008 [Accidental Video] PLAYER EVENT, forward dated to the evening of July 6th

[deathsdoctor]

[Good evening, Luceti. Good evening, Community Housing Unit Two.

How is your night going? Are you with loved ones or friends tonight? Having dinner? Working? Perhaps, just perhaps, you’re contemplating turning in early for the night. It’s peaceful, as evenings go, after all. The stars are bright, the winds soft and perfumed with the scents of the nearby forests.

And over the journal, there it is…

… the sound of glass breaking. A book falling and thudding open… a snarl.

Here we go, that same old song and dance.]

Wha--- [ka-chink] WATCH OUT, BEPO!

[It happens with brutal speed and the journal window is obscured in blinding blue flaring light and shouts and screams and panic are drowned out in the sound of crashing and the ever rising roar of destruction and tremors that crescendos with an explosion. An explosion that tears out the exterior walls of Apartment 40 and most of the roof above it upwards and outwards in a cloud of concrete and twisted metal and other debris to fall like rain below.

Michael Bay would be proud.

And then a soft voice, horrified:]

Bepo…

[The voice changes then, becomes cold and unyielding as something looms into view. It is limned with blue fire and heavily bleeding, and it wields a sword.]

… listen up and listen well, you and your masters eavesdropping, because I’m going to say this only once. No one fucks with a man’s nakama and should expect to live. You want me?

[Death beckons.]

GET OVER HERE.

[And everything is drowned out in light and fury and rips outward from the apartment, ripping and slashing through the walls to the rest of floor eight and through the floor downwards to leave gaping rifts and wreckage in its path all the way to the sixth, and the roar only rises and the building shakes again.

Then it stops.

Eerie silence reigns.]

B-bepo? [COUGH. HACK. The sounds of someone dragging themselves across the floor.] … still alive. [The voice is wavering, relieved, before steeling.] Still alive.

[Bloody tattooed fingers pull the book closer, and something drips on the pages, and the man makes another wet, hacking sound.]

That can’t be…

… all of them…

[ And through that crimson veil, NOW you see it, in amidst all the wreckage and blood splattered everywhere, the remains of droids. The undefeated droids. Now empty eyed and shattered and reduced to no more than useless pieces. They don’t even twitch… just spark. Impossible, isn’t it? But long moments pass and yet…

No more come.

Look. The impossible is impossible no more.]




((OOC: For the sake of keeping the timeline somewhat together, I ask that there’s no multiple people arriving first at the scene in the action threads. I will be providing scene descriptors as necessary. The droids will be returning in one hour, wherever Law and the rest of the characters may be, and they cannot be stopped and they will do anything and everything to stop your character from halting them from catching their prize. I’ll be keeping a countdown of time left until they swarm like the zombies of The Night of The Living Dead. Please threadjack all over the place here.

As a bonus, here’s the music that would have cued up in the middle of the attack.))

Comments

[action]

[yourhatred.livejournal.com]

[This is a surprise.

Usually the bots come so quickly and work so efficiently that their targets have no ability to escape. But here, Law seems to have been able to hold many of them off. Granted, it doesn't appear to have been any easy task.

Kunai appear in Itachi's hands as he makes his way onto the scene, Sharingan activated.]

Law. [Abrupt, no honorific.]

Give me direction.

[action]

[sasukelogic.livejournal.com]

[It's hard not to notice the roof of the building you're in being blown up. Especially when the blows start to become visible through the ceiling several floors down. His bedroom was covered in chunks of concrete, rubble and dust.

Sasuke's first thought is Itachi, and he doesn't need to think any further into it before acting. He grabs his chokutou, opens his window to climb out (it's so much faster than the staircase that it has become a habit of his), and runs up the outer wall. He immediately spots Itachi and joins him.]

Aniki.

[But even though the building is largely in ruins up here, Itachi seems unscathed. Sasuke's attention is instead brought to what his brother is focused on.

Law now has two figures looking down at him, red eyes glowing in the night. Sasuke's eyes narrow when he sees the blood, his hand reaches for his sword hilt.]

