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

[concealingeyes]

[She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't have let Shintaro and Momo come along, either. But she really did think-

What was she thinking? They're kids. For once, she can admit that. They're kids and they shouldn't be here, not in this place, not working for the Initiative, none of it. But this mission proves they can't even go back home. What if this had been their home? Seto and Mary would be...

All Kido wants to do is lead them out of the trouble she got them into. They wouldn't say it's her fault, probably, but she's their leader. They're still listening to her for some reason. Her eyes let them take these brief moments and she might be indulging them too much but they're going home now.]

Kano, give him a second. We don't need him passing out. Rub his back or something.

[Their first mission had to be this, huh? Kido fills the moment thinking what she can do when they get back to make this easier for them. She opens her mouth to send Kano to scout but it's not much to check around and he's already at Shintaro's side.

Kido quietly steps away, climbing up a nearby pile of broken bricks and rubble. From there she can see around them so much better. This wasteland that was Japan - not their home but it's home and she can't recognise a thing - with heaps of bodies and buildings makes her feel sick, so sick that she almost doesn't notice the movement.

It's only one soldier. But they can't even beat one. She freezes, eyes red, and she watches him coming closer. No, he heard the noise, he heard them and he'll find them because she isn't with them, because she made a mistake-

Her nails dig into her palms as her eyes turn green and she shouts.]

Oi, bastard!

[The soldier spins around to face her. Sound found. And a horrible, searing heat confirms the sound stops. Kido stumbles, doubling over and holding her stomach. She's never been in pain like this. She can't think and doesn't notice when she falls down.

But, it's fine, right? Even this pain will go away. It already drains out of her so fast that she can't think.

Just don't find her friends.]

[controlledvariable]

Heard it, decided to ignore it.

[So cheerful, even if that cheerfulness is almost entirely forced, because sometimes she just has to grit her teeth and pretend like everything is alright for other people's sakes. She doesn't think Jaime is going to freak out or anything, but it can help, if there's someone around who seems like they've got everything under control.]

I dunno, can the scarab take over a tank?

[This technology is a little beyond her, but if Jaime and the scarab can handle it, she's not saying no to getting a tank in their arsenal.]

[debtor]

[Cat's life is significantly more important to him than Nymeria's... but he'd never be forgiven if he let the wolf die. And she won't be convinced to abandon her.

He begins to lift himself up, as the weapon fire increases.]

I'll hold them off. If she can move at all, get her out of their range.

[What other choice is there? The cape flaps up, uncovering them as he rushes headlong at the troops, which have gotten uncomfortably close. But if he can at least divert their attention, that might be good enough.]

1500;

[biwinning]

He feels like he overexerted himself. Which is true, he definitely did. He went berserk, started firing lasers everywhere- and was quickly shot down afterwards. But not after he had destroyed at least twenty-two tanks, total. That was a bragging point he intended to make at least, as he had spiraled down to the ground, yellow blood falling out of him slower than the rest of his body was. Either way, both he and his blood had landed to the ground with a splat. Falling to his death was not something he ever wanted to repeat was his first thought when he woke up. His limbs felt weak, and limp. His feet refused to do more than shuffle, and although his clothes were perfectly fine, he still felt like shit. Maybe he'd go get some actual food. With someone, not just to eat alone. Maybe he'd see if anyone he knew had died and come back yet.

Sollux shuffled to the Hold, where people were being healed and revived, and tried to stay out of rushing nurses way to find someone he knew. There were quite a few he didn't, and wow, so many species here have red blood. But then he saw something that was familiar. Blue blood. Equius.

The yellowblood approached the slumped troll, still not bothering to pick his feet up much, but he manages enough to lightly kick at Equius' leg.

"Tho you got really fucked up too, huh? Nothing like getting your ath kicked by an army to realize how shitty you are at fighting."

He means Equius, although it could easily be applied to both of them. ...There's blood, yeah. A lot of blue blood, though. Sollux stares a bit harder, looking over Zahhak another time. He's not just sitting around recovering.

"... You're dying."

[ringwizard]

[Haruto climbs straight up at the call, and pauses at the peak of it in order to pause in midair long enough to make sure there aren't any magical falcons about to fly into him. Then he's back in action, passing the Special Ring over his Driver to call down lightning toward the back end of the aircraft in conjunction with Nitoh's attack. He shifts in midair, twisting away from the fire now spreading from the plane's engine.]

You doing okay over there?

[He's hyperaware of the mana draining from Nitoh with every spell, though he's still spending his own like nothing. His will come back soon enough, after a snack. Keeping Chimaera happy in a situation like this, though--he has no desire to see Nitoh flash off the battlefield like several people have already, resurrection technology or not.]

[speakveryclearly]

So she sat, moved her occupied hand to loop around the other girl's shoulders, as her free hand began to hold her eyeshadow and loaded the gun it actually was.

