Ch. 16 Rescue in the Ruins

[VirusZero]

When the door burst open and more enemies came pouring out from inside the base, Andraia was knocked to the ground. When she looked up and realised just how many forces they had packed inside that base she was a little amazed. They must have been like sardines in there she thought. Though with them spilling out she wanted no part in trying to fight them all. The flail and shield ones would be easy to dispatch since she could fly and they couldn't reach her. But those rifle ones... They'd have to go first.

She went airborne and pulled her buster out. She unleashed a barrage of shots down on the pantheons. Some shots crashed against shields and did nothing. But others got lucky and struck the pantheons and did damage. A few crashed down, too damaged to do anything, before they could retaliate. Then they began shooting towards the sky.
Andraia spun around while shots flew by. Every now and again she returned fire with her buster to keep them from shooting too much. Others had made their way toward the skiff, that was their objective. Andraia didn't care because she could fly so it made no difference if they left her behind. Instead she was more concerned with shooting these enemies.

---

Stark meanwhile had noticed that the alarm had brought others to the fight... Creepers. They had begun to scale a fence before a bolt of lightning stopped that. Rai's action stopped them from making their way in. But Stark didn't want to let him steal all the glory. He raised his palm and unleashed a bolt of energy from his palm. The simple blast struck a creeper and it exploded. He pointed his palm to another, released a blast and the enemy before him exploded as the blast ripped through it.

Stark had blasted a few of the creepers but decided not to stick around any longer than he had to. The creepers wouldn't be able to do much against the flying one. And he didn't want to waste energy if he didn't have to. He turned and headed towards the skiff. Taking a leap he jumped and landed on. Not exactly a graceful landing, but it wasn't exactly a time for showboating.

[Vile]

As the scrapper slashed her way through some green ugly ripoff reploids, another ally took the sky and completely distracted the group that was oh-so-inconvinetly preventing progress. The fire was more than enough to keep foes at bay, but alas not anymore. Rai had turned just in time to catch one Creeper meet its fateful demise to a rough jab from Jody. She was quite the brute, which was distasteful yet also pleasing to witness. Odd.

Breaking the mental chains that were binding him to only focus on one thing at a time, this last one being her, Rai snapped back into the zone, and hastely took to pointing at the firing squad Andrea was attacking. She was biding time, and overall she could likely make it till the end. But, biding time wasn't today's tactic. Past the squad Jody was slowly making her retreat towards the skiff.... which Stark had just stumbled onto. As expected of him. Rai rolled his eyes and moved into a double action. Keeping both hands pointed at the firing squad he let off several Thunder Javalins, then took hold of his handy-dandy trusty chain-rod. One hand fired another Javalin, while the other shot off the hook. Wizzing over the taller grass, bushing a cool WOOSH sound, it klanged onto an exert from the skiff. A deep breath, and a sudden tense of his body, Rai recoiled it and propelled himself toward his destination. His arm burned with strain pain, as they were still pretty worn from his bout with Zanji.

Close to the skiff the Rod disconnected and Rai's ragdoll like body tumbled onto the skiff. Magnetizing himself to the floor as he did so, preventing a roll off. It may have been combat but he chose to lay there for a moment, realizing the limits he just pushed doing that. Normally, that was nothing. Having been beat to holy hell earlier, not so much ease.

[Jet]

The creepers closed in as Jody wrestled with the controls, desperately willing the skiff to power up. "Common, fly damn you!" she cursed, jabbing at the buttons. One of them was apparently 'Power' as the transport hummed to life and lifted off the ground. Everyone was on board except for Andraia, but she was in the air herself regardless. A few of the creeps tried to jump up and grab the skiff's underside but they weren't successful. They were still in range of the rifle pantheons however, so Jody piloted the transport out of the compound before they could take any serious damage.

As they began their trip across the canyon Jody looked back at the outpost, which was now a swarm of green. They were almost out of sight when the teleporter hummed to life and began to flash brightly, but they were far enough away that any reinforcements would be left behind. Ahead of them a vast temple loomed, it was ancient from the looks of it, and built from a mixture of stone and metal.

