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| - Bellum - Overflow Pipes The vent just below the surface of the water opens on an underwater pipe, just large enough for an average Cybertronian to stand upright in. It slopes gradually upward, the water level lowering to about four feet deep after a while. This is likely an overflow system for the Sharkticon Pit. Up ahead, echoing through the pipe, is the sound of rushing water. This becomes apparent as you venture on and come to a junction of three pipes, water pouring from each of them down a long shaft. The roaring of machinery can be heard through the deluge, making down a less-than-appealing option. Metal grates cover the other two pipes, leaving only one viable direction: up the shaft. Lowdown starts awake. He dozed off about two hours ago, exhaustion finally overriding the pain in his side. He looks down at his fellow Joe to make sure she's not comatose or anything equally horrible. As if that isn't bad enough, there's been a stego looming over the two joes, and the cobras if they deign to move close and chance catching gi cooties. Snarl is watching the end of the tunnel they came down, ready for a horde of sharkycons to come screaming down the tunnel Blast Off has been awake the whole time, but seeing as the humans seemed to need recharge and Snarl wasn't going anywhere without them, he has opted to stay with the Dinobot... who is a lot better at close-range combat than he is. Without the sky to fly in, and weapons to shoot, Blast Off is at something of a disadvantage. Still, he is a Combaticon, and knows some combat maneuvers- even for a place like this. He joins Snarl is watching the way they came... and looking ahead. "We really need to get going. Perhaps if you carried the fleshli- I mean humans?" Temera is laying quietly against Lowdown, breathing softly. She's deep into her sleep, hasn't moved or made a sound since she dozed off. She's no longer shivering though, either. Lowdown gently shakes the other Joe, "Hey, wake up. We gotta get moving." He looks around to take stock of the Cobras that have joined them. A poor bedraggled sharkticon combs the very tunnel our heros are venturing through! It's Gnaw (not that anyone would know it from looking at him), and he's been neglected! He's hungry, and looking a little dull in the colors. As such, he's also kind of lethargic. So it's with little energy that he comes face-to-face with the lead of the party, but seeing as he's outnumbered, he doesn't attack. No, instead, he prostrates himself, gnashing his teeth hungrily and wagging his tail. Snarl looks at the sharkycon before him, taking a step towards the foe, his steggy eyes furrowed, "Why you here! Why HERE ALONE! You talk, or me thagomize! RAHR " Gnaw transforms and murmurs, "Hungryyyyyy."Gnaw's shark head pulls back, the mouth opens, Gnaw's robot head emerges, and he's now in robot mode.Gnaw says, "Give energons, show way out." Temera starts waking up as she hears Snarl, blinking up and opening her eyes widely as she sees the sharkticon. Blast Off tenses as suddenly- SHARKTICON!!!! The shuttleformer braces to ward off an attack, balling his fist, but... the creature doesn't try to attack them. Instead, it looks... like it's begging?! Blast Off remembers something and reaches into subspace, pulling out... a bag of stego treats! He somehow wound up with these because Slugfest enjoys them, and some Sweep wanted him to store them for later. Just because he's a shuttle, with a cargo bay, everyone thinks he should STORE stuff, too... how humiliating. But... maybe this will be of use today? He looks at Gnaw, then the treat, then Gnaw, and holds a treat of in his hand for Gnaw to see. "Look!" He tosses it to Gnaw. The Sharkticon catches the treat and gobbles it up eagerly. "Need more. Low power." Snarl sniffs, looks at Blast Off, "You have energon treats?" He licks his muzzle, turning slightly. If the bot turned any faster, the sharkycon would have to dodge a thagomizer Lowdown sees the Sharkticon approaching and moves quickly to his feet, dragging Temera up with him. However, it looks like this one is trying to make friends, which... practically puts him off his stomach. "What the hell..." he murmurs to no one in partciular. Blast Off ponders just how much power he wants that Sharkticon to have... enough to show them the way, definitely... but not enough to decide he doesn't need to help anymore. The Combaticon's optics gleam coldly as he throws a few more treats, then states, "Some now. More later, when you guide us out of here." He blinks at Snarl, then hisses, "I NEED THESE TO GET US OUT OF HERE... control yourself!" Though then again, they ARE stego treats, he shoulda known this would happen.... Gnaw points upwards. "Only way out," he says. He is pointing to a hatch that leads to a tube with rungs that can be climbed.Snarl growls at Blast Off, his thagomizer starting to swish, "You be nice, Blasty, or me feed YOU to sharkycon and take chance with humans and escaping! Me just interested in fact Combaticon haz energon treats." He shakes his head, "Them probably taste bad anyhow." He looks at the humans, "You want ride on Snarl? That way, you can rest?" Lowdown looks at the size of the tunnel there in, and the plates scraping the roof of the tunnel, "I'll be okay on