Ponyshock: "Raven" Squad

Zestari stood slowly, her head spinning having been pounded against the glass wall. She felt a bit slow to respond to Kestrel as he yelled for her to get out of the way, but after a couple of blinks, her mind processed the request, and she scurried through the deepening water to get some distance from the Big Daddy.

Getting out of the way, and placing a hoof against her pounding head, she looked at the others in the group.

Arc and Mona seemed to be sporting bullet wounds. Arc’s looked a little worse as she observed how he held his leg, she looked over towards Amber, his leg looked pretty bad. In fact his injury looked to be the worst of those injured. She took a step towards him before recalling that he had one of the health potions. If it was severe enough to warrant it, he’d be able to self-administer.

Avoiding the Big Daddy as best as she was able, she sloshed through the slowly deepening water towards Arc. Following him through the door, she stopped nearby.

“Want me to take a look at your wound?”

Arc shifted his weight off the shot back leg, easing the pain a little.

"Zestari... yes it looks bad, but our...", Arc said through his clenched teeth,"but out little ninja took a whole mine up his arse, i think he might need your attention more. We do... we do not really have health potions to burn at this precise moment. My wound right now comes second after his."

Goddessesdamit, the room was filling with water, and for all he knew the.. thing could wake up again in moments, what was taking everyone so long?

When the creature below him refused to move Kes reclaimed his rifle and began to walk towards Arc and the others. Everyone was a little scuffed up, but they would live.

The thing was dead, Kes had a few new scars, and the team was ready to progress. Time to pack up and move.

Kes noticed that Blazen had woken up and was moving around now. Good, he did not want to drag the kid around anyway. Maybe now he could work on redeeming himself to the team.

"Lets move." He said to Arc as he passed, giving his permission to lock the door once everyone was inside.

"You got shot in the ass?" Dash asked Arc, his tone cracking with a tinge of unintentional humor. The dark-coated Pegasus buck, however immediately noticed and shook his head, "I-I mean... Sorry bro." he said, "I uhh... I should probably stop talking now, shouldn't I?..." he said sheepishly.

Amber had been searching the flowing waters for some time before he eventually found his knives slowly drifting away in the ever increasing strength of the water current. Reaching down though to grab his last knife, Amity could feel the dull pain of the burn setting in know.

After strapping the knives to his legs once again and putting his katana back to his sides, he carefully took the healing potion he had acquired earlier and drank it down. After placing the empty bottle back into his pack he felt a cool relief wash over his burns as he saw the wounds mend themselves. Amity sighed in relief as he trotted towards the group. And although he may not have been showing it, he was still feeling a bit uneasy for not only was his leather barding ruined in one area and he would have to find himself a new pair, but he still couldn't get over the fact of his bare flanks.

He once again bashed on himself for being so weak and continued on wards anyway. Making double time to get past the locks and with the rest of the team, he took extra care to side step the metal creature entirely. Making it to the door though he heard talk about his own wounds.

"I am fine." He said plainly as he looked back into the room remaining vigilant. The last thing he needed was for others to worry about him.

"...*Static*...Hey its Gene here! major problem! an explosion in the science district has caused a major pressure leak, so unless you get that valve shut down now soon, the far exit at the end of the tunnel will lock down....now MAYBE you could make it....but your safest chance is to use magic to repair the suit and head the closest airlock ....big daddies tend to be extremely genetically enhanced while IN the suit....so only the griffon will be able to fit as long as you dismount the current battle saddle....I'll call you on your pipbuck once youre out there but it'll be only one-way...."

A specific airlock lit up on the group's pipbuck but it appeared only Kes would be able to use the suit. Still the group was running out of time, the water wasn't a huge problem, there was room for it to go, but the door needed to remain open....

Had he been the sort to do so Kestrel would have no doubt been frowning and groaning right now. He had to go outside...and wear the suit that he had just spent the last ten minutes utterly destroying.

Fun.

Still Kes was smart enough to know what would happen if he didn't help seal this pressure leak. It was like a cracked cartridge in a rifle. If the pressure escaped anywhere else but the barrel the whole thing exploded.

By comparison if this leak wasn't sealed the tunnel they were in would collapse and depressurize under the weight of the sea water above.