“You’ve finally reached the Ruins of Dysis,” Elpizo informed them. “The rest of Isos and Pasos’ teams are inside, it is imperative that you find them and rescue them. Information about these ruins are highly restricted by Neo Arcadian brass, I’m afraid I don’t have a map for you or any intel about what sort of resistance you’ll encounter when you go inside. Be wary, and do not let yourselves be separated.”

Steeling themselves for anything, the team stepped inside the ruins.

[Zanjitsu]

"Ah man... Close one", Raven was thankfully fast enough to catch up to everyone. Else he would've missed the skiff, and had to make a daring retreat. In any case, they all sat or stood in front of the ruins now. It was just spewing with danger, and the very first few steps could even be littered with traps.

"So this is where Elpizo's team went? Pas- and something other, I forgot", he began, picking himself up.

"Well, let's get going. Should I scout ahead?", he offered. He was confident he was able to avoid whatever they may encounter there and retreat, the others were not as agile as he was after all, and he used firearms, so he had the safety of not needing to get close to fight back.

[Vile]

OOC: phONe post! Cyber keyboard be damned!

Ahead was the archaic temple of doom! Not so much. A few red crystal like eyes oogled the team and shifted ever so lightly. A blink accompanied them now and then. Creepy. Vines caressed the blocks and a mildew like smell engulfed the surroundings. There was the fact that it was completely mechanical, which left Rai in a bad position to take point.

Raven about this time spoke up with his confident tone. Speaking of taking lead And whatnot, not even remembering the names of their other squad leaders. Disgraceful! However as previously stated this wasn't as easy as the forest.

About this time Rai stood up. Yes he had laid amoung the skiffs sweet glorious floor for the ride. H placed a palm on Ravens shoulder and mutter aloud to the group. "One of ours, Stark i think, has inferred sensors. Let him take point..."

[VirusZero]

Andraia only half watched as the skiff pulled away. She knew which direction they were headed and the borrowed craft wasn't exactly the fastest ship around so she was confident that she'd be able to catch up easily. First though she wanted to finish off the forces that had come out to play.
Perhaps doing so would also cause Neo-Arcadia to think this was little more than an attack on them... that they weren't actually searching for anything.

Though Andraia also just wanted to wreck more of Neo-Arcadia's stuff. These pantheons couldn't exactly be cheap to produce and the more of them she ruined the more this war cost them. So she unleashed another shot from her buster while she spun. Her shot collided with a pantheon and it's red crystal 'eye' was ruined, effectively blinding and destroying the poor machine in one shot. A shot narrowly missed her thanks to her dodge.

She had already thinned their numbers down a fair bit so that only a few rifle ones were left. She lined up a shot and unleashed it, taking out one of the remaining rifle pantheons. But she had gotten careless, she stopped moving to fire her shot. A panetheon got lucky and it's shot struck her in the side. The plasma shot burned into her armour and knocked her off balance. She spun several times before she regained her balance. The pantheon fired again, but it's shots missed because it had neglected to account for target aerial movement resulting from being blasted.

Andraia though had accounted for them as she unleashed several buster shots into the final rifle pantheon. She looked around and all the rifle ones were gone, some of the shield ones were left huddling under their protective barriers. She knew she wouldn't be able to do much against them this way.
Then she looked up and the skiff was almost out of sight. She looked back at the remaining forces... Then decided they weren't worth the time and took off after the skiff.

---

Stark stepped forward, after having been mentioned.
"I do have infrared. So just follow my lead then." He stated.

Inside the ruins the entire place was darkened. They didn't have a lot of light inside (crews hadn't planted many lights). Stark activated his infrared vision and the place lit up red. There were a few small creatures roaming about, but nothing too serious right away.

Though in the distance he could make out a shape of what appeared to be a reploid, it was hunched over though and didn't appear to be carrying a weapon.
"I see a reploid over there" he stated as he pointed.

