THE WHEELS OF STEEL ARE TURNING

[capemods]

WHO: These lucky contestants
WHERE: Various boroughs of the City, and the demon dimension.
WHEN: Tuesday, August 21st, 11:54 am and onward.
WARNINGS: This post may contain graphic depictions of violence, psychological horror, and adult themes; it will definitely contain adult language. Viewer discretion advised.
SUMMARY: Vulcanus tries to blow up a collection of buses around the City in order to incite anti-imPort rioting; Lachesis mixes things up again. see here for details.
FORMAT: Go crazy, kids.

---

Each bus will have a labeled thread in the comments. To recap:

Bus W will explode. Lachesis will teleport these ImPorts to a location near the bus just after it explodes. Those who are assigned to this bus, you must be the heroes that the City demands. The damage will carve a hole in the street, and civilians are at risk for debris/fires/etc.

Bus X will yank imPorts inside of it and induce a week-long power switch. From 8/21 at 12 PM to the following Tuesday, 8/28 at 12 PM, characters will have their powers switched with another ImPort passenger. All characters on this bus have their new powers assigned.
Correction: this bus is located in Brooklyn.

Bus Y will yank imPorts inside of it for one minute, and then transport its imPorts to the demon dimension until midnight. Envision Dante's Inferno as the setting, but with the twist that ANYTHING CHARACTERS IMAGINE WILL MANIFEST IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE.

Bus Z will yank imPorts inside of it for one minute, and then with a LOUD SCREECHING NOISE, it will infect imPort minds with radio signals, songs, dialogue, AND IMPORTANT PLOT-RELATED INFORMATION THAT VULCANUS DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW for the rest of that day. There is no way to turn this off for the entire day. ImPorts will be returned to their prior locations at the end of one minute. All characters on this bus have their unique mental broadcasts assigned.

Comments

[luckout]

The crap chasing me is dead too. He's trying to kill you, right?

[God, this is like the worst nightmare ever, amplified eightfold. She's used to nightmares, but this. This is never something she expected to have to deal with.

Once she's got a good bit of distance between them, she swoops down to the ground to catch her breath, stretch her arms. Carrying extra weight hadn't been at the forefront of her mind before she grabbed Nill, and she's clearly a little winded by the exertion.]

We gotta get out of here.

[culver]

I think so.

[She knew so. Miguel had been more willing to kill her than let her get away from him back home. She had "belonged" to him, and if he couldn't have her, nobody could. Nill is steady on her feet once she's set on the ground, but takes a moment to catch her breath. She doesn't let go of Vriska's arm so they can keep talking.]

Where do we go?

[luckout]

Dunno. We just have to find the exit. There must be one around here somewhere. Some kind of portal or gate or something. [She's played too many video games, ok.]

[culver]

[Nill has played like two video games in her life and they were probably both Mario. But she nods anyway, clinging to this little hope. If there was an exit, she'd be damned if they didn't find it.]

Okay well I guess we just start in a direction then.

[luckout]

[She turns on her heel, looking around. Every direction pretty much looks the same aside from the one where their enemies are incoming. She'll just have to go with her gut on this. Her land was the land of maps and treasure, she can do this. Piece of cake. She starts off in the direction she believes it north.]

This way. Stay close if you know what's good for you.

[culver]

[Nill follows as soon as Vriska starts, releasing her hand to make walking earlier. Alright, she could keep up. She was in pretty good shape, even if she wasn't the most active person in the world. She could walk for quite a while, if need be. And it seemed as if they'd definitely need to.]

[luckout]

[Every so often she glances behind them to see if their followers have caught up. So far it seems like she'd put a good deal of distance between them, so she's not too worried yet. Right now it's just trying to find a needle in a haystack, if there's even an exit. But there has to be one if they were brought here in the first place.

When ground starts to vibrate, she visibly tenses and whips around.]

We've got to move faster.

