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

[tragicomedienne]

Hey... Hey!

No one cares about that right now! Won't you listen already? You need to stop this!

[She puts her other arm up and braces her hand against Asuka's shoulder, standing near her side. At least, if she (ugh, the thought makes her tension and nausea flare) throws up or faints, then she won't be directly in the way.]

I hate it when people act dumb. [And she's so stubborn; even this has become a challenge to her.]

Sit down, already! [She puts some pressure on her shoulder.]

no its perf

[solitaire]

Wha--

<sub>( If he's surprised when she picks him up, that quickly dissipates. In fact, he even tucks in his legs and wraps an arm around her waist, steadying himself as she runs. Clearly, this isn't a new position for him.

When she ducks behind a car, he hits the ground chin first. It isn't a particularly graceful fall, but he pushes himself up to his elbows and looks around for her. )</sub>

Jules? You alright, darlin'?

_{( And then, just as quickly, he slams the flat of one hand against the ground, sending a jolt of pink energy out towards the line of their enemies, blowing a distracting hole in their ranks. )}

[redheadcarrier]

I don't need to sit down! You can't make me-!

[Actually, sitting down sounds like a good idea right now. She slumps back against the wall and slowly slides down until she's sitting. She still rolls her head so she can keep glaring at Nanami.]

I'm not dumb, either! I'm a protege! A wunderkind! Ugh-!

[And then she puts her head forward, feeling a bit faint. Her next response is weaker, almost a bit trembly (but Asuka doesn't get scared in front of other people).]

Go away.

[tragicomedienne]

[What's that mean here, though?]

Fine. [While Asuka is likely in no position to be alone, her concern extends this far, and not much further, where it turns wispy and intangible. She lets go of her wrist as quickly as she grabbed for it.]

I'm sending a nurse over.

[biwinning]

Let'th try thomething different. Kicking the difficulty knotch up two more levels.

I'll carry you, and you shoot while we're flying.

[Wow and what happens if you get shot down Sollux? They both die. Great idea, Captor.]

[totallytrustworthy]

"Back then? Nope. Still a mess, but..." Chloe shrugs, shakes her head and turns her attention back to the scene in front of them. "Trust me, mate. I'm not in this to play hero."

[totallytrustworthy]

"I haven't been around much lately."

Which is true. Out in the woods she's restless, in the city she's-- well, even more so. This fiasco only makes it worse. Only makes her want to run without any particular place to run to. At least back home there was always a somewhat habitable hole to crawl into, but here...

"At this point I'm starting to feel like being scarce is the better option."

[chronologistics]

You being a secret agent sounds better.

[His heart isn't in it; it's just to fill the silence.]

I mean, I bet you'd be a hella good one. Its not like charlie could get the drop on you and make you talk.

[He lets his head flop back against the wall and stares up at the ceiling.]

:')

[affections]

( The appropriate response to this sort of situation is surely to laugh, right? She knows that is totally something that will attract attention, though, so she's more just silently shaking and trying not to make any sound. Instead, she nods at the question, even if she pretty much landed face first.

Reassuring Remy might be a good decision, because shaking in a battle is also not good for the morale of the troops, or what have you. ) You broke my fall, mostly.

( And perhaps an apologetic pat on the cheek.
Oh, wow. Then he does that. ) That is so much better suited to this situation than my powers.

( Maybe it's worth trying to wade in, but there's that part of her that's scared of being overwhelmed, of dying, of the resurrection technology not working. )

[hornedomen]

I think they're gone.

[Ico tried to pull his arm gently out of Phoenix's grasp and instead hold him by the hand. The sounds of battle seemed so distant now. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see the shapes of broken furniture, fixtures, and dead bodies. The soldiers that had attacked this area were probably gone by now.

He walked up to Maya and he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder.]

Don't be scared. We'll get out, I promise. Is anyone hurt?

[postpones]

[at any other time (or maybe with somebody else), she'd say something like "you coulda sucked it up and made it easier for me," but what's done is done, she can deal]

A whole world is pretty big to search in. [how many gateports are there? ...honestly speaking, she picked the nearest after Japan was declared lost and never bothered to take note.

exhale.] I'd still look for him while I'm out there, but why not try to call him or something?

[postpones]

[she actually does laugh this time, both over their mental link and aloud, wry, a tad apologetic. If Mami could see her (them!) now.

As Oriko takes the high ground, she stays low, bending over at angles even she find ridiculous to dodge the fire upon herself]

Can't we finish off these guys first, before they cause more trouble?

[by this point, she's grown so accustomed to such a mindset -- what if they find me, what if they see through my falsehoods -- that the statement stems less from reluctance to let prey go than an ingrained paranoia sense of caution]

[gamora]

[ The smile simply makes her raise an eyebrow in Ellie's direction before she writes it off. ]

Don't be stupid about it.

[ As far as Gamora's concerned it's not the complete lack of talent or fighting ability that gets you killed, it's the inability to actually not be an idiot. The thin knife changes shape in Gamora's hand into the familiar shape of her sword and her expression falls into a thin, grim line. The enjoyment of a good fight comes later. ]

Twenty, correct? [ She'd been keeping an eye out on their numbers. ] Did they bring anything special with them?

[ringbeast]

[He shakes his head.]

