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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[At that point, Saul's settled for ~~standing~~ pacing by her bedside. The medics shooed him away and tried to get him to leave, but he's stubborn, so he stayed. Waited. Watched. Brushed some hair from her face, too, when no one was looking.

For a few seconds, yeah, he's mad. Beyond mad, but not at her. Exhaustion rides in on that same wave, though, so it's only a matter of seconds before he just looks tired.]

Yeah, that's about the same reaction I had.

[That makes her open her eyes to look at him, frowning as she eases herself up, because she realizes that he's in here with the rest of everyone being revived, and while it's possible it's a coincidence, she doesn't really believe in those.]

Why are you here?

[What happened?]

Oh, y'know. Figured I'd drop by, see what it's like to be a corpse for a little while.

[He shrugs.]

You're not the only one who had to deal with an explosion today.

Saul.

[Stop being a smartass, because now she's worried. She hadn't really thought to be too concerned about Saul, having assumed he'd stay behind with the Initiative where it would be safe, but apparently she was wrong.]

What the fuck happened?

The guy they made the announcement about this morning, Adam Jensen. He shot me and Jesse and then he exploded.

[WHAT? IT'S AS GOOD AN EXPLANATION AS ANY.]

I'm still a little iffy on the other details. What about you?

[No, that's... gonna take a moment for her to process, as she just stares at Saul.]

What?

[She'll answer his question when she makes sure she heard that right.]

Details. Iffy. Also, just woke up from being dead. This is the best I can do right now. I don't know how many other people were hurt, but it was pretty messy. The guy went totally berserk.

[He sits on the vacant bed opposite hers, frowning at his hands.]

Give me an hour or two and I'll probably be able to give you a better idea of what happened.

[That's a hell of a lot to take in, and she has about a million questions, but she bites her tongue on them, not wanting to barrage him with things he can't answer.]

God, Saul, I'm sorry.

[She moves so she's facing him, but after a moment of just looking at him, she gets up and closes the distance between them so she can wrap her arms around his shoulders in a hug.

He seems like he needs one, and maybe she could use one, too.]

It's not —

[The rest of his words are lost in the hug. It's not her fault. If anything, it's his; he insisted on going downstairs. He let Jesse tag along. He didn't listen to the warnings.

And he died.

It's only now that he realizes he's been shivering, probably since he woke up. Shock, maybe? He doesn't know.

Saul wraps his arms around Steph's middle in return and presses his lips to her hair. Almost a kiss, but not quite. It is, however, enough for his words to come out in a low, barely audible mumble.]

Please don't go back.

[The whole thing is unfair. She doesn't care about her death, it's what happens to vigilantes, and half the time they don't stay dead regardless of Initiative technology, but Saul is different. He shouldn't have had to deal with dying.]

I have to. [gently, because she understands that now he's going to worry about her.] My friends are there.

[It's not about winning the battle anymore, she knows it's already lost, but until the Initiative calls a retreat she's going to keep fighting in the hopes she'll spare a few people the jolt of having to wake up here.]

[He expected that response, but it doesn't hurt any less. What hurts even more is the fact that it hurts at all.

His arms tighten around her for a fraction of a second. He doesn't know what to say — there's no point in begging her not to go, and he certainly doesn't want to admit that she's right. Or has a point, anyway.

She's more useful there than here. Especially now that Adam's out of the picture.

But that doesn't make him feel any less sick over the whole thing.]

[It should probably be strange, that she's used to comforting other people about things that happened, or will happen, to her, but she remembers dealing with everyone when she "came back" from the dead last time, so this isn't an entierly unfamiliar situation.]

I'll be careful, Saul, I don't plan on doing this again.

[Which isn't... entirely untrue, since she'd rather not die, but it's not like she's going to try to get herself killed, either.

This resurrection business wastes time.]

Like either of us planned it in the first place?

[Because he sure as hell didn't. He guesses Steph probably expected it, at some level. He'd heard about how dire the situation was, and he's not surprised by the body count in here.

Eventually, he pulls away enough to look at her. He's almost smiling.]

As your lawyer, I feel I should inform you that this is a stupid-ass decision.

I activated the self-destruct on my suit.

[So... yes, she did plan it, in a way, better than being strangled to death and letting them have access to her suit, although it seems to have joined her, despite the fact she blew it to smithereens.

She manages a proper smile, a Robin sort of expression, bright and reassuring.]

Is "stupid-ass" the technical term?

[She pats his arm before pulling back completely, moving to where her suit is folded up at the end of her bed, pulling on the underlayer pants, first, since the hospital gown is a little thin and revealing.]

[Well.

That's a kick to the gut.

He's quick to tell himself that she had a reason. It doesn't help. Realizing his legs feel a little bit too much like jelly for his liking, he returns to his previous position on the bed next to hers.]

The technical term is — [He glances away, focusing his attention elsewhere.] Reckless endangerment. Self-endangerment.

[That's not the technical term at all, but shh.]

[She turns away from him - which is a little pointless when the rest of the med bay is full of people, but she's more concerned about Saul's reaction than the nudity itself - to pull off the gown and pull on her undershirt.

Apparently her bra decided it wasn't part of her suit, and after everything, she's annoyed at the loss of a good bra.]

Yeah, that was kind of in my job description.

[Not that being a vigilante is really a job, but she figures he'll get the point.]

[There's no point in pretending like his gaze doesn't flick back toward Steph, but at least he has the good sense to quickly concentrate on one of the nearby monitors instead.]

I think you need a new job.

This is what I'm good for.

[It's meant to be a joke, thrown over her shoulder as she grabs her actual suit and starts pulling it on (the whole thing is one piece, zipping up at the back), but there's some too raw and fragile in the way she says it, and the joke ends up sounding flat even to her own ears.

Being a vigilante is the only thing that she can do, and she knows it.]

Right.

[Skeptical agreement. If that's what she really thinks, Saul knows there's no changing her mind, but he disagrees. That can't be the only thing. No one's only good for one thing.]

[She shrugs, offering an almost apologetic smile when she turns back to face him, tugging on her boots and gloves, then clipping on her utilities belts before slipping her cape around her shoulders. Apparenty she's past concerns about secret identities.]

You gonna be alright?

[He looks back at her once she's fully dressed.

She sure is a sight, in that uniform. Batgirl. He almost laughs, that old feeling of disbelief bubbling back up again. He's stuck in the future with Batgirl and they both died, and now they're fine. And she's going off to do it all over again.]

Probably not.

[He sounds so calm about it.]

Don't worry about me.

You will be, eventually.

[She walks over to him again, laying a hand on his arm as she presses a light kiss to his brow, and this time she's not trying to tease or annoy him, just trying to reassure him that everything's going to be alright.]

I'll buy you a bottle of scotch for when this is all over.

[He leans into the kiss and sighs very, very quietly. It's almost reassuring.

At least he's not shaking anymore. For now.

Then, he chuckles.]

Music to my ears.

[A few heartbeats later, he looks up at her, all seriousness again.]

Please be careful.

[I'm always careful is what Batgirl might say with a grin, something cheeky and a little dismissive, as if people don't need to worry about her.

Steph just smiles sadly.]

I will be. [She gives his arm a brief squeeze, before stepping back and pulling her cowl up over her face.] See you when this is over, Saul.

[And then she's going, weaving between Transports and Initiative, to make her way back to the battlefield.

And then back to this room, again, but she won't tell Saul about the secnd and third times.]

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Other Worlds: V 2.0

DAMN IT

does that mean you dont like it?

:|

ilu

/tsuns :|

/appropriate anime reference

uguuu

uwu

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