foot..." He's also just nervous about catching a ride on another Transformer, especially with what's very possibly a broken rib or four. Blast Off bristles back at Snarl. "Don't threaten me, Dinobot... And of course I have energon, I THINK AHEAD." he huffs (never mind that he couldn't possibly have known those treats would come in handy this way), then puts the treat bag back into subspace. He looks up where Gnaw pointed and starts to scramble up. The Sharkticon goes first, because he knows the way, but beckons the others to follow. It might be difficult for a mega-stego to climb in dino mode Angel looks around. "Uh, I'll stay on foot as well." he says, following Lowdown. Snarl shifts to robot mode, then looks down at the humans, "You sure? Me can at least put on shoulders while climb up to tunnel!"The stegosaurus flips backwards, shifting into his robot mode. Temera looks down the tunnel, and up at the hatch. You go to Bellum - Backwash Shaft.Bellum - Backwash Shaft While this shaft does not have any sort of ladder to speak of, the spiral shape has numerous grooves that serve as adequate handholds. Much like the pipes below, it was designed to channel water from other areas of the Bellum. The hum of machinery can be heard above, as well as the loud murmur of running water. As you climb higher, the sounds grow steadily louder, although the murmur of the water seems to be building to a dull roar... The pipe above spirals upward. The ascent is not really offered by a ladder, per se, but rather by the spiral grooves in its sides. Lowdown motions for the other humans to stay back as he tests the sides of the wall, regardless of what the machines decide to do. Pulling off onto the side, he restrains a wince, but his voice is just a little tight, "Seems sturdy enough..." "Well, if you say so..." Angel, looking a bit dubious. He waits for Lowdown to start acending, and then follows behind him. "Be careful, just in case something shifts unexpectedly." Blast Off follows their "guide" and starts scrambling up the pipes. This part is not too hard for the agile Combaticon. What the humans do is their own business, he is not particularly concerned about them. He does make sure he doesn't accidentally step on them, though. Snarl might not like that. Two humans, Lowdown and Angel, do get in his way, however, and he just steps OVER them, saying "move aside..." Temera ascends carefully behind, watching carefully to avoidbeing in the way, or falling. Gnaw keeps climbing himself, glancing back occasionally to check on the progress of the others. Snarl follows the humans up, ready to catch them, sure his size is making an impression on the tunnel sides. He's happy to see that Blast Off is taking care not to step on the squishies There's a dripping sound as a few droplets of water fall down from above. Just a couple at first. Then a few more. It starts to patter on Gnaw's and Blast Off's armor. That's about all the warning the group gets before a torrent of water comes flooding down the pipe! Lowdown looks up at the pattering water and frowns, "Not good..." He hears the rush of the backwash before he sees it and calls to the others, "HANG ON TIGHT!" Being a sharkticon, Gnaw has no trouble holding on. His rotund form parts the waters on either side of him. Snarl sees the flood of water, and the humans above him start to slip. Reaching up, he tries to catch them, and collect them close to his chassis out of the water Temera gets caught, whews. "thanks, Snarl..." Angel looks up at the rushing water, and lets out a startled squeak. "Uh oh!" He braces himself, but he's not strong enough to hol;d on. He lets out a cry as he gets washed down, like the Itsy-Bitsy Spider. Lowdown's fingers slip from the side of the pipe as the water surges down on his head, despite his best efforts. He tries to graps Snarl's hand, but slips right through the Dinobot's fingers. His hands scrabble against the sides of the pipe, and finally he manages to find something to grip. His hand wraps around the bars of one of the lower pipes that feed into the shaft. Blast Off looks up as a torrent of water suddenly heads his way. The immense power of the deluge hits him directly, knocking the shuttleformer from his perch and sending him down the pipes... "ooof!' He scrambles for a purchase on the surface of the pipes, dark hands grasping for anything.... Alley-Viper 910 manages to hold on, but is using all her strength just to do so. Lowdown spots someone else faling through the deluge and reaches his arm out. He can't even see who it is, but his hand manages to close around the fabric of a uniform. He lets out a shout as the weight of the sharpshooter nearly pulls his arm from the socket. Snarl blinks, a little human in hand, and some wise acre Combaticon aft panel in his face. He snarls, "Okay, it safe now. Get chassis off me before you cause me fall and have to climb back up here to give you new exhaust port!" Luckily, Temera's no where near where Blast OFf could squish her accidentily Temera laughs just a little bit watching that, shaking her head slightly. Angel feels someone grab his uniform, and gasps as he stops falling. "Lwdown?" he calls out. He grabs onto the wall, taking his weight off of Lowdown's arm. "...I owe you four!" Blast Off lands on Snarl in a manner quite undignified. The