Through the course of this expansion, an eventful year or two was certainly had. I’ve made a stack of new pals, met someone now very close to mine and Dornn’s heart alike, worked extensively on progressing my Aerslaent side of storytelling things, which I’ve yet to release... But ultimately, I’ve parted ways with some, and joined paths with others.
Real life has been nothing short of eventful, either. A new internship at the highest monetary institution of my country, a move on the horizon to the capital and even winning a vacation at my college’s raffle for a cruise across the Mediterranean... A good haul so far, I’d wager.
For the upcoming expansion, I’m looking forward to meet even more new folk, forge even more lasting ties, progress Dornn’s relationships extensively, delve deeper into my Aerslaentean world-building, and ye gods, someone make me finish leveling the rest of my alts.
I’m also planning on actually opening the Free Company <<YARR!>> to the public, eventually, for all fellow Aerslaent and Sharlayan denizens. Eventually. Yes. Help.
Legend says I’ll one day manage to decorate the Large I have on Balmung and the Medium of the FC--but hey, nothing like a bit of decoration-delegation, eh @roemom?
The blogs on here that I cherish already know who they are without mistake. Thusly, I’ll avoid tagging a wall, for now--but know that we’ll have even more shenanigans come ShB. That much, I promise.
The bonds I’ve made, the achievements I’ve accomplished, and the kingdom I’ve built with my friends and dear souls alike fill my breast with a great deal of pride, and I would not change a single damn thing about it.
Not much is left there to say, despite tumblr not allowing me to upload the rest of the amazing screenshots my pals took (of a part) of our amazing little group, even though timezones are hell, but the rest were with us in spirit. Here’s to a new season, where I hopefully get back to writing not just In Your Shadow, but with actual people, too. I think.
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Today the shattered shields are going to fight. They even get some new renforcement just before the battle with this freshly recruited unit and their chimera.
“His body may be nothing more than an empty shell, no soul behind those amber eyes. But that shell carries a will, to protect and nurture life.”
Happy October! To celebrate the month I had Shattered Shield drawn up as Frankenstein’s monster. He may be angry, but he’s still a good guy, honest.
Done by FDolagaray
They may still be doing these Halloween pics if folks are interested
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Josie, with a pack on her back, armor fully deployed and her helmet over her head once more, was in the air, flying as fast as she possibly could without pushing herself to the next level, the air and clouds visibly parting around her in passing. Her helmet visor ticked off the distance to her target, even as she held a silent conference with her two most trusted lieutenants, hundreds to thousands of miles away. Small video windows provided some satellite feeds, letting her check on Lin, and anything that Dustine pointed out.
“Doc, did you get a triage location set up?”
“Yes. Think it’s an old asylum building, about two miles away from here. I’ve got the three you tasked to me straightening things up right now, and another team ready to drive a load of injured over there. Mind if I take the Huey you sent with Zin?”
“Go ahead. How many survivors?”
“Two hundred, give or take. Out of a crew that had to be in the thousands.” Lin’s voice was bitter in Josie’s head. She took the loss of life personally, even though there was nothing she could have done.
“Better some than none.” Dustine interjected.
“Maybe, would have preferred to get more. They’re pulling themselves together, and I’ve been pulling some of their usable Quins out. We’re going to need the transport capacity.” On the video dedicated to the helicarrier, a Quinjet was slowly brought upright and gently placed on it’s wheels.
“Agreed. Dustine, any changes in your A.O.?”
“Not yet, but teams that are close to their targets are picking up increased traffic on the GUARD freq. Firefights have broken out at a couple of them, so I’m guessing there’s survivors. Who they’re fighting though, I can’t tell. The transmissions are garbled. Likely still diminished from what Zingari did to their network.” Dustine’s video shifted to a grainy shot of a structure, smoking and on fire, with flashes of light appearing from several directions, both near the building, and away from it.
“If there’s firefights, verify and engage targets that are attacking the survivors. Take’em alive, if possible. We need information.”
