Grayditch

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The scene that presents itself to the people arriving from Milliways is one of devastation old and new. The shattered, weathered remains of what had once been a city street spill out to either side, and half-standing, half-slumping outer walls are all that remain of most of the buildings. There are no people here, no animals, no life to be seen...

Well, no. That's not necessarily true. Here and there, fires burn merrily, and the occasional scratching scuttling sound can be heard on the sullen August winds that wind through the empty streets.

"This is it," Ellen says. "Welcome to Grayditch."

Comments

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Huh." says the werewolf, peering around. The mask at his side helpfully translates it into a series of clicks. He's got his armour on, a dull black that used to be Xenomorph and is now really, really comfortable, and it would be fair to say he's bristling with weapons and trophies. (Teeth trophies, not full skulls. It's traditional.)

[alertcommando]

Tanya looks around and curses low in german: the place reminds her way too much of the wastelands left behind when the Reds bombed and nuked 'strategic targets'. Strikes close to home, that her Earth might end the same way.

She does not bother readjusting her small backpack, everything is where it should be, firm in the tactical harness. Pistols, a carbine, ammo, a knife, and a few assorted supplies.

In times like this, she turns to her training: survey the scene, locate immediate threats.

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno is not a threat, he's mostly harmless. Except, you know, for the metal staff with tasers built into the ends and a couple of other odds and sods stashed in the pouches of his Barrier Jacket. He's also carrying a fair amount of water.

Feel free to ignore the small sad sound he just made too. He's from a nuclear-phobic culture. His entire civilization essentially had a nightmare like this.

He'll be looking more at the sky and the architecture. It's where the problems have always come from for him in the past.

[time_dancer]

Val takes a quick look around as she adjusts the backpack with the extra water and food rations. Her armor takes care of a lot of things but food and water unfortunately it does not. Next she checks the sling bag with the supplies for taking samples. All is good and sitting right. Tanya may note a familiar looking symbolic four on her tunic, Ben Grimm had a similar one on his belt buckle.

She then raises her left arm and says, "Heads up display." A small holographic interface with various windows appears and she begins making settings; radiation level alert, a new map with an anchor point for their current location and a reading on magnetic north.

"I'm assuming we're all basically human? I'm setting an alert for radiation levels," she says as she works. She pauses as she is about to activate the mapping radar. "Is anything up here sensitive to radio signals?"

[bprd_agent_red]

Red is traveling light. He's got his trench coat, the Samaritan in its holster and a couple cigars tucked away in his coat pocket. There may also be a candy bar or three and Red Bull stashed somewhere.

Bringing up the rear he takes a look around at their surroundings. If the desolate landscape bothers him he doesn't show it. Tanya's German gets a quick sideways glance but it's not a problem.

"Works for me, lady," He replies to Val. His tolerance will be higher but he doesn't need any special monitoring for that.

Tanya and Val

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Most of what remains of the houses here looks like Dresden after the firebombing. Between the upper floors caved in and tumbled to the ground by bombs and the black scorch-marks and smoke left by the ants, it's hard to avoid the comparison. A fair number of the houses have been sealed off, doors and windows boarded up- but they appear to have been boarded up from outside, rather than by frantic people hiding indoors.

One of the buildings has its door hanging off, though. And there's the light of flames flickering merrily on the wall of a nearby alley....

[alertcommando]

Tanya is surveying the area, frowning at the too-familiar imagery. "Shall we check inside that one?" Fire but no ants right now, which means things could be worse.

[time_dancer]

"Sounds good to me," Val replies, more than willing to follow Tanya's lead. "I can open the door from here if you want? Would you like me to take lead? In case they're ants there?"

[alertcommando]

"No worry. Just blast the door open, any ants should move to check what happened." Tanya prefers to bait them out and deal with the creatures before going in.

"Look for holes and openings a human could use and would be too tight for the ants, too. Just because all doors and windows are barred from the outside does not mean someone is not hiding in there."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Moving carefully here would be well advised. The vestibule just beyond the door is littered with ash-heaps and bits of rubble, and the open space beyond that, which was once a living room, is lit only by fire. The flames are devouring what used to be the couch, against the far wall.

There is a smell here that Tanya may well recognize. People who haven't been in war zones could easily be forgiven for thinking it the smell of barbecue.

Spoon and Yuuno

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The street here stretches from the car park and the shack at one end to a park with a disturbingly clear view of the Metro station at the other. Most of the buildings look as if one good heave would knock them over, or maybe make them collapse straight downward. There isn't a single one with an intact roof or an unbroken front window. Fires flicker in the streets, burning lumps of trash and fallen detritus.

Not one of the buildings has an intact door, unless it's one of the buildings whose door was boarded over long ago. Everything here lies open to the elements, or to the hunter off the street, or the ants.