now disgruntled Combaticon (who always values his dignity) heaves himself away from Snarl and back onto a pipe wall. He huffs slightly but says nothing. Lowdown just clings to the side of the pipe for a moment, needing to take a little longer than usual to regain his composure. Finally, after a sigh, "Let's get moving. Before that happens again..." Snarl looks down at the two humans who were swept past him. He growls, glad that Blast Off is off him, and moves to slip down to the level that Lowdown and Angel are, "Me think Humans need ride? Get up faster!" Gnaw pauses, and then continues to climb. Angel nods at Snarl's suggestion. "Okay, I think you're right." he says, sounding a bit unnerved. He slips over to Snarl, and climbs up on top of the dinobot. "Thank you, Snarl." Blast Off watches with an exasperated attitude as Snarl starts to climb DOWN to rescue the blasted humans. WHY do Autobots care for these creatures so much? It has always escaped him.... "We don't have time for this! Should *I* start carrying these creatures? Will that make this go faster? We must escape while we still can..." Snarl looks up at Blast Off, "Don't let door hit chassis on way out! And while you running, remember we likely have lotz of sharkycons between us and door." Alley-Viper 910 stays where she is. She says, "I have some rope, should we tie ourselves together?" Blast Off glares at the Dinobot. "I OFFERED to carry the fles- the humans! I would be much faster than a slow mech like YOU!" Lowdown's climbing is a bit slower than before, but he makes his way toward Snarl, since he's already down here. He sighs, "Let's just get to the top of this thing. We don't know how long it is, and another of those torrents could come at any moment." Snarl laughs, "ME NO END UP SWEPT DOWN TUNNEL! Me do fine with humans! ME think Rope be good idea!" Blast Off keeps glaring at Snarl, but... unfortunately, the Dinobot has a point. Blast Off just HATES it, though.... *siiigh* -Bah! Who needs super-strength, anyway? Super-fast speed and agility and SPACE FLIGHT are so obviously superior.... the Combaticon calms himself down with those thoughts and starts climbing up. "Have it your way, then..." Angel helps Lowdown climb atop Snarl. "I agree, let's get out of here!" Alley-Viper 910 climbs down to the Dinobot. She finds a safe perch and pulls the rope from her backpack. She asks, "How do we want to do this?" Snarl hmmms, "Me think maybe behind my head. and use my throat to keep from being washed down! And you don't fall." Lowdown nods to Snarl's suggestion, "Seems like the least likely place that it'll slip off..." Temera moves quickly with the others, trying to be careful not to fall. She nods at the observation. Angel nods, and shifts a bit. "Here, hand one end to me." he says, holding out a hand for the rope. Blast Off looks down. "Stop holding a camp-out down there and hurry UP HERE. I DON'T have all DAY." Snarl will help the humans get onto his chassis. He shifts, looking up, "Blast Off has point. We no think we should lollygag!" Alley-Viper 910 hands the rope to Angel and says, "We should hurry before we're caught." "Yes, hurry! Next flush soon!" Gnaw says. You go to Bellum - Filtration System.Bellum - Filtration System After a long and difficult climb through the backwash torrent, you find yourself in an enormous filtration system. What it's filtering the water for is anyone's guess, since you're clearly high above the Sharkticon Pit. The atmosphere is humid, and the water is as warm as a bath. Pipes and hoses pump various gasses into the water, causing it to bubble and foam as you navigate your way through. At present, it's about five feet deep. Green lines illuminate a broad sreies of walkways beneath the surface. Falling off of this walkway would likely not end well... Gnaw scrambles up until he reaches the filtration system level, hauling his rotund body through the opening and into the shallow (for a Sharkticon) water. The humans would find it to be semi-swimming depth. The guide then waits patiently for the others to follow. The short walk from the backwash pipe appears to empty out onto a metal pathway above a much larger tank. The orange Quintessonian water is remarkably clear to about a depth of 60 feet, but the tank below appears to be much deeper than that. Blast Off points to the deeper tank. "Do you know what's in there, Gnaw? Anything... alive?" Angel has looped the rope around himself and Lowdown, and the Alley-Viper if she's atop Snarl. He clings to Snarl with his legs, looking around. He doesn't seem very curious about the surroundings; he just wants to get out of here. As if to answer the Combaticon's question, a few dark shapes flit through the water, just outside of visible range. Snarl looks dwon at water, then at the sharkycon, "Is this trap?" Alley-Viper 910 is looped with the others. She hangs on with all her limbs, thinking, "I wish I had my guns!" Temera clutches onto it and watches, frowning at the pool below. Gnaw shakes his head. "Makes water cleaner," he says simply. Blast Off looks to Snarl. "We will have to stick together and fight back to back... against ... whatever that is." He looks unhappy about that... both fighting alongside the others, and having to go in there. There's something else in the water. Something up on the walkway