INTRODUCTION
written by Surrealist Sinner to accompany the image, as posted, also illustrated by him.
Toad, or Mortimer Toynbee, grew up in Yorkshire in England, homeless and alone and mutated. He was relentlessly mocked, alienated, spurned and ostracized for his appearance and so had to learn to get by on his own from a young age. He bears the scars and signs of his abuses. He is self-taught and self-reliant, though not at all self-confident. In fact, he is so desperate for affection that he's willing to join Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, though the main reason he does so is because he is smitten with Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch. Magneto, viewing Toad as expendable and also seeing the great amount of affection and loyalty he has for Wanda, makes Toad her personal bodyguard, never imagining that the seemingly dull-witted and disgusting Toad could be capable of charming his beloved daughter.
She knitted him that scarf.
O*0*O*0*O
I took this and ran with it. I don't actually mention the scarf so I suppose everything below this remark is actually mine (unless of course it's Marvel's) but the idea is all his... oh, wait. If the characters are Marvel's... and the plot bunny is Surrealist's... then none of it is mine after all... Hmph. Oh well!
Now on to the show!
Blink hears the soft strains of music and immediately changes direction to head in the opposite direction. If she doesn't actually see them together then she can employ plausible deniability if Magneto asks.
OoO
What, might you ask, could cause one of his most loyal lieutenants to willingly subvert his will? To find the answer, follow the music down the halls of Magneto's Genosian Palace. Walk confidently and ignore the other mutants whom pass you by. Here, as elsewhere, the appearance of belonging is more valuable than the actuality.
And therein… lies a tale.
OoO
Ever since her tabloid printing kidnapping by Mojo, the eldest daughter of Genosia's beloved leader has been under lock and guard, much to her general dissatisfaction. If she isn't being followed around like an inmate then she's being hovered over like a disobedient child. And she's had enough. She has more than enough power to send any would be kidnappers packing. It comes back to what she'd told Kurt. She doesn't need rescuing. She's equally capable. But Father still sees her as a little girl. And while Pietro is practically banned until he proves himself she has been handed the opposite sentence.
"Aargg!"
With a cry of frustration she sends a bolt of crackling energy hurling from her balcony. The release of energy rids her of some of her tension and she turns her back on the curved path of the stray bolt to apologize automatically to the guard who'd started when she let loose.
Picking up a book she drapes herself over the chair positioned on her balcony and tries to read. What rankles her most is that she's not even allowed to greet her twin on this, one of his infrequent and generally unsolicited visits. Her own twin! Granted Lorna is also confined to the palace but she's such an airhead. Her sister cares for nothing and no one save Father and, secondarily, for what and whom he cares for. Granted Wanda also agrees with Father's political practices for the most part but at least she's not so blind as to be unable to even wish that things were such that they didn't have to take such measures.
But then, had she been any different before she met the X-Man Kurt? Her eyes refocus on the page and she realizes she'd been holding the book upside down.
Hurling it away from herself she holds back from throwing her body headlong onto the bed only due to presence of Harlan Kleinstock, one of two surviving members of the Kleinstock brothers. Losing her temper is one thing but she knows better than to act like a child in front of the troops.
Glancing over at the passive guard she frowns sympathetically. At least Pietro is still alive. She can't image how Harlan and Sven must be coping with the loss of their other third. That part of their abilities had allowed them to literally join together to become stronger and faster probably only magnifies the loss. It's no wonder they haven't been inseparable like she remembers them before they traveled stateside to participate in the MRD raids.
"Kleinstock?" She rises and clasps her cloak over her shoulders with an imperial nod. "I will await my Father's return in his throne room."
Harlan nods and follows her out wordlessly.
When she reaches throne room it is obvious that Pietro and the Brotherhood have already departed. All it seems, except one.
"Who is this Father?"
Magneto turns and the other man follows his gaze. Wanda smiles. The man before her is one of the obviously mutated. His green mottled skin, bright yellow eyes and elongated clawed digits remind her that, for some mutants, Genosia is not only a paradise, but a necessary refuge.
"Wanda." His fond greeting is followed by introductions- "This is Toad. He will be staying with us for the meantime. This " he resumes speaking to the newcomer, "is my daughter, The Scarlet Witch."
"Ok, like I might not mind it here after all!"
Wanda smirks at his open bluntness. Of course Father won't let that kind of attitude continue around his daughters but it is amusing none the less.