He approached the reploid slowly, ready to attack in case this was a Neo-Arcadian trick. Though when he got closer he could see that the reploid was one of the Resistance members. He looked badly hurt but was still conscious.
"Elpizo ordered us to search here... Got attacked. I made it back here. It gets pretty dark the further you go. Take my light, you'll need it." He stated. A second later he pulled his hand away from his side, a splash of vital fluid slicked the ground, and handed Stark a portable light stick.

Stark handed it off to someone else though and a second later they clicked it on and the small area was filled with a white glow. Stark tagged the reploid with one of the return devices they had been given earlier and a second later the reploid was whisked away for medical attention and a debriefing, hopefully, in that order.

[Jet]

The group entered the temple, Stark taking point. A short ways in they found and rescued one of Isos and Pasos' men who gave them a light making the way much easier.

Jody peered around them, studying the interior of the ruins, they were unlike anything she'd ever seen before. And most unexpectedly, the wall stared back at her.

"Is anyone else bothered by the giant red eye on the wall?” Jody asked. “Is that what passes for a security camera? It feels so strange, it’s like the walls themselves are alive and watching us. Who would build such a spooky temple?”

The others were moving on, and so she hurried back over, not wanting to fall behind and get left in the dark. Movement was soon halted anyway, the group having come to the temple's first trap. This one was fairly obvious as far as traps went, just a simple bed of spikes. It looked just long enough that the average reploid wouldn't be able to clear them with a running jump, and yet on the other side they perceived a large block, maybe one of them could drag that over and shorten the distance. It didn't look secured to the ground or anything, but it seemed awfully convenient that it was right there.

[Vile]

Darkness held no bounds, and this temple was the king of that said darkness. Stark had taken Rai's order of taking point and lead the way. At least someone could see what was going on. He could also lightup his fist as he had done on another mission, but whatever. Rai would do it himself with his fire chip and his electrical currents, energy however was an issue.

Not far in though, one member of Team Isos/Pasos chilled... in a pool of, likely his own, fluids. He muttered something, and while unseen to those who had sensitivity to the dark, handed Stark a light. Thank goodness. The said light stick was pawned off onto Rai, who was right behind Stark. He flicked it on and peered ahead.

Not far in, there was a spike pit. Some nameless fool wasn't paying attention and nearly walked face, err feet, first into a spike pit. Someone grabbed them, preventing an unnecessary death. Across the spike pit was a block. It fit snuggly in the hallway, leaving little room around it. It was a wonder how anyone made it further. Perhaps they were just that thin to squeeze in. It was tough to judge the crevice size so far way. However this block wasn't bolted. Fair enough.

The ground was metal, and this block ahead looked to be a combination of both metal and stone. It could be moved. Andrea was damaged, so for her to fly and push it was impractical. However, it could be a bridge. Rai waltzed his way to the front of the area.
"Stark, I may need some beef, but I can conquer this." Rai boosted. He magnitized his feet to the ground, for stabilty, and with his free hand pulled his chain rod from its holster. It didn't really take aiming, so he fired it blankly ahead. As it should have, the dagger like end impailed the block and held fast. Rai then began to pull back with his arm, utilizing his entire shoulder, lower back, bicep and triceps servos. The cube slowly jutted forward. It was working. Rai unclanged on his feet, quickly stepped back, and continued. WIth much effort, and perhaps a tug from Stark.... the block was now sitting atop the spikes, allowing the team to cross with... somewhat ease. They still needed to jump.

[Jet]

OOC: The trap was a trap!

IN: As soon as Rai pulled the block over everyone heard a distinct click and a groaning of gears within the walls. A moment later a series of turrets sprouted from the walls and ceiling on both sides of the spike pit and began to rain later fire.