“You got it boss lady. Hit’em hard and fast. So what next after that?”
“A very good question. Lin, any ideas what Facchino is planning?”
“Not sure, I think he’s still wrapping his head around the problem.” A pause, then, “You know if they scatter we won’t be able to get them back with any ease, if at all.”
Josie gave a slight nod to herself as she agreed with her distant doctor. “No, we won’t. But they’re S.H.I.E.L.D.: we’re not. They might have resources we don’t.”
Dustine snorted. “As compromised as they appear to be, I wouldn’t trust those resources if I were them.”
“Agreed, but I’m not going to fight the man on it. Suggestions on what we can offer?”
Silence followed as Lin and Dustine thought it over.
“We could bring the survivors here. After a thorough screening.” Dustine offered.
“They’re already being checked, nobody’s shown blue blood yet.” Lin groused. She had been hoping for a fight to relieve some pent up tension.
“That’s not all that I’m worried about.” Dustine’s voice became more contemplative, and concerned. “Think about it. How does S.H.I.E.L.D., one of the most secret and stringent organizations become so massively compromised? If it isn’t shape shifting Skrulls, there’s gotta be something else making the sleepers awaken.”
Josie’s eyes narrowed as she followed Dustine’s track. “Either they had someone, or several someones, already in there that weren’t sleeping at all, or there’s something that’s activating them.”
“Exactly.” DEM’s computer whiz sounded more concerned as she named off possible activators. “Nanotech, chemical inducers, parasitic biologics, hypnotics, mind control, hell, even magic could be setting them off.”
“Say we offer to bring them to Home. What do we need to screen them?”
“Use the analyzers from the New York ‘house on their blood. Those can detect nanotech, chemical and biologics, if there are any outside the norm. Can’t do much on the other three, so we’ll have to find a trusted mind reader to scan them for at least hypnotics and mind control. If we can find one. Magic…”
“Yea, let’s not go there. I’m short a goddess or a witch to call on for a verification, and I have no idea if Doctor Strange still lives.” Josie started to slow down and decrease her altitude as she closed in on her target, tilting her body so that her feet were to the mountainous ground below. “We’ll just have to take precautions on that last one. Ok, we’ll offer them sanctuary, let them pull themselves together. We need pickup points.”
“We’ve got the barn, and the asylum as natural points on the East Coast for now.”
“And if they scatter?”
A brief moment of silence before an inset map appeared on Josie’s HUD, replacing the video stream from Dustine. It zoomed in on an old airstrip on the west coast of the United States. “If they change their mind, have them strike for this location. It’s a decommed AF base, but the strip looks good. We can set up a comm relay so they can contact us to pick them up, and some basic gear. Nothing that can track back to us.”
“Do it. Try to find similar pickup points in other parts of the world so we can make recoveries.” Her armored boots clicked as she landed and took in the sight of the rising black smoke and roiling fire over the Greenland outpost. “I’m at my target now. Now, say we find someone with any of the previously mentioned things in their system. Suggestions?”
“If they haven’t been awakened, try to save them from that fate.” Lin replied instantly, predictably.
Dustine’s response was rather more atypical of the platinum blonde woman, surprising both Lin and Josie. “Kill them. We lack the equipment to detox blood of chemicals and biologics, and we sure as hell lack the technology and equipment to counter nanotech. It just doesn’t exist in the levels we’d need.”
Josie thought it over as she walked around the outpost: both were valid options, and she would prefer to save them. Still… “We’ll have to leave it to Facchino. His people, his call. If we happen to find someone with at least some understanding of what to do with nanotech, maybe we’ll have a shot of saving them, if that’s what they’ve got.” Focusing on the moment, she reached out with her senses, while her cybernetic eyes shifted through several modes, seeking survivors. “Greenland outpost is pretty trashed. Not finding much here to save or salvage. Head-wait one.”
