*Arizona - Earth*
Lyon, Aquarus, and Darkwing all dove into the cold water with a splash. Lyon's aquatic biology quickly did its thing, his two legs conjoining together into a tail as he could a strange sense of freedom he didn't have while on land. He could move, swim, and angle himself in ways he couldn't even imagine while in his human self. The cold water felt strangely welcoming, like breathing in a deep breath of cold mountain air. Had he been in his human self, he would have already been shivering from the cold.
But as Ripjaws? He could barely even the feel the chill upon his scale-covered skin.
Instincts flooded his mind, and Lyon's wide maw did its best to curl into an excited grin. He flexed his webbed fingers, and a deep chuckle escaped his throat. Lyon then turned around to face Aquarus and Darkwing, the former seemingly to have quite the bemused look on his face. The latter, though, remained far more stoic, if a tad bit annoyed by the looks of him.
"Finally! An excuse to use this guy! Ripjaws on land isn't exactly his specialty." Lyon exclaimed, getting used to the feeling of having his ear canals and gills filled with water. His tail flapped, and he narrowed his eyes towards the stairwell which led further below. "Yeah, Lizard League's got this level completely flooded. We're going to need to drain the water so the others could join up. But first we're going to have to disable to security systems." He said, pointing towards the stairwell as the industrial lights flashed.
"Agreed. Though, the security system will clearly see us as intruders. So we'll need to traverse cautiously." Darkwing said in agreement, the lower portion of mask now being covered by a rebreather of sorts. His eyes then glanced at Lyon, stern for a few moments. "How long can you stay in that form?" The cowl-wearing hero asked.
"An hour at most, I guess? If I don't go overboard. Still haven't gotten the timing of this thing yet." Lyon answered, a 'frown' spreading across his face. "Well, we need to keep moving. Aquarus, you've got more experience with underwater combat than both of us. You should take charge." He said as he faced the Atlantean.
Aquarus smiled widely, then pounded his chest with pride. "Of course! I shall show you how a true warrior of Atlantis fights where we are best suited!" Aquarus barked with confident laughter, grinning wide as he then bolted further down the stair well. "I am curious, though. Why did you not choose your Atlantean form? Surely it would have been a good opportunity." The King of Atlantis asked curiously.
"It's a long story. I'd rather get to use him when I can get some actual practice in a safer environment. Ripjaws is more straightforward." Lyon replied, shrugging his shoulders as he followed close behind Aquarus, his angler glowing with a greenish bioluminescent glow. "Ripjaws' species is like a mix between an anglerfish and a shark. And with all the benefits of both. I s'pose I like him because of that." He said, flashing a fanged grin at his fellow water-dweller. However, his grin quickly fell soon after, replaced by a thoughtful expression. "Still need to get used to this damned thing. Alien tech is weird." Lyon added with a slight grumble in his deep, gravely voice.
"You have got that right, I suppose." Darkwing agreed, shooting Lyon a suspicious glance before returning his gaze to the dark depths. "Still, we need to secure this floor before we can rescue the scientists further below the lower levels. Let us hope we don't trigger any-" He said, his words being interrupted by a high-pitched squealing noise coming from the walls. Darkwing's face twisted for a moment, a sigh leaving his lips as he shook his head. "Never mind." Darkwing exhaled.
Alarms blared throughout the flooded level, lights upon the walls began to flash vibrantly as sections of various panels on the walls began to slide open. Emerging from these vents, came forth a series of robotic, ray-like machines. On the noses of these aquatic robots, was a singular red diode of sorts. It flashed with a brilliant crimson, as beams of crimson energy barreled out of the noses of several robots. Many more swarmed, emerging from the vents to quickly join their brethren.
Aquarus defended swiftly. Moving the water around the group enough to disrupt one school of robots from making their shots. Lyon and Darkwing dodged the first volley of beams, with Lyon charging forth towards the swarm with glee. He opened his massive jaws wide, and lunged at the nearest robot, chomping through its steel frame and tearing it apart with violent thrashing. Alien instincts took over, and Lyon allowed them to guide his actions. Sharp claws tore through metal, as he tore through more of the machines. Yet, one got a lucky shot on him, briefly causing a flash of pain and paralyzing his arm.
"Damnit! These things sting!" Lyon snarled, shaking off the pain and opening his maw, taking a huge bite out of another drone and spitting it out. With a warbled cry, Lyon then lunged again, snatching two drones above him and slamming them into a piece of railing. "Don't know what these eggheads cooked up, but they're really startin' to piss me off." He growled spitefully, diving down to avoid another beam.
"These units have electro-paralysis beams! Don't let them hit anything vital!" Darkwing called out, dodging a pair of beams himself, and retaliating with a trio of darts fired from his gauntlets.
"I can see that!" Lyon shouted back, letting out an animalistic snarl as his claws tore through another drone, cutting apart its frame and internal circuitry like butter. However, from his peripheral vision, another beam came streaking at him. Lyon raised his right arm to block, only for his limb to be stung yet again. "Gah! I'm really starting to hate these things! They're probably linked to the security system!" He shouted, grabbing a piece of pipe floating next to him and using it to bat away the drone that shot him.
"Then we shall clear a path!" Aquarus exclaimed, controlling a large portion of the water, condensing it as he slammed another swarm of drones into the floor. The Atlantean's eyes darted for a moment, seeing an incoming crimson beam racing towards him. Through instinct alone, Aquarus tore out a piece of metal paneling from the wall, and used it to shield himself from the lance of paralyzing energy. "Alien-Man! Do what you can to thin out their numbers! These drones cannot attack from below or behind!" The King of Atlantis barked out.
