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

A

[fujibayashi]

[Sheena is exhausted. It's written clearly on her face and in the loose angles of her limbs. After a few brief flashes of red-- the meteor storm that Maxwell summons-- Sheena staggers and falls to her knees.]

There's so many of them...

[Her left arm is causing her trouble. She glances at it and winces, able to tell even from a glance that her elbow isn't supposed to bend that way. She sees some red hair, but it's probably not him. She'll just take a minute to recover. Or five.]

They weren't lying after all. Our world really is...

[wilder]

[he'll nod]

Thanks. I hope I seeya again though! ♥

[And with that, he takes off to help attend more patients]

A lmk if this is okay?

[knightoflight]

[He felt the first cold prickle of fear in New York, when he'd felt the round puncture his wrist. There are a lot of injuries his kind could handle, but a swordsman's hands are his life. He hates that an injury took him out of the action, but he knows when he needs to come back for repairs. ]

I'm sorry. But I have to get back there.

[oncearanger]

Part of him wondered why Kang wasn't zapping them. Did he not have that power here? Billy shook his head and continued shooting, not eager to get them cornered at all.

"What's your weapon?"

how u doin

[taggeda0]

[Nic can't hear Kate to appreciate the gesture, but life has fortuitously prepared him for these sorts of situations. It's a simple matter to put his sword through the vulnerable neck joint of the guy's armor and pull it out as swift a motion. The poor, nameless soldier dies a bloody, gurgle-y death.

It's bad etiquette, but Nic figures he can be forgiven if he takes out a couple of the guys headed toward her after that. It's baffling enough that she isn't killing them outright; he figures she could use the help.]

[preyed]

[The force of the Shout shook the earth nicely, and she stood her ground while she waited for the next strike. She thought it might be better to produce another weapon, perhaps Dawnbreaker, but she decided against it. There was no way for her to reproduce its energies without a Soul Gem and she would need to make do with what she had.

But one of her 'enemies' changed into something else, into a figure in armor. Her head lifted and she brought her hands up, sparks licking at her fingertips. Unlike the foes she had faced, though, he did not seem to want to engage her in combat. Curious. Her eyes narrowed.]

Come, fight me if you dare. I haven't all day for you to stand around.

[speakveryclearly]

It couldn't be helping that her makeup was flaking off. Kanaya had stopped thinking about that, who she was or wasn't, hours ago. It was a good thing nobody who had ever at some point been hers, or wanted to be, was left in the transports' ranks anymore.

"You accomplished a lot, I saw that. Anyone in a twenty-mile radius did. Maybe you should revise that to 'accomplish something in the process' or such. Of dying, I mean. Because you certainly didn't accomplish much of anything by getting shot down other than worrying me very much and so that redefinition might brighten your prognosis."

She didn't understand what it meant to reach the god tiers very well. Her immortality was of a different sort, an unholy vigor deep within her bones and haunting her epidermis. But still hopeful that Rose could revive, she took them deeper into the alleyway, at a less breakneck pace given the head start they had on their followers. Here numbers were less of an advantage than they first seemed; once they caught up to the entrance (which was still at least some time away), they would have to singly file in, doubly at most.

[galactically]

No sane person who likes to be on the move wants to stay in bed! I know that feeling.

[Sheryl has been there before, stuck in hospitals thanks to Vajra diseases, but that's neither here nor there. Either way, she can relate, hence the slightly heaving sigh out of her lips. What Asuka mentions next prompts a deep frown out of the idol soon after. Elmer...]

I wish I knew what they're thinking, bringing us over there in those conditions.

[But that she's mentioned it...]

Either way, it's horrible!

[5055034455]

[He wants so badly to argue, to bring up the fact that Sue very well may die out there, and yes, he knows she'll just come back like they all do, but that's not the point. It's so easy to brush death off as no big deal when you're promised a restart — he's just as guilty as almost everyone he's spoken to in terms of shrugging and rolling his eyes and dismissing the topic completely. You come back. You're fine. It's fine.

But now that it's staring him in the face, it's not really fine.

But he also knows that Sue can handle herself. She'll be useful. She might save some people — hell, she will, if Saul's gut instinct is anything to go on. And it usually is.

Still, though.]

Yeah. What about you? Staying or going?

[gunsling]

Jake jolts for a moment, not having expected anything to call him on the fact that he's clearly not as prepared for this battle as he first thought he was. He's forcing himself to smile, but he sure does look uneasy.

"Oh! No, not at all. But wow. I sure wasn't expecting all of... this!"

[galactically]

[Sheryl is stretching both arms over her head with a quick flex of her fingers when she hears the inquiry. Turning over, she flashes Zelos a quick smile.]

Just some juice for the patients and more bandages. That'll be all!

[oncearanger]

"Sorry," Billy said in a harsh whisper, forcing himself to look up. He almost melted into the wall behind him, struggling to stay conscious.

"You okay?" he asked. Because that was always the first thing on his mind, worrying if that stunt had hurt Jericho.

[bumbles]

He doesn't recognise her. Atlas doesn't know this face, and he looks at her calmly, controlled, as she holds him against the wall. It's been a rough day. People aren't acting the way they normally would: he can't hold it against her. That doesn't mean that he won't take the hand gripping at his uniform and ease it away. It's exhausting, and he can't stand to see more bodies, but he has to do this. And later, he'll help in the Hold. They need more people out there, though. That's just the way it is.

So, he attempts something of a reassuring smile, nods his head towards the stream of people heading towards the portals, before he squeezes her hand. Post-its seem so stupid, right now, so he tries to communicate it in his smile, in the tilt of his head and the way his hand rests on her arm: You'll be okay.

