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

[controlledvariable]

[She hates the way he smiles at her, wants to punch him and break his teeth to make him stop, but this is a warzone, and there's no time for indulging her petty anger.]

Good. [There's a shift in her posture, as she settles back into the Batgirl persona, her back straighter, expression harder, and her voice flattens a little, becomes more controlled, harsher.] I don't think you're as terrible as you pretend to be, Nikolai, but if you try to make an enemy of me, you'll regret it.

[chronologistics]

[He shakes his head, though it's a little stiff. It doesn't really feel right, to talk out loud when she can't.]

on a scale of 1 to 10 its probably a 2
like is that a puppy using my foot as a chew toy or what
what about you

[chronologistics]

[His shades are obscuring most of his expression, but there is something distinctly petulant in the way he holds his jaw.

Hello sheer skepticism. Meet Strider stoicism.]

Ain't nothin' to not be sure of.

[He tilts his head slightly. Who are you, even?]

[chronologistics]

[If he notices, it's difficult to tell behind his shades.]

Thanks, I'll be here all night.

[justthedriver]

[ There is nothing more infuriating than an opponent who seemed to take your every move as a private joke, Nikolai knows that well enough. He laughs at her words, tipping his head to the side for a long moment before he shrugs, a roiling, rolling motion. ]

Da.

[ He raises a hand, turning away again and looking at her over his shoulder. Gently, he presses two fingers against his own throat. ]

Dosvidanya, dyevotchka. [ They're done here, he thinks. He's revealed himself too much already. ]

[reassures]

[She doesn't really understand why he feels badly about it. No one else ever has, and it seems a little strange to her. On a better day, it might be sort of endearing, but right now Nill can't really muster anything cheerful inside her to appreciate it.]

1.5

[The biggest problem is the small head wound, where her hair is a little matted with blood. It's not a bad wound really, but she can feel her head throb with every heartbeat because of it.]

Are you okay?

[This time, she doesn't mean the injuries.]

[chronologistics]

so
being pelted with a puppet through the shower curtain and geting the soap in your eyes
gotcha

[Take that however you will.

For a long moment, he just sits with his back against the wall, gaze falling on a small group of people across the room. Someone's crying, and the sound of it is strangely gut-wrenching. Not that he'll admit that. He sighs.]

a lot of people died

[reassures]

[There's a little flicker, a glimpse of a puppet with a wide smile and a golden tooth, but Nill isn't sure if it's a memory or his imagination.

Either way, it's a little disturbing.

The initial, slight confusion doesn't last. She just watches all the people, some hurt worse than others, the general chaos of the situation. It's familiar in a way she hates, but it's probably one of the only familiar things she's experienced since she got here.

The statement doesn't really surprise her, and she doesn't know how to feel about this sort of chaos being almost commonplace for her now.]

It's war

[That is to say... a lot of people are going to die. And a lot of people are going to keep dying. That's how war works.]

[controlledvariable]

[In response, she flips the bird, because sometimes she just needs to be a little immature.

As soon as he turns away again, though, she'll be gone, heading back to the figth and trying not to let this all get to her.]

[marked_for_death]

[Of course they should have, but given the situation, the gunner wouldn't have been surprised if they were doing it purely to prove a point. It was quite foolish really, and she could never come to respect any organisation that practiced such methods.]

What anger is there towards the United Earth? They're simply doing what they need t be doing. I'd say that they're the ones acting logically unlike those who force us to fight their battles. It's no wonder that they were in such a dire situation before pulling us to this world.

[postpones]

Can do.

[Oriko likely can sense her magic as it spreads, cast over the immediate area, though restrained to affect only the soldiers and no further. The moment that one breaks away from the rest, she is on him, claws tearing his armour, then his body, apart. Messy, in an over-the-top manner, but the sight doesn't seem to deter his fellows.

She lets out an exhale at wasting effort on a pointless venture; if they're going to react so, might as well have gone for efficiency.

Then again, she wouldn't have let up if they'd backed off just like that, and wasn't really expecting it

Switching to telepathy, rather than spare more breath on these cretins:] Tell me where you want me at.

[postpones]

[her first, reflexive, response is to shake off Nitoh's grip -- but the familiar face registers, and her stance turns less overtly aggressive]

I'm good, I think. Had to find my balance.

[she turns slightly, gaze fixing upon the sling] You planning to go out again, too?

[allsongs]

[she has the finesse and knowhow of a thousand years of dressing wounds, tending to hurts, and comforting those precious in her eyes. old, soaked-through gauze is left on the floor without a thought (germs? what are those?) as all her attention is given to dressing the injury anew, a tender and pensive melody hummed throughout.

she offers the same care to wiping the blood from his face and neck, smoothing out loose hair and looking more pleased by the cleaner face. it's much better, after all.]

[theguideless]

Martin didn't have the right word for how it made him feel, hearing that. He just knew it wasn't a good feeling, the burning in his belly and tight knot in his chest. Bitter, as Shinji was, and unhappy with himself. Shouldn't he have been doing more? Not getting in the way was one thing, but...