[culver]

[Nill feels it, too. And she's pretty sure it made her heart stop for a moment. Oh no. Something big was on its way. The blonde nods and immediately breaks into a fast jog. She wasn't exactly fit, but she could run for a while if she had to, especially if the pace was just right.]

[luckout]

[Vriska does the same, glancing behind her every so often to check how close their apparitions were getting. Way too close for comfort. Seeing her lusus again like that, actually coming for her is nothing short of terrifying.]

[culver]

[Nill doesn't want to look back. But she can't help it after just a little while of running. And she doesn't even notice Vriska's lusus, only sees the red hair and cruel smirk on Mel's face. He's just standing behind them, shrinking as they run, but he has his gun raised and Nill knows what's coming. She stumbles for a moment, hears the bang of the pistol, and then feels the burning in her side, hot and sharp. She falls, but drags herself back to her feet in a moment, shoving the pain away for a few seconds.

One hand finds her waist where the pain is and she sees the blood and knows she isn't going to make it out of here.

But she doesn't stop running. Slows, yes, but does her best to hold herself all together and in and keep on going.]

[luckout]

[Vriska whirls to face Nill, and it takes her a minute to register the bright red blood because she still isn't used to humans bleeding. The second it registers is when she changes direction, wings flapping and pushing off the ground.]

Shit, running isn't going to work!

[She swoops close, scooping Nill up bridal style and trying to adjust for the new weight. It'll slow her down, but not as much as someone wounded would, and she's beyond the point of leaving someone behind to die that couldn't make the cut.]

Keep pressure on that wound. You're gonna bleed out if you don't and I'm not gonna drag your carcass around, okay?

[culver]

[Nill feels awful. She's slowing Vriska down, endangering her. Why did she have to be so frail? Why were her wings so small? If she could fly or run faster, dodge more, none of this would have happened. Her eyes unfocus for a brief moment as she listens to the troll speak, not registering her words immediately.

But she's slammed to reality as soon as they're in the air. She nods, resolute, and applies as much pressure as she can. It just makes the pain worse, but she can deal. She doesn't talk, not wanting to waste any more time with distracting the troll. She's doing her best to keep all the blood contained, though her t-shirt is rapidly becoming unable to soak anymore up.]

[luckout]

[Vriska falls silent too, focusing on dodging out of the way of spider legs that have gotten far too close to them. She pissed at herself. She should have kept flying instead of trying to run earlier. Nill wouldn't have gotten hurt if she hadn't landed like an idiot. She tightens her grip on Nill and tries to ignore the blood slicking her fingers from holding her. If she thinks about it she'll feel worse. At least it wasn't one of her trolls or her lusus that had gotten her, there was a relief of some guilt there. It probably would have been better if they hadn't crossed passed, but then Nill might have...

No, stop thinking about it. What ifs were pointless now. They were in the thick of this together and she wasn't about to let Nill die on her watch. What kind of hero would she be if she did? The shitty kind, that she used to be, but that's neither here nor there. After a while she speaks up again.]

Don't fall asleep, either.

[culver]

[Sleep is the furthest thing from Nill's mind. Her head is spinning a little, and she's focusing on making it stop. She knows she needs to calm down, figure out a way to bind herself. That was what they'd done to Badou's wounds. That was what she had done to Heine's wounds even if he had healed just minutes afterwards.

Heine. She wished he was here. She wanted him to be the one holding her, saving her, the only one to see her cry if it happened. Not that she planned on crying, but--she hurt so much. The thought of not being able to control herself, whether it was crying or just plain passing out, was a little terrifying. She squeezes her arms around herself tighter, gasping a little.]

Land somewhere if you can. I have to wrap this up a little. Otherwise I will bleed out.

[luckout]

[Vriska glances behind her, wary about landing anytime soon because of the horde that's still a little too close on their trail. However, she really doesn't want this girl to bleed out in her arms. She tries to propel herself faster, to put a little more distance between them before she finally changes her angle to land them behind a sizable boulder. She sets Nill down, glancing around the rock before looking back at her.]

