exsiliumlogs | Other Worlds: V 2.0

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Other Worlds: V 2.0

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.

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[ Well, shit.

It's a good thing Leo has Jabberwock out because the moment the explosion happens and the debris is send scattering, it swoops down and curls its body around its master, wings folded awkwardly. Said wings act as a good shield though (and luckily, or perhaps less luckily, a softer landing for Gilbert) and it gives Leo time to draw the Nightray sword. Reluctantly, because he dislikes using it even more than carrying it, but there's no telling what will be waiting for him out there and it's the best weapon he's got.

So when Jabberwock uncurls, shaking the debris off before lifting its wings, Leo's tensed and ready to strike until— ]

Oh, it's you.

[He'd expected to fall on the ground, arms raised to deflect whatever debris decided to fall along with him, but the sensation of soft feathers forces his eyes back open and his hands to shoot back down and grab hold of whatever strange thing he's landed on.

The bug eyes are even more unexpected.]

Nngh! [He quickly rolls off of the wing and onto the remains of the side of the building, grunting as the shards cut into his knees.]

Don't just say 'oh it's you' like that again! Where's Elliot?!

[Leo pls don't turn this into dueling birds.]

[ Not today, Gilbert. He has no interest in fighting, much less starting a big monster bird fight. His only concern is finding Elliot and it occurs to him to ask Gilbert, but then Gilbert beats him to it.

So that question says more than enough, really. His composure crumbles away almost entirely at just that. ]

I don't know! That's what I'm trying to find out!

[ He taps Jabberwock's side once to draw its attention away from curiously regarding Gilbert and points up, the Chain instantly taking the hint and with a mighty beat of its wings it's back up in the air. It makes it an easy target, but Jabberwock can take it, Leo's sure. More importantly . . . ]

Haven't you seen him at all!?

...Before. When we were all in the Hold.

[But then they'd stepped into this strange world with oddly familiar looking words on ruined signs that Gilbert can't place entirely but still leave him with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. As though this world could be one of their own, though he knows that can't be true. The year that they're supposed to be in right now isn't even one that he recognizes as a possible one.

He looks upwards at the Chain, but directs his words to Leo.]

We need to find him and get him out of here. This is useless -

[ That's . . .

Entirely useless. (Much like Gilbert himself.) Not that he'd expected a better answer, but he still doesn't bother holding back a frustrated noise. ]

I know.

[ Elliot has no place being here and this world is doomed no matter what any of them do now. The only thing left to do is to get out, away from the strange semi-familiarity of their surroundings that he doesn't allow himself to think about, and Leo intends to do just that once he's found his friend. So, while Jabberwock circles above, Leo picks the direction the most noise and chaos is coming from and to set out that way. ]

[Gilbert watches the Chain circle above them, just barely recalling what he'd seen back in Reveil. Leo hadn't been able to keep the Chain called out for long the first time, but it looks like he's gotten more skilled at it here. Or perhaps it was because the influence of the Abyss isn't as strong here. He hasn't attempted to keep Raven out for any longer period of time, and the middle of war isn't exactly the best time for an experiment. Still, it's only slightly unsettling to see. Leo has promised that he doesn't want to fight with any of them, but it's still a power that Gilbert has to be wary of for his master's sake.]

Is every mission like this one? [He asks as he falls into step beside him, keeping a close watch on their surroundings.]

[ Leo moves more recklessly, not keeping quite as much attention on his surroundings in regard to possible enemies. He has Jabberwock up above for that, he simply keeps to his single purpose and he doesn't care whether or not Gilbert is there.

He only spares him a glance when he falls into step beside him. ]

No, they're very different.

Why is it different this time...

[It's phrased more as a statement than a question, something rhetorical that he doesn't expect Leo to be able to answer. More then likely, he has no idea, as it appears that everyone else was just as ill-prepared for this mission as the two of them. If someone had known it would be like this, obviously Elliot would have been told to stay behind. He doesn't have a Chain, and that blade, no matter how skilled he is with it, won't be able to cut through soldiers fast enough.]

[ Surprisingly enough, Leo does have an answer. One he gives promptly regardless of how it's phrased. ]

Because they made a mistake.

[ The mistake of sending someone home with others, easy for the UE to follow— which they obviously did. Of course, he doesn't know how it all works exactly, but the Initiative making mistakes wasn't anything new. This one was merely the biggest one they've made yet.

Leo doesn't care, can't afford to care even if he wanted to, because he has to find Elliot, has to stop the stifling panic rising in his chest. His pace quickens unconsciously, it's only barely not a run. ]

What mistake? Why were they able to get in this time?

