(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

[oncearanger]

Billy paused in mid-step, hopping back down the rubble. What was Ed doing?

"What can I help you with? Is anyone hurt?" he worried, looking around in the hopes that it wasn't an emergency situation.

[imperfect]

"Nobody I know, so don't give me that look." In the hope of heading off Billy's concern, Ed attempted a sheepish smile, with partial success. "I was just going to ask you to keep an eye out for something, but if you're already busy..."

[oncearanger]

"I'm not too busy to keep an eye out," Billy said quickly, leaning up to get a better view of the rubble. "What is it?"

[imperfect]

"Half a machine. Well, some other smaller parts too, but that one probably had the best chances. It's pretty dumb, to be honest," Ed said cheerfully, convinced that if he was going to sound crazy either way he could damn well make the most of it. "Had the idea of moving all this junk to one side just to see if there was anything left. If she was here, she'd go straight for the spaceship, but I guess I'm too sentimental to be a mechanic..."

He stopped. His self-deprecating grin hadn't really changed, but it might have veered a little closer to genuine for a moment there.

"Anyway, it's a lot of junk for one pair of eyes. If you want me to look out for anything in return, I could do that," he added. "If it's not made entirely of, say, concrete."

[oncearanger]

"All right, tell me a little about this machine," Billy asked as he looked, carefully turning up concrete and hauling pieces away. He was strong, but human strength had its limitations. This was wearing him out.

"I'm not looking for anything, really. All my most important things are at the garage, but thank you for offering."

[imperfect]

Already dropping into a crouch himself, Ed waved lazily toward the salvage equipment he'd spotted just a moment ago. "So all of that's just for decoration? Could've fooled me.

"About the machine... well, to be honest, I didn't get around to figuring out what it was for. Part of an engine for something else, I'm guessing. She's the expert, not me. But..."

He clapped his hands and planted them on the ground for a second. In front of him, several chunks of debris instantly lit up, crackling and reforming into a single neat cube a little over Ed's knee height.

"...Something like this size, when it was all in one piece. Right now, who knows?"

[oncearanger]

"Engine parts. At least that gives me somewhere to start."

Billy knelt and inspected the cube, trying to picture what engine part could be that size.

"It was hers?"

[imperfect]

"I mean, a friend of mine. Winry. Can't remember if you would've run into her," he said apparently casually, pushing the box aside to get it out of the way; despite its solid appearance, it was light enough for him to manage without too much heaving. "Part of some project she forgot to take with her, but past that, you'd probably know better than me."

[oncearanger]

"I didn't," Billy said sadly, helping to lift it. "But I'm sure I can diagnose what it's meant to be and finish it. Hopefully it won't bother her if she returns...would it?"

[imperfect]

He laughed. "Nah, don't worry. I promise she'll be fine with it once she's murdered me."

Setting that chunk of concrete down, he picked his way back over to where Billy had been.

"But let's not get ahead of ourselves." His smile seemed to have tempered itself a little. "They really did a number on this place."

[oncearanger]

Billy agreed with a low whistle, still hauling debris. "I'm glad the casualties weren't worse. And I'm also glad I moved my projects to the garage, come to think of it."