Other Worlds: V 2.0

[initiates]

Date & Time: May 21st, beginning at 0900.
Location: The Initiative Hold and all throughout Elmer's world
Characters: Anyone participating in the fighting, anyone staying behind.
Summary: Elmer's world is fought for and lost.
Warnings: Violence, death.

They reopen the portal at 0900, May 21st. The first scientist who stepped through was killed within thirty seconds; the rest who followed made it back through to Exsilium, albeit not unscathed. The portal was shut again by a panicked operator, although a second operator knew to keep the coordinates locked.

Within ten minutes, the alert had been sent out. There's no time to wait for the Transports to gather en masse; as soon as they have a sizable enough force to stand a chance at fighting through and clearing their gateway's location, the door is opened again.

Immediately inside the door is a desolate, grim scene. What had previously been the coast of Japan is now scorched earth, blasted sand, and little else. As the first point of contact for this world, it has undoubtedly suffered the worst. Here, the UE didn't stop at governments, financial centers, and capitols — the UE destroyed everything in sight. There are enough UE soldiers remaining in the broken country to give the Transports a difficult battle, although by now the bulk of their forces have moved on.

The Initiative will soon realize the necessity of opening more gateways, just as the UE had done. Transports will be deployed to London, Berlin, Paris, DC Washington, Moscow, Beijing, New York City, Hong Kong, Madrid. Through each of these windows, the destruction is staggering. Buildings are more husks than structures, everything that can burn is alight, and the death toll is off the charts. Blackened bodies seem to line every street, while pieces litter the ground among the rubble. There's no doubt that the UE has no need of the people of this world. They're after resources only, and anything and anyone already here is to be removed.

You can find UE soldiers everywhere. They move in coordinated squadrons of 20, and each of them carries a small arsenal. Even without their incredibly advanced and destructive weaponry, they're fearfully formidable. Each soldier, while still only human, is a genetically perfect clone, further enhanced by technological implants. They're all highly trained in physical combat. Even if you can disarm one of them, don't count on close-range attacks being any easier to handle. They've brought along cannons, small flying craft, and lightweight tanks. Each of these is the top of the line in terms of technology, geared toward destroying as much as it can, as quickly as it can. The United Earth is here to destroy, and they won't stop to wonder why their targets go from being civilians and scrambling, off-guard, comparatively primitive militaries, to trained and powered Transports.

For anyone staying at home, they'll find that any Initiative presence has withdrawn fully to the Hold. All Initiative employees are needed, and most of them in the med bays. The majority of the Initiative focus is on recalling and resurrecting fallen Transports, but attention is still needed for the living-but-wounded. Any Transports who stay in Exsilium and offer their help will have it immediately accepted; they'll be put to work in the medical wings, runnings supplies, or simply set at a machine and told to keep an eye on the numbers: Transport vitals, UE movements, and maps upon maps of changing statistics and colors.

At 1500, the Initiative will recall all Transport soldiers back to Exsilium and seal shut the gateway. The UE numbers are too great, their soldiers too powerful, and Elmer's world is lost.

Comments

[fantasticforcefields]

[Sue's psychic presence is flickering in and out as she raises and drops her shields. Occasionally a whole host of minds goes with it as she protects a larger group.

It's pretty easy to tell when he's found her by the flying debris he's not moving with his own powers.]

Hello, Nathan.

[redheadcarrier]

[It might not show, but Asuka's terrified of death. She knows she only got a second chance because of Third Impact (and then the Initiative). She doesn't want to go back into the darkness or go through the pain and hurt all over again. No, she's terrified of the idea. It's just not bubbling on the surface.]

I don't exactly scream about it, do I?

[Asuka snorts.]

It's - It is what it is, alright? I'm -

[Still not over it.]

Fine. That's - I have another shot here and that's all I care about.

[She feels sick. She just outed a bit of her trauma to Utena - but at least Utena isn't shoving her away. Or screaming at her. Or treating her like a pariah. Her voice hardens and almost gets angry as the subject shifts.]

Why? Why do you want to dwell on it? We can't change it! We can't go back and save them! We failed!

[Her shoulders hunch and she wraps her arms around herself, gaze fixed on the floor.]

We failed. So - why should we remember it?

[fantasticforcefields]

"At least you have some experience. I've run into kids today who're in their first battle."

War is hell, but it's not usually this hellish.

[fantasticforcefields]

"Uh-huh. Does this happen to you a lot?" For her part, Sue is used to pushing past people's reluctance to admit being anything other than fine, and the young man standing there in shock is quite obviously not fine.

[fantasticforcefields]

[Excuse you, Sue is very very good with her powers and rarely causes collateral. That Starbucks was going to collapse anyway.]

All right.

[She is way too tired to get into an argument about teamwork with a guy she can barely communicate with while they're both getting shot at by relentless clone soldiers.]

[fantasticforcefields]

Hmm?

[Sue snaps out of her reverie when she hears someone's voice.]

Oh, hello. I didn't notice you up there.

[It's a mild, strangely misplaced greeting in the middle of a war zone, but Sue's seen worse than this and is iron-willed enough to be a Green Lantern. It might hurt, but it won't break her.]

[captains]

Sure about that?

[It's mostly to keep her talking, but where he'd come from- direwolves were extinct- and weren't common knowledge. Most people presumed they were a creature of myth]

She looks it- Very loyal.

[He'll take her word for it, because he doesn't really have a choice, and he just hopes she's right. If he has to take the wolf out of commission to help her- He can't help them both back to the hold] How do your legs feel? If I lift this, can you wiggle out?

[controlledvariable]

Hi.