The very least she owed Rose was not to leave her.

"I won't. Other people do that quite a bit more often than me." She wasn't looking at Rose anymore, only staring at the soldiers approaching in the distance. Counting them. Counting bullets. That would probably be necessary.

Tried not to think about it too much.

YEAAHH GO TEAM

[bumbles]

( Despite everything, that sup wins Dave a quick grin. Even in all this - especially in all this? - that's something to be said for a good attitude. Atlas nods to the rubble, offers a quick thumbs up. Obviously this guy can hold his own, and safety in numbers is the way to go, right now.

There's no time to think, with the new wave moving in, and Atlas rolls his eyes, tilting his head towards them with a grin. The earth shudders, but this takes focus, and he's glancing to his new partner in crime to warn him to brace himself. His hands clench into fists, before he swings them down to strike the ground. It splits with a massive crack, a chasm to swallow that next wave, though his breath is heavy as he tries to force the chasm wider. )

[flightybookshrew]

Rose makes a soft noise that might be a laugh, but it's hollow. "Something like that." Her attention shifts to the wands still laying on the floor nearby, staring at them beneath the curve of her hood. She had almost left them behind in the other world, not even certain what would happen if she had.

Would they have stayed there? Would they have turned up in her drawer the next day like some twisted monkeys paw?

"I was using the Thorns," she continued finally. "If you need to destroy an army, I really can't think of a more viable weapon of mass destruction."

And then she made a stood mistake and got shot. Whoops.

[anklets]

[It's happening, she thinks- Allen is bowing, bowing as she'd heard so many men bowed to death and destruction. She steels herself and sweeps herself up onto aching legs, hugging a dark stain all down her left side, and tries to ignore those words— "you could die".

Catches Allen up in her arms, halfway. It is an angry, selfish, hurting embrace.]

You have to! We can't win this, Allen, we've already lost-

[fujibayashi]

[It's better than nothing. Only now does she have the guts to look at her elbow. It'll heal up in its own time, but she'll need a sling for that.]

Thanks.

[She's going to say more, but she's interrupted by the intercom. Sheena goes silent and wide-eyed, looking at the ceiling as if they've just been informed that the roof is going to fall in.]

That's... Someone's going to lose their world.

[She frowns and bows her head.]

It's too awful.

a.

[limitstorm]

[ and as he disappears, as more footsteps approach where a blur of him might've been, there's an unholy screech. bodies hit the floor without sickening squelches--in fact, they seem to be asleep, as one set of footsteps grows closer and closer to where robin lays on the ground.

riku peers out as safely as he's able, the distant flap of bat wings heard behind him as he outstretches a hand. ]

Hey.

[debtor]

[For a second, Allen elated to catch a glimpse of something - someone - who appears to be alive, and well, and not of the UE. Somebody survived, somebody—

is Xerxes Break, upon closer inspection. And he's...

eating, while Paris is dying.

Allen slams the door wide open as he marches on in, fist curled in a tight ball. He sounds somewhat displeased.]

Xerxes Break!

[substitutable]

[What child or adult doesn't recognize the sound of a gun anymore? It's everywhere. In movies, in video games, in everything, and Shintaro of course recognizes it. He was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, trying to shrug Kano off his arm while trying not to puke all over again, when the sound cuts through everything and makes him jerk himself free from Kano's grip and look around in alarm. Something tells him to look up.

And there she is. Falling. It doesn't take 168 IQ points to put together what happened.]

... Kido?

[For a moment, her green hair looks darker. Black hair. A red scarf?

He thinks he's going to throw up again.]

[flightybookshrew]

"Mm," Rose couldn't really manage a response to that, everything was sort of...fuzzy and distant and she was absolutely certain this should have hurt more than it did. It was mostly just annoying. Especially the coughing.

She wasn't even the soldiers approaching, wasn't aware of anything except the faint sensation of Kanaya holding her. Her violet eyes were barely open, but they were staring at the rainbow drinker, and she opened her mouth as if to say something...

And then she was gone.

[b] 'v'

[anklets]

[The chains lash and nearly tripwire her; Lenalee, accustomed to catching footholds in the air and nothing else, narrowly skips over and misses them, sudden old parallels invading her head wayward and unwelcome. For a second, she is somewhere else. Then she turns her cheek and her breath leaves her in a cold rush (colder still than her winds).

Priorities go into elaborate tailspins.]

—Oz?!

[ringbeast]

[He takes a deep breath as the plane retreats from view, smoking into the scenery below. Probably the scenery he used to walk around in. He pushes the thought aside and nods at Haruto.]

I'm sitting at like 60% right now!

