Description: In the aftermath of the frightening offensive upon the capitol city of Nepal that was narrowly halted, two young women make their own way into the war torn streets in search of the man who has been said to have saved the nation from being overtaken. Together, resolves are declared - if not yet truly tested - and the beginnings of some sort of coordinated counter-offensive between those gifted with the ability to fight back.
Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass. It is called 'home' by approximately 26 million people. The capital is Kathmandu, and in the wake of China's opening blows, the country has found itself propelled onto the world stage. Few famous fighters hail from Nepal, but through the courage of Howard Rust and the brave defenders of the Nepalese people, they can continue to call themselves free. For now.
May Lee had been scheduled to fight Rust here, but she had failed to catch her flight. A conflux of conditions had conspired to keep her away, and arranging transport into this war-torn region had become much more difficult after the reports of troop movements had been confirmed. May Lee rarely gets asked 'are you crazy?!' quite so often in the space of so few hours.
She has, however, finally made it to Nepal, and she has begun her quest to locate Howard Rust. Her gut says that he won't be resting. He had struck her as an honest and hard-working man (even with his awful 'hair'), and standing up against Shadaloo has erased any lingering doubts about his possible loyalties.
Now, the small Korean teenager is biking across the rubble-strewn roads into Kathmandu. Her bike jerks wildly underneath her on broken tarmac and the remnants left in the aftermath of the invasion force. Wierdly enough, with her scarf flying behind her and her goggles gleaming in the morning sun, she strikes quite the hopeful figure. Nobody, yet, has tried to stop her... the question is, will Rust be found here, cleaning up the terrible mess left behind from his act of heroism, or being showered with adoration in the city proper, where the mood is lighter?
There was a lot of celebration to go around in the immediate wake of the battle for Nepal's freedom. Nobody really expected China to up and invade the small nation right off the bat, given the amount of manpower they dedicated towards taking Russia according to scattered reports - let alone expect that a foreigner of such strength would end up being their savior in one of the nation's darkest hours in very recent history.
May Lee is right about one thing - he's not resting. There's certainly jubilant crowds around the streets, mixed with the air of appreciation and mourning alike for those soldiers who laid their lives to the efforts of their nation's defense.
Inspecting one of the largest gathered crowds reveals exactly what she's looking for - a number of people (a large number of people) giving praise, a very small police unit attempting to maintain some sort of normalcy and order given the recent chaos, and a large man with... uh... that... hair, digging through some of the rubble with a heavy toolbox and some construction equipment nearby. There's a certain shakiness to his movements that might be a little unsettling, and he has foregone a top in favor of a fair bit of bandaging, but that might be glossed over just for the fact it's him, he's there, he's alive and he's... more or less well, maybe?
Nepal seems to be quickly a center of conversion for many, it seems. Much the reaction May Lee has recieved, so too has a second person. Granted, shes done more walking due to a lack of a bike, but she has made good time nonetheless.
As Munin enters the city, she takes in the sight of the city after the battle, shaking her head. She came seeking Rust for a rematch. She was almost here when word reached her of the Chinese attack. Thoughts of this quickly depart her head as she sees the results of the recent battle. Fights she has been in. A warzone, however, she has not, even one where the fighting has stopped.
Nearby, a body is riddled with small holes, a bit of coagulated red surrounding them. The wall behind him, too, has a matching red smear. Munin has to swallow some bile at the sight and hurry away. If word is accurate, Rust IS alive.
If the crowd doesn't make him easier to find, his larger stature definately give him away. The only thing on her mind is to offer what help she can in all this.
May Lee had no illusions about what this would be like. She could never have guessed that China would go with Shadaloo, but she had a very clear picture about the sort of reality Vega's actions would make. You don't grow up in Korea without knowing the evils of tyranny, and living in fear of it. Though Nepal is injured, it will recover. It will stay free.
Finding Rust isn't too hard, reaching him through the crowd is another matter. Considering their last meeting, May Lee's relatively subdued nature might take him by surprise. Rather than bombastically shouting her arrival, or doing anything like that, instead, the blue-haired girl abandons her bike, and wordlessly, announces her presence by lifting a chunk of rubble away from Rust.
She's small, and she's not got the terrifying physical force that some fighters have... but May Lee has vigor, and determination, and both of these are just as bright in her eyes now as they were when they first met, even if her voice is more subdued. The smile on her lips, perpetually there, a little less sparkling than before, perhaps.
"I'm sorry I'm late."
The voice of May Lee - a voice speaking English, a rarity at least among this crowd! - is almost missed from the humble, normal tone of voice. The polite gesture of help is almost intercepted by a police officer on duty, halted only as Rust turns to see who is actually speaking and a slightly startled, panicked voice with the urgency of stopping a mistake about to be made.
