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

[imusntrunaway]

[I'm sorry to hear that. Those are the words he should say, to give as a common courtesy and comfort. But he holds his tongue. He's apologized enough to her.

Instead, he says:]

I'm allowed to get whatever the patients need.

... do you want anything?

[redheadcarrier]

[She should shove him away and tell him to leave her alone. She should scream at him. She should do something to hurt him. But she doesn't want to. She's feeling alone and numb and shocked - she's meant to be invincible, even if that's a lie she's told herself to keep herself going. She shakes her head quietly and then scoots down the cot just slightly, making a bit of room.

She's not going to say anything. But it's an invitation. She's been trying to get better at this and even though it hurts, she should try.

Maybe it's his last chance.]

[imusntrunaway]

[And he, in return, had expected to be bossed around, to be told to leave, to be hounded. But when she moves down, conceding instead of attacking, he feels something stir. A bit of pity.

None of them are invincible. That's the lesson that's been pounded cruelly against them. But it still hurts to see those bolder than a coward like him stripped down to a child again.

In the end, what they both want is comfort. Even if he doubts that he can offer it...

And so he sits. He doesn't hold her hand. He doesn't apologize for her wounds. But he stays.

He doesn't run. Not this time.]

[redheadcarrier]

[Asuka's shoulders drop just slightly, tension bleeding out of her. She doesn't know if she should want this or even if she does. But he's staying. He's not running away. He's not abandoning her. And maybe that's all she needs right now. Maybe she just wants someone or something to confirm that she matters to them.

It's not perfect, but it'll do.]

...maybe I should've stayed behind after all.

[imusntrunaway]

... I'm glad you're still here.

[It's a small scrap of sincerity handed like a peace offering. It could have been worse. Death here doesn't seem to have any sway, but even so... dying twice sounds too cruel for anyone to go through.]

[redheadcarrier]

Yeah. So am I.

[That's appropriately vague enough to be about either one of them, right? Right.]

[imusntrunaway]

[He looks down, thinking.]

... we're losing. [It's a scary thing to admit. But the snatches he's overheard while he was running points to nothing else. They've been in this sort of desperate situation before. Only, there's no one and nothing to save them from it. His hands curl.] Do you think...

[Do you think we're safe here? Will they break through? Are we going to die? He can't decide on which ones to ask, though, so he swallows his words and leaves the question hanging.]

[redheadcarrier]

[It feels a bit familiar. She remembers the last, glorious five minutes before she became acutely aware that she was going to lose. That she was going to fail. She doesn't laugh and she tilts her head to look at Shinji.]

...yeah, we are.

[She doesn't want to die again. Her fingers curl against the cot.]

...it happens fast, you know.

[She had been angry and that had let her ignore the pain. But she knows that saying "it doesn't hurt" is a lie.]

[imusntrunaway]

[He's faced death before. But it's been in the plug, where he was distracted by orders from NERV and could actually do something to stave off the fear for a little bit. He could slash and kick and tear at the enemy, but this...

He doesn't want to die. But he can't do anything but sit here with a sick feeling seeping through him, hoping that maybe it won't come to that.]

... I'm scared.

[Just like a child standing before a dark room.]

[redheadcarrier]

[Shinji's always scared. But so is Asuka. She's always been terrified, she's just been good at hiding it. She remembers waiting for the end to come in her inactive Eva, murmuring over and over to herself - I don't want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die - and she swallows. She can't look at him.]

...yeah. Me too.

[imusntrunaway]

[He falls silent, his head bowed.

In the chance that the UE makes it through--would they have time to run? Would they have anywhere to run to? He swallows. He wishes Kaworu was here. Kaworu would know what to do. What to say to both of them. The most Shinji can do is sit here mutely besides Asuka, hand curled and close to hers but not quite touching.]