The Preserve - Early evening
Azula tugged at the ropes that were binding Marie to the tree, testing their strength. Satisfied, she stepped away to face the girl. "I wonder what my brother is thinking, wasting his time becoming friends with weak creatures like you," she said, cocking her head as she studied Marie. "He must really be desperate."
Marie struggled against her bonds. "Why are you doing this? I thought you wanted to talk to me about Zuko."
"Oh please, what is there to talk about a failure like him?" Azula rolled her eyes. "Do try to keep up with situation. You claim to be his friend, so now you're bait. If you don't cause too much trouble, I'll even consider letting you go after I get what I want."
"You're making a big mistake," Marie warned her. "People saw us leave the lobby together and they will come looking for me."
Azula sighed. "You're not very bright, are you? You're bait, I'm counting on people coming to look for you. And knowing that worthless brother of mine, he'll be the first here. He is predictable like that."
"And you honestly think you can take out a group of students from this school?" Marie asked. "And what do you hope to gain from this exactly?"
"How many people do you know can survive being struck by lightning?" Azula asked, clearly not understanding exactly where she was. "I really do think you don't grasp the concept of bait. Let's try from the top. You are friends with Zuko. So hearing from all your precious friends that you left with me, Zuko will come looking for us. Now, my brother has this small issue where he wants to face me on his own, so he'll turn up here. I take him as prisoner and my little plan comes to a successful end."
Marie was slightly concerned that Zuko would show up alone, since he didn't seem the type to make a lot of friends. But she also knew if he managed to convince other people that his sister was up to no good, they wouldn't let him go alone. "What is the successful end you're hoping for?" she asked, afraid she already knew what the answer was.
"Awwww," Azula said, placing a hand over her heart. "Isn't that touching? Zuzu finally made a friend who cares."
"Zuko has a lot of friends here," Marie told Azula. "And you won't get away with this."
"If all his friends are as pathetic as you..." Azula smirked at Marie. "I think I'll get away with it just fine."
For the first time since her mutation had activated, Marie wished someone would accidentally touch her. She was pretty sure she didn't want Azula's thoughts in her head, but it would put the bitch in her place. "Don't underestimate me, your brother or anyone else here," Marie said.
"Oh yes, you have me trembling with fear," Azula said dryly, swiveling around when she heard a noise behind her. She grinned as Zuko came crashing through the brushes.
"Give it up, Azula!" he shouted, already dropping in fighting stance.
Azula smirked and glanced at Marie. "What did I tell you? So predictable."
Marie closed her eyes and groaned inwardly at seeing Zuko alone.
Taking a step forward, Azula didn't seem too concerned by her brother's threatening position. "Have you forgotten already what happened the last time we saw each other?" she asked. "You couldn't take me while the Avatar was helping you. Do you really think you can do it now that Uncle isn't here to rescue you?" Her eyes glinted dangerously. "Where is he anyway? Or was my strike really that effective?"
Zuko shouted in frustration and rapidly punched the air, sending two jets of fire at Azula. They didn't even reach her, the attack dispersing as it collided with Azula's blue fireballs.
"You'll have to do better, Zuzu," she taunted as she kicked out, sending a broad column of blue fire at him. As he staggered back, she sent a volley of fire bursts towards him, pushing him even further back and bringing him off balance with a fiery kick.
"Give it up brother," she told him, holding off her attack for a moment. "You know you can't win from me. So why even try? Do you want to die like your precious uncle?"
Her words just spurred him on and Zuko jumped back to his feet. He dodged the flame Azula sent at him and made a broad fire arch in the air, this time pushing her back. "He's not dead," he growled between his teeth, trying to spare his breath. He tried to hit her as he created a fire dagger in his fist, but Azula blocked him just as easily as she always did.
"Then I'll deal with him after I'm through with you," she promised and twisted around, landing a solid kick against Zuko's chest.
Zuko hit the ground again, his breath was coming in short now, making the bending all that much harder. He knew she was right, he wasn't a match to Azula, but he needed to at least get Marie out of here. He could hear his heartbeat, drowning out whatever Azula was saying and he glanced sideways to where Marie was tied up. Quickly flipping around, moving all his weight on his hands, he kicked his legs at Azula sending a powerful fire burst at his sister. It was enough to bring her off balance for a moment and distract her.
He jumped to his feet and send another punch in the air, this time directed at the cords that were binding Marie before he turned just in time to block another attack from Azula.
Marie managed to wrestle out of her bonds and she immediately pulled off one glove, looking for an opening to get close enough to Azula to touch her so she could drain some of her power and bring her down until she and Zuko could get help. There was no doubt in her mind that the fire show he and Azula were putting on had attracted attention.
Narrowly dodging another fireattack, Zuko noticed out of the corner of his eye that Marie was still around. "Just go!" he shouted, but he was distracted and the blue fire hit him in the shoulder, knocking him right off his feet.
