tushanshu_logs | Event | Console Crash Chaos

Event | Console Crash Chaos | Phase One

Characters: ALL!
Date: April 17-30, 2014
Location: Keeliai
Situation: In an unexpected and bold attack by Malicant, the console system is completely shut down while food and supply locations all around the city are targeted by bombings.
Warnings/Rating: Explosions! Possible descriptions of related aftermaths, injuries, death, etc.

Shortly after eight in the morning of the 17th, the consoles experience a strange glitching effect. They'll display 15-20 seconds of static, interrupting anything being done on them at the time, before going utterly dark. No power, no signal, completely offline even to detection of their normal bio-mechanical signatures. No amount of energy influx will get them going again, though taking them apart (or trying to) will still cause them to melt into goo.

Within minutes of the console shutdown, explosions will begin ripping through Keeliai. The bombs are all timed as close to simultaneous as coordinating a city-wide attack can be, with many going off within seconds of each other, throwing the thriving morning rush into chaos. They tear into businesses and across public spaces, collapsing walls and blowing piles of debris into the streets. Places of high traffic quickly become evident as prime targets: marketplaces, hospitals, schools and cafes. The streets take only moments to fill with panicking, screaming kedan trying to pull their injured fellows out of harm's way. All told, the explosions take place across approximately a 10-minute stretch and their explosive yields are fairly high.

In addition to the bombs that cause destruction through their blasts, smaller bombs are going off around the city that specifically target food and water supplies, particularly where large stocks of it were kept such as grocers, produce markets, and the like. Rather than cause mass damage, these explosions spray out a fine mist of spores. Any perishables in their immediate area that are splattered develop an oozing black mold within minutes, eventually breaking down organic substances that turn to foul smelling rot and release their own mist, perpetuating the cycle. While skin contact with the mist doesn't harm, inhaling or ingesting it will produce shakes, fever, vomiting with a cumulative effect that has the potential to be fatal. It is much slower to infect the water supply but the sheer volume of rotting perishables will eventually put enough of the spores to taint water sources, approximately 6-8 hours after the original bombings.

The police force are out as soon as possible and within the hour are helping move the injured to safer locations with Evandau in charge, right in their midst and shoulder to shoulder with his subordinates. Not being stockpiles for any of the apparent targets, many of the Foreigner residences have been left undamaged and, wary of putting them in further danger by collecting large groups in public spaces, Foreigners may even be asked to take in a few individuals or a kedan family.

Despite the number of explosions, there are far more reports of injuries as opposed to casualties. The person or persons (or That Bad Guy) responsible for this were, for this attack at least, more intent on damage than on death.

LINKS
Fire Sector | Earth Sector | Metal Sector | Water Sector | Wood Sector
Treating the Injured & Safe Houses | Investigations | OOC Plot Post

OOC NOTE: Remember that the consoles and network will be completely offline for the duration of this aspect of the the plot running April 17-23, though Foreigner tech is not affected. Plot questions can be directed to this comment. Have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It took a moment to understand just why Rex was staring at her. She never explained that she found it or how it even worked. Something she’d have to fill him in on later, provided he doesn’t just figure it out on his own.

"I only heard them, too. Other things happened in the morning." Korra didn’t even motion at her leg, she was too busy thinking about what she saw while she was flying. "Everywhere. The entire city. It’s search and rescue right now, the police set up safehouses and temporary clinics. I was in one."

Adrenaline and perseverance was only to get her so far on her own. "Need an extra pair of hands?" Two big green hands formed from her ring.

A frown creased Rex's features at the mention of "other things", his gaze lingering momentarily on that weird energy wrap around one of Korra's legs. "So do those other things include the reason you're wearing some kinda makeshift cast?"

While it seemed like the city was going to pieces around them, neither of them would be any good to anyone if they weren't fit enough to stay upright and on their own two feet. So if Korra was injured, Rex wanted to know about it.

As for the rest...

"I think it's less me and more the kedan needing the extra pair of hands. Details aside, yeah. The sooner we can clear the area of civilians and make sure no one else is trapped here, the sooner we can move onto the next location."

That brought her attention back and the hands faded. It was something Korra was hoping to avoid explaining, though the cast really did make it incredibly obvious. Korra sucked in her lips and lightly shrugged.

"Yes. Broken leg." She retracted the cast, parts of it floating away from her leg to reveal the splint on her leg and the padding underneath her uniform just above her knee. Her frame shifted slightly from the cast not giving the additional support. "Some guy shot a weapon at me earlier, but the wound's seared shut and I healed some of it." At least she wasn't pale anymore.

