Other Worlds: V 2.0

[initiates]

Date & Time: May 21st, beginning at 0900.
Location: The Initiative Hold and all throughout Elmer's world
Characters: Anyone participating in the fighting, anyone staying behind.
Summary: Elmer's world is fought for and lost.
Warnings: Violence, death.

They reopen the portal at 0900, May 21st. The first scientist who stepped through was killed within thirty seconds; the rest who followed made it back through to Exsilium, albeit not unscathed. The portal was shut again by a panicked operator, although a second operator knew to keep the coordinates locked.

Within ten minutes, the alert had been sent out. There's no time to wait for the Transports to gather en masse; as soon as they have a sizable enough force to stand a chance at fighting through and clearing their gateway's location, the door is opened again.

Immediately inside the door is a desolate, grim scene. What had previously been the coast of Japan is now scorched earth, blasted sand, and little else. As the first point of contact for this world, it has undoubtedly suffered the worst. Here, the UE didn't stop at governments, financial centers, and capitols — the UE destroyed everything in sight. There are enough UE soldiers remaining in the broken country to give the Transports a difficult battle, although by now the bulk of their forces have moved on.

The Initiative will soon realize the necessity of opening more gateways, just as the UE had done. Transports will be deployed to London, Berlin, Paris, DC Washington, Moscow, Beijing, New York City, Hong Kong, Madrid. Through each of these windows, the destruction is staggering. Buildings are more husks than structures, everything that can burn is alight, and the death toll is off the charts. Blackened bodies seem to line every street, while pieces litter the ground among the rubble. There's no doubt that the UE has no need of the people of this world. They're after resources only, and anything and anyone already here is to be removed.

You can find UE soldiers everywhere. They move in coordinated squadrons of 20, and each of them carries a small arsenal. Even without their incredibly advanced and destructive weaponry, they're fearfully formidable. Each soldier, while still only human, is a genetically perfect clone, further enhanced by technological implants. They're all highly trained in physical combat. Even if you can disarm one of them, don't count on close-range attacks being any easier to handle. They've brought along cannons, small flying craft, and lightweight tanks. Each of these is the top of the line in terms of technology, geared toward destroying as much as it can, as quickly as it can. The United Earth is here to destroy, and they won't stop to wonder why their targets go from being civilians and scrambling, off-guard, comparatively primitive militaries, to trained and powered Transports.

For anyone staying at home, they'll find that any Initiative presence has withdrawn fully to the Hold. All Initiative employees are needed, and most of them in the med bays. The majority of the Initiative focus is on recalling and resurrecting fallen Transports, but attention is still needed for the living-but-wounded. Any Transports who stay in Exsilium and offer their help will have it immediately accepted; they'll be put to work in the medical wings, runnings supplies, or simply set at a machine and told to keep an eye on the numbers: Transport vitals, UE movements, and maps upon maps of changing statistics and colors.

At 1500, the Initiative will recall all Transport soldiers back to Exsilium and seal shut the gateway. The UE numbers are too great, their soldiers too powerful, and Elmer's world is lost.

Comments

ota; paris

[velveteened]

a) ( it's all horribly familiar.

he's seen the tragedy of sablier more than once now, won't ever forget it, and it's not so different - bloody corpses everywhere, people torn to pieces like puppets (or dolls as it were, hadn't vincent said something like that?), heavy smells of gore and smoke filling the air (no, that was yura's mansion). a neverending, inescapable maze of destruction and death, and this is the same only widened to take a whole world with it, where every city is sablier and the ue has taken the role of glen baskerville only much, much more greedy. it's sickening and both disgust and the desire to leave sets his heart pounding and limbs shaking, but there are still people fighting here.

he can be found around the remains of the city, pupils slitted and irises blood-red; he wields a large scythe of the same color, surrounded by heavy chains orbiting him like planets around a star, and moves with an inhuman quality as he takes on ue soldiers, stepping in to protect fellow transports if he sees anyone in trouble. )

b) ( he's done so well at controlling b. rabbit.

