Event Log: Null Attack

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone!
What: The event log for the Null Attack event
Where: All over the city
When: May 29th- ?
Warnings: None

What starts as a normal day will begin to herald in the beginning of the end. On May 29th, you might see something in the sky out of the corner of your eye- blink and you miss it, but there's definitely something there, something that's not any kind of animal you've ever seen. Now that you know to look, you may be paying closer attention to the sky in order to catch the next one that flies past- a ship. A ship that that seems to be designed in a way that might remind you of the Null themselves.

As the days pass, it becomes unmistakable- the Null are here and are scouting out the area. It's time to prepare for an immediate attack and start putting all those contingency plans to good use. Will you gear up for a fight and fall into formation? Will you close and lock your doors and stay inside? Or perhaps there's some other plan that you want to enact?

You'll have time to discuss that on the network later, but now you need to start reacting to the Null's actions- which are apparently to start building smaller encampments around the city as they try to find the way inside. Confusion is holding them at bay for now but it might be time to start building some defensive measures and fortifications, because she won't be able to keep them at bay forever.

When they break in, they do so in a big way- with a massive explosion at Confusion's temple that rattles throughout the entire city. It's obvious that something has happened- and what exactly that something is reveals itself shortly when Null begin to flood the city, having broken through Confusion's protection.

This is when the fight escalates to an all-out war. Nobody is spared, and they're watching everyone from above. What will you do? How will you keep the ones you love safe? How can anyone survive this? All you can do is fight back, all we can do is wait. Good luck, Hadriel.

► This log covers the entirety of the Null attack
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you are killed by the Null, please let us know here.

Comments

klaus hargreeves 👻 ota

[substances]

👻 let's be war buddies (early jungle warfare)

Really, what he wouldn't give for his fucking machine gun.

No use whining about it, though, even if Klaus is already tired from a long week of setting up traps with the crew in the jungle. If nothing else, he has the layout of the whole jungle basically memorized by now. He has a handaxe and knives and one really heavy but really spectacular spiked mace. And he has the handgun Drake lent him, with a bit of ammo, which he's going to be saving for special occasions. He's trained with his abilities as much as he can, and he's going over what he's learned in his head over and over as he creeps through the jungle, face and arms camouflaged with dried mud, wearing his green vest and a dirty grey T-shirt, a light khaki bag on his back with some rations and other supplies, moving low and fast and quiet.

Glancing over at whoever he's closest to, making eye contact, he raises an eyebrow and ducks his head toward a log that lies in the underbrush near a clearing they've identified as a small Null encampment. This is the first hit-and-run he's participating in, and he has his hand axe at the ready. Go in, go hard, destroy as much as possible, kill whatever Null they can kill, and get the fuck out of Dodge. Lifting a hand, holding eye contact, he holds up three fingers, and drops them one by one. When only the pointer is left, he points at the encampment, surges out of the underbrush, flings himself over the log (which will make some great cover when they retreat) and charges.

👻 the second shot won't be a warning (mid jungle warfare)

It's been a few days of off-and-on combat, and this is some serious attrition warfare. Klaus is already tired, and it hasn't been a week. It's getting a bit intense in his head, too, because there's not as much gunfire, but there's explosions and screams and smoke and it's reminding him too much of Nam. He's barely slept in days, catching a few Zs here and there but always waking up with nightmares about Dave, about holding him. Thank god the jungle here smells different than Nam did.

Taking a long pull from his canteen of water, back pressed up against a fallen tree, he looks over his shoulder at the approaching detachment of Null, and then the pit trap covered in leaves and branches he remembers being there. Gathering his courage, he puts his canteen away, and pops up from behind the branch.

"HEY, ASSHOLES!!" he yells as loud as possible, "You want a piece of this?!"

And then he turns, skirts the edge of the pit while the approaching Null skitter closer, there's smoke and the smell of fire as they burn their way through the tree, and then the first one is dropping into the pit, gravity and the spikes in the bottom doing their job as they impale the outer casing. Klaus scrambles away, not seeing how many of them fell, or if any of them actually kicked it before sliding behind a thick patch of ferns and into a shallow hole dug under a thick tree root to hide, holding his breath while the Null keep moving, looking for him.

