Invasion! - Hanover (IC)

[Geez3r]

Tempest flies over to one of the larger holes in the defenses and laid down a devestating blizzard attack that froze some of the weaker demons were they stood, and slowed some of the other, larger demons, but didn't so much as scratch the building or any of the civilians inside of it. He touched down on the ground, and suddenly he looked like an electrified tree barring the path to the breach. "It would be appreciated if the demon abominations would return from whence they came rather than to continually damage the structure of this building."

[Sandman XI]

Darian nods to the doctor as he gives his orders. The heightened sense of urgency does not deter his super-fast mind from getting every last detail. As soon as the doctor is done, Darian walks over to the machine and finds a place to start working. "Cut off from space-time," he mumbles to himself, "That sort of explains why we're in a hellish replica of our own world. Stagnation attracts the chaotic realms." He stops when he sees the signals do not match up like the doctor said. "Now we must find out where we are." His fingers are shaky as he works to set up the energy signatures as the doctor wanted. As they all needed. This was certainly something new. He would love to take a survey of this chaotic place, but he has a feeling he's been here before. Jos Terhune once gave him a glimpse of this place when he took his soul. He hopes against hope he is not correct. Then again, this would be the place to get it back, wouldn't it? Darian fervently tries to make the energy signal go up but it isn't working. Putting that aside he works on the system. Before he can do so, it gets a bit cooler. Darian turns to see somewhat of a nature spirit combating the demonic forces. "Good," he says to himself turning back to the machine with a deep breathe, "This will buy me some time."

[Cyroa]

The frozen rent started melting fast within moments of it’s creation as Hellfire blazed down upon it. Likewise, more rents were forming and there were several large enough to let several demons through at once. The security forces fired as fast as they could, trying to take the demons down. But for each one that they focused on, two more managed to get inside. Soon the demons had a beachhead of sorts.

The civilians continued to rush down the stairs to the teleportation room. Many were already there, gathered and waiting impatiently, terrified to say the least. Quark worked as quickly as he could, trying to make the system do something it wasn’t supposed to do… But even if he got it working, it would take multiple uses to teleport the people to safety. If there was anything such thing left that is…

[Geez3r]

Tempest fell back with the defending humans, but made sure that the majority of the defending humans were behind him. Tempest continually kept a maelstrom of nature's fury active within the area. He focused fired on any of the larger demon abominations that made their presence known. Dozens of the demon abominations were stuck down, but the demon abominations were quite numerous. The motivations of the demon abominations were also quite puzzling to Tempest. The demon abominations seemed to pursue the objective of killing all of the civilian humans that were contained within the building of the Archeville human. However, this was more than an act of determination. The demon abominations cared not one iota for their own livelihood. They continually charged the lines over and over again, even as their compatriots met grisly deaths in the hundreds.

The longer the battle raged, the more Tempest was sure that the abomination monicur was indeed accurate. These demon abominations were not truly alive for they did not wish to live.

[Cyroa]

Quark desperately, but confidently, worked to do to impossible in under 5 minutes. And it was truly impossible. So it took him 6 minutes instead. Somehow, bypassing the interference, making do with parts not designed for this and creating a few of his own, scavenging from other machines, Quark managed to get the teleport pad running and targeted the 'bubble' of dimensional stability. People quickly filled the pad to its capacity and were sent off in a flash while many, many more waited terrified for their turn.

Above, the lobby had turned from a defensive holding spot into a death trap. There were so many holes that the demons practically pour through without pause now. The security forces fell back, struggling to make it down the tight stairs. They would have easily been overrun and taken if it had not been for Tempest's presence. Even the powerful elemental was not in the best of condition. Placing himself at the rear to block the attack certainly kept the vast majority of demons form going after the humans but it also meant that he was the one receiving them. And those were beginning to take their toll.

[Sandman XI]

Quark patiently waits (well as patiently as one can wait in times like these) as the people file into teleport. He finagles through his messenger bag a gets out a few parts to start working on Spitfire's blaster ray. Hopefully he will have time to do such a project. The hellish dimension has much chaotic destructive forces, these forces would be perfect to turn back on the inhabitants of the realm. Quark keeps watch of the people filing into the teleportation device as he works. Keeping his mind in three places would usually be easy. It still is, but not as easy as it wold be. The device is coming along fine. The people are loading in fine. And... wait a second, the demons are coming through! Quark rushes the people into the machine what he can. There would be no time for Spitfire's blaster as much as he wanted to finish it. He thinks about jumping into the machine himself, but there are people here that need him. The doctor. the nature spirit, the roofwalker, and the fire spitter.

[Cyroa]

There was indeed no time for Spitfire, dragged down by the demons as the retreat to the basement occurred. Gone in a blink and the demons never slowed. Once in the confined space of the stairs (never take the elevators in an emergency), it got a little better for most but worse for Tempest. His crackling lightning field destroyed most of the demons before they could touch him. But quite a few still could and their claws left rents in the elemental's form before they could be dispatched. The elemental was right in it's thoughts though. The demons cared little for their own lives. Dozens, hundreds sacrificed themselves to bring down 1 defender. And there were millions more behind them.

At the base of the stairs, the room opened up and people scurried forward for their turn to escape. Someone, or maybe several someone's, was not going to make it through. Having to operate the machine, not to mention prevent the demons from coming through the doorway, would take someone. Whoever did those things would never make it long enough for the teleporter to cycle on again.

[Geez3r]

It was becoming clear to Tempest that he would die this day. Their force was too numerous and their tactics too brutal for Tempest to do anything other than stall for time. However, the longer he stalled, the more humans got out of the building alive. He saw how quickly the demons would cut down any of the stragglers, and he wanted, he needed to save as many of those people from that fate as possible.

...

"People" Tempest smiled. He understood the meaning of the word now. "People" It was a nice thing to save people.

With the last of his strength, Tempest warped reality around him one last time. He contorted the stairwell to block the demon's progress, but it also left him alone with the Horde. It left him in his own tomb...