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

[hostage]

I guess it's real.

[khajidont]

[Jaime stiffens underneath her touch, though it's nearly impossible to tell while he's in the armor. It's not that a show of comfort is unneeded at this moment - it is and will be if and when they win or get the hell out of here - but all this has left him feeling brittle, stretched almost. Racing off into space and risking only his own blue butt is nothing compared to this type of responsibility, and a part of him knows that if he allows himself to unwind now, there's no going back.

It's much easier to just stay on the job. Don't think, just act.] You don't have to apologize. It's...

[Everything he can think of saying isn't quite right. He understands that war involves killing, but it's not the sort of thing he wants to justify out loud. His little dip into Peacemaker's mind is a good reminder of just how that can go wrong.

He ends up just rolling his shoulders in a shrug.] Let's save as many innocent people as we can, [he finally says, and that's neutral enough to suit his purposes. Philosophizing can come later. For now, he concentrates on doing as Steph says.]

The friendly fire thing is too bad, [he says, voice hitching in mid-sentence as the gun of the tank fires.] We could use something like this for shuttling around more of the injured. Picking up two at a time isn't cutting it.

[gevurah]

[ She has to duck behind the wall as shrapnel embeds itself against the window sill and some of it hits the UE soldiers who are still disoriented. As one lunges at her, her leg stretches out to kick him hard in the jaw and send him bowling over into his comrades.

In the meantime, she takes the opportunity to get out the window and onto the ledge. Desperately she scans for Coby's heat signature, making it out with her visor. ]

You'll kill yourself. You are not dying on my watch. [ She jumps off the edge, expanding her cape to help glide her safely to the crater. ]

[5055034455]

Sure is. At least we've got a cool story to tell now, huh?

[saul.......]

[quisling]

[ With the way the numbers are stacked against them, keeping them off the offensive if the best they can hope to do right now, but if Emil's focusing on more than one of them Suzaku's going to do his best picking off the one closet to him and putting him down on a more permanent (or at least temporary basis that last longer than a few minutes).

The fact that he might have just yanked a gun off the first soldier he manages to knock out does help a little. It's certainly easier to aim and shoot a guy charging in right than it is to run over and try to stab him, or knock him down with a kick. ]

[hostage]

Nobody here's gonna be impressed we got blown up once.

[hejhej]

[Lisbeth tilts her head. It was a simple enough question.]

You can stay here if you want. Jules' presence might be too much for you right now anyway.

[vaudevil]

You've...had them before?

[Lee wanted to kick himself for not noticing it and even worse, he really felt bad for Margulis' constant torment.]

Would it help if I stayed with you?

[hostage]

Yeah.

[A good plan. He reaches for Lisbeth's hand to clutch it tightly.]

[biwinning]

Don't touch me, he says, and then proceeds to clean on Sollux's shoulder. Sollux should really say something about that, at least point out the hypocracy. But he doesn't.

It's really not quiet here at all. Machines beeping, people yelling, things being pushed around and rolled around and it's really noisy here. It's giving Sollux a minor migraine. The lights are too bright, the room is too white. But he stays, and he sighs and watches as Equius starts to lose feeling in his limbs.

"You're a stubborn nookthucker," Sollux says, and leans his head against Equius'. It's easier than it should be, because Equius' missing horn means there's a fairly flat surface to lean against. "Bleeding out ith one of the worst waysth to die. And then you dragged your ass all the way back here, to die in a corner, slowly." He snorts, thinking about how the other must have been limping his way all over the battlefield. "If only you put that kind of effort into not being an asshole. Then maybe things could have been different."

[moralperil]

Don't worry about me, I'm fine.

[Mahdi says it cheerfully, but his face falls quickly.]

But I've been looking all over the city... and...

[He bites his lip hard.]

The city's gone dark. The souls in this city... there should be so many more, and they're just not here. It's nothing but soldiers and Transports.

[controlledvariable]

[She lands silently in front of him, her own smile just as crooked, and she can't even be bothered to roll her eyes at the name.

It's a relief to see him still alive.]

About fifty of them, hopefully they can keep each other safe.

[She doesn't have much hope of that, but she can't spend all her time shepherding one small group when there are so many other civilians, so many other soldiers.

She takes a proper look at Nikolai, attention drawn to the wound on his leg, and she starts peeling her gloves off, tucking them on her belt so she can get out a proper bandage.]

May I?

[apparently she has manners.]

[misplacedxsheath]

For the past year. Ever since I learned the truth of Ormus.

I'd hoped to keep them concealed...I'm not sure whether or not company would even be a safe idea, let alone a good one.

