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

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I think you're right," Ellen's voice says. "Hellboy and I will go let Bryan know. After that I'll call Spoon and Yuuno. I think it might not be a bad idea to track these things back to their source, before anybody else gets hurt."

[time_dancer]

At Ellen's words, Val pales. She walks back to the window to collect her thoughts. This was nothing like what she was expecting. As her nerves are about to get the best of her she remembers something her uncle told her once, "Doesn't matter if yer scared, just don't quit. If there's a job to be done or somethin' ta hit, ya just do it. Folks 'r countin' on us. Who else is there?"

Her resolve fortified, Val turns back and, summoning some scientific detachment, studies the body. How was it killed? Are there sign of attack or did the ants rely on their fire? The answers can tell us how the act and fight.

[alertcommando]

Tanya switches places with Val, checking the window and then the hallway, listening for ants. "So, we should go back to the start point, or meet somewhere else?"

[time_dancer]

"Are we just going to leave the body here?" Val asks. "Shouldn't we do something with it?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Best to meet up at the start point. We're going to need to stick together if we're going to go into those tunnels. These things are nasty."

[alertcommando]

"Check, Ellen. See you soon." She leavs the headset on standby, not transmitting, while she turns to talk with Val.

"Bury it? Unless you have a shovel and some speed-undertaker skills... I don't think we have the time."

[time_dancer]

"You just don't quit."

Val raises her gauntlets and twin blasts of charged plasma turn the corpse to ash. "I'm not letting a father become food."

[alertcommando]

Tanya just nods, and starts moving out... back to the start point to meet up with Ellen and the others.

[time_dancer]

Val follows along. To be safe she's put a field in front of them as they head down the stair case. It will keep pace with Tanya and once they reach the bottom, assuming the meet no ants, she'll turn it off.

[alertcommando]

Tanya slows down a bit, and gives a sigh. "If I seem cold... sorry, it is a self-defense mechanism. Three years fighting a war carved out much of emotional niceties."

[time_dancer]

"I understand," Val says hesitantly and then almost as a whisper, "That was the first dead body I've ever seen. I didn't think this would be so...messy."

[alertcommando]

The woman shakes head, looking around and pulling the magazine from her gun, reloading it with the ease of long practice. "Remind me not to take you to my war-torn Europe. Minus the giant ants, several of our cities look like this or worse, after the Reds came."

"Conventional artillery barrage, then a nuke to wipe out resistance."

[time_dancer]

"I'll keep that in mind," Val says with a weak grin. "But why bother with the artillery barrage if you're going to nuke the site anyway? Seems wasteful to me."

[alertcommando]

"Weakens shelters. Damage bunkers, so the radiation can kill everybody." Oh, fun...

She reloads the magazine into the gun, heading back to their gathering point.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

[OOC: And you guys can head down to here!]