exsiliumlogs | Other Worlds: V 2.0

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Other Worlds: V 2.0

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.

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[ Still wearing his heavy armor, Kira trudged into the Hold. His eyes glazed over, his breathing was heavy and judging from his injuries he was really nearing death.

He didn't even have energy to speak up. ]

H-help ...

[ What Suzaku probably didn't notice was that Kira was not far away. He had seen that tiny corpse and had his head bent in shame. There was another small body a few meters away.

He hadn't been able to save them in time. It brought memories of the past again. He had failed to save that shuttle during the first war. It was a little different now. He wasn't crying anymore. He had already seen enough death, but the feeling of shame was still there.

Moments later, he noticed Suzaku. Thinking he was a civilian he approached him. If this person died here too, it would be another failure. ]

You need to get out of here ...

[She wants to argue, because if anyone should be a distraction, it should be her, with her body armor and arsenal of explosives, where Nikolai is just a man with some knives, albeit sentient ones.]

Be careful. I'll find you later.

[Maybe it's a promise she can't make, but after seeing him risking his life for all these people, she wants to help him, when she can.

It's dark, in the subway, but she doesn't need to look for the station master, not when her suit gives her torches and glowsticks, to be passed amongst the surviving civilians. The lenses in her mask help give her a rough outline out the tunnels, and once she's organized people into groups, she finds people who know the routes themselves, who are managing to keep their heads despite all the insanity. Those are the smart ones that Nikolai told her to find, and she gives them her instructions to lead the others out.

Part of her wants to go with them, but she's done the best she can, and knows she's of more use in the middle of the battle.

Twenty minutes pass before she's back on the surface, and things only seem to have gotten worse, but she just grapples up to the crumbling roofs, moving along them in search of Nikolai, following the paths of soldiers.]

We can keep fighting.

[Sometimes she wonders where exactly she learned that lesson. Keep fighting, even when there's no hope, no way to win, just keep fighting so long as there's something to fight. It's not something her father taught her, or Bruce, or anyone else she can think of.

Maybe it's just the product of stubbornness.]

Humans are resilient, maybe if some of them get to safety, hole up somewhere until the UE have taken what they want, they can surive.

[It sounds weak even to her own ears, but she wants to believe it.]

I'll have you know that I'm perfectly capable of...

[oh, ouch. that's an injury of hers flaring up something fierce.]

You'd be better off having this bed occupied by someone who truly needs it.

[like you don't Alice.]

They can undo losing an entire world? Because from the sound of it, that's what's happening.

What do you think's the whole point of us? We don't go around fighting the U.E. like on their terms. We go and do shit way back in time so whenever we come back here, they're that much weaker. Then someday they'll be so useless the Initiative can take 'em down for good.

"Heh, good that you didn't." It wasn't like could be mad or disappointed in someone for not going. What she saw and the beating they had at all taken... Maybe staying behind would've been the better option. "Yeah, don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I just..." A deep breath.

"It was really bad out there."

Stop.

[He pushes Jesse away for a moment, hands still clutching his shoulders.]

Seriously. Stop it. I didn't — [A pause. He gives Jesse a quick once-over, expression pained.] It wasn't about dying with you. I didn't want you to die for me, okay?

And then what, huh? You think they'll just pat us on the back, say congrats, and send us home? Oh, wait. They can't.

[He rubs his eyes.]

I don't like fighting someone else's war any more than you or the next guy in this dump. But I'm doing what I can. [A sweeping gesture, to indicate the entirety of the office.] And now that those U.E. assholes are taking out a whole world to make a point...

[Saul trails off, unsure of where he's going with this. Was that even Jesse's point? Probably not.

Maybe now's a good time for some coffee.]

[Saul stares at her as she speaks, eyes widening. By the time she looks at him, they're as big as saucers — shocked, scared, overwhelmed.]

Jesus. The whole world? There's no way we can — if they've done that much damage already, why are we even...?

[ Leo's had enough.

He doesn't want to be here in the first place, but the moment he'd heard that Elliot had gone (and of course he would) — well, what choice did he have? Even if death is temporary here, he can't bear the mere thought of Elliot going through that again so naturally Leo has to chase after him and drag him back. It's a futile battle anyway, this world is long lost.

