lucetilogs | Take Down Zompano

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Take Down Zompano

Who: Zompano, Saori, others?
What: Zompano is making a mess of things
When: August 10th
Where: The Plaza of "Old Luceti"
Summary: Count Zompano must be stopped to end this madness. Which means taking him down in a tense showdown.
Rating: V for Vendetta.

Lord Mayor Zompano was furious. Everything was collapsing around him. His beautiful piece of art, his perfect army... he cursed as he saw the chaos going on all around. This was all the scientist's fault. He should have sacrificed him just like he had the other. He'd gotten no useful information out of him and now he was about the lose the entire village.

The Commandant is likely waiting outside for us when we try to escape. That hideous cow.

He didn't go looking for a fight. He waited in the plaza, in front of the fountain, watching as his army fought the confused villagers. Of course, he knew they had already lost. Even if they killed every last one of these ignorant mice, there would be no escaping the village afterward. But if that was to be the case, so be it. See how the Malnosso liked it when he broke their toys for a change.

Note: Zompano will be killed in a battle with Saori. However, you are free to challenge Zompano anyway, but your character won't be able to defeat him. If you wish to play that route, be sure to note ahead of time if you want your character killed or injured.

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Saori Sugasawa's mood mirrored the Lord Mayor's, liquid fury welling up inside as she stalked through the anarchy that'd become Luceti. Something was terribly, terribly wrong with this. Not just the battle or the newfound power that'd taken hold in her friends and family, but the whole of it. Barnaby had been the first clue, his blond hair and light eyes contrasting sharply with the rest of the Hyuugas, but there had been others. Hinata and Neji's eyes, the strange exclamations that seemed so natural to Saori and her wife but baffled everyone else, and how smoothly they'd all taken to battle all pointed to some sort of cruel deception.

Everything was a lie, and that was a very good way to make Saori very very angry.

Stepping into the plaza of Old Luceti, the young estate manager found herself face to face with the illustrious Lord Mayor. He'd been the epicenter of so many problems over the last few days that she knew he had to have been involved in some way. Electricity crackled along her hand as she glared straight at him and spoke in an icy tone.

"What did you do, Zompano?"

Zompano had barely even noticed her arrive. When he did, he turned to her with a look of weary disdain. Though he noticed the crackling electricity and her fury, he was utterly unimpressed by it. Instead he seemed to roll his eyes as he shrugged dramatically.

"What did I do? You wretched little mouse. I gave you everything. A lovely little place to call home, a family that loved you, and a place to go beddy bye when you were tired~! But look at what you've done now. Only a little bit of chaos and you all turn into killers."

"After what you took from us, you brought this on yourself" she fired back, heat entering her voice. Dismissal never sat well with her. "I know you did something, changed us, twisted our lives inside out, but why? Why would you do all of this?"

"Your people left me for eternal damnation and stole everything from me." He took a step towards her, staring down his nose at her. He may have been as rag-wearing cultist now, but he never lost his sense of superiority. "I'd say we're even."

"I have no memory of this," she replied sharply, her feet setting themselves reflexively. Her eyes flashed with anger as she stared up at him, meeting his gaze without trepidation. "But you've done more than enough. Undo it, whatever it is, or you won't leave the plaza alive."

"You are hardly in a position to make demands, little mouse~" He stepped back, clapped his hands, and within an instant, everything began to shift. The fountain ripped from the ground, the benches and lamps flew into the air. Stones from the plaza whizzed up in the air and they all remained precisely stationary where he wanted them to be. In the distance, the snarling of two Shift Hunters could be heard.

"But if I must kill you, I'll try and make it excruciatingly painful for you~. I'd hate for you to come back to life and not know how you died."

That made her step back a pace, a flicker of surprise crossing her face. He could move things with his mind?! Gritting her teeth, she did her best to shut out the fear and called out to the sky. Thunder rumbled as the clouds darkened, the air coming alive with the buzzing, snapping sound of electricity.

