ya gotta wanna be a battering ram

[headandhand]

WHO: The entire dang city.
WHAT: Dualis Days, a week-long summer celebration.
WHERE: Central Square Park and the rest of the city.
WHEN: June 17-23.
WARNINGS: Terrorist violence, likely some blood and injuries. Please warn in individual threads!

June 17; Central Square Park.

Every year for as far back as anyone can remember, the start of summer is heralded by the week-long festival known as Dualis Days. This celebration officially kicks off at midday in the middle of Central Square Park with a commencement speech by the current mayor. This year marks Marcelina Dubanowski's third term as mayor of Dualis; she is an average-sized, middle-aged human-presenting woman with blonde hair styled in a short bob and a plastic, toothy smile that never seems to turn entirely off.

"Welcome, one and all!" she begins, with the practiced cadence of someone who is quite comfortable with public speaking. She invites all citizens, new and old, to spend the next week indulging in festivities in all districts of the city and getting to know their neighbors a little better. This is a joyous time of celebration, and the crowd responds with enthusiastic applause as the mayor finishes her speech and introduces this year's parade marshall, Peshtigo Tengfei.

Tengfei blows a whistle six times to signal the start of the parade - and this is where the celebration goes sideways.

A loud explosion tears through the air, and it's followed by panicked screams and the sharp screech of microphone feedback. A bomb has gone off at the platform where the mayor was standing, collapsing the wood and tearing it to splinters and dust. Chaos erupts in the gathered crowd, and as the people shift in all directions to get clear of any possible additional bombs, a loud siren cuts through the cacophony, calling attention to the sudden crackle of video feed present on all television screens throughout the city, including those set up in the park to broadcast the mayor's speech for those standing far from the stage. The picture is plain, a black background and bold white block letters filling the screen:

WAKE UP
WAKE UP
DON'T BELIEVE THE LIES

The final image is an anatomical graphic of a human heart, displayed for about three seconds, and then the feed goes black again.

Confused murmurs sweep through the crowd as citizens resume tending to the injured and evacuating the area until official first responders arrive.

June 17-23; aftermath around the city.

Dualis Days continues as scheduled, though Mayor Dubanowski is unable to enjoy the festival, as she is spending the week in the hospital recovering from her injuries. A team of Iterations guard her door - no visitors allowed - but the news media frequently report updates on her condition. Nothing to worry about, folks! Return to your celebrations, and don't mind the increased visible presence of the Hand as Iterations are stationed every few blocks throughout the city. It's only for your protection, after all.

Comments

Explosive Introduction

[helpdesk_hero]

Explosions, man, what are you going to do? Answer: run toward the source. Why is this even David's life. He was a bit further into the crowds when everything happened and was doing his best to work his way through it to the epicenter of the attack, mostly because he doubted there were a lot of emergency medical personnel on the scene. Of course, even with his skill at handling messes on this level, getting through the crowd isn't easy. So, seeing someone even taller than him barrelling their way through it?

Well, how can David not help but duck in behind the man to follow him.

"Hey, big guy, got a request. I'm a doctor," sort of but he's not correcting himself with more details, "and the worst injured will be near where the bomb went off. Mind helping me get up there?"

Because sometimes you need a battering ram to get through crowds without risk of people getting trampled.

[aleifr]

It takes Aleifr a moment to realize that someone's actually talking to him thanks to the frenzied crowd stampeding around him, but about midway through David's interjection, he looks back to find the other man behind him - following in his wake.

"Fine." Aleifr grunts - nodding over his shoulder. The word 'doctor' would have been unfamiliar, but the translator compensates and gives it to him as 'healer.' "Stay behind me and follow close - you fall behind, I'm not coming back for you."

Someone slams right into him and pulls Aleifr's attention forward again.

"Back!" Aleifr snaps, grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt and roughly moving him out of the way. The man stumbles, but Aleifr keeps a hold of him long enough to let him steady himself before releasing his grip.

Another look back towards David, jabbing a finger at the smoking crater where the stage had been. "You have any idea what the fuck that was?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Being left behind he can take. Not that he has any intention of falling behind. He is more than fit enough to keep up, suit notwithstanding. Spent the last few months trying to keep pace with super powered people. Someone who is merely tall and athletic is a relaxing change of pace. Or would be, if the situation was less stressful. But when is his life ever less stressful?

He doesn’t, though, appreciate he other people being manhandled. Nor does he comment. Better not to lose the escort.

“Relatively small yield explosive device. Minimal to no shrapnel. Which means unlikely to have something like rat poison to prevent blood clotting, that’s only useful for shrapnel bombs. Not a firebomb either. No, that was a targeted message.”

[aleifr]

Aleifr throws a quick glance back over his shoulder. He understood none of that.

"Can it happen more than once?" He asks. "Can there be more than one blast, or is it finished?"

He'd like to know before they got much closer.

