Most Likely to Succeed (Part Three)
By TheLostMaximoff
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Husk mumbled groggily as she opened her eyes and tried to wake up. She shifted her hands and realized they were clamped together. A quick tug let her know that those shackles were connected to a chain coming from the middle of the room.
"I've checked, it's too strong to rip out," assured Monet, "Any chance of you husking into a liquid or vapor that could slip through the manacles?"
"Nice to see you too, Monet," replied Husk, "I don't think I can do that or at least I don't think I'm comfortable doing that."
"You may not have noticed this," responded Monet as she held up her own shackled hands to indicate she shared Husk's predicament, "I really don't think your comfort level is of paramount importance at this point."
"Right," agreed Husk with a nod, "So how'd you get dragged into this?"
"Someone is targeting our class," explained Monet, "Jono, Jubilee, and I were lured to a trap in New York that almost incinerated us. After escaping the explosion, we were attacked by men afflicted with the same 'condition' as my brother. One of them had a class photo of us in his pocket."
"That guy at the party," realized Husk, "You think he was with them?"
"I know he was," corrected Monet, "A team of them were at your school waiting for us. Mondo was with them."
"I thought that guy hung out with Black Tom," said Husk.
"I don't bother keeping track," replied Monet, "Now that I've given you the full exposition, make yourself useful and help get us out of here. I'm sure the others aren't having an easier time with this wherever they are."
"Yeah, I got it," assured Husk as she closed her eyes and concentrated, "Just gimme a second to slip into something more comfortable." Husk took her fingernail and ran it over her opposite hand until she felt something crack and begin to peel off. She leaned forward and grabbed the flake of skin with her teeth, ripping it off her arm to reveal something else underneath where flesh and blood should have been. Satisfied that she had peeled off enough on her arm, Husk began working on her hand, still using her teeth and the fingernails on her other hand as tools.
"The sight of you doing this is something I haven't missed," declared Monet as Husk made quick work of the skin on her hand so that everything from her fingertips to her forearm was made out of whatever material she had chosen.
"Haven't had to do this in a while," admitted Husk, "I'm still really not comfortable with anything that's not completely solid. Good thing about rubber is that it's flexible. It can squeeze through most anything." Husk pulled her hand against the cuffs and managed to slip it out of them. This gave her more freedom of movement to work on peeling the skin from her other arm.
"It doesn't make any sense," contemplated Monet aloud, "My brother knows we're still mutants. Why would he bother to imprison us like this? Why not just eat us when he had the chance?"
"You really asking my opinion on how crazy your brother is?" asked Husk.
"I'm asking myself," clarified Monet, "I'm merely doing it aloud in case you wish to throw out any theories."
"Fresh out I'm afraid," admitted Husk sadly as she squeezed her other now-rubbery hand through the clamp, "I heard you were the detective these days. I figure you're full o' theories about things."
"My first one is that you should get me out of these things before something unpleasant happens," retorted Monet, "I thought adamantium could cut through anything. Why don't you just turn into that and get me out of here?"
"First off, I don't have a damn clue how to do that," explained Husk as she crouched in front of Monet and studied the manacles, "Second, I don't even know if that'll work. Gimme a few minutes on the first and then we'll see if I can handle the second." Both girls heard footsteps coming down the hall heading towards them.
"I don't think we have time for any further debate," said Monet as Husk quickly began ripping the rest of her skin off to turn her body into another substance.
XXXXX
"Basic problem o' havin' tech powers," said Decibel as he tapped his suit, "Batteries aren't always included."
"Like we'd be in a better boat if we had mutant ones," countered Jubilee, "They separated us out in case you hadn't noticed. If M's brother is running the show then he doesn't have any use for us."
"Except to kill us," reminded Decibel as he yanked on the chain connected to his manacles, "Any ideas on this one, Jube?"
"Maybe," admitted Jubilee as she reached up to her head and removed the pin in her hair, "This crap always works in the movies."
"Famous last words," replied Decibel as Jubilee tried to pick the lock on her manacles with the hairpin. Unfortunately, someone chose that moment to open the door and step into the room.
"The boss doesn't really have a use for you except to see you dead," explained the man as he entered with his partner, "Nothing personal of course." The man pulled out his gun and leveled it at Jubilee's head first. Before he could fire his gun, there was a crash as Husk slammed through the door of her cell. Both men turned towards the sound of the noise and that left Jubilee the opening she needed to kick the gun out of the man's hand. Another crash echoed down the hall as Husk ripped the door off of Jubilee's cell and came into the room. The two men opened fire on Husk but she barely noticed the attack as the bullets bounced off her metallic skin.
"I hear you fellas like eating people," said Husk as she cracked her knuckles, "Chew on this." Husk hit the first of the two men and then grabbed the gun out of the other man's hand. She elbowed the thug in the face and then turned to the first man who was, to her surprise, still standing. He reached for her with the mouths on his hands but Husk hit him again and took him down.
"Cuttin' it a little close there, sunshine," said Decibel as she searched the bodies of the unconscious men to try and find a key that would unlock the shackles.
"You're welcome, Jono," retorted Husk with a smile, looking up from her work long enough to see him, "I'm glad to see you again."
"Likewise, luv," assured Decibel, "Ya could help a bloke out though." Husk pulled out a keycard. She checked Jubilee's shackles and swiped it through the port on the device. The shackles unlocked themselves while Husk went on to repeat the process with Decibel.
"I'm still in here!" shouted Monet, "If you know how to let me out I'd appreciate it!"
"You couldn't have left her back in New York?" asked Husk sarcastically. She unlocked Decibel and went to help Monet before she threw another tantrum.
