Most Likely to Succeed (Part Four)
By TheLostMaximoff
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
"Extremely touching," said Cordelia sarcastically as she watched Husk and Monet leave the room under Mondo's custody, "I think they're far enough away now. Emplates, kill them."
"You made a deal," reminded Jubilee indignantly as the Emplates cocked their weapons and readied to fire.
"Yes, I did," agreed Cordelia, "I didn't expect any of you to be this naïve. My mistake."
"She wasn't," assured Decibel with a grin as he slipped the object in his hand into the belt on his suit. The Emplates fired their weapons but a glowing barrier of energy stopped the bullets in mid-air before they ever got the chance to hit their mark. Jubilee looked at Decibel, realizing that he was responsible for saving both their lives, or rather his suit was now that it had a working power supply.
"Sunshine must o' taken 'em off Mondo," explained Decibel as he tossed Jubilee her power pack.
"Always like Paige to have a plan," added Jubilee. She plugged the pack into one of her gauntlets and turned them on, feeling the familiar hum of machinery while strength flowed through her. Decibel expanded the shell of sonic energy and it blew the Emplates backwards, scattering them in all directions and knocking them off their feet.
"Kill them!" shrieked Cordelia as if Jubilee and Decibel were both undesirable vermin such as cockroaches or rats, "Kill them, kill them, kill them!" The Emplates that were still up attacked the two New Warriors but Jubilee and Decibel drove them back. Sensing that the tide was decidedly not in her favor, Cordelia hurriedly fled the room presumably to abandon the building and her plot for revenge completely.
"How many o' these bloody things are there?" asked Decibel as more Emplates attacked them.
"Not enough to slow us down," stated Jubilee, "Paige and Monet are taking care of themselves I'm sure. I want to lock this building down. Once that's done, then we'll take care of Cordelia."
XXXXX
Mondo shoved both Husk and Monet into the room before going in himself and closing the door behind him. There was a foul smell in the air that reeked of death and something else that wasn't quite dead but should be. Both girls surveyed their surroundings, immediately noticing the bed in the center of the room and the machines hooked to its occupant.
"I'm impressed," admitted Monet, Mondo pushing both of them closer to the bed so they could verify that it was Emplate lying in it, "The tubes are, what, feeding him liquefied bone marrow to keep him in this dimension?"
"That's how Cordelia explained it," answered Mondo, "He's been bitching about not getting a real meal. Consider that problem solved." Mondo grabbed both girls and forced them closer to Emplate. The mutant vampire's eyes suddenly shot open as he realized that fresh prey was close enough for him to reach out and touch. His hands moved on instinct, shooting towards both Husk and Monet in an effort to consume them both at the same time.
"Not tonight, loser," decreed Monet, grabbing Mondo's arm and forcing herself away from her brother, "I didn't even want to be this close to him before he became a vampire." Monet kicked her feet onto the railing of the bed and shoved backwards. The momentum broke Mondo's grip on Husk but he used the free hand to lock in a chokehold on Monet. Husk wasted little time in peeling off her skin and slipping into another metallic form. Monet slammed her head into Mondo's face to break his hold. She slipped from his grasp and let Husk pound him senseless. Paige connected with two shots before Mondo grabbed her fist and quickly mimicked her metal skin.
"I was about to lose that old form anyway," said Mondo as he grabbed Husk, forcing her back against Emplate's bed and closer to imminent death. Monet kicked Mondo in the back of both knees, crippling him momentarily to Husk could drive her knee into his jaw.
"You said you had a plan," reminded Monet, "When can we reap the benefits of it?"
"How long can do you think your brother can live without being hooked up to those machines?" queried Husk.
"I don't care," retorted Monet, hitting Mondo again, "Whatever you're going to do, do it already!" Husk shed her metallic skin for a new rubber coating and then ripped the live wires out of the machines. She jumped onto Mondo's back, clenching her legs around his chest to hold her position before taking the crackling wires to both sides of Mondo's skull. Mondo howled in pain and struggled violently, desperately trying to throw Paige off while she continued to electrocute him. Monet began punching Mondo in the stomach repeatedly to distract him while Husk rode him like a wild bronco until he eventually collapsed from the electrical overload.
"Had to get him into a more conductive form and me into a less one," explained Husk, hopping off his back and dusting herself off, "Hafta say that's my best work."