Without a word the Gryphon walked forward and began looking for a way to get the suit off of the...thing he had killed. He would leave the repair job to Arc and the others. That was their specialty, Kestrels was moving the heavy brute of a enemy around and getting the suit off.

Looking at it he would have to undo all the screws securing the armored helmet to the things chest, pull that off, then drag the thing out of the suit and crawl into it.

"I think that would be preferable, Dash.", said Arc with expression of pure death.
"And if he's fine, then i would really appreciate your assistance, Zestari."

Menwhile, dr. Gene told about the explosion, and that the group would propably should do some external repair. Kestrel started to remove the suit from the monster.

"Kestrel, this won't work... the goddessesdamned thing is busted. Where are we going to find something to replace the broken porthole? Still... the bulletholes should be fixable, perhaps if there's some epoxy or glue or something... beside that, the suit is likely okay... worst case scenario we'll block the porthole too..."

"Kestrel, we'll try to fix the suit, but still, there's no promising that it will survive outside for long."

(Repair 42, Luck 6: Fixing the suit)

Zestari shook her head at Dash, getting shot was no fun for anypony, no matter where it hit! She shrugged at Amber and his injury, as far as she was concerned, in this particular case the patient knew best, and she didn’t pursue the issue with him if he thought he was fine. She frowned at the audio from Dr Gene. Of course they’d have such luck to now have to fix a leak or be crushed by the sheer weight of water above them, moments after barely surviving against a hulking suited monster.

With a wince at her continuing headache, she patched up Arc Weld’s injury as he began tinkering with the diving suit. “Are you sure we don’t have another option, Kestrel? I’m not sure I think it’s a good idea to go out underwater with this bullet hole ridden diving suit. And what are the rest of us supposed to do while you’re out there?”

Waiting for her questions to be answered she turned towards Mona. “Would you like me to look at your injury as well?” She gestured to the small trail of blood oozing slowly from Mona’s wound.

While the wound indeed looked painful, Mona's face showed little sign of registering it, as she watched Ark and Kes work in removing the diving suit. She would have helped, but she really had no skill with repair and the like, a fact that she made a mental note of to fix in the future...especially if something like what happened with the Hunting rifle happened again.

However, when Zestari asked Mona about her wound, she snapped back to attention, turning to look at the zebra.

"It would be appreciated."

Kestrel was well aware of the dangers of going outside. Especially in a suit he and the others had just utterly ravaged. Didn't stop him though, he kept undoing the screws on the things mask and before long it was off.

What was underneath was far from pretty.

You are one ugly son of a bitch. Kes thought to himself as he worked on getting the seals done on the rest of the diving suit so that he could pull it off. Didn't take to long, and shortly after that Kes latched onto the things destroyed head and started to pull it free from the suits confines.

It took quite a bit of effort, even with the gryphon's impressive strength, to get the big daddy out of the suit and into the water. The body was left to float about the room for now, Kestrel could not do much more than that.

Now it was Arc and the other Unicorns turn to do their part; Attempt to fix the suit.

Dash watched as Kestrel got suited up to go outside... Underwater... He sighed in apprehension just thinking about it and how no pony could possibly pay him enough to get in a suit like that and walk around far underwater... Well maybe if he really had to... And if it was a number that he currently couldn't imagine, but that wasn't likely because his special talent surrounded the innumerable stars there were in the sky.

He saw that the others were diapproving of him and he frowned, "Well, I guess it's only fair that I tell you that I got shot once before... pretty badly. One of my lungs pretty much exploded. I was in a coma for months."

Trotting over to the suit Amity could hardly think of anyway that they would get that suit to function again. The metal behemoth was riddled with holes which they had inflicted upon it just moments ago. Nevertheless Amity took a good long look at the suit. Without that water under control there is no telling what kind of things may happen and Amity was not about to leave his life up to chance if he could do something about it.

Standing besides Arc, Amity didn't know how they were going to fix something up like this. Repairing holes in metal usually required some welding. Although they could get the job done if they could fine the proper polyester resin to seal up the holes. But what ever the case, Amity got to work on assisting Arc with the repairs.

(Repair 46, Luck 4: Assisting Arc with Repairing the suit.)

