Chapter 3: as time goes by

It was a few weeks now since Todd had been employed by Harold and for a while it was great, they ate three decent meals a day they got a wide screen TV and even a play station 2! Lance got his jeep refurbished and given a tune-up and Fred was able to improve and explore more with his recipes and food uses, his roast beef and Yorkshires puddings were to die for!

However after the second week Todd began to come home tired and thirsty he would down a two litres bottle of water before going to bed and sleep until noon the next day. Pietro would laugh and say that this was a bonus they were rich and they didn't have Todd under their feet.

One morning Todd came down and drank another bottle of water, he slumped onto the table and gave a groan Fred flipped a pancake onto a plate and put in front of Todd.

"Here you go!" Fred smiled and Todd looked at it and began to eat slowly, Fred looked at him oddly and surprised Todd when he gently put a hand on his cheek.

"What are ya doing yo?" Todd shrieked Fred rubbed his fingers together and then looked at Todd again who by now was staring at Fred strangely.

"Dude your skin is really dry" he stated "normally I would have got a handful of slime if I did that"

"Well it is summer maybe I'm just drying out"

"Dude if I didn't see you drink like 10 litres of water a day I would say you're de-hydrated" Fred muttered.

"Oooh feels like it too yo…I've got a thumping headache and my tongue is feels than a litter box!" his watch bleeped and Todd sighed "Better head off to work"

"Maybe you should call in sick; I mean you don't look too good"

"Hey I'm the Toad since when have I ever looked good?" Todd laughed and walked out to work.

Todd sat down and began to fill the bottles he finished one tray and stopped but just when he was about to get up and get ready to leave the Door man slapped another tray of bottles in front of him.

"Boss says you gotta do two more trays" he growled and Todd looked at it.

"I keep telling you I can't do it"

"You can and you will" declared Harold "if you don't you won't get paid!"

Todd glared at him and crossed his arms angrily.

"I'm sure your human friends will be very disappointