MISSION: GET TO ZE CHOPPA

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: August 23rd, 2753 (OOCly forward-dated to the 1st)
Location: Uruguay National Defense HQ
Characters: All transports!
Summary: All transports are sent back to Uruguay to download a self-aware AI before it gets bombed out of existence by an early incarnation of the UE. Time distortion effects will be set right either on the way there or on the way back, according to player choice.
Warnings: violence, action movie tension, 3 terabytes of foot fetish porn.

The Transporter drops the entire transport population into what will quickly be established as Home Base, a mile from the vast, sprawling facility that is Uruguay's National Defense HQ. The low roar of helidrones moving above is pervasive, but the black ships can only be glimpsed here and there through the thick cover of trees overhead. If you keep calm and quiet, it's likely you won't be spotted. It's the UND HQ their attention is on, after all.

The population is quickly sorted by attending Initiate employees according to who volunteers to fight and who volunteers to protect, along with those with enough skill to access the computers, and those with enough skill to get them there. The fighters move out first, off to intercept the early UE's ships and ground troops, and to draw the automated defense systems of the facility alike. They'll be in a crossfire, and neither side will be happy to see them there.

The techies and their escorts are sent out far more quietly, in groups of three. Their task is to sneak past the front lines and into the facility itself. There might be alarms and automated defense drones, so those escorts may well be called on to earn their keep. The Initiative can't give any information about which building will house the AI's mainframe, that information was long since lost to history. All they can do is send out enough people to hope that one of them manages to find it.

And remember — as soon as the UE troops withdraw, there will only be minutes until the bomb drops. Everyone would do well to work fast.



[[ Mission information is here, and the techie/escort teams, along with their hacking results, are here. Each techie/escort group will have their own established thread, but Team Distraction and Team We'll Stay Here, Thanks are welcome to thread where ever and however they like! The newbie log that goes up on the 1st will also encompass the arrival back in Exsilium, if you'd like to play that out as well. ]]

Comments

[skennen]

[The battle is absolute chaos. Armies, machines, flying machines, weapons in both enemy and Transport hands that Connor has never seen the likes of before, Transports using no small number of unnatural abilities, controlling the elements, using forces yet unknown to him... It's a nightmarish affair and Connor loses himself to it, overwhelmed to the point of frenzied wildness as he fights alongside the other Initiative prisoners.

For a man with no real powers, he still racks up an impressive body count.

He's strangling a man with the rope of one of his ropedarts when he notices that odd burst of color at the edge of his vision. He spares the distraction a quick glance as he tightens the rope... and then his hands fall away. The man slumps forward, dead or dying, but Connor's attention is elsewhere now.

Is that a child?

Is that...

Knocked right back to his senses by the sight of a little boy making a determined dash for a line of armed men, Connor is off and running before he really knows what's happening.

Reaching the boy, he loops his right arm around him and hauls him up off the ground in one fluid motion. The first of two men to break from the line and rush them gets a very close look at Connor's face as the Assassin unceremoniously headbutts him. Connor wastes no time reaching out with his free left hand, grabbing the stunned man by the wrist and pulling him forward. He ducks down as he pulls, turning counter-clockwise and drawing the attacker across his back. With Riku tucked safely between his right arm and side, more effort is required to flip the man, but Connor puts his back into it and manages to get it done.

There's no time to finish off that one; Connor is forced to trust the other Transports strewn across the battlefield will take care of him as he delivers a swift punch to the second man's face. That hit buys him the fraction of a second he needs to take the enemy by the shoulder, spin him around, and use him as a shield from a hail of gunfire. He twists his body slightly to the side, keeping Riku behind him as best he can.

He waits for a momentary pause in the many shots being fired. When it finally comes, he lets go of the corpse that's saved them both and bolts. Good cover is hard to find and Connor pretty much ignores the boy he's carrying until he's found a large tree to duck behind. He drops Riku between two roots and leans over him, trying to guard him from any flying debris or stray gunshots.

... Those eyes. It is him. Riku.]

What are you doing here?!

[A panicked hiss as opposed to an angry yell, that.]