Don't waste time, get it done quick. I'll hold them off for a minute.

[How she's going to is another story all together. She's got her god tier now, sure, but as far as she's seen her dice have been useless since she got here, and not for lack of trying. Then again, she hasn't tried forcing their rolls now that she's gotten God Tier back. She figures it's a good enough bet to make, and if not she'll hold him off somehow. She disappears to the other side to leave Nill to her bandaging and tosses her dice.]

[culver]

[There's mixed relief and fear when they touch down again. On the one hand, she's going to be able to patch herself up a little. On the other, they're on the ground where the mass of dead trolls and a giant spider that are all trying to kill them. Yeah, doing this quick is a good idea.

As soon as Vriska moves she shrugs off her cardigan and starts tearing at it, trying to get as long a strip as possible. She starts tying it around herself, hands shaking so badly that she has to start again. At least it feels better, the pressure helping keep her alert. She doesn't know what's going on behind the boulder, and she doesn't want to. But once the wrapping is on she needs to see, and cautiously looks around the rock.]

[luckout]

[Vriska must be the luckiest bitch alive (dead?) because her dice actually worked. 8^y and she's now dressed pretty differently than her usual get up. With an actual weapon in her hands, she seems a lot more confident about fighting. She flits between trolls, cutting them down only to curse when they seem to come right back. The confidence is short lived when it seems more and more like she's going to be overwhelmed. The fact that her lusus is looming over her now doesn't help either.

She turns on her heel, figuring she's bought enough time for Nill to bandage herself, and if not they'll just have to start moving again anyway and try again somewhere else. She can't risk sustaining enough injuries that would make flying a problem.]

[culver]

[Seeing Vriska in her new outfit is... something else. She looks authoritative, like a real hero. Nill is a little jealous, to be honest. But now isn't the time to think about that. Now was the time to think about that. Now was the time to get away.

Once she sees the troll starting towards her she begins running. She doesn't doubt that Vriska can scoop her up mid-flight if she has to, but she doesn't want to have to start running just as the hellbeasts are on their heels.]

[luckout]

[And Vriska doesn't hesitate to sheath her weapon once she's right on Nill's heels to scoop her back up into her arms and take back to the sky. A troll just barely clips her foot and sets her off balance before she rights herself and gets high enough to avoid troll attacks. Unfortunately never high enough to escape a gargantuan spider's legs and pedipalps.]

You got it wrapped?

[culver]

[Nill hangs on for dear life, excuse the cliché. She does not want to be dragged into that mass of zombie trolls. She adjusts, hopefully making it easier for Vriska to hold her. There's a slight sheen of sweat on her face but she looks slightly better than a few minutes ago.]

Yeah as best I could. It will have to do. I do not think I will bleed so much now though.

[luckout]

Keep the pressure on it too, in case you did a shitty wrapping job.

[Vriska keeps a secure grip on her, focusing on dodging the limbs she can see out of her peripheral. With her ancestral awakening, she's feeling rejuvenated and it's not as hard to carry Nill and get exhausted by it. She's not sure how long that will last though, so she's hurrying as much as she can to find an exit that doesn't seem to be anywhere.]

[culver]

[She obeys, small hands pressed tight to her side. It makes the pain even worse, but she can ignore it. Distraction is all she needs. And Vriska's sudden change in clothing and energy level seems like a good place to start.]

What happened? You look different.

[luckout]

It's the best roll of my dice. Makes me quicker, stronger, that kinda stuff.

[She jerks her head towards her hip.]

More importantly, it gives me a weapon.

[culver]

[Nill's gaze automatically follows the gesture, and she sees the sword. Oh, okay. Wow. That was not what she'd been expecting at all. It looked even more dangerous up close.]

That is very useful. I am glad it worked.

[luckout]

Yeah, me too. Nothing else on my dice works, so there was a pretty good chance this place completely nerfed them. But looks like I've still got all the luck.

[Her eyes scan the landscape below. Still no exits.]

See anything that looks like a way out?