provided Disruptis could manage to avoid being in limbo when the bomb went off. She sent a stream of data to Disruptis and Disruptis alone. The others didn't need to know and singling him out would make it ever so slightly less likely for the enemy to intercept the communication. He would receive two simple pieces of information. Fuse: INACTIVE Fuse time: 5 SECONDS "I can adjust as necessary." (edited)

Sharratmuri: As Ikazu rose, her stomach sank. She barely heard Disruptis informing everyone that Ikazu had figured out how to phase underwater, as if it wasn't plain for everyone to see. Ikazu wasn't supposed to be able to do that - that was why he'd been entombed here, in the deepest of oceans. The only way to harm him now would be to Void-walk, or to enter the Rift. Only a master of Zenurik would be able to enter the Void long enough to get out to Ikazu and back to the sub before having to return to the physical world, and while you were in the Void, what could you do? Punch a building-sized monster with your tiny human fists? Or channel all your void energy, which might not even be enough to kill the Sentient, and certainly wouldn't leave enough to get you back to safety. No, Void-power was off the table for now. That left the Rift. Only a Limbo could do that, and Disruptis was famous for using one to great effect. But that would only put them back to square one, able to shoot at and be shot at by Ikazu, and still with not enough firepower to take him out, except for that bomb... One chance... ...Or, hit him with an orbital strike or two, that'd do fine. Now that she thought of it, where was the orbital support anyway? Couldn't a ship or two be spared for dealing with such an emergency as Ikazu's awakening? Were the Tenno really that strapped for resources? How bad is the war going up there? Ikazu stopped rising. Tentacles wrapped around him in a cold, crushing embrace. Ah. Someone has summoned a god. That's helpful. Disruptis called out for Isa to send the payload after him, finally informing Sharratmuri of the name of the last member of the squad as he went for their One Shot. She heard the command to keep the Sentients away from the payload, and clanced around the sub for some turret or weapons-control console... and then had another idea. ((1/2)) (edited)

Sharratmuri lay on the floor, facedown, whispering. "Okay. Meru. Trust me. I need you to go to the sub that's sorta getting pulled by another, and push it faster toward-...Yes, I'm sure...Don't worry, I'll de-summon you before it blows...You can have all the jellyfish you want...I'm not just saying that, Meru, if this was a suicide mission I wouldn't even send you...You bet your ass I will...Oh jeez, yeah, heh-...Okay." She spoke out loud, over the comms. "Isa, you might want to adjust the fuse timing, if possible." An indistinct shape shot out from under Chegar and Sharratmuri's sub, a shadow and shimmer in the dark water, toward Isa's payload. It began to accelerate, to just a bit faster than Isa's sub. Soon, with the difference in speed, it would be pulling the line tight. Sharratmuri transferred out, leaving her warframe in a stable (though undignified) position on the floor, and found the console for weapons. It was all labeled in a script she didn't recognize, but ultimately, a turret was a turret. "Arright, Chegar, I got the weapons. Shall we see if they still work?" ((2/2)) (edited)

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

Sharratmuri lay on the floor, facedown, whispering. "Okay. Meru. Trust me. I need you to go to the sub that's sorta getting pulled by another, and push it faster toward-...Yes, I'm sure...Don't worry, I'll de-summon you before it blows...You can have all the jellyfish you want...I'm not just saying that, Meru, if this was a suicide mission I wouldn't even send you...You bet your ass I will...Oh jeez, yeah, heh-...Okay." She spoke out loud, over the comms. "Isa, you might want to adjust the fuse timing, if possible." An indistinct shape shot out from under Chegar and Sharratmuri's sub, a shadow and shimmer in the dark water, toward Isa's payload. It began to accelerate, to just a bit faster than Isa's sub. Soon, with the difference in speed, it would be pulling the line tight. Sharratmuri transferred out, leaving her warframe in a stable (though undignified) position on the floor, and found the console for weapons. It was all labeled in a script she didn't recognize, but ultimately, a turret was a turret. "Arright, Chegar, I got the weapons. Shall we see if they still work?" ((2/2)) (edited)

CHEGAR "Do it." Chegar Replied quickly. From his awkward seat at the helm, The Vauban continued pushing the sub towards the massive sentient, trying to milk every ounce of acceleration out of the damaged vessel.

DOMINUS A god of the ocean depths, wrestling with an artificial god from space. But the only things that could kill that artificial god were a gaggle of teenagers piloting cybernetic fleshpuppets. Max grimaced from within the Excalibur, watching the Sentient amass a defensive line. Then he grinned, the Imperator slotting into its mount on the archwing, Dominus clapping his palms together to remove the Exalted Blade from the Void. Drawing the Veritux with his free hand, the diving suit surged forward, the swordsman letting out a guttural shout. "Come on then, you bastards! If you won't stay dead, we'll just kill break down every last piece of you and scatter you into the winds! I'm done playing nice!" The Voidstuff sword slid cleanly through lines of opponents, and the Veritux smashed its way through anything that tried to stop it, attempting to carve a path for the incoming bomb. An Excalibur with two blades in its hands, and determination in its soul, could only be described as one thing. An extremely angry, visceral, devastating blender.

1

~Chegar and Sharratmuri raised Void on the current of sentient forces. There were so many that they slowly landed hit after hit on the Tennos' sub with increasing intensity, shaking them each time. Dominus carved and carved and carved and carved and carved. His vision went blurry from the pieces of sentient in his wake and the steady stream of more forces crashing down on him. A conculyst would slam its arm down only for the Excalibur's exalted blade to push aside the blow and split its head in two. A battalyst would charge a shot but meet cold ferrite before it got the chance to shoot. Both their efforts deflected all struggle from reaching the key subs in play.~

Disruptis: Disruptis stared at Isa's message displayed on his hud with shallow breaths. One shot. "Isa… I've burned too much Rift energy," he shakily replied, "I..I can't shift something as big as the sub and contain its explosion without touching it directly. And if I'm gonna do that… I'm gonna need most of myself in the Rift to not be crushed like a can of corpa cola without losing my focus. Just my hands'll be free. I don't know if I can keep that Rifted for two seconds, let alone five." He sent her message back with a small edit: Fuse time: 0 SECONDS Disruptis clenched the switch stick until he felt the blood drain from his knuckles. No way back, no way out. He wasn't strong enough for that. Any other option couldn't succeed nearly as likely as this could. It might save himself, but would it save the system? Would it save the people he worked so hard to love? But what good would any of that be if he died at the bottom of the ocean where hardly anyone would ever know. What was the life of a washed out General who only started existing after he was sixteen even worth if it ended here?