Nah, don't worry about him. He's got it together, so I don't need to check up on him. I'm not worried! He's just my rival, so him goin' off to be the big hero while I've gotta stay here's kind of a pain.

[He rubs his slinged arm.]

I don't wanna distract him by callin' him, either. I'll just keep doin' my best here and wait for him to come back, y'know? Wish I could go back out there...

[reassures]

[Hah. That does sound better, and a ghost of a smile appears on her face when he says it. Figures he'd say something like that, even if he couldn't really get into it right now.]

How are you doing?

[You know. With all this bullshit. She wipes her palm at the spot on her head that insists on throbbing and still bleeding occasionally, because she can feel it and it's annoying as all get out.]

[breakin_ur_lore]

Oh. I...[am sorry? No, that doesn't make any sense.] ...guess it doesn't have to now.

[He finishes any leftover spells going on, shoulders sagging with the relief of it. He's still pretty wet behind the ears in terms of battlefield experience...]

I was sort of on automatic.

[aceordisgraced]

[He allows Ico to pull away, but when the hand falls into his he grips it firmly, hoping that if Ico is nervous, he can provide some reassurance. He pulls Maya closer, too, letting go of her hand and placing his on her hair.]

It sounds like it. We should... [he glances around, spotting the bodies] ... move, a little. Find somewhere else to hide so we can see what's going on outside, too.

[highhealplz]

[ He's not done here, with the spell-slinging. About the time she stops examinig her hands, her physical speed will increase. Reflexes, too. And by the time she jumps over the rumble there's another one of those brief glows, and her weapon should be suddenly more accurate and more damaging. He moves as she does, to keep her in range, but this next spell takes a couple seconds and some concentration.

It doesn't seem to bother him much that he's not under cover anymore. Oh, who cares if he catches a couple bullets, he'll be fine. ]

[highhealplz]

[ He pauses just briefly, watching this. Boy, the Prontera Church would surely have a collective aneurism. But battle makes things different, and he knows enough about Thassarian to know there isn't any malice or evil in the practicality of it.

So he does nothing. He keeps his holy, dead-guy-destroying magic to himself, and falls into step a few paces behind them. ]

I'd reinforce him too, but I can't see that going too well. Two more blocks ahead, and then a right at the corner. That should bring them into sight.

[highhealplz]

[ god he really needs to get on learning that language. He sighs, but isn't through with the casting yet. Next up is another brief glow around Nic, golden this time. When he fades he should find that his attacks are a little more precise, a little more damaging. ]

Sorry, I can't understand that! Not yet, at least.

[obliterating]

[He nods, setting into a brisk march. He wordlessly commands the ghoul to walk ahead of them, to fight whatever United Earth soldiers it finds, and it's not too long before he comes across the patrol.

Maybe if he had more time to think, he would have wondered about Ashraf still following him, about what it meant to be so close and yet so far from the living. For as much as he enjoys Ashraf's company, as much as he likes the man, there's something darker in him.

Something that can hear Ashraf's heart pounding in his ears, that wants to rip his chest apart with his bare hands and rip it out, to eat it.

It was something he wasn't sure he could ever really handle.

For now, he chokes it down, ignores it, like he does with so many other things.

When he finds the squadrons, his ghoul has already started setting into them, and he turns back to Ashraf.]

I guess this is them.

[A smile is on his face, one that's more than the gesture he usually gives people, because in the fight, in this, he finds more pleasure than he had known while he was alive.

He marches into battle, calling ice to cover his armor and lessen the wounds caused by the bullets he would have been riddled with. When he reaches them, he sets his swords to work, the ghoul fighting with him as much as any other weapon.

By the third soldier he's struck down, his armor, his face, are spattered with blood- thick black ichor of his own leaking from the holes in his armor, and bright red blood mixing with it.]

[retraced]

I should be saying that to you!

[He's the Pandora agent here! Or something similar at least. He's trained for years to reach the physical and mental aptitude for fighting that he has, so he promises himself. But he can see from the expression on Leo's face that something has changed in the time he's been here, even though it was still only a few weeks prior that Gilbert remembers facing him at Reveil. Even if he hasn't developed a taste for fighting as some men do, he's grown more accustomed to it. Or maybe...it was just the same for him as it was for Gilbert back then. Staining your hands with blood for someone else's sake, no matter what the consequences.

Either way, doing things in this manner is more harmful than helpful in a war like this one.]

You can't keep acting recklessly like that. Innocent people could get caught in the middle of your fight!

no worries!

[onblackwings]

The black dragon of Takhisis, as it turns out, doesn't do much. Those few left still alive after her attack are in no shape to attack, so there's no reason to drop and finish them off.

She only circles overhead, eying the little golden spot below, like an ominous portent.

[onblackwings]

[ She considers it for a moment. It could be possible. It's true, after all, that she hasn't left him much action here. She'd pulled up in a near hover, but now she darts forward, toward his building. It looks nearly like she'll sideswipe it, but twists and banks at the last second. One foreclaw snakes out as she passes , wrapping Sharpe in a large, clawed talon. If she nics him while she's at it, well... there are bigger things to worry about. ]

[highhealplz]

Don't apologize. No one was prepared for any of this -- we all need help.

[ But that said, he hasn't missed Nic's glance, and does pick up the pace. Asami should be capable of keeping up, too, even if she doesn't quite realize it. So: ]

We're going to speed it up a little. Just let me know if it's too fast.