"Is this seriously going to be a bit!? Agh!" Lyon asked in clear annoyance, dashing lower down below the swarm of drones as he grinned widely. "Ah, yeah. I get it. This is like Shark Week." He said, a toothy grin spreading across his face as he darted towards the drones above him, opening his jaws and snatching one from the pack, crunching it between his teeth as hydraulic fluid and spilled into the water like blood.
Channeling his inner Jaws, Lyon then darted behind the swarm of drones. His black claws flashed, and he used his superior strength to tear through the small machines with furious violence. And unsurprisingly, for every drone the trio destroyed, two more took their place. It was evident that these things were still continuing to be deployed and manufactured by the dozen. Nevertheless, the trio of heroes kept fighting, with Aquarus and Lyon doing most of the work as Darkwing himself was rather ill-equipped for the change of environment.
Ironic, seeing as he was a close copy of Batman. But Lyon digressed, and simply let Darkwing do his thing.
"Hah! Just like that time we encountered the Mechanist's Lair! Ah, good times!" Aquarus remarked, sighing at the memory as he batted away yet another drone. "Darkwing! How much longer until you can locate the control terminal!? I'm afraid these foul automatons will only continue to grow in number!" The King of Atlantis asked, commanding a local area of water, increasing its pressure and crushing half a dozen drones in the process.
"Working on it!" Darkwing replied, firing off a barrage of mini-harpoons form his launcher. His lenses in his mask flashed briefly with a trail of blue, until he finally pointed towards a nearby vent. "There! Central control module should be inside! But none of us can fit through the vent!" The cowl-wearing hero exclaimed, pointing to the vent only for a crimson lance of energy to strike him in the leg, causing him to let out an audible yelp of pain.
Lyon let out an annoyed growl, and his hand moved towards the Omnitrix on his waist. "Cover me! I'm going in!" Lyon shouted, pressing the face of the Omnitrix as a green flash consumed his form. His body shrunk, his scaly skin becoming smooth and grey. And Omnitrix relocated itself upon his back, and his intelligence grew to match that of his new form.
There was only one alien in his rotation that could meet the requirements for the task at hand.
"Grey Matter!" Lyon cried out his new form, taking full advantage of his Galvan physiology and amphibian nature to swim towards the vent. "I shall have the security system dealt with swiftly! Just protect me!" He exclaimed, rolling his tongue all the way to the back of his throat, then launching it forward. The sticky tongue latched onto a nearby drone, allowing Lyon to hop aboard it. Clambering on, Lyon looked at the drone's paneling and frowned, finding his mouth speak before his mind did. "Hmph. Primitive." Lyon remarked, tearing off the panel as he rewired the drone, his hands doing the rest.
And within a few moments, Lyon had complete control over the drone. Its crimson eye bleeding with an emerald color as Lyon smirked. With the pair of wires in his hands, Lyon commanded his steed forward, speeding off past the other drones. Lances of crimson energy raced towards Lyon and his steed, only for Lyon to make a sudden turn towards the vent. The beams went wide, hitting the wall besides the vent as Lyon grinned, making his escape.
"These drones seem to be running on an automated security protocol. Lizard League must have tripped it during their infiltration. Which would explain the flooding, too." Lyon stated, his features scrunching as he let his brain do the thinking. "Never mind that. Disabling the security will allow us to advance to the lower levels of the facility and get this mission over with. Then I can have time for myself." He said, letting out a grumble of slight annoyance.
Grey Matter's personality was... weird. It was like stepping into the mind of a tired, bitter, overworked officer worker. Yet, the intelligence was still there, making Grey Matter by far his most bizarre transformation available to him. Nevertheless, Lyon's mind remained on the task at hand, leaping off of his steed and allowing it to crash into another emerging drone, clogging up the vent from behind. Briefly, his steed's emerald eyes flashed to their previous crimson, before ultimately shutting down.
"Foreboding." Lyon remarked before making his way towards a large device welded to the side of the vent's end. It was three times as large as him, with several components flashing with red and orange. "There's the control box. And it seems to be in heavy disrepair. Shouldn't take me too long to disable it." He stated, sticking his hands and feet onto a side panel, crawling towards the device and then leaping onto it. "Let's see here... power needs to be rerouted towards the service pumps. Deactivation signal needs to be transmitted through a specific frequency. Which one is it - there!" Lyon mumbled, allowing Grey Matter's full brilliance to take hold.
His hands blurred, tearing off pieces of the control box as he began to rewire and tamper with the device. Soon, a hydraulic whine could be heard from all around him. He smirked with pride, disabling the last of the facility's defenses and automation protocols and hopping off from the control box. With his job done, Lyon's limbs gripped onto the cold metal panels of the vent, and he began to make his way out.
"Defenses are down! Pumps are now operational!" Lyon called out through the Omnitrix's direct connection, his eyes narrowed towards the exit. "Should be a relatively clear path down towards the lower levels. All thanks to my brilliance!" He chortled with pride, hopping down the vent and onto the metal scaffolding below. Standing tall above him, was none other than Darkwing and Aquarus, both of them heaving heavily with the former leering at Lyon.
"A little warning would have been appreciated." Darkwing said, crossing his arms over his chest whilst he glared at Lyon.
Lyon sheepishly rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Ah, right. Yeah, sorry."