with the survivors. Something with active cloaking. A clawed hand reaches over to a panel on his wrist, and the Quintesson operative detonates a series of plasma explosives. The supports holding up the walkway are consumed in the blast, and the floor drops away... You go to Bellum - Within the Menagerie.Bellum - Within the Menagerie As you fall through the waters, you find yourself being sucked through a series of tubes. You are suddenly spit out into a vast underwater realm. Strange creatures, many of them oddly resembling terrestrial sea creatures, swim about through the orange-glowing water. Whatever makes the water so luminous also limits visibility to about a hundred feet. Beyond that, the mechanical sealife is shadows, a few glowing with their own fluorescence. Occassionally, you can catch a glimpse of an enormous shadow, gliding through the distance. The water seems to have a strange neutral buoyancey, even for Cybertronians, allowing you to float at any level. However, there's the slightest hint of a gentle downward current. Perhaps there are more pipes at the bottom? Contents:Leviathan Claiming free reign over the entire tank is the apex predator of the waters of Quintessa. An arrow-shaped body glides backwards, propelled by unseen hydrojets. A spherical head is attached tot he base of this sleek body, with a large, bulbous optic on either side. Ten long, flexible tentacles extend outward from the head, trailing behind the creature or writhing about in search of prey. Each tentacle is lined with ringed suckers, each with tiny barbs to help grip anything it touches. When the tentacles spread out, you can glimpse a ring of ten hooked teeth in the center, pulsating greedily in anticipation of the creature's next meal. The Leviathan's body is about 60 feet from head to tail, with the tentacles nearly doubling its length. As Snarl falls, his hands move to cover his head, and help keep the humans there. Which may or may not be a good idea. Gnaw transforms as he falls, reverting to Sharkticon mode. He swims better that way, after all, and a lot of dropping pitfalls involve water for some reason.Gnaw folds down into his roly-poly shark mode with spiky mace tail, jaws gnashing in hunger! Blast Off goes falling into the water as a streak of brown and purple, creating a splash and rising up again. His back fin (his vertical stablizer in shuttle mode) almost looks like a shark fin as we keeps himself afloat. "Great. I am NOT enjoying this, just so you know." He swims to get closer to Snarl, looking around for an attack at any time. Lowdown's first instinct was definitely to try and jump free, but then Snarl's hand closes in. Cursing to himself, he pulls the oxygen bottle out. (Angel should still have the other.) He's been to the dunk tank enough times to know how this works and, holding his breath, he shoves his bottle to Temera. Temera takes a quick breath in, handing it back. Angel lets out a suprised squeak as they tumble to the water. He clings to the rope, curling into a ball almst. He pulls out his air bottle, taking a quick breath, before handing it to the Alley Viper. Alley-Viper 910 takes the bottle, and takes a deep breath, glad that having to had run through a gassed hallway during training with no mask made her lungs strong. She hands the bottle back to Angel. Once in the water, the dinobot moves his hands so they can get seperation if they want. He looks down in the water, then at Blast Off, "Good idea, except when they go for feets! Me so tired of swimming without water wings!" Gnaw swishes his tail to propel himself through the water, making his way towards what looks like a closed doorway. As the escapees splash down into the water, a number of shadows begin to close in. They range in size, from equivalent to small cars to city buses. Several of them begin to circle, just out of sight... and then they all scatter. A much larger shadow begins to grow beneath the group... As the group floats near the surface, a metal tentacle wraps around the largest object it can find: Snarl! Blast Off is definitely NOT enjoying this... Looking at the large shape scare off the smaller ones, he says, "I think it's not just our feet we need to worry about, Snarl..." Then it strikes Snarl and the Combaticon jolts back. His first urge is to get the slag out of here... but where have all those smaller shapes gone? Probably not far away... He hesitates, looking around... wanting to abandon the others and let that -THING- eat Snarl and the humans while he makes a getaway, but knowing it might not be the wisest choice for him... Sicarius dives into the tank as the prisoners take the plunge. His orange armor blends somewhat with the tint of the water, but his camoflage is off. Powerful legs kick him through the water toward the group... Angel's eye's widen. Seriously, a mechanical squid monster? He was very unhappy, again. He lets go of Snarl, but he stays where he is, not wanting to drag the others around. He's very close tp panicking; just too much has gone wrong... Lowdown works quickly to undo the rope from his waist as Snarl goes into the water. He's trying to move quickly before the Dinobot is dragged down, moving to help Temera next, "C'mon! We gotta move!" A voice in the dark waters calls out a warning as Sicarius dives into the