Spinning around on her heels, Azula turned to face Marie. "You should have listened," she told her, widening her stance and drawing a crest in the air with her fingers. As she did, lightning started crackling where it looked like she was splitting up the air.
The fire and light had attracted Bel's attention, and he shimmered over to investigate. He appeared just in time to see Azula send lightning shooting toward Marie. "Marie!" he called to her, but he was too far away to stop Azula.
Marie glanced in the direction of Bel's voice for a split second and it was enough to distract her from being able to get out of the way of the lightning Azula was sending in her direction.
Zuko was already scrambling to his feet, just in time to catch the lightning instead. There wasn't any time to think or remember his uncle's words as he guided the lightning through his body. He just knew he had to stop his sister from hurting someone else. He cried out in pain as he led the lightning through his heart instead of his stomach, but it was drowned out by the noise of the explosion as he aimed the lightning at the ground instead.
Marie didn't have time to really think about what she was doing. Acting completely on instinct, she reached out and put her bare hand on Zuko's arm so she would absorb some of the lightning strike and maybe be able to pick up enough of his power to help him guide it. Her mind immediately flooded with impressions and images.
"... she's gone."
don't want to fight my father, shouldn't have disrespected the....
"You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher."
heat, burning, pain
"As punishment for your shameful behavior you are banished from the Fire Nation. Only when you capture the Avatar can you return with your honor."
She pulled her hand away, but barely had time to process what was happening before the electricity coursing through her body knocked her out.
Bel watched helplessly as the lightning struck Zuko, rolled through him, and went into Marie as she reached out to him. He shifted into demon form, snarling at Azula to attract her attention. Bitch was going down.
As soon as Azula stopped her lightning attack, Marie and Zuko crumpled down to the ground. A smirk of satisfaction curved her lips as looked down at her brother lying motionless before she finally turned to face Belthazor. Her eyes widened for a second as she took in his demon form, but she hid her surprise quickly. "You want to join them?"
"Try it, bitch," Bel growled, trying to maneuver himself between Azula and the fallen Zuko and Marie. "You'll find I'm a little bit harder to handle."
"We'll see about that," she said, already splitting the energy again to send another lightning bolt at Bel this time.
The lightning struck Bel in the chest. He staggered back and hit a tree, but managed to remain standing. "Nice," he said through clenched teeth. "Try this one on for size." He conjured a ball of fire and threw it at Azula.
She rolled forward, dodging the fireball while at the same time sending a blue flame towards Bel.
Nimble little minx. Bel jumped to the side to avoid the flame, but he could feel the extreme heat of it as it passed by him. He conjured up another fireball and threw, then followed it with a second, hoping she wouldn't be able to dodge two as easily as one.
Azula dodged the first, and splitted the second, letting the flames go around her. This guy was annoying her, but not for much longer. She made a slicing gesture in the air, creating a thin blue line of fire to hit Bel with.
The fire moved too fast for Bel to dodge. It struck him in the side as he twisted to get out of the way and sent him crashing to the ground. The flames continued to shoot by him, slicing through a tree and sending it toppling to the ground.
For a moment Bel lay stunned. The heat didn't do much damage, but the force of the blast may have broken some ribs. He pushed himself up off the ground. He wasn't going to go down that easily.
Azula stood rooted to the ground in disbelief for a moment. How could anyone survive first the lightning and now this? Not that she was going to give up easily. Running forward, she jumped up in the air and twisted around twice, each time sending a fireball at Bel.
Bel shimmered out of the path of the fireballs, appearing behind Azula. She wanted fire? Try some of this. He sent another fireball toward her back.
Azula stared in surprise at where Bel had just been, she didn't even have time to wonder what had happened as she sensed the fireball hurtling towards her. It scorched her shoulder as she rolled forward. This demon had just moved from one spot right to another and the fire seemed to just roll off of him. She was ready to send another flame to lick at Bel's heels when there was noise coming from behind her as people seemed to be closing in on their location.
Azula's eyes went to her brother who was lying unmoving on the ground. She doubted he could have survived the lightning the way Uncle Iroh could. "I think," she said as she slowly straightened up, "that it's time to call this mission a success." With a smirk, she created a firewall that completely surrounded her like an orb. When the fire died down, there was nothing but scorched grass left where she had been.
Bel staggered over to the unconscious Marie and Zuko. He saw the troopers approaching out of the corner of his eye, and he really didn't feel like sticking around to offer them any explanation. They'd probably figure he attacked Marie and Zuko, anyway.
He carefully gathered up Marie and Zuko in his arms, making sure he didn't make any skin to skin contact with Marie. Choosing the clinic as his destination, he shimmered them away.
When the troopers charged through the bushes, there was nothing there to be found except smoldering wood and scorched grass. It was clear that there had been a fight here, but whoever it was had escaped.
"Oh man," a trooper who had missed out on the big mummy fights sighed and scuffed a boot at the burned grass. "This sucks."
((Preplayed with touchablemarie, demonbelthazor, lightningbender and fandomtroopers))