but not now, no longer, not with the sound of gunfire still ringing in his ears (making him cringe and hunch his shoulders, lift his free hand to press a palm against at least one ear), and the image of break -

it's the same, he thinks when he does, like at isla yura's (and also - ) but mostly he's concerned with destruction, because it's natural and right and what b. rabbit does, and that's also what needs to be done right now - it's the answer. he still doesn't kill, but there's a certain abandon with which he moves now, swings the scythe and lets chains fly to destroy, ruin, turn to dust...and the shadow in his wake shows its true form.

the bloodstained black rabbit may only have access to five rotations' worth of power, but that's more than enough, for now.

stopping him is locked to leo baskerville, but if anyone wants to run into him going berserk, they can feel free to |D he won't hurt any fellow transports! )

a

[commentboxtroll]

[ Caesar's moving between buildings when he runs across the same street Oz is on. He nearly doesn't stop, in a hurry to be out of anyone's line of sight, but the chains really, really stand out. They catch his eye and he pauses for a moment, half-crouched behind an overturned car, and...

Is that Oz?

A memory makes its way to the forefront of his mind, Collette vaguely mentioning Oz and a 'contract' once upon a time. He'd never asked about it, but now he has to wonder. ]

Oz? [ He isn't going to stand up all the way from where he is, but he's visible enough to the other boy, and now he's trying to get his attention. ] Hey, Oz!

[velveteened]

( oz turns searchingly when he hears his name called, voice registering as familiar almost immediately. )

Caesar?

( brows furrow as he looks, before he notices caesar from behind the - whatever it is. it doesn't occur to him how different his must look from the day-to-day; how his eyes are still unsettling and wrong, or the bloodspatter on the sharp edge of his scythe and part of his sleeve. it's after a quick look around that he closes the distance to the ruined mechanical thing, joining the other boy's hiding place. he doesn't think to dismiss the chains yet, and they hover protectively over the two of them - a sort of makeshift cover of their own. )

What are you doing here?

[commentboxtroll]

What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Or... at all?

[ He gestures towards the scythe and chains upon saying that, not sure how to really take this. Oz hadn't struck him as the fighter type, the way he acted! The blood itself isn't all that unsettling, though, since Caesar's not quite that squeamish. ]

[velveteened]

( the scythe's flat against the ground as he crouches, slightly lifted by how his fingers curl around the handle. it scrapes against ruined asphalt as he shifts his weight slightly, keeping an ear out for soldiers' approach. when he speaks, though, his tone is light and matter of fact, reminiscent of talking about the weather. )

There was the message about the attack! Isn't that why you're here too?

( except caesar isn't exactly a combatant, but - he's too polite to mention that directly. )

[a]

[retraced]

[Oz had told him once that he was finally able to fight at his side, but though Gilbert has seen the B Rabbit in action, he also knows what sort of strain it puts on Oz's body. The incuse may not have moved so far, but that doesn't mean that it will stay dormant for long.

After Oz has cut down another soldier, he'll feel two strong hands clasping his shoulders from behind, and a familiar voice call out to him over the sound of the fighting.]

Oz! Stop - you have to rest a while!

[velveteened]

( he'd said to leo in reveil, so shortly before arriving in exsilium, that he never wanted to see devastation like sablier again. he'd wanted to stop a tragedy like that from ever recurring, not out of any sense of heroism, but simply because it's too awful. once was bad enough.

that, he thinks to himself before gil makes his presence known, has worked out so well. )

Oh...!

( looks up at both the touch and voice and considers a protest. but he has been tiring, and gil's right - and he's just as concerned about the incuse as gil is (he's not, actually, but still). a nod, and he dismisses the scythe and chains, eyes fading back to normal as he gives gil a look-over. )

Are you alright?