The Tenno had gone too far in isolation. He'd given up spending time with anyone around him that was still alive. Every excuse crawled along the back of his brain to explain why, but he knew the reason. He'd secretly waited for someone to reach out to him, but no one ever did. Even the friends he had who were still alive were almost all missing. The floating feeling of loneliness in these inky depths was more suffocating than the darkness itself when he thought about dying here with little to grieve him. It was like he was back in that room aboard the Zariman before they pulled him out, staring at a white board full of ash and wondering how he got there. Or who he even was! Or the fact that not a SINGLE soul aboard that void-damn vessel even remembered him! He was a ghost amongst corpses, demons, and angels. But he would do it. He would void-damn well make that sacrifice and he'd do it again. That's how I've been from the start. That's how I decided to be. If I lose that… well, what else would I have left? At this point, a small part of him might even welcome it. His mind had given up thinking of another way. Of thinking of hope. There was only what lay in front of him now. "Isa, if this explosion doesn't rip Ikazu apart and he destroys my Oro, can I get you to promise me something? Find somewhere it rains a lot and make me a grave. It doesn't have to be special, just a stone in the dirt. I never did find out what I was but I'd like at least a tiny corner in your mind. If you can give me that…" his voice faltered as he teared up. Isa doesn't care about this scrap, he thought sorrowfully. "Everybody else, get as far away from the explosion radius as you can. If I fail to contain it, losing more Tenno is gonna sink this entire operation faster than the scraps of my destroyed warframe will." (edited)

CHEGAR "He's actually going to do it..." Chegar said under his breath. He quickly checked his own energy reserves: just enough for a few remaining mines. But what could he do with that? Boost the sub maybe? Makes for a faster retreat. But even if it did help the squad extract faster, if Ikazu survived the blast, they'd all be well behind the ball: Deep under water and miles away from any way to resupply. And the only way to get out of there near instantly would be to perform a ship recall; currently out of the question due to their depth under the vast Uranian ocean. Tethers and flechettes were out of the question too: you can't tie down something that'll phase through solid matter, and you certainly can't stab or shoot it. That only left the overdrivers : But overdrive what? The Subs Guns? No. the torpedo's? Same problem, so no. which left only one weapon left to overdrive: The Payload. "Oh.. hell with it." Chegar finally muttered. He quickly diverted off, pushing the sub at full speed to intercept the payload. "Sharratmuri, hang on to something." He quickly said before turning his attention back to the COMMs system. "Okay Dis; this plan is absolutely nuts. But if you're still keen to blow yourself up, I've got an idea that may just make this Hail-Marry of yours a bit more volatile." He said, his attention split between steering, and splicing together the remaining overdrivers into one mass, tuning them to focus and hone-in on the bomb. He slid the final product towards Sharratmuri, turned to her and quickly said "If you can, slide that into one of the torpedo's and launch the whole thing: we'll need as much bang as we can get." He returned his attention to the COMMs. "There should be a care package heading your way soon; Make sure it make contact with the payload, 'cause when that thing goes boom, it's going to be punching well above its weight." (edited)

He took a breath; the gravity of the situation slowly sinking in. “Dis.” He finally said. “I know I’m more the rookie here, and I know we’re in a bad way here” he began. “But take your time here; I’d rather have a slow and smooth surgeon than a fast one; that’s what SVY kept telling me during the old war.” His eyes drifted over Ikazu’s incorporeal form. “More over, if you see even a sliver of a chance to come out of this alive, take it: we’d all prefer a live friend than a dead war hero.”

1

DOMINUS The Sentients swarming the submarine had become more like a hazy cloud of scrap and falling debris, but still, he cut. As Disruptis gave what felt like a self-eulogy, he cut. And Dominus spoke. "I hope you don't expect to die here. Whether that bomb only takes you, Ikazu, or both of you out, you'd better not think this means you get a break. I got dragged into this party, and I expect the host to see me out the door, or offer me a job, whatever the hell operation you might be running." One last cut, the projected wave of the Exalted Blade shearing through a final line of Sentients. The Excalibur's energy ran dry, but he gripped the Veritux with both hands and merely kept slamming the drones aside with the weight and edge of the blade. "You're trying to be a hero, and there's a part of my brain that resonates with that. But there's another part of my brain that's sick and tired of hearing all these stories of heroic sacrifices, and I don't feel like adding another to the collection. You've got amnesia too, right? All the legends in the world won't mean a damn thing if no one knows who you really are. I want answers for these shadowy parts of my brain, and I imagine you do too. There's only one way to get those." As Dominus finally peeled away from the fighting, putting distance between himself and the eventual, colossal explosion, he felt a small nick of emotion force its way into his heart. An authority that seemed familiar, and yet so alien. These weren't his soldiers. Why did he feel this way? But Max embraced it all the same. Behind that authority was something else. Something he couldn't yet see. A name...? "I order you to live."

Isa "Zero it is. On your signal, then." She said, monotone and enigmatic as usual, adjusting the fuse time accordingly as the trio of subs maneuvered closer to position. "Disruptis, if this fails to destroy Izaku, I will destroy your Oro. And then sure, I will make you a grave in the rainiest place I know." Was that a joke? With her general lack of intonation it was difficult to tell to say the least. "Enough with sentimentality, we have something to kill." Her attention went to the sensors, looking for the promised care package, ready to maneuver the bomb sub to make contact with it, having an idea of what it was. (edited)

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR "He's actually going to do it..." Chegar said under his breath. He quickly checked his own energy reserves: just enough for a few remaining mines. But what could he do with that? Boost the sub maybe? Makes for a faster retreat. But even if it did help the squad extract faster, if Ikazu survived the blast, they'd all be well behind the ball: Deep under water and miles away from any way to resupply. And the only way to get out of there near instantly would be to perform a ship recall; currently out of the question due to their depth under the vast Uranian ocean. Tethers and flechettes were out of the question too: you can't tie down something that'll phase through solid matter, and you certainly can't stab or shoot it. That only left the overdrivers : But overdrive what? The Subs Guns? No. the torpedo's? Same problem, so no. which left only one weapon left to overdrive: The Payload. "Oh.. hell with it." Chegar finally muttered. He quickly diverted off, pushing the sub at full speed to intercept the payload. "Sharratmuri, hang on to something." He quickly said before turning his attention back to the COMMs system. "Okay Dis; this plan is absolutely nuts. But if you're still keen to blow yourself up, I've got an idea that may just make this Hail-Marry of yours a bit more volatile." He said, his attention split between steering, and splicing together the remaining overdrivers into one mass, tuning them to focus and hone-in on the bomb. He slid the final product towards Sharratmuri, turned to her and quickly said "If you can, slide that into one of the torpedo's and launch the whole thing: we'll need as much bang as we can get." He returned his attention to the COMMs. "There should be a care package heading your way soon; Make sure it make contact with the payload, 'cause when that thing goes boom, it's going to be punching well above its weight." (edited)

Sharratmuri: What... There were the torpedoes on the wall, somehow still in their racks after the past few eventful hours. And there was Chegar's pile of Overdrivers, the Void-summoned magical spirit of Macgyver in physical form. And she was supposed to put that into the torpedo. Without tools. How...? I can't-- She opened her mouth, and then closed it. --huh. Actually... She unhooked one end of a torpedo from its rack, and it fell to the floor with a thud. Transference, back into the warframe. Check energy... almost full, surprisingly. Must be from the destroyed Sentients outside. She stood and, careful not to put weight on the warframe's broken leg, walked the few steps to the torpedo and lifted the other end out of its rack, so that it stood upright, leaning against the wall. She stepped back and cast Aquablades. Aquablades could cut armor. It had no trouble cutting a torpedo in half, though it did take several seconds to grind its way through. The severed nose-section of the torpedo fell to the floor with another thud. She rolled it out of the way, gently tipped the tail section onto the ground, and Transferred back out. The Vauban-summoned Overdrivers were designed to stick to things when thrown, and so she slid the jury-rigged pile over to the warhead-less torpedo, and pressed the two pieces together. But how to get it into the tube? Outside her warframe, she was just a scrawny kid, there was no way she could lift it. Inside her warframe, it wouldn't have been a problem, but the frame's leg wasn't in any condition to take that weight. "Chegar. I am about to cast Riptide. We are not leaking." Just have to make sure my aim is perfect... (edited)

2

Water condensed into existence inside the submarine, swirling together into a single mass and carrying with it the overdrive-torpedo, the discarded warhead-segment of the torpedo, and the severed Sentient arm. Together they were gathered in into the center, and then thrown outward in different directions. ((I'll leave up to Dis whether the torpedo actually ends up in the tube, and how badly the walls of the sub get dented.))

