ic Graduation Day: The Earth Died Screaming (IC)

[Electra]

Wordlessly Erin held out her hand for the gun, taking it and handling it with the air of someone who'd had some experience, her face expressionless. Turning it over, she looked at the butt, then opened it and let the single remaining bullet fall into her open hand. "This was Dad's gun," she murmured. "He always kept it locked in the safe and unloaded. Two bullets, one shot, and the door was locked." She turned to look out over the backyard and saw what he'd have seen, the wooden treehouse playset he'd built Erin and Megan, the half-finished greenhouse he'd sworn he'd finish up soon, both now all but swallowed under the greenery.

She set the gun down on the counter and braced herself against the ledge, letting it all sink in. "He did it himself," she finally said, her voice a little hollow. "He knew he had the flu, and nobody survived that. Maybe it was right after we left, or the next day. I had dreams," she told Trevor, "where he was delirious and dying and crawled into the kitchen looking for water, or for us, and couldn't get anything. That he lay there for hours or days and called for us. But he didn't." She took a long breath, let it out. "It was clean. It probably didn't even hurt for more than a second."

[Gizmo]

As Erin looked over the firearm, Trevor silently replaced his devices into his belt, listening as she described her nightmares. He kept his expression as carefully schooled as he could, but there was no hiding an acute ache in his discoloured eyes that looked as though he'd just been punched in the stomach. He knew he hadn't historically had the best sense of timing in moments like this, but he set aside an hesitation as Erin put the gun down on the counter and stepped forward to wrap his arms around her in a tight hug. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do except to reaffirm his presence.

[Electra]

For all Trevor's occasional missteps, this time Erin turned to him and hugged him back, tightly as she could without injuring him, resting her face against his shoulder. She was quiet for a long few moments as her body shuddered but no tears fell. Finally she took a deep breath and muttered, "God. If we get out of this and get home, I am just going to... to go into the Doom Room, and f***ing throw everything." She laughed, but there wasn't a trace of humor in it, then went on with the words almost jumbling together. "We don't have time for me to deal with any of this, and it's not even important compared to what's at stake. But I had to come, and if we do live I'll be glad I know, but it's so hard..." Her fingers flexed once against his skin before she released him for fear of letting her own control slip any further.

She took a ragged breath and scrubbed her face with both hands, then looked up again and met Trevor's eyes. "I'll be glad to know," she said again, sounding calmer. "I need to grab a couple of things from the house, then I'll be ready to go. There's a Cabela's not too far from here, we can hit it up on the way back and get some decent camping supplies. Sage is pretty much done in, and she's not going to rest if we're coyote camping or bivouacing." Thinking strategy helped, getting her mind back on the mission helped. "I don't think I'll have a chance to get back here though, and there are some things I'd like at least a shot at taking with me."

Erin took a reusable grocery bag from the kitchen closet and led the way back through the house, detouring into the living room past an animal-ravaged sofa and loveseat to dig into a cabinet next to the dead black face of a big-screen television. Some of the tightness in her face eased when she found what she was looking for, a fat photo album, still undamaged. She tucked it into the bag and headed upstairs, testing the steps for structural damage to make sure neither of them would risk a fall. All the doors along the hallway were closed, but this floor seemed less afflicted by weather and animals. She took a deep breath, rather like a diver preparing to go deep, and walked along the hall, opening the doors as she went. She had to see if it was all like she remembered.

The first room was Megan's pink ruffled princess bedroom, and it looked shockingly like it had when they'd left. Dusty now, of course, but with the door closed and the window intact, it had been spared most of the ravages of time. Erin could look at the pile of small clothes, plastic ponies and dolls scattered on the bed and remember how she'd argued with Megan over which of those would fit in her single suitcase. She squared her shoulders and closed the door again. Nothing in that room belonged to her, she couldn't take it. Crossing the hall, she stepped into her parents room, where the bed was tidily made, all the drawers and closets and surfaces carefully organized. She went straight to the dresser and took her mom's enameled jewelry box, putting the whole thing into the bag. There was a small bottle of perfume on the dresser next to it; Erin lifted it, sniffed it, but then set it back down. Too fragile, too likely to break. Her dad's grandpa's pocketwatch was in his sock drawer, she tucked that into the box as well.