Arc and Amber tried fixing the suit best they could, but the material was simply too thick, luckily, he still had enough skill that he could determine most parts to it, including a talisman that had an emergency mending spell specifically designed for internal leaks. The suit was quickly repaired since it still had a full charge on it. (now at 36%)

Within his own time, Kes had managed to place on the suit, and step into the airlock.... it took some time for the water and pressure to adjust and then before he knew it

He was outside.

It was dark

and it was very wet.

The only light within reachable distance was a small station about 40 yards ahead that had a large pipes digging down into the rock, corral and fish flowed around a large wheel.... Every step that he took had the weight of a thousand souls trying to restrain him, his eyes, could only see a narrow window, into the world he stepped out into

The others back in the tunnel could only watch as Kes took his first steps into the abyss, the weight of an ocean, and sins of a pony.... What is one's worse fear, but fear of the unknown, ...and the feel ...of helplessness....

Kestrel said nothing as he began slipping on the suit piece by piece; having to take off his saddlebags and weapons and set them aside. His mind focused on the task ahead, on that black abyss outside, on the weight of the sea.

It would be hard, he was no engineer. But he was the only one that could do this. The only one that could take the pressures and still remain as firm as stone.

Soon enough all that was left to put on was the armored mask. But as he tried to put it on he encountered a problem. His own mask would not fit inside...he would have to take it off. With a scrunched brow Kes set the armored helmet down and reached up to remove his 'face'.

For the first time in their lives the team he was with would be given the rare honor of seeing Kestrels true face. As the mask came off the gryphon could not help but feel...naked in a way. He always wore this mask. It was him. He was it. And now, it was gone.

If the scars on Kestrels body were frightening, the ones on his face were just terrifying. Dozens of jagged lines worked around his face, over his eyes, on his beak. In a few places his beak was missing small chips and nick along the edges; giving the bird a torn, jagged expression. Yhe edges of his cheeks were turned down in a stern frown, matching the gryphons current mood.

His right eye had three long scars going over it, weaving down like serpents over and across his beak. Leaving three deep trench like gouges in his face. Testament to his time in Filly no doubt.

His Left eye was not too bad, a single smooth scar running below it. A cut from his first knife fight.

Looking around the gryphon located Zestari and walked over to her. His footsteps shaking the ground as he did; a compliment of his new suit. He held the mask, and his gear out to her, silently asking her to guard it while he was gone. She was the only one in this group that Kes honestly trusted with such a duty.

When she took the stuff he would turn around and make his way back to the armored helm, slipping it on and securing it without a sound before he stalked off towards the Airlock that would take him outside.

As he waited for the airlock to do its job he let his mind go empty. Only the sudden sensation of freezing cold water enveloping his legs managed to get a reaction from him. And even then, all he did was blink. The suit would keep him alive and mostly warm, it was not meant to be perfect, nor comfortable; yet it would work.

As the door opened up Kes began to move, the weight of the water and his suit making him move in almost slow motion. Each step thundered in his ears, the only sound around was the sound of his own breathing.

One step. Two step.

The dirt on the ocean floor kicked up in big clouds as he moved, though he couldn't see it. All Kestrel could see out of his little window was the dull glow of the maintenance station that seemed like it was an eternity away.

For the first time in his life Kestrel felt honestly, completely, alone. The blackness around him crushed down, the weight of an entire ocean trying to destroy him. Robbing him of his senses. His defenses.

It was...humbling? Terrifying? No. It was none of these things, yet all of these things. To Kestrel it was both beautiful yet horrifying.

And that fact alone seemed to have a strange effect on him. He felt at peace for once, no longer on edge as he stared out at this alien world before him through the little window on his mask.

He had to shake the contemplative thoughts from his mind as he realized he had been standing still for a minute or two. He locked his gaze on the station in the distance and began moving.

*thud*...*thud*...*thud*

Zestari nodded at Mona, and with a quiet hum began to patch her bullet wound. She occupied herself with treating Mona’s wound, taking her time to properly clean and dress the wound as the others in the group worked to prepare the diving suit and getting it in a state that Kestrel would be able to use it to venture out into the harsh ocean beyond.

She watched in bored curiosity as Kestrel slowly pulled on the diving suit until he paused. The mask he always wore kept getting caught on the lip of the helmet, and she watched with increased interest as he put the helmet down and then removed the mask with a frown on his face.