[retraced]

[Seeing Oz actually do what he's requested, he sighs and lets his shoulders slump. The dull ache that he feels in his hand whenever Oz releases the seal that he'd long since put on the B Rabbit finally fades, and he flexes his fingers against Oz's shoulder before releasing him and taking a step back.]

I'm -

[But he doesn't have long to rest before the sound of something exploding nearby sounds. On instinct, Gilbert drapes himself over Oz to protect him, but it's far enough away that they don't get hit with debris.]

[velveteened]

( he starts to squirm almost as soon as he hears the explosion as well - going from obedience right back to being difficult in under a minute - shooting gil a fierce frown )

Stupid, that's -

( - the kind of thing gil's done a hundred times before, only here in this ruined city it's infinitely more alarming to watch him take risks like that, especially for oz's sake. )

- dangerous!

[b] 'v'

[anklets]

[The chains lash and nearly tripwire her; Lenalee, accustomed to catching footholds in the air and nothing else, narrowly skips over and misses them, sudden old parallels invading her head wayward and unwelcome. For a second, she is somewhere else. Then she turns her cheek and her breath leaves her in a cold rush (colder still than her winds).

Priorities go into elaborate tailspins.]

—Oz?!

heheheh

[velveteened]

( it's very simple to b. rabbit.

thoughts when the chain predominate are chaotic, a blur of the call to destroy and things hardly remembered, but it's not the same as unruly, sticky, confused human emotions. if there's fear, if there's sadness, if there's grief - and there is, there really is, enough to feel like his heart could burst from it - then he just

needs to destroy

until it all goes away.

(it's what b. rabbit was born to do.)

he looks up when he hears his name, eyes like the color of his blade and on his clothes - some his, perhaps most not - and he recognizes her. lenalee, flitting about like a bird in the sky with a freedom that's enviable, is someone he likes. )

I didn't know you were here, Lenalee.

( cants his head a little to get a good look at her, voice like still water. )

claws at face

[anklets]

[Thinks too quickly of cruel girl with golden eyes and Lavi dead-voice and heavy-handed, devoid of what had made him him. There had been less blood then there is now; on Oz it's more upsetting than on her.

Cuts the air to him, landing opposite the swollen shadow in his wake. She doesn't want to look at it, so puts her eyes to better use scanning the empty buildings for unnatural movement.]

Oz, what- happened?

delicious misery

[velveteened]

( he's bleeding power as well as red (there had been a baskerville once who'd said, your blood smells delicious), but unaware of either, seems baffled at her question or that she'd even ask it. he considers it with wide eyes, freeing one hand from the scythe and raising it to his hair.

what happened? )

Oh, that's right, ( he concludes a beat later, satisfied and matter-of-fact ) we're here to stop the United Earth, aren't we? So, I'll help destroy them!

( the same, some part of him deeper thinks, nothing alice would ever approve of, and is this really what he wants? but all it takes is a flash of memory, of break falling like a marionette with its strings cut, for that part to be buried. just don't worry about the grief, because surely surely surely this will make it go away. )

b

[whatsupcroc]

( It's hard to imagine how, among all the other scents here to strangle and overrun her sense of smell, the peculiar, electric tang of something almost desperate, something almost bloody, draws her attention even through this crowd.

Collette pulls up short, flank already wet with liquids only half identifiable, pressing herself up smaller against the building in a narrow, cobblestone street. She smells it coming, feels it like a pressure storm moving in off the sea.

Only it's Oz. Oz, as followed by something dark and hulking, a rabbit much larger than he is. And the chains are back, sycthe and all, and it really doesn't seem so manageable or so joking when she'd asked if the contract was demonic. She lowers her head, calling out in Thought Speak; it's less than cheering, to see him move so freely to create as much destruction as the UE, only with flashing eyes and no body armor to speak of. )

< Should I take to calling you Bunbuns now, Oz? >

[velveteened]

( he doesn't notice her - doesn't notice much - until he 'hears' her 'voice,' and it's only then he thinks to look up. )

Ah, ( he says aloud ) Collette.