She'd turned to go back to the door when she saw the envelope on the bed. To My Lovelies, it read, in her dad's clipped programmer handwriting. Erin picked it up and turned it over to open it, then put it in the bag instead. There were limits on how much she could take in one day. Stepping out, she carefully closed that door as well, then went into her own bedroom. This was weird, like stepping into a time capsule of when she'd been a very different person. Boy band posters with curling corners hung on the walls, makeup and hair products lay scattered across a vanity whose mirror was edged all the way around with snapshots, and a bookcase was crammed full of novels of questionable literary significance. The girl who had owned this space had been someone with many dreams and few problems, with a future planned that was far different from the way things had turned out.

Erin went to the vanity and began plucking the pictures from their anchor, dropping them into the bag. She stopped when she took one particular one down, one that was obviously a younger Erin with her arms slung around two other girls, all of them grinning like fools for the camera. "This was my best friend Kathi," she said aloud, pointing to the girl on the left. "The other Erin has this exact same picture. I could've gotten a copy from her and it would've looked the same, but it wouldn't have been the same people." She finished her job, then looked around the room once more. So many things that held memories, there was no way to choose. She'd have to settle for just the memories. "Okay," she said. "That's it."

[Gizmo]

Trevor followed Erin throughout the house, on guard for any hidden dangers, but refrained from entering the rooms himself, feeling very much the intruder despite everything. He took a tentative step into the room that had once been the young woman's bedroom as his girlfriend took down photographs. He wasn't entirely sure what he should be feeling as he looked about; there was very little there that seemed directly connected to the person he knew in the present. When they finally moved to leave the long abandoned home, he reflexively shut the bedroom door behind them.

[Avenger Assembled]

By the time Wander and Midnight had returned to the rubble-covered street corner where they'd left the first group behind, between them the rest of Young Freedom had managed to get Red Falcon's bike up and running. Well, almost up and running. Redbird hovered over the dusty pavement, muttering "Insufficient fast-twitch muscle fibers in present organics. Red Falcon too injured to pilot in combat conditions. Serious situation..."

Distracted from the unhappy bike by the arrival of the others, Edge looked up as Wander and Midnight jumped down to join them. "Hey guys," he said, a little tiredly. "We got the bike fixed, even if she won't let any of us ride her. Did you get what you were looking for?" From the camping supplies Erin and Trevor were carrying, it certainly looked like they had.

[Electra]

"Yes" Erin said shortly, glancing once at Trevor and then back to the pile of gear they'd collected. "This will hold us for the night. I'll start setting up." She carried the large collection of stuff to the overgrown remains of a small park across the way, then began using a brush machete to clear a space. Moving much quicker than even the most experienced woodsman, she soon had a space cleared big enough for two large tents and a fire pit, which she then began to set up as well. It was clear that anyone trying to help would probably only get in her way, nor did she seem to want company.

[April]

Sage watched Wander for several moments as the more experienced teen set up camp. She wanted to lend a hand, but she would be the first to admit she knew little about outdoor survival, and besides it seemed to her that Erin didn't want any help.

"I have a possible solution to that problem, Edge." It was an idea she had formulated shortly after the bike made clear that nobody was fit to operate it (her?). "A little trick with an airship gondola I did a while back. Everyone can pile onto Redbird, it certainly appears as though she has space for most of us, and then I can telekinetically carry it with me while I fly us to Freedom City."

The tired telepath shrugged, "I won't be able to go anywhere near my top speed which is... well let's just say I could reach our destination in under a minute. Less than thirty seconds, really."

"Thoughts?"

[Gizmo]

"Think you need a break," Trevor opined frankly as he strode forward and made a few cursory inspections of the repair job on Redbird. Between the skills she'd borrowed from his mind and her own trained dexterity, Eve had done a commendable job, but it was obvious to her taller friend that she had been burning the proverbial candle at both ends. "I'll drive," he told the Furion vehicle, making it a statement, not an offer. "Need to recuperate here first anyway; relative safety. Can test my 'fast-twitch muscle fibers' in the mean time."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes...." A brief cascade of green light shone on Trevor as he approached, coming from a small electronic 'eye' at the rear of the big hovering bike. "Yes, fast-twitch muscle fiber compatibility at 97%. Higher than Red Falcon!" the bike chirped like a cheerful dog, earning an affectionate eyeroll from its usual driver. "Will drive anywhere in system for you," the bike said warmly to Trevor at his approach. "Recommend staying inside lunar orbit," Redbird added a moment later, as if a thought had just come into its electronic brain. "Interstellar armadas in Martian orbit will eliminate any vessel leaving atmospheric shell for extended periods."

"Take a break, Sage," Mark murmured to Sage, giving the little acrobat reinforcement about Trevor's idea. "And I'll do it with you. He's right, we're going to need rest if we're going to go any further. And we are going further," he added with a sigificant glance east. "All the way to the Terminus again, if we have to, and back. But if we are going to take that trip, we've got to get some sleep first. Why don't you see if Wander needs help with the tents?" he suggested.