"H-Hey, no, she's, uh, she's okay, she's... she's okay, it's... good. It's good." He repeats it a few times, hoping the officer in question understands, although on some level it actually isn't good - almost scary, really - to see May Lee here, and... he squints, there's another girl there, kind of familiar... couldn't be, could it?
"I, uh," Howard clears his voice, "'scuse me." He's not looking at his mental peak. His eyelids do weigh fairly heavy, to say nothing of the aches of his upper body and one of his thighs among other miscellaneous maladies that tends to befall people who wade through knives, gunfire, and high explosives like a mildly unpleasant slosh through waist-high mud.
He reaches out his left hand as if to try and say 'don't worry about moving that,' but her vigor and determination kind of speak for itself as he exhales loudly and turns back to moving aside a rock with his right hand.
"I, I don't want to... don't want to, y'know, come off as... kinda... un-unpleasant, but... 's gotten pretty crazy." That's kind of understating it, as he looks away. "You, uh... you okay? I mean, given... what just, happened." His voice trails off almost to incomprehensibility, which speaks to how exhausted he is.
For all her unease with the condition of her surroundings, in particular the bodies, her gaze narrows a bit on seeing Rust, though not in anger. In concern. She notes May Lee with him, and at least is glad someone of some ability is also here, just in case something tries another attack here.
As she walks over, she gives a half-smile to the pair to try to hide her worry, though it doesn't reach her eyes. That he's still standing, let alone working, after that kind of damage is a true testament to his reputation as 'a human talk'. She raises an eyebrow as she says "I'm sorry i couldn't get here sooner as well. I'm glad you're allright". She gives May Lee a friendly nod, relieved someone else is here to check on Rust as well, in case the soldiers try their luck a second time.
May Lee considers Rust. His obvious exhaustion, his injuries. She even considers trying to get him to stop, but, she doesn't think he'll do it. There's no point in asking. Instead, she can just try to lessen his burden.
The teenager takes the rock that Rust is struggling with, and puts her back into helping to shift it. "I wasn't the one getting shot at." She says, which is true enough. "We... all knew Vega was capable of this sort of thing." A second truth. The Southtown War had proven that these monsters were more than capable of causing widespread destruction and damage. The fire in her eyes is intense, her heart ignited as she leans in and the rock, finally, gives.
"There will be justice for what has happened here."
And then she's smiling a little more genuinely, noticing Munin for the first time. "Hey." She says, waving cheerfully, incongruous in the wrecked surroundings. "Nice to see you here. Come to help out? You're the person who tried to stop me opening that supermarket, right?" If she just keeps smiling, it is like there really is nothing wrong with this. Nothing at all, really.
Another officer tries to approach Munin - Rust reaches out with his left hand and waves it, shaking his head. "She's, she's okay too." He's pretty sure the 'okay' was understood the first time now, but as they withdraw, he slumps a bit again. It's good that May Lee is looking to help him with that bit of rubble, because that moment he spent addressing law enforcement about Munin is a countdown to having his grasp slip on the one hand still under a rock. If it weren't for May Lee's help... well, he'd probably be okay but it's never a fun thing to accidentally drop something heavy.
"You... you were, uh, also comin' here?" He seems surprised at the news from Munin as he turns to address the rock issue. With May Lee's help, he moves aside another piece of rubble with her help and that admission she wasn't the one getting shot at.
"Y'know, that's... that's somethin' easy to hope for," is he poo pooing the idea? Maybe, but he is a man who literally fought his way through the - to be fair - remains of three different Chinese military units after they had managed to defeat the native defenders that were able to come to the defense of the capital on such short notice.
Where May Lee and Munin are warm in the gratitude for his safety, Howard is notably passive. He's gone through hell, not to mention the obvious of what comes out of his mouth next as he peers in through a gap in the wall they just cleared the way to.
"I saw... I saw a lotta people die," he says, "'s... 's not the first time, but... shit." Never mind the people he almost assuredly ended up killing among the Chinese invaders.
Munin gives May Lee a slight smirk, and nods "Sounded like fun, and was good experience". She eyes the rock as they work on moving it. She moves to help them where she can. Sadly, she's faster than she is strong. She looks back to Rust, nodding, looking and sounding a little embarrassed "I was... going to challenge you to a rematch, but that can wait".
She gives a grave, serious look "It's better that way. Seeing this kind of thing and feeling nothing, or worse, joy, is true inhumanity. You've done a lot of good here, and at great risk. It may have been worse if you had NOT been here". She shudders at the thought as she takes another look around.
May Lee nods to Munin, though her greatest concern is definitely for Rust. The poor guy just looks like he's half dead already. It is understandable, of course. If May had been in his place, she'd probably be in just as bad shape - or worse! - but Rust is also much older than her, and he'd seen this before. She'd avoided most of the worst, most visceral, parts of this kind of event.
