Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[alert blares]

Sevika’s eyes shot open. Wind shot through her hair, whipped at her skin and her eyes focused on where she was sitting. On a bus? She looked out the window to see an unfamiliar landscape thousands of feet below her. In the fucking sky? Her brows furrowed with confusion and an anger directed to the unknowing of how she got there… Looking around her she spotted…. Ekko? That kid that ran with Vi? That Piltie inventor and… Vander?? Sevika’s expression deepened with confusion. There were at least a hundred other people on this bus and soon enough they were the only ones left. 

Ejected from the blue bus held up by a balloon and propelled by jets, the four tumbled towards the air to the ground. Yells and screams aired from all four unwilling participants until gliders automatically deployed from or around their persons. Surprise overtook them all as suddenly they gently floated to the ground over the remaining 300 meters. Sevika’s glider was a simple grey umbrella not unlike a few others she saw falling from the vehicle. The only difference was the green and brass accents which mirrored her prosthetic arm.

Ekko’s glider mirrored his hoverboard, and he steered it just as efficiently. Jayce’s glider was a crude representation of the Arcane which he and Viktor had conjured that one faithful night. It hovered around him as gears and runes accompanied his descent. Lastly, Vander’s glider appeared beneath his feet and allowed him to walk his way to the ground- gaining his grace and stability as he continued. 

Once the squad touched ground and Sevika’s glider retracted into her arm without a trace of it being there to start, they collectively took in their surroundings. It was a cold area. Or… it was supposed to be cold? Snow littered the ground but they couldn’t see their breath and not a shiver graced their skin. They shared a look before a notification appeared above all their heads:

LOCATION DISCOVERED: LONELY LABS

“Lonely Labs?” Jayce and Ekko spoke together before sharing an awkward look, fully acknowledging each other’s presence again. 

“Well, I’m going to explore this place.” Ekko turned and began walking up the nearest stairs from where he landed and into the main building. The buildings in Lonely Labs are a distinctive red with black roofs and silver railings. The group split into different directions. Jayce strode up another set of steps. 

“Right. I’ll go this way,” Vander made eye contact with Sevika and threw a thumb behind him and turned to walk into a plane hangar of some kind. Sevika, feeling the nerves and anxiety of reuniting with Vander in this way, turns away to head up to a smaller building furthest from the others. 

On the way, she stumbled into a barely noticeable circle. When she stepped in, a whirring noise began to sound and a pole with flags at the bottom began to shift. The bottom ring with the blank flags began to rise. Once she stepped out- it stopped. Out of curiosity, she stepped back in, readying the blade in her arm for possible threat. 

When the flags reached the top, guns, medkits, blue potions, and green spray bottles erupted from the top. A blue light spread over the ground alerting the group that they were the only ones there. The weapons that fell to the ground shone with a purple glow and Sevika tentatively picked one up, a purple pistol. As she did, the colour of the gun matched her arm.

Jayce stepped out of the same door he went into, holding an AR and its colour matching the white and gold and red of his formal wear and house. “Where did those come from?” He asked curiously. Sevika nodded to the flag pole in front of her and shrugged. Turning to return to the small building she was heading to originally- she walked up the steps as her unlikely allies looted their own weapons. 

Opening the door, the small single room holds a few barrels of something called ‘Slurp’. Scrunching up her face she investigates the barrel. 

Vander watches the younger men go over the guns spawned from the pole and he rummages around the hangar and opens chests and ammo cases, loading up his inventory. He picks up a shotgun and wanders back out. 

“In here!” Sevika calls for her new crew and they eventually gather around the barrels of ‘Slurp’. “Fortifies you or some shit,” she keeps her eyes locked on the barrels. “You don’t need to drink it… just has to touch you.” 

“Well, we can do what we do best, I guess. Smash it.” Vander spoke up.

“Smash it? Why not just open the tops-” Ekko tried to reason with an easier method before Sevika interrupted. 