"I'll try and reply in kind then, because I wouldn't want you forgetting that you were beaten to death by a mouse."

A spear of lightning leaped from the sky, a jagged bolt aimed squarely at him...

For the briefest moment, he seemed to acknowledge the fact that things had just gone very poorly. But before the lightning could hit him, a bench intercepted its path and exploded magnificently above him. He instinctively shielded himself from the rubble. He then turned to her with a scowl.

"I'm going to tear you apart for that."

With a flicker of his eye, he sent two lamp posts hurling at her like spears.

Her eyebrows flickered in consternation as he blocked her strike, but she didn't have much time to consider that before the lamps came flying at her. Whatever reflexes the other self the Mayor had hidden away possessed were all that saved her from a being impaled. Rolling out of the way, she narrowly evaded and the posts buried themselves deep into the ground, quivering from impact.

"I think not!"

Two more bolts of lightning ripped out of the sky, arcing out from either side and spiraling at him, seeking a weakness in his defensive screen.

The fountain intercepts one bolt, but the other strikes him in the arm. It sends him reeling back and its only his own telekinesis that keeps him from falling over. He hisses as he clutches his injured arm, now charred and black. He stares up at her with a hateful look. His eyes goes to behind her, a nearby shop. He draws the windows out into shards of glass and then pulls them towards her.

Saori matched his baleful glance with one of her own and prepared herself mentally for another magical attack. As her fingers rose, the crackling, tinkling sound of glass breaking provided a warning to the flying, slashing shards. With a gasp she spun sideways and slashed her arm across reflexively. Instead of lightning, a sudden gale sprang up and deflected or smashed some of the glass.

The rest of it struck home, a biting cloud that tore into her shoulder and arm. Cloth shredded and blood sprayed from a dozen deep cuts and scores, and she screamed in pain and rage. Turning back to face him, she clutched her shoulder with one hand and sneered at him. It hurt, but it was hardly fatal.

"Is that it?"

Edited 2013-08-11 19:46 (UTC)

His own hand was still searing with pain, but he knew better than to give her any kind of advantage. Of course, this would be so much easier if he had some of those damn Elites in his service. He was not meant for combat like this.

All the same, Zompano knew not to lose momentum.

"Oh, have we started? Silly me, I thought we were just practicing first~"

So he began in earnest. His eyes flickered in the direction of each object floating around him. One by one, he sent them towards her. Benches, lamp posts, doors, cobble stones, and even the entire fountain itself. If he was relentless, then perhaps she would have no time to target him with her lightning.

As expected, he took her bait and launched an all out attack. Object after object came careened towards her, though she hadn't anticipated the speed and sheer ferocity of the attack. She couldn't get a clear shot at him while she ducked, dodged, and weaved away from the largest projectiles. The fountain at least whizzed past, crushing it's way through a storefront in a shower of splinters. Some of the smaller projectiles were deflected by by wind or her fists, but a few buffeted her, leaving bruises and new cuts as she tried to roll with the blows and get in a clear shot.

She wasn't about to let herself be trapped on the defensive, though. Lightning lashed out randomly during her dance, dozens of bolts lancing downward and striking near him, though they were only guesses, guided by desperation and instinct rather than any real sense of where her enemy might be.

And then she missed her footing.

A stone bench ripped through the air, and as she stumbled she felt it clip her left leg. Pain flooded her senses as she felt the bone snap. Tumbling to the ground she hissed in agony, but kept up her offensive. From this vantage point, at least, she could see his feet...

Zompano was doing his best to ignore the bolts of lightning near him, up until one came so close to his back that his hair (what little he had) stood up on end and there was a loud crash behind him. That made him release a high pitched yelp as he jumped away. It also caused him to lose focus and the lamp post that was headed towards her was veered off course and crashed into the ground instead.

He silently mumbled something about being glad he presently had no wings.

"Enough with the lightning," he shrieked.