( he doesn't bother looking for any particular animal since that's pointless; even among this devastation there are still birds in the rooftops, rats skulking in blood-stained streets, and she could be any, any one of them. besides, there's gunfire aimed his way a moment later, largely blocked by a swish of the scythe and a flurry of chains that follow back where they came.

he hates the ones who use guns the most, after all. )

Do you like rabbits?

( it's an honest question, pitched to be audible to her - disjointed as it is from the situation. )

[whatsupcroc]

< Love 'em. > ( She responds without pause, thinking of something very different from the animal as she answers. It's the casual way he handles them that's bizarre, even if she's seen part of this before. That rabbit... )

< What about you? I didn't think of most of them as predators. >

[velveteened]

( he laughs, brightly. )

I don't think most of them are.

( and yet among the world of chains and contractors, the blood-stained black rabbit has a particular notoriety.

the chains return after a moment, jangling as loudly as real chains might, undulating in thin air. )

b

[flecks]

[ Leo's had enough.

He doesn't want to be here in the first place, but the moment he'd heard that Elliot had gone (and of course he would) — well, what choice did he have? Even if death is temporary here, he can't bear the mere thought of Elliot going through that again so naturally Leo has to chase after him and drag him back. It's a futile battle anyway, this world is long lost.

So it's only thanks to an idiot master that he's moving through the ruined streets of Paris with Jabberwock by his side, desperately searching. It's a difficult task in all the chaos of battle, but one Leo stubbornly sticks to. Bullets don't harm Jabberwock much and Leo finds them easy to shrug off whenever he does get hit. Easier than getting impaled through the chest at least. So he has little regard for his own safety and keeps to his goal single-mindedly, not allowing himself to linger on the memories that include similar bloody scenes that are now playing out here.

It's Jabberwock who notices the presence of another Chain, one it remembers, and suddenly veers away. Leo doesn't even notice at first, thinking it's just attacking UE soldiers again, but then there's a sharp tug in his mind like Jabberwock wants him to know and he finally gets distracted when he turns and sees the cause of Jabberwock's defection.

Oz the B. Rabbit.

It's not surprising to find him here in that state, but Leo falters on the spot. He doesn't have time for this nor is he particularly eager to get near and potentially get impaled again, but Oz might know where Elliot is. Thus he yells for Jabberwock to stop it from lunging, the giant black-winged Chain landing a few feet away instead — feathers ruffled and angry — before he moves to join his Chain's side.

If Leo was honest with himself, it's also perhaps because somewhere deep down he doesn't feel like he can leave Oz like this, having no clue what he actually is, but Leo's seldom honest with himself. He comes to a stop next to Jabberwock, putting a steadying hand on its neck. ]

Oz. [ It's a sharp, commanding tone. Glen's voice more so than Leo's. ]

[velveteened]

( there's cracked concrete in his wake, perhaps indistinguishable from the ruins of the ue invaders, and a crackle in the air from the chain's unrestrained power. only five rotations, but six is enough to kickstart the end the world as leo well knows. in the past, such as at that little cabin lost in the woods holding a piece of glen's soul, there's been a gentle pressure to counteract and pull him back to himself. but there's no jack here, no alice, not even gil or break (who's dead) to stop him at all, remind him that finishing the job the ue started is no way to protect those still living.

it's not that b. rabbit wants to destroy a world or a city or even a street. oz wants to deal with his own cacophony of emotions, stop those responsible in this city so like and unlike sablier, destroy until nothing hurts at all.

that's what this power is for, right?

and if these ue people are destroyed, they can never hurt alice, so it's even for her too, it's not so selfish. it's logical, it's sensible, it's the flick of a blade and the jangle of chains disarming solders and turning their weapons and hideouts to dust.

there's a flicker in his mind when jabberwock approaches, but he doesn't acknowledge it just yet. black wings might be another enemy but it's no the priority right now, because leo's a friend and glen baskerville is...

his head hurts, and that just aggravates him more.

there's a frown at jabberwock when it lands nearby aggressively, and it only deepens when leo calls his name - though it at least makes him stop and turn to face him. the tone doesn't go unnoticed. )

So you're also here.