“You can’t open the tops. You gotta break them.” Without another word or breath to pause, Sevika swung her metallic fist and broke open the barrels and shining blue liquid splashed over the four fighters. 

“Wow. Wait. That liquid looked like these…” Jayce rummaged through his pockets and took out two large potions. “I picked these up in the offices I went into. I only have two but. I think two of you should take them and use them.” Jayce gestured to his three companions.

Vander took a step back and motioned for Sevika and Ekko to take the potions who then with a nod and verbal thanks, drank the large potion. 

After raiding the remaining rooms of Lonely Labs, the horn blared again signaling the storm barrier forming. 

Not far off from the shores of Lonely Labs, a shimmering barrier formed.

Chapter Text

[alert blares]

After waking up on the bus, only very briefly getting to assess their situation, and taking the queue from other people, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, Jill Valentine, and Barry Burton begun to skydive down to the ground. Each of the skydiver’s gliders erupted from thin air around them as they glided down the last 300 meters. 

Each of their gliders resembled the same default gliders they saw from some of the other falling participants but each had the S.T.A.R.S. logo across the top of the umbrella. 

Aiming for the ground and piloting themselves away from houses, Jill landed near a field of wheat, Chris at a pond, Wesker at an orchard, and Barry near some farm equipment.

When they landed, their footsteps landed sure and confident, their gliders vanished and they took a moment to look around their surroundings. Two large barns, tall wheat crops, tractors, silos, log piles, a mini orchard, and a yellow house surrounded them. Above their heads, a notification erupted: 

LOCATION DISCOVERED: FRENZY FIELDS

The S.T.A.R.S. agents regrouped at the centre of the map. As they gathered around a post, Barry sat on what he first assumed was a bench before he began to rise. The group collected in the capture point and Barry stumbled off the rising platform before he was too far up and turned to watch it rise with curiosity with Chris, Jill, and Wesker. 

When the rising platform of the capture point hit the top, a small celebratory explosion of weapons, shields, and med kits shot out from the top and littered the ground around them. Another light shot from the base and notified the S.T.A.R.S. agents that they were not alone…

In the yellow house and in the larger barn behind them, another group of four individuals were raiding the area, trying to pick up the best items they could scavenge before anyone else got them. 

“Well, we aren’t alone.” Chris said as he picked up a purple glowing shotgun. The rest of the agents went to raid their prize. Jill picked up a purple SMG, Barry swiped a purple AR, and Wesker picked up a purple pistol. As the agents equipped their offensive gear, the colours of the weapons shifted to match their weapons back home. It wasn’t much of a shift in colour, but it was noticeable to them.

Turning back up to their company, Jill spoke, “Doesn’t look like we’re facing infected. Just other people.” By now, the light faded and all that remained were only the silhouettes of the other group.

"Or thats just what we know so far... Split up. You two, to the barn. Barry and I will check the house.” Wesker ordered. The other three nodded and went off. The squad split to duos and moved. 

Jill looked around her and while she was used to being thrown into uncertain situations this was one she was especially unfamiliar with. How had she made it to this world? The bus? Who were all these other people and were they transported here against their will as well? These thoughts wound around her mind as they crept up to the other rival team in the barn. 

Ever the prepared agent, she held her gun up and took a deep breath in. As she crept up the several flights, the silhouettes faded and all that remained was the knowledge of where they were. If they ran off, she wouldn’t chase them. 

As they arrived at the top floor of the barn, they were alone. Jill and Chris cautiously looked over the top floor and the remnants of opened chests and discarded loot. Shots rang out clearly from the yellow house and Jill and Chris’s attention turned to the direction from which they came. The opening of the top floor gave them a clear vantage. However, from elsewhere in the barn, they were surprised to hear so clearly the footsteps of the other team. They weren’t gone…

A shot rung out behind them and the agents turned immediately to find a person wearing a pink bear head and a blonde man dressed as a skeleton. Jill whipped around and began to shoot in return. Her expert training and experience allowing her to take down the other players quickly. As Jill and Chris took down the duo who had somehow missed every shot, they crumpled to a crawling position before they disappeared in blue light. Their items were the only hint that anyone was there. 