[wieldertobe]

[ at first, Riku isn't sure what to do when he can no longer feel the safe ground beneath him. he reflexively squirms, panicked, before just making sure that he stays still. the man who's scooped him up is strong and resourceful, he can tell that as he watches in horror.

he would've closed his eyes, he wanted to close his eyes against that kind of violence, but it was too terrifying and quick-paced to not watch with big, round eyes.

and there, he's not sure when he started shaking like a leaf. maybe it was when he saw the man (the one he was very sure was calling to him, beckoning him closer just seconds before) rush towards Connor with murderous intent, or maybe it was when the other man was shot to death by his comrades, he isn't sure. maybe it was both and he was shaking from sheer overwhelming fear and the sound of being half-deaf thanks to so many guns going off so near him.

whichever it is, it's very clear in Riku's head even as Connor sets him down, his chest rising and falling quickly as he lets out shaky, panicked breaths, curling into himself with his hands right near his ears, preparing to cover them at the slightest hint of yelling. he tries very hard not to let anything other than fear slip out, and of that fear, he cannot and will not let himself cry. boys didn't cry.

peering up at Connor, distressed as he is, he notes the recognition in his eyes but realizes he doesn't know this man. which side is he on? which side were the others on? he doesn't know, there were people with guns on each side! he covers his face and presses the heels of his palms against his eyes, pointedly reminding himself that he hasn't allowed himself to cry. he forces his voice to be still and steady. ]

I got separated from the base.

[ that's too quiet, he scolds himself. a cadet would not say something like that so quietly. he squares his little shoulders and places his hands over his ears as he speaks, voice not a yell but a firm tone. ]

I-I got separated from the base! There was... someone... a guy came and started shooting and I was outside and I wasn't--wasn't supposed to be. He chased after me and I got lost in the fighting.

[skennen]

[For one long and dizzying moment, Connor fears he's been struck, run through by some unseen blade or caught in the crossfire of bullets and magic. He gapes at Riku wordlessly, his expression one of open shock and horror. Something very much like pain wells inside him, tightening his chest and leaving his head pounding. The battle around them is a sickening bleed of yellow and red and black, and the sounds of spells being cast and weapons discharging is a distant roar down a long and echoing tunnel.

He stares at Riku, at the set of his shoulders, at the way he moves his hands, and knows the boy is trying to be strong. Strong and brave.

But he is only a child. A child could never hope to be strong (... or brave) enough.

Just as quickly as the thought surfaces, it's pressed down and buried deep.]

We need to get you away from this!

[He hears himself shout as his focus snaps back into place. They need to move and keep moving or they'll both fall here, victims to some war they don't belong to. Connor grabs him up, looks around through the haze to choose a direction that seems safest and then he's off and running again.

He doesn't think to tell Riku to close his eyes or keep his ears stopped up. He has no preconceptions of the innocence of children being something you can save or guard.

He doesn't stop, or even much slow down, until they're well away from where most of the fighting is concentrated. There are enemies everywhere, people who would pose a threat to one or both of them, but at least they're more scattered in the spaces between the base and the battlefield. Connor sees an opportunity to catch his breath and takes it. Setting Riku down next to another tree, he scans the area around them briefly before looking over the boy, checking for any wounds.]

I will take you back to the base. [How he got away from it in the first place, he doesn't know. Even if the base was under attack, someone should have been keeping a close eye on the children - both those who were brought into this war young and those whose ages were changed somehow.

Connor bends over next to him, hands braced above his knees as he works to fill his burning lungs. He head tips back slowly as he happens to glance upward.]

Riku. [He straightens up slowly, eyes still set on the tree branches above them. He has yet to see any soldiers in the trees.] Can you climb?

[wieldertobe]

[ as connor shouts, riku squeezes his hands against his ears, trying to block out the noise. he wants things to be quiet, he wants to go back home. he doesn't move when connor scoops him right back up. not at first. after a brief moment of running, though, he feels too jostled and like he might fall (even if connor does have a good grip on him). he clutches onto his cloth, bloodied or not, and holds on for dear life, burying his face against his shoulder.

and the sharp flinch he gives is likely drown out. he can feel a nick at his elbow, can feel a long slice from his little knob of an elbow to the thinner part of his forearm. when connor sets him down, he clutches it like he wants to hide it with his tiny hand, looking at the ground firmly. a cadet takes wounds with pride.

it's when his name is called that he turns his head and wide eyes up to connor, and then up at the tree. ]

Y-yeah. I'm good at climbing.

[ then, at connor. he tries to stop his knees from shaking, getting onto his two feet. ]

You want me to climb up there?

[skennen]

[With one last deep breath through his nose, Connor straightens up. He nods in the affirmative, all traces of weakness, physical or otherwise, erased from his visage and posture.

The cadet and the warrior.]

Yes, I do. Go on. [He motions up the tree.] I will be right behind you. [To help, he declines or forgets to add, distracted as he is by that arm Riku's holding.

