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meadowlarklogs2019-11-30 12:31 pm
EVENT LOG 007 | AFTERMATH
WHERE: New Beijing, a train, and then New Amsterdam.
WHEN: The tail end of the operation and the two days after: January 26th-28th.
WHAT: Finishing up the operation, hiding out, and going home.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence and unstoppable soldiers. More to be updated as necessary.
At the turn of midnight in New Beijing, the true risk to this plan comes to light. There was always a chance, always a point of awareness that Cassius wouldn't be able to buy his foot soldiers enough time. He knew that this could go poorly, so he was prepared for just that. He knew that the Displaced would, potentially, treat the UNA soldiers as personal enemies. They showed this face with their foolhardy desperation during the EMP's effects, and given an opportunity to assault a weaker, unexpecting bunch, they wouldn't hold back.
After all, not killing the soldiers hadn't been a suggestion made by Cassius showing some sign that he had a conscience or was worried about the death of citizens. No, killing the soldiers would make his job harder: and it did.
After scrambling the distress call for forty-five minutes, Cassius' efforts finally fail when the base finally gets the word out for reinforcements. Switching gears, Cassius sends along a word to the Displaced still in the base, letting them know that their time is running short. They need to get moving, and the UNA has wisened up to Cassius' tactics with the fabricated terrorist attacks on the other side of the city. If it were just one thing, the UNA may not have turned back, but their installed software quickly began to recognize many of the tactical patterns that Cassius employed: they weren't that different from the ones executed by radicalized Morningstar agents in other cities.
The lack of traffic in the city means the deployed soldiers return swiftly. Unlike the ones at the base, these soldiers are heavily armed and prepared for the worst. Even though Judas is definitely offline by the time they arrive, their systems remain operational for now. After all, Judas wasn't online as it was, as he was isolated from the world on a localized quantum server. The weight of Judas' impact on the UNA and its systems are still up in the air for anyone to guess. It's hard to tell what they might have been using him for, and just what weight his own additions had made on their current operations. What's clear is that these soldiers can still move, act, and attack, and there are hundreds of them rushing back in a steady stream of military might.
For anyone in the base, it's time to move. Being caught here probably will mean the end of the road for everyone involved.
◉ The soldiers who show up are not beatable. They will be working in formation and predicting most of what's coming their way, and given the numbers sent out, they will be unstoppable. Unsurprisingly, the larger the unit, the stronger their ingrained instincts happen to be. Think of these soldiers as the boss battle you can't even beat for an achievement. It's the one where you're meant to lose, if you engage at all.
◉ We're fine with any degree of Judas Hot Potato that goes on in the final stages of the base, and recommend that you all work that out on our event aftermath post.
◉ As for who finally hands Judas off to Cassius, we have sign ups at the aftermath post, too! The person who wins that doesn't need to be the person with the potato in the end; some creative juggling can go down for that stage, too!
◉ Anyone who dies on the base will need to be dragged out and taken to a medi-unit or they will be permadead. We are not asking for anyone to have their characters killed here! Everyone can get out safely and unharmed if they haul ass. Or even if they don't! Maybe they got lucky.
◉ Cassius will be wiping any records of the interlopers, making it so that their existence can't be traced. He'll be covering the surrounding areas of the base for a three mile radius. After that, everyone is on their own: they'd better have a plan of escape.
While Cassius will be covering the immediate area of the base, everyone will want to make sure that they don't appear suspicious as they hit the streets of New Beijing. The best place to hide? The lower levels of the city. Despite the frequent police raids, someone can move through the lower levels until they're close to their hotel. All they need to do is move up once they're just beneath their temporary residence. Discarding any unwanted goods along the way down there probably wouldn't hurt.
For anyone who's been injured by the soldiers or by their fellow Displaced, they'll want to stop and do some quick first aid on themselves. Hitting a hospital or clinic like this is risky. For the dead, it's not as if anyone has any choice, so their pal better cook up a good story for what happened along the way. The good news in all of this is that injuries and all, none of the hotels are likely to ask too many questions. The drones that do the room service aren't sentient, and the people who work the front desks simply aren't paid enough to care.
