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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Disoriented as he is from blood loss and certain other circumstances, it's a conscious effort for Ed to stay standing as the man he was pushing is swept aside - but that name, in that voice, brings the whole world sharply into focus.]

Al! [Relief floods what feels like every fibre of his being, even the ones he doesn't have any more. For now, there's no room left for pain.] You're...

[...No, "okay" isn't the word. He falters, and his left hand, already reaching for Al's own as if grasping for proof that he's solid, flinches back. His eyes linger for a second on the gaping hole that used to be Al's chest before he looks up again. He should know better by now, of course, but seeing his little brother beaten up this badly somehow makes that hellhole seem a thousand times more present and threatening than his memory of actually being there.

Still, tempered as it is, he finds it in himself to smile. The important part is what (and therefore who) escaped unscathed.]

You made it out... I'm glad.

[And that in no way is going to head off what must be running through Al's head right now, but Ed isn't at all sure he wants to try.]

[Ed acting concerned with him is more than Al can take, and in an instant he's hugging him with everything he's got. After all the damage he's taken it's even more awkward than usual, but it's only ever the worst of circumstances that push Al into desperation for reassurance.]

Brother. Brother, you're alive.

[He might not have a body that allows him to cry, but the distress in his voice and unsteadiness of his grip speak just as universally. All the emotions he's been trying so hard not to get caught up in are hitting him all at once, and if he's acting like a child in public he honestly doesn't have it in him to care.

The loss of an entire world is unfathomable and something he'll need time to even begin to grasp, but Ed... That had brought gravity to the devastation, grounded it into something close and scary and unrelentingly real. And right up until this moment, every step has been compounded with the knowledge that if he'd been a little faster, a little stronger, a little better then at least he wouldn't have been heading back to count his losses alone.]

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

'Course I'm alive, Al. God's not in a hurry to throw out his old punching bags.

[Ed doesn't resist, however uncomfortable it is. He wouldn't have even if he was feeling up to pulling himself away. People can stare all they want.]

So don't be sorry, okay? If anyone... [He winces slightly, but it has nothing to do with him being more or less mashed against a load of battered armour; it's just a repeat of that earlier stabbing sensation somewhere around his ribs. It's nothing.] If anyone should apologise, it's me. [After all, he's the one who told Al he wouldn't do this kind of thing again.]

Come on. Let's find you somewhere out of the way.

[Philosophising can come later. Finding out just what the hell has been going on... well, in a state like this, maybe Ed does have all day for once. There isn't a shred of doubt in his mind about what he needs to do first.]

Don't--.

[Whether he's referring to the apology or Ed speaking so normally in general is unclear, but the truth is probably somewhere in between. Going from genuinely believing that he might never hear the sound of his brother's voice again to a conversation that would almost be normal in any other context is jarring, to say the least, and not something he's able to immediately make sense of.

He knows he has to get it together, though, for Ed's sake as much as anyone else's. He can't afford to fall apart--figuratively or literally-- not when there's still so much he doesn't understand. If Ed's managing to be strong right now, then he owes him as much as making an effort to do the same.

Reluctantly, Al eases up and draws back, finally taking in the sight of Ed's remaining injuries. He shakes his head in response to the suggestion.]

You're still hurt. You need to go lie down.

[Ed's already pushing past him in the opposite direction to the bed he vacated - none too quickly, because the moment he gets too far away from Al to lean on him will probably be the moment he loses his balance for real, but it's the thought that counts.]

I said, come on, Al. [He hasn't entirely abandoned trying to sound reassuring, but his bluntness is too sudden to be accidental.] Before I have to cart you outside.

[Even if by now it'd be a lost cause to pretend he has nothing to hide, he figures Al can at least take a hint: like hell he's going to cop to anything here.]

You're the one who looks ready to fall over, Brother.

[The banter doesn't come quite as easily as usual, but there's something comforting in its normalcy all the same.

It's lucky for Ed that Al's still so unsettled, really, otherwise he'd be forcibly hauling him back to bed and refusing to hear any complaints. Distracted as he is he goes along with Ed's stubborn insistence, one hand carefully placed on his brother's back to keep him steady as he follows.]

You shouldn't get too far away from the doctors.

I just need to make it to the lab and back. That's all. There's some spare parts... Nobody's gonna miss them.

[It soon becomes pretty clear that Ed is hardly finding it easier to walk the further he drags himself from the med bay.]

And anyway... at least if I fell over I wouldn't end up in a dustpan.