He would carry him up if he could, but climbing with one hand would be difficult and he can't offer his back and shoulders for the boy to ride on with his bow and quiver strapped to him.]

[wieldertobe]

[ riku mimics him.

not in a mean or annoyingly petulant way--but he straightens with a deep breath, and then turns to the tree. his eyes dart for places he can hold onto before he jumps and grabs onto a vine trailing up. he climbs like a squirrel, and seems just as at home in climbing trees as one. even as a child, he's quick and agile and hops onto one of the branches as soon as he's shimmied up the trunk, wincing and holding his arm.

he tries to imagine it--beating sora at climbing trees again. this is a game. he can pretend it's a game and he'll win. ]

[skennen]

[Connor watches him go, idly wondering who taught him to climb like that and realizing too late that maybe he should have tied one of his rope darts to the boy. With another wary look around, he crawls up after him. He stays within arm's reach of Riku, ready to grab a handful of shirt and steady him or haul him back up should he start to slip.

Stepping onto the branch beside him, he leans against the trunk and looks around again. The better view reassures him there are no soldiers nearby. His hand goes to his side, lightly touching the flintlock pistol holstered there. Even if they come, he'll be in a better position to dispatch them immediately, before they can get anywhere near Riku.]

There.

[He points out a larger tree in the distance. There's a shallow dip where its massive branches come together. That should be a good place to rest a moment and check on the child's injury.

Only trouble is the several narrower trees between them and that one.]

Follow me.

[He heads down his branch slowly, curious to see if Riku can keep his balance.]

[wieldertobe]

Yes, sir.

[ he's used to climbing up trees, not climbing across them, but riku breathes in deep again and follows, hands out to the sides like a bird. he's clumsy--but he has a firm center of balance, and riku's very aware of his own skill.

though his arm aches, he doesn't try to hold connor back, nor does he clutch it like before. his balance is more important. ]

[skennen]

[With a final look at Riku, Connor makes a quick jump across the gap between trees. The movement is almost effortless despite his size and he settles back into a crouch on the next branch, looking a bit like an eagle who has hopped over to a better perch. Enough room is left for Riku to land on, but Connor doesn't stray too far from the end of the sturdy tree limb in case he needs to grab him.

He turns in place to extend a hand to the boy, encouraging him to jump.]

[wieldertobe]

[ riku watches connor with wide eyes, a little awestruck at his incredible ease with which he maneuvers through the branches. but there's little time for shock and awe and when connor turns to him, he shakes that out with a firm shake of his head before he tips his chin down, tries to steady himself...

and finally jumps. his balance--once impeccable--shatters as his heel is too far forwards and he ends up just catapulting himself onto a branch a little further forwards onto another branch. he keeps himself stable by grabbing onto the sides of the branch, heart beating in between his ears. finally, he looks back at connor, puffing his chest out a little.

that was definitely a little scary, but by the small smile on his face, he's not chickening out. ]

[skennen]

[Connor stares back at him for a moment before nodding. That might have been a nod of approval.

He holds his hand up - wait - and around the trunk he goes, his steps light. A thick bundle of vines reaches between their current tree and the next in line. Rather than jump, he hurries across the leafy 'bridge'.

Then he turns back again and whistles softly for Riku.]

[wieldertobe]

[ ooh...

this is a lesson in climbing trees that he never even thought of. vines and jumping--this is all things sora would learn in the future, and riku would be without a teacher. he mimics connor's movements; this time, he's more fluid as he quicksteps. when he finishes next to connor, he gives a silent exhale and a tiny whistle, quiet and chattering, and nods. ]

[skennen]

[One corner of his mouth twitches at that return whistle. If only this situation weren't quite so fraught with danger...

(And if only Kanen'tó:kon were here, that he might point out how easily this small child climbs trees to his friend.)

Connor looks around again, both checking for soldiers on the ground and searching for a way forward. Only one more tree between them and the massive ombú.]

We must go up first.

[He demonstrates by using the fractured bark of the tree to climb up to the next level of branches. From there he heads on across a branch that reaches nicely between the two trees.]

[wieldertobe]

[ he leans forwards slightly, sliding a little hand up the branch to watch connor as he moves, trying to see where he can mimic him.

riku is no eagle; he is something smaller, still young, just a little robin as he he hops twice to get to the edge, each tiny jump short; he tilts his head, trying to see the other side of the branch. an idea sparks in his mind as he climbs up--backwards. not quite because he wants to be fancy, but because he just isn't as big as connor, and to grab what connor had to push himself up, he'd have to be twice his size. with a few extra knobs on the tree, he's able to get right back to where connor is. ]