"Kleinstock, you and your brother are needed."
"Yes Magneto." Harlem backs out of the room, presumably to collect Sven and Magneto turns to Toad. "Your first order is to guard my family with your life. Tonight and tomorrow you will personally guard the Scarlet Witch here. If you fail, you may feel free to compare our cells with the MRD. Am I clear?"
"Crystal!" Toad gulps and straightens as much as his frame will allow to salute crisply. Or what might pass as crisply in the big city slums.
Magneto nods in her direction and departs through the open balcony leaving her with the newest member of the Acolyte troops.
"Uh, hi!"
"Call me Wanda." She stretches out a hand to shake his. He looks at it like he's never shaken hands before and then tentatively clasps it in his own. His moist palm betrays his nerves and she decides to go easy on him. "Would you like to see our entertainment room?"
"Sure! I mean-"
Faced with his uncertain enthusiasm, Wanda laughs for the first time since her kidnapping. "Father won't mind. You can go anywhere and do anything I ask of you so long as it does not put my safety in jeopardy or, as of recent events, cause me to leave the palace. I haven't had a decent opponent for Turbo since my brother left."
"You- you mean Pie-Pietro?"
The way he says the name, like Pie is someone to be afraid of makes her frown. It seems as if her brother is becoming more and more like their Father. She shrugs off the news. It's unfortunate but nothing she hadn't already anticipated.
They walk the halls side by side, Toad either too new or too naïve to realize that the 'troops' are supposed to stay a respectful step behind the Maximoffs. She likes it.
OoO
Time passes as it generally does and as the Toad's clear loyalty to one Maximoff in particular becomes more and more evident he is assigned her permanent bodyguard to free up the others for more pressing work. Soon after this, his worth is proven… or at least it should have been.
OoO
Wanda and Toad had been strolling through the streets of Genosia's marketplace when someone unhappy with their lot had gone rogue. Wanda had heard plenty of stories of Toad's ineptness in battle from various Acolytes since the amphibious mutant's arrival on her country's shores. So when everyone in the marketplace including her and her bodyguard are sent flying she makes ready to protect them both. She clambers to her feet and steps in front of him, hexes at the ready, in case the rogue turns their way only for Toad to sweep her into his arms and with powerful thrusts of his legs flee the scene. Setting her down again at the base of the palace he rubs the back of his neck and begins to apologize.
"Heh. Sorry Wanda. I didn't want you to get hurt- I mean- not that you can't handle yourself in a fight- but if Magneto caught you with so much as bruise he'd kill me. Uh. Heh, heh. I mean-"
Toad looks so downcast for having saved her life that she can't help but feel the need to comfort him. Resting a hand on his shoulder she smiles forgivingly, "It's all right Toad. I understand. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for not doing your job."
Immediately he brightens. It's then that he realizes how close she is and gulps. In a daze he tentatively lowers his face towards hers. Startled, Wanda realizes what is happening and takes a moment to decide that she doesn't care. With an impetuous twitch of her fingers she hexes the shadows surrounding their location into an even deeper veil of darkness and presses her lips against his.
They break away a second later as Toad pulls away babbling. "Don't think this is a good idea. You don't want me. What if the Boss found out? What if Peitro found out! You really don't want m-echk!"
She stalls his babble with another, firmer, kiss. Hesitantly he brings his hands up to her waist as if uncertain as to how to go about kissing someone. Sadly she realizes that this may be his first ever. Someone like him would not have been appreciated growing up in the wider world, and his resulting confidence issues had constantly painted him as an inept dull-witted, fool since joining first her brother's strike team then her Father's troops. No wonder, then, that he backs away from even the chance to have something more than a one side 'pining from afar' relationship with a woman.
But he's not disgusting and he's not worthless. She can see that even if no one else does.
Breaking apart again she grins childishly at him eliciting a small but genuine grin in return.
"You should make an appearance with your Father. Magneto will be worried about you." He mutters a little reluctantly.
She nods and touches a finger to his lips, "Our little secret?"
He nods vigorously, clearly relieved. "You got it!"
Later that night, after long reassurances that she is fine and that Toad had performed admirably and an, equally long, formal dinner with her Father and sister she is finally allowed to relax her shields, alone again in her rooms.