The crusader for Justice moves to place her hand on Rust's shoulder in a compassionate gesture. "I mean it." She says, and if nothing else, there is that unyielding determination. The conviction that things would be - must be - made right. "Mr. Rust, Kim and I, and Ken, and Johnny Jones, and all the others... we're not going to lay down and let this just happen. We're going to stop it. If the world won't be good, we'll *make* it good."
At last, common sense starts to rear its head inside May Lee's mind. It is an unfamiliar visitor, and it makes the blue-haired teenager catch Munin's eye. "You should rest, Mr. Rust. We can take care of the repairs for now and you can get some sleep. Let your wounds heal. We need you to be strong for when we're next called upon."
What pushes Howard so hard to keep going after being so hurt? Truth be told, he's so disturbed that retreating into his original line of work - construction work - comes to be the closest he can think of to being something to do, something to work out the tension... physical and emotional. He's pretty sure his body's crashing after being injected with who knows how much, er, stuff.
Munin came all this way for a rematch? Rust would almost want to take her up on it, at this point, though the way she seems to speak with a worldly tone despite her apparent age (he thinks she's a fair bit younger than she actually is, a mistake on his end) reminds him of at least one of the students back at Pacific.
The hand on his shoulder from May Lee calms him a little, though there's still a bit of a twitch. He might be really sore there. Celebrated names in fighting... Kim (Kaphwan, he could probably assume), Ken (Masters, one would hope), Johnny Jones... though a part of him visibly recoils at the 'I.'
"L-Look, I," he turns around with uncanny swiftness for being what he is, one of his knees responding in kind, but he doesn't get to speak over what May Lee says next... he looks to the two of them, to the pile of rocks, and lowers his head as he scratches the side of his head with his left hand.
"It's... it's, I'm not sure if... if I can do much more from here." He truly is that shaken. "I think... I think, least I can do, s-somethin' like... I'd train some of the, y'know, their reserves," he gestures vaguely with his right hand, "but... but I don't know shit 'bout, ah, military tactics with... guns, movin' that many people."
He looks back out towards the street. "Construction crews, they're... they're pretty undermanned, so I think... I think, I'd try to, to move some of the rocks, maybe... get a wall back up. Two of 'em, or," he doesn't feel like counting to some realistic number he's capable of reconstructing (which should be 'barely one' in his current physical state).
"That, that feeling of bein' helpless, it's, okay, it's... r-really kinda silly, considerin'," he doesn't need to finish that sentence. He stood and defeated the Chinese invaders alongside the Nepal QRF that were forming the barricade, and yet, a man so powerful, so renowned for his resilience and... er... his clear issues in gripping with baldness feeling so entirely helpless as he leans forward against barely stable wall, a hand resting up against it.
"I, I appreciate it, but..."
They aren't going to let him continue with a 'but,' are they? Even if they let him talk, his voice trails down to inaudible mumbling.
Blink. If Fuji were hear, she would likely be able to physicly hear Munins blink when May Lee mentions Ken, and Kim. She has never met them, but their big names. Jones she has battled before, and is aware of. She gives the girl a sideways look "Count me in on that". She looks back at the devestation surrounding them "If someones doing THIS much damage, no way i'm going to not get involved". (May even lead me to THEM) she thinks to herself.
With a sigh, Munin crosses her arms over her chest as she looks back to Rust "One can fight for a good cause without having to be micromanagers. So you're no armchair general with familiarity with supply lines. You know how to handle yourself in the field. THAT is what matters....". She looks back to May Lee "... and if Masters and kaphwan are at the head of this, such talents i doubt will be abused". She gives a small smile "Just have to not give up". She can tell he's suffering from shellshock, as the older term went. Better to speak to him of it when he's healed up.
"In any case, May Lee is right. Whatever you do, it'll be that much less effective if you aren't fully recovered". She looks to May Lee "We can help out in the meantime so you can grab some sleep, at least". She presumes he hasn't slept, and may be wrong, but whatever may work.
May Lee is stung just a little bit by the assumption that the big names are the ones spurring this on. True, it had been Ken's call that had inspired her... but when she had found him, he'd been ready to throw the whole notion of an organized defence away. *She* had inspired *him*. She's worked hard at this, too. But it is still the people who are at the top who people know, and want to follow. She'd probably never be that famous.
She practically recoils when she realizes how selfish that sentiment makes her, though. She's standing in the middle of horror, and the first thought to cross her mind is a little jealousy at Ken's and Kim's fame? It makes her a little bit sick, and stuns her into silence until Munin finishes speaking.