[There's a half-hearted salute to go with it, which is about the most manners anyone's getting out of Steph at this point. Though she does fish another protein bar out of her belt.]

Want one? They're chocolate flavoured.

[She figures most people didn't get a chance to plan ahead for things like food, and fighting is hard work.]

[fantasticforcefields]

[Plus, Sue doesn't really look like she's got a place to carry anything in that outfit.]

Oh, sure. Thank you.

[Sue holds out a hand, having entirely forgotten she has a force field up around herself.]

[galactically]

[Just as soon as their hands touched, Sheryl notices how clammy it feels, causing her to frown even further. The trembling is harder to ignore, too.]

If I see Kano, I'll tell him where you are. He can find you easily that way, right?

[taggeda0]

[He raises an eyebrow at the kid. What the hell? Of course not. He'll shake his head, waving off the concern with his free hand. He's fine; you're not.]

[musclebeast]

Silence-

[musclebeast]

[A pause.]

Yes, I understand that. Needing time to relax is extremely important, it's good to be aware of such an important thing.

[freewoman]

Aye. Maybe. [He's given her something to think about.]

So that's why you fight.

[nobleminded]

[Elliot stumbles back a few steps, but catches his balance. He cares even less about making a scene than Leo.

He cares even less after that beaker hits him in the head. It breaks and a tiny trickle of blood slowly begins making its way down Elliot's forehead. Which he is totally ignoring.]

OF COURSE I DON'T! BUT I COULDN'T LET ALL THOSE PEOPLE DIE JUST BECAUSE THESE GUYS DIDN'T CARE!

[governorkang]

[Seven? His wings flare slightly in surprise. He hadn't expected her to die so many times.]

I know you took as many as you could with you.

[Just like he had.]

[fintastic]

Hmmm...

[ She studies him a second more before she starts fishing around in her bag, pulling out a few things and setting them on the desk: Two large gauze pads, medical tape, a small vial of bloodclotter, a few antiseptic wipes in their own little packs, and a few packets of aspirin. ]

Here. In case anyone comes here looking for the wrong kind of help, because I don't know if there is a first aid kid here. ...though the aspirin is for you.

[icy_heavens]

His blade wasn't getting sheathed until they were off the battlefield. Of course, he also had the option of ranged attacks with it, so it wasn't quite so limited as a normal sword.

"Faster than human?"

It wasn't terribly specific, but who had time for specificity right now?

[bikininspector]

Don't worry about it, there's plenty more of 'em.

[He's not certain at all about his survival chances, but hey. At least he seemed to have made good company.]

Think they all have the crazy genetically engineered outta them?

[He won't shoot them as they retreat though. When he's not in immediate danger, it's easier to remember that he's a human being. What am I doing?.]

[moralperil]

[What is he supposed to say to that? Mahdi swallows hard. He's supposed to say They won't make it. We might not make it.

That's honesty. That's who he is, the guiding spirit, guardian angel type.]

I- I ah- bet you did. I bet the Initiative's helping them through the gate right now.

We should get out of here.

[Oh man. He's the worst liar ever.]

[flightybookshrew]

"Then the backup will regret answering," there was a dark aura around Rose as she said that, her eyes faintly narrowed, and the wands in her hand seemed to crackle before she caught herself. She had to focus on Kanaya right then.

"And you are hurt, I am fine. Come on."

[gamora]

Don't think learning to live with what the universe gives you is called 'secret'. [ Gamora knows that much, at least. ] You could always just get yourself raised by one of the cosmic threats in your world.

[ It worked for her, after all. But at the offer of help Gamora blinks again, giving Ellie a more intense look than before. ]

I'm fine.

[ If it's worry on the part of the other, Gamora wants that over and done with. She can take care of herself - she doesn't need people doing something as idiotic as thinking she can't take care of herself. ]

[khajidont]

No. Or if there are, they've been hostages - but I don't think these guys are the type to take hostages. [He follows the line of her gaze, but frankly finds it difficult to linger too long on it. Just thinking about it makes him almost unspeakably angry, too angry to think, and that's a dangerous road to go down. He takes a deep breath, then explains, pointing at the lenses coating his eyes.]

I can see in infrared, so I got some altitude to see if I could see anyone hiding. The UE moves in big clumps, and so far? Everyone else has been running towards them, so that's us.

[speakveryclearly]

"It's just a little backstabbing..." But she knew it wasn't safe to not let Rose have her way. (Jadeblood lady's hamartia. She really had to stop submitting so often.) And maybe she did have a point in that it would be better to acquaint herself with whatever terrible alien medicine the Initiative had in store for her if she was meaningfully hurt later.

"Okay, fine, at least hover a bit so we can get there faster and I can demonstrate how incredibly spry I am right now."

[precludes]

This is... [She came into this world reeling from the destruction, the revelation: This bodes futile.

Down this path is death and destruction and failure. She thinks they will fall before the end. She would warn Kirika of the odds, the risk, but she thinks she understands. They aren't strangers to this.

Oriko doesn't have the time to be mortified, though there is a part of her that is, the part that's still a child horrified at the destruction of Mitakihara. That girl died, a while ago.

Twenty is enough of a number to make tracking their formations difficult - she find quickly enough that it's more manageable if she tries to read their movements as a unit, least of all not because they will soon be dead.

Oriko draws her arms up and around each side, summoning enough spheres to serve as shield and weapon, enough to beat off a spray of gunfire.]

Now. Keep them slow.

[They work well together because their skills complement one another's. Oriko draws back so she can fight from range and feed Kirika information as fast as possible. Don't let them flank you, they're coming in for a sweep, one, and on. Twenty, again, is a lot, but she manages to clip one soldier out of formation with a slam of orbs hard enough to crack armor and bone.]