Spare parts?

[It's such an odd, out of place thing to say that Al has to wonder if maybe Ed is delirious or more heavily medicated than he appears. Quickly, Al moves to grab his shoulders to outright stop him from continuing.]

Brother... Why don't you just tell me what you need and wait here while I go get it? My armor's really not as bad off as it looks.

[He's not entirely successful at masking the appeasing note to his voice; he doesn't actually have any intention of retrieving anything from the lab right now, but he's willing to say what he needs to to get Ed to relax about it.]

[It turns out that forcibly restraining Ed isn't a fantastic way of getting him to calm down even when he can't muster the energy to do much about it. The glare Al receives in response doesn't look noticeably less focused than normal, though.] What, Al? Was it something I said?

[Al doesn't let up, and in fact gently tries to urge him back towards the med bay. Being worried is hardly a new feeling right now, but the confusion that comes with it is certainly different. What in the world is Ed going on about?]

Brother, you aren't making sense. Let's get you back to bed and then you can explain everything, okay? Whatever's at the lab can wait.

[Ed's agitation at this point handily makes up for his current inability to physically fight back. Can't Al see this is something he needs to do? What's not to get?]

Al, have you seen what you look like? What were you expecting me to do, leave all of those holes in? Or thin you out so much you'd snap like a twig the minute you tried to stand up? I'm telling you, I'm fi-

[He cuts off with a sharp, pained grunt; a passing nurse, rushing from bed to bed with supplies, just happened to knock the bandage on his arm as they hurried by.]

[Thinking that a weapons development lab holds the solution to that particular problem isn't exactly filling Al with confidence about Ed's lucidity. He's about to say as much, but the nurse's clumsiness sets off his temper with an ease he'll feel guilty about later.]

Hey! Shouldn't you be more careful?!

[He softens considerably before addressing Ed again, almost pleading for him to understand.]

Look, we'll figure something out about my armor later. Right now getting you better is what we need to focus on.

[In an act which may not help convince Al that he's feeling entirely himself, Ed refrains from snapping at the nurse as well, who in any case is too preoccupied to stop for more than a hastily mumbled apology. He can't exactly blame Al for worrying, it's true - he'd understand that with or without the particular past experience he's currently doing his damnedest not to let gnaw away at him. But it's just as true that Ed was only half joking about having to cart Al out of here in pieces at this rate, and the alarmingly unfamiliar rattles and clicks he can hear mixed into those clanking footsteps as Al steers him back towards the bed only cement that as far as he's concerned.]

Well... don't tell me you were planning to just sit around in the meantime. You've got other stuff to be doing. [That's something he can be sure of even if he hasn't been updated on the Initiative's situation yet. As long as there's still a chance...

Actually, how long was he out for? (Even thinking about it as casually as that doesn't sit quite right with him, but how else is he supposed to think?) He can't imagine circumstances could have improved much - one cursory glance around the med bays practically confirms that and more, never mind looking at Al - but it's always kind of stressful not to know as much as he'd like about what's going on. And nothing's impossible.]

Edited (rethought a bit :|b) 2013-05-26 11:52 (UTC)

This is important too.

[Which is an extremely vague answer, but in a matter of seconds he's already convinced himself that the bad news will be easier to deliver if Ed isn't on his feet. Or at least lower the chances of him trying to bolt.

And Al can't exactly dismiss concerns about his armor one minute and admit the truth the next--he'd like to be doing something more to help in the aftermath, but there's no way he's sturdy enough to hold up the strain of any additional weight or unnecessary movement. He'll be lucky to make it home, but that's something to think about when the time comes. Right now he can't imagine leaving Ed, not when he's barely convinced he's really even alive.]

Here. Lie back down and I'll get you caught up.

[With a lead-in like that, Ed is almost prepared to make a break for it just on principle. Still, he makes the small concession of at least sitting down, resting his weight on his right hand, and has to admit it's an improvement.]

What happened?

[Al leans against the edge of the bed for lack of a chair, not yet looking at Ed directly. Discussing this will ruin any chance of his brother getting some rest, but it isn't like he has any right to withhold information.]

They gave the order to retreat. Even... even after all that, nothing we were doing was making a difference.

[He does glance up then, knowing he doesn't need to explain what that means. Everything they'd done, everything they'd sacrificed... none of it had been nearly enough in the end. Al's seen people die before, sometimes in pretty gruesome ways, but never anything like this, the bodies of women and children indiscriminately lining the streets just for the crime of going about their daily lives. And now, to be expected to accept that even the ones they'd managed to save have been abandoned to the same fate... If he'd been any less frantic about Ed convincing him to leave would have been impossible, but that isn't something he needs to say either.]