So it's only thanks to an idiot master that he's moving through the ruined streets of Paris with Jabberwock by his side, desperately searching. It's a difficult task in all the chaos of battle, but one Leo stubbornly sticks to. Bullets don't harm Jabberwock much and Leo finds them easy to shrug off whenever he does get hit. Easier than getting impaled through the chest at least. So he has little regard for his own safety and keeps to his goal single-mindedly, not allowing himself to linger on the memories that include similar bloody scenes that are now playing out here.

It's Jabberwock who notices the presence of another Chain, one it remembers, and suddenly veers away. Leo doesn't even notice at first, thinking it's just attacking UE soldiers again, but then there's a sharp tug in his mind like Jabberwock wants him to know and he finally gets distracted when he turns and sees the cause of Jabberwock's defection.

Oz the B. Rabbit.

It's not surprising to find him here in that state, but Leo falters on the spot. He doesn't have time for this nor is he particularly eager to get near and potentially get impaled again, but Oz might know where Elliot is. Thus he yells for Jabberwock to stop it from lunging, the giant black-winged Chain landing a few feet away instead — feathers ruffled and angry — before he moves to join his Chain's side.

If Leo was honest with himself, it's also perhaps because somewhere deep down he doesn't feel like he can leave Oz like this, having no clue what he actually is, but Leo's seldom honest with himself. He comes to a stop next to Jabberwock, putting a steadying hand on its neck. ]

Oz. [ It's a sharp, commanding tone. Glen's voice more so than Leo's. ]

[That will never not be creepy.

He sighs at her point, rubbing his face for what's probably the fiftieth time since waking.]

It shouldn't be me, either. Do you think Sue would do it?

That was something I couldn't find the answer for. [She'd asked, but the most she'd gotten were shrugs, mumbled answers about hoping for the best, before she'd decided to focus on the more factual parts of what the fuck was going on.]

Either they really do hope the Transports can defeat an entire armed force, when none of them are trained to deal with this situation together. [Her people know how to work as a unit, fighting alongside each other, when it comes to it, and that makes such a difference.] Maybe they just want to do as much damage to the United Earth as they can, it's not as though Transports stay dead, after all.

[It's clear, from her tone, that she doesn't think they don't stay dead is an acceptable reason to throw people into a battlefield.]

[Saul looks up when Feferi enters, saying nothing but watching carefully. He's a little surprised when she heads to the coffee pot — she doesn't seem like the type — and is even more surprised when she offers it to him.]

Thanks. Are you staying here today, or...?

[He could mean two things with that question: Are you staying in the office? and Are you going off to fight?]

[That does it. Jesse dissolves into wracking sobs. There's not a moment between breaths for him to even get a word out, although occasionally it sounds like he's trying. He wants to tell Saul that he'd so much rather die than be the last one standing. That if anyone should go, it should be him, because he's already dead anyway.

But most of all he wants to know what Saul's game is. After hurting Jesse so bad, why's he pretending like they're friends? Why's he drawing this out? Why's he making it confusing? Because everything up to now could have been another one of Heisenberg's tricks, Saul just following Heisenberg's orders, and Jesse was pretty sure that was what it was up until an hour ago.

Only the Saul he imagined wouldn't sacrifice himself. Now Jesse doesn't know what to believe. All he knows is that he can't live through another deception like Mr. White put him through, and the idea that Saul's trying this on him is too terrible. It almost seems like one of them finally cares about him. Why are they doing this to him?]

[Rise's been antsy and nervous ever since that announcement. She wanted to help this time, but there's nothing she can do. The idea of fighting terrifies her - she can deal with analyzing Shadows, but what's she supposed to do in the real world? Against real people? It's too terrifying... too painful.

So instead, she decides to try and help out in the medical wing.

"Try" being the operative word. Looking around at all the injured, the poor girl is pale and wide-eyed in shock. She only just barely manages to snap out of it a little when she sees a familiar face tending to someone...]

Sh-Sheryl-san?

[She's trembling a bit, but determined to fight through it. There has to be something she can do!]

Can I... I mean, is there anything you need help with?