She only just caught herself from gasping aloud. Many ponies had scars from their time in the wasteland - bullet wounds, animal attacks, blades or claws - and whilst the scars upon his body were significant, they were not extraordinary. But Kestrel’s face was something else again. With a mixture of sadness and curiosity, her eyes traced over the myriad scars that adorned his less than pleased expression, and briefly touched upon the chipped parts of his beak before returning to the snaking of scars. Realising she’d been staring for a moment, she pointedly looked away and mentally berated herself.

With the ground thudding as he stepped towards her, she turned towards him and wordlessly accepted the accumulated possessions of the griffon, and despite the hefty added weight of the items, she made no protest or complaint. She then reverently received the offered mask from Kestrel, nodding at him quietly. Her face was as impassive as she was able to keep it, despite the torrent of emotion she felt upon witnessing his face without the mask.

As he walked to the airlock, she called out to him. “Take care, Kestrel.” She watched as he entered the airlock and disappeared from view. Turning towards the others as the airlock cycled, she shivered from the cold water sloshing around their legs, and fretted after the griffon before asking, “So do we just wait for him to return?”

"I suppose nopony brough playing cards with them?"

Arc's mind was suddenly struck with an idea.

"You know, we could try to dismantle the guns the thing had... it's rather valuable resource, no? I suppose we could at least recover some ammunition from the minigun, maybe remove the heater from the rivet gun, that could come in handy... hm... perhaps it has separate power source? You know, we could get creative with it, we have nothing better to do before Kestrel returns, if he returns."

"Hm... actually... if we combined the heatsource of the riveter... and say perhaps we took the motor from the minigun... nah. But the riveter has to have some sort of spring... hm... a short range rivet shotgun maybe? Nah. Well, worst case scenario, i could likely fashion some sort of grenade from the power source, and at least fix Mona's rifle."

"So, who's going to help me with this?"

(Repair 42, Science 72, Luck 6: Dismantilng Bid daddy's weapons, attempt to make something useful from them and from the parts of the turret i deconstructed earlier, and fixing Mona's rifle)

Blazen watched as Kestrel removed his mask, and revealed many scars that told of his whole life. There was so many scars that Blazen just looked away, still sitting and looking down at the floor. He lifted his burned hoof, and thought of a small fire. It lit up, small but significant. Somehow he gained powers from that bottle that he injected himself with, but that thing said that he was now 'one of them'. That really made him think of how much a threat he'd be. A threat against the group, and a thought crossed his mind of him just killing one of these ponies(Or zebra). He would never do such a thing, but he must not think of abusing his 'powers'. Although his hoof's pain died down now, it could make flames. He put it out and approached the others. "...Okay, uh, i think that bottle gave me...something else." He lifted his hoof and a flame appeared on his hoof.

As Blazen lit up a fireball, another shot of excruciating pain went up his arm. The Arcana was still having its usual side effects. Meanwhile Arc managed to disassemble the big daddy's battle saddle but for the life of him could not come with anything other than random motor parts. Mona's rifle fared a little better, it was still in shoddy condition, but should probably would need a workshop before it hurt Mona with a misfire....
(backfires on 1-5)

Still, for the other non-distracted members of the group, if they had been paying attention to the water, the might've noticed something ....was fishy.... The water was already about 2 1/2 feet above the ground. apparently the end of the hall, wherever it was... was now shut down as well... the water was filling up the tunnels. But it still felt ....strange...the water was moving erratically in some spots.

--------------Meanwhile---------

Kes was already at the control wheel, a small gauge made it apparent that the pressure was at 100% in the pipe. Still, despite the achievement, Kes's instincts alerted him something was wrong. Even with the suit and tons of water, he felt 'presence' of something, ...that was not quite him... shadows moved in the blue, but only for a glimpse of a single silver orb did Kes see anything odd, fish typically swam in this area so it shouldn't be anything to get too worked up over...

Still ...ever-vigilant... Kes would check his suit anyway, but the combat capabilities were low, the blood and biological mass from its previous occupant made it unwieldy and his talons useless since it was specifically designed for hooves.

" ...*Static*... Hello? this is Gene.....I didn't think it mattered, but there are Draquans in your area, they-..........*static*....."

Such a narrow window, and so much uncertainty...... the currents were beginning to circulate around Kes, even as the control wheel lied within his grasp...