As for the people Aleifr is removing from their path ... He's taking enough care to ensure nobody falls or get hurt, but if they were able to get clear without tripping over themselves and trampling each other, he wouldn't be moving them.

[helpdesk_hero]

“More than one bomb? Yeah. If they chose to build multiple. If there is another and it’s set, will probably go when more first responders get in.”

Study terrorism against your people as much as David did and you thought like them. David loathed it, but you move along. But that won’t stop David from moving toward the source.

“If that makes you uncomfortable I understand. But I can’t just let people be hurt and not help.”

[aleifr]

Aleifr shakes his head.

"Want to know what I'm dealing with is all." He shouts over the crowd noise. "No 'bombs' where I'm from."

[helpdesk_hero]

No... wow. David just takes a moment, focusing on running, and they are nearing the edge of the crowds. Considers his skin and the markings. Interesting.

“Ever seen the aftermath of a lightning strike? Like that, but more destructive, and man made.”

[aleifr]

"Man-fucking-made?"

Aleifr doesn't think the other man is lying, but it's ... it's a lot to swallow for someone who hasn't seen anything more advanced than a bow and arrow before coming here.

[helpdesk_hero]

“Yeah. Humans suck,” David observes blandly. And there, the edge of the crowd. Instead of behind the large man, David sucks out beside him and keeps going.

But damn it looks like a mess. The stage is busted up bad. Beyond bad. Immediately he goes into emergency mode. Find the worst injuries.

“If you find badly injured, don’t move them. Just tell me. Find any one else coming close to help and point them to injured people. If you see people pinned under stuff, do not move anything off of them. The heavy stuff compressed wounds.”

Ah, a first person with a speaker fallen on them. Damn. “Hey, help me lift this.”

[aleifr]

Aleifr doesn't question that someone would do this. That isn't what has him wrong-footed. He's from Fenris. He's seen people kill each other in a myriad of ways for a myriad of reasons.

The question was how they could.

In his experience, destruction like this happened if you ran afoul of an ice troll or a drake, if there was some sort of volcanic eruption, or your enemies had a particularly powerful gothi. This wasn't something that people could just do ... or at least he thought it wasn't.

The other man's voice snaps him out of his disoriented reverie. There's some man pinned underneath some sort of black box.

"I'll take it." Aleifr says, quickly moving over and searching around for wherever he could get the best grip on the box without putting pressure on the trapped man's legs when he tried to lift it. "You get him."

Eventually, he finds a handhold. The device, whatever it is, is heavy, but not so heavy that Aleifr struggles with lifting up the end pinning the man down. Heavy enough that he hopes the healer moves the trapped man quickly.

[helpdesk_hero]

David is in fact quick to drag the stranger loose, mostly because anything else would be stupid. A quick check shows the man more or less uninsured, so he has to move on. Still, he is appreciative of the help. He’s strong through training, but this guy just takes the cake. Like having Logan around. Or Teddy.

“Thanks. Damn you’re strong.”

[aleifr]

Aleifr doesn't verbalize his thanks, but he gives his appreciation with a small nod before he pushes the speaker over and away from the man it had been trapping.

"Wouldn't be much use if I wasn't."

Russ knows he won't be able to treat the people who need real help. Best he can do is lend a hand to the people who can, and see what he can find in the wreckage ... which does bring a specific question back to the forefront of his mind.

"These bombs ... what am I looking for?"

So he knows if he finds a second one intact, waiting for the people scrambling to help - as the healer expected.

[helpdesk_hero]

There are so many different styles, and that before David has even considered how the tech of his place might affect things.

“No good way to describe it, given what I expect your frame of reference is. If it beeps and has lights on it that keep changing, let me know. Or let someone. If they say run, just listen. But let me know.”

Because yes, he is stupid enough to deputize himself as the bomb squad. Which he reckons should be on scene soon. He hopes.

[aleifr]

Aleifr can't help but roll his eyes at that. The healer isn't wrong about his frame of reference, but every bloody thing in this place beeps and has lights on it. Using that as a descriptor doesn't narrow it down all that much.

"I'll keep my eyes open." He says as he starts heading for the burnt out debris of the stage.

[helpdesk_hero]

Well now that would be a good point if David was thinking on it. As it is, he’s moving on to the next person.

“Would be hard to manage anything if you had them closed. Hey, keep your eyes up too. Don’t trust things here not to fall. Wouldn’t want to have to move you, you’re pretty big.”

Understatement much?

[aleifr]

"Noted."

He didn't need to be told that. The buildings around them made him anxious enough that he'd barely stopped looking up ever since arriving.

[helpdesk_hero]

Well, if David had time to think about it he might have provided more specific comments. Whoops. As it was he was moving to another person and cursing under his breath. Quickly he strips off his belt, this one needs a tourniquet to be safe.

“Can you find me a stick or piece of wood or metal, at last as thick around as your thumb?”