Epidemic Exsilium: Stage Two

[initiates]

Date & Time: June 8th - June 14th
Location: Throughout Exsilium
Characters: Anyone participating in hunting down the sleeper agents; anyone participating in taking care of the ill, or being ill themselves.
Summary: Stage Two of the Super Virus Epidemic strikes; sleeper agents of the United Earth are revealed.
Warnings: Illness, violence, needles. (Those IVs, man!)

Sniffles and coughs aren't unusual during the spring, with people combating allergies even in the far future, and colds being as present as always. But with more and more people falling ill, and none responding to antibiotics, things are starting to get worrying.

The first death is of an infant, on the night of the 7th. It's not the only one: three more are recorded not long after. It's unknown about the state of patients who never presented for medical assistance. Those familiar with viral infections fear the worse, especially as the usually healthy demographic starts arriving, coughing and displaying symptoms of the same sort of illness.

If that's not enough out among the natives, the Initiative has received its own information and insight into the true nature of the virus. "Wasmannian" Agents, spies of the Initiative in the United Earth, have reported back information at great cost to their security in their undercover positions. There is a super virus headed your way. They've been shipping it in to the island since December 3312. These are the manifests. We've deciphered most the code-names. Good luck.

Now the Initiative turns to the Transports for additional manpower to hunt down the United Earth's sleeper agents, pick up the shipments of the virus, and track down its physical origins in order to do something to stop the impending decimation of Exsilium's population.

Things are getting scary. It's a sick, sad world out there. Where are you, in the middle of it all?

Comments

[imperfect]

I thought I just did.

[Pulling his coat on with a defiant and completely unnecessary flourish, Ed heads for the door. He's going nowhere fast, but for now bullheadedness alone is enough to keep him from toppling over.]

[alphonse]

[There's a lot Al wants to say about stubbornness and immaturity, but rather than risk Ed's temper flaring and the subsequent effect that would have on his cough, he just sighs instead. He grabs an umbrella before heading after him.]

You really want to try to walk the whole way?

[imperfect]

[Unfortunately for everyone involved, Ed's temper doesn't take much provocation. He stops for a second to look over his shoulder.] Al, are you hoping I'll keel over right now just to prove your point?

[alphonse]

Of course not! I just don't want to see something happen to you again!

[He stops, looking away guiltily.]

I'm not trying to bother you, okay? But watching everyone suffer like this without really being able to help isn't easy for me either.

[imperfect]

Al... [Ed isn't sure how much exasperation he wants to load onto that one word, so it's just as well he can only say it quietly.]

Listen. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to step back for a while and give people a chance.

[alphonse]

People have already died from this, Brother. That isn't something it's okay to take chances with.

[imperfect]

Nothing's going to happen to me, Al, and that's final.

[He turns away and keeps going, step by unsteady step.]

[alphonse]

[Keeping pace with him is almost a challenge, and Al has to more or less stop periodically to pull it off.]

If you mean that, then you'll listen to the doctors and do everything they tell you.

[imperfect]

I know, I know. [He tries to lighten his tone a little as he says it, although under the circumstances that might be the opposite of reassuring.

Devoting most of his effort on their way down just to staying on his feet, Ed makes it to the lobby without any notable incident, or even much coughing - but when the door opens and the chill hits him (...was it always this cold?), he staggers.]

[alphonse]

[With a casual air, Al opens up the umbrella and holds it over both of them, conveniently putting him within reaching distance in case Ed's unsteadiness wins out.]

We should hurry. It looks like the rain might get worse.

[As if Exsilium's murky skies ever give any other impression.]

I know you won't like it, but we'd get there a lot faster if I just carried you.

[imperfect]

Or if we ran -

[He sneezes loudly. It immediately turns into yet another attack of uncontrollable coughing, forceful enough that it takes a little while for him to catch his breath afterwards. Ugh, by this point his glove probably counts as a biological weapon in its own right.

And if he does keel over now, he'll just have to resign himself to being worse than useless again. Of course he will.