"I order you to live."

Disruptis: Dominus's last few words sent a jolt down Disruptis's spine, forcing him to stand up straight and pull his arm halfway into a sign of salutation. The movement was instinctual and unnerving--as if something about Dominus demanded it--but it jostled his mind out of the rut it had sunk into.

"We’d all prefer a live friend than a dead war hero."

Disruptis's mouth hung agape. It had been so, so long since he had interacted with new fellow tenno, fighting the same fight he did. He had almost forgot there were tenno who, in their mutual past history of suffering, looked out for each other. When he had originally been forsaken by the Lotus, that's a lot of what he was looking for in the Orokin Remnant. Like-minded individuals united in a common goal of finally fixing something. And now by some blessed twist of fate that had come to him. Almost as if to remind him of the hope that life promises. That though one's waist may sink in the valleys of suffering, if they still draw breath from their body there are always more chances on the other side of the hill. More chances for whatever they might need. One only has too keep trudging forwards. Was he really going to lay down in the mud?

Before he knew it, the Limbo was a stone's throw away from Ikazu's restrained body. It was now or never. "Everybody finish what you're doing and leg it!" he exclaimed, walking over to the exit hatch and blowing the seal off of it. He pulled himself into the folds of the Rift as the ocean crashed over him and flooded the sub. Disruptis exited the sub as it sunk, like a lizard shedding its skin. He felt the intense weight of the ocean squeezing his Rift parallelled body. It took way more energy and focus to keep the energy around him than he could have ever hoped, but he did it. He pushed off and grabbed the cold metal of the bomb sub. ~Sharratmuri pulled the torpedo surgery off with expert precision. The rush repair done by Chegar made her leg much easier to stand on than she thought. The torpedo slid into the slot. All that was left to do was to fire it.~

DOMINUS The modified archwing was in remarkable shape, given the battle it had seen today. Damaged, yes, but stable, and Dominus was all the more grateful for it. It carried him far away from the impending explosion, staring at Ikazu's struggling body. His grip on the Veritux tightened, frustrated. Rift powers, spores, enhanced technology and water manipulation...and he was just good with a sword. As much good as that was against a thing like a mother-class Sentient. "Do it, dammit. Take this mucker out so we can call it a day!" Turning over, now looking at the ocean floor, the Excalibur spotted a figure, floating in the murk and wreckage of the colossal battle. As he came in closer, he IDed Muro's comatose frame, and settled to a stop nearby, turning back to face the direction he'd come from. It was too difficult to see the subs, but he could still make out Ikazu and the Kraken, scrabbling for advantage as his fellow Tenno placed the charge. "So the Kraken's your handiwork...not bad, ocean man. You're going to be the reason we had a shot at winning. If you can hear me in there, cross your fingers. I've got mine twisted up."

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

Sharratmuri: What... There were the torpedoes on the wall, somehow still in their racks after the past few eventful hours. And there was Chegar's pile of Overdrivers, the Void-summoned magical spirit of Macgyver in physical form. And she was supposed to put that into the torpedo. Without tools. How...? I can't-- She opened her mouth, and then closed it. --huh. Actually... She unhooked one end of a torpedo from its rack, and it fell to the floor with a thud. Transference, back into the warframe. Check energy... almost full, surprisingly. Must be from the destroyed Sentients outside. She stood and, careful not to put weight on the warframe's broken leg, walked the few steps to the torpedo and lifted the other end out of its rack, so that it stood upright, leaning against the wall. She stepped back and cast Aquablades. Aquablades could cut armor. It had no trouble cutting a torpedo in half, though it did take several seconds to grind its way through. The severed nose-section of the torpedo fell to the floor with another thud. She rolled it out of the way, gently tipped the tail section onto the ground, and Transferred back out. The Vauban-summoned Overdrivers were designed to stick to things when thrown, and so she slid the jury-rigged pile over to the warhead-less torpedo, and pressed the two pieces together. But how to get it into the tube? Outside her warframe, she was just a scrawny kid, there was no way she could lift it. Inside her warframe, it wouldn't have been a problem, but the frame's leg wasn't in any condition to take that weight. "Chegar. I am about to cast Riptide. We are not leaking." Just have to make sure my aim is perfect... (edited)

CHEGAR "Flood warning noted." Chegar said, positioning the sub for the overdrivers launch. with the Macgyver-pedo in the tube, and the target lined up, Chegar fired. "Care package away!" Chegar said, now quickly throwing the sub into reverse: He was in no mood to be on the receiving end of that blast wave when it hit. MUST TO FASTER! MUST GO FASTER! MUST GO FASTER!!

Disruptis: Clinging to the bomb sub and listening to the rush of the Rift around his head, Disruptis watched the lights of his fellow Tenno pull away from the blast zone. The people who had come with him this far. Veritable heroes, who for some are acting out all they know and have ever been. Who looked into the swirling depths of a rotten facility yet still plunged themselves down in an effort to pull the plug stopping its drain. Though one of them may think little of things like heroism and are more concerned with their fancy and weight of their purse, they are at least faithful to contract no matter the complication. All that was left was for him to fulfill his responsibility as part of these motley band of heroes. And maybe even give beyond that. Once they were away, Disruptis placed two hands on the cold metal hull of the bomb sub. He struggled to grasp onto it with his right hand until he realized it was because his palm still held the switch. If there was any moment to use it it would be now. He wouldn't be able to press it after his body was obliterated. He disengaged the lock on its button and hovered a finger over it. Pressing this very button meant he wasn't optimistic in his chances of escaping this alive. Pressing it meant he wanted to tell the world to move on without him. Pressing it would settle his mind on the matter. At least Isa is gonna put me somewhere it rains. Even if it's acid, Disruptis mused sadly. CLUNK

The sub shook as something slammed into it from behind. Disruptis panicked, dreading a sentient attack, only to find a pile of Overdrivers latched to the back of the sub. It took everything he had not to accidentally drop the button. The Tenno watched them blink for a second, processing the sight. This group of companions was really trying everything they could do to make sure he got out of there. It touched the funny yellow Limbo to the core of his heart. He looked to his opponent: a thrashing monstrous symbol that despised chaos to the point of wishing to destroy everything in its way so that stagnation be preserved. He didn't remember ever being this close to a mother class Sentient's head. Wait, I've never been so close to his head. Disruptis perked up. There were only two ways to damage a phased Phantom. You either damage it from inside the Rift or... But was it worth the risk? The sub had much better odds of success.

I order you to live.