The shots from the yellow house also ceased and the pair from the barn ran over. Before they could enter the building, Barry jogged out and Wesker cooly followed. “Met with a pumpkin head and some tactical lady…” said Barry.

“We got a couple trick-or-treaters ourselves. What’s going on here?” Chris asked. 

“And where are we?” asked Jill. 

The alarm blared again and far on the horizon clouds formed, creating a wall of bad weather. They received a notification on an equipped device showing a map. The squad opened it up and saw an edge of a circle beyond the farm and a countdown. With it, a slowly diminishing player number with notes to their demise. One notification showed that one participant died by a… Tyranosaurus Rex?? What the fuck are we in for? Jill thought.

Chapter Text

[alert blares]

Robert Crawley awoke on the Battle Bus, not only ripped from his era but his dear home of Downton. Looking around him, his daughter, Edith was beside him looking just as confused and worried as him. After making eye contact, she looped her arm through her father’s and then looked around further. At least a hundred unrecognizable faces surrounded them until the father and daughter spotted two more familiar faces, their serving staff, Thomas Barrow and Sarah O’Brien. 

They studied a bit longer before people began to vacate the bus, several people who looked horrendously outlandish, a squad dressed in tactical gear, and more began to fall from the bus. Before they could get any further look, the Crawleys and their staff were evicted from the bus by force, removed from their seats by other skydivers on the way out. 

In no way mirroring the cool collection of those who joined them in the skies, the squad tumbled through the air without the grace they had in their Yorkshire estate. Soon, their own gliders erupted beneath them, time appropriate automobiles, which they either sat or stood upon, recovered their grace as they floated to the surface of what appeared to be a castle. 

Settled on the roofs and walkways of this marvel of uncanny construction, a notification sprang above the Crawley and Servant’s heads. 

LOCATION DISCOVERED: THE CITADEL

“What in God’s name is going on here?” Robert angrily exclaimed. He looked about him and saw that he and his wife’s former maid were standing on the same roof top. “O’Brien. Are you aware of what is going on here?”

The former maid of Cora Crawley stood tall and addressed her former employer as she would have back in the days of her employment. “No, my Lord. I have not an inkling of what we have been tossed into.” 

Robert sighed and began to search for a way to a ground floor before spotting a chest in the corner of the roof. He cautiously stepped over and attempted to open it. As he did, the chest burst open and a green AR, bullets, and a strange softly rounded square tumbled out. He timidly picked them up and looked back to O’Brien. “I think we might be in for some trouble. Quickly. Let’s find my daughter and Thomas and get down from this blasted roof.” 

O’Brien nodded and followed Robert. 

On a not too distant walkway, Edith and Thomas were cautiously walking. Edith was walking slightly behind Thomas as they navigated their space. “Did you see where father landed? Surely it couldn’t have been far from us.” Edith questioned Thomas. “No, my Lady. However, I am sure we will see him soon.”

Thomas then spied a chest in the corner of the room they walked into. It’s noise radiating from the golden chest both enticed him and made him anxious. With Edith behind him, he cautiously opened the chest and a green glowing gun not unlike what he carried in war spilled out with ammunition and three small jars of blue liquid. Thomas stared down at the weapon before hesitating and picking it up and turning to look at Edith over his shoulder. “We’re not in Hell, are we?” A small, suppressed, nervous laugh tinged his speech. 

“I sure hope not. It’s not what they taught us at least.” Edith mused. 

Shots rang out behind them as well as an animalistic bellow from further off in another direction. “You remember how to shoot, right? Even though you’ve been out of service for so long?” Edith worriedly asked. 

“I sure hope so, my Lady.” Thomas replied. 