"Not once she found out her brother was involved," replied Jubilee, "Those goons took the power packs to our suits. We need to get them back or else Jono and I don't have any powers."
"One thing at a time," suggested Husk. She went back into Monet's cell and unlocked her shackles.
"My wrists were starting to chaff," grumbled Monet, rubbing her wrists as she stood up and headed into the hallway, "I assume those two idiots were like my brother."
"Yeah, I briefly saw the mouths," confirmed Husk, "Your brother is definitely involved in this somehow."
"I'm through with speculation," decided Monet. She flew down the hall, retracing the path the men had taken. More men poured into the hallway but Monet plowed through them to get to another room. A flock of Emplates quickly jumped her as soon as she got into the room. She threw them off of her but they entangled her enough for Mondo to hit her in the face with his rock-hard fist.
"I went to a ton of trouble to get you in those cells," reminded Mondo, "The boss isn't pleased when things don't go her way."
"Is she now?" inquired Monet, disentangling herself from the Emplates long enough to hit back.
"Where would those power packs be?" asked Husk as the other three young heroes entered the room.
"No clue," answered Jubilee. An Emplate attempted to attack her but she elbowed him in the jaw and then took him down.
"Doesn't seem to slow you down," noticed Husk with a grin.
"Nothing does," stated Jubilee, "You help Monet. Jono and I can take care of ourselves." Husk nodded and ran towards Mondo. Her feet left the floor as she jumped and hit Mondo in the face with a flying forearm. The attack caused Mondo to stagger backwards but it didn't knock him off his feet. He steadied himself and then hit Husk with an uppercut. Monet drove her fist into his gut and knocked the air out of him but he backhanded her to the floor in return. Husk jumped onto Mondo's back, clenching her legs around his waist while she hit him in the head repeatedly. He tried to sling her from him but as he tossed her aside she landed on her feet in front of him and kicked him in the stomach. Mondo finally grabbed Husk, lifting her over his head before driving her back down onto his knee and then discarding her like trash. Both girls regrouped and were about to hit him again when the situation suddenly changed.
"Enough!" The shrill voice of a female rang through the room and halted all action. Monet and Husk turned to realize that Jubilee and Decibel were at gunpoint and that someone new had entered the room.
"I can't say I've placed your face," said Monet. The woman in white gave Monet a disdainful look of contempt as if she was used to being disregarded. In fact, she was very used to disregard. She had experienced it all her life. It was the root of her anger and her jealousy and now she would exact a measure of revenge on those who ignored her.
"I'm not surprised," retorted the woman bitterly, "I should thank you though because you've underlined exactly what this is all about. I'm Cordelia Frost. I trust you remember my sisters."
"Yeah, one of them killed a good friend of ours," explained Jubilee, "What do you want with us?"
"I want all four of you dead," stated Cordelia simply, "All my life, I've always been the overlooked one. Adrienne was the oldest, Emma was the most successful, and I was nothing. All my life I've had to scrape and claw and fight for attention from anyone while my sisters got it on a silver platter."
"Again, why drag us into a family squabble?" inquired Monet.
"Emma got everything!" snapped Cordelia, "Emma even got to keep her mutant powers while M-Day took mine away from me! It's not fair!"
"Join tha club there, luv," suggested Decibel.
"I decided that I would take something from her," continued Cordelia as if no one had spoken, "For once in her life, I want to see Emma lose something the way I've lost everything."
"And these people?" inquired Monet as she gestured to the thugs, "You're obviously working with my brother unless there are other marrow-sucking leeches out there somewhere."
"He's been in so much pain after M-Day," said Cordelia in a tone that bordered on sympathetic but couldn't quite attain it, "I had my men break into hospitals and steal mutant bone marrow just so he could stay in this dimension. He knows about families and how cruel they can be. We're both getting our revenge this time."
"Didn't you wanna kill her last time I saw you?" asked Husk as she looked at Mondo, expecting a reason for him to join this insanity.
"Money mends fences," answered Mondo with a shrug, "I'm not a hard man to please."
"Kill those two," ordered Cordelia, motioning to Jubilee and Decibel, "They're just dead weight at this point."
"Wait," interjected Husk before the Emplates could complete their task, "You let Jubilee and Jono go and you can do whatever you want with me and Monet. Hell, you can feed us to Emplate for all I care but I want them free."
"Speak for yourself," cut in Monet, "Bad enough I have to be a part of Frost's leftover family baggage but there's no way I'm letting my own brother eat me."
"It's the only way to save them," countered Husk, 'C'mon, Monet, just play along here. I've got a plan'. Monet's telepathy picked up the thought just as Husk knew it would. The two girls exchanged a glance before Monet grumbled something under her breath and held up her hands in surrender.
"Take them to Emplate," commanded Cordelia. Mondo moved forward to escort Monet and Husk to their doom.
"Just let me say goodbye," said Husk, "That's all I want."
"If you insist," conceded Cordelia, "Do it quickly." Husk nodded and went over to Decibel, taking his hands in hers.
"Don't do this, sunshine," pleaded Decibel, "Ya know this isn't right. We'll figure a way out of this."
"Don't say I never gave you anything," replied Husk as she leaned up and kissed Decibel on the cheek before moving away to rejoin Monet. Mondo grabbed both girls and hauled them away.
'You know Cordelia's going to double-cross us the first chance she gets, right?' asked Monet mentally as Mondo escorted them down the hall and herded them into a room.
'I know,' came Husk's mental reply as Husk gave her friend a grin that their captor couldn't see, 'Like I said, I have a plan.'