Ossan. The attackers, are they dealt with?

[action]

[deathsdoctor]

[Drip. Drip. Drip.

And the blood dribbles down. To pool at his feet. To stain Bepo’s white fur red.

It hurts. But pain doesn’t matter.

These are injuries that would kill a normal person. It doesn’t matter.

None of it matters right now. Nothing. Not his injuries. Not the lost blood. It is inconsequential.

He pushes himself out of his crouch over his nakama. Clear eyed and grim, he reaches for his sword.]

They have been.

We should leave. They’ll be back.

[Glancing at Bepo. He is unconscious, battered and bruised… but thankfully no worse. He will not leave him. But this is no place for another battle.]

They always come back.

[ action ]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara watches this whole thing, very very still. And when it ends and he's still there but he's hurt and he's still there she doesn't waste any time.

If he can hear the journal he'll hear her say "I'm coming," and she's not waiting to hear back. Instead she's taking the shortcut, which is the river, and bending her way up towards his community building, from which point she runs, to the building, up the stairs, alert and focused.

Katara notices the small details - like the fact that half the building is gone - and the scattered bits of metal, and the smell of smoke - and it doesn't stop her. She takes the stairs two at a time, running towards Trafalgar and Bepo's apartment.

What will she find there?]

[ action ]

[deathsdoctor]

[She won't make it all the way up the stairs. Law and Bepo are coming down.

But.

They aren't coming down alone.]

[ action ]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara pauses on the stairs, as they are not quite wide enough for both parties to pass, her hand automatically going to her waterskin when she sees what's going on, as Trafalgar and Bepo look like hell hit them, and they're not currently in company she trusts.]

[video]

[frost_jewel]

[For a surprising length of time all she can do is stare at this. This destruction. And someone's been injured, hasn't he?

Which is, in the end, what makes her say something]

Is...is anyone still there?

[and maybe, hopefully, whoever it was that spoke will still be able to hear her.]

[video]

[deathsdoctor]

... yes.

[video]

[frost_jewel]

Where are you?

['Do you need help?' would make absolutely no sense as a question. Of course he needs help. Even that answer proves it.]

[Voice]

[daisy023]

[Spartans had been trained with the purpose of doing the impossible, and finding weaknesses in their enemies, but this act

After a few seconds of hesitation, trying to make of what had just happened, the Chief Petty Officer focuses back on what they had now.]

This is SPARTAN-023. Mind if I come over?

[They're going to need those pieces. They could reverse-enginner those parts... Every bit of power they had could be useful. Tech beyond the residents or not, it was worth trying.]

[Voice]

[deathsdoctor]

[Why not?

Quite frankly, he doesn't like this. At all. Pirates are territorial creatures by nature, and he's already had his home brutally invaded, his nakama knocked unconcious, and been personally injured severely. His instincts are on edge and he knows another fight is incoming. A fight he's likely to lose.

He does. Not. Like. This.

But as much as he doesn't like it, this, as with so many other decisions tonight, is a necessary thing. It doesn't end with this and this is a chance to strike back... maybe not now, but in the future. A Captain's own personal feelings should not interfere with the objective. And if nothing else, Trafalgar Law is a practical man with an eye on the long term.

So... this must be. Even if it causes cost to himself later.]

Sure.

Two. Top level.

[Action]

[daisy023]

Affirmative.

[With that done, Daisy grabs her pistol, her knife, a little medical gear, and a bag. Then runs towards the location in question, but having seen the footage does little justice to what she sees once she sees the Second Community Housing.

The unarmored Spartan scans the area... And the damage the building took. She tries to find threats, seeing only on the lower areas the ones that survived the onslaught. One of them a bearded man that had the looks of a civilian.

The looks, SPARTAN-023 reminded herself.

The tall woman recovers from her brief shock, and nods.]

Sir. [She eyes the higher parts of the building... Then the wounded.] Will they need treatment?

[Her quest to get and research Malnosso tech could have to wait. There are wounded.]