"But you're right." The cast collected itself back around her leg. "We need to get anyone to safety." They were more important than her discomfort, and she knew Rex had that sense of duty.

Eyes narrowing and brows lowering at the explanation, Rex eyed the split before building out the Smack Hands. "Yeah, maybe we can talk more later about who shot you and why because I'd really like to know."

Certainly Rex had not known Korra all that long, but she'd been one of the people to immediately offer him a helping hand his first day in the city. Additionally, more than anyone else thus far, he also felt something of a connection with her. Both of them were one of a kind in their respective worlds.

And what reason would anyone have to hurt her in such a way? The explosions had been a real wake up call for Rex as to how serious this situation really was and if they were all ultimately on the same side, they didn't have time to be causing injury to one another or fighting uselessly among themselves.

Moving toward a building that had completely collapsed, smoke still rising from the remains, Rex began to shift the debris to get it out of the way. He worked as quickly as he dared, not wanting to pull something clear and have the rest come crashing down on him or anyone who might be within an open pocket beneath the wreckage.

Korra lifted off the ground and flew next to Rex.

"That's not a good idea. Trust me, whatever he was using really takes you out." Most of the damage had been from Korra's body going into shock from the blood loss, but if she could keep that from happening to anyone else then she would.

Pointing her ring at what was still standing, Korra formed several support beams to hold them up and rose higher into the air to get a bird's eye view of the scene. To see if there might be movement outside of where Rex was working.

And there was, but she couldn't tell if it was the wind or someone trying to climb out.

"To your left! I think I saw something. Or someone." She formed one more support beam to prevent a charred wall from falling inwards.

Rex said nothing to Korra's warning, merely offering a low "tch" sound in return. He'd been shot at so much back home, he'd honestly lost track of how many times it had happened. Unless someone here was packing EVO disintegration bullets, he wasn't overly concerned for his own safety.

As he dug through the debris, Smack Hands overturning and shoving aside pieces of the fallen building, a shout from above got his attention. He glanced up to see Korra overhead, then turned to his left, looking for movement. While he didn't see anything right off, Korra did have the height advantage. Tossing the large slat of metal he had in one mechanical gauntlet aside, Rex changed locations.

"Hey! Is there anyone in there?" he called out as he reached the indicated spot.

Tilting his head slightly, Rex waited a few seconds, straining to hear over the background noise and chaos in the wake of the attacks. There was a muffled sound from underneath the pile, something that sounded like a weak, vocal response. Then an extremity that could pass for a hand reached up through a gap between two large, broken supports.

"Hang on, we'll get you out!" Rex began to dig, pulling bits of wall away from the heavier wreckage before really digging in to try and lift one of the fallen beams out of the way. The entire pile was starting to shift, though, dangerously close to sliding down over itself. "Korra, gonna need that hand you promised down here!"

Unable to hear them, Korra kept looking for any others and was sharply brought to attention at Rex's promise to them. "You got it!" She descended and mustered a net being pulled by buffalo yak to yank the pile in the opposite direction. When she was low enough Korra helped move debris aside, the green aura protecting her from injury.

A chunk of cement was uncovered and she forcefully thrust her arms to the side, earthbending it out of the way to show an arm underneath; fingers feebly reaching outward. Her eyes darted up to Rex. Her constructs were spread out and she couldn't pull them out delicately thanks to her leg.

"I can take them to the nearest safehouse."

With the pile temporarily stabilized, Rex was able to brace himself better and shed one Smack Hand so he could reach out to that trembling hand. Carefully, he helped a young kedan out from beneath the rubble, pulling her close before a smaller youngster managed to climb out after. If Rex had to estimate their ages relative to a human's, he would have thought the girls no older than ten and maybe six or seven. Both of them reminded him of EVO children in many ways; humanoid overall but with very non-human skin color, eyes and various markings.

"Fortunately, they don't look like they're in real bad shape," Rex responded as he glanced to Korra. "Sure you can handle them both? If you can, I'll stay here and keep digging. If not, I can take one and you can take the other."

Kids were the last thing she was expecting. She looked over at Rex, the real gravity of what happened while she was being treated was hitting her. But raised her chin up and straightened her face.

"Keep digging, there might be more. I'll be back before you know it."

Korra forced a smile and assured them the same way she had the airbending kids back home. "Let's fly and see if we can find your family." And before the question of how they were going to fly even came up, a green light flashed out of Korra's ring to make a sky bison rise up underneath them and into the air.

She looked over at Rex before taking off. "Stay safe." The flight would be short, but more bombs could be set to detonate for all she knew.

