Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 13
Chapter 3: Scaredy Cat
The mangy dark grey stray cat hissed and spat at Monet as she held him and took to the air, it fought against her, trying to scratch, sending its claws through her black shirt, but not doing much against her skin thanks to her invulnerability.
"I'm sorry, cat. I need you to set off the alarms on the south side of the estate." she said sympathetically to the cat, "if you're still around by the end of this I'll adopt you, give you food and name you Fluffy," she promised, grinning at the thought of how stupid that would seem. She didn't expect the cat to survive, but lives were at stake and the life of a cat seemed non-significant next to the lives of the X-Men.
Monet let the cat drop into the thick grass below, she heard it squeal in fright but watched as it masterfully landed on its feet.
"Hmmm that old wives tale must be true," she mused as she watched the cat sprint off. It was just as she expected, she heard alarms sounding all over the place, she kept to the sky. With the alarms going off on the east side, Monet knew if she entered the mansion and any other alarms set off, the sound would be lost amongst those others.
It was now nighttime, she'd been biding her time until darkness fell, knowing it would be safest for her to make her move. Conveniently the clothes she'd picked when she'd woke up had been black, she wouldn't be easy to spot. As long as she didn't touch the ground, and let the cat take the rap for setting the alarms off, she knew she'd be fine. She doubted whoever might be in the mansion would see her in the air.
The mansion was swathed in blackness, none of the lights were on inside at all, and even the floodlights outside – save the one on the porch – were all out. Monet was thankful for this, as it would give her more opportunity to move freely throughout the darkness without being seen.
She noted an open window on the second floor of the mansion and soared over, she climbed up onto the ledge of the mansion and hid in the shadows, and waited, watching for any movement.
She could barely believe her eyes when three Remy LeBeau's exited the mansion, holding flashlights, looking dangerously around.
"The alarms don't just set themselves off!" one of the Remy's stated angrily, "we're under attack."
"Stop being paranoid," Another stated, "probably just an animal…a squirrel or…something…"
Another disappeared off into the darkness to check around, the other two remained close together, watching.
"We caught them all, didn't we? We couldn't have missed one?" the first Remy asked of the second Remy.
Monet listened closely, hiding in the shadows, something in her sensed that these men weren't…altogether quite human as she was. Her powers weren't picking up thoughts the way they had with everyone else. The thoughts should have been invading her head, but only her own thoughts remained.
"Yes, we got them all…at least…all of the X-Men. I don't know what happened to the young ones, there were kids in the place…teenagers…all gone…probably sent off somewhere…they'll have to come back eventually."
Monet frowned, and fell in to her own thoughts, what if Sean and Moira or any of her team were coming after her? They'd be endangered. This was one thing she had not expected. She'd thought to fast to properly weigh out the situation. It wasn't like her, but she'd been traumatised by the manifestation of her powers, not thinking clearly.
I guess I am only human after all, she thought miserably, she slipped into the open window into a dark room, she glanced around. In the light from the window she could see the bed was unmade, pillows askew. Some of the blankets were on the floor.
Thank goodness the bedrooms weren't alarmed, she thought, she calmly moved over to the bedside cabinet and opened the small drawer. Whoever this room belongs to surely has to have a flashlight, she thought. She located a small keyring sized flashlight, she turned it on and made a face, "this will have to do…" she shone the light across the room. On the dresser, was a photograph of Jean Grey and Scott Summers, the walls were pink, this was definitely a woman's room.
Monet smirked a little and walked over to the wardrobe, she opened it up and fought through the hanging jackets, shirts and skirts to find a black leather uniform right at the back, "Bingo…" she whispered to herself.
She knew she would need a uniform, her own clothes were flimsy and wouldn't stand up to much in a fight, and if she needed to fight, she wanted to be prepared.
She slipped out of her own clothes quickly and pulled the uniform on, zipped it up and clamped the belt around herself, she glanced at herself in the mirror, smirking, she looked like one of the X-Men, and this was certainly appealing to her.