tank. Alley-Viper 910 unties herself and stays by Angel. She asks, "Are you o.k.? Temera stares at the squid monster, shivering and trying to swim somewhere, growling and staying near Lowdown, trying to put some distance between herself and the big squid as well though. Angel nods at the Alley Viper question, giving her a thumbs up, despite the fact that he's clearly frightened. He doesn't even notice Sicarius; he's focused on the squid. Blast Off still looking around for an escape route, notices Sicarius. "Lovely. More guests to the party." He is still not sure where to go- Snarl doesn't seem like a safe spot right now, but he wants to be ready to fight the Quint as needed. He braces for the Quint's arrival, if he comes his way. Lowdown sees that their guide is fleeing. He tries to get the other humans' attention and points downward. He takes a deep breath, diving to follow the path of the Sharkticon. See, here's the thing about squids. They have multiple tentacles. Another lashes out at Gnaw as he tries to escape... Sevax is waiting below, hiding in an alcove in the dark waters, avoiding the Sharkticons. Sicarius pauses in his pursuit of the humans as he hears a Quintesson voice echo through the water. There's a traitor down here. His mask turns toward the bottom of the tank and he descends toward Sevax's location... Alley-Viper 910 looks at Angel, points towards Lowdown, takes a deep breath, and follows the Joe. Gnaw is suddenly grasped by a tentacle, and zapped! Knocked senseless, the lil sharkball starts floating belly-up. Temera follows Lowdown as well, worroied, especially when she sees the giant squid snatch Gnaw. She tries to swim faster from that. Sevax shifts to the face of Fear. Angel nods, takes a geep breath, and dives down after the Alley Viper, kicking hard. He's not a good swimmer, but he's trying his hardest right now! Blast Off watches Sicarius sink into the depths... then Gnaw is knocked flat by the Leviathan. Slag, if their guide is destroyed they may never get out of this Pit. The Combaticon swims over to grab the senseless sharkticon. Snarl grahs as he's grabbed by the squiddycon, hoping the humans get away safely as he goes to kick the squidycon's chassis, grabbing the tentacle and trying to rip the thing off! Sicarius spots the traitorous Sevax, drawing his rifle from his back. The weapon reconfigures, merging with his cybernetic systems. The water around him ripples as he releases a pulse of neutron radiation at the Quintesson. Sevax swims up suddenly, dodging the Neutron Cannon. Like a penguin, Sevax is awkward on land, but rather agile in water. Sevax yells for the others to escape, calling out the direction of the exit, and then swims directly at Sicarius, launching his own attack, trying to buy time. He won't be saved, but maybe he will be avenged.Sevax shifts to the face of Judgement. Sevax is missing a tentacle and a half, and looks like several sharks have taken several bites out of him. However, he seems to have field-repaired himself and has been lurking in wait to enact his revenge! (Or just hiding in fear. He has been known to scream like a girl when in danger.) Lowdown swims as fast as he can, diving deep into the menagerie and looking around for any sort of exit. He's not sure if he can trust the Quintesson, but there's no other readily apparent options... And there it is. A metal door, sized for a Cybertronian. Alley-Viper 910 continues to follow Lowdown, occasionally looking back to make sure Angel is all right and keeping up. Snarl roars at the leviathan, chomped by the squiddycon! "STOOPID SQUINTICONS NO HAPPY WITH JUST BEING SQUID HEADS! THEM HAZ SQUIDYCONS!" He tries to punch Leviathan in the eye Sicarius's armor is pierced by the laser shot. He was designed to engage with humans, not other Quintessons. The orange glow in his eyes flickers, and various vital fluids drift from the hole. He reaches down to a hip pnael as he kicks toward Sevax, drawing out a plasma bomb and thrusting it at the traitor. Gnaw is pulled away from the shocky tentacle, and regains consciousness soon after. He sees a tentacle of the squidmonster lashing nearby, and he dives to chomp on it in retaliation! Sevax grabs the bomb with his tentacles, and flings it back at Sicarius before it explodes! Angel follows after Lowdown and the Alley Viper, ignoring to combat going on around him. He's focused on swimming, and reaching Lowdown and, hopefully, freedom. Lowdown makes his way to the door. There's a rather large wheel on it... larger than him, in fact. He grabs one of the cross-bars on the wheel, braces his boots on a panel of the door, and starts trying to turn the wheel. Gnaw is knocked backwards from the tentacle, towards his new friends and near the door! Blast Off watches as even Gnaw swims out of his grip and goes down to try to fight the Leviathan. Sigh. Ah well, there's probably no way to avoid it... he's going to have to take on that... that THING too. So they can escape in one piece. IF they can successfully fight something like that with no real weapons.... The Combaticon submerges, his back fin again looking like a shark's, as he glides towards the behemoth and swings a punch! Snarl tries to smash the squidybot, as the sharkycon with them fights back. He is CLEARLY not happy with this, and definitely wishing he