(open) crash into me

[whatsupcroc]

Date & Time: Mid-afternoon Sunday, May 5th
Location: The Hold and Housing Complex
Characters: All who wish to be in the vicinity!
Summary: The Initiative asked for the Housing Complex to be evacuated starting early morning on 5/5, in preparation for the expected landing of the spaceship stolen from the United Earth. The landing goes horribly wrong when an undiscovered bomb detonates onboard the ship, causing partial engine failure. The ship proceeds to be crash landed into the Housing Complex; no lives, however, are lost.

Warnings: Spaceship crash landings it's all horrible!
Notes: Respond in action tags or prose, as you please!

The ship breaks cloud-cover as a spot of light in the dreary skies, leaving behind the beauty of sunlight above the broken cloud layer as it continues to descend. With the Initiative having instigated an evacuation of the area ahead of time, just in case, those watching in the light drizzle may find it an interesting sight to behold.

Doubtlessly, the United Earth, from its great distance, may have also found it interesting.

The first sign of something going wrong is an explosion visible from the ground. People who hear it might startle; the ship itself goes from a smooth, controlled flight path to one wobbly and filled with dark, flaming smoke. The whine of its remaining engine is slower to reach the ground, though the ship itself seems to pick up a spiraling speed, still controlled to those familiar with watching things that fly come crashing down to the ground.

The Initiative members on the ground are calling for people to get back and take cover. Inside the main Hold, one man at the transport pads hears his radio blast to life and swallows past his own fear, glancing at the active pad waiting to pull in another unlucky soul.

When the ship hits the Housing Complex, it demolishes the upper levels, though the force with which it hits doesn't seem to be the same as what it should be. Combined telekinetic buffering and excellent piloting from a former Guardian of the Universe Galaxy keeps damage to a catastrophic minimum.

Welcome to the fallout. What will you do from here?

Comments

[marked_for_death]

[There was nothing that could shake her patience when it came to missions, whether they were self-assigned or not, and Elza waited without any signs of unease for the Silverberg child to wake. The rain wouldn't take long to rouse the lazy tactician from his slumber, which was why she'd picked this building in the first place.

She had known he was waking well before those words fell from his lips. Still she left him waiting for a few moments longer before emerging out of the shadows in front of where he sat.]

There are probably those who are displeased by your little show.

[She was pleasantly smiling at him, as she always did, but her expression rarely changed around people other than Clive and Kelley.]

You've had quite the nap, Silverberg.

[commentboxtroll]

Elza?

[ It hadn't been so bad when he originally assumed this was someone angry over the crash, but no, it's Elza. That's much worse and it's a struggle to keep the sudden thrill of terror he feels from showing on his face. He can manage it, but he still comes off as a bit wide-eyed at her appearance. ]

What are you doing? What's going on?

[ This is about Clive, he tells himself immediately after asking those questions. Oh, he knows. He knows. He's just hoping otherwise. ]

[marked_for_death]

[Those of nobility always tried to hide their fear from those in the Howling Voice Guild. It all meant nothing in the end. No matter what words or bravado they displayed, events would always end the way that they'd been contracted for. The only difference was that she was fulfilling the contract Clive had made with Caesar.

The innocence didn't sway her one way or another, as the attempt to hide the terror snaking through his body. You think she hasn't met those like you before, Caesar?]

You made a contract with a Howling Voice member. I am here to collect the payment in place of the one who made it since that member is currently unavailable.

[Yes Caesar, Clive is exactly why she is here.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ So it is.

He tries to relax back against the chair, but it's difficult to do. He's too tense to, how irritating. As for the bonds, well, he doesn't even waste the effort to try and test those. Instead, he focuses on the business at hand, speaking in a careful way that's all too telling that he's not to stammer or bumble his way over his words. ]

I think that'd be a more appropriate task for that member to do once he returns.

[marked_for_death]

Which he was supposed to do with you.

[He can try all he likes, but he won't be going anywhere until she wants him to.]

The contract stated that you would return with him, and yet here you are, and he is not.

[commentboxtroll]

The situation changed. We couldn't make the rendezvous anymore, not with the United Earth crawling all over the place after we took off. Would I really have been doing him a favor by bringing them all down on his head?