 Ushering them into a corner to hide, Thomas eyed the vials of blue liquid and opened the cork of one of them. Taking a hesitant sip, he felt like he gained some fortification? Protection? If he were to put a word to it. What on Earth..? He thought as he downed the rest of the vial. Edith looked on at him waiting for an adverse effect but he merely pushed the other two vials towards her. “It’s safe, I promise. In fact I feel better than I did before.” 

“Are you sure?” Edith took them with a clear expression of thoughts racing in her mind. Footsteps interrupted her thoughts as they rushed towards the pair. Thomas stood and aimed his weapon at the sound and immediately lowered it with shame when he registered Robert Crawley standing before him. “I apologise, my Lord.” 

Robert merely raised his hand to wave off the apology. “I’m glad you're so diligent in keeping my daughter safe.” O’Brien was only a few steps behind him and had picked up a small pistol on the way. 

“Sure you know how to use that O’Brien?” Thomas joked at her. 

“I may have not served unlike you and Lord Crawley but I’m sure I’ll do well enough, thank you.” The look of humour was nowhere to be seen on the former maid’s face. 

“Right. Edith, let’s find you a weapon as well. With these about, there is no telling who or what we might run into. Come on, now.” Robert led the squad down the nearby steps, aiming his weapon up as he did in his days in the war although he fumbled with the hold and new style of the gun. Thomas took up the rear with his own AR and cautiously stepped down. 

Running up to another chest, Edith opened it up to be presented with a blue sentinel pump shotgun, shells, and a med kit. She held up the latter. “This will come in handy. If Sybil taught me anything all those years ago, I’m sure I’ll be able to help if any injuries arise.” Edith said. 

“I’m saddened you’re here to witness this possible violence but I am glad to know with this you’ll be able to handle yourself.” Robert placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder and smiled wearily. 

More shots came from around them and the sound of heavy combat erupted below them. Shouting, gunshots, and echoing sounds of impact rattled the stone beneath their feet. 

“My Lord, we must leave immediately.” Thomas said.

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Mr. Barrow.” Robert said, but his thoughts were less certain; How will we get out of here?

Taking cautious steps, Thomas led the squad out to the nearest door, seeking daylight; they looked out onto a balcony as the door automatically opened for them, causing all of them (but especially Thomas) to jump back. “I do not like this time at all. And mother would have a fit.” Robert spoke aloud. 

Eventually an alert blared and a notification alerted the squad and took their attention from the new automation of doors to a device attached to their hips. None of them remembered it being there before. 

Taking it out and looking at it made all of their foreheads crease with confusion. A map of the location they were in showed on this small screen as well as a white edge of a circle grazed the edge of their screen. A countdown began, and a list of players dying gradually ticked down a second number on the right. 

“I need to get back to Downton. Now. And figure out what on Earth allowed us to get here. This is an absolute nightmare and I refuse to participate any further. I will not accept this danger that any of us are in,” then turning to mumble to himself, Robert continued, “Surely there has to be a way out of here. There isn’t anywhere without an exit unless it is a prison and if this is a prison it is unlawful arrest. They will not rest until they have felt my ire.”

Edith came up behind Robert and put her hand on his back, “Papa? We will get out of this. Surely. If we can’t I’m sure someone will find us and Mama or Mary or Bertie, or all of them are already on the search. I’m sure of it.”

Chapter Text

Moving on from Lonely Labs, the unlikely squad moved up into a green space further north. They avoided most other buildings after witnessing combat further off into the distance but did not make their way through unscathed. After an altercation with other participants, Sevika and Jayce took some damage. After finding more “Slurp” barrels, they were able to recover, or at least mostly. 

As they approached the green space which was still surrounded by the Arctic landscape, a shock overcame them.

“What the fuck?” Sevika’s eyes blew wide with surprise and Jayce, Ekko, and Vander joined her. In the green space and before them, two Argentinosaurs roamed the scene. With their grand size, they wondered how they didn’t see them until they neared and the two dinosaurs hovered around the trees, picking at them.

“Those are HUGE! Why are they here?” Ekko burst out and lowered his weapon as they trudged through the snow up to the grass. 