"You developed an ego," commented Monet with an arch eyebrow, "I think my respect for you increased a little."
"Didn't know you had any respect for me," returned Husk with a grin.
"I didn't," confirmed Monet, returning the smile with her own, "Now I have a little. Don't get your hopes up too high, Guthrie."
"Always do," declared Husk, turning her attention back to Emplate, "I can try to get those machines back on."
"Leave it the way it is," ordered Monet, calmly walking over to her brother's bed, "If he doesn't get enough food, he'll just go back to his own dimension. I want him to suffer before he goes home."
"I deserve . . . no less," agreed Emplate, his breathing labored more than just from his respirator, "Kill me, Monet. I don't want to . . . go back to that hell again."
"All the more reason why I'm letting you live," retorted Monet viciously, "Did you think I forgot what you did to me, Marius? Did you think I could ever grant you any small amount of mercy after you imprisoned me in that torturous body? It's time for you to suffer now. See if you enjoy it when the tables are turned." Monet turned her back on her brother and walked out of the room. Husk trailed after her and both of them realized that Jubilee and Decibel needed some extra assistance dealing with the rest of Cordelia's men. Neither of them realized that they left a starving Emplate alone with a whole body full of fresh mutant bone marrow.
XXXXX
"Frost ran off," said Jubilee in between fending off attacks from the Emplates, "These guys are starting to drop like flies. Did you do something to Emplate?"
"We should've," muttered Husk, "I doubt these guys have fed in a while. We need to find Cordelia. If she got away then she's just gonna start this crap all over again." Decibel and Jubilee halted their attacks once they realized that the Emplates were slowing down, even falling unconscious.
"We don't know where she went," reminded Monet, "We don't even know what city we're in."
"Best way ta do that is get it from them," suggested Decibel as the four of them surveyed the carnage, "Yer tha telepath, Monet. Pick one and see what's in his head."
"An appealing idea if ever I heard one," said Monet, walking over to one of the Emplates and crouching down so she could get closer to him. Monet reached out and put her hand on the man's head, careful not to clench it too tightly lest she crush his skull. She began the mind-probe slowly as if sticking just her foot into a pool before deciding whether or not she should dive in. The water wasn't fine at all, far from it in fact. It was murky and scummy but Monet knew she had to dive in at some point. She could see faces, remember names, relive moments. All of these men had checkered pasts and had done questionable things long before her brother's influence turned them into monsters. All she needed was a name, a face, anything that would tell her where Cordelia would have gone.
"We're in New York," announced Monet, "Frost International has its headquarters in Boston. He doesn't know anything beyond that but I assume she would run home if things went badly."
"Find out whatever else you can," ordered Husk, "I don't want any surprises or any other crap tonight."
XXXXX
The anger burned hot in his dead veins. The rage mixed with his gnawing hunger and drove Emplate to the brink of insanity. He wouldn't go back, not now and not ever again. All he had to do was find a new food source. It was fortunate enough that his sister and her friend had provided him with the perfect one.
"Yes," muttered Emplate to himself as he rolled off his bed and clawed his way towards Mondo's unconscious body, "So close now." He could feel the adrenaline and anticipation course through him as he inched closer and closer to his incapacitated prey. He would finally have a real meal after being fed through tubes for months. Emplate's fingers grazed against Mondo's metallic hide and the miniscule contact gave him enough energy to grasp Mondo's shoulder. The second his grip was secured, the mouths began their work of ripping through Mondo's steel flesh in order to suck on the precious bone marrow beneath it.
"You don't want to end my suffering?" asked Emplate, latching his other hand on Mondo's body while his strength returned, "Well, little sister, maybe I'll add to yours and see if it changes your mind." Emplate let out a monstrous roar, his skin changing to metal through his appropriation of Mondo's powers.
"That can't sound good," commented Husk. Monet ceased her mind probing, turning her attention to the noise emanating from the hallway.
"We left my brother in that bed," realized Monet, "I didn't think there was any way he could get to Mondo. Apparently I was mistaken."
"Ya can't be serious," said Decibel, "We gotta fight that sod too?"
"Looks like it," answered Jubilee before dodging the freight train that was Emplate as it roared into the room, slamming Monet into the far wall.
