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

"Yeah, and what about you?" Rex called back as he closed the gap between them. "Tell me you've got a way to hold the ceiling up and get out because I'm not about to leave you in here!"

For all he knew, the power that was allowing her to somehow keep the place from coming down around them would also save her if she couldn't escape. Yet he didn't want to automatically assume that. The only reliable information was what he knew about himself; even if the building fell in on him, it was unlikely that would kill him. He'd certainly survived worse, even if he had needed time after to heal.

"I've got a way--"

Another piece of the ceiling cracked and splintered, sending a rain of glowing sparks showering down on them.

Oh, forget this. She didn't have time to argue or be witty. Without giving herself a chance to explain (if he got upset, she'd apologize later), Zatanna called out the first spell she could think of: "Teg su tuo fo ereh!"

Twin gusts of wind swirled around herself and her current ally, enveloping them within seconds. Barely enough time to react. Within seconds, they both vanished.

Just in time for the roof to come crashing down.

Outside the building, the spell proceeded to deposit them both of a small patch of nearby grass.

Zatanna almost immediately collapsed onto the ground, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she sat back, arms supporting the majority of her weight behind her. She coughed twice--probably just the smoke--before laying down fully on her back, arms lifted slightly over her head to expand her lungs and help her regain some oxygen.

"Let's...not do that again anytime soon," she called out as she closed her eyes. Enjoying the feeling of the cool wind blowing against her face.

The strange words caught Rex by surprise, the wind sweeping him up so quickly that he had no time to realize that it was, in actuality, a phrase spoken backwards. In fact, all he really had time for was a surprised exclamation before the burning building around him seemed to vanish--

--and he landed somewhere outside in a patch of grass. Taken off balance by the sudden shift, Rex fell backwards onto his hind end, eyes wide as he tried to figure out what the heck had just happened. Nearby, his latest ally in search and rescue was also in the grass, having just dropped down onto her back. Had they teleported somehow...? The sound of creaking metal caught his attention and he turned his head to see the remainder of the building they'd just escaped collapsing completely.

Reaching up, Rex removed the cloth from the lower half of his face with one hand and pulled his goggles up with the other. "Yeah, let's not. Though you wanna tell me what just happened? How did we get from there to here?"

She could have laughed, even ironically, at the question. Not bothering to open her eyes just yet as she turned her head in the general direction of the question.

"If I said magic, would you believe me?"

Pulling his shirt up, Rex wiped the sweat from his face, not particularly worried at that point about how dirty both he and his clothes were getting. One could only run in and out of so many burning buildings and move so much debris before trying to stay clean to any degree became a lost cause. Her explanation did give him pause, though, Rex stilling for a second before he began wiping his goggle lenses.

"No, not really," he responded, tone hedging on annoyed. Because magic, seriously? "What else you got?"

It took a seriously stubborn non-believer to continue doubting even when she'd given him hardcore proof that she was telling him the truth. Fortunately for him, it was hardly the worst attitude she'd ever encountered.

In fact...these days, she sort of considered it a challenge.

"Depends on what it would take to convince you." One eye peeked open. She looked confident. Even smug. Like she was ready for whatever he could possibly throw at her. "Any requests?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Goggle lenses as clean as they were going to get for the moment, he pulled his eye gear back on again. "Can you magically get all this dirt and ash out of my clothes? I'm used to getting mud, slime, monster gore and spit all over me, but that doesn't mean I like being dirty."

Everything was said with a casual air, Rex's suggestion a quick retort and little more. He honestly didn't expect anything to come of it. Really, what he expected was some excuse as to why she wouldn't be able to do anything about the state of his clothes.

"I can do that."

Snapping her fingers, Zatanna barely had to move to call out the necessary spell. Naelc mih pu.. Three simple words.

Now, she could have just used the wind to magically sweet away all the dirt and grime. But something told her Rex would need a little something extra. So her spell summoned a waterfall rush of water dumped directly over his head. Gallons upon gallons for a full two seconds before he was left (hopefully) standing. Soaking wet. But clean.

"See? All better."