had a weapon Alley-Viper 910 braces herself and tries to help Lowdown with the door. Sevax swims away from the explosion, also down towards the door. Before, there were too many sharks to try to make an escape. But now... One of Sevax's rear-facing faces sees Snarl hammer-punch the Leviathan into submission, and its eyes widen. Maybe it was a mistake to tangle with these Autobots after all! Such power... They also appear to have no sanctity for endangered species! What monsters! Sicarius can honestly say he did not expect that. Or at least he could if he was able to speak. The operative suddenly disappears in an emerald blast, caught by his own demolition charge. Snarl gives Leviathan a good kick, "Stoopid squidycon." His eyes focus on the Squinticon, narrowing, "Maybe we can use as hostage." He starts to make his way toward the QUintisson, hands flexing Angel sees Lowdown and the Alley Viper struggling to move the door handle wheel, and swims over, adding his strength to theirs. Gnaw swims over to the door, transforms, and grunts while turning the wheel!Gnaw's shark head pulls back, the mouth opens, Gnaw's robot head emerges, and he's now in robot mode. Let's be honest here. The humans weren't doing a whole hell of a lot to open that door. But, with Gnaw present, the wheel turns and the door opens on a flooded airlock champer! Sevax says, "I helped you! Stay back! Stay back!"Sevax shifts to the face of Fear.Sevax swims back away from Snarl, and therefore away from the door, assuming that's where Snarl is generally approaching. Snarl goes to grab at Sevax. If the bot was any madder, the QUintisson would need worry about being crushed! Instead, the idea of using Sevax as a hostage is a good idea. Sevax is captured by the far-stronger Dinobot.Sevax says, "I'm no use as a hostage! They want to kill me more than you!" Lowdown's lungs are starting to burn. He reaches down and grabs the air bottle, taking another breath off the device......and thankfully it still has air in it! Blast Off swims towards Gnaw and the others... He wants out of that door. Snarl brings the QUintisson to his face, "Be QUIET! IF no fight, no cause trouble, MAYBE QUintesson get escape. Sound good?" He notices the others moving toward the door, and starts heading that way Angel has, unfortunatly, run out of air. He thrashes for a moment, jamming something into his mouth so he doesn't ingest any Quint water, and then passes out. Lowdown takes the bottle from his mouth and passes it to Temera. He looks around to see who else needs help. That's when sees Angel pass out. Alley-Viper 910 grabs Angel and begins searching him for the air bottle. Sevax wiggles his tentacles in fear, but says nothing, as commanded. Lowdown bangs on the metal of the door, hoping the sound will get Snarl's attention. Snarl goes to the door, the Squinticon in tow, "YUS?" "Quick! Us get out fast!" Gnaw shouts, "Out of water, be safer!" You go to Bellum - Maintenance Shaft Seven.Bellum - Maintenance Shaft Seven The airlock opens onto a narrow ledge, at least narrow by Cybertronian standards. The ledge overlooks a long drop straight down a mostly smooth shaft. The ledge you stand on gets even narrower as it curves around the cylindrical interior of the shaft, disappearing altogether about halfway. The opposite wall is about twenty feet away. Various green tubes, ranging from a foot to three feet in diameter, extend along the length of the shaft at various points. They all begin and end at ledges similar to this one, all of them at various points both up and down the shaft, spaced about thirty feet either above or below. The overall impression of this space is to provide maintenance access to various utility systems of the Bellum. Considering there are no ladders or lifts apparent, this shaft was likely designed for those who can fly or hover. Lowdown drips orange water as the airlock finishes draining out. The other side opens on a straight drop, which just illicits a sigh from the Joe. He turns to Gnaw, and then to Sevax, "Up or down?" Sevax says, "Where do you want to go? The Space Bridge above is offline... if you want to do real damage, head down to Engineering!" Gnaw nods in agreement. Alley-Viper 910 drags Angel through and removes the obstruction from his mouth once the airlock drains. She thumps him on the chest a few times to get him breathing again. Blast Off comes through the doorway and looks around, still trying to find an escape... or a weapon he can use. "Engineering makes sense to me... if you need space flight, then *I* can hel..." Wait, no ... he can't fly. Gah. Sevax seems very eager to help, be it to get revenge, or save his own skin, or both.Sevax gives Gnaw a look, but doesn't say anything. Lowdown is starting to grow weary of all the random death traps and monsters that seem to be an integral part of Quintesson construction. There's probably going to be spinning death blades all along this next shaft. However, he's glad that the interrogation of the Quintesson was easy enough. He turns his attention back to the injured sharpshooter, kneeling down and looking at the Alley-Viper, "What happened?" Snarl notices something of the byplay between the sharkycon and the squinticon, "YOU be helpful, me no give you to Sharkycon for chew toy. Sound like good idea to me. IS Engine... is