Quite slowly, he clenches his fists.]

...Al?

[alphonse]

[It's not being able to do anything that's always the hardest part, and once again Al's only option is to wait for the coughing fit to subside. From where he's standing it sounds like Ed's gotten worse even in just the last few minutes, and he'd rather not think about what that might mean.

Upon hearing his name, he leans in so Ed won't have to raise his voice to be heard over the rain.]

Right here, Brother.

[imperfect]

[Maybe he shouldn't have held off on getting checked out when he first realised he'd probably caught this thing. Does it even matter, though? It's only one more regret to add to the pile, and it's a shame those aren't tangible, because that way he'd be able to climb onto Al's shoulders just by stepping across.

As is, defeated, he reaches up to grab hold of a spike.] Give me a leg up.

[alphonse]

[Al puts the umbrella aside to help boost Ed up, kneeling to minimize the need for actual climbing. In what's probably an attempt to make Ed feel better about the whole thing, he manages to sound completely casual.]

You okay? I guess it's been a long time since you've done this.

[imperfect]

[It's not a bad attempt.] Kind of, yeah.

[After a brief heave that takes more out of him than it should, Ed ends up draped loosely over Al's shoulder. It's freezing, of course, and already a little damp from the rain.

He closes his eyes.]

Ha, and look at me now. Not doing so good lately, huh?

[alphonse]

[It's a little awkward to lean forward while trying to position an umbrella over someone on his back, but Al gives it his best shot. For the most part he lets Ed use his own strength to hold on, simply staying alert in case he needs to intervene.]

You'll be fine. [It's said with a surprisingly easy confidence, maybe because it's something he has to believe.]

A little help from the doctors and you'll be back to work again before you know it.

[imperfect]

[It's trickier than he remembers, but Ed manages to cling on. At this point, it's taking more of his concentration to breathe without triggering any further coughs.]

To be honest... I couldn't really blame you if you said you were disappointed.

[alphonse]

[The ride might be a bit bumpier than usual too; getting Ed out of the rain seems a lot more important than his immediate comfort, so Al's steps are long and fast. He doesn't outright stop at the question, but there's clearly a moment where it makes him falter.]

Disappointed? Because you got sick?

[He knows it must go deeper than that (doesn't it always with Ed?), but he'd might as well start with the obvious.]

[imperfect]

That too.

[Having slipped a bit when Al hesitated just then, he pulls himself back up.]

I mean, if you think about it... technically, I've never done anything for you, and here you are. It almost doesn't seem fair.

[alphonse]

[So that's it. At least it's something he can answer quickly.]

I could say the same thing. Don't forget that being from different worlds goes both ways.

[imperfect]

Then what do you call this right now, Al?

[Despite the less than smooth ride, he's neither complaining nor resisting. From a distance he probably looks like he's already asleep.]

[alphonse]

That's not really fair. You'd help me if I could get sick, right? And even if you don't realize it, there are a lot of other things you do already.

[He wastes no time in continuing on before he has to do something sappy like explain what he means by that.]

Besides, it's silly to try and keep score.

[imperfect]

...Yeah.

So... what I was saying about just wanting to make a difference somehow... Maybe there's no point in that, either. Maybe there's nothing I can do.

[alphonse]

There's plenty. Here and back home.

[No hesitation there either; Ed's abilities are something he has complete confidence in.]

Is this about the communicators again? I know you're upset with how things went, but catching mistakes early is the whole point of a testing phase. If you ask me, your project's still right on track.

[imperfect]

[He's quiet for a moment. One good thing about the cold out here was that it came as enough of a shock to clear his head somewhat, but it's beginning to wear off.]

The point of all of this is to put you right and get you home. I'm not about to forget that, Al. If we can figure out who to trust, who we can work with, it doesn't matter what else happens along the way. But knowing what the cost might be, even for just that much...

[He trails off. He doesn't need to admit out loud that there are already too many lives on his head to add another world to them, does he?]

So who's to say what's still on track and what's not? Not me.