[Vile]

A few jingles of metal shifting and Rai knew he had already messed up, and quite the failure it would turn out to be. The walls not only had eyes, but also arms. Arms that were armed. Barrels pointed out from all around and began to lay down the fire and brimstone. Quite and inelegant turn of events. Rai didn't know what to really do to stop it from his point. All he could do was endure it. Both of his arms flickered and his electrical based shield activated. Their diamond shapes couldn't quite cover everything, but it was better than nothing. He crouched down, grabbing Raven with him, keeping him in front and slightly protected.
"Listen," Rai started, loud enough for anyone nearby, like Stark or likely Jody. "I can't make it over in my condition. Its pretty unflattering, but someone has to make it over." He was still holding the chain rod that was connected to the block itself. "Take my chain if you need a launch, but there has to be a switch on the other side"

[VirusZero]

Stark leaped into the air, he activated his defensive shield which covered him in a spherical bubble of protection. The shield protected him from damage, but the energy cost to keep the shield up under fire was heavy. So he moved fast to bridge the gap using his thrusters. He landed on the other side of the gap and grasped the block with both hands.

He gave a tug and it wouldn't budge at all. Turning back he saw where the block was sitting, there was a small section raised up. He hoped his weight alone would be enough... He stood atop the switch and immediately his weight caused the switch to sink and the trap to disengage. The attacks creased at once. But some damage had been done to the team regardless.

"You should hurry over quickly." Stark called out. Underneath him he could feel the switch starting to raise again. His weight had been enough to push it down at first, but not enough to keep it held down. He considered jumping and pounding the switch, but that'd only allow the trap to activate for a second and damage those trying to cross. And the last thing he needed was to have someone get hit by the trap and drop into the spike pit.

[Zanjitsu]

"Huh, well... Neat", infrared huh? Fancy. As he followed the party into the depths of the ruins, the architecture became a topic worthy of notice... Yes, these red eyes on some of the walls seemed to be alive, vividly so. It was likely these ruins could move about, considering the cubical structure of most parts. Eventually they got to a spike pit, but it appears to have been solved with pushing a large cube onto it in order to cross... Well, mostly solved. A whole bunch of turrets went up as soon as the stone cube made the team a bridge to cross. Apparently a pressure switch had been let go which freed up a bunch of turrets.

Raven was one of the few to come out of this surprise unscathed, he was fast enough to react and dodge for cover, and made a couple pot shots over cover. It looks like he got one, but there were still numerous more, and the others couldn't really take this any longer, unless he had a bounty of cover, he wasn't going to be able to clear these turrets.

The dude with the infrared from earlier though sprung into action. What was his name... Stack? Stook?... Oh right, it was Stark. He managed to retrigger the switch, and force the turrets back into their little hidey holes, and the team moved forward.

"Hm?", the switch was slowly coming back up... The turrets had stopped firing, well, most of them at least, but now it was more manageable, too many shots, his own hitbox wouldn't be small enough to avoid damage.

"Well, this just looks like target practice to me", he confidently smirked. He stepped up, and immediately took a rather unique stance, in the way it didn't look like it was for sturdy combat, it seemed fluid, and moved in strange motions. This was his Bullet Dance. The bullets were flying past him and with each bullet fire at him, he easily fired one back from seemingly impossible positions, and doing this with two busters, he quickly prioritized the ones still firing, and within seconds it was down to just the two in the pit which were beginning to fire up again, only to be shut down by a few rapid shots right through the centre.

He twirled his busters in both hands and then put them back into the holster on his back.

"Man, the base should get a VR room or something so I can do this again, that was fun", well, it looked like someone was enjoying themselves.

"Oh hey, we can cross now", he stated, nimbly jumping onto the other side first. He waited for the rest to get over, he wanted to go on ahead, but it looked like it might be better to let Stark take the lead some more. He seemed dependable, and he was equipped to scan ahead too.

[Jet]

When the turrets appeared Jody was in midair, already jumping over to the cube. The lazer shots caught her off guard, but luckily she had just enough time to raise her shield. The problem was that there were turrets on both sides, and unless her back was to the wall she would always have one side of her exposed. To make matters worse, she had no ranged weaponry to speak of and had no way to strike at the turrets.

Rai offered up his chainrod which was attached to the block that Jody was standing on. She knelt down and freed the weapon from where it was lodged and fired it at the ceiling. The chain pulled up over the gap and straight at one of the turrets. Jody used her shield to deflect the shots and smashed the turret against the wall when she was close enough.