Engine place trap?", asking Sevax Alley-Viper 910 says, "I think he ran out of air. He's breathing now. I think he's okay, but I'm no medic." Sevax looks fearfully at Snarl. "Not... not that I know of! I've been hiding in the pit for days... I can't say for sure!" "Me go first in case it trap," Gnaw offers. Sevax looks to the others gathered for help against the big scary Dino! #notholdingmybreath Snarl hmmms, "Why you go first, Sharkycon?" Gnaw says, "If are trap, no will spring on Sharkticon." Sevax hopes that's true. Temera watches that, looking around suspiciously at all of it. "Works for me..." Lowdown nods to the Alley-Viper, "How about you? Holding up?" Alley-Viper 910 says, "It's good to breathe again." Lowdown nods in agreement with the Alley-Viper, "That's for damn sure..." He stands up and turns to Temera, lifting his good arm and putting a hand on her shoulder, "You alright?" Angel's eyes flutter open as he regains consciousness. "What...?" He seems somewhat disorientated. Temera sighs a little. "I'll be okay..." Lowdown nods to Temera, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze before stepping up to the edge of the maintenance shaft. He peers down, looking at the crescent-shaped ledges, "Well, should be an easier climb than that other pipe was..." There's an irregular thumping noise reverberating through the metal walls... the sounds of a battle outside. Alley-Viper 910 says, "We got out of the water. I'm going to put you down, be careful you don't fall off the ledge." Blast Off hears the sounds of a battle, too. Interesting... the Combaticon looks towards the sounds... the way out must not be too far away. The noise doesn't seem to be echoing from the tunnel, but rather coming from somewhere outside. Angel nods. "Okay." he says simply. As the Viper lets him down, he finds his footing and stands carefully. He tilts his head at the sounds coming from outside. "Sound fierce out there." he comments, running a hand through his soaked hair to brush it away from his eyes. "What's the plan?" he asks Lowdown. Lowdown looks up at the machines, "Might just be easier to have Snarl carry us down this time." He looks at the crescent-shaped ledges again, "It's practically a ladder for him." Snarl moves to where he hears the fighting, still holding the squinticon, "That sound like serious fighting! Maybe a rescue?" He looks to the humans, "Me okay being elevator for humans!" Blast Off is getting slightly impatient again. "Then let us go... Slag, *I* will carry you creatures if it will just get you moving quicker..." He huffs. Gnaw nods and trots down the tunnel, along with the others. Angel nods. "Alright. That works for me." The Cobra sniper, once Snarl says it's alright, clamors up to the Dinobot's shoulder, helping the Alley Viper climb up as well. Snarl helps the humans up, with one hand, the other still involved with keeping the squinticon in hand. Lowdown joins the other humans in climbing onto Snarl's hand. You go to Bellum - Engineering.Bellum - Engineering The shaft bends to conform to the shape of the Bellum, curving inward until it runs horizontal. At the very bottom is an access hatch that opens upon a marvelous sight. The silver interior is brilliantly lit by a strange device in the center of the room. Five sets of energy emitters, spaced evenly around a large orange crystal, project beams of blue-white light vertically between each other. It almost looks like a majestic prison for the crystal. The hum of machinery below, coupled with the teams of Quintesson Scientists, would lead one to believe that this room some sort of engineering center. As the party descends the maintenance shaft, the entire Spiral suddenly shudders. The shifting gravity gives one the sense that the Bellum is starting to tip to one side. Luckily, there's not much further to descend, and the cant of the shaft actually works in the escapees' favor. Angel clings to Snarl as he feels gravity shift a little. "What's happening?" he asks, looing around. He shivers a bit. "The battle outside; did they damage the Spire?" Gnaw rolls a little, since he's a roly poly mechanism, but scrambles to his feet and scampers towards the exit! Lowdown nearly falls off of Snarl as the tower shakes, but manages to keep his grip. He looks around, "Must have!" Blast Off has remained fairly calm throughout this whole ordeal, considering everything... but he doesn't like the feel of the ship shifting to the side. The sounds of battle mean that outside forces may have damaged this ship. He just doesn't want to be stuck on it without the ability to fly, if it should crash. ...Or explode. He hastens after Gnaw. "Hurry it up... this ship could be destroyed with us on it. I doubt that would make ANY of our days..." Snarl somehow manages to keep from rolling down the tunnel, with his hands full, his optics bright with surprise. Turning his head, he notices that the Squinticon went catatonic. "Me not sure, but, it seem odd it move like that. Best we do like septicon says!" Lowdown watches Gnaw flee down the hallway and pop open a hatch at the end. He points toward it, "Guess that's our way out..."Gnaw nods and beckons towards the open hatch. "Come, come! Way out!" Angel nods, his knuckles white holding onto Snarl. "No more traps or unexpected suprises, I hope!" he mutters