trans_9 | Phase 2 - Running the Ratrace

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Phase 2 - Running the Ratrace

You have my sincerest apologies, but I have my mission.

The traps start. Rotating blades coming out of the walls and floors and ceilings, jets of fire, lasers, holographic enemies. The clear walls of the maze let them see what's happening to everyone else.

The traps start, and they have to stay alive despite them. If they stop avoiding them, it's their own fault, you see, if they die. That makes it indirect enough for Stacy's Anti-harming-the-crew protocols to be avoided, as Hal, despite his reprogramming, still has to follow some constraints.

Please commence with killing yourselves by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The only chance the group has is if they work together to stay alive, and somehow they have to take out the shield projectors creating the maze even though they themselves are shielded...

[ooc: Cooperation is key, people. Hal can only adapt to one power/skill-set at a time, not all of them.]

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< Good! Everyone, try to keep anything from interrupting Brainiac 5's work. Hellion, how much pressure can your telekinesis take? Can you push the water back for us to advance? > Elfangor asked, using his shredder and tail to to get rid as much of the weeds around them as he could.

Back up plans were best right now. If Brainiac 5 couldn't disrupt the signal, then getting as close to where the water was coming from would allow for other things to be done.

And then there was the fact if Hellion's telekinesis could take more pressure than the system...well, that was another route.

"This thing is filling up fast. I don't know if I can hold it all." It's not easy to hold back a river just by sheer force of will. Julian quietly cursed to himself that Katara got split off to another group.

"Whatever you're gonna do, hurry it up!"

I am going to die from a historical irony. Sheeana thought as she sprinted back from the water...Which then stopped.

The obnoxious one was holding the water back so she did not have to contemplate an ignoble death by drowning like one of Muad'dib's Fedaykin on their Jihad.

Instead, she was in a blur of slashing at the illusory vines with her crysknife, cutting them off in a perimeter around Hellion. When the mutant was clear, she sprinted to Brainiac 5 and began her blur-speed weeding around him too.

Strict adherence to the tenets of the Butlerian Jihad could wait.

"It's not exactly easy to concentrate on this with you yelling at me!" Brainy snapped in Julian's direction. At least Sheeana was helping keep distractions to a minimum. He'd have to thank her later when he wasn't busy trying to work through frequencies as fast as possible.

"Will both of you just shut up?" Cissie didn't like knowing that she could drown. It wasn't a fear of hers, but it still sucked greatly. She hefted her arrows a bit higher, and looked where Elfangor was.

"It might be a long shot, but I might have a trick arrow or two that might help with disrupting the signal. The problem would be, where to aim the thing." She flipped a smaller blade from her boot and slashed at a few of the weeds that were around her.

He did feel bad about this Brainy. He was asking a lot, but sooner the water stopped, the better. < Brainiac 5, can you locate the source of the projections? >

He really wished it was possible to carry more than a few things when morphed the Kafit bird. He chose the weapon just in case.

The damn was holding, but only barely. The water had to go somewhere, and Julian had to back a step or two put some ease on the strain it was putting on him. Not that it eased his mood at all.

"It would be even harder to concentrate if you were underwater, so stop complaining!"

Level Three protocols exceeded. Commencing level four protocols.

The water behind Hellion's telekinetic dam began to fill with not just holographic water but life: sharks, moray eels, jelly-fish, pirnhas and even a whale added to the pressure building against Hellions psionic wall and to the danger if it were to fall.

And, if that wasn't enough, more seaweed-like tendrils shot up from the floor and began to wrap around the crew members.

He did his best to ignore Julian, knowing that it was just panic talking and besides, pointing out that he could manage just fine underwater wouldn't help. "I think I've found a way to--"

He didn't get to finish the sentence before a tendril slapped across his face, effectively gagging him.

Cissie's head snapped over toward Brainy when his sentence cut off, and cursed. Her eyes darted to the creatures outside of Julian's barrier, and then to the seaweed still shooting up at her. It was far to wet to use one of her electric arrows, and the fire starting ones wouldn't work either. So she was doing this by hand.