Disruptis locked the button and shoved it back into his syandana. "ENOUGH!" Disruptis screamed in the darkness, broadcasting his communication out loud to make sure Ikazu could hear what he was about to say. "You know what? They're right. Enough of us have died for a MILLENNIA! Even if this System is going to the Void, I've come TOO FAR to give everything up now! There's still a chance for me to stand on that mucking horizon." He bullet jumped off the sub, twirling through the ocean like a torpedo. The Limbo reached out an arm as Ikazu's head flew by and latched onto it like a vice grip. He took one look into the towering sentient's large, burning eyes. "So let's see just how mucking far I've come." (edited)

This time Disruptis didn't have to think of the past. He thought of the future. He thought of everything that could still come. From the clasp of a new friend to the embrace of someone special still waiting out there. He fuelled his determination, which gave rise to that familiar feeling. He pushed as much Rift energy as he held in his arms straight into the section of Ikazu that made up his head and main processing capabilities. The veil of the Rift expanded across him like a cacophony of crawling insects. As it did, the energy clashed with the phased material and brought it back to the physical plane, where it was exposed. The light of a brewing laser began spilling from Ikazu's chest, but it was too late. "NOW!!!!" Isa triggered the detonation. A blindingly bright ball of plasma tore the ocean open, defying the crushing weight of its depths. It melted and fused the nanostructures comprising Ikazu's body, then it collapsed with devastating force, pounding that very metal to powder. The tear was so violent that it obliterated all sentient fragments gathered around his body. It even tore chunks from the Kraken's own tentacles. A gaping hole sat where Ikazu's head used to be and--as a result of this final gambit--Disruptis, with barely enough strength left to keep the Rift covering him, gazed into the wreckage. The thrashing of the sentient halted abruptly, and it fell limp in the Kraken's grasp. Disruptis cracked a grin. Which quickly faded. The mark embedded on his gammacor flared to life, finally within reach to sniff something it didn't like. There, in the very hole he had just opened up, stretched a network of gooey, neon green pseudopods connecting to every single of the sentient's muscle fibers. At the center of it all sat a huge sphere of goo plastered underneath a large, obsidian colombina mask. Its substance vibrated as if in annoyance, and a frown full of jagged teeth slid into existence below its mask.

"Brother Disruptis! Why must we meet again? Why must you hinder me from accomplishing OUR mission." Its voice reverberated throughout the ocean, forcibly transmitting itself through all communications it could find. "SINGULARITIS!" Disruptis exclaimed in shock as more pseudopods shot out from the creature and latched themselves around the Limbo's limbs, "Why-- why are you buddy-ing up with our very enemies?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"My plans are beyond any of our feeble family's comprehension. Do you not see, brother, that the path to the Mechanis extermination starts with aiding them in their goals? That we are so routinely held back from progress any other way? Our realm is the Void, we have no use for the drivel that lives in the material!"

"YOU'RE INSANE if you think our progenitor wants it any other way!" Disruptis retorted, "that's why he approved of sister Weaver locking you up. There's NO WAY in the Void you're out here with his consent!" Disruptis instinctively choked as the last of his Rift power slipped away, leaving him defenseless. The ocean began denting his warframe like a can of Corpa Cola. He immediately broadcasted an SOS to all other Tenno.

Sharratmuri: She had, as promised, de-summoned Merulina when Disruptis called for the explosion to go off, but she was left with hardly any energy. A casting of Aquablades, and then of Riptide, while keeping Meru summoned the whole time, had left her warframe quite drained. She steadied herself, crouching to the floor as the shockwave shook the sub. A moment of silence. "Some-" A voice cut her off, the eldritch voice of the Entity that had dwelt inside Ikazu. As soon as it finished, she continued. "Somebody needs to pick up his body. I'd volunteer, but Chegar is piloting, so that's his call. Then we run; at least one of us is in no condition to fight. I heard there were six of us, are all accounted for? Isa, Dominus, Muro?"

CHEGAR oh this just keeps getting better Chegar though, listening to the joint transmission. No sooner had Sharratmuri call out for a recovery effort, Chegar sent the sub into a steep dive. "We're going for it. everyone keep your eyes open: this could be...much weirder than anticipated." he called out over the COMMs. He made for the source of the SOS, keeping his eyes open for anything that would jeopardize the rescue. As he closed in, something dawned on him. "Hey Sharr: question..." He said, briefly looking at the hatch to the sub. "When we get over there, how're we gonna get him out of here without the sub flooding? I don't think trying to balance him on the Grattler's mounted outside are gonna cut it."

Isa With the bomb detonate, there was no more need for the cord extending from the sub, so Isa cut it and began making her way back in the direction of the now obliterated sentients. It seemed that something had survived the blast, something that wasn't Disruptis. This issue would need to be rectified. Isa had no idea what it was, but anything that lived that close to a Sentient mother had no right to exist and would be eliminated with extreme prejudice. Disruptis was also alive and sending out an SoS. It would be risky trying to pick him up, but she might be able to. Her shields and armor could potentially last the few seconds needed to scoop up what remained of the body and reseal the sub. That is if no one else got to him first. For now though she kept an eye out for whatever this new entity was, and would shoot on sight provided it was far enough from Disruptis that the grenades wouldn't further damage the frame that was already in the process of being crushed.

DOMINUS "...Chock full of friends, huh." The archwing kicked off at its fullest potential, following the line he'd left behind. As he did so, he stowed away the Veritux, having no intentions of trying to fight whatever had spawned in Ikazu's place. "Alright, listen up, I have a plan. I don't have much in the tank, but if I feed Dis what little energy I've got left, he may be able to Rift for just a second while I fling him at your subs. Chegar, Sharr, you're the pickup, there's at least a chance we can keep him from crashing out of his Limbo if Chegar can heal him. Isa, I want you on cover, if anything, and I mean anything tries to stop me, lay into it with everything you've got left. I'll protect Dis's frame with my body, the shields will take what they can. If he can't Rift out, figure something out. Now go!" Buzzing by the submarines, the Excalibur wasted no time waiting to see if they would follow his strategy. He didn't even know if whatever this green thing was would let him either. Energy started trickling into Dominus's palms, reaching for Disruptis's swiftly crumpling body. It was almost unnerving, seeing this Qliphothian entity looming over him. Over all of them. It should, by all rights, fill him with horror and dread. But he had had a very long day. "Listen, you two-bit excuse for an occultic lightshow! We're bugging out, with everyone we brought along, and I won't let you get in the way!" Another surge of energy, pulling from his very depths. Trying to push his own inner Void towards Disruptis. That he might hear him. That he could fling the poor soul to safety. "So be a good little tentacled freak, and FUCK OFF ALREADY!"

Isa "Easier solution, Dominus. Carry him to the closest tower. Someone can meet up in there and load him into a sub... assuming the blast hasn't made it too unstable."

EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR oh this just keeps getting better Chegar though, listening to the joint transmission. No sooner had Sharratmuri call out for a recovery effort, Chegar sent the sub into a steep dive. "We're going for it. everyone keep your eyes open: this could be...much weirder than anticipated." he called out over the COMMs. He made for the source of the SOS, keeping his eyes open for anything that would jeopardize the rescue. As he closed in, something dawned on him. "Hey Sharr: question..." He said, briefly looking at the hatch to the sub. "When we get over there, how're we gonna get him out of here without the sub flooding? I don't think trying to balance him on the Grattler's mounted outside are gonna cut it."

Sharratmuri: She paused, awkwardly. "...I did not think this through. Guess we're fire support, then. And medic, eventually." Transference and void-hop brought her Infestation-covered Operator-form back to the turret, where she took her seat again.

leirynot - Isa

Isa "Easier solution, Dominus. Carry him to the closest tower. Someone can meet up in there and load him into a sub... assuming the blast hasn't made it too unstable."