She gazed slowly, head turning as she tracked what she was looking at, her senses focusing on a weak life sign. She then jumped, and landed several feet away from her previous location, landing near small shed. With her eyes set to detect chemicals and biological traces, she had picked up on a significant amount of blood, and a switch to infrared allowed her to follow the blood trail to the shed. It wasn’t much of a shed, but from what she could tell, it was likely for storing tools and other items for the small patch of garden that was nearby. Focusing, her hearing picked up on labored breathing inside. Josie switched her eyesight to X Ray, and detected a man inside, an arm around his waist, and a pistol in a hand, propped up on his knee.
Moving silently to the side of the shed and kneeling, she let her tail slip out of its’ armored slot in her belt, and tap lightly on the door. “Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., my name is Josie Acken. I was sent by John Facchino to find and recover any survivors.”
The man could be heard shuffling inside, and the pistol was cocked. “S-stay back! How do I know he sent you?”
“UN authorization, Section 45, subsection E, paragraph 32 allows S.H.I.E.L.D. to deputize police and military forces in instances of an emergency, and buddy, you’re in one hell of an emergency right now.” Josie replied, giving a little bit of a white lie. The new Director didn’t specifically deputize DEM, and she wasn’t about to go along with that anyways. Still, having O’Neal provide that was useful, since she didn’t have any other real way to verify her story to a wounded and frightened agent.
“I’ve also got some medical gear with me and I can get you out of here. Are there any others here with you?”
The man didn’t reply right away, and she was half afraid he was slowly passing out. Still, she thought she could still detect some slight shifting inside. Finally, as if he had made a decision, he replied, “Not anymore. Agent Falco was inside with Agent Stewart. I don’t know what happened to Stewart, but Falco came out and opened fire on me. I managed to get him, but before he died he set off the charges. If Stewart was alive before, he isn’t now.”
Josie nodded. It seemed to fit the pattern. “What’s your name, Agent?”
“Swartz. Jim Swartz.”
“Ok Agent Swartz, I’m going to open the door to the shed, and I’m going to ask that you don’t shoot me. I take offense to that.” She slowly stood up and started to creep her way to the door.
“Yea, I know the feeling. I’m not disarming though.”
“Not asking you too. Will you let me help you?”
The man sighed, and she heard the pistol become uncocked. “Yea, sure. Though I’m going to ask that you don’t kill me. I take offense to that.”
Josie smirked. “Humor. I like that. It’s a good sign. Ok Agent Swartz, I’m opening the door now.” She reached over, and pulled the door aside, slowly. Inside, the man, with close cropped black hair, sat hunched over in a blood soaked uniform. His skin was pale in the light of the fire of the outpost.
He looked her up and down briefly, and shook his head slightly. “Like I could have hurt ya with this peashooter in that getup.”
She held her gloved hands to the sky. “Needed you to trust me. And I really do dislike getting shot at.”
He gave a weak smile as she moved inside and brought her pack around. “Fair enough, ma’am.”
It took twenty minutes to bandage Swartz wound (and having to temporarily relieve him of his firearm in the process so she could patch him up) before they were ready to leave. An oxygen mask and goggles on his face, neoprene wrap over his head and hands, and his weapon secured in his holster, he clasped his hands behind her head as she cradled him effortlessly in her arms.
“Doc, I’ve got a survivor. A casualty. I’ve patched the wound for now, but he’s got shrapnel and at least two bullets lodged in him, far as I can tell. I think he’ll make it, but I’m bringing him right to you anyways.” Her power flared around her, before she pushed off the ground into the sky. He didn’t even question the fact that she could fly. She turned in mid-air, threw a hand out from under Swartzs legs, and unleashed a golden energy blast that brought part of the mountain down on top of the outpost, burying it completely. “Target’s been cleaned, best I can do anyways.” Josie turned back and took off at her fastest speed once more, heading for Lin and most of the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Speaking of being clean, I’m thinking that if any of the agents there turn out clean, we should offer more than sanctuary.”
