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

[heirwithouthope]

I have no need.

[It sounds like his usual defiance, but he wasn't in the mood to fight for the sake of fighting. He was beyond restfulness, though after a minute, he'll sit down a good distance from Galadriel. After an even longer pull of complete silence, he'll ask her:] How many have fallen, this day?

[whatsupcroc]

( She can't believe how stupid this is. He's trying to cover her with -- what, this? Cover himself? Ignoring his own injuries? It's a miracle he's not shot full of holes already!

It scares her, and it pisses her off in a way growing too familiar. These people who act like dying doesn't matter. Who chance it for the wrong kind of odds, in her opinion. )

< Yeah, I noticed, which is why we have to go! >

( She practically barrels into his legs, shoving hard to make him move. If he stumbles, he can get up again -- this isn't safe. It isn't sane! )

< I don't know if you've played rochambeau before, but bullets definitely beat chains and reaper weapons! Move! >

( She tries to get her teeth into his sleeve. No, not again, not before he's too injured to move --! )

[acts_of_claudia]

[Claudia just nods, clenching her teeth as she tries not to think about the tank... about what she'd had to do. She sticks by Artie's side, ready to be... uh... moral support? There honestly isn't much else she can do right now but there isn't anything in any world that could make her leave Artie's side right now.]

[velveteened]

...maybe next time, we'll be able to talk under better circumstances.

( with half a laugh. he looks around, himself, when emil does, dreading the inevitable recurrence of running into the ue. )

[anklets]

[Worse still in her past than his, but she finds herself unswayed by Allen's levity. Her expression contracts, briefly, into a look of pain separate from that burning all up her side, and she dodges his gaze in favour of trying to snatch onto Zelos'.]

"Your healing"?

[whatsupcroc]

< If everyone had Thought Speak, that'd be great. Let's take it up with the engineers later! >

( She hasn't a clue as to how to make that possible, but agreeing as she starts bolting out of their current predicament and diagonal to the twenty-odd soldiers in the area. Fewer by now, but the fast tanks they brought with are a danger in and of themselves.

Access points. It's the quickest way back, and the quickest way to an answer. It gets more challenging when one of the buildings they're passing gets hit broadside, cutting out the street-facing portion and starting the heavy, dusty groan of its total collapse. )

< Run! That thing's coming right down on us! >

[acts_of_claudia]

Claudia rolls her eyes, "Dude if you're that hard up you can just use mine. I've got my hands full with Bertha here, anyway."

She's flicking through screens with ease, now, until she finds what she's looking for. Ah, there's the ignition sequence. With a cackle of delight she touches the screen and the tank roars to life.

"Don't let him fool ya, Ellie. I'm still waiting for the day he pulls a rabbit out of that bag of tricks of his."

[wilder]

Allen I don't think you're making her feel better.

[YOU'RE NEVER GONNA GET A GIRL THIS WAY. But he'll look over at Lenalee now as he heads over to start looking and cleaning her injuries]

I use healing magic. That's not a problem, is it?

[substitutable]

Huh? You're taking me...?

A-all right. [He's too exhausted to argue. He eyes Guy warily but he turns to him and waits to see where he's going to be led.]

[acts_of_claudia]

She snorted, lightly shoving Artie in the shoulder, "Oh that was baaaad. Why don't you leave the wisequacks to the professionals, huh?"

She knew he'd done it on purpose but she wasn't going to argue. Anything to get them away from... recent events. She shook her head, moving back towards the controls. "Where to, Miss. Daisy?"

[inafadingcrown]

I would not change a single thing about you. [She runs her fingers through Celebrian's hair as she says it.] And it makes you such a striking figure.

[sharpe]

[ Sharpe laughs quietly and he jogs over to the nearest building. He grabs onto the awning and throws himself upwards, climbing up until he's sitting on the windowsill on the third storey. Then he's aiming at some of the few remaining soldiers and firing at them.

When that's done, he stops, and looks up at the dragon again. ]

Since you've cleaned up everyone here, you mind giving me a lift ta somewhere else that needs more killing? [ A bit dryly, but he's only half-joking. ]

[ofgoldenfoil]

If you can. [ Aurican can allow that much, he thinks. ] I have tussled with my nestmates before and I have bled before, and I believe time can help this injury.