If he happens to see any of his comrades, he quickly gestures them to get over into shelter with him, fast. He's not above sharing a tiny foxhole with a buddy.

👻 let's be collateral damage (late jungle warfare) (cw: injury, ptsd flashbacks, drug references)

He's losing track of the days at this point, but Klaus has always been good at soldiering on through hunger and confusion and pain. There's blood on his face along with the mud now, both dried and fresh running down the side of his face from under his hairline, smudged into the fabric of his sweat-stained T-shirt, running down his right forearm. But he's in control, mostly, serious and focused.

At least until he isn't.

Creeping out of the underbrush, he realizes a moment too late that he's miscalculated his location and he's stumbled right into a Null scout setting up a weapon close to the edge of the city. And he's completely unprepared.

"Fuck."

He's halfway back into the brush before the Null gets a clean shot on him with whatever crowd control brain-scrambling weapon they're carrying. Letting out a yelp of pain, he almost immediately stumbles and lands flat on his face in the underbrush. Feels a chunk of wood embed itself into his shoulder, which wrenches another scream out of him. For a long few moments, he lies in the dirt and underbrush, completely disoriented, incapable of moving while he hears something crunching leaves and dirt behind him. He can't even remember what it is, what it's doing, he just knows he's hurting and scared and he's hearing gunfire whizzing overhead and explosions and he thinks he's pressed up against some sandbags. The jungle smells like Vietnam, and his hands move weakly as he tries to push himself up.

"Dave? Dave!?" he shouts, and gives away his position like an idiot, but any sort of tactic slides out of his head, it's like trying to catch water in his hands. There's just the pressing danger signals going through his head mixed with images of Dave in his arms, bleeding and gurgling and looking at him in terror, and he's sobbing as he manages to coordinate himself enough to start crawling away from the terror behind him, repeatedly crying out every time he forgets his shoulder is injured and he jams the chunk of wood sticking out of his shoulder into something.

He's going to die. If there's no one but the Null here, he's going to die, and he's too disoriented and confused to remember where help might be.

👻 has it come to that? (blowing the bridges / first monster summon)

The Null are in the city now, and there's no more use for the jungle, no more use for guerrilla warfare. Time to fall back into the City, to retreat and blow the bridges. The Null are so close on their tails it's hard to tell how they're going to manage it, how they're gonna slow them down.

Klaus is exhausted. He's hurting and aching and his right ear hasn't stopped ringing for two days, but he stops as someone sets the charges, looking around, chest heaving. Now is the time, he's frazzled and on edge, and everything looks like it's going to fall apart around them. So Klaus concentrates when he sees a monster ghost coming toward the clearing near the bridge, looking disoriented but angry, and Klaus hunches down, he focuses on how fucked they are, how much it's going to suck if they can't blow the bridge because the Null are here, he focuses on the monster and the people he cares about, closes his eyes and pictures them - Drake, the twins, Kyna and Tinya and Drake and everyone he's been fighting with the past week - and how much he's going to hurt if any of them die.

And then his fists glow blue, his whole body starts shaking, and he stands slowly, his fists out to the side, and then other people will see it - a massive Deathclaw, semi-transparent and glowing blue but very, very corporeal. It's different than it was with Ben, because Ben had controlled himself, had used the Horrors himself and Klaus had just been the conduit.

Fortunately, the Deathclaw is angry, the Deathclaw wants to fight, and Klaus feeds it as much focus on the Null as he can. The monster charges the Null, charging over the bridge toward them, swinging its massive fists and using its horn with reckless abandon. Klaus knows he can only hold this for so long, his whole body is tense and shaking wound tight, but he's holding on. And maybe, just maybe, it'll buy them enough time.

👻 defense of the clinic (second monster summon - for Kyna and then anyone near the clinic)

[substances]

👻 shouldering the brunt of the attack

They've fallen back so far, and Klaus is at the point where he's checking the faces of everyone he sees that's falling, everyone whose face he can see clearly, to make sure that they're not an injured friend, a friend in need of help. He's a mess himself, bleeding and limping and exhausted and covered in dirt and grass stains and blood and mud, shaking. But he's moving.

His habit of looking for people he knows pays off when he sees Kyna, with a group of people, fighting near the Clinic.