[Sending someone back to their own world was a clearly different idea than having people go back in the time of this one world, but Gilbert is still unclear just why this mission failed when so many others seemed to go entirely as planned.

But he needs to be completely clear on it all, for Oz's sake. If he let the same thing happen to their own world...then what would he have to go back to later?]

Sending a group of people to one world was bound to get the United Earth's attention.

[ It's as simple as that, really. Likely they're also destroying it just to show that they can. It wouldn't surprise him if that was the reason for this all. A warning to both show that they're watching and to show they're very much capable of destroying as they please. ]

The Initiative is rather prone to making mistakes like that.

[He's about to snap back 'Then why would anyone still follow them?!', but the answer is already clear. Just as he had joined Pandora a decade earlier, it was because these people had no other choice. It was fight to escape under the command of those with power, or sit and await fate to catch back up.]

Damn it. They've--

[Gunfire erupts nearby, lining a wall opposite to the street that they're on. Gilbert instinctively draws his weapon and twists his body to face the direction he's sure it was coming from, but there's no sign of movement.]

[ Leo doesn't falter at the sudden gunfire, he keeps walking at his steady (slightly hurried) pace. It's no cause of concern to him, because Jabberwock swoops down in the direction it came from and crushes the buildings and whoever might have been hiding in them with ease.

Leo can feel it start to strain in the back of his head, but he pays it no mind. It's not nearly as bad as when he'd arrived in Exsilium. He can still let Jabberwock do as it pleases.

He calls over his shoulder, almost casually: ]

Keep up or I'm leaving you behind. [ Elliot's the priority here and he won't let anything slow him down. ]

I should be saying that to you!

[He's the Pandora agent here! Or something similar at least. He's trained for years to reach the physical and mental aptitude for fighting that he has, so he promises himself. But he can see from the expression on Leo's face that something has changed in the time he's been here, even though it was still only a few weeks prior that Gilbert remembers facing him at Reveil. Even if he hasn't developed a taste for fighting as some men do, he's grown more accustomed to it. Or maybe...it was just the same for him as it was for Gilbert back then. Staining your hands with blood for someone else's sake, no matter what the consequences.

Either way, doing things in this manner is more harmful than helpful in a war like this one.]

You can't keep acting recklessly like that. Innocent people could get caught in the middle of your fight!

[ Leo's thin patience is worn even thinner at that and his reply comes as a snap, although his tone betrays a hint of desperation. ]

I don't care! It's too late for them!

[ And he just truly doesn't care. There's nothing that can be done here now that will be of any help anyway and it doesn't help that he simply doesn't care to help in the first place either. He would've stayed at the Hold if it hadn't been for Elliot rushing off like an idiot. So Jabberwock can do whatever it likes, whatever it deems necessary to protect its master. This isn't his war, all he wants is to keep his friend alive this time around. That's all. He can't afford to care. ]

[He'd snap back, but the words die on his tongue before he has a chance. It's too late for them. It's the same thing that he's said about every illegal Contractor that he's gone up against in an effort to convince himself that it had to be done. There had been no other choice but to kill them because it was too late to save them when the other option was saving countless others from them.

Elliot had yelled at him for shooting at those children who wielded Humpty Dumpty, and still he'd told himself that. They're illegal Contractors...what other option was there?

Perhaps the fight was terrible enough that it was too late for these people, but that's where the similarities end. An illegal Contractor is just that; not an innocent person. But still, he knows that Elliot would yell at Leo too in just the same way.]

Leo...you've -

[Another loud bang sounds overhead, and nearby the ground explodes. Not close enough to do much more than send debris everywhere, but in a direction that Gilbert can tell where it's come from. He stops running and raises his hand, ready to summon Raven.]

Get out of here! Find Elliot!

[ The loud bang causes Leo to clasp his hands over his ears, an instinctive reaction that betrays just how much he's not actually used to being on a battlefield, his steps faltering as the ground shakes with the force of the explosion. Jabberwock swoops back in close, reacting to an unconscious call and ready to defend or cover its master if necessary. As long as he has Jabberwock, he'll be fine.

He looks over at Gilbert as he lowers his hands and— blinks, almost owlishly. But it's only for an instant and then his face is set with determination again as he nods. There's still a moment of hesitation though before he blurts out: ]

Don't die! [ For Elliot's sake. And Oz's. With that said, he turns and runs, Jabberwock moving with him. ]

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Other Worlds: V 2.0

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