[ Despite his misgivings, he lifts his wings so to show more of the wound. ]

[whatsupcroc]

< And falling off a roof or too.>

( Something of light amusement comes back into her 'voice,' starting off again. She knows he didn't see it, not back before he arrived. Caesar didn't know. No... it was more that he hadn't. Fighting at the outpost had been nothing like tangling with the enhanced soldiers. )

< What did you learn? >

( She asks, almost carelessly, though she's watching him with one eye and has an ear tuned in for any sound he makes. An Initiative worker opens the doors to the proper building she trots over, parking herself in the entrance, holding the door open. )

[justthedriver]

[ The wall hurts him as he's slammed against it, and Nikolai lets out a sharp, sudden breath, hissing through his teeth. He meets Steph's eyes through the mask, and he grins. ]

So the little girl has claws and teeth. [ He drawls the words out, makes them mocking. ] That is good to know.

I was wondering.

[ofgoldenfoil]

[ Patersmith once told Aurican and his nestmates that when danger exists, the will for life will follow. So he is not certain what the iron man is trying to say, exactly. ]

I am a dragon of light, not of murder.

[ He will not kill so needlessly again. ]

If I am to be senior of anything, it will be for defending, not murdering.

[ofgoldenfoil]

I am in need of water.

[ That is the most utmost importance. ]

Where can I find water?

[substitutable]

[He looks up and mutters a "you too" before he finally ducks inside. In a few minutes, unless Emil warns him otherwise, he'll start helping the civilians out, calling to Emil to help them get somewhere safer.]

[knightofcourage]

[Emil can't find it in himself to laugh, but he does nod. He's still scanning the area; they haven't demonstrated the ability to suddenly appear yet, but it's still far better to be prepared.]

Right. But first, we need to save this world.

[controlledvariable]

[It's useful to know exactly how much pressure she can exert on someone's throat before they can't breathe, because it means she can shove just a little harder against Nikolai.]

I'm not a little girl, and I'm not a game. [She feels like she's being played, like everything he does is to get a reaction, and she hates that it seems to be working.] You can stop trying to play me.

[She doesn't know what he wants from her and she doesn't care, she just hates being manipulated, and that's what this feels like.]

[ringwizard]

"I think a lot of things would be better than--before," Haruto says, catching the juice after a second of air-juggling, and holds it as Nitoh continues.

"Me too," he says, quietly, "I didn't know if--" He cuts off. He really hadn't known if he'd make it all the way through, and not because he was taking many hits, or anything. Needing revival when he hadn't even been close to getting killed would have been the height of both embarrassment and weakness. The world they'd lost--that wasn't about him, even if Dragon had tried to spin it that way.

He looks up. "Couldn't lose to you, could I?" He twists the bottle's top open, with force, and lifts it to his mouth to avoid talking for a minute.

sorry for the late i lost the notify in my inbox

[ofgoldenfoil]

When Aurican looks up and sees the black dragon - the black dragon Takhisis, daughter of the dragon who tried to kill his mother and killed his aunts - and sees her jaws opening. Familiar to dragon breath weapons, he jumps out of the way, out of the range of the acid. He can thank Blayze for being too liberal with his breath weapon at times when he loses his temper, which causes Aurican to be quick on his feet.

By instinct Aurican arches his back, keeping a safe distance from both the pool of acid and her; uncertain what will an enemy of Paladine - therefore him - will do now. Aurican had developed a dislike for this dragon even before he learned the truth about Paladine, and now he starts to dislike her even more.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[Nate shrugs] May as well back you up. We spread ourselves too thin here, we'll just get overwhelmed.

[gevurah]

I don't kill. [ She says to her as she gets into the building. The door is nearly jammed shut, so she has to shoulder her way inside. ]

[ringbeast]

He purses his lips at the cut off bit, the dark feelings about seeing Tokyo in that state he'd been trying to suppress roaring up inside him for the moment. He grabs a bottle of juice and cracks it himself to try to push it back down.

Then he gives a brittle smile at the quip. "Yeah, you beat me, man. Next time I won't crash into a tree saving you and we'll see who comes out of it unscathed." He looks into the neck of the bottle, hardly even tasting the juice he's drunk. If he'd been a little less careful about mana, he could have died in here, waiting for Haruto to get back.

He looks around at the curtained beds. "Let's go get something at the bakery, man, I'm starving. I bet you could use a doughnut."