Let's be war buddies...

[initiates]

Date & Time: 18th, beginning at 2100 hours, through to the 20th.
Location: All around Exsilium.
Characters: Everyone!
Summary: The United Earth decides Exsilium had obviously not learned its lesson back in October, and does another round of humble-making bombing for those impertinent exiles. OOC info can be found here.
Warnings: Violence, death, general gloom and doom.

The warning had gone out approximately two hours before the bombing began, broadcast to any available receptor on the island: UE aggressions incoming, bombs expected; please proceed to Catacombs immediately. It repeats over and over, right up until the first bomb, aimed at the Hold itself, silences the signal.

The air is thick with smoke and worse. Every one to two hours another bomb shakes the island. Buildings crumble and shatter, but the focus is on the Hold and the native hospital. Initiative employees, some sick as anyone else, are steadfast in their escorting natives and transports alike into the underground catacombs. For two days the bombs continue ceaselessly, dropped by their cloaked and invisible carriers overhead.

The United Earth is nothing if not thorough.

Comments

A

[icy_heavens]

[Hitsugaya has managed to avoid going to the hospital. His case had never progressed beyond the moderate stage, and he'd resisted any and all attempts to get him to the clinic.

[But with the medication distributed, he's feeling a fair bit better. Well enough, at least, to fight. Or get the infirm out of harm's way, in any case. The hospital is one of the most vulnerable locations, and heavily targeted. People need to get out of there.

[Scarf still covering the lower half of his face, sword in hand in the event that he needs to counter an explosive, he manages to get a few people to the safety of the underground. He has to make occasional stops to clear the fluid out of his lungs, but it nonetheless feels good to be on the move again.

[He doesn't register the familiarity right away when he catches hold of the arm of a faltering woman to keep her on her feet.] Take a breath. It's better than the risk of collapse.

[taijiya]

[Sango coughs briefly and then takes his advice, breathing in heavily. Truth be told, she's been more busy herding patients than actually evacuating.]

I'm not the one you need to be worrying about, there are more people in th...

[Whoa, wait. Short silver-haired kid. She recognizes you! Sango stops for a moment, frowns, then makes a decision to ignore their previous encounter.]

More people in there much worse off.

[icy_heavens]

[Oh, it's her. Well, he's willing to let their previous encounter go if she is.]

I can handle getting them. I'm in better shape for this than you are. [Maybe, maybe not. But he's not the one stumbling around and needing to take deep breaths. Not at the moment, at least.]

[taijiya]

Thanks, but I was more trying to say that I'm going back in there, so you may as well, too.

[She's trying to help people, don't stop her pls.]

[icy_heavens]

[The annoyance is pretty damn clear in his sigh. There's no time for this. He'll work with it. Standing here arguing during a bombing raid would be incredibly stupid.

[He releases her arm.] Fine. Just make sure you don't collapse in the process.

[taijiya]

I'll be okay.

[She will, really. Until the last day of bombings.

At this point she turns a corner.]

This ward was just cycled with new patients...

[And she begins finding occupied beds to rouse their occupants. Thank goodness the virus is mostly past the 'contagious' stage.]

[icy_heavens]

[He'll be keeping an eye and ear out, nevertheless. He's not entirely convinced, here.

[He just nods in acknowledgement and moves to do the same in another room. A few are a little hesitant to heed the orders of a "kid", but a mild scowl and the sound of explosions creeping ever closer are sufficient enough to change their minds. The more able-bodied lend a bit of help to the weaker, and Hitsugaya himself has to provide some support for one of the child patients to get him out of here. Still taller than him, this child. It's a vague, petty thought to pass through his mind at a time like this, but it had.]

[taijiya]

[Sango herself might've mistaken Hitsugaya for a child if it weren't for the way he talked--though it's true she doesn't know what age to place him at, to be truly honest.

Still, like Hitsugaya, she rouses the able to help with the less so and makes it to the front doors.]

[icy_heavens]

[That often throws people when he isn't busy defending his status as an adult. He just doesn't speak like a child. His tone and his phrasing hint at someone much older than he appears.

[He keeps the kid leaning on his left side, leaving his sword arm with some range of movement. It might look odd, to ensure he can use his sword when the assault is purely from bombs, but there's a logic to it. And those explosions are getting closer still.]

If they get too near, just keep moving. I can counter any explosion that might reach us.

[taijiya]

Alright...

[She's not exactly sure of what he is and isn't capable of, but at the moment she has little choice but to trust that he's capable. She stumbles as the person she's helping collapses almost completely.]

Shit. Kirara!

[At the call, the cat in her bigger form appears from within the building, carrying an unconscious child by the fabric of his hospital gown. When she alights, Sango situates both her own charge and Kirara's on her back, and then gestures hurriedly to Toushirou with a nervous glance at the sky.]

Come, she can move much faster than us and she's got room for one more.

[He's more useful without a kid clinging to him, isn't he?]

[icy_heavens]

[Whether the giant cat can move faster than him is debatable, but he can’t exactly shunpo and still ensure that everyone escapes safely. The weight of the child he’s carrying is hardly an issue, but the height difference makes it awkward. The child gives a somewhat uneasy glance at the giant cat, then at Hitsugaya as if to ask if it’s really safe.

[A quick, clipped “It’s fine” gets the kid to somewhat tentatively climb onto the cat’s back. It’s something he’ll have to trust. Considering the situation, he has no reason to think that it’s anything but safe for the kid to get up there.

[The ground rumbles under their feet, and he suppresses a cough. He doesn’t have time to be sick right now. In a few minutes, perhaps, when they’re clear. A quick scan of the sky . . .

[Damn it. That one’s too close.] Get clear!

[The ground shakes again, and a blast radiates outward. His blade swipes the air – and the explosion shudders to a stop, actually encased in ice.]

[taijiya]

[As soon as Kirara's saddled with the people, Sango sends her off. This, of course, is just in time to hear Hitsugaya yell, after which she promptly dive-rolls towards cover.

She looks up just in time to see Hitsugaya's feat and can't quite stop her mouth from dropping open. That, plus his appearance versus the way he speaks--he can't be human, can he?

But she doesn't have time to ponder that.]

Is that it--?

[icy_heavens]

[His sudden movement pulls the coughs from him, and he clears his throat once they're done.]

More will drop before long. We still need to move.

[taijiya]

Yes...

[She chokes out a cough as well while rising.]

Are there more in the building?