"You ok Wanda? That fall was pretty bad, I mean-"
Well, almost alone. Toad shares night duty with another guard, allowing him to get some sleep but his replacement isn't due for another hour. She could send him to stand outside and she normally would, but now…
"Thanks Toad. I am a bit sore but I'll be fine in the morning. Just aching muscles."
"Here." She's sitting with her back to the room so she doesn't notice his approach until he lays his hands on her bare shoulders and begins rubbing them in gentle circles. The moisture she'd thought was nervous sweat on their first meeting begins to increase and he rubs the secretion into the pale bruises beginning to appear across the site of her impact with a wooden stall that afternoon. She lets out a sigh of pleasure as the relaxant does its work on taunt muscles.
"Thanks Toad." She repeats herself and means it this time. "You're a one man pharmaceutical."
"Uh-uh. I'm just the hired help." Toad laughs slightly in a blatant attempt to mask the real emotion behind the words. "I can't be anything for myself; you shouldn't be putting ideas in my head."
The tone in his voice, as if he truly believes that he is worthless, sickens her. This is why Genosia is here. This is what the fight for Mutant's is all about. So that people like Toad never have to feel like that. And yet it was his own teammates and fellow mutants that reinforced his conception of himself as useless, disgusting, scum of the earth. Turning she pulls him down over the back and on to the couch with her where he collides with the cushions with a yelp. "Don't think that Toad." She's hissing in her anger before she realizes she's probably only scaring him and backs off a bit. "You're not what everyone says you are. You can be something. You can. You don't have to conform to their expectations. You're worth more than that."
Toad hunches over, expressing his lack of confidence in her words and himself in general without words. They sit in silence. Wanda debates whether a hug will make things better or worse. Before she can decide Toad begins to talk in a low monotone. "I grew up in London y'know? Mother didn't want me. Whoever Father was, I never met him. Grew up on the streets. No one wanted me and no one wanted me near them so I learned how to fight, how to get away. M'not used to this attack and conquer business. That's not how y' stay alive as a loner. Not unless yor invincible. Kill someone and the bobbies and gangs alike will never let you be. I learned how to tread that line, just threatening enough to scare everyone away, just enough of a joke that no one came after me… I thought that when I joined up with Pietro, a Brotherhood y'know?, things would be different."
"We don't really work that way." Wanda murmurs.
"Heh, heh. No. Everything, the 'use excessive force', the 'work as a team'… it's all different y'know? I'm working against a lifetime of instincts here and-"
"And no one's willing to give you a chance to prove what you can do."
"-exactly! Hey!" Toad sends her a strange look, "How do you know what that's like?"
Wanda leans back into the cushions. "I'm more valuable for my name and my blood than my powers. Father has trained me as far as I can be with target practice and theory but he refuses to let me into combat practice; same with Lorna. We're his precious daughters. We don't fight. We don't get out. And we don't get hurt, not even to learn how to really defend ourselves."
"Blimy."
"Yeah. But I've been luckier than you. At least I've always had someone to defend me when I needed it."
Toad meets her eyes to ask permission and then snuggles up next to her. "That's me now, Wanda. And if you like I can work with you. There's lots of ways to practice combat that won't leave a blemish on your skin for Magneto to worry over."
Wanda leans her head on his and closes her eyes. "Thank you T-"
"It's Mortimer."
"Hmm?" The abruptness of his interjection combined with the sudden firmness in his tone surprises her.
"That's the name I call myself when I need papers and things. Mort is some language for 'death'. It was supposed to be scary but no one got the pun. That's me huh? Always the butt of my own jokes. This one time-"
Wanda chuckles as he rambles on, lulling her into sleepy doze. She wakes slightly when he nudges her off of him and lays her out more comfortably on the couch, but by the time she's awake enough to sit up and look around for him he's already shut the door and taken up his post on the other side of the wall. Only a few minutes later his replacement arrives and they exchange places. Wanda listens to him hop away without a word.
OoO
And so, since no one, Magneto least of all, would believe that the disgusting idiot Toad could win the heart of the lovely Scarlet Witch, their tryst continues in secret for far longer than you might expect until, one day, their increased familiarity and a string of almosts finally succeed in igniting suspicion in the heart of the father. To avoid the disastrous consequences of allowing Magneto's fatherly protective streak out to play with the poor Mortimer Toad a charade is conceived and carried out. To all appearances… well, I think you already know this part.
OoO
"I wont hurt you too badly?"
