OPERATION SEXY MARIO: CONCLUSION

[initiates]

Date & Time: Sept 19th
Location: The UE Holding Compound, and surrounding area.
Characters: Anyone being rescued, doing the rescuing, or doing the distracting.
Summary: There have been some slackers freeloading off the UE for the past couple weeks or so, so let's go drag them home.
Warnings: Likely violence! Let a mod know if we should update this.

Those meant for distraction and those meant for rescue alike are both loaded onto the same stolen highspeed train. It's a great distance to cover, but the train manages in just under two hours, and deposits both groups three miles from the Holding Compound — a desolate and cold area, with rocky, uneven ground, small but jagged hills well-scattered and covered in scraggly trees — and there they part ways.

The diversion is sent away north, to draw United Earth attention and aggression upward, further into the continent, while the rescue team takes a much slower and quieter route to approach the Compound from the south, closest to Exsilium. The rescue team's orders are to wait a full half hour, to be sure that all forces who can be drawn out of the Compound to meet the sudden onslaught from the north will have already left.

The diversion team won't have an easy job of it. The soldiers are heavily armed, and trained to fight to the death before they surrender. They're grouped in organized squadrons, about 20 in each, and seem to outnumber Transports by three to one. Scattered throughout these soldiers are the Masked, the UE's special forces. These soldiers strike with a deadly precision, enhanced speed and strength, and highly advanced weaponry. Also, oddly enough, they seem to have a few smaller members among them, standing about 4 feet tall, and wielding strange powers… Those familiar with the powers of their kidnapped friends may see distinct similarities.

The Compound itself, when the rescue team makes their way in, will be very quiet. All prisoners had been forced into locked rooms (together or separately — whatever was most convenient) before the soldiers had left to face the encroaching threat. There are still personnel left to man the base, of course, and a few of them are armed soldiers — but for the most part it's scientists and researchers. Careful, though. Even scientists and researchers are perfectly capable of sounding the alarm to bring back the armed threats.

Once everyone is out of the Compound, the train will begin running a return trip. It will be kept as long as possible, while the distraction teams sneak back from the battlefield in small groups, but it can't wait forever. Those on the battlefield for the longest, the hardest hitters or the most dedicated fighters, might just have to find another way home. So… any Transports with relocation abilities feel like lending a hand?

Comments

inside the compound.

[recorden]

[ He'd been groggy and not entirely there when they'd locked him alone into a room, but it doesn't take long for Lavi to figure out that something's going on and he manages to pull himself back into a more alert state. The eerie silence that settles over the compound is both cause for wariness and hope.

More so the latter when eventually he can hear footsteps that don't sound like the soldier's boots or the hurried pace of the scientists he'd gotten used to in the past few days. It had to be the rescue team, right?

So: ]

Ooii, over here!

1/3

[maddeninghatter]

[ The footsteps come closer -- then suddenly stop and change direction. All is silent once more.... ]

[maddeninghatter]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--!

[maddeninghatter]

[ A soft thud...


The footsteps return. And now there's the sound of a key in the lock, turning. ]

[recorden]

[ Well. That wasn't ominous or anything.

When the key turns he steps back warily, not sure what to expect. If it turns out to be someone from the UE after all . . .

He shifts his stance, ready. ]

[anklets]

[Well. To be fair to the scientists, even these footfalls take on a more hurried tangent at the sound of his voice, although perhaps that qualifier is, in itself, what makes them so notable.

But it is what follows which nudges them from notable to distinct, a thin, tired voice:] Lavi?

[recorden]

[ No wonder something about those footfalls sounded familiar. The sound of her voice both brings relief and some mild dread. Dread because he knows she won't let him get away with what he's done, rightly so.

All the same he's still pressing his face against the window. ]

Lenalee! Are you okay?

1/2

[anklets]

[ oh man oh god oh man oh geez ]

Lavi...!

[Stumbles a little in crossing the corridor to his door, a reminder of the Misery's drain, and places her palms flat to the glass on either side of his face when she reaches him- they're smeared with drying blood, but she's far more intent on examining his face.]

I'm fine, you—

[anklets]

[—choking down on a reprimand, she scrabbles back and retrieves a keycard from the depths of her pockets.

Whispering, now, because she's had too many near-rescues snatched from her before:] This is the key, right?

[Without waiting, she's already turning on the card slot, eyes darting, every sound what doesn't come from herself sends ice down her spine.]

[recorden]

[ Her bloodied hands get a glance before his eye zeroes in on her face, relief that he's too tired to mask appearing on his own at the sight of her. He hasn't been here as long as most of the others, but two days of very little sleep have taken its toll on him (especially considering how much he usually sleeps) and it shows.

He nods at the keycard, stepping back from the door. Hushed: ]

Yeah.

[ There's not much he can do from inside the cell, but he listens closely for any signs that might indicate they're going to get company. So far so good. ]

[anklets]

[Sure isn't her blood. All of hers has gone to her face, flushing red with relief and frustration. The card turns and turns in her hands until it finally slips into the slot and the door beep!s and the LED flicks from red to green, making her jump—

but with no alarms sounding, no demons leaping at her from the shadows

—she seizes the door and wrenches it open.]

[recorden]

[Finally, a taste of freedom at last.

Lavi wastes no time rushing forward when the door is wrenched open, quickly glancing Lenalee over as he goes to make sure she really isn't hurt and catching hold of her with one arm as he peeks around the door into the hall. Whatever reprimands she has can hopefully wait.

He knows the scientists must still be around somewhere. ]

Everyone's fightin' outside, yeah?

[anklets]

[Oof. Looks up at him, face beneath the flush of her exertion.]

Mm. [ everyone... she's filled with a strange buzz in her chest ] We need to hurry, they can only distract the soldiers for so long.

[recorden]

[ He glances down, mustering a smile. ]

Yeah, let's get everyone and go back. [ He doesn't say home, because it's not. Not in the way the Black Order had been. ]

[anklets]

["Home" will never be here. But it can at least be home-like, and she's determined that it's the next best thing (there are no next-best things), so that's where she's taking all you stupid boys with your grandiose rescue "plans".]

Don't smile as though you're off the hook.

[recorden]

[ At least the smile turns a little apologetic. It was a good plan! Right up until the moment they got caught. ]

I know, I know. Later. Is Allen outside?

[anklets]

[It was an awful plan and he should feel bad. Worse.]

He's- somewhere. We split up.

[recorden]

[ He's felt plenty worse during the tests, no worries. Just- now's not the time. ]

Let's find him too. [ GOTTA STICK TOGETHER and he may or may not owe Allen an apology too. ]

C'mon. [ Time to move. ]

[anklets]

[Hot to trot, as it were. This place bores into the back of her neck; she's sure there are eyes on her, on them both. Too much glass, not enough stone.]

We need to hurry, the others can't keep a proper distraction going forever.

[recorden]

Yeah, let's go. [ His legs feel weak with exhaustion, but he ignores it as he loosens his hold on her and starts moving forward.

Off they go!! ]