This is what it feels like, he thought, when others fight for you. It's different than what it was before.

Before, in Olvsoki. Where everyone was designed to fight, not pulled from afar and told to. It was different.

"It's different," he murmured aloud, in tandem with the thought. "It's a lot different now..."

[firstroar]

Blue was silent, but steadfast in an effort to hold on in more ways than one. All that stamina Ashraf had rekindled in him had been beaten back to nearly nothing, and as the two of then sped toward the gate all things melted into a single, monochrome blur, blended in with the piercing jabs and outcry of so many minds wrapped up in a fight not everyone was so certain of beyond the need to live at the end of it.

At the bay, his hold was easily shaken off, but Blue still reached for and tried to grasp at the arm or wrist lifting away.

"Wait, you–" He squeezed his eyes shut against another dizzying swirl, rushing bodies with unchecked thoughts and feelings.

"You were there, weren't you? In that city..."

[firstroar]

No.

[Blue pauses a moment, closing his eyes to recollect and breathe. the strain of that stalemate with the aircraft is gone, so there's enough power left, he's sure.

proving that to himself, he glows again, lifting a couple feet off the ground.]

Follow me. [his feet push off the debris he'd been leaning on a moment ago, propelling himself forward.]

[allsongs]

[her mouth quirks a little.] You fought. Are you happy you did?

[theguideless]

[her question confuses him.]

But I wasn't there...I didn't get hurt at all.

[theguideless]

Somehow, letting himself react seemed wrong, and so many parts of him forced him to be still and force himself to stay quiet. It made his eyes burn in a different way than his chest, plugged up his nose, and dried out his throat and mouth, and despite how terrible it all felt, in his head he had begun to encourage it. This is what I have to do. It took the tremor out of his hands and legs and gave the girl who wept against him something sturdy to lean on.

His countenance was strained with that effort: wide-yet-wincing eyes, brow crinkled just between them, mouth pulled taut in an attempt to freeze it in place. Hearing I'm so sorry threatened to destroy all that work, forcing him to swallow and suck in a heavier breath.

"You don't–" He had to swallow again to keep his voice from croaking. "Don't have to be...sorry for that."

Much more like himself, a thought reached him and left him before thinking it all the way through, and his expression shifted from the confusion of that to a steadier understanding, nodding faintly with certainty. "It might be good...that even though it didn't work out, somebody came and worked...really hard to help. So that people there weren't left alone...I think–" There was the nod. "I think that was a good thing...even though it's still the worst. I'd think so. If someone tried to help me, even though..."

[theguideless]

He wavered at the question, growing confused. How was he supposed to answer that?

"I'm...I'm not hurt, but..." But he wasn't alright, he knew. Not when so many people he knew were running around in danger or outright missing, as far as he could tell.

[firstroar]

[nbd, just. using yourself as a detonator. nbd....

Blue follows the sound of evacuating minds and the source of that ominous chain until his legs give and he falls on his knees, coughing against the billowing smoke and shielding himself from the heat at his back.

meanwhile, his thoughts search:] Where...?

[whatsupcroc]

( It's interesting to hear he'd opt to stay to finish it out, if he had a choice. She wonders just how many other people would honestly choose that over going back sooner, were the choice presented.

But she guess it makes sense for Caesar, just the interesting, thought-worthy kind that she won't bother mentioning for now. )

< I smell antiseptics this way, let's go left. >

( She moves toward the hall in question. )

< None of us knew about the ship. It's really cool! But I already knew where-ever they keep this stuff... it's going to be well guarded. That's not the biggest problem. You showed me that much! The UE's so big... it hit home once we were out there. Finding the place, then getting near, that's the hard part. Getting in to places you're not supposed to be able to get into and wrecking stuff? Pfft. That's an Animorph specialty! >

[theguideless]

"But–" Martin began to protest without a thought, halting himself with a quick bite to his lip. He had to think about it, looking past Ros' keen expression and down toward the ground. He was starting to mirror, in some ways, the hesitance and fear he'd shed along with his Darkov skin.

"Is that all I should do–?" All he could do? It sounded terrible to him.

[firstroar]

[he makes an effort, at least, to keep up, but his body's nowhere near as quick to react as his mind is. he's trying the muster the energy to float again, but trying to do that and run at the same time is a bit of a challenge.

it's the kind of thing that gets an extra kick from something exploding very nearby, spurring him to lift the both of them up for a few yards before the weight of doing so gives Asami's feet ground again.]

[onemoredeath]

[gentleness was a foreign thing in this point of his life. Takegami's hands had a few stitches in them, but for the most part the cuts were pulled closed with clear skin to help with the healing. as she cleaned and re-wrapped them, he held still, only a few twitches when she hit a sensitive spot.

he also let her wipe the blood away, smiling a little at the care she took.]

Thank you.