Coruscant
High Up in a Skyscraper
Prior to the Peregrine Leaving the System
My Outro Post, Because I Wanted One
He stood unsteadily on weak legs, knees barely able to keep him upright. Sparks from the stump of his right arm fell like tiny stars. And he finally caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of a pane of glass. His leather jacket was torn open on the right side, the edges of it burnt, exposing a long cut and several punctures. His pants were torn in several places, blood leaking from scrapes. And his face was worst of all. Half the skin on the right side of his face, from his cheekbone to his ear, was missing.... along with his entire ear. In its place was a deep red, mangled mess of dried blood, running down his neck, an encrusted red-brown. The white of his cheekbone peeked out through the road-rash-like mess. Nausea twisted his stomach. Shorn wanted to look away, but couldn't, transfixed at his own horror.
And then he felt the presence of his enemy growing closer.
Apprehensively, Shorn turned, a look of exhaustion on his features, but his pale blue eyes still stared with a piercing intensity. They stared daggers at Kryptus as he floated through the hole in the side of the building like a slowly approaching comet. Kryptus landed, glass crunching beneath his too-solid feet. Mikhail glanced down at Derriphan, which he still held tightly, the bronze dragon around the hilt pressing into the skin of his palm. Could he do it? Could he kill Jacen Cavill, Darth Kryptus, the Sith Lord who flew? His mouth contorted into a sneer, face twisting into murderous resolution. Yes.
But even as he prepared for the final battle, Jacen words fell on his ear. Spencer? On her way? His gaze dropped to the floor. No, he should've felt her. He- reaching out, Mikhail found her in the Force. A very faint presence. Trying to conceal herself? No. He should've felt- He should've known- frustration trickled through him, slowly becoming an avalanche as he remembered what he'd done to her in Fringe space. Words like daggers. Even with a wounded heart, she still came to save him. Pale eyes returned to Kryptus' face, which suddenly began to glow red. Shorn ducked.
Blinding red beams shot from Jacen's eyes and all around Mikhail support structures began to explode as Kryptus proceeded to cut the building in half. Debris rained down from the ceiling, bits of metal and permacrete rumbling down to the floor below with a sound like an earthquake as the building shuddered. Screams from the thousands of innocents began to fill the air, none of them realizing that they were now the victims of two Dark Lords' wrath.
All of Mikhail's frustration came to critical mass and he made his decision. Reaching out, Shorn grabbed the entire building with telekinesis and exerted his will upon it. The Dark Side roared through him as he poured everything he had into it. The skyscraper wobbled above them, then with an almighty wrench, Shorn cast it free. Exhaustion hammered him to his knees amidst the rubble strewn floor and he could only sit there and watch as the structure above them tipped sideways, leaning precariously, before falling over and right into the smaller glass structure beside it. The groan of twisting metal and screech of shattering glass filled with the colossal ground-shattering smash caused Shorn to cover his ear with his hand, so great was the noise.
The buildings fell like dominos. The upper portion of the skyscraper Shorn and Cavill were on fell, crashing right into the skyscraper beside it and pushing the whole structure over onto its side. Hundreds of smaller buildings were like ants beneath the giant's footfall as the smaller skyscraper whole length fell across the city skyline. Thousands upon thousands of pounds of debris fell on the city block, and further down, each level of the stacked city receiving some level of damage. First hundreds died. Then thousands. Then HUNDREDS of thousands. The death toll kept rising into the millions and rescue workers would be up for the next week, struggling to pull survivors out of the wreckage. They would find precious few.
Shorn sat on his knees, staring into the dust-choked sky. The glass bit into his legs and hand as he sat there, but he was too tired to care. He could barely move. Beside him lay Kryptus, both of them utterly spent in their last grandiose act of mass murder and collateral damage. In his exhausted state, Shorn's mental barriers began to break down. The man inside the monster slowly realized what he'd done. A mass mixture of emotions made his gut drop away. Then the numbness set in.
A shadow fell across Shorn and he looked up to the wash of repulsorlifts, wind ripping at his hair and clothes. The Peregrine. Spencer. Weakly, Shorn and Cavill managed to climb in, or in Mikhail's case, fall in. He caught one glimpse of blonde hair and hazel eyes, then consciousness left him.
@[member="Jacen Cavill"] @[member="Spencer Jacobs"] @[member="Sargon Vynea"]
FIN