[The enormity of what Al did just say would probably have overshadowed anything else. As is, although Ed breathes in sharply at the word "retreat", it takes a few moments for everything it entails to coalesce in his mind. He stares blankly at Al, but Al isn't what he's seeing, and not all of the images are from today. There's undeniably a part of him that does want to bolt, would without a second thought if Al wasn't standing right there, to collar each and every lackey of the Initiative he can hunt down until he finds the one who'll give in and give all of them another chance. To give up on an entire world, and so many people's lives no less real than their own... Of course he can't wrap his head around the true scale of it; the little he can grasp already makes him sick to the stomach.

But presently he inclines his head, and oddly enough a little of the tension in his shoulders seems to ease.] I see... I thought it might be something like that.

And we're still alive. [He's reluctant to look anywhere near Al as he says that.]

Yeah. Somehow.

[Except he doesn't sound sure of that at all. Returning the dead to life is the one thing in the world that's supposed to be truly impossible. It wasn't long ago at all when that knowledge had been their only proof that Al's body must still be alive somewhere, a shred of hope in an otherwise grim reality.

Can future technology really overturn something so fundamental? Al is torn between being disgusted by the thought and immeasurably grateful; as much as he'd love to take such a miracle at face value, it may be some time before he can shake the feeling that it must come with some horrible consequence they aren't yet aware of.]

All of the Transports are. No matter what happened to them out there, the Initiative was able to bring them back.

Yeah, and patch them up. They were doing it before any of this happened, too.

[He shifts uneasily.]

The first time I heard about it here, I thought it must be shorthand for something. They couldn't really mean dead. Hacked to pieces or no longer breathing, you can just about imagine science learning how to deal with all of that. An actual life, body, mind and soul... there was no way.

[He doesn't put much emphasis on the past tense, but it's there - and that's where his real point is hiding, reluctant to come out in the open.]

[Al nods. He'd figured about the same, really. Once he'd heard someone say that the Initiative's time travel technology could simply pull the same person in from an earlier point in their world, and even that had sounded more plausible than death suddenly having no meaning. But Ed obviously remembers how the battle ended for him, and that leaves no room for denial.]

But that was before what we saw today.

[He doesn't want to talk about it, but shirking the truth, however uncomfortable, would be to go against his nature as an alchemist. Not to mention do nothing for his peace of mind.]

Brother... You were really dead, weren't you?

[Ed shrugs.] I just know what I remember, Al.

[It's a deliberately ambiguous answer. Hopefully it'll do. Overrun as the Hold may be, to the point that would-be eavesdroppers are more likely to get trampled than to pick up anything sensitive, it's not private.]

I could let myself stay hung up on it for the next million years if I wanted, but it wouldn't change anything.

No, I wouldn't want you to do that, I just...

[He looks away again, taking a long moment to gather his thoughts. More than anything he's tempted to revert back to apologizing, but he knows that Ed would never accept it and any resulting debate would only make things worse. So instead he musters up as much optimism as he can, a little weak but still very genuine.]

I'm really glad you're okay.

[Not wanting to dwell on the topic for long, Ed just grins. It probably says more than any words he could come up with on the spot.

The sight of the same nurse from before hurrying past in a different direction prompts him to look away and crane his neck a little, trying to see what else is happening in the vicinity. It doesn't tell him much that wasn't already apparent from the racket in here.]

Tch... it's too bad. Doesn't look like anyone around here could spare a moment to give us the time of day, let alone play fetch. [He pauses.] I think I could make it to the lab...

[Al follows that look, privately a little embarrassed that he's allowed himself to dismiss so much of the activity in the Hold as merely background noise. Now that most of his panic has started to subside, he's really taking the scene around them in for the first time, and can't help a twinge of self-consciousness over having been in plain view of everyone while looking this busted up.]

Forget it, Brother. You're not going anywhere until a doctor says it's okay. Why are you so determined to get to the lab, anyway? You need a lot of rest before you can even start thinking about going back to work.

When did I say anything about work? [He reaches up to rap his knuckles pointedly against Al's battered-looking shoulder, is immediately reminded why he was sparing his bandaged arm up until then, and settles for a somewhat awkward light pat.] Unless you know where else to find a load of scrap metal on short notice without people asking questions...

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