The Life of Jezebel Firetongue

41

The two guards that had been holding me pushed me down the hall until we reached the training room. Larry Loudmouth stuck his head into the training room while the other guard pinned me against a wall.

"Everybody out!" Larry yelled. True to his name, it was a very loud yell. I half expected the sheer force of it to make the building tumble down.

As a crowd of mutant kids walked out, the guard who was holding me nodded at one of the kids. Larry grabbed the kid and pulled him out of the crowd. "Not you, Builder." The guard turned the boy towards me. "You know who this is. I want you to make a crate that she cannot escape. Inflammable, impenetrable, the whole deal. And, I want her to be chained up. If she escapes, we all die. You understand?"

Builder nodded quickly, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. I glared back at him.

"Now go."

Builder ran into the room and I was pulled behind him. The guards held me while Builder made a crate form out of thin air. It was big and spacious, with chains hanging from the ceiling and sprouting from the floor of the crate. "All done sir!" Builder called.

"Good job!" Loudmouth yelled back. He and his partner dragged me across the tiled floor to the open crate. They shoved me in and chained me up. I hung limply, tired and bored. Please leave now, I begged the guards silently.

The two guards, however, were not done with me.

"You can't have given up yet," Larry whispered in my ear.

The second guard leaned close as well, one cold hand holding onto the back of my neck. "Come on," he whispered. "Fight back." The guard started dripping water from his fingers onto my neck, where they dripped down my back and evaporated away. Goosebumps sprouted all over me.

The guards were not pleased by my lack of reaction. "Come on! Fight back!" shouted Larry Loudmouth. "Start squirming. Make up for our little incident from earlier." Larry leaned in close and I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the awful scent of his hot breath. "No?" Larry leaned back and slapped me angrily. "Stupid fire breathing bitch," he muttered.

I recoiled and opened my eyes to glare at him. "Really?" I asked quietly. "I'm a stupid fire breathing bitch?"

Larry shuddered, recognizing the warning tone I'd picked up from Dr. Davis. "No, I just-"

"You think I'm really that stupid? That I didn't hear you say that? That I didn't feel that?" I straightened up and sneered at Larry and his water dripping friend. They backed up and I started blowing fire at them, ready to set them on fire. They ran, screaming. "Yeah! Back, assholes, back!"

"Put a muzzle on her!" screamed Larry.

Builder watched me carefully, not even daring to move. He waited for my torrents of fire to cease before moving closer. I glared at him, but did not move. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Please, just hold still."

I looked him in the eyes as a dog muzzle formed in his hands. "How do you do that?" I asked gently.

"It's my power. I can rearrange the molecules in the air and turn them into material objects, such as this muzzle," he replied nervously. "Can I put it on you now?"

Obediently, I ducked my head down and allowed Builder to tie it around my head.

As he tightened and loosened the straps to fit my head, Builder leaned closer. "Is it really you? Jezebel Firetongue?"

"In the flesh," I murmured around the muzzle.

Builder smiled wearily. "Good to see you. You came to free us, right?" he whispered under his breath.

I nodded slowly, watching the guards out of the corner of my eye.

"Thank you," he murmured passionately. "We're counting on you, Jez. We know you can do it. Good luck." Builder then turned around and ran with a terrified look on his face. It made me chuckle. Builder could have been an actor.

The guards then sealed the crate and drilled a single hole in the center of the ceiling, giving me light and oxygen. I waited quietly until their footsteps faded away. When all was silent, I started rolling some fire around on my tongue, contemplating the boy. Builder. He would be a good ally, I thought to myself. I spat the marble-sized fireball into my muzzle. It exploded quietly and destroyed the muzzle without destroying me. Smiling, I popped another one out of my mouth and rolled it up my arm and into my handcuff, where it exploded as well. Three more fireballs later, I was free.

When all the chains were destroyed, I leaned against the side of the crate and texted Jake and Terence. I'm caught. In hindsight, I could've handled the situation better...but oh well. What's next?

I can keep the cams down. Continue plan? Terence replied.

Yeah, I think the plan could still work. I'll get to work on the army of mutants right now. Jake added.

Alright. Jake, go ahead and escape. Terence, can you cause a huge distraction somewhere in the headquarters without me? I asked.

No, I'm going to need somebody on the inside.

I thought for a moment and smiled. I'll get somebody.

A fireball formed in my mouth and I sharpened it with my tongue, creating a nice and sharp fire knife. I pulled it out of my mouth and turned to the wall. Slowly, I carved a small circle in the wall, not even big enough to push a finger through. I looked out and saw that the training room had become a construction site. Mutants were everywhere, using their powers in some way to help. At the center of it all was Builder, holding up a big blueprint.

"-so remember everyone, if you need any help, come talk to me. And if you need material, go to Woody, got it?" everybody nodded, and Builder rolled up the blueprint and put it in his back pocket. "Great! Let's go people!"

Builder walked away from his podium and passed by my crate. "Builder!" I hissed.

He swiveled around and looked at everyone before seeing the tiny hole in my crate. Builder pulled the blueprint out of his back pocket and leaned against the crate, examining it. "What's up?" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Can you help a friend of mine black out the building?"

"The lab is under lock and key, and the circuit board is in the lab. It would take some mad code breaking skills."

"Are the cameras still down?"

"Can't you hear the doctor screaming?"

"Get away from the box then."

Builder walked away and used his power to work on a part of the thing they were constructing while I made a slot in the crate. He came back and I shoved the iphone through the slot and into his hand. "Talk to my friend Terence. He'll break the code and you will need to shut down the lights. Then, I want you to go meet my friend Jake down in the dungeons. You are going to start an uprising."

Builder smiled and slipped the iphone in his back pocket. "Perfect."