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

New York; 1020 | Open

[accidentalrebellion]

[Air thick with smoke. Everything on fire as far as the eye can see. Bodies surrounding her feet on all sides, while the stench of burning flesh invades her lungs and chokes her with more force than the smoke ever could.

These are things that are all too familiar; she experiences them almost every night. Only not to this scale, never to this scale. This is beyond anything that memory and imagination can provide.

Every cell in her body is frozen. Everything shuts down. Everything, that is, except for the one rational voice at the back of her mind.

Move, Katniss. You have to move.

The survival instinct takes over. It guides her fingers to notch an arrow and have it at the ready. It guides her feet to move quickly, enables her to have a decent amount of luck at dodging bodies and pieces of falling debris from damaged buildings.

But luck is never destined to last. Luck runs out of steam, putters and dies completely, when the inevitability that she'll find herself cornered becomes a reality.

One bow, one quiver of arrows against twenty soldiers moving in her direction, each carrying an arsenal of weapons so high-tech that even a Gamemaker could hardly fathom them.

The odds aren't exactly in her favor.]

[speakveryclearly]

[As the situation with Johnny d'Amico's melee mob died (died) down temporarily, Kanaya could afford expending some of her attention on the ranged assailant alone nearby. Arrows. What was this girl so dangerous humans thought she should be locked up (she shouldn't, no one should), from the past? Or just stupidly sentimental? She had no time to figure that out; she simply could see the intractable problem of dispensible ammunition that wouldn't return to its firer automatically.

She put her lipstick (chainsaw) away (into hyperspace) and drew upon her greatest asset: Speed. In a flashing white blur (both her skin and her dress, though the latter was rather stained with enemy blood), she gathered up half a dozen fired arrows and presented the clenched fistful to Katniss (a name she barely knew and wouldn't use) with a single curt word.)]

Here.

[accidentalrebellion]

[Out of the corner of her eye, she vaguely recognizes the face from so many months ago, from when her old roommate's... friend came looking for him. Or, at the very least, she recognizes the unnaturally white skin, the yellow eyes, the makings of everything that would suggest some kind of mutt. There's a name associated there, but at this moment, she can't remember what it is.

She only remembers wariness.

There are questions that flash in her mind before fading away again. Why help her? How did she get those, anyway?

But there isn't time for those questions. No time for a lot of anything, really. After a couple of seconds' hesitation, and with a slight degree of caution, she nods and reaches to take the arrows.]

[speakveryclearly]

[Already Kanaya can hear soldiers moving behind her. She takes a quick movement backwards, uncaptchalogues her chainsaw, spins in a circle to cut two soldiers in half with the whirring blade - and then comes close to Katniss again. There aren't questions for her, as she barely doubts her alignment in this moment; only strategic concerns, ones that wrinkle her brow.]

You're ranged and alone? That's not a good idea. You could join our group. Most of us are melee.

[diplomatique]

[ a flash of navy blue--tiny and light, and there's a boy before her, barely clearing five feet, not even thirteen yet. he raises his arms, gloved hands high above his head as a shimmering blue dome appears around them. it's translucent--the outside is able to be seen, but as the soldiers fire and try to attack, their attacks do not hit them. bullets seem to melt as soon as they make contact with the shield, swords just seemed to bounce off, energy shots and lasers were simply absorbed.

what's more, katniss may find her energy returning, any wounds closing rapidly to stitch her brand new.

he winces, the shield starting to fade. they're getting closer... and his energy is waning. he can't keep his paling up much longer.

he has to look over his shoulder to katniss. ]

Miss?

[accidentalrebellion]

[It all happens so fast.

One second, she's alone with a whole squadron coming straight for her, but in the next, the anticipated shots never come. Instead, in their wake is a series of impossibilities. A blue light. A boy, too young to have any business being here at all, standing in front of her. The strange feeling of strength returning to her muscles. When she looks down at her arm, a huge gash seals itself up right before her eyes. She inhales a sharp breath. How...--

The sound of a voice brings her back to reality.

In all that she doesn't understand, there's one thing she does. The boy is getting weaker, and if he keeps standing there like that, he's going to become an easy target.

She's not going to let that happen; the resolve cancels out everything else. She stands straight, her grip on her bow tight once more, and when she speaks, it's with a very serious tone.]