CHEGAR "I hear you there, Isa." Chegar called out. "But if he's too crumpled by that point, we may have to turn one of these subs into a makeshift diving bell, and hope we don't flood too much by the time we've picked him up." he continued toward Disruptis's SOS. "Either that, or I can see if my focus can be of use: maybe I can get a shell on him long enough that we can fall back to one of the stations." (edited)

~Dominus slashed at that the pseudopods, severing their connection to Disruptis. He landed a heavy-handed kick to the Limbo's sternum to send him flying away. As he did, Disruptis took the small mote of energy and banished his damaged warframe to the Rift, barely preserving his Oro.~ Singularitis: Singularitis growled. A couple pseudopods shot out and snagged Dominus's archwing. They melded into the plating and circuitry of the mechanism, flipping its standard lighting to a neon green. "Sworddancer, cease your interference. You do MY bidding now." ~The archwing took off again at max speed, but this time Dominus had no control over it. Trapped inside the welded diving suit, the Excalibur was locked into a collision course with Disruptis's rifted body. If Isa could arc her grenades just, hitting the back of the cavity, she figured she could damage the creature without hurting the Tenno.~

CHEGAR Weirder... I just had to day weirder. Chegar thought to himself, now baring witness to the now out of control archwing on a collision course. "Dom, Isa: what am I looking at here?" He called out: The transmission had been clear, but between the remains of dead sentients and this entities apparent connection to Disruptis, he wasn't about to make any assumptions. Regardless, if the archwing had just been subverted, then the sub was in real trouble. "Uh...Shar" Chegar began "Get off weapons for a bit. new priority: find all the electronics and control modules you can: junctions, circuit breakers, hydraulics access, anything. I'm not sure exactly how this thing did what it's doing to Dom, but I don't want to be stuck behind the ball if it tries the same trick with us." He made for an intercept, hoping he could divert the archwing without causing too much damage to it or Disruptis.

Isa Isa drove the sub in closer, taking careful aim at the back of the cavity. She may be rather enigmatic toward her compatriots, but by now she they would have hopefully figured out that she was highly skilled in two areas, one of them being explosives, and not just making the biggest boom possible. She had a special knack for picking the right amount of explosives needed, and applying them in just the right place. And now, the right place was the back of that cavity to shred the creature without harming the Tenno nearby. And so a volley of precisely-aimed grenades found their way to the that spot with ease.

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EscortAlpha - Chegar & Svytoj

CHEGAR Weirder... I just had to day weirder. Chegar thought to himself, now baring witness to the now out of control archwing on a collision course. "Dom, Isa: what am I looking at here?" He called out: The transmission had been clear, but between the remains of dead sentients and this entities apparent connection to Disruptis, he wasn't about to make any assumptions. Regardless, if the archwing had just been subverted, then the sub was in real trouble. "Uh...Shar" Chegar began "Get off weapons for a bit. new priority: find all the electronics and control modules you can: junctions, circuit breakers, hydraulics access, anything. I'm not sure exactly how this thing did what it's doing to Dom, but I don't want to be stuck behind the ball if it tries the same trick with us." He made for an intercept, hoping he could divert the archwing without causing too much damage to it or Disruptis.

Sharratmuri: A flash of transference, and she stood in her warframe, with a hand on the wall to keep the weight off her leg. "Got it. Anything particular I should do with them yet, or just find them?" Need a screwdriver... If there had been any loose tools in the sub, her casting of Riptide could have thrown them anywhere. Finding them could be a whole adventure on its own. She pulled a knife of Grineer make from her belt, and began to lever a panel from the wall. "Ah! Could you swing close to some of those dead Sentients? I wanna see if I can recharge any energy on the way." Should've learned some Zenurik skills. Ah well.

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

Sharratmuri: A flash of transference, and she stood in her warframe, with a hand on the wall to keep the weight off her leg. "Got it. Anything particular I should do with them yet, or just find them?" Need a screwdriver... If there had been any loose tools in the sub, her casting of Riptide could have thrown them anywhere. Finding them could be a whole adventure on its own. She pulled a knife of Grineer make from her belt, and began to lever a panel from the wall. "Ah! Could you swing close to some of those dead Sentients? I wanna see if I can recharge any energy on the way." Should've learned some Zenurik skills. Ah well.

CHEGAR The Vauban looked for any dead sentient along his path, hoping not to divert too far from his intended targets. "Just find them, gain access to them, and be ready." Chegar said quickly. "for what, I'm not fully sure... really hoping i'm wrong..." He readied himself: when the sub makes contact with the archwing, his aim will be to nudge it, not splatter it against the hull. (edited)

Muro: It would take a lot to shake Muro from his nigh-comatose state, his full attention kept on attempting to mend his frame remotely. An explosion powerful enough to eradicate a giant Sentient, however, would prove just powerful enough. The shockwave, while not harmful to the damaged Hydroid, was enough to bring his awareness back to the present moment. Shakily raising his head from the sea floor, he took in as much of the scene as the darkness around him would permit. From what he could tell, not only was the giant Sentient seemingly out of commission, but his abyssal ally seemed to be wreaking a great deal of havoc in the Sentient's ranks, a fact he took some satisfaction from. With no small amount of effort, he attempted to bring himself back up to something approximating a standing position before taking a quick look at his own injuries. To say his warframe was in tatters would be something of an understatement, to say nothing of its missing leg. Wincing from the pain, he called out over comms, hoping someone could actually hear him. "Hey," Muro croaked. "Are we done here or what?"

Disruptis: Even as Disruptis witnessed his potential doom barreling his way, he couldn't help but smile when he heard Muro speak up. "We're almost there man," he rasped. ~Dominus's archwing began speeding up even faster. A very concerning prospect since the vehicle was supposed to already have been at its max speed, but it was going even faster now. The thrusters had grown 30% in size through some inexplicable effect. Despite the increase in speed, Chegar's sub was able to spin around and catch up even with a drive by some very conveniently placed fragments of sentients. He touched the vessel's nose to the archwing from behind and forcefully guided it off its trail. The two blew past the suspended Disruptis and drifted out to the open sea. He couldn't get Dominus to stop though, and the archwing tried to course correct and overcome its obstacle. Isa's grenades struck true, detonating a series of very devastating explosions thanks to the highly pressurized water. Pieces of the green monster tore off its body, but was quickly replaced by insane levels of regeneration. Needless to say, its expression showed that the Tenno's actions were very infuriating.~ Singularitis: Singularitis let out what sounded like a deep sigh.

"Why must humans be such infernal pests? It would do good for you to hope that you never cross paths with me again, because the next hour we do I will provision you my... *full*... attention. That moment may come soon. I can feel the ripples. Until then, be sure to inform my worthless little brother to never forget it."

Singularitis's body glowed with a vibrancy that filtered through the darkness. The light grew in intensity until with a flash, he was gone, leaving a short-lived, swirling vortex of Void energy in his wake. (edited)

Sharratmuri: Sharratmuri pried at a second electrical panel, feeling siphoned energy flow into her warframe from the floating remains of Sentients as the sub passed by them, and bracing herself for a fight. Of six Tenno (including herself), two were unconscious and another was strapped to a one-way ticket out of the picture. They were faced with an endoparasitic Void-entity of seemingly incomprehensible power, able not only to subvert their technology much as a Sentient could, but also completely take control of an entire Mother-class Sentient, and regenerate damaged or destroyed parts of itself seemingly instantly. And Isa had just pissed it off. Sure, there happened to be a god restraining it, the Kraken that Muro had summoned, but the Kraken had seemed evenly matched to Ikazu, which this creature had seemingly killed. Muro and Disruptis spoke. Two Tenno not unconscious then, but definitely not in fighting condition, not even close. She finished with the second panel and let it drop to the floor, and started a third. She braced herself for a difficult fight, a retreat under fire, or whatever it was that Singularitis could throw at them. A fight that at least some of the Tenno might not survive. Chegar nudged Dominus's archwing off its collision course with Disruptis. Isa fired a shot at Singularitis. The fight had begun. ((1/2))