Gently, Atlas tries to push himself forward from the wall. This has to be done.

[governorkang]

Kang recognized Collette's voice, and snorted, "That's one of the things my kind does when we die. We're weapons even in death. Apparently, the Initiative has a way to bring us back." He grinned. "How many did I take with me? And a mile in what direction?"

[wilder]

[Zelos had originally been with another patient, an initiative troop. He was getting so used to the fighters here having weird attacks he didn't even think twice about Maxwell's summon (he wouldn't recognize Maxwell anyway). Unfortunately his wounds had been too grave and Zelos's healing spells simply weren't enough.]

Dammit...

[He gets up. Sure, it's upsetting but he's seen enough death not to breakdown. Though seeing that glimpse of purple and pink fall to her knees? Sure, it doesn't take much to make him know who that is and fret. So he's so rushing over there]

Sheena?! What the hell happened?

[oncearanger]

I know, but---

[He stares at the ground.]

These people. I've been through this before. Somehow my side never wins.

[acts_of_claudia]

Claudia had, in her infinite wisdom, decided to dive headfirst into the hatch. This resulted in her hanging upside down in the thing with little clue how to get down the rest of the way. Not that that's ever stopped her before, of course. She called up the hatch to her reluctant companion, "Dude chill! I'm just getting us a new set of wheels... treads... whatever. Just watch my guitar, alright? I'll be two shakes."

With one final kick of her converse she fell into the tank, grabbing hold of one of the seat backs to keep herself from eating floor. Now that she was inside she looked around at the controls. She muttered to herself, "hoookay, Claudia, this is a little different than hotwiring a Mustang." Taking a breath and pulling herself into the seat she called out again, "Make that three."

[knightoflight]

Wing nods, his optics scanning over the burning city. "My world was at war, when my kind left." It brings back bad memories for him but memories that had stirred him to action.

"They need us, though, here."

[fantasticforcefields]

Right now they've just got a portal to somewhere in Japan, but the invasion is global. They're going to need to drop people in other population centers.

[Sue grimaces. She's mostly reading between the lines, but the Initiative doesn't fight their own battles--ask her how she feels about that sometime--so the tech she talked to was young, inexperienced, and not as good at withholding information as he should have been.

And maybe that's why Sue picked him in particular to approach.]

The Initiative is just this side of panicking, Saul. I'll play their game for now, because what choice is there? but this is a mess. My kids respond to a crisis better than this.

[Of course, her kids are the world's smartest person and most powerful mutant, but that is not the point.]

[accidentalgenocide]

She happens to be already waiting in the room they find to use for cover. She's ... really quite a sight, all things considered -- brilliant pink hair, armed only with a rather extravagant looking rapier and a bright smile on her face. She's a bit nervous, but she tries not to let it show.

"Oh, hello!"

[ladyspitfire]

[Elissa looks up the moment she hears her name, eyes wide and relief evident enough on her face. The fatigue is gone for just a moment, replaced with raw emotion that she hardly dares to show to anyone except for a few.]

Zevran.

[Maker, he's alive and he's all right. The moment he's close enough, her hand goes out to his shoulder, eyes searching his body for wounds. She sees the cut on his face and the few burns that are visible on his arms, and she bites her lip in frustration. A wince follows suit from his cleaning.]

I know. Always rushing out in front. I keep forgetting I'm not equipped for that anymore. [She should have been a warrior but she's too quick, too resourceful to simply run in blindly. But sometimes she takes the helm too fast and she forgets where her skillsets are.] You're hurt.

[redheadcarrier]

I'm pretty sure the only reason we're all still alive is because they can bring us back.

[Which is a discomforting thought. But at least Asuka didn't end up dead. She suppresses a shudder.]

How do they expect use to fight the UE like that anyway? It's not like we have armor or jets or tanks or anything! Why send us if we can't actually stop them?

[Asuka groans and rubs at her forehead. She's holding herself together. At least for now - the injury might start getting to her later, though.]

There's got to be a better way to do this, you know? But - I mean...

[Her voice gets very quiet.]

That whole world is gone, isn't it?

[thephix]

He doesn't recognize her, of course he doesn't recognize her when he's never seen Alice before, but she can't shift now, can't take that risk. Her expression twists angrily, at the condescending way he squeezes her arm when it's not okay at all. Because he died.

"Adonis," Sharp, fury cutting through her words even if it's quiet for the sake of his secrets, and she shoves him again, harder, like that might make him realize how stupid he's been, to get himself killed, "Don't try to walk away from me."

She should tell him who she is, but she's too angry to think straight, just hopes that he'll understand.

[copia]

[ She nods, the smile disappearing from her face. The bleeding cut on his cheek makes her wonder for a quick second why he didn't stop and get it attended to, but now isn't the time to fret over small injuries like a cut.

At least he's still alive. ]

I will, thanks. [ She starts to walk about before stopping and doing an about-face. ] And thank you for going off to help and helping those of us who couldn't go be safe. [ And now she's off, her earbuds back in her ears. ]

[gunsling]

An entire planet of robot people at war? That sounds like an amazing movie in the making, though looking around at the destruction that's gone on here Jake can't help but think maybe the actual reality isn't nearly as cool as it sounds.

He's trying to buck up here though. Things sure look bad, but the fight was far from over! He isn't about to let a few dozen collapsed buildings in the immediate area stop him from lending a hand.

"Right-o! And I have no plans to let them down. We've got an entire planet to save here, after all."