[ He didn't know if they could detect the signals between tablets or not, with there being nothing else out there to disguise it. Didn't know if they could have landed to get him and not get beaten to that point by who knew how many patrols. None of that was going to help him here, however.

They were probably only excuses to her. ]

[marked_for_death]

[You're right, they are only excuses to Elza, and she doesn't see the point in mentioning such things. Instead she simply stood there in front of the trapped Silverberg watching him with that same pleasant smile on her face.

Go on, try and talk you way out of it. She dares you.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ This wasn't going well, was it? ]

You're just going to let me talk myself to death, huh? [ It isn't even an attempt at humor, assuming she's letting him talk himself into a hole. Or, more likely, a grave. ] I already have the Initiative sending a second team back to pick him up.

[marked_for_death]

[Nothing was said in reply to Caesar's question. That in itself was answer enough in her opinion.]

Is that right?

[Her weapons remained holstered as she chuckled lightly, the sound far too full of mirth to mean anything good.]

So you're asking somebody else in to help clean up your mess?

[commentboxtroll]

I can't exactly go back and get him with the ship, now can I? It's the best I could do on short notice, but someone is going to get him. He should be back in a day or two.

[marked_for_death]

[She doesn't dignify his response with an answer. Instead she stood there silently allowing him to talk. Watching him there as he was, her lips curved up just that little bit more into a smile, as if she was sharing a joke with herself. In a lot of ways, she was. There were quite a lot of excuses coming out of you, weren't they Silverberg? Not a single shred of acknowledgement either.]

How benevolent of you.

[Elza could already see how Clive would react to such news. Being left stranded by your comrades was hardly a path for building trust.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ He almost retorts with how it isn't about benevolence, but what would the point be? By now it's obvious she seems to have formed her own opinion of what happened, regardless of facts, and there never really was any in reasoning with that kind of irrationality.

She would just stand there and smile and keep on acting like he left Clive behind on purpose or something.

He'd given her what she needed to know, anyway, so there's no need to keep talking. He doesn't say anything more, just watching her right back now. ]

[marked_for_death]

[When the silent treatment was offered in return, the gunner broke it with a subtle chuckle on her end. She could guess what path his thoughts may have been taking, and either one of them could have been something similar to what he actually was having. That was fine though, she honestly didn't care one way or another what he thought of felt towards her, but the matter of fact was that he had gone against the contract created between her Guild Master and himself. That was something she would never overlook, and even less so when the Guild Master in question was the one closest to her heart.]

One or two days, huh?

[ELza was on the move again as he sat there in silence. Approaching Caesar's location, the gunner leant down to bring their faces closer together.]

Then that's how long you have to return him to this city.

[She didn't need to say what would happen to him if Clive wasn't returned. Instead Elza closed the distance between them enough to press her lips to his in a kiss before pulling away with a smile.]

This is our contract. If he returns, you live. If he does not return within the two days, you die.

[Little did Caesar know, however, was that Elza's lips were laced with a poison she'd been creating since not long after Caesar's network announcement. Her entire body swam with it as she passed it from her mouth to his, the contact long enough to allow the Silverberg to survive for a few short days with it, but enough to know that it would ultimately kill the brat if he didn't receive the antidote.]

[commentboxtroll]

[ Of all the ways this could have went, a kiss wasn't one that had ever crossed his mind. He froze with fear when she got that close and straight on through it, too, though that had been more shock than the former.

A literal kiss of death, huh?

Not that he realizes how literal that really is, considering how he unwittingly purses his lips afterwards, giving her an ultimately confused look. That's it? She drags him here, ties him up, and scares him, but the verdict is he'll be fine as soon as Clive arrives? ]

I... [ He stops, rethinking what he was going to say, then decides to keep it to a simple agreement: ] Alright.

[marked_for_death]

[He would find out soon enough as the poison took root in his body. Within the first few hours, he would start to experience the beginning stages of the poison's effects. She had no interest in watching it unfold though. All that mattered to her was her Guild Master's safe return. She would never forgive herself if she discovered otherwise.

With that said, she untied only one of his hands as she looked down at him and smirked.]

I wouldn't be wasting your time, Silverberg.

[And with that, Elza seemed to simply vanish into thin air. With the poison travelling through her body, she would need to take the antidote herself to counter-act the effects of it. After all, she had to test it on herself first to make certain her proportions were correct.]