[KnightDisciple]

The newest and least experienced member of Young Freedom had quietly followed the others into the small wooded area, trying to stay alert for danger. Still, he was a bit frustrated not knowing why they couldn't sleep in any buildings.

"Why is it safer to sleep outside instead of in a building?"

He seems embarrassed, but also a bit frustrated. He gestures around them.

"I mean, we're not exactly in a natural fortress or anything. Sure it's secluded, but...What makes building so bad? Just what makes this world so dangerous? The Terminus?"

Corbin's words are likely to not help the mood...but the boy is also the one least informed about the world Erin came from. About the dangers that might lurk here.

"I don't need the nitty gritty details, but I'm still kind of confused about this place."

[Electra]

"Because a lot of the buildings have rotted corpses in them," Erin told Corbin shortly, pushing a last tentpeg into the ground with one hand. "That's the thing about everybody dying, eventually the bodies don't get taken away. And even the ones that don't have been untended since 2007 in Seattle weather. You've got your mildew, your black mold, animal waste, rotten food, structural instability, you name it. Not to mention no water or power or gas, anything that would make you want to sleep in a building. I'm just hoping like hell the League was right about the plague itself being gone."

She gave the tent a shake, her face an inscrutable blank mask. "We're as safe as we're going to get right now, right where we are. I'll keep watch tonight. If something does come, a building wouldn't be any protection anyway. Boys, girls," she said, tapping each tent in turns. "I'll start the fire."

[April]

Sage rolled one shoulder in a tired shrug. "Tent is fine, had enough of the collapsing buildings this trip. Though you should get some sleep too, Wander. You and Edge are the strongest out of all of us, how rested the rest of us are won't make a lick of difference."

At the mention of the plague--Sage recalled Wander mentioning it earlier when they were between places--the telepath rubbed the tip of her nose and looked thoughtful. "I have faith in the League," she said after a moment, "But all the same it is best if we play it safe. If we manage to do the impossible, if we have a home to return to, we need to get checked out."

"Anyway, I'd hate to bring something back with us so we'll need to enter quarantine until we're cleared."

[Gizmo]

With a carefully deadpanned expression, Trevor signed to Eve, >>Sleep. Worrying about us will put them off their game more than anything else.<< On one hand, he was probably right; both Erin and Mark were ones to fret over their less indestructible or omnipotent friends respectively. On the other, if he were being completely honest he might have admitted that the way the proud young Frenchwoman was pushing herself to her limits had him a little concerned as well. She might have had far more endurance than her slight build suggested, but her dark haired friend wasn't sure how weariness would effect her mental powers.

To the bike he simply nodded briefly and intoned, "Good." Fast-twitch muscle fiber compatibility aside, the stoic vigilante and the earnest AI probably wouldn't have been a good long term match.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin blinked. Then blinked again. He took over a minute to really formulate a response. When he did speak, he instantly felt bad, like it didn't cover the magnitude of what Erin was implying.

"Oh. I didn't....I guess that makes sense."

He shuffled nervously over to what looked to be the fire pit. He held his ring up, flaring a bit of flame off of it without doing anything further.

"I could start it. Doesn't really take much, and it won't make the fire burn blue or anything. And yeah, the tents look good. Not that I'm an expert. Haven't done much camping, even back at..."

He glanced at Red Falcon.

"Even when I was out at Masada. We had a trailer then. So, yeah. Hooray first camping experience?"

He gave an awkward smile and conjured himself a chair near the fire pit, ready to start it if asked. Just before he sat down, his cape and armor vanished, leaving him in what seemed to be a thick cloth "under-suit" that still fit in with the neo-medieval aesthetic his costume used.

[Avenger Assembled]

It wasn't an easy night for anyone, not even when they got into the old camping food Erin had secured for them. It was food, and they had shelter, but it was a far cry from the cozy accommodations back on the disco planet. They were only a continent away from the local Freedom City, but there were literal universes between them and going home. Corbin's fire kept them warm, but it was still Seattle at night, and what a night it was. Laying awake in his tent for a while, Mark mused that under other circumstances, the sound around them might have been pretty. Birds sang where once cars had driven, animals were at play where once streets had been. But of course, there was nothing pretty about it. This wasn't a damn nature preserve, as Wander had reminded them all. This was a dead world, a world that had died slowly and painfully of disease. And they were faced with imminent death in the morning, when they'd all be faced with the greatest challenge of their lives. Maybe of anyone's lives. He had absolute faith in the light at the end of the tunnel, but the road that followed was dangerous. Even with his fatige, it took a while for him to sleep.