You need to get out of here.

[diplomatique]

[ he hears her tone; he hesitates, keeping one eye on her before looking back before him. he winces as the energy keeping the paling up starts to dissipate, and larsa breathes to try and suck as much air as he can. ]

I shall. Yet, a distraction may prove useful in guaranteeing a swift getaway, for you as well.

[accidentalrebellion]

[Something crosses her face then. A flash of irritation, maybe. This isn't the time or place for him to do something stupid; he's only going to get himself killed. Every second he stands here only increases the odds of that happening.

She shakes her head just slightly, then raises her bow, arrow notched on the string, as a demonstration of finality.]

Go.

[controlledvariable]

[At first she thinks the figure is a civilian, but as she leaps down between Katniss and the soldiers, recognition sparks, and she knows that she has to save this girl - Katniss? - because she's a friend of Ellie.]

I'm gonna need you to trust me, Katniss.

[She's tossing a few batarangs behind her, running towards Katniss, and praying the other girl will let Steph tug her into a crouch so she can cover them both with her cape as the batarangs explode, wiping out the soldiers.]

[accidentalrebellion]

[She knows that she and Gale wouldn't have survived as well as they had all those years if they hadn't made the mutual decision to trust each other. She and Peeta would've never made it out of the arena in the first place if they hadn't become allies. Sometimes, trust is a necessity. Sometimes, there isn't another choice.

This is one of those times. It's the only thing that stands between certain death and survival.

When the girl leaps in, when vague recognition comes to light, the decision is made in an instant; there's no way she's going to get past these soldiers alone, and she's more than aware of that fact. She loads an arrow, ready to aim it at the first soldier that comes within a reasonable range.]

Cover me.

[controlledvariable]

[She's never worked with any of the Arrows; Ollie had been here, briefly, but they talked more than they fought alongside each other, and there was no opportunity for it back home. But that doesn't mean she can't adjust, so she casts a quick glance at Katniss's bow, judging where she's aiming, before giving a quick nod and turning her attention to the other soliders.

At the end of the day, she's better fighting close range, but with her batarangs in hand she can make do, sending them flying at any soldiers who point their weapons at Katniss. Some of the batarangs are simplu sharp, cutting through the weak armor at the neck, but others shock their targets, or cover them in a block of ice; Steph really isn't focusing on which batarangs she pulls out, just doing what she can.]

We need to get to higher ground.

[They're outclassed, on the weapons front, and she doesn't know how good Katniss might be in close combat.]

[unholy_rebirth]

[She and her old roommate had never been very close. Mostly the tauren had tried to stay out of Katniss' way, aware that the human was even more cautious and wary of her than most. But that didn't stop Thereth from thinking of Katniss as a someone to look out for - at least, if she ever needed it, which she admittedly didn't seem to. But even the toughest warrior has the occasional hairy moment, where a giant cow friend might be helpful to have around. And it looks like this is that moment.

The axe swoops through the air as she thunders towards the group, trailing frost behind her. She's frozen her blood to toughen her body against their strikes, and her terrible scream demands that they focus on her.


Also, there's a gargoyle. It's totally gonna pick off one of the soldiers and drag him away. FUCKIN GARGOYLES, MAN.]

[chronologistics]

[You know what Dave isn't unaccustomed to? Bailing people out.

Usually in the form of traveling backward down the timeline and telling idiot bros to not blast off in stupid jetpacks to go fight denizens they weren't supposed to fight -- but this is close enough. What's one girl and her bow and arrow to twenty soldiers compared to a dumbass kid and a monster boss?

He's already had to do it once, and it had worked; naturally it should work to do it a second time. There's a bright red flash to her left as a kid in red hero jammies speeds by (it's almost too quick to catch) and presses his hand to the side of a nearby stoplight. The metal begins to rust, then rot, until finally the pole starts to tumble, then fall.

(It probably won't stop all of them -- a few of them are taken down by the sudden collapse -- but it should be enough to at least slow them down a little.)

With another red flash, he's standing next to her again and jerking his head in the direction of a nearby building that looks like it had once been a diner.]

That's our cue. Exit stage left. Let's do this.

[Don't make him drag you, Katniss.]