"Kyna! Heeeeeyyyy!" he yells, running over, holding his heavy mace in both hands, panting with a stitch in his side. But he's moving, he's lifting his weapon, he's ready to help.

collateral damage

[nonscriptum]

[ Nate got separated from the small team he'd started with when a number of the larger combat Null rolled their way into the underbrush, but he was prepared for that. Jungle combat isn't his preferred terrain for shootouts, despite his extensive experience in it. At least in the ancient, decrepit and crumbling cities of bygone eras and empires he can find suitable shelter - here, everything is choked in vines and damp, thick air, trees that obscure his own self but also obscure the enemy. Running on the fumes of adrenaline is how he's handled himself in the past and it seems to work well enough here, but when his blood pressure drops precipitously he knows he's going to crash, and crash hard.

Best to keep moving until then.

From his vantage in the canopy, sweat- and blood-slick, as filthy as he was after being dragged behind those paramilitary trucks outside of Antananarivo, Nate hears an audible crack. It's the fizzling sound of a Null weapon discharging and he slips on the branch, dropping a few feet before catching himself, trying to pinpoint the origins in the dense foliage when someone screams. Movement, just there. The lumbering of a gleaming metal carapace and Nate practically tears the grappling hook off his belt in his haste, chucking it, catching a branch, swinging the length of it to the ground and hitting it with a roll that rattles his teeth.

"Dave!"

Heart pounding in his ears he runs, sees it, a scouting robot advancing on someone with purpose and Nate slams into it bodily, jamming one curved end of the grappling hook into a seam and popping the sheeting off. It makes a mechanical noise, crackles like it's charging the beam again and Nate puts three bullets into its core, puncturing circuitry.

It flickers off and stops moving.

Easing himself up with a groan Nate holsters his gun again, panting, turning and recognizing a torn flak jacket staining dark red. He scrambles over. ]

Shit, Klaus-

[substances]

[It's a shame that Klaus is far too disoriented and confused and in pain to see how straight up badass that was, because it would've been really impressive. As it is, he's barely aware of where he is. The only thing that registers is his name, and he responds to it, his eyes a little glassy as he turns to look at the man who's calling his name, chest heaving, tears running down his face.]

No, no no no no no, no, where's Dave? We need a medic, I need a medic!

[At first, he tries to make his body coordinate well enough to push himself up on his right elbow, only to find his whole right arm isn't working because of the chunk of wood embedded into him. Instead, he rotates his body, hisses in pain, and pushes himself up with his left hand, looking around in panic.]

Please please please please please...

[Except then it registers for a moment that he's not with Dave, that Dave isn't here, the guy who's looking at him isn't anyone from his unit or even the Brigade and he has no idea where he is. Everything is scrambled, he can hear explosions and bullets whizzing overhead and he's covered in mud and blood and for a moment he thinks he's high. Part of him remembers trying not to do drugs for a long time, so long, remembers the shakes and the cold sweats and the nausea and the crippling depression from coming off them that had lasted for weeks but he feels high right now, feels high and in Vietnam and Dave is dying.

What the fuck is he doing thinking about all this stupid drug shit? Dave is dying.]

Where's Dave, he needs a medic, he's gonna die, I can't lose him, no no no no....

[nonscriptum]

[ Nate stoops at Klaus' side, familiar with the shaking in a way that makes him distinctly uncomfortable. The shuddering, thousand-yard stare and the eyes brimming with tears immediately throw him back to a different jungle, to Panama. Bullets pocking the concrete and metal, the screaming prison alarm and the thick, heavy smell of coming rain in the air, tinged with iron from the blood that Sam coughed onto his face.

He's gone. C'mon, the boat's just beyond the wall.

No. No, I can't. I can't- I can't leave him behind.

Nate, your brother is dead. Either come with me or join him.

To this day he still doesn't know how he got to his feet and ran, half-stumbling through the trees and underbrush as thunder and his heartbeat drowned out the sounds of the guards far behind them. Echoes swallowed by numbness and grief, the only relief being the shock of saltwater as they slid off the edge of a cliff and into the ocean. ]

Klaus.

[ Gentle and firm, Nate takes a sweat-damp face in his hands and tries for eye contact. ]

Hey, I need you to look at me, okay? Tell me you can hear me.