By 9 AM, all the news beats around the city refer to a series of attacks that rocked UN landmarks. While the attacks on the UN government buildings had the mark of Morningstar radicals from New Prague and New Johannesburg, they are not citing them as the individuals most likely to be culpable for these attacks. There is no information about what happened at the UNA HQ, though it seems unlikely that none of that information would have gotten out during the flurry of hasty exits.
Even so, it's likely a good idea that everyone lays low for the final couple of days in New Beijing. That doesn't mean that everyone needs to say cooped up in their hotels. Still, they'll likely want to be cautious while the city is on high alert for suspicious activity.
As for whoever has Judas, they'll get a message late in the evening of the 26th telling them to meet with one of Cassius' resources in the morning. Cassius won't be up for much conversation when the message comes in. Despite all previous communication, any messages sent to him now will be a dead end.
Eventually, it's January 28th and everyone will be headed back to New Amsterdam on a train. It feels as if there's almost a lack of closure, as Judas is most likely gone, the devices that were meant to hold him unable to go through customs. Unlike the previous train, this ride will be an non-stop express from New Beijing to New Amsterdam, and will be largely uneventful. The lack of stops along the way makes it impossible for any temporary havoc to break out. Even the Displaced who didn't pick up express tickets will find that their itinerary has been changed. While the more luxurious seats will remain the same and will offer a bed for anyone looking to rest over the long journey, everyone else's upgrade will treat them to neck pillows and thin blankets to help them stay comfortable.
An event-free ride probably won't mean much for the feelings stewing among the Displaced. Everyone is bound to be feeling something after everything that just happened, so there's still a lot of room for tension now that everyone's been crammed in close quarters on a non-stop train ride. Let's just hope it doesn't get too nasty in there!
◉ El will purchase all of the newcomer Displaced tickets for the way back. All of them will be traveling to New Amsterdam for new job opportunities in the wake of the city's losses, and will be directed to make a statement of intent to move to New Amsterdam permanently.
◉ El won't be purchasing that upgrade, though. If anyone thinks it's Cassius' doing, just blame it on Cassius.
◉ Everyone will be arriving in New Amsterdam around 4 PM with varying amounts of jetlag (or trainlag).
◉ Upon arriving, everyone will begin to see garrish advertisements for both Valentine's Day and Carnival.
Thanks for the great event, Larkers! We have a lot planned to spin out of this one, so we hope that you enjoyed what we cooked up here. Our OOC Aftermath Post is live, which is where we'd like you to direct all of your aftermath questions. We also encourage you to discuss any loose ends for the plot and plan anything else out that's needed!
Otherwise, we intended for this to be more of a low key log while everyone continues to thread out the event. Our next log will be up on December 13th featuring our new arrivals, giving everyone some time between now and then!
ii
There’s no mistaking her for drunk or drug-addled, there are too many signs of injury. Bag dropped, his hand comes to her back to support in case she falls and is soon damp with blood. He brings a hand up to check the rate of her pulse even as he reaches out with his mind to check the coherency of her thoughts, and recognises her threefold all at once: catches sight of her face, feels the bond open up between them at skin contact and recognises dimly the signature attached to the swimming thoughts his power finds.
Ah. Displaced.
He should’ve anticipated it, given everything. Now he’s left scrambling to pull in the kind of calm that’ll be useful shared across the empathy bond. It comes, mind disciplined enough that he can call on meditative weight when he needs to lower a blanket of surety down over a troubled mind, but it’s incomplete. Deep sadness wriggles about underneath like a lump in the bed even as he pulls on the trappings of a focus that come with experience in both surgery and sorcery to feed back to her.
Stephen searches out for her name. Finds it, though by now his power is so second nature he can’t be sure whether it’s because he knows it or he’s read it from her. ]
Diana.
[ And as soon as he knows her name, he remembers their recent conversation. Not that there was ever any doubt that this was the UNA.
They can worry about disagreements another time. It was a lie, anyway. He’s turning her carefully to prop her more securely against the wall as he checks her face over for its wounds, and to implore her: ]
Open your eyes.