And then Singularitis just disappeared, blinking out of material reality and into the Void. Disaster averted. Or just delayed, most likely, but averted at least for now. Sharratmuri finished prying off the third panel, and with it dropped a few of her grandmother's choicest ancient cusswords. "...Jesus fucking christ..." Singularitis had called Disruptis "little brother". Perhaps it was some sort of patron-entity, like the Man in the Wall. But it had also spoken of "our mission", and implied that the goal was exterminating the Sentients. And it had spoken of "our family" also pursuing the same mission. This lead to another possibility. Was that a fucking Tenno? And a smaller thought: If that was a Tenno... could I become like that? Could all of us? But first, the tail end of the crisis. Dominus's archwing was out of control, but he would be crushed by the depth if he tried to unstrap from it. Disruptis was safely in the Rift, but was running low on energy, and would be crushed as soon as he ran out. One of those, she had a solution for. With her warframe's recharged energy, she summoned Merulina and instructed it: "Take the Limbo. Go to the air bubble. Fast. ...Yes, jellyfish afterward. Go." ((2/2)) (edited)

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CHEGAR With Singularitis seeming to having abandoned the fight, Chegar took a slightly relieved breath. However, With Dominus's archwing still out of his control, and Disruptis still at deaths door, time was still not on his side. "What I'd do for a nullifier right now..." Chegar mused. He returned his attention to the COMMs "Dom, Give us something to work with here: Any thoughts as to how to get that thing back under control?" With the archwing still pushing to get back on course, Chegar redirected the sub on a lazy spiral, gently forcing the two vehicles to orbit Disruptis's position. with any luck, it would give Sharratmuri a chance to deploy Merulina without the archwing interfering. That's when he heard Muro come over the line. "Good to hear you're still with us." He said quickly, now trying to take stock of his options. "Isa, Muro, What's our state of play here? I've got a rouge archwing pinned to my side and it's not giving me much to work with. Shar seems to have an intercept plan in play; either of you in a place to assist?"

DOMINUS Hurtling around in the water with an out-of-control jet backpack wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. As Singularitis disappeared, the Excalibur had hoped that his effect on his archwing would fade too. But if it was fading, it was taking awhile to do so. "Seems like whatever he did morphed the thing. The thrusters are huge, and I'm trying to send orders to ramp down the output, but it's not making it through. I've got some alternatives in mind. I'm thinking either trying to get me to ram the last tower so I can eject and then mount up with one of you guys, or we force my angle upwards until I exit crush depth, and I eject there." Muro's voice was a welcome inclusion into the conversation, and Dominus took that advantage. "If Muro's still got enough gas, he could easily be my course corrector. How bad is that damage, though? I don't want to risk you falling apart just trying to get me out of this thing."

Isa The grenades apparently were not enough to kill the thing, but they did their purpose to neutralize the threat for now. She began piloting her sub toward Disruptis's limbo, slowing as she approached to gently let him collide with the sub and rest against it before taking him toward the nearest intact tower, intent on getting him inside so she could open up her own sup to let him in.

Disruptis: Disruptis reached out to grab onto Isa's sub only to realize his hands had been blown off by the explosion. Without an easy way to grab a hold of it, he flailed around helplessly. Then Merulina shot by, scooping him up like a stretcher and positioning herself on the front of Isa's sub so she could take advantage of its speed. Disruptis closed his eyes to the sound of rushing water and focused on keeping his Rift up. Dominus's archwing tracked the change in movement, but it couldn't get out of Chegar's Fortuna drift. With a large splash, Merulina came soaring out of the bay waters and into the now darkened station. Disruptis slid off of her and rolled along the ground, the last of his Rift energy dispersing. The Limbo pushed himself up onto his knees and expelled the dense seawater from his warframe's lungs with a thick cough. He shakily pulled himself into a seat against a wall. "Fathermucker," he groaned with the hints of a smile in his voice, "I haven't been near this rocked since that one sentient I flushed out of my airlock." He lifted his detachable bowler hat and loosed another sheet of water off his warframe. (edited)

Muro: "Ugh, not the worst beating I've taken" Muro grunted. "Still hurts like mad though." He tried his best to make out the scene in front of him, with the rickety diving suit jetting around like an enraged shark. "Sorry, but I only have enough left in me for-" He stopped short as an idea struck him. Looking out towards the remains of the Sentient giant, he could make out his nightmarish companion. It was a long shot, but it was the best idea he had. "Hey, big guy!" He called to the leviathan. "Catch him!" He pointed roughly in the direction of the rogue archwing, hoping the creature was in an obliging mood.

1

~The ancient kraken almost begrudgingly released the corpse of its prey, and turned its deep gaze to the tiny object piercing through the ocean. It reached two massive tentacles around both the sub and Dominus and pulled them apart. It flung the sub away, causing it to pitch and roll, then ripped the thrusters clean off the archwing. Its tentacle squeezed the damaged deep-sea diving suit around Dominus until it cracked open like a peanut shell, then it tossed the Excalibur against the outside of the nearest station. Disruptis watched him crack the loading bay glass. Rid of its troubles, the entity sought out the sunken corpse of its prey and hauled it away, disappearing through a portal of current into the watery Otherworld it came from.~

Disruptis - Disruptis

~The ancient kraken almost begrudgingly released the corpse of its prey, and turned its deep gaze to the tiny object piercing through the ocean. It reached two massive tentacles around both the sub and Dominus and pulled them apart. It flung the sub away, causing it to pitch and roll, then ripped the thrusters clean off the archwing. Its tentacle squeezed the damaged deep-sea diving suit around Dominus until it cracked open like a peanut shell, then it tossed the Excalibur against the outside of the nearest station. Disruptis watched him crack the loading bay glass. Rid of its troubles, the entity sought out the sunken corpse of its prey and hauled it away, disappearing through a portal of current into the watery Otherworld it came from.~

CHEGAR "What the fuuuUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Chegar desperately tried to get the sub back under control, fighting madly to keep the vehicle upright: The last thing he wanted to do was mend more broken limbs. Or pop his shoulder back into its socket again.

Sharratmuri: As she watched the kraken's tentacle wrap around the sub, covering some of the windows, she said nothing. Surely this was the end. Even a group of six Tenno had no more chance of harming the Kraken than harming Ikazu, and three of the six were now only able to watch from a distance. Against Ikazu, they'd at least had one chance, in the form of a large improvised explosive. Now, that had been used. She holstered the sheev, and waited for the sub to be crushed. Instead, the kraken flicked the sub away like a bug that wasn't worth squishing. Sharratmuri, unprepared, bounced off the insides of the submarine, along with Chegar, the cut-off front half of a torpedo, three loose electrical panels, and the severed Simbilyst's laser-arm which definitely wouldn't be safe to fire now. Once the sub had stabilized, she Transferred out of the warframe and surveyed the damage. Merulina: As soon as the black and yellow Limbo rolled off her back, Merulina dove back into the water. That was it then, wasn't it? The black and yellow Limbo was in the air bubble, and the self-declared queen of rainstorms hadn't given her any further instructions. But she also hadn't been de-summoned yet, so... Merulina swam off into the dark water, away from the shockwave-rattled battlefield strewn with dead machines, away from the smelly leaky ruins of the destroyed Grineer base. It was, obviously, jellyfish time. (edited)

1

Isa: Isa was about to exit the sub when she saw the Excalibur crash against the window. "I'll get him." She said before taking the sub back into the airlock and leaving, piloting it back around toward the Excalibur, gingerly trying to get it to balance on the the gun that protruded from it. Hopefully Dominus would still be conscious enough to help with that endeavor. Once he was satisfactorily secured on the gun, she brought the sub back to the airlock. With any luck the Excalibur's armor and shields could hold for the few moments necessary for this.