Rex barely had time to register that she was speaking with those weird words again when water suddenly cascaded down on him from above. In a mere few seconds, he went from dry and ash covered to completely wet and, well...relatively clean? Water could only do so much without the aid of soap, but it was certainly an improvement.

He was less focused on that part of it all, however, and far more focused on the fact that he'd just been drenched with a waterfall out of nowhere. Saying Rex was bewildered was something of an understatement. In fact, he was so stunned that for a good second or two, he barely so much as twitched a finger, eyes wide behind amber goggle lenses as he dripped water into the large puddle surrounding him on all sides.

"Dude, what th--how did--seriously!?" No longer shocked to a standstill, Rex was suddenly very animated, gesturing with both hands at himself, at her, at the puddle on the ground, back at himself again... Unable to get an actual question or statement out, he finally huffed and pulled off his jacket to wring the water out of it. "Okay, you know what? I've seen EVOs literally cause mini rain storms before, but you're not an EVO and that... How is this even a thing?!"

She laughed, not even caring that his wild gestures were getting her wet too. Still worth it.

"I have no idea who or what an EVO is...but my name's Zatanna." Sitting up, she crossed her legs and leaned her chin in one hand. "And did you miss the part where I told you it was magic? Because I'm pretty sure I was clear on that end."

"Exponentially Variegated Organism," Rex responded in a sour tone, not bothering to clarify the acronym further before continuing on to grudgingly introduce himself. Might as well, seeing as how she'd just told him her name. "And the name's Rex. Rex Salazar."

Jacket wrung out, he shook it once and pulled it back on. Given how wet the rest of him was, however, he wasn't even entirely sure why he bothered. Even his hair wasn't slicked back completely anymore, a good portion of it hanging down around the sides of his face.

"And no, I didn't miss that part. It's just that it doesn't make any sense. Magic is just a bunch of fairy tale stuff. It's not supposed to be real."

"Bless you."

That was a mouthful. No wonder he shortened it to EVO.

Her nose wrinkled slightly at the fairy tale quip. As if she didn't completely deserve the attitude for drenching him like that; in her mind, it was completely justifiable self-defense (of her family's heritage). Still, she shrugged and used a second spell to summon a dark blue towel, which she held out to him as a peace offering.

"Oh, I'm real alright. I can guarantee you that much. And if you think I'm impossible, just wait until you see what else's floating around Keelai."

Rex blinked as Zatanna made a towel appear, hesitant to take it at first. But though his hand hovered over it a second while he debated accepting the help and thus accepting that all this magic business was actually happening, he at least had decent enough manners not to rudely snatch it from her. Despite his aggravation, Rex couldn't quite bring himself to be a jerk in a case like this. That he was wet was his own fault, anyway. He had literally asked for it.

"At this point, now I'm not so sure I want to know." Not entirely truthful on his part. If Rex was honest with himself, there was a wide-eyed ten year old in him who was way too curious for his own good. One that thought all this magic business was pretty cool, even though his rational side kept arguing that it should be impossible.

Pulling off his goggles yet again, Rex wiped his face and neck off, then ran the towel back over his hair to get at least some of the water out. "Don't get me wrong, I've dealt with a lot of supposedly impossible situations and people before, but all of that was usually because science went and screwed something up."

"You know, I knew somebody just like you back home."

The parallels to Wally were too close to ignore. Denial. Argumentative. Ironic near blind devotion to an explanation of science, even if that meant ignoring the facts of reality right in front of him.

"Yeah?" Rex quirked an eyebrow as he finished toweling off. "Is that good or bad?"

There wasn't much difference in how Rex was handling this situation versus the one with Ben Tennyson, back when a dimensional rift had been torn open and dumped the other teenager into EVO territory. Ben's claims of having the DNA of a million aliens in his Ultimatrix had been met with a similar reaction, even after Rex had seen him change a number of times into various alien species. It just seemed too weird to be true and, coming from someone like Rex, that was saying something at the time. There had to be some other explanation and yet...there was not.

Despite having accepted Ben and his crazy "monster watch", however, Rex was even more hesitant to swallow what magic presented, hook, line and sinker. At least the Ultimatrix operated as a mechanical device using DNA. If Caesar Salazar could believe in everything Ben said, even backing up some of his odd claims with his own knowledge, well...there was something to it. As kooky as Caesar could be, he was still a brilliant scientist.