Vander strained his neck to look up at the creatures, using his hand to shield his eyes from the setting sun. They peered down at them as they drew close before slowly lowering their head and letting out a kind of groan. 

“Amazing.” Jayce looked up at the dinosaur with awe and stepped forward to touch the foot of the closest Argentinosaurus to him, trying to convince himself this is real. “Maybe we can .. ride it?”

“What? Are you stupid?” Sevika snapped, “Riding a dinosaur?”

“Why not? We would be able to get some serious distance with these guys and some vantage.” Jayce replied. 

“How would we even get up there?” Ekko asked. 

Vander looked onto the three bickering team mates discussing and problem solving the issue of riding the dinosaurs. He laughed quietly to himself before looking around to make sure they were safe from anyone who might take advantage of the distraction. Once the area was determined clear, Vander walked up and inspected the gigantic animal. “I’m sure getting it to bend down would be an issue… but you could try to climb the tail. Jayce, Ekko, try to figure that out. Sevika and I are going to inspect the gas station over there.” 

Sevika and Ekko sighed, each for a different reason before heading off to their own goals. Jayce tries to get the attention of the dinosaur again and Ekko waits nearby for a reaction while Sevika met up with Vander and began to walk away. 

Sevika tried to let her shoulders relax while walking beside Vander but her eyes flicked over to him every so often as they walked in silence. “You lost your arm.” Vander said to break the silence. “Yeah.” Sevika mumbled in reply. She flexed her metallic digits and kept her eyes on the horizon and environment. 

Inside the gas station, the duo inspected the area. “Not much we can actually pick up here, I see.” Vander’s hands brushed over the false inventory before checking an ammo cache and taking everything that was inside before moving onto a chest. He opened it up and a giant purple hammer erupted from it as well as a large potion. “Hope you don’t mind if I drink this one.” 

Sevika shook her head no and Vander drank the large glass vessel of blue liquid. Looking around further, Sevika spotted a glowing register and pressed a button. The drawer shot out and a handful of gold bars were available to pick up. She took them and announced her find. 

“That’s all here then. Let’s check out the surroundings then check on the kids.” Vander said. 

“I’m sure Jayce wouldn’t be happy to hear you call him that.” Sevika mumbled. 

“Mm. I’m sure.” Vander mumbled in reply. 

Jayce and Ekko stared up at the two Argentinosaurus. Jayce had his hands on his hips while Ekko sat on a nearby rock with his elbows on his knees. “You’re not giving this creature any reason to pay attention to you. You’re like an insect to it.” Ekko gestured with his hands to the large creature.

“I have to meet it on its level…” Jayce mused. 

Arriving back at their meeting space, Vander dropped the purple hammer. “Heard you do some serious damage with a hammer.” said Vander. Sevika crossed her arms and looked at Jayce before glancing back at the dinosaur. 

“Ah, yeah. I guess I do.” Jayce picked up the Shockwave Hammer and felt the weight in his hands. Unlike the guns, it didn’t change to his house colours. 

Behind them, a boom sounded and they all started to look behind Jayce. On the horizon, one surviving member of a squad used the hammer to cross severe distances with great height. Jayce looked between his hammer and the distance he would have to cover to reach the back of this dinosaur. “I know we can do it.”

With varying expressions, Jayce backed up and launched the hammer to the ground. With a yell, he shot through the air and somehow successfully landed on the back of the Argentinosaurus which then kneeled to the ground to allow for the others to climb aboard. The last to climb aboard, Sevika mumbled to herself; “I’m going to hate this aren’t I?” 

As the storm closed in on their location, the dinosaur of massive size lumbered through the landscape to the next circle location. Each of the riders took the time to check their ammunition and reload their guns. 

From below them, squads looked up at the crew and attempted to shoot. Despite the slow speed of the Argentinosaurus, the ground it covered was incredible and the short lived shootout between the teams hardly scratched the dinosaur and barely grazed the team. Ekko had managed with his trained aim when moving to get down two of the other team’s members before they were out of range.