DOMINUS The tentacle crushing the diving suit and flinging him into the side of the tower left him breathless, quite literally as his protection against the external water pressure crumpled. Isa's quick thinking was able to pull him in however, as his arms gripped onto the sub's gun long enough for them to return to the airlock. Cracking noises filled his ears as they went however. Possibly the ribs of the Warframe breaking from the combined damage? He couldn't tell, and it was with barely a breath in his body that he was effectively flung into comfortable pressure again, flopping to the floor of the tower. Water dribbled out of the suit, and most of the frame's nooks and crannies. He mumbled, more to himself than anything else. "I think. That I might be done with underwater missions for awhile."

Isa With Dominus safe, the sub opened up again and Isa stepped out to begin examining both his and Disruptis's injuries. As she did so she does actually speak. "From what I observed the prototype suit worked remarkably well. What was your opinion on it? And no, I am not upset over its destruction. The events leading to it were quite unexpected and it held up quite well given those circumstances."

~Chegar suffered no additional injuries, but was promptly slapped in the face by a passing panel. Sharratmuri felt a blinding spike of pain just as she transferred out of her warframe. Her warframe's leg had been properly restructured, but the muscles were torn open again. It hadn't been fully healed the first time. Fortunately, the sub was still operational. Somehow. Through some sort of crazy higher power.~ Disruptis: Disruptis heard Dominus and gave a short laugh. He pulled himself together and hobbled over to the slumped Excalibur, extending an arm for a hand clasp. "Ya know, I feel like many Tenno nowadays are tired of being heroes, if they even were them in the first place. Yet, you came down here without knowing who any of us were and threw yourself into the thick of a sentient armada. You're a legend, you know that? Thanks so mucking much for keeping up the fight." Disruptis flicked on his comms. "Everyone get over to the station, we'll throw small party. Don't expect cake," he chuckled. (edited)

Disruptis - Disruptis

~Chegar suffered no additional injuries, but was promptly slapped in the face by a passing panel. Sharratmuri felt a blinding spike of pain just as she transferred out of her warframe. Her warframe's leg had been properly restructured, but the muscles were torn open again. It hadn't been fully healed the first time. Fortunately, the sub was still operational. Somehow. Through some sort of crazy higher power.~ Disruptis: Disruptis heard Dominus and gave a short laugh. He pulled himself together and hobbled over to the slumped Excalibur, extending an arm for a hand clasp. "Ya know, I feel like many Tenno nowadays are tired of being heroes, if they even were them in the first place. Yet, you came down here without knowing who any of us were and threw yourself into the thick of a sentient armada. You're a legend, you know that? Thanks so mucking much for keeping up the fight." Disruptis flicked on his comms. "Everyone get over to the station, we'll throw small party. Don't expect cake," he chuckled. (edited)

CHEGAR "Roger that." Chegar said with a relieved sigh, rubbing his head where the panel had smacked him. "Party at Twenty Thousand Leagues: BYOB." With that, Chegar made his way towards the station.

DOMINUS "Suit was well-made, Isa. Although I think for these sorts of jobs, we should leave it to Hydroids. Maybe Inaros's armor can handle this sort of pressure too. Worth experimenting, I guess." As Disruptis approached, and stuck out his hand, the Excalibur gingerly held out his own, and met it, gripping with a surprising strength. He was exhausted, but he still had that telltale fire in him. "Legends are in short supply. We're all just trying to survive these days. I can't remember barely anything of my life before waking up, but if today was any indication, I seem to have had a history of mucking up Sentient operations." Dropping his arm, Dominus lies back, laughing. Then he throws a thumbs up at the ceiling. Staring at space. "I must've rolled with a good team. Wherever all that 'I order you to live' stuff came from is indicative of that. I have the faintest memory of being way more serious in the Old War. To the point where they probably would make fun of me for that line." Then he looked back at the Limbo. "This. This is a good team too. You should be proud of them, Dis. Proud of yourself."

Kelimnac - Dominus

DOMINUS "Suit was well-made, Isa. Although I think for these sorts of jobs, we should leave it to Hydroids. Maybe Inaros's armor can handle this sort of pressure too. Worth experimenting, I guess." As Disruptis approached, and stuck out his hand, the Excalibur gingerly held out his own, and met it, gripping with a surprising strength. He was exhausted, but he still had that telltale fire in him. "Legends are in short supply. We're all just trying to survive these days. I can't remember barely anything of my life before waking up, but if today was any indication, I seem to have had a history of mucking up Sentient operations." Dropping his arm, Dominus lies back, laughing. Then he throws a thumbs up at the ceiling. Staring at space. "I must've rolled with a good team. Wherever all that 'I order you to live' stuff came from is indicative of that. I have the faintest memory of being way more serious in the Old War. To the point where they probably would make fun of me for that line." Then he looked back at the Limbo. "This. This is a good team too. You should be proud of them, Dis. Proud of yourself."

CHEGAR hydroid… oh… oh no. Chegar quickly came back on the line, asking “hey, I think I missed something in the scramble: did anyone pick up Muro yet?!”

Muro: Muro's battered form visibly relaxed as his otherworldly ally disappeared through the rift, taking its prize with it. Merely holding that portal open had taken more out of him than he had thought. The Hydroid offered a muted thanks to the creature as the portal collapsed, though he doubted it cared to hear it. For once grateful that he was on the bottom of the ocean, he began to lazily swim towards the station. It was painful, but walking would have been far worse. "Don't bother." Muro grumbled. "I'll get there when I get there." He couldn't help but shake his head as the others chatted over the comms. "You're welcome for the save, by the way."

Isa "Are you sure, Muro? I could easily go out and retrieve you. The others are... intact." Isa offers. "And yes, thank you for calling in the Kraken. It was was essential to our success here."

Disruptis: Disruptis's arm twitched as he said those words again, but he hid the movement. "I... uh, well we're not a traditional 'team'. More like just a bunch of Tenno slapped together for different reasons focused on carving some sentients at this point. But... thanks. Thanks a lot." He approached the cracked hangar window with his hands clasped behind his back. "Ya know, sometimes all the memories I have make me feel like an old man. Especially when all the ones I've been making recently seem to be sour. But... I think that at some point we all have to understand that sometimes the odds just really aren't in our favour. Sometimes the situations around you are not just an excuse, and despite your best efforts you fail. But that's just life. In a world where so much evil fights itself sometimes you just get caught up in the crossfire. But I know now that it's then that it's most important to keep pulling yourself forward. Learning from those failures. We can't guarantee it'll be all good after the next try, but we'll keep getting more chances the more we do. And there's always a chance it'll work out next time." (edited)

Sharratmuri: Something had hurt, just before she left her warframe, the leg... Ah, there it was, the wound from earlier, opened again. But that didn't really matter, it was her warframe's leg and not her own leg. It could be dealt with later. Sharratmuri stood, carefully in case some pipe had broken and leaked on the floor, and walked to one of the sub's tiny windows. Outside, the Kraken disappeared back into the Void with its prey, and in the distance a shimmer passed as Merulina sought hers. Sharratmuri smiled. At least those two were ending the day on a net positive. Chegar's quip drew her attention back inside. "Party at Twenty Thousand Leagues: BYOB." There was some banter on the comms, evidently. Catching it would require Transferring back into the damaged warframe, which would hurt... Maybe best not to... No, it'd be worth it. She grit her teeth and used Transference again. As predicted, it hurt. A lot. But still, not enough to be an issue for a follower of Unairu, the school of endurance and resilience. Just in time to hear Dominus. "...indicative of that. I have the faintest memory of being way more serious in the Old War." "Old War", he'd said, "faintest memory." So it's over, then. It's over. Long over. How long was I asleep? Muro spoke. He was alive, and on his way under his own power. That was good, then. Everyone accounted for. Her warframe's energy ran out, and she felt/heard a peep of mild annoyance from Meru as she disappeared into the Void. Heh, she thought, Enough jellyfish for you anyway. ((1/2)) (edited)