[At least the saber strike worked out. Nitoh keeps pretty good track of his own mana, and a saber strike uses a sizeable chunk whether it hits a decent number or not. It's a relief to get a good roll, but he knows he has only so many in him, and at this point with how liberally Haruto is using his magic, he might have to pull back at some point soon.]

You just worry about you, I got this!!

[He doesn't plan on dying, whether he's coming back or not. He has always had a better handle on his own mana reserves than Haruto, out of necessity. But now, when a fight isn't likely to end with him restoring his mana, things are a bit more dire. He's thinking about the fact that risk-reward has just turned into risk when the air sucks in around him and a shockwave travels through the air, bowling him over.]

GROUND TO AIR!!!

[He loses control of his already precarious high-altitude cape flight and starts to spiral to the ground.]

[speakveryclearly]

Kanaya's eyes widened, briefly, as she felt Rose go still - the pulse stopping where her neck pressed against her arm. Death, then. Familiar to her, yes, but not quite as such a close feeling. Blades were sharp. The softer death of bullets was one Kanaya naturally normally experienced at a distance.

Then there was shooting to be done, after she moved the lumber in front of her to provide a tiny bit of cover. The soldiers were getting closer, and the advantage the thin alleyway provided in one fallen's body blocking the people behind it could only last for so long.

B

[inafadingcrown]

[Elissa, oh no, Elissa. Dreadful as a healer's job may be, it is always harder when the patient is a friend. The instant Galadriel spots her, she makes her way over, bending down to examine the wound for herself before even bothering to speak.]

You were lucky, my friend, though it may be some time before you feel it.

[nobleminded]

Elliot only stops at the doorway when the building explodes, which at least saved him from racing out into the open right away and possibly getting hit by another hail of bullets.

He tries to figure out the source of the explosion. He really doubted the UE was behind that particular bit of destruction since that building seemed destroyed enough before then. Who was capable of...?

And then he spots a familiar form off in the distance. Something about the way he looked...it reminded him of that strange occurrence in Sablier. He looked like Shorty, but he certainly didn't seem like Shorty. Despite his concern for Break, he calls out.

"Oz Vessalius?!"

[bumbles]

The look he gives her. "Atlas." Rasped out, harsh, and she is the only person who has ever, will ever, hear Atlas speak. "We have t-to-- to try." There's desperation, now, tearing his throat. Until minutes ago this was his purpose, all he had, because she wasn't here. His chest hurts with it, with what he saw and what he did.

"I-- we k-killed." They had, first, the United Earth, but now he had killed as well. And it couldn't have been for nothing, meaningless. He killed. That wasn't what he was meant to do.

[wilder]

[We've already lost- even for Zelos those are hard words to hear. He wasn't as naive or idealistic as Allen. He knew when to fold, he knew not to jeopardize himself unless absolutely necessary and he knew they were way outnumbered and outgunned. Yet, at the same time? He can't help but feel those words means he failed yet another world. Some pathetic failure of a Chosen he is...]

[So while Allen's being hugged? He'll look away, down at the ground. Unlike Allen, there is no crying from him. Tears aren't really a thing he can do. Nor can he think of anything to add to that, really.]

[chronologistics]

The group of people fussing over the dying guy -- at least, it sounds like he's dying -- begin to get agitated; someone is hissing increasingly-frantic commands for gauze and needles.

"Troll scremo," it comes out automatically, but lacking the usual comical deadpan.

[thephix]

Everything changes when he says that.

The cigarette is forgotten, dropped on the floor as she closes the distance between them, bringing her hand to his cheek and her expression softens, anger pushed aside. She's asked a lot of him, since they met, but not once has she asked him to kill, because she knows what that does to a person, because he remembers how he looked, when she'd killed those men who tried to hurt her.

"It's alright, you'll be alright," It's a lie, probably, but she tells it with conviction.

[eyecaptivating]

[She breathes out a sigh, somewhat relieved to see Shintaro stop heaving, although she can't bring herself to stop hovering just yet. He's not sick, is he? Or hurt? He couldn't possibly be, right?

He's wiping his mouth, Kano at their side, when Momo lifts her arm, intending to reach for him. Before her fingers can reach him though, a loud sound cuts through the air, freezing her in place. Was that really... But... Just now?

Her heart in her throat, the blood rushing in her ears, she whirls around, soon finding the source of the sound. But she has to be seeing things. Kido wouldn't just get shot like that. She wouldn't. She can't.]

...Leader!

[The words leave her in a rush, torn out of her chest. She has to be seeing things.]

[inafadingcrown]

[Galadriel's arms wrap around Celebrían immediately, her fingers finding their way into her silver hair. She clings, almost afraid to let go.]

Hush now, henig. All will be well. [She begins to rock her gently from side to side without fully realizing it. A part of her is back in Eregion, comforting a crying child who had climbed into her bed, warding off the darkness and all that it may contain.] I am here.