to himself. He looks over to Lowdown, but doesn't say anything to him. Within the engineering chamber, Scientists are scurrying about to try and compensate for the loss of stability. The gradual tilt is finally halted. It doesn't chagne the mood of the room, though, as they race to reroute power through various systems. It's right about that time that one of the walls caves in, punctured by an enormous orange claw. Snarl, and possibly Blast Off, might recognize it as Omega Supreme's. the claw withdraws, leaving a sizable gash in the side of the engineering room. Snarl gasps! "Forsooth! Our savior is just beyond the threshold! Let us away and be gone from this vile cesspool!" No, actually he recognizes the claw, "YAY! AUTOBOTS come to rescue us! Must try contact Mega Supreme so him rip bigger hole in nasty ship!" He looks at the humans, "Hold tight, me gonna hurry!" Lowdown thumps the palm of his hand on Snarl's armor a few times to get his attention, "Hey! That thing looks important..." He points at the large crystal structure in the center of the room, "If we take it out, we might disable this ship entirely!" He looks at the unconscious (or possibly dead) Sevax, dangling like a flail by his tentacles from Snarl's grasp. "Yes! Crystal is power source!" Gnaw says, "If destroy, get out fast!" "We don't know what that is, but yeah, it looks important!" Angel says, looking at the crystal. He hears the Sharkticon, and grins. "Well, that solves that! Just be careful when it gets damaged. It might explode!" Snarl turns to the crystal, grins, "Me got perfect weapon!" He looks at Blast Off, "You take humans, me gonna work out some frustration on crystal!" The Quintesson Scientists all stop when the group enters, and turn around to regard them. As the Dinobot speaks those ominous words, they do the only sensible thing: they abandon their posts! Blast Off recoils slightly. "Autobots? ...Omega Supreme?" Lovely- escaping from Quintessons only to enounter the largest Autobot of them all- with no weapons, either. Talk about going "from the frying pan into the fire"... He hears Snarl tell him to take the humans and get out... helping humans will be very odd, but getting out sounds very good. He heads over to the humans. "Well, fleshli- I mean humans, I suppose you're coming with me, then." Lowdown looks uncertainly at Blast Off, but... well, he'll take what he can get at this point. He looks to others, stepping toward Blast Off and positioning himself to help the others over to the other Transformer, "C'mon, let's get outta here before this whole thing comes down." Angel nods at Blast Off; the Decepticon seemed... polite, at least. "Alright." He first helps the Alley Viper up and across, making sure she's safely aboard the Decepticon before crossing over himself. He finds a spot to crouch down on, holding onto Blast Off. "I don't want to be in here when that happens either, Lowdown!" "Me coming with!" Gnaw says to Blast Off. "No want live on here anymore."Gnaw says, "No gets nuff to eat." Lowdown helps Temera over before climbing onto Blast Off, himself, "Alright. Give 'em hell, Snarl." Temera nods quickly, hurrying aboard and into a seat. Once he's sure the humans and bot is clear, he goes to get intimate with the crystal. Using Sevax as a flail, Snarl runs toward the crystal, clearly intent on bludgeoning the thing into garbage! Blast Off sighs as humans crawl on him, suppressing the urge to shudder. The shuttleformer doesn't like transporting ANYone, actually... much less organics. Ew. But he keeps it to himself for now... thank Primus they're not expecting to crawl INSIDE his cargo bay, at least. He waits for everyone to get placed, including Gnaw (who he grabs, if needed) then heads to the hole. Heads towards an enemy who is a LOT bigger than he is. Hopefully having all these humans will prevent him from being shot on sight.... Gnaw is grabbed willingly by Blast Off and awaits exit! The energy from the beam emitters crackles around Snarl. Tingly, but not outright damaging. The first blow fractures the face of the crystal, the cracks spreading out in a spiderweb pattern. Snarl starts flailing against the crystal with Sevax, full on swings, growling... And, he seems to be humming merrily! Clearly the Squinticon isn't designed to be used as a blunt force weapon Sevax's form is dented by the hard structure of the crystal, but he deals as much damage as he takes. One of the damaged faces actually falls off, green fluid splattering the face of the crystal. In a space between swings, there's a cracking noise. The spiderwebs seem to be spreading on their own now, consuming the crystal. The beam emitters start to flicker... Snarl keeps working hard, swinging freely with Sevax. Either the Quintisson will break, or the crystal. ...or both! With a wet *CRUNCH*, the Quintesson's form crumples inward. The Crystal is a mess, and can no longer contain the energy inside it. Shards explode outward in a flash of brilliant, orange light. Groaning metal echoes down through the tower as the power to the Bellum's stabilizers is removed, and the entire Spiral starts to fall. Snarl drops the mortal coil of Sevax, and runs for the hole in the hull, charging fast, hoping the hole is big enough for him It's big enough.
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