[substances]

[When Nate says his name, Klaus finally focuses, just a little, and then the hands on his jaw and cheeks steer his head toward the other man and Klaus looks at him. Green eyes widen a little, then focus just a bit as he makes eye contact. Nate is talking, and somewhere in the recesses of his mind, Klaus is aware that yes, this is Nate, Nathan Drake, Mr. Tight-Shirt-Shoulder-Holsters, and he's a comrade, someone he trusts to have his back in the jungle.

But most of his brain is still scrambled, lost in time, mistaking the past for the present and vice versa, all that fear and terror and grief over Dave flooding him, released by whatever that weapon had done to tumble his thoughts like clothes in a dryer. All the things he's kept under the surface, repressed until he can deal with it at some unknown impossibly distant future time. But right now, his brain is convinced he's in Vietnam, he can smell and taste it, he can feel the humid heat, and his brain is convinced that Dave is dying, he's dying and Klaus needs to get him help.]

Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah, okay okay I hear you.

[He looks at Nate, and for a moment he catches his bearings, he looks like he's in the present instead of a flashback to the worst moments of his life.]

I hear you, but...but Dave...where's Dave?

closed to Drake Holloway

[substances]

👻 i'll be the atheist in your foxhole anytime

The whole time he's been in this godforsaken jungle, Drake has been with him. Sometimes they would separate for one reason or another, tactics or other stuff, but Drake is used to busting crackhouses, not guerrilla warfare in a jungle that would be deadly even without the Null skulking around, so he's been mostly following Klaus' lead. Which is really weird, considering the whole time he's been here, from the first hour of it, Drake has been the one looking out for him.

Klaus knows Drake is tough, that he's not going to just die out here on his own, but still, he feels a little responsible for him. So when they run into a group of Null scouts, too many to deal with just the two of them, Klaus silently gives Drake a shove on the shoulder, gestures off to his right, indicating that he should run for it, and then jumps up in front of the group.

"Wow, what do we have here? You know, last time I checked, the jungle totally sucks if you don't wanna get all rusty so why don't you guys just..."

And he's cut off by the Null lunging after him. Taking off in the opposite direction from where he sent Drake, Klaus actually laughs while he runs, making as much noise as he can, breaking branches and kicking dirt and being reckless so they don't get distracted from him. It's nice to cut loose and ditch the stealth and right...around...this boulder...there's a massive swinging battering ram trap that'll take out at least two of them, and Klaus can hide in the chaos.

Except that one of the Null hangs back at the last moment, and as the ram that just took out two of his friends comes swinging back, it glances hard off the right side of Klaus' head, right as the Null fires that stupid fucking brain scrambler at him. Klaus goes down hard, squirming around on the ground, disoriented and with his head ringing. He can feel blood dripping down the side of his face from his scalp, his jaw is aching, and loses track of where he is, what he's doing. He keeps pushing himself up on one elbow and then collapsing again because he forgets that his head is hit between attempts, he can't remember what direction he was trying to go, his ears are ringing, all he knows is that there's danger.

So much danger. There's bullets and smoke and fire and the smell of burning flesh and screaming and crying and he laughs and Dave is there, but Dave is gurgling at him, bleeding, his beautiful eyes wide and mouth moving.

"No no no no no..." he moans, lifts a hand to his head, uncoordinated. There's heat behind him and his instincts, honed by years of trying to keep him alive while he's high as a kite and out of his mind, manage to let him scramble forward and away from the heat. It's enough to break the immediate flashback, but he's still disoriented, confused, looking around with eyes wide.

"Drake! Drake?! Where are you?" he yells, voice trembling.

[braveoff]

Truth be told, Drake is feeling a little in over his head. He's not a soldier. He's been training with one for the better part of two years now, but they've actually discussed the fact that he's not cut out for it before. This is a different kind of war, of course -- for one thing it's far easier to consider the Null monsters. They may be sapient but they don't register as people the same way as an enemy army back home would, not because of their robotic nature or alien appearance but simply because of how they think. Their complete disregard for other forms of life, their condemnation of emotion... so yeah, he can handle killing them. And he's even survived a Null invasion before, mostly alone... but he was a zombie, then. He could take and deal far more damage, could keep fighting for longer stretches. It didn't matter as much that he wasn't a soldier when he was like that. Not until he started to get really hungry, at least.