[Video]

[gomugomunopwn.livejournal.com]

LAW!? OI, LAW ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? WHAT HA--!

[Are those... are those ANDROIDS on the ground? There's no way... no way he could've...]

[Video]

[deathsdoctor]

...

I'm alive. [Not alright. But hell, alive works fine by him.]

[Why yes. Those are droids. Smashed up, dismembered droids. You are not seeing things.]

[Video]

[gomugomunopwn.livejournal.com]

Just-- stay where you are okay!? I'm coming over!

[And then he's going to shut his journal and rocket his way over! =Dd]

[Video]

[whydidisaverick.livejournal.com]

Are those-- [The Malnosso's robots? Aren't they supposed to be unbeatable?] Hey! You're okay right? Did they attack you?

[Argh, wait dumb question. He managed to do a quick glance around the entry and sees you've talked to a few people at least.] Do you need medical attention? If anything is broken I know some healing magic. [Actually healing magic might not be the best thing for broken bones now that he thinks about it.]

[Video]

[deathsdoctor]

Nothing's broken... I believe.

[He's still hopped up on enough adrenaline to kill a small elephant. Hard to tell, beyond body lacerated to hell and bleeding heavily.]

Yeah. Some people are coming to see to me.

[Oi. What a night. What a night.

He may have to move when this is all over.]

[Video]

[whydidisaverick.livejournal.com]

Oh, uh. Okay. Well... I mean if you need any help just ask.

[Argh how does he even approach this. Uuuh. Crap. He can't just ask can he look at the Malnosso bots he destroyed. With a quick glance at the other replies here he says he's in two. So it's either Community Housing Building 2 or House #2. Okay. He can manage that. He's going to go with the Community Building first though. From the video it looks like it's an apartment.]

[voice]

[fierybluebird]

Now there's a familiar speech. [Spoken so blase.]

You're the rookie with the submarine, ne?

[voice]

[deathsdoctor]

[...

... well, this is going to be... interesting. Now to see if you want to cause trouble, help, or just troll.

Calm:]

... yeah?

[voice]

[fierybluebird]

Seems I owe you a favor. Want some help?

[Since Marco considers someone who helped save Luffy & Jinbei worth owing a favor at the minimum. And he's already on the way, though he'll stay out of it Law asks him not to.]

One hour mark - and things turn bad to worse

[deathsdoctor]

[generalflirt]

[O...kay so Masaomi actually was in the Rec Center, but all the ruckus going on next door sound wise was a bit hard to miss. He simply watched the highlight real of people going in and out of the building, rushing up, sounds of damage and exterior destruction from the ground looking up for much of the time. And then when people go out, well, still from a distance he watches. He's actually... frozen there unsure if he should go help or not, perhaps hiding a bit.

It's the hour mark, after his neck burns and things start to heat up when he properly hides so. Yes, basically, he's just watching.]

[deathsdoctor]

[It is quiet, Masaomi, so very, very quiet. Even the breeze has died down and there is an unnatural hush to the air. And though the stars are out and shining coldly, it is dark and getting darker.

And the shadows reach out.

Now look up. The sound of concrete crumbling should alert you. Look, Masaomi, on the walls, skittering up like spiders. Dark, indistinct forms. And movement inside the blasted out shell of the top floor. Light, strobbing, eerie... almost misty. Crashing.

Searching. They are searching.

Where is it? Where is he?

Suddenly all noise stops. The forms on the walls scatter and disappear.

Silence reigns once more.

It is dark.

It is black.

And all around. Glowing brightly. There are eyes.

And metallic footsteps sound in the night.

Everywhere.]

[daisy023]

Community Housing Five. Seventh Floor. That window. [She points.] Wait for me outside.

[The grip of the Spartan on the Phoenix is solid, product of training turned into instinct, but no small part of it was fear. If what both the Chief and the Medic felt was true, they had run out of time.

She sees a mass of droids preparing to move. Her grip solidifies.]

They're here!

[The Spartan gets ready to jump inside and grab all of her gear as soon as they reach her room.]