"Kill me!" shouted Emplate, pulling Monet away from the wall and then slamming her into it again, "Kill me!"
"You were always quick to throw your little temper tantrums," said Monet, weakly struggling against her brother's grip, "I see that hasn't changed in all these years."
"We can't waste time with this," decided Jubilee, "Jono, take him out so we can go after Cordelia." Decibel nodded before launching a sonic attack on Emplate. The sonic waves echoed through Emplate's metallic ear canals, reverberating inside his skull until he could barely form coherent thoughts. Rattled by the attack, the mutant vampire let go of his sister and staggered away.
"Guys, something's going on," said Husk, realizing that Emplate's children were beginning to rise to their feet once again.
"Marius, you unbelievable ass," stated Monet, "Stop controlling these pathetic losers and get over it already." Emplate seemed as stunned as the others by the resurrection of his children from starvation-induced unconsciousness.
"I don't think that's what's happening," realized Jubilee.
"We are hungry father," stated one of the men, tilting his head from side to side as if he was an animal rather than a human being, "You gave us life but now we're starving."
"You were mistakes," retorted Emplate, "Cordelia made you what you are. You're nothing to me."
"We are something," corrected the man as Emplate's vampiric children suddenly closed in on him, "We see you, father. You're a mutant too and we see it. You know what we do with mutants, father. We eat them for lunch." Emplate's children struck like a pack of hungry wolves, pouncing on their father and wrestling him to the ground. Emplate fought them off as best he could but their numbers proved too much.
"We need to help him," decided Husk.
"He tried to kill us not two seconds ago," reminded Monet, "He's tried to put us in the ground more than once. What goes around comes around." The four of them had little time to discuss it. Some of the Emplates broke away from the feeding to attack them.
"Don't think we haven't forgotten about you two tasty morsels," snarled the man as the group attacked Husk and Monet specifically. Both girls fought back with Jubilee and Decibel aiding them but the group of Emplates began to overpower them with strength in numbers just as they had done with their father.
"We're going to finish the job we were paid for," stated one of the men, "Perhaps we'll take a little bit extra just for pleasure." The man clamped his hand over Monet's head, the mouths gnawing through her indestructible skin with ease as they searched for their precious meal. Another group of men held down Husk while more of them kept Jubilee and Decibel from intervening. Monet and Paige screamed in pain but their cries were outmatched by a shriek of fury. A pack of Emplates flew in all directions as their father broke free and came to the aid of his sister.
"Ungrateful, spiteful children!" snarled Emplate, swiping the men off of Monet, "No one touches my sister!" He tore the vampiric creatures away from Monet, throwing them against walls and anything else that was nearby. One of the men grabbed his brother as he flew backwards. The mouths on the man's hand tore into the other goon's skin, stopping his momentum and giving him a taste of blood. The two creatures realized that they could feed from one another and soon they were fighting with one another.
"Get out of here," ordered Emplate while he attempted to shield Monet and the others from the bloodbath that ensued.
"Why did you save me?" asked Monet.
"Because I don't want you to die," retorted Emplate, fending off his children in order to keep them from attacking Monet or the others, "If you'll excuse me, I believe there's a rush for the buffet line and I don't want to be left out." The former members of Generation X extricated themselves from the melee, leaving Emplate and his children to fight amongst themselves. They slammed the door behind them, Monet and Jubilee bracing themselves against it to keep anyone from getting out of the room. Husk quickly formulated a plan, tearing off the door to one of the holding cells and propping it against the door to keep it shut.
"We need to get to Boston," said Jubilee, "Someone grab Paige. We're taking the express lane this time."
"What about them?" asked Husk, gesturing to the bloodthirsty brawl that was still going on in the next room.
"Are you seriously going to suggest we help him again?" asked Monet, "Let them kill each other for all I care. With M-Day making mutants an endangered species, it isn't like they have a long life ahead of themselves if they survive."
"Hate ta say she's right but she is," agreed Decibel, "More time we spend here, tha farther away Frost gets." A roar and the sound of something splattering on concrete punctuated his statement. Husk bit her lip and silently nodded her agreement. Cordelia Frost was the bigger threat at this point. If she got away then she would only send more people to kill them until the job was finally done. Paige knew that she and the others were going to put a stop to it tonight and nothing would stand in their way.