Re: Spoon and Yuuno

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Right." Spoon says, "D' you want to start left side of the street, or right? One building at a time."

Re: Spoon and Yuuno

[magic_ferret]

"Left?" offers Yuuno after a moments thought. It avoids homonym issues and it's not like he has a really good idea where anyone would be. He'll hang back, Spoon is the forward for the group.

Re: Spoon and Yuuno

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon is used to being the forward for pretty much every group (he took point even when he was human) and heads for the first door with a spring in his step and a song in his heart.

It's probably better not to think about what You Are My Sunshine sounds like when translated by the mask into Yautja.

Re: Spoon and Yuuno

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Yeah, that's probably best.

The first building on the left has a flight of stairs leading up immediately from the doorframe. Not that there's much left of the second floor, but that doesn't seem to have stopped the pair of ants up there from poking through the fallen rubble in search of something to nibble on. They're about as long as from Ellen's armpit to the floor.

Hellboy and Ellen

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Yuuno didn't mention seeing anybody alive on the street, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. There's slumping walls and half-collapsed buildings enough that he might not have been able to see the entire surface from above- and anyway, Mr. Wilks might've tried to make a run for it, for all Ellen knows. So she and Hellboy are going to be searching at ground level.

Actually, the major reason they're on street duty rather than searching houses is that people should probably be able to come out of the buildings they're searching without immediately being confronted by ants and fire. That, and Ellen's not sure how many staircases in buildings like this can take Hellboy's weight. If they happen to find Mr. Wilks, so much the better.

"Thank you for coming along on this, by the way," Ellen murmurs as they start their sweep along the street running north to south. "I don't like to think how hard this would be without help."

(The ant in the distance does not hear what she's saying, being busy poking at a heap of rubble. It is easily as long as Ellen is tall.)

Re: Hellboy and Ellen

[bprd_agent_red]

"Hey, no problem. I do stuff like this all the time."

He walks along, tail swaying behind him, keeping on the lookout for anyone. When he sees the ant he stops, tilting his head.

"These guys are a bit bigger than the last giant ants I messed with, though."

Bit bigger by a Lot.

Re: Hellboy and Ellen

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen's attention snaps back to what's in front of her, not the person she's talking to. "That one's about as big as the ones that were under the-"

It's noticed the two observers now, and started scuttling their way. The thing's alarmingly fast.

Re: Hellboy and Ellen

[bprd_agent_red]

Red takes a couple big steps forward so he's in front of Ellen and draws his gun.

"Least these guys make a big target."

Which is good, because Red is a lousy shot.

The canon in his hand goes off with a very loud BANG!

Re: Hellboy and Ellen

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

They do indeed make a big target, and this one gets hit- not fatally, but badly enough along its back section to scream. It stops running and exhales.

And when these things exhale, they produce a cone of fire significantly larger than their own body length.

... Ellen's gonna be getting the sniper rifle out, mm'kay?

Congregating

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

When everyone's gathered together at the starting point, Ellen, Hellboy, and a blond boy of perhaps six or seven years are waiting for them. "Hi, everyone," Ellen says. "This is Bryan Wilks."

The boy doesn't speak, just waves shyly.

"Bryan's the one who told me about the ants here," Ellen continues. "We kind of have a problem, though. His dad was his only family, except for a cousin of his who doesn't live here. Vera Weatherly lives somewhere called Rivet City, on the Potomac somewhere south of here. I've never been there, and I don't think Bryan has either-" The boy shakes his head. "So, um. We kind of need to get rid of the ants, but we also need to get Bryan to his cousin, because I can't take care of him in Megaton myself. We can either split up and take care of the ants and finding Rivet City, or we can handle the ants first, or we can all head to Rivet City together. It's up to you guys."

She pauses, and adds, "And if anybody wants to go home, that's fine too. We can do that. I can take Bryan back to Megaton with me and follow the next caravan to head down to Rivet City, since they come to town every couple of days."


(OOC: If you want to pull your character out now, that's fine with me! I understand completely. If you want more details about the Rivet City stuff before you decide, or what to expect from the ant tunnels, email me at camwyn@megaloceros.net and we'll talk.)

Re: Congregating

[time_dancer]

Val looks a bit worse for wear but she says, "I'm fine, I'll stick around."

[alertcommando]

"I am staying too." Tanya is grim, with a cold gaze directed towards the ruins. "Destrying the infestation is a good idea, but first we should make sure Bryan is safe."

[bprd_agent_red]

"We going in two different directions here for the ants and the city?"

Obviously he's staying, his decision on what to do depends on the answer to his question.

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno's here, he just doesn't know what to say. It's hard enough to get the adults to listen back on Mid-Childa. He'll wait until there's something that looks like he could say that would make a difference.