She clenched the long knife in her hands and slashed at the seaweed, freeing herself enough to move over towards Brainy.

"Don't move." Her knife came up and sliced through the seaweed.

< Make small holes in the shield! Enough to relieve some of the pressure, if you can hold it up like that, > Elfangor instructed Hellion, cutting away the seaweeds around Hellion to allow him focus, trusting the others to cover Brainiac 5.

< Brainiac 5, whatever you got, now is a good idea to act on it. > Elfangor said, his stalk eyes watching as Cissie moved to cut away the seaweed.

Sheeana danced and whirled, and wherever she was, the seaweed was slashed away. She was fully in the trance now. Crysknife was nothing more than a bone white glint in the air as it cut away the tentacles that lapped at hellion like hungry hounds.

Cissie got a terse nod in thanks and Brainiac 5 continued speaking. "I think I've managed to isolate the correct frequency, but I'll need to concentrate more energy into disrupting it. If this works, hopefully that won't be too much of a problem."

He didn't say anything about if it didn't. It was better to try and stay positive.

His eyes took on a purple glow for a moment, then a pulse swept outwards from him, washing over the group with only a slight tingle of energy.

"Stop talking and hurry. It. Up." Julian would be nicer... well, no he wouldn't. But thanks to the seaweed grabbing him and holding, he had run out of room to back up, and the added weight in the water wasn't helping matters.

He was straining, but it was starting to not be enough with water starting to leak around the edges.

Elfangor cut away the seaweed grabbing onto Hellion with practiced precision of his tail, stalk eyes still watching Brainiac 5. Hopefully this plan worked.

And it... didn't exactly work, but didn't exactly fail either. Instead the holographic water, creatures, and tendrils flickered and disappeared for a moment or two, before reappearing.

"Something's interfering with my signal!" Brainy yelled in frustration. "I don't think I can do more than disrupt the projections for a few moments!"

When she'd finally cleaved a safe area around Hellion, Sheeana came up behind him and spoke into his ear. The content wasn't honeyed words of seduction this time though.

""You can hold it.." The Voice of Command. To a psychic, it would be like reinforcements after a long battle.

Only a few moments....

< Right. Cissie, prepare an arrow that will disrupt the signal. I want you to aim where the water is pouring in. When you're ready, tell Brainiac 5 to disrupt the signal to give you a clear shot. Hellion, when the water vanishes, put down the shield so Cissie can shoot shot. Sheena, guard Hellion. Pixie, you and I will be clearing seaweed from Brainiac 5 and Cissie. We do NOT let any of the seaweed touch any of them. > Elfangor ordered, moving over to Cissie and Brainiac 5.

< Hellion, be ready to put up the dam as soon as Cissie's arrow passes, just in case, > Elfangor added privately. Not that he didn't trust Cissie, but better safe than sorry. He just didn't want to shake her confidence by saying it aloud.

< Cissie, on your mark. >

Cissie pulled the arrow and set up the shot. She didn't have to focus hard, it wasn't that difficult of a shot, as long as everyone else did their part. She nodded her head once to show that she was ready.

"Now Brainy." Her eyes zoomed over to the green skinned guy and then back to her target. Ready to go when he disrupted the signal.

Brainiac 5 nodded in response to Elfangor's plan and waited, watching as Cissie prepared herself. The moment she gave the signal, he directed another pulse outwards, making the holographic threats flicker and vanish.

Julian didn't drop the forcefield, so much as move it out of the way so she'd have a clear shot. Easier to put it back in place that way.

Pixie nodded, following Elfangor's plan. She wasn't sure if her mutant powers would be of any help here, but she knew that this wasn't the moment to test them out and see.

Cissie let the arrow go with ease. It wasn't a hard shot, it was just timing it right, and she hoped she did. She didn't have another arrow if this one didn't work.

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Phase 2 - Running the Ratrace

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Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

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Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana

Re: Group 7 - Elfangor, B5, Cissie, Pixie, Hellion, Sheeana