If I ever get through this, I'm going to demand to be put on the team, she thought firmly as she grabbed a hair clip from the dresser and rolled her hair into a twist to hold it back from her face. She remained quiet, constantly listening. Outside she heard the three Remys' talking between themselves.
"It was just a cat...I chased it off the property."
The alarms had stopped, one of the Remys' had obviously disabled it. Monet winced, this meant she would have to be much more quiet, and although she was good at this, she knew that Remy LeBeau – or whoever these men were – had very sensitive hearing and eyesight, she'd need to be extra careful. Holding the flashlight, she crept quietly out of the bedroom, the hall was silent.
I have to be slow and keep to the shadows, Monet thought. I've read about Remy LeBeau on the database, he has exceptional nightvision…that is bad news for me.
She quietly made her way along the hall, she heard footsteps, she swallowed and ducked into a shadow and crouched low, she watched as one of the Remys' passed by her.
What are these men? Are they twins? Triplets? Clones? She raised an eyebrow watching until he disappeared into one of the rooms. She swallowed, took a deep breath and continued, creeping along until she came to the staircase that led down into the foyer. She began to head down the staircase, intent on going down to the war room, she had to get a message to Sean and Moira first that she was alright and everything was under control. Then she could investigate further.
Loud footsteps against the solid marble floors were echoing across the hall, Monet gasped and looked to either side, she had nowhere to go, she glanced up to the ceiling, and took off towards it in flight. She pressed her back against the high ceiling, she swallowed nervously and watched as two of the clones came from the direction of the secret elevator.
"Thought I heard something…" one of them announced.
The other glanced around, "I see nothing…probably your imagination, unless that damned cat the others were going on about got in."
Monet pressed the back of her head to the ceiling as if she were lying on the floor, she tried to remain as still as possible, any movement at all might give her position away. To her horror, the slight movement of her head caused the clasp in her hair to snap away, and it fell towards the floor, landing loudly upon the floor with a strange clatter that echoed more than it should have – maybe it was just that everything else was so silent that the sound seemed amplified. That sound rattled in Monet's head, and in an unladylike manner, she swore to herself and took off.
"Intruder!" one of the clones cried, the lights came on as one of the clones hit the switch, and the whole foyer came into view, Monet squinted, her eyes unadjusted.
Monet dived downwards, a glowing object narrowly missed her as she took off in flight towards the second floor hallway, and slammed into the wall at her left, exploding the wall, bricks and plaster flew at her, and a brick to the head sent her slamming into the opposing wall, and to the floor with a thud. Dazed, she pulled herself up, another object, came at her, hitting her in the back, she felt it explode entirely, it forced her forward ten feet, she ducked into the nearest room, she heard the clones following her down the hall.
She turned on the flashlight and shone it around the room quickly, trying to look for means of escape. There was none that she could see, except the window, but that would only take her to back where she began, outside.
The door was thrown open, and a clone rushed in, heading towards her with precision and speed, a swift kick caught her, but did not faze her, she blocked the second kick, and spun around in the air to kick back, she flipped over in the air, hair caught the clone in the chin, the kick so powerful it sent him crashing into the wall, she heard his head slam against it, the plaster came off the wall where his head had collided. Then he dropped down upon the dresser, breaking it into pieces with the impact.
Monet floated in mid air, observing for a moment to see if he was unconscious, the clone was not moving. Monet knew she should have taken that moment to make an escape but something told her to check. She quietly approached, the clone unmoving. With a shaking hand, she put her fingers to his neck to check his pulse, there was none. She brought her hand back to her mouth in horror at the realisation of what she'd done.
Turning towards the window, panic setting in already, she flew through the closed window, sending glass and pieces of wooden frame splintering through the air with her. She turned back and looked through the open window once more before making her way as far from the mansion as she possibly could with only one thought pressing upon her mind.
She'd killed a man.