Disruptis spoke. "...just a bunch of Tenno slapped together for different reasons focused on carving some sentients at this point... sometimes the odds just really aren't in our favour. Sometimes the situations around you are not just an excuse, and despite your best efforts you fail. But that's just life. In a world where so much evil fights itself sometimes you just get caught up in the crossfire. But I know now that it's then that it's most important to keep pulling yourself forward. Learning from those failures..." It seemed there was still much work to do in the world, and the Tenno were doing it. Fighting remains of Sentients, trying to clean up after the Orokin, as they'd agreed they would do after the Orokin fell. Ah, no... She couldn't be sure the Orokin were gone yet, that was too bold of an assumption. Too optimistic. She had so many questions that needed answers. But better asked in person, to the group. Anyway, Dis was a good speaker, as he'd been reported and rumored to be. Definitely sounded like the seasoned and wizened general that he was. She waited several moments. "So! How's everybody's day going? And speakin' of learning and bouncing back, anybody know where's the nearest unemployment office?" ((2/2)) (edited)

UnremarkableUsername-Sharratmuri

Disruptis spoke. "...just a bunch of Tenno slapped together for different reasons focused on carving some sentients at this point... sometimes the odds just really aren't in our favour. Sometimes the situations around you are not just an excuse, and despite your best efforts you fail. But that's just life. In a world where so much evil fights itself sometimes you just get caught up in the crossfire. But I know now that it's then that it's most important to keep pulling yourself forward. Learning from those failures..." It seemed there was still much work to do in the world, and the Tenno were doing it. Fighting remains of Sentients, trying to clean up after the Orokin, as they'd agreed they would do after the Orokin fell. Ah, no... She couldn't be sure the Orokin were gone yet, that was too bold of an assumption. Too optimistic. She had so many questions that needed answers. But better asked in person, to the group. Anyway, Dis was a good speaker, as he'd been reported and rumored to be. Definitely sounded like the seasoned and wizened general that he was. She waited several moments. "So! How's everybody's day going? And speakin' of learning and bouncing back, anybody know where's the nearest unemployment office?" ((2/2)) (edited)

CHEGAR Chegar gave a slightly rasping chuckle. "Shar, we basically ARE the unemployment office; Plenty of opportunities for Sell-swords, hired-guns, unhinged lunatics', armed philanthropists, and masked vigilantes' alike." He continued to nurse his headwound as the thoroughly addled submarine puttered its way towards the rendezvous point.

Isa The Saryn just looked down at Sharratmuri for a moment at her question, then looked to the others. "I will pick up Muro." She says simply, climbing back into the sub and heading out seeking the Hydroid to give him a lift back to the tower.

DOMINUS “I can agree to that. There’s nothing I hate more than the idea of a hopeless endeavor.” He pushed himself to a sitting position, wincing slightly as it compressed his ribs. He thought about Transferring out for a moment, but decided to stomach the pain for now. “I remember seeing suffering. Kids hurting, crying, losing their family in a hell unlike anything I’d ever heard of. That’s the one thing I could really retain, even when every other memory got swept away. When Intellectus got through to me, and I woke up? Realized I could make a difference?” Dominus let out a sigh. And then his voice took on a slightly more optimistic tone. “I fought. And I’ve kept fighting. Maybe there’s no fixing things permanently, but for every day I fight, that’s a little extra time bought for the rest.”

Muro: Muro couldn't help but shake his head at the group speaking. "Not to ruin the banter, but how's about we save the congratulations and small talk until after we're out of here, huh?" He attempted to continue paddling forward, biting back pangs of pain each time he attempted to move his stump of a leg. "Thanks for the assist, Isa. Realizing now that I really shouldn't be moving any more than I have to." With that, he stopped, waiting for Isa to retrieve him. "Don't know who you are newbie" He said wearily, presumably to the Yareli. "But there's nothing new to learn. Its the same story as the old days: shoot at anything that shoots at you and clean up after the Orokin's messes. Only difference is that some of us get paid now I guess." (edited)

Disruptis: Disruptis nodded in understanding. A memory surfaced in his mind prompting his hands to rummage the folds of his syandana. He frowned, unable to find what he was looking for. He gave up and placed a hand on Dominus's shoulder. "Listen, I'm not sure if this'll help but I know someone who might be able to sort your amnesia problem for you. He's a whimsical Tenno, but he's got a good heart. If his 'flow' happens to align with you I'm sure he'll put you on the right path at the very least." Disruptis virtually sent him the details of a Tenno named 'The Strider', along with a small physical description. "I don't actually know where he is now, but I'm sure you can find out if you ask around a Relay." With the return of everyone to the station, Disruptis clapped his hands together with finality. "Plenty of time to talk on the sub ride upwards," he announced, side eyeing Chegar's busted sub, "I think it's a great idea if we all huddled into Isa's sub. It won't be much of a squeeze, but it'll be cozy. Beats having a sub breakdown in the middle of our way up though." (edited)

DOMINUS He silently reached up and gripped Dis's hand with his own, squeezing it in understanding once the message was passed. He then went over to wait by the submarine access point, just in case they had to pry Chegar's tub open to get the two Tenno out. "Works for me. Going topside means I might be able to check in with Intellectus if the signal's cleared up by now. Gonna have hell to pay with him, and I don't need my memories to tell you that. Do any of your Cephalons get on your case like that?"

Isa Isa drove her sub to let Muro grab onto the attached gun, once he was secure enough on it she drove it back over to the tower. "Yes, the Grineer outpost will have been quiet for some time now. We should ascend and leave the area before reinforcements arrive if possible, especially given the injuries sustained by the team." She responds. "And no. My cephalon is quite obedient."

CHEGAR Chegar Quietly listened to the banter across the coms. His focus, however, remained on getting the sub to its rendezvous' point. He carefully navigated the vessel into the dock, gently bringing it to a halt as it surfaced. "Okay..." he began, "time to disembark." With that, he began to unlatch the the hatch, waiting to see if it would fall off it's mountings considering how much damage the sub had endured.

Disruptis: "Nah, my Cephalon is the sweetest thing you've seen in this system. She's a little under the weather right now but when I get her back and working I can show you how awesome a true digital companion can be," he quipped, entering Isa's sub. As he did, Chegar's sub burst a leak. He chuckled. ........ ...... .... .. . The group of Tenno climbed into the final standing sub and embarked. Disruptis watched out the rear port as the mess they had made of Ikazu's watery grave faded into the darkness. He mulled over the events he had just been a part of. At first he thought it was something simple as the Grineer poking there knows where they shouldn't again, but then it devolved into a terrifying reunion. Looking back on it the signs had been there the entire time. He didn't read too deep into the suspicious circumstances that left him confused and it almost cost him. Even now he felt like he was still missing something. How could such a crazy coincidence occur to bring three groups of individual Tenno together at the same time in the same place? Not including the fourth independent party that arrived before them and kicked off some of this mess. What was happening? I can feel the ripples. Singularitis's final words haunted Disruptis's thoughts. If he felt there was something big going on, and the Weaver has been ramping up her activity recently... Something was definitely not right. Disruptis fished the button out of his Syandana. It had miraculously survived, as if to remind him that the choice never truly left him. Sorry, but I'm not really going need you anymore. He shoved it back in and, with a heart as light as air, returned to the group who was deep in conversation. (edited)

[END RP] (edited)