[She's looking at Sheryl's latest "patient" with obvious concern. She feels so useless right now... even just doing something small to help these people would be better than this...]

[ She regrets her choice of staying, but there is little she can do. Elena might be many things but she isn't a soldier. She can hold her own in a firefight, but from the reports that seem to be coming in... what was happening on that world was more than just a simple firefight.

So despite her rejects, she stays behind and helps where she can. She rushes around the Hold tending the wounded with little skills she has, staring at maps and generally pacing. She finds herself thinking about Nepal and her stomach twists uncomfortably, she can only imagine what it looks like on the other side of the transporter. She can only hope they save as many people as they can and-

They come back. All of them.

But she knows better than that. She walked through the streets of Nepal, she saw Jeff-

It is after two hours she tries to break away from the chaos. She just... needs to breathe for a second, just one second. ]

Jesus, Jesse...

[Saul hates not knowing what to do. He's so shell-shocked by Jesse's reaction that it's thrown him off completely — should he stay? Should he go? No; that's not an option. He couldn't leave Jesse like this, even if he wanted to.

And right now, he can't imagine a world where he would want to.

The realization makes him pull Jesse forward to lean against his chest once more. He tries to seem as sturdy as possible for Jesse's sake, though there's no hiding the way he's trembling.]

C'mon. It's okay. Just — just take a deep breath. Please.

I don't care about "and then what". I got nothing good waiting for me on our world, and I definitely ain't going if there's any chance it'll get destroyed. Like... Whatever, man. No skin off my nose, far as that's concerned.

( Atlas is surprised by the voice, and turns to the man eyebrows raising a little. The sight of the bleeding body is hardly new, hardly a shock all things considered with what's out there, but he shock of being addressed and his attention drawn (inadvertently) to someone specific forces him to stand alongside Ibin.

His expression is sorrowful, because there's no way he can't go, but he does hold out his hands.

Ice crystalises on one, and flames burst from the other, as he nods towards the wound the medic is trying to staunch. Would either of those options help, icing or cauterising? )

( Atlas has a lot of respect for a man who can twirl. Especially if they twirl well -- the other guy, Adonis? His sisters did ballet. Definitely thumbs up for impressive twirling. And, yeah, that's a thing that actually happens, a thumbs up, and then holding up his hands, eight fingers: not quite a ten out of ten score for that twirl, but an eight was not bad.

And the acrobatics were reassuring, again, to suggest this guy could hold his own. A grin at the comment, and he offers an apologetic shrug, before shaking out his shoulders and trying to focus on forcing the break wider, even if there's the sound of approaching units.

Come on, come on. )

[Jesse would be better off if he was the type of person who could push someone away at a time like this. There is, in fact, a part of him that's screaming for Saul to get away from him. It's the smart part of him, the one that always delivers harsh truths, and it's also the one that almost put a bullet in Mr. White's head the day Brock got sick.

But here's the idiot that always ruins it, clinging to Saul and crying like a lost little boy. He wants to believe that it's not going to hurt this time. He still can't bring himself to say anything, but it's slowly getting better as long as Saul's supporting him. It's getting easier to accept.]

[Hisoka hated this. He didn't want to be a burden like this to Tsuzuki. But of course he had ended up injured in the fighting, trying to defend his partner and others from the United Earth forces. He was supposed to be able to help and protect Tsuzuki. Not have to be practically carried back to the Hold with his partner fretting over him.

He hates hospitals and such of any kind, after three years of illness from Muraki's curse back home. He can practically smell the antiseptic and it almost makes him want to gag. He was used to pain at least, but that didn't necessarily make it any easier. Hisoka was sure there were probably others with more serious injuries, but he knew his own also did need tending to, disinfected and bandaged at the least with his leg and arm.]

Just get it over with then. [He tells Sheryl, preparing for the sting of the disinfectant.]

[Lacus's first instinct had been to check the tablet to check on Kira, find out where he was. Which turned out to be a good thing, when she saw his message, replying.]

I'm in my room.

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Page 57 of 157

Other Worlds: V 2.0

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[The Hold]

ɪɴɪᴛɪᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ ʜᴏʟᴅ → ᴏᴘᴇɴ

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mmm delicious multiple deaths

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