For Rex, finding a pair of children a midst the mess might mean one or both of their parents were still buried somewhere further in, though he certainly hoped not. If the kids' family was elsewhere, though, hopefully they'd all be reunited at the safehouse.

"Alright, and you too," Rex called after Korra as she departed with the kedan. Despite the absolute disaster around them, he somehow managed a small, appreciative smile at the way the Avatar managed to handle the kids. It was a fleeting expression, however, Rex's eyes narrowing behind his goggle lenses as he turned back to the task at hand. "Man, it's gonna be a long day and probably an even longer night..."

He could do this, though. He could. After all, he'd survived the catastrophe that was the worldwide sleeping plague, even despite terrible exhaustion and numerous ability crashes. Just a matter of staying as focused as possible and not quitting until the job was done.

Heading deeper into the disaster zone and into the thick of the smokey haze surrounding the area, Rex began to call out, searching for anyone who might still be trapped there.

Flying next to the skybison, Korra kept an eye on what was going on below while answering curious questions the two children asked. Wreckage as far as the city stretched out with some patches of untouched buildings. After she dropped them off at the safehouse by them sliding off the tail, Korra's construct dissipated and she took off, retracing her flight.

Her green trail caught up with her when she stopped at seeing the thick, black and grey smoke that covered city blocks. A quick scan showed her the closest sign of life and she dove down through the smoke, the green auric shield protected her from inhaling anything dangerous.

"Rex?" Inches above the ground, she could hardly see through the haze and fanned her hands outward to airbend a path for to go down. Then the ring informed her of multiple life signs. "Can anyone hear me?"

The minutes slid by, but Rex had yet to uncover any other signs of life within the area he'd been searching through. Then he heard Korra again in the distance and he straightened up, tossing aside the large gauntlet full of rubble he'd been holding.

"Korra?" he called back before building down and heading in the direction of her voice. Up ahead, he could see the smoke billowing back, the green glow of the Avatar becoming visible. Rex picked up the pace, the Sky Slicer coming into existence via his feet and lower legs, the hover board creating its own glowing beacon against the haze as it carried him over the wreckage. "I haven't been able to locate anyone else further back. Did you see or hear anything on the way back down here?"

As soon as she heard him, Korra turned to the direction his voice came from and began to make headway through the air, occasionally forcing the smoke apart with airbending. Both blue lights shone through the smoke and eventually became visible. Korra halted in the air, and looked over his face. He didn’t have any breathing protection, but for all she knew; he may not have needed it.

"No, but there’s two others around here somewhere according to my ring." Even with the Metal Sector being in its ruined state, Korra was fairly sure of where they were and an idea of where the two survivors might head towards. "There’s a grocery store around here, we should check it out. If there’s anything left of it."

As she began to take off in its direction, she looked at Rex. "Can you breathe okay?"

Rex nodded at the mention of the grocery store and let Korra take the lead, following after. "That ring's really got a lot to it. You'll have to tell me how you ended up with it after this is all over."

Her question about how he was doing really gave him pause, however, forcing him to stop thinking about saving others long enough to evaluate his own situation. If he really paid attention to it, he could feel his lungs working harder than normal, a bit of an aching burn present.

"I'm okay for right now, but I'm not superhuman enough to keep going like this forever," he admitted. "Plus the longer we're at this with me using my machines and moving debris, the faster I'm going to wear down and the harder my nanites are going to have to work to keep the smoke from getting to me. Still, I'm not our biggest concern right now. Finding any survivors and getting them clear of this area is what we need to worry about."

Korra gave a slight tilt of her head in answer to explaining the ring, one corner of her mouth digging into her cheek. She doubted anyone would want to hear that, but then again Rex hadn’t been on the turtle as long as the people she was thinking of.

That only lasted so long, his words reminding her just how much had happened since the sun came up. She was constantly supporting herself with the ring in order to help others, and Rex might just work himself into the ground doing the same. "You don’t have to do all the heavy lifting. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this; and I didn’t even have a ring back then." Not bragging, not with how serious she looked. That satellite crash had been just as insane, if not more.

"Ring, scan for survivors."

Asked as she descended down to the grocery store, half of it still ablaze.

"Two survivors found at the following coordinates."

Korra grimaced at the ring giving off the coordinates, remembering why she didn’t ask the ring that more often. Something she hadn’t been trained on just yet. "Whatever, they’re in here at lease. We’ll find them." She stayed hovering a few inches off the ground, avoiding any unnecessary pressure on her leg even with the green cast.

The interior had been demolished, though not from an explosion. Like it had been

"…ransacked."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event | Console Crash Chaos | Phase One

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