[Electra]

Erin stayed mostly silent through the meal and the preparations for rest, speaking to answer questions or to give instructions on how to handle and heat the canned and dehydrated camping supplies. Most of it wasn't too seriously out of code yet, and was still reasonably palatable, even to those who were spoiled by regular access to fresh foods. When the meal was finished and people began to bed down for the night, she unfolded a camp chair and found a spot with a clear view, not far from the tents or the fire, but enough that people could get up and over to the chemical toilet with some privacy. The rest on Disco Earth would see her through until... until whatever happened.

The quiet of the night washed over her, a sort of silence that was alien to her new life on Prime, and for a moment it was hard to remember that she wasn't fifteen anymore, and that she wasn't alone here. Erin found herself listening again and again for the sound of voices in the tents, then the sound of breathing, just to reassure herself of that fact. Maybe coming here first was good, she told herself in the small hours of the night, when clouds had washed away the moon and the world was velvet darkness but for the red embers of the fire. A visit to Seattle reminded her of what was at stake. Her world was lost, and there was no changing that, no saving it. But maybe if she was good enough, strong enough, smart enough, after tomorrow there wouldn't be any more worlds like this. If she died for that, well, that would be okay.

[Gizmo]

As they sat down to eat, Trevor gave Corbin a subtle but reassuring look with a brief tilt of his head. The underclassman had been holding up admirably considering how much less experience he had with both alternate realities and truly high stakes missions in general, rising to the occasion. Being sent to the wasteland of Erin's home dimension was hardly the best introduction to that particular minefield of tactfulness, either.

For his part, Trevor recognized that the auburn haired survivalist needed some time alone with her thoughts now that initial shock of being back in the husk of Seattle had settled in. He also had to admit to himself that he was reaching the far end of his all too human endurance, and pragmatism demanded sleep while they had the chance, much as he would have rather stayed up just in case. "C'mon," he quietly said to Eve with a nod toward one of the tents. "Bend the boy/girl rule and keep you company." The tents they'd scavenged were massive, and it didn't make any sense to leave his diminutive friend completely on her own for the night.

[April]

The smile Eve directed at Trevor was a grateful one. Though she would be loath to admit it, the psychic more than a little uncomfortable; she wasn't much of a camper and the thought of being alone inside a cavernous tent on a dead world had set her on edge.

Inside the tent, Sage settled into one of the sleeping bags thoughtfully placed inside and despite herself she yawned. Half-lidded green eyes watched Trevor quietly as he made his own preparations, a comfortable silence stretching between them.

"Big day tomorrow," Eve murmured after a time, trying and failing to keep the concern from her voice.

[Gizmo]

Trevor made a soft note of agreement as he slid into his own sleeping bag, grateful that Erin had thought ahead to gather the camping supplies. "Nothing we can't handle," he elaborated quietly with an understated confidence, the dimness in the tent posing no obstacle for his mutated eyes. There was a long pause before he added, "Thank you for taking care of the repairs. Know you've been pushing your powers for days, keeping us linked up." A wry note at the edges of the friends' telepathic rapport suggested that he was fully aware Eve was more concerned about her team than herself, and that the feeling was mutual.

[Avenger Assembled]

It was a long, difficult night for everyone. The next morning, Edge joined a sharpened-looking Wander around the fire, where breakfast was waiting for him if not much conversation. Red Falcon came with him, and as the rest of the kids got up, ate, and used the facilities behind a nearby clump of trees that had pushed right through the concrete, the Furion showed them some of what had happened to Freedom City via holographic display over the fire. The grim depiction of a dead city, with smaller buildings intact but the larger skyscrapers all replaced with massive black Terminus towers reaching up to the brown sky in a mockery of what the city had once been, was certainly hard to look at, but for all that the scan itself was tactically enormously helpful.

"I estimate ten thousand Omegadrones," said the Furion simply, "posted at various points through the city, and at least one Annihilist watching the bomb itself. I don't know who it is," he apologized, "they came at me before we could get close enough to scan. The bomb itself is in...here." Wander recognized Freedom Hall; or rather, the fallen-down, damaged structure it had been on her world before her departure: it was in no better shape now, for all that there were at least two hundred Omegadrones visible on the lawn and inside the windows, with movement to suggest many more. "There's a dimensional weak point here," he said, pointing to a space over the downtown that it took the kids a moment to realize had once been where the Goodman Building stood: a half-visible stump just at the skyline at the edge of the image revealed that the building had been destroyed, but not actually been replaced by a Terminus tower like the other skyscrapers of what had once been Freedom. "If anyone's going to come through, or if we're going to get out, that's the place to watch."

