Chapter Text
Baxter is a fucking bitch.
"You wouldn't be intelligent enough to understand chemistry if I smashed a beaker over your thick skull."
"WELL FUCK YOU TOO THEN-"
"Clever. As always." Baxter scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Next time you try to inform me of proper mixing of alcoholic beverages for proper combinations perhaps know what you're doing first."
It took everything in Husk's power not to pounce at him, instead settling for digging his claws into the table. "Get the fuck out of my bar-"
"Husk."
Fuck. Husk's claws immediately pulled out of the wood. He almost forgot that Arackniss was even here. Of course he was, he's the one who brought Baxter over in the first place.. Bastard that he is, Husk promised himself to treat the spider's other friends with at least a tiny bit of respect.
"...get out of the bar. Please." It was still said with gritted teeth, but somehow Baxter found it in him to laugh anyway.
"You're far too easily influenced. Clearly you've got even a weaker mind than I suspected." Niss' was literally holding Husk back by his arm when the fish got up from the barstool, brushing himself off. "I've got better things to do than argue anymore with you."
Even once Baxter was out of the room, Husk glared in the direction of the door where he left. "I'm gonna kill 'im-"
"You can't kill him."
"I can. I shouldn't but I can."
Niss smacked Husk upside the head for that, although he got a much weaker glare back. It's odd, Niss always thought, how Husk never seemed to get as angry at him as everyone else.. Then again, they've been friends the longest.
"All I'm saying is that if he went missin', no one but you would notice-"
"But I’m the one tellin' you not to.. Alright? I don't got too many people besides him."
...damn him, is Niss really pouting at him right now? Husk's heart rate doubles and he can feel the beating in his throat. Not again.
"...fine. I'll figure somethin' else out."
"Y'better. Come on, let's grab a wine bottle and go back up to my room for a movie."
If there's anything that people know about Husk from meeting him, it's that he doesn't let go of his anger or grudges easily. Not until something is done about it.
It did take him a few days to come up with a non-murderous or life destroying plan that would still piss the little fish off, and it was a little harder than he first thought it would be. Maybe that was his own fault, but it was rare he had to deal with things peaceful. At least he got a little satisfaction from using his claws to pick the lock at Baxter's metal door guarding the entrance to his lab downstairs, breaking in wasn't as good as smashing shit but it was something.
"Holy fuck, it's cold in here.." How does someone with no fur stand to stay down here? Did Baxter even have skin? Or blood? Or nerves- Husk never paid much attention in science anyway, it's more about his pride than proving him wrong.
It takes a good few minutes for Husk to find anything he wants to actually mess with. Most things around here look more life-threatening than he expected: guns, bombs, missiles, even a few of those glass tanks with weird shapes inside of them that Husk thought only existed in movies. It's tempting to push any or all of the buttons, but.. He'd rather not die tonight if he doesn't absolutely have to, and that wasn't the plan.
.....okay, maybe messing with one of the guns couldn't hurt.
The one Husk picks up is small, and despite how familiar it looks, he can't quite place where it's from. Not important anyway, he holds it up and aims at an empty wall. There's no knockback when he fires, or noise, and the only evidence he pressed something was a beam that came out and made a chunk of the wall glow, then disappear.
"...well good fuckin' thing I didn't aim at important shit-" The phaser is carefully set down as Husk goes back to exploring the area, looking for something, anything he can..
Bingo.
On a table in the very back of the room, there were about ten corked flasks in different colors, and a notebook next to them. Husk, being the stupidass he is, picked one up before reading anything, and decided to pocket it before scanning the page.
"Let's see.. Superpower shit? Fucking nerd.. Probably trying to live out some comic book thing." Strength, speed, flight.. All prototypes, sure, from what he can tell, but that's good enough for him. The cork of the flash is quickly popped off as Husk downs the contents of it. It burns his throat and nearly has to spit it out before swallowing.
....well. It doesn't feel any different. "Damn, and I almost thought you were actually good at the shit you do."
A quick scan over the page again shows that Baxter was at least trying to match up what colors went with which ability, but considering he's got the damn handwriting of a doctor, it's hard to see any more in this dim lighting. Husk probably could have figured it out eventually if he studied hard enough, except..
"WHO'S IN THERE-"
Shit- The hole in the wall must have been an entrance straight to Baxter's room. The glass flask in Husk's hand is quickly dropped and shattered as he ran out of the room, not stopping a sprint until he got back to his own upstairs.
"What a waste of fucking time.."
It didn't take long for Baxter to exit his own room and enter the lab, taking stock of everything and making sure nothing was tampered with. Thank god whoever it was did minimal damage, nothing too lethal had been let out of its cages. He almost returned back before seeing the broken glass shining in the corner.
"Damn.." Those were tests, he wasn't even certain how well any would work yet. Baxter had to glance at the notebook and compare which flasks were left to find the missing one.
"....truth serum, eh? Well, if they work, tomorrow should be interesting.."