This fight is much harder, for several reasons, and he's starting to second guess his choices. The Null are relentless and savvy to a lot of the Hadrielites' tricks this time around, and it's already gone on for longer than the first invasion. Drake had known that the fight was coming when he'd asked Hope for a cure and all the reasons he'd struggled with the decision are front and center right now. He'd also made the tactical choice to stick with Klaus instead of Ephemera or Lup, someone of a similar ability so that he wouldn't turn into a liability, but even Klaus is miles ahead of him here because it's not just the knowledge, it's the experience. Klaus is actually a soldier, he's used to sustained battles, to the chaos, to pushing to keep going after days, weeks, months of nonstop combat. Drake isn't. He's tired and he's overwhelmed and he's worried about his partner and his other friends and his guardsmen but it's not safe to try and contact anyone. He just has to keep fighting and hope they're okay, that they'll all find each other again. Do the job he's supposed to, and trust that they're all badass enough to survive this.

When Klaus signals that they need to split up again, Drake doesn't think this time will be any different than the previous encounters where they used such tactics. He'll loop around, they'll both make their presences known to lead the group into traps in opposite directions and pick them off, then meet back here. Except before he's managed to get all the way around, Klaus springs up out of cover and tries to sass the oncoming killer robots. Drake is too shocked and confused to react before his friend is tearing through the jungle in the opposite direction with all four Null giving chase, and he curses under his breath and tries to follow. He knows which trap Klaus is going for and it won't take out all of them. Maybe he'll be able to lead the other two to the next? At least the clamor is easy to follow.

The jungle is thick enough here that Drake hears the trap trigger before he can see anything. There's a heavy thud of impact and then the crash of metal being crushed as the ram smashes the Null to bits against another tree. But how many? He can still hear things moving, and then his stomach drops out at the sound of Null weaponry going off, with no answering gunshots. Is Klaus down? Drake clenches his jaw to keep from calling out and just follows the trail, swinging Ephemera's rifle off his shoulder. He's getting a little low on ammo but there's no choice right now. When he reaches the crushed Null debris it looks like they only took out two. And from here he can see the other two Null advancing on something -- Klaus must be on the ground. He must've been hit.

There's no hesitation as he raises his weapon, keeping it steady by sheer force of will. If he's lucky they're the same design as the two that got crushed, which means he knows where their power core is housed... sure enough he's able to take one out before the other realizes he's there and turns to fire back. It's second nature at this point to activate his borrowed shield, which holds but leaves him having to change tactics again.

Except then he hears Klaus screaming for him, and all bets are off. He can't risk trying to get another perfect shot from here so even without rage mode he's going in, deflecting as much as he can with the shield and switching to his axe for some extremely ill advised direct combat. To hell with stealth right now, if he loses at least he'll literally be going down swinging.

But somehow, he doesn't lose. He's a good deal bloodier and knows he'll be feeling some damage when the adrenaline winds down, but it's nothing life threatening so fuck it. The shield vanishes and Drake shoves his axe back into its loop and rushes over to Klaus, who looks like he took a far more serious hit, the side of his face covered in blood and his eyes wide and frantic, clearly disoriented.

"Klaus! Hey, I'm right here, I've got you." His voice is a little urgent even to his own ears and he can't tell if it's safe to move Klaus or not, but they really should get away from all the noise they just made. There'll be more coming. Drake holds Klaus' head steady with one hand and lifts the other in front of his face, two fingers up. He doesn't even know if his friend can see, but he'll find out. "How many?"

[substances]

It's all just bad timing, really. Klaus moved too soon, forgot to account for the rougher terrain on Drake's end of things, was a little too eager to get them off Drake's trail, and everything ends up a disaster. He's barely aware of it when Drake comes in to rescue him, just knows that the heat behind him is gone and Dave needs a medic or he's going to die and he can't lose Dave, he can't lose Dave, if he loses Dave he's going to die, he's going to die...

When he sees the light of the shield flick off, his head jerks up and he looks at the person leaning over him, saying his name, saying he's right here and he's got him, and Klaus' eyes fill with tears.

"Dave, you're okay..." he murmurs, and smiles soft, pushes his head against Drake's steadying hand in a sort of uncoordinated, jerky way, and replies in a hazy voice, "Two. There's two. Can we go home now?"