Dropping down, she saw Stark attempting to force the trigger back down using his own weight. She hurried over to assist him, he didn't seem to be quite heavy enough on his own, but before she got there Raven blew up most of the turrets rendering it unnecessary.

One by one their units made it across the spike trap, and Jody and Stark used the chain rod to pull the block back over to the trigger point before returning the weapon to Rai and moving forward.

After a bit of walking the path suddenly split into three forks. Without a map or some sort of indication from the earlier team it was impossible to know which way they needed to go.

“If we split up we can cover more ground,” someone said.

“If we split up it increases the likelihood that one of us gets left behind,” Jody countered. “The commander said not to separate for any reason, we’ll just have to take a little more time and be extra carefu-“

A plasma shot screamed through the air, narrowly passing between two of the resistance members. The blue ball of energy struck the wall, scorching it, while the energy lingered in the air for a few seconds before dissipating. The shot had come from the path behind them, from a large reploid in heavy black armor with golden trim and a blue undersuit. He looked menacing, standing at 6’5 with golden spikes protruding from his helmet and shoulders, and he sported the largest buster cannon Jody had ever seen.

The reploid stalked forward, its heavy steps shaking the walls. Its shoulders appeared to be retracting, revealing hidden missile batteries. Jody knew the passage didn't afford them much room to dodge. There was only one thing to do. “RUN!” she screamed as the missiles began to fly.

In the moment there was no time to coordinate their path, and the team ran through whichever door was closest to them. There was no going back either, as the missile detonation had collapsed the ceiling behind them, they had to press on.

[Vile]

Oh. Good. Lord. Not only was there a tri-path trap styled caverns but now, this overly gody reploid who thinks hes tough stuff is just gonna come a walking in and ruining the ruins. Perfect way to spend a day. Jody had by this point screamed aboutbout running, and it was the most logical thing one could do, as you know, missiles and other plasma based projectiles came this way.

Rai was on the far right, and rolled into the pathway before the ceiling rubble blocked his way out. It was dark inside thw tunnel sonhe flickered his left wrist. Electricity and some extra flame from the fire chip he had installed gave some light onto the mostly stone ruin....

[VirusZero]

Andraia had very nearly caught up to the others when this large reploid had appeared behind her. She saw it's buster light up and dropped to the ground. It fired a shot from it's buster that went screaming by. Not waiting to give it another chance to land a shot, she rolled onto her back and activated her jets and took off. She gained only about a foot of altitude before she flipped over and righted herself. She flew into the path on the left as others scrambled their way into the other paths.

Though she never got a chance to see who went where in the confusion. She wasn't even sure if anyone had tagged along with her or not. But she didn't really care if they had or not. She'd gone solo before and she would likely do so again.

---

Stark watched as the blast shot by and the reploid made it's presence known. Then it's shoulders opened and missile batteries were revealed. Soon the missiles took flight and explosions started going off as they impacted.

Stark dove to the right into the farthest right path, along with Rai.

Stark picked himself up off the ground slowly. The rubble behind him created somewhat of a barrier between them and that reploid.
"What was that thing?" He asked.
"And where did it come from?" He turned to Rai, not really expecting an answer but more to just break the silence that had fallen.

[Jet]

The right path took Rai and Stark down a short hallway which eventually lead to a dead end. Just a blank wall preventing further movement. The only way to go, apparently was down. A square shaped tile was cut from the floor, leading to another passage. Even with Rai's light it was too dark to see how far the drop was. One of them kicked a stray pebble into the hole to test its depth and they were surprised to hear a splash. At least the landing impact would be negated.

--------------------------------------------

Andraia had taken the left path which led to a round circular platform. She could feel an abundance of cool musky air above her, and upon looking up she determined that she was in some sort of elevation shaft. She could simply fly up, but when she reached the center of the platform it began to rise on its own accord. The shaft went up a long way, but before she grew bored two pairs of pantheons dropped from above: two rifle wielders and two of the new blade variety.