"Nepal is just the beginning." She hears herself say, to Rust. She hasn't taken her hand off his shoulder yet, trying to be a calming presence. Her smile, constant, easy, reassuring. Sure she's young, but it doesn't seem to have occurred to her that it might be possible for this to end badly. Inside, she's far from certain, but if she lets the mask slip...
"We can't stop and train. We can rebuild... but it takes years to become a fighter, and they've got days. We're not soldiers, so don't try to soldier."
She removes her scarf, and wraps it around Rust's neck as best she can. He might have stripped off his shirt, but it is Nepal, in the winter. It is horribly cold, and he needs it more, right now, than she does. Maybe it helps to soothe her guilt some.
"We'll do our best to help put the walls back together. But please rest, because we're going to need your help if we're going to stop things getting this bad again."
It is a forlorn hope, and she knows it. The good guys just can't be everywhere at once, and the Chinese are sure to be marching already. Who knows what Russia is like right now? But the sentiment is clear. This was one battle. One tragedy. If Rust stays here and obsesses over it... how much more suffering will be allowed to happen, that he could have prevented elsewhere?
Munin's bravado is probably the most worrying part of the whole situation to one Mr. Rust - he's fought with her before, and... well, she's not incapable. Certainly has some tricks up her sleeve, but the thought of her potentially standing before a rushing truck, a hundred soldiers, or some combination thereof does not bring a pretty picture to his mind.
May Lee's smile that disguises her fears and offense at the thought she's not quite at the level of those people she has counted herself among the ranks of those willing to try and brave the danger ahead of them - and the gesture of wrapping the scarf around him (seriously, why is he going about without a proper shirt in this weather?) sees at least a bit of his tension dissipating, even if he is not really all that much more confident in the big picture. Especially with the real fact that it'd be impossible to really train anyone to the level of a competent fighter in a matter of days.
Turning his head, he thinks (or doesn't) to dig in one of his pockets. Despite the fact he was blasted, shot, bludgeoned, and everything, it sort of stands to reason that he probably does not have a surviving cellphone as he digs around with his left hand in one of his pockets.
"Well," he mumbles out as he picks up the tiny thing that really is not made for someone of his hands as he clumsily gropes about with his left thumb to pop it open. It doesn't activate. He grunts, pressing his fingernail down on the power button. Is it busted?
It flickers on... to a low battery notice. God damn it, he all but mouths, he knows his luggage in that hotel he was at managed to survive but he's really hoping he didn't forget a charger. Nonetheless...
"If... if you're gonna be serious 'bout this," he says as he keeps his eyes on the tiny thing, "we gotta... we gotta keep in touch." This is ignoring the possibility of communication towers being knocked out, and the horrible truth that will be horrid roaming fees. "If you got a, a cell or some such, or... two," he grouses as his thumb presses more than one key on accident, "we should, uh, get our numbers together."
He may or may not already have May Lee's, on grounds of them having been arranged to fight in Nepal to begin with, though he almost certainly does not have Munin's.
"After that, I... I guess you win," he's really reluctant to admit rational defeat as he pulls back from the wall, looking back over his shoulder to the still gathered crowds, "I, I dunno where I'm goin' from here, but... but keep me updated on what you're gonna do. Maybe... ah, maybe that'll help if some other folks just... just come by."
Munin does have an old, rarely used cell. She gives them both her number, nodding "If it's something this big, the more folks are on one side, the better the chances of stopping something potentially horrible, and maybe creating something good from the whole thing". She glances to May Lee "I'll go see what provisions and supplies are here, and help arrange things as i can. Come find me when your ready". She eyes Rust "Go sleep. Even Hercules needed sleep. We can figure out a plan once you're healed up".
She then runs off, trying hard to not look at bodies that may still lie in the street. Deep down, she's doing exactly what Rust is doing: trying to distract herself with something, with the knowledge that it's likely only going to get worse.
May Lee's cellphone is bright pink and has a Kamen Rider toy dangling from it. This should not come as any surprise at all.
The blue-haired girl nods her head to Rust. "I'll keep you in the loop." She promises, and she nods again to Munin to indicate understanding. Right now, she has all sorts of other issues she should deal with. For a start, she just promised Rust that she would build at least two walls, unless Shadaloo happened to attack again in the next few hours... she's going to have to learn to lay bricks.
The girl waits until both her allies are gone, and then she flips open her phone. There is one person who might just know about this, though she is hesitant to ask them. Theoretically, they are all on the same side, but this is a dark man. A man whose appetites are legendary. On the other hand, he's also a man who can probably hold a tray of bricks above his head with one hand.
"Hey, Chang. Yeah, I know its early with you. I don't care. Listen, you had to do manual labor, right? Well, if you want to score some points with Kim..."
Log created on 18:21:19 02/11/2012 by Rust, and last modified on 21:12:07 02/11/2012.