And then a bolt of lightning hit him in the chest and he was sent flying away from her, directly into the small crater of where the fountain used to be.

Groaning, Saori attempted to get to her feet, biting back the pain that shot along her shattered leg. She couldn't quite make it unaided, but thankfully his crash into the crater had bought her a moment. She grabbed a discarded trashcan and braced herself against it, using it as a makeshift walker to cross the plaza and look down into the hole...

Her eyes, still hazy from her injuries, scanned for signs of movement and breath. Was he still alive? Or hiding?

Edited 2013-08-12 03:46 (UTC)

In fact, he remained sprawled on the cracked ground, staring up at the sky and wincing. He wasn't used to being hurt. He was humiliated. It was just like when he was abducted from his own keep. And now these wretched mice were humiliating him again.

Again.

He suddenly rose in the air, propelled by own telekinesis, and floated well above her. Hatred welled in his eyes.

"You... miserable... insolent... pathetic... worthless... rat! How dare you strike me!?"

When the Mayor began to float upwards, Saori closed her eyes and began to concentrate, calling every single bit of lightning she could out of those clouds. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that the sky would answer her summons. She met his gaze, mirroring his hatred with her own. He'd taken something from everyone. He'd done something to everyone in the village, and she meant to make him suffer for that.

"How dare I? How dare you?! You...played with our heads, hurt us, and tried to use us. It's time to pay for your crimes."

She threw up her hands and prepared to launch her strike...

"The mice do not speak back! They do as they are told... or die for their troubles!"

He did the same. Zompano's eyes took on an unnatural glow as he dug deep into the recesses of his powers. From the nearby buildings, the roofs were ripped off and the debris from them began to circle him overhead in a cyclone. Earth from the ground below was torn apart and when he had gathered a sufficient amount, he began hurling them at her again. Furious, he didn't aim. A general direction was enough. Each one hit far harder than they had before, but were clumsy and reckless.

Still concentrating, Saori could only throw herself into a grounded roll. It wasn't the most effective or dignified mode of defense, but it was better than sitting still. The first bit of debris caught her in mid-roll, a clay roof tile that slammed into her chest. She gasped as she felt a rib crack, but held her spell. The second to connect, a support beam from one of the houses, came down on her other leg and drew another scream as the bones there were crushed, but still she held.

Dirt, muck, pebbles, bits of broken glass and terra-cotta made visibility all but zero but she didn't really need to aim. Not with this.

"Die! Die you hateful old man!" she cried as she finally let loose her magic. Thunder pealed across the plaza as dozens and dozens of lightning bolts stabbed outward from the ring of clouds, illuminating the sky in a single brilliant flare.

Zompano realized his error all too late. The lightning bolts pounded into him, throwing him to the ground. His scream of agony was painful to hear and worse to watch. The electricity coursed through him and his body continued to shudder as the energy dispersed. And yet, somehow, despite the boiled flesh and the agonizing pain, he was alive. Parts of his body continued to convulse, even as he flipped over from his back and onto his stomach. He pushed himself up with a single arm, then another. He coughed and stared blearily in her direction.

"You..."

The Lord Mayor choked on his own words, barely able to breathe. But he still had strength left. And instead of focusing on the flying debris, all of which had fallen when he was attacked, he focused on her. His telekinetic powers lashed out at her like a net, seeking to capture her and stall her movement. His hold was firm, but weak. He was focusing much of his effort just on standing, on trying to ignore the smell of his own burned skin.

He staggered towards her, his hands out and wide. All he wanted now was to strangle the life out of her with his own hands.

Saori grimaced as the horrible, charred Mayor shambled towards her. She tried to slide away on her elbows, breathing raggedly from her own injuries, but found herself caught in some sort of net and couldn't get away. First she thought to call more lightning, but her mind simply couldn't grasp it, not as she was. With a growl, her hands darted around for something she could use to defend herself. Anything. A knife, a sharp rock, a stick, anything.