His ears are ringing and he feels dizzy and uncoordinated, so he pushes himself forward and wraps his arms around Drake's shoulders, presses his forehead against one of them, completely forgetting that he's still bleeding. Profusely. When he pulls his head back a little and sees the blood he left on Drake's shirt, he takes a panicky, soft breath.

"No no no no...are you okay? Dave..." Looking at the other man, he swallows hard, furrows his brows, presses his hand against the center of Drake's chest and doesn't feel the spurting of hot blood, looks at his face and doesn't see it gurgling out of his mouth, "We have to get out of here. Now. I can't lose you."

let's be war buddies!

[unphase]

[Tinya is crouched down at his side, wearing another white sundress of all things. white is a sacred color on her world and she can't bring herself to wear anything else under the circumstances, even if it does make her stand out in her jungle surroundings. there's dirt on her knees and her elbows and dirt trailing at the bottom of her long, black hair from where she's crouching on the ground beside Klaus and there's a katana clutched in her right hand.

she can't deny that she's a little nervous. her powers work for defense, not offense. she's done what she can to help set up traps and get ready for what they all knew was coming and she does know what she's doing with that katana, but the Null are nothing like what she faced in the Legion.

she meets Klaus' eyes and she likely can't help the tinge of worry he'll see in her wide, blue eyes and glances at the Null waiting for them.

she looks at his eyes again and can see his fingers falling out of the corner of her eye. when he points, she phases through the log and flies towards the Null, keeping herself phased except for her hands which wield the sword]

<3

[substances]

[Klaus knows, on an intellectual level, that Tinya is a capable person. That she has multiple powers, she's tough and experienced, and hell, she even trained him - but he still can't shake the worry. It's just that she's always wearing white sundresses, and she's young and pretty and looks so soft. He can't shake it, he's worried about her.

So he must've told her at least a dozen times before they got into the jungle, that if she's going to get hurt or if she's in a bad spot, to just leave and not stick around for him or play hero or anything like that. Reminded her he can take care of himself, and he'd rather she just phased away and flew the hell out of dodge.

When she looks at him with worry in her eyes, he smiles a little at her, raises his brows, mouths it again - 'just leave' - before they make a move.

And then she's out, diving into the fray mostly phased out except her sword and her hands, and thank god for that power, because otherwise he wouldn't want her anywhere near this shit. Darting out after her, he launches himself over the log and lands on his feet, swings his axe, yelling as loud as he can.]

Come on!

[The Null are the first priority, he can hear their weapons charging up, he knows enough from talking to people who survived the last encounter with them what to go for, what parts are vulnerable, where to strike. And he does, drives the axe into the seams of their metal exterior, pries it back, moving quick - he trips and sways and stumbles, but he never falls down, aware of his surroundings, instinct honed by months in Vietnam with a unit that considered you an "old guy" if you survived a month.

Pulling out one of the big hunting knives he'd managed to find, he rams it into the processor on the Null and holds it there until the thing collapses, then turns, looking to see how Tinya is doing.]

<3!

[unphase]

[she is capable. she's as clever as she is pretty and what appears to be softness is covering an inner core of tempered steel. honestly, if it wasn't for her taste in men (a bit rough around the edges, a bit damaged in their own ways, and not Bgztlian high society, never that), she'd come close to fulfilling the image of the perfect Bgztlian lady. beautiful, graceful, and gracious in all things, as strong as she was lovely.

and every time he did, she smiled at him and reassured him that she'd be fine, she could carry her own weight, she wouldn't be a burden on anybody, much less him, that he could trust her at his back.

she bites her lip briefly and shakes her head no. she's fine. she can handle this.

sparks fly when the metal of her blade meets the metal of the Null's blade arm and her eyes narrow. it then goes to parry her blow and she phases all but her hands which are holding the blade and slips it in past the Null's defenses to run it through. pressing her advantage and disregarding the flailing blade arms which were flailing at her, trying to cut her open and failing.

her next blow is aimed towards the seam of the Null, splitting it like an overripe fruit. from there, its processor is easy to locate and destroy. she moves on to the next one, the one next to the one Klaus is making short work of, without missing a beat.

and the entire time, her feet never touch the ground.

she glances towards Klaus and smiles, a little wickedly]