Dustine’s voice was curious, if a little disbelieving. “What, like offer them a job?”
“Nothing is more motivated than a merc with a personal mission, and since we’re working on the same goal right now anyways...might as well bring some of them into the fold. Temporarily, if they want. Help give them some further cover. I’ll ponder it further on the flight and get back to you.” She looked briefly at Swartz’s goggled face, and through the lens she could see his eyes, while wincing and full of pain, were also determined and focused.
“Definitely bring your man directly to me. I’ll check him out before sending him on for more medical attention.” Lin inserted into Josie's thoughts.
“Will do. ETA is thirty, maybe forty minutes. O’Neal?”
The heavy weapons specialist responded quickly, his thick brogue coming through clearly. “Aye, Lead?”
“Inform Facchino that I’m on my way to your location. Get his approval to move the wounded now, but don’t let him send the rest of them to the four corners just yet. We have business to discuss.”
“Aye ma’am. I’lla let the lad know.”
Josie put on an extra burst of power, and plowed through a cloud formation, the sonic boom bouncing off the distant mountains behind her.
John Facchino has survived the crash and is now taking charge of the surviving Agents outside the Helicopter.
NightHawk has made contact and is en route to New York and then the Crash Site.
DEM has been digging through the carrier for a couple of hours and are pretty positive that they've found all the survivors they're going to find, about 200 people (Dice roll determined this). All that remains is getting some of the still active equipment they can detect.
Lin, DEM's CMO is on site and helping get several QuinJets out of the wreckage.
A portion of DEM has arrived at their fall back point and have set up a base of operations. A number of SHIELD agents are already there, rescued from outlying outposts.
Alastor has a woken from his 'power nap' and is en route to the Carrier via helicopter.
Hazel and Jean are filling in some of the gap time with DEMCorps, clarifying events that occurred before Facchino took command.
No further attacks have been initiated, showing perhaps a premature activation of Sleeper agents. (Dice roll thus OOC knowledge) And that the organization responsible is itself in disarray trying to take advantage of the situation.
Meanwhile out in the Midwest Jo and Jedi Master Tank are in the process of rescuing agents in the Top Secret SHIELD facility they were based in.
Alastor was lucky, in that he passed out of such exhaustion that he really did not dream, at least at first. There were momentary flashbacks, images that stirred him, caused him to shift. As time went on however, the images became more vivid, and more recent, until finally a memory of Maria jarred him awake, his head slamming forward into the dash of the car.
Cursing loudly he held a hand to his forehead, there was a bit of blood on his glove from the edge of the dash cutting him but he could feel the wound healing quickly. Still he cursed loudly and fumbling with the door he and pulled himself out of the car. Groaning his stretched, his neck and back popping loudly from being cooped up in an unnatural position for so long. Only then did he realize where he was, and where he was looked to be rather, normal. “Am I… in a barn?”
Josie, her armor retracted into its base components, turned to Alastor, arms crossed under her armored chest. "Why yes. Yes you are. One of the others had purchased a farm out here in the middle of no-where, with the intention of having it when he retired."
The smell of old hay, feed and animals permeated the wooden structure. Straw littered most of the barn floor. A few DEM mercs were in the barn, moving equipment and other gear to various places. A couple were setting up a heavy weapons mount at one end of the barn in an upper loft. Josie gestured with her head. "Come on, got something to show you." She led the way towards an open hatch in one of the livestock stalls.
Underneath was a large, basement, easily as wide and long as the barn above. Golden light filled the area, revealing several old military cots, blankets and pillows. As well as a few people, dressed in the dark uniforms of S.H.I.E.L.D. A medic was working with them, treating wounds, helped along by a couple experienced mercs and former combat lifesavers.
Alastor’s helmet clicked and sealed shut around his head. He’d downloaded SHIELD’s roster before shutting down the network, and the armor already had facial recognition software. The HUD showed a line wiping past the screen, each Agent being highlighted with names and ID numbers. There were names he recognized, but none were people he knew directly. Sighing he let the helmet fold back up behind him. “This all who’s come through to us so far?”