And...as the Lord Mayor Zompano loomed over her, Saori's hand closed around something long and metallic. The old spike from a weather vane, the battered rooster torn off in the chaos. Desperately, she lashed out with it like a spear using every ounce of both natural and supernatural strength she had left.

Edited 2013-08-12 05:10 (UTC)

Zompano's hands were nearly around her neck and his twisted face sneered into what might have been a grin. He very nearly had her. Even if he died, he would at least show this one miserable rat that he was her better.
Up until the moment he felt something sticking out of chest. He staggered back, surprised to see the metal spike sticking into him. He put his hands around it and began to tug at it, but the pain was too much to continue. So he staggered back a few more steps, his eyes wide with surprise and horror.

"... little... mouse..."

His feet gave out from beneath him and he fell onto his side. His eyes were still wide, even as he lay there, unmoving. The last bit of life ebbed away from him, leaving only a corpse. For now.

Jade Curtiss had been looking increasingly, uncharacteristically haggard over the course of all the time he's spent locked in battle since this whole debacle began. His uniform was frayed on the sides, and his face was seemed to be locked in a perpetual scowl. Devoid of his glasses and with the shift lifted, his eyes blared red. Even in this form, Jade was a tactical master of some level. But it was harder than ever for him to see clearly. On one hand, he was letting his anger cloud his intellect - his anger at his family and the world around them. And on another was this sudden power that he was wielding, terrible and impossible in a way that was almost overwhelming but certainly exhilarating. And he had not even stumbled into the more advanced of his artes yet.

But eventually he manages to stagger to the square where the mayor is waiting. It's possible that Jade was able to figure out where he would be stationed through some means, but it's also very likely that chance played a hand in his attempts to find the mayor. And there he was - the man at the center of all this chaos. Something about him just didn't seem right, or fitting. And it was odd, because Jade recalled him as someone he trusted - looked up to, in a way, even. He was a classic model of the elite, even if Jade sometimes frowned upon his sympathy towards the lower classes. But now here he was, commanding the forces that almost arrested him and were tearing his family apart.

Jade stops, some yards away. His powers require distance, after all. He stares the man down, and he grunts out with contempt, "Lord Mayor."

As his hands gott nearer, she squirmed and tried to pull away, disgust, fear, and hate contorting her face. She didn't want to die, but if it stopped this maniac, it'd be worth it. Only, the hands fall away and Lord Mayor stumbled backwards. Hazily, her eyes tracked his fall, and her lips peeled back in a satisfied smile.

"I got...you. Zompano. Burn in hell, you monster."

When he finally shuddered in the throes of death, Saori turned her eyes upwards, a soft smile on her bloodied lips. I did it... she thought as the clouds began to disgorge rain onto the ruined plaza. As she passed out from pain and exhaustion, the only thought in her head was how wonderful the water felt.

This was insanity. This entire place and everything in it was insanity, and the longer Sasuke kept his eyes open - really, truly kept his eyes open, his red eyes active constantly even though he could feel that using them was tiring - the more he was certain all of this was wrong. He wasn't sure what to call it (the word genjutsu kept flitting through his head but he didn't know what that meant), but he knew what he was seeing was broken.

And something gut-deep and instinctual told him that it was the string-pulling leadership of this village that was causing everyone's problems.

People were getting hurt all around him - Itachi was sick and his friends were going hungry and at the core of him he knew it was wrong and he had to fix it, and that was even before the chaos spiraled into the physical. Suddenly friends and neighbors were able to do things he should have thought impossible but that - intense strength and shifting shadows and lighting from fingertips - was the only thing that felt real.

To find the mayor standing here with his leather-red skin in a place where everybody should be a normal human and wasn't just cemented everything, didn't it.

"Did you do this?" He didn't even bother to call the other man by name. He sure as hell wasn't going to call him Lord Mayor.

((ooc: Mental and physical injuries up to and including grievous and incapacitating ones are just fine, but no dismemberment or death, please!))

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Take Down Zompano

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