Disclaimer: JtHM and X-Men belong to their respective owners.
Authors Notes: Yeah, I can't believe I'm writing this either. I was thinking on Johnny's head-exploding escapades in heaven, then began thinking; what if his inability to get caught was a superpower, not something to do with his Sickness, Moose? Then for whatever reason, X-men invaded my brain, and this tumbled out as result.
I originally intended on writing this as an entire story - I have most of the plot developed, but decided only to write this little scene. Had I written the entire story, it would be that Johnny escapes the x-mansion alongside Toad, rather than simply meeting up with him later in a forest as I have written here. The main plot point of this story was going to be that Xavier played a key role in Johnny's amnesia and eventual insanity. Toad was going to take advantage of Johnny's hate for the Professor (and subsequently, the X-men), and take him to Magneto.
I certainly hope you enjoy it.
About fourteen hours had passed by the time Johnny figured he'd gotten out of the strange, psychic man's range of feeding thoughts into his head. Thankfully, Johnny was, by this time, more than used to identifying and distinguishing between his own thoughts and ones implanted into his mind by somebody, or something, else. It was luck, he knew, that had gotten him out - the psychic man had been unable to read his mind deeply enough to catch all of the places he hid his knives, and Johnny had taken the opportunity one night and used his blade to help him escape the cell they'd placed him in - only bars, nothing more. Though the strange man had said he was something called a 'mutant', he'd also said his 'power' was more than likely to be non-lethal. Not any good for escaping a cell, at any rate. Oh, but how wrong the man had been. He'd used the thin-bladed knife he'd managed to sneak past the mans psychic abilities to pick the lock, and escape the mansion he'd been locked inside in the dead of night. By the time the thoughts and sounds had begun feeding into his brain, he'd been far enough away for him to be able to easily avoid anyone that was sent after him.
Now, he was in a forest. It was filled with Pines and Cedar, Oaks, Birches and Maples - a planted forest, but a forest all the same. He had taken the opportunity to rest, having just set up a fire when the cloaked man appeared.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" The new man said through a strong British accent Johnny found interesting to listen to. It seemed, however, that this new man was just as surprised to see Johnny as Johnny was to see him. Narrowing his eyes and fingering the only blade still in his possession, Johnny responded.
"My name is Johnny C, who may I ask, are you?" The Brit crouched oddly, like Johnny himself did sometimes; sitting on his heels and balancing himself with his hands and arms.
"Toad." The man chuckled. Johnny cocked an eyebrow.
"What kind of a name is Toad?"
"What kind of a name is 'C'?" He replied. Johnny glared at the Brit, who chuckled a bit before sitting down normally on the damp earth that was the forest floor. "Mortimer Toynbee." The man let out a deep breath before stretching and speaking again. "What are you doing out here? Thought I was the only one running around these forests." Johnny gazed back in the direction he came, narrowing his eyes as he recalled the conversation with the psychic man who had referred to himself as 'Xavier'. It had not been a very enjoyable experience.
"I ran away from a very unpleasant man who had me kidnapped off the streets. He told me I was a mutant - so rude of him - then said he needed to rebuild the barrier in my mind, like he did 'back then'. I suppose I got angry at him. It disturbed him a lot, for some reason, but I enjoyed it when he became upset. I don't think he liked me yelling very much. He left after that, but I kept screaming at him. Would have grabbed him right out of his chair if he'd been close enough - He was paraplegic you see, wouldn't have been able to fight back very well." Mortimer was quiet during Johnny's rant, something that the maniac liked, and responded only once he was sure the man had been done.
"...Who was this paraplegic man? Did he give you a name?" When Johnny narrowed his eyes, gazing at the man with a bit of suspicion, Mortimer continued. "I'm trying to avoid someone, you see. The man you described sound like him." Johnny stared at his campfire, glaring into the orange flames.
"I think he called himself Xavier." Mortimer nodded.
"Yup, that's him. He does that; takes people who have special powers and trains them to work for him." Johnny felt a chill go down his spine as his anger rose. That man was going to employ him? Johnny C didn't work for people. Never "And... if he took you in, you have powers too, mate." He shifted positions as he spoke again. "Any idea what yours might be?" Johnny smiled as he recalled memories of years of killing that had gone unsolved by the authorities.
"I don't get caught." Mortimer frowned, tilting his head to one side in confusion.
"What, you mean like invisibility, super speed, or intangibility or something?" Johnny shook his head, still grinning. He reached into his coat, withdrawing the only knife still on him; it's blade was stained red from the hundreds of people it had aided in killing.
"I don't get caught." Johnny noticed Mortimer tense just slightly, but paid it no mind. He was getting happy - it was a power. Him not getting caught was a power. Not his wall-monster, not luck; a power. Superhuman, unnatural ability, something nobody else had. How ironic that his ability was' not getting caught'.
When Johnny looked back up at Mortimer, he saw that the Brit was smiling. "What?"
"Mags would love you." Johnny cocked an eyebrow, confused.
"Who's 'Mags'?"
"Magneto - he can control metal. He'd love to have somebody like you in our little group." Johnny narrowed his eyes at the man, his voice hard.
"Sounds to me that he wants my employment as well." He fingered the blade, twirling it in his hand as he gave Mortimer a look that said he was not going to be pleased if the man continued on in that direction. "I don't do jobs. I kill irritating people and take the money they have on them - it's worked for me for this long, it'll work longer." Mortimer flinched, raising his hands in a gesture of peace.
"Then don't look at it as a job." The mans eyes lit up as an idea came to him. "Treat it as freelancing - you stay however long you want, and when you feel like leaving, go." Johnny continued twirling his blade as he thought, and Mortimer noticed with some delight that the man seemed to be paying no attention at all to the weapon he twirled around in his fingers - he wasn't even looking at it.
"...I'll try it. But I want to kill people. And I want to have a say in it, too." Mortimer grinned, joy filling him as he realized he had managed to recruit somebody as talented at homicide as Johnny.
"Sure, mate. I'm sure Mag's'll be able to agree to something." Johnny stood, pouring dirt over the small fire to drown it out.
"So where is this metal-controlling man?" Mortimer shrugged.
"Can't remember the exact direction, seeing as I ain't been there in a while, but I'd know where to go if I had a map." Johnny grinned suddenly, pointing behind him in the direction he came.
"I know a store that sells maps. Global, country, city, road. I thought about buying some once I realized that the psychic man was gonna be looking for me." Again, Mortimer grinned. This was gonna be fun - the X-men were gonna have a hell of a time.
"Well, lead the way, mate."
Holy crap was this fun to write. I still wanna write more, but for the most part it's gonna remain a one-shot scene clip.