[Jet]

Jody was closest to the middle tunnel, which was the one she rolled into to avoid the missiles. As she crossed over the threshold the ceiling began to fall in, forcing her to raise her shield above her to deflect the smaller rocks and scramble around the larger ones to avoid being crushed. When the cave in ended the air was thick with dust, she coughed and fanned the air trying to clear it. It looked like the others had all taken the side paths. Either that or they'd been buried in the cave in. She tried to shift the stone around but it was too heavy to move, especially considering how packed down it was. She'd just have to move on and hope her path would join up with the others in time.

As she moved down the tunnel she came across another red eye built into the wall. She'd mentioned it earlier to the others, but it was really creeping her out. Slowly she approached and tentatively poked the eye with her sword. It blinked, but there was otherwise no immediate reaction. A loud crash from behind startled her, and it was followed by several more crashes in quick succession getting louder and closer. Without another thought Jody ran, stealing a glimpse behind her revealed that the ceiling was again falling down, but this time on its own accord. It was as though the ruins themselves were alive and trying to smash her. The narrow corridor ended just ahead, opening up into an expansive chamber. Jody dove through the doorway as the wall slammed down, it was as though the tunnel had never been there. She no longer found the ruins awe inspiring, they'd crossed over from strange into terrifying. She was half tempted to use the portable transserver herself and get out of there, but she knew Elpizo wouldn't be happy about that. And she really did want to help with the rescue, others were counting on her.

A heavy clanking sound came from behind her, Jody turned around to find she was not alone in this new chamber. Instead of being one of her allies though, the source of the noise was some kind of large golem, clanking around on six legs the size of garbage cans. It had one arm, if you could call it an arm. Rather than a hand and fingers it sported a heavy club. its most distinguishing feature was a single red eye, flashing in the center of its face, very similar to the eyes on the wall she'd encountered before. It was now clanking toward her, club raised high, eliminating any questions as to its intent. Jody rolled away as the club crashed down, sprang to her feet and ran to the other end of the room. There was a single door, but the hatch was shut tight and there didn't seem to be any keypad. She thought that she could probably wedge her fingers in the hatch and pry it open, but the frantic clanging of the golem's legs announced that it was upon her once more. She'd have to deal with him first. He didn't look very mobile, and the club didn't offer the flexibility of an arm. She figured that closing the distance was probably the better strategy. Not that she had any ranged options anyway.

Jody ran in, ducking under the club swing and hopping on top of one of the golem's legs. The monster pivoted in a circle, slamming its club up and down but it lacked the flexibility to actually hit her. That was the good news. The downside was that the golem actually had reasonably strong armor and her sword wasn't doing very much damage to it. If she ever came into some money she'd need to upgrade. For now she began to climb up its body toward the eye, positioned herself behind it and began smashing it with her new shield. The golem began to pivot more quickly, clearly trying to throw her off but its six stubby legs would only allow it tot turn so fast. Whoever built this golem must not have been very bright. Or maybe it was just poorly maintained, Jody supposed no one ever came into this temple of doom to fix up the robots.

Unexpectedly the golem ran full force into a wall, finally shaking Jody off. The big club went up again and Jody rolled to the only safety she could see, right underneath the monster. There wasn't enough room to bring her shield to bare, but she was able to stab its underside with her sword, finding the armor considerably weaker underneath. Still, she wasn't sure she'd ever pierce anything vital this way, and focused her attention on those garbage pail legs. From the backside she could clearly see the gears comprising the golem's joints and set to work severing them. One clean slice and one of the six legs went limp. She was forced to work while lying flat on her belly, there wasn't too much room under the golem, but on the other hand she didn't have to worry about evading the club and the robot was too slow to step on her. She severed the tendons on the remaining legs and crawled out from under the golem, getting its attention and prompting it to chase her once more. When she reached the other corner of the room she shifted her direction abruptly by 90 degrees. The big red eye was tracking her movements, but it couldn't turn on a dime even with six working legs, it lost its balance and crashed into the wall.