Kes narrowed his gaze, his feeling of serene calm and loneliness now finding itself replaced by the gryphons signature brand of alertness.

Something was out there, in the shadows. Kes had seen it.

" ...*Static*... Hello? this is Gene.....I didn't think it mattered, but there are Draquans in your area, they-..........*static*.....

Draquans? That did not sould pleasant. Draq sounded a lot like Draco, and Draco was related to Dragon. If somehow there were....Water Dragons out here Kes needed to move. And he needed to move fast.

Turning to face the wheel of the station Kes propped himself up on his hind legs, shifting his feet forward and into the slats on the wheel. Normally Kes would have used his fingers to wrap around the wheel, and turn in that way. But he did not have access to his fingers at the moment.

He'd have to ball his hands into fists and brace the hooves against the supports for the wheel, then turn it that way; one rotation at a time. Hopefully he could get the valve shut off and get a move on back towards the airlock soon.

Kes knew he could barely move in this suit, let alone actually fight. Being trapped out here with something after him was not exactly a good thing if he could not at least fight it off.

Amity was not liking where things were going.

They had been waiting for Kestrel to return and all the while the water kept rising around them. He had been waiting along with the rest of the group trying to keep an eye out for any trouble since trouble liked to seek them out in this goddess forsaken place. For a little while Amity diverted his attention to the rising waters wondering when they might stop. Kestrel was capable of completing such a task he was sure of, but something still made him uneasy about the rising waters.

Out of the corner of his eye though he spotted some water moving quite peculiarly. As if it had a mind of its own.

'By Celestia.' Amity thought to himself as he ever so slowly unsheathed his blade. 'I hate water. Can we at least have one more moment of reprieve?'

"Look." He said to the rest of the group motioning the water's odd movements with a gesture of his hoof.

Dash looked at Blazen and blinked in utter surprise and confusion. The pony was definitely not a Unicorn, but he had just produced a flame from his hoof with nothing, "By the Goddesses, how the hay did you do that!?" Dash blurted out, "I mean, I'm not getting cabin fever or anything from being here, am I?"

Mona gave the patched-up leg a light stretch, making sure she could still use it, before levitating the patched-together rifle away from Arc and onto her back.

"Thank you."

With that, the Mare switched to her 9mm for a short time...the rifle still clearly needed better repair work then this, and using it right now was a risk. She'd save it for the more desperate measures untill they could find a matinance room or something.

However, this trail of thought was cut short, as Amber gestured to the water's odd movements. Mona did not waste a second from levelling her 9mm at the motions, ready to fire at even the slightest threatning motion...better safe then sorry, after all...

Well, earth pony with pyrokinesis, that was something new. It was probably good that Arc took the vial that contained the preparation with him, there was no telling what it done to Blazen beside the apparent acces to magic.

"No problem, i'm quite sure you'll have many opportunities to return the favor before we get out of here", returned Arc to Mona Tones. Then he noticed her eyes lock on something out of his field of view.

Arc turned to get a better look on what got others so distracted.

"Swirling water?"
"Allright... so perhaps the automatic systems are starting to drain the water?"
"But the water level is not dropping..."

As Kes began the slow wheel turn, he saw the water pressure drop on the gauge... his mission was complete. Still that unsettling feeling that something was 'out there' never left him.... once he completed his task. He set to slowly turn about to head back.... but something was moving about. He could feel deep currents press agaisnt the suit. Yet he could only turn so fast with that much pressure holding his body to the sea floor... still as soon as he managed to turn around, the void was still soul-defying ....the golfball-sized grey orbs floating in front of Kes's mask... did nothing to alleviate whatever emotion he may have been feeling....if any...
-----------------

Meanwhile....For some strange reason, a .10 smg was floating in the rush of water... it must've gotten dislodged from wherever it was hidden during the past. Back in the hallway, the water was shifting more and more, and silver orbs began to glow within the depths but whatever it was, the coloration of the water, blocked the coloration.....if any....

Something was taking the flesh that was torn from the corpse of the big daddy, lumps of it it were disappearing into the water. Not the mention the large deep fangs biting into Arc's ass.... quite painfully but his posterior was still beneath the water as he was still getting up from working on the guns...

Whatever was in the water, it was as big as a dog, it was vicious, and somewhere it was munching on a piece of Arc's ass.....