( unexpected, he thinks, not yet considering it'd be for elliot. )

[flecks]

[ Well, it's Oz and not Jack at least. (Because he can never know for sure whether they're really gone or if they're just fooling themselves.) It's— not enough to make Leo relax, definitely not, but it's a tiny sliver of relief in all the chaos and worry.

He nods once, demeanor calm and composed despite the turmoil inside, as if finding him running around on a battlefield is the most normal thing in the world. Although Leo certainly looks like he fits right in at the moment, bloodied and torn. Of course he's here, how could he not be when Elliot's out there somewhere?

With his tone having accomplished the goal of catching Oz's attention, his voice slips back into something more in between. ]

Don't you think you've destroyed enough?

[ It's a question not quite directed at Oz, not as he is now — unknowing, but more at whatever part of B. Rabbit that does still remember. Surely those memories are there somewhere. ]

[velveteened]

No.

( not nearly, is the automatic thought, not when the enemies are still here and he doesn't feel any better at all. but -

don't you think you've destroyed enough?

- he winces. there's been so, so, so much blood today, everywhere, and on everyone, and it's familiar both in fresh, immediate ways and flickers of memories, of once-grand hallways and red cloaks stained with blood. of course he remembers sablier because he's seen it in alice's and jack's memories, illusions created by the abyss, except.

except he's never wanted to kill anyone. no, there was yura, there were - but that was jack in the end, not oz, though using his own hands. what difference is there? )

I don't -

( what a terrible question. he doesn't even want to stay here besides feeling like he must, like it's as inescapable as the abyss. )

- these people ( the ue, since there's hardly anyone else living here ) have to be destroyed.

( there, a truth. )

[firstroar]

[Blue is there, and he can barely understand what is standing just yards away. it's as terrible as the machines he knows to be the UE's, designed to destroy.

the next time those chains sweep forward to cut through UE forces, Blue is closer, streaking forward as a blue bullet, sharply halting to fling out a psychic barrier before the citizens close-by. the dust and debris disrupted by the sweep billows over the barrier.]

Who–

[that person...friend or foe?!]

[velveteened]

( even when in full control, keeping b. rabbit's destructive abilities in check is no small feat. this is what his chain is best at, and he's never kept it invoked for so much in a given day before. he's going to pay for this later, but for now, it it might help someone.

he sees that flash of blue and the strange interception of the debris, pausing with furrowed brows as the chains return to circling him. )

What -

( he may as well be asking the same question. there's befuddlement as he looks but little else, save perhaps a flash of gratitude when he sees who exactly was protected. )

[firstroar]

[the barrier fades, but Blue remains illuminated with a force poised to react, gently rattling loose gravel and debris at his feet.

a boy...

it's hard to reconcile the ominous chain just above with such a young person as a source. that's what he is, isn't he? that strange notion around him...

it's the sort of thing Blue would stand and stare at for a long time, trying to understand. but his eyes are quickly pried away, shooting up and widening at the sight of an incoming ship. it's no friendly.

the thought, an alert:] Above–!

[velveteened]

( his head jerks up at the warning, and he swears despite himself - airships? - chains multiplying and weaving to form some cover over blue and the civilians for the time being, at least. he doesn't question blue's barrier nor does he want to take the risk if it can't handle whatever might be shot from above; his own chains aren't meant for a purpose like this, but it can't hurt, at least.

a look around reveals some remains of buildings that'd stand a better chance. )

Over there!