After a moment it became apparent that the golem had actually it had gone through the wall, kicking up another cloud of dust and creating passage into a hidden room. Jody climbed over the golem and peered inside, it wasn't a very large room but the floor was covered in energy crystals! Jody couldn't believe her good fortune, she'd never seen so many at once. She paused to gather them up and returned to the closed door she'd seen earlier. With a loud grunt she managed to force the door open far enough to jam her foot inside the hatch. Now that she had a handhold she pushed with everything she had and the hatch groaned and opened wider. This was probably as good as it was going to get, Jody sucked in her chest and managed to squeeze through the opening and into the next area.

[Vile]

In the darkness Rai wasn't Alone. He couldn't let Stark know it but having another body was extremely comforting.

"I'd wager its just an overgrown Mechanloid. Acradia has always been tight lipped on their history, and even more to locations that hold its information. I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't the only one in this ruin.... " Rai replied.

The two traveled in, finding a holein the floor that after a light kickof a pebble they discovered there was water below. A dull wall presented the only real progressive movement. Rai shot his hook into the floor and began to repeal down.
"I'll check it out first. With there being a body of water I'd hate to harm you in the event we're engaged down there. Keep your com line open and be ready to jump in"
Rai then decended into the pit, keeping his hand light till he made contact with the water surface.

[VirusZero]

Stark pondered what Rai had stated. An overgrown mechaniloid seemed possible. But if it were just a mechaniloid who had released it? What were it's programmed orders? Could they look for an exploit in them to ensure it'd leave them alone? Could they fool it's friend/foe recognition system somehow?

Stark wasn't sure of any of it. He wasn't even sure if it was actually a mechaniloid. But while Stark had remained silent and thinking they had travelled forward, deeper into the ruins. They reached a wall with the only option to drop down into a body of water.
Rai commented to keep comm open as he was going in first.
Stark was sort of relieved and yet he also wasn't sure it was a great idea to send the electricity user into the water area. If Rai did have to attack he'd risk hurting himself. Or in a worst case scenario if there were multiple enemies down there, attacking one might rouse others when he could have otherwise bypassed it.

But Rai had already descended into the water. Stark considered just waiting, but if Rai got into trouble he might need help. And Stark knew that his weapons would work under water without issue. And without any sort of injury to allies. Well... except if he used his explosives which would cause shockwaves in the water which could possibly injure allies.

After a second had passed with no contact from Rai, Stark engaged his jets and hovered over the hole. He then reduced their thrust and began to descend slowly into the hole. He peered down into the water with his infrared vision but nothing was visible. Either there was nothing moving down there or the water was too cold and blocking out any heat signatures.

Stark hovered over the water, the exhaust from his jets sending small ripples through the surface of the water, ready at a moment's notice to drop in.
Just a little longer and then I'm going in... Stark thought.

---

OOC:

I'll have a bit for Andraia soon. The knife pantheons are those that were based off Zero's design at the end of Arcadia's Z1 arc right?

[Jet]

Andraia (and maybe Raven) managed to defeat the ambush, but as the last pantheon fell a more pressing issue became apparent. The elevator was reaching the top of the tower, but there didn't seem to be an exit door. Spikes began to protrude from the ceiling, threatening to impale the resistance member(s) if they didn't act fast.

---------------------------------------------

Rai had rappelled down to the surface of the water using his chain rod and was able to confirm at least that the liquid was nothing more harmful than simple water. The light from his hand revealed a wooden ladder which had floated a short distance away, making him wonder if the chamber had only been flooded recently. The ruins had done a good job separating his team, maybe the same had happened to Isos and Pasos'.

He called up to Stark to report his findings, the later slowly descending and hovering over the water. Seeing no platform to walk on, the two dropped into the water and quickly sank to the bottom. Here it was even darker, but they could see a faint light in the distance and decided to move toward it. As they got close a layer of spikes erupted from the floor, forcing them to evade. There was a rumbling sound and the light began to glow brightly before firing an assortment of lazer blasts at the pair.


________________________________________

OOC: Yeah, they don't exist in game, but they're red pantheons with a blade arm ala Zero. And if it's not clear, Stark and Rai get the underwater mini-boss that does appear in the ruins level.