*Some of his nightmares can get pretty violent...*

[justthedriver]

[ Nikolai is almost sorry that he's caused the dwarf more injuries, but when he's rammed into, his ribs protesting, Nikolai gasps, curls into himself, his hand shoving Thorin a distance away as he splays his hand over his chest, trying to breathe. There's at least two or three ribs cracked. Goddamnit. The only good thing - if it can be called good at all - is that he's nowhere near as badly hurt as he was in the bathhouse, back in London.

Still, Thorin is a fucking idiot. Nikolai squeezes open his eyes, hissing out air through his teeth. ]

Don't want to be around you. But don't want you to get killed even more. [ Strange, isn't it, how an emergency can render a dishonest man honest. He looks at Thorin, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him close. ] Plenty of people dying out there. Don't need another one to add to number.

[ Even though, he knows, that dying means nothing because they will be revived. Nikolai coughs, and wipes a small trail of blood from his lips. ]

Find way back to portal. You do that, I cover your way.

[ And with that, he's throwing himself backwards from Thorin. Waiting for him to make his decision while, up the stairs, sounds of battle and destruction continue, and Nikolai's fingers twitch and twitch. ]

[freewoman]

They'll keep doin' it, y'know. The only way t'hurt them is by attackin' these United lands.

[khajidont]

Yeah, that's me. [Jaime blinks down at her, clearly taken by surprise. It doesn't take long for him to find a decent place to land, so he sets her down on a one-story building soon afterwards.]

You know me? Oh. [And now he sees exactly why that would be. He may not be too good at recognizing other superheroes, but there's no mistaking the bat emblazoned on her chest if nothing else.] You must be from Gotham.

[hejhej]

[She reaches for his without hesitation. Lisbeth leans forward and kisses him, placing her other hand on his shoulder blade.]

[quisling]

[ While it wasn't always true, and Suzaku could think of one very prominent figure in his life that turned that statement on its head, it wasn't exactly a bad general rule to expect.

There's no way for him to clench his fist tighter than he is right now as he listens to the response. ]

Yeah... I thought as much.

[ Just taking a few seconds to sweep across the destruction here... to see all the bodies and know how quick the UE was to start this massacre. No, there was no way these people had even been given a chance. ]

[quisling]

[ She can nudge all she wants, but he doesn't seem to be budging from the spot. If it was any other time the concern might actually be pretty touching. It probably should be now, but he's still too wrapped up in what just happened to really think about that. ]

No...

[ Shaking his head slowly. ]

If there's a concern about space, then the people who actually need the help should get the treatment first.

[quisling]

[ The look he's giving him right now is walking the lines of pained and pity... ]

Lucky isn't the word I'd use right now... What happened to the other people that came with you on the trip?

[ringbeast]

[He groans and squeaks his way to his feet, and then leans back against the wall for another moment.]

Yeah, yeah, don't thank me. Who'd be my rival if you were gone? I'm a dangerous man, can't be left to my own devices even for however long it takes to bring you back.

[He pushes lightly away from the wall, and then takes a couple hesitant steps.]

Yeah, should be fine. Man, I'm hungry. Hope the infirmary has some food along with all that future science.

[If he thinks about it, it's strange that he feels hungry. He's too busy putting one foot in front of the other to realize that it's Chimaera who is hungry. He looks over his shoulder at Haruto.]

We gotta move. I'll go Chameleo if anything crazy comes up.

[knifenut]

[ Best to keep up that secret for as long as possible, though admittedly with someone like Belphegor knowing she's the same woman might not necessarily make a lot of difference to him.

And why is he here? Why... he's here to have some fun, of course!

As he leans down to retrieve his knife he actually behaves himself and doesn't do anything more than quickly yank the knife out of the soldier's body. Unfortunately for him Bel's knives are specifically designed to have serrated edges and as he rips it out the knife cuts more flesh on its way out, nice and painfully. ]

[gunsling]

[ Hesitating there with his guns held out before he finally drops them to his side. There are soldiers around them... there are soldiers actively running around them not that far away, and Jake is lowering his weapons. ]

Well I can't keep it up if you're going to stand there and watch me!

[ OH MY FUCKING GOD. JAKE. WHY? ]

[vaudevil]

[Lee wasn't sure if he should take what Margulis said as a warning, but he wasn't about to let him suffer alone.]

I see. Are you worried that you would hurt me?

[gunsling]

[ He understands those sentiments all too well. In fact, he's feeling so out of his element here that just seeing a familiar face is already a huge relief. He starts to smile but quickly stops that nonsense. Now is not the time for that.

Instead he'll just be jogging towards her to close the gap. ]

Roxy!