That in mind, Rex really had to wonder just what his brother would say about someone like Zatanna and all the other strangeness on Tu Vishan.

"Well, he was a friend, if that's what you're getting at. Once he stopped trying to act like he knew more about my family's life's work than I did."

Zatanna was nothing if not lacking in subtlety at times. But hey, subtlety was overrated. Especially when it came to her magic.

"What is it with science people and often ignoring the most obvious solution? Why is it you always have to try and explain everything that's already been explained to you?"

Rex managed to avoid rolling his eyes, though he couldn't quite keep from sighing a little in exasperation.

"For the record? I'm from a family of scientists. I'm used to being around science-y types in general. I don't have a fancy degree and I get put out in the field because I can fight, but like a lot of people, I do kinda like it when things make sense."

Pulling the towel around behind his neck and over his shoulders, Rex used his fingers to comb his hair back into place. He then applied one corner of the towel to his goggle lenses to wipe them off.

"If there's a two headed creature with tons of claws and teeth the size of a car charging at you, yeah, you're going to want to get out of the way. But once you're not in danger of getting mauled, you're probably going to wonder where it came from, why it's so ticked off and how to stop it. Getting told, 'Oh hey, that's an EVO' doesn't answer much if you've never seen one before, does it? Just like saying, 'It was magic' doesn't tell me much, either. That doesn't automatically explain anything. Like I said before... Magic isn't supposed to be real. Not on my version of Earth."

Lenses clear, Rex pulled his goggles back on again.

"So cut me a little slack, here? I'm not going to claim everything you just did with the water and the towel was me hallucinating after inhaling too much smoke, but making that stuff appear out of nowhere... Calling that brain-breaky is an understatement."

To Zatanna's credit, she let him finish the entire explanation. And resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the family of scientists line, because that made little difference to her. She could say the same about her exposure to metahumans and people being able to do things that--gasp!--science couldn't explain.

"You sure do know how to compliment a girl." Her arms folded over her chest as she straightened. Vainly attempting to dust off some of the soot from her own form. She would clean herself up as well, except she had a feeling this wasn't over yet. "Though, just for the record, there's a difference between wanting to know more about what attacked you and trying to break down exactly how it managed to grow those teeth as large as it did."

Rex shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have said anything differently if you were a guy."

Or a ten foot tall lizard in armor or a creature made entirely out of rock. Or anything else, really. At that point, Rex was well aware that he was being irritating, but he was sticking to his guns right then and it didn't matter who he was debating the point with.

"The two are related, really. But seeing as how 'it's magic' is enough of an explanation, let's just say 'it's an EVO' is enough of an explanation, too." Sort of a jerk move on his part, but he was in the mood to match blow for blow. Still, it wasn't like they had all day to devote to the matter.

"As much as I appreciate the chance to take a breather, though, work's not done for the day." Glancing away, Rex turned his attention to the mess around them. "So I'm going to get back to it and maybe we can continue this later."

Actually, no, it didn't make her feel any better. Because she hadn't once, for a single moment, thought her gender had anything to do with his prejudice. Although the fact that he had to bring it up suddenly made her wonder if it did....

The irony.

"Yeah, sure."

Her patience was starting to wear thin. This was no longer anything close to fun; if he had asked how she enacted her spells, or what precisely about her made the magic work, that might have been another story. But she was getting really, really tired of people insinuating her (inherited) abilities were anything less than the Real Deal.

"Although, do me a favor? Come back when you're in the mood to actually listen. If I wanted to talk to a brick wall, I'd go have a conversation in the Fire District back alleyways."

Again, Rex shrugged, though this time the motion came with glowing blue lines that started in the middle of his back as he turned away fully. They raced around his sides and up over his shoulders, a pair of wings with a turbine engine on the end of either one folding up out of his back in their wake.

"Burn, though you could have at least said 'metal wall'."

And with that he took off, soaring up over the sector and toward the next bombing site.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event | Console Crash Chaos | Phase One

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