[ Initial assessments first, then they can get her moving. ]
no subject
She's turned halfway to see who it is when the empathy bond opens between them, and it's like a punch straight to the gut. All the air in her lungs leaves in a harsh breath, and for a moment, she sees double. The connection is so unexpected; she hasn't prepared, none of her defenses are up. Diana keeps a tight leash on her emotions when she knows she's about to come into contact with another displaced, but there's no chance for that now. Everything is laid bare for him in those few moments: her shame, her pain, her sorrow. The moment she feels his grief, she slams down that mental wall; the calm that descends upon her is no calm at all, taut as a bowstring, ready to snap at any moment. But she keeps an iron grip on herself, unwilling to give even an inch if she can help it.
It helps, a little, that he does nearly exactly the same thing.
Her eyes snap open at the command, and her concentration on keeping her emotions under wraps doesn't need to slip to make it obvious that she doesn't take kindly to being ordered around. There's a sharpness in her gaze, and she focuses it on him; his hands are on her, moving her, and she is slow to move with him, more out of defiance than anything. She forces herself to stand up straighter, to block out the pain she isn't used to feeling, so they're standing eye-to-eye. Her voice, when she speaks, is rough, coming from a place deep in her chest, calm despite the trauma written over her body.]
And you are?
[She's tried to learn the faces of all the displaced, but they're so scattered about New Amsterdam now that it's become difficult. Some of them leave the safehouse as soon as their new ID's are set up, and once they're gone, tracking them down becomes a burden she isn't equipped to bear. But he knows her name, though she can't place his face; she doesn't like that one bit.]
no subject
At the same time as he's doing this, he's removing his hands from where they're clearly not appreciated. Though not too far. Despite the strength emanating from her, she's potentially on the brink of collapse. ]
Doctor Strange.
[ Doctor, in this context, because it's important. He's here to help. Stephen can come later - his surname is a more recognisable marker anyhow. ]
You've been badly injured. [ Obviously. The tone is professional, matter of fact and firm. Intended to move her away from the offensive defense. This isn't a time for belligerence for its own sake. ] Is it far to your room?
[ He can only assume that's what she's doing here, heading back to a safe place. Ideally they'll get her there sooner rather than later. If anyone else happens across them, it'll be difficult to answer their questions. ]
no subject
Then recognition of his name clicks in her mind, and she has to try a little harder to keep her emotions under control.
Tension thrums through her body again, but she at least manages to keep her expression neutral, her breathing even. Emotional pain is an old friend; it's the physical pain she isn't used to, and what has put her temper on a short fuse. For all the battles she's seen, Diana has rarely actually been hurt, and the fact that the UNA soldiers had seemed to have no problem getting through her defenses is a blow to her pride that won't heal as quickly as her physical injuries.]
I'm aware, doctor.
[Her voice still comes out with an edge, and she regrets that. Diana closes her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath and making a conscious effort to get a hold of herself. When she opens her eyes, they're clearer than a moment before; by pure force of will, she makes her tone calmer, almost as if she's reassuring him.]
I'm just a few doors down.
[She lifts a hand to gesture down the hallway, trying not to look at the marks on her skin. Dropping her arm, she pushes away from the wall and stands almost steadily on her own feet. Almost.]
no subject
[ He never can help a quip, but it's without any sting. He leaves her to take her own weight, take control of her own limbs, remaining close at hand despite the early aggression. She's not used to this, that much is clear from the bond. The pain strikes more acutely for the unfamiliarity of it. She's not a woman familiar with losing in battle.
More than that, she's not someone used to taking blows.
The transition from sharp mood to more temperate emotional climes is dramatic and immediate, obviously hard won. She's working through her pain as best she can. Difficult as it can be for him not to try to be the loudest most important voice in every room, he does his best to give her space and avoid aggravating her further as they make their way down the short stretch of corridor to her room.
Instead, his focus spills out to the hallway. He narrowly catches a man about to turn the corner and sends him off in the opposite direction with a sudden question for the front desk, the skin of Stephen's throat tinged a barely-visible blue from the otherwise well hidden glow of his chest. It persists and Stephen continues to hover at her side as he waits for her to make the journey, unwilling to insist he take over until she's been given the chance to make the effort herself. ]