"Hey Scarlet, how many times have you hexed me into walls during practice? I'll be fine."
Wanda smiles. "All right. You better get out of here then. Go gather your props."
With a last grin Toad slumps and pastes on the nervous grin that is no longer quite a reflection of his inner confidence and slinks out of the room.
Wanda exits a few minutes later to meet up with Domino for a long awaited update on the activities of the Brotherhood and, most importantly, her brother. They've been chatting on the balcony of the library for a good hour when Mort trips over his own feet crossing the library and approaches her where she leans against the balcony with a hopeful grin. Clutched in his hands is the saddest bouquet of wildflower she has ever seen. It looks like it was found growing in an abandoned parking lot as grass and leaves make up at least half of it by bulk. She frowns quizzically. "Yes?"
"H-Hi Wanda. I-I thought you might like- like these flowers. I picked them- pickem just for you..." He trails off.
How sweet. With him practically groveling at her feet it's not hard to summon the proper degree of disdain. Reaching out to take the bouquet she lifts her chin and looks down at him as if he were a particularly slow and annoying child and she the epitome of regal patience. "Toad. I have tolerated a great deal from you as I was aware that you have been adjusting to your new circumstances." She raises the fist with the flowers and fires up a hex bolt. "But if you refuse to learn the most basic rules about appropriate conduct of a soldier towards his commanding officers, especially those who are also the daughters of the Leader himself-" Toad backs up a step and gives her the minutest of nods, easily mistaken for a tremor. "-then I will endeavor to teach you some manners!" With an irritated shove she pushes the energy out to engulf him and then sends it, and Toad, flying back through the doors and into a bookcase. Heavy tomes crash down on all sides causing him to yelp as he tries and fails to avoid the missiles. Oh, dear. She hopes that wasn't overboard.
Haughtily she strides over to the doorway. "Pick those up will you?" With a click she shuts doors and turns to face Domino.
"Toad being his old nuisance?" Domino laughs.
Wanda raises a hand to her forehead as if suppressing a headache. "I'm sure you can imagine." Is all she says before directing the conversation back to whether Pietro still sleeps with a teddy bear.
That night she bandages Mort's injuries – all minor – and they plan their next act.
OoO
Toad calls her 'sweetums' and is hurled through a construction partition. The next week he is hurled off a balcony, not once, not twice, but a record four times. That he can land safety from these brief flights without harm makes them a favorite with the secret couple. An amused Magneto offers to replace Toad with another soldier as her guard and send the mishap back stateside. A Scarlet Witch who's pretending to be equally amused tells him not to bother; if nothing else, she points out, Toad will lay down his life for hers no questions asked. It's true, though she's not nearly so caviler about it when she wakes from nightmares of him dying under the guns of a Sentinel meant for her. Time passes and certain people who place more stock in adding up the facts than taking things at their appearance begin to avoid the Witch when Toad is on duty. After all, no one can doubt his loyalty, so their Leader's daughter is no danger. On the other hand if they ever, even accidentally, reveal the true nature of the duo's relationship to Magneto they will almost certainty suffer the same fate as Toad….only under the hands of the Witch and her probability hexes. So the few who look beyond appearances are well bribed to let appearances be appearances without Wanda saying a word to them.
The real question, as you walk past the private music room that Genosia's leader commissioned for his eldest daughter upon her request, might be on the nature of appearing to belong. After all, no one is good enough for Wanda; not in her father's eyes. So it is only because the toad prince appears not to belong with a princess that he is able to appear to belong at her side as her loyal, if lovestruck, guard. And take a peek through the crack in the door. Listen to the strum of guitar strings and the low throaty voice that sends the only other listener into contented sighs as she leans against the very wall you are pressed up against in your eavesdropping. Do they look like a fairytale love story? Do they look like the conspirers behind the only plot successful in pulling the wool over the eyes of the Master of Magnetism? Or do they look like just another couple, enjoying the time they have without thought of how they'll make it last?
I don't know. The important thing is, what do they appear as…. to you?
A/N: I really, really like this idea and so, even though this story is marked COMPLETE, don't be fooled, I will probably be adding a series of one-shot's to it as they enter my head. Thanks again to Surrealist Sinner for the inspiration. Here's a link to his image: : / / . # / a r t / X - M e n - - N e w - ? h f = 1 Just take out the spaces. Responses, comments and critiques welcome as always...
Aannd... I'm off.