[Electra]

Wander stared at the diagrams for several long minutes, blinking only when the smoke from the fire began to sting her eyes. "So our objective is to get Midnight to the bomb and give him time to disarm it. Secondary objective, once that's done, is to let Edge send the whole place to hell and, if possible, escape with out lives. Stealth is going to be our best option, if there's any hope of maintaining it." She looked at Red Falcon. "Do you know how far their sensors go, into the sky, under the ground? Freedom City's got tunnels, or we could loop around, come in by sea and up the Wading River. We could be near Midtown before anyone spotted us."

[Avenger Assembled]

"They were expecting an attack from above," agreed the Furion, "but they will have had no reason to scan underground or in the seas: the former inhabitants of both are no longer a threat to the machinations of the dark lord. Their only threat, or rather, the only threat they imagine they have, are intruders through the weak point or attacks from space." He hmmed, sketching out on a map. "Redbird is faster in the air than with close-in maneuvering. I recommend the nautical approach. Swinging out over the seas like so, and then swooping in through the river." He nodded at that, still ginger with himself thanks to his serious injuries. "If we work quickly, and do not hesitate..." He looked around at the others for thoughts.

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar had slept somewhat fitfully; never truly waking up during the night, but still having half-lucid moments that disappeared as quickly as they came. His dreams had been strange, distorted, disjointed, filled with danger and love and sadness and colors and darkness.

'I blame this bloody ring. No, wait, I blame the ************ Terminus.'

Corbin's parents, despite not knowing Ancient Greek, would likely have grounded him for the word he just thought. But at the moment, he didn't care. He stared at the map in pensive thought before finally speaking up.

"I won't speak to the overall strategy, but I will say that I can provide at least a degree of cover for the bike. About 50 cubic feet or so. It's not impervium, but it'll slow stuff down. Plus, I think I can stack it, so they have to go through a couple of layers. It'll be able to keep up with me, though you'll want to tell me what shape and position beforehand; I'm not very good with moving it around yet. I could if I had to, but it'd take some work. On the plus side, I could also provide cover fire while providing, uh, cover."

He glanced down at his ring.

"I don't know how easy or hard it would be for them to detect it, but it's worth a shot, right?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Sounding a little offended, Redbird piped up. "Redbird capable of protecting all passengers while traveling through water ocean. No new life support systems needed." Red Falcon quickly explained to the bike that they were talking about combat cover, not cover for the oceanic trip, and the bike agreed with Cobalt Templar's suggestion. "Fire protection is good idea. Redbird prefer not to see more passengers be hurt." The bike seemed to give an apologetic look to Red Falcon, but that was probably just an illusion from the cool yellow sunlight of Seattle reflecting off its atomic headlights.

"How are we going to get there in the meantime?" asked Edge. "Are we going to have to cut all the way down the Pacific underwater?" That, at least, Red Falcon could confirm wasn't a problem: while he'd been followed out to Seattle by pursuing drones, that was simply a sign of their determination. "Okay, so if we stay in the air till we hit the Mississippi, then cut down beneath radar level...we can maybe swing out maybe in Virginia? And then up under the Atlantic and out into Freedom." He looked around at the others for ideas.

[April]

Despite the anxiety she felt with regard to the mission, despite the fears and concerns she had about the safety of her friends and teammates, sleep came easily to the French telepath. Perhaps it sheer exhaustion, or perhaps she drew some measure of comfort from Trevor's reassurance that they'll get through this, but that night Eve slept the sleep of the righteous and woke that morning refreshed and revitalized.

Sage ate in silence as she listened to the others talk, giving thoughtful consideration to the suggestions offered. Additional protection from ground fire was a reasonable idea, as was taking an oblique sea-side approach. But it was the idea of stealth that she spent most of her time considering.

"Remember when we bagged Singularity?" she asked quietly as she cast a glance at her friends before her gazed rested on Midnight. "When we went to pull Caryatid's family out? I provided psychic cover; nothing with a mind would perceive us. While you, Midnight, jammed electronics. I see no reason why we can't try that again."

"We'll have speed and stealth, formidable protection thanks to Cobalt Templar and hit them from an angle they're not expecting if we follow Edge's idea. By the time they know they're under attack half the city will be in flames and falling apart around them."