Josie nodded. "All we managed to recover, yes. Lin's still at the Helicarrier wreckage. Probably twice the number of survivors than this, from her estimate, but they're pretty banged up."
She took a seat on one of the old cots, the nylon creaking slightly. "So as it stands, we've recovered a few from SHIELD HQ, a couple at random outposts that were outside when charges went off. Dustine's picked up some kind of jamming field at a place in the Midwest. Could be more there."
A dampening field? He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Where in the Midwest?”
She shrugged. "Somewhere in Kansas. The field is actually making it difficult to pin it down further than that."
“I can’t think of any facilities out there off of the top of my head.” He shook it as he mentioned it and sat down himself. “Has there been any other updates from teams elsewhere?”
Josie shook her head. "The teams we had sent out in the Pacific area have a much larger area to travel in, so nothing's been updated. Plus we don't know where all their outposts are there, so they're going by what Dustine could find. Still, a couple teams are bringing back a few folks from the Philippians."
He nodded, “There are people I, still hope to find alive. I’m just… I don’t want to hope.”
"Best to save it till later." Josie stood up, and was about to head back up when she paused. "Oh, Dustine and Tsano have some good news for you. They think they can reconstitute your 'Alice' program, but it'll take some significant patching. If it happens to be on any of the equipment that they're working to pull from the Helicarrier, should make it easier for them."
He looked back up at her and nodded, that was something. “She’ll be of good use.” He pulled himself up as well, “What sort of transport do we have here, and how far away are we from the Helicarrier? I’d like to help, if I can.”
Josie thought for a moment. "Well, besides the car, we've got a couple of the trucks here. The rest are out. Air assets aren't present at the moment, but we have a Huey coming this way. Could get you to the ship in about thirty, maybe twenty minutes?"
She paused, and gave a slight smirk. "Or I pull a Lin and carry you there. Only way you'd get there faster."
He shook his head, “No, you should stay here, keep things coordinated. DEM’s your company, I’m just borrowing it. Besides…” He took a deep breath and looked back up at her. “I’m going to need to carry a box. There’s someone I can’t leave behind.”
She met his gaze and gave a single nod. "Understood. Bird lands in about five minutes, give or take. It'll be out back, we marked out the LZ with infrared markers."
He nodded in thanks and stepped past her, patting her on the shoulder. “Thanks. I’ll bring it back without a scratch.”
"You better, it's a rental." She replied as he started up the stairs. "Also, one of our teams at the carrier made contact with a man named Facchino."
He turned and looked back at her, “John?” Slowly he nodded, accepting the good graces that was this news. “Good, SHIELD needs someone who isn’t me as the highest ranking officer right now.”
"He may have mentioned something along those lines. Expressed a sincere hope we didn't let you go running off." She looked at him with an eyebrow raised, as if suggesting 'like we would have stopped you anyways.'
“No, I’ve done all the running I’m going to do for this one.” He turned and headed back up the stairs. “Now is the time to regroup, and then we can march off to war.”
"We'll have to have a discussion about that when we're done regrouping." She followed after him, adding, "Speaking of which, everyone present has been tested, and they're already doing some checking at the carrier. So far it's clear."
“Good,” Once they were back upstairs he turned to her. “So, where can I find a box?”
She gestured with a thumb over her shoulder to the back of the barn. "Already had a small shipment brought from the county coroners. Nothing fancy, just a heavy plastic case, but they'll get the job done. No pines boxes for this bunch."
“She’ll get one later…” He took a deep breath and started towards the boxes, his helmet hissing and sliding into position, because he didn’t want the tears he could feel coming to be seen. Hefting one of the boxes he started out the back of the barn to the LZ, the sound of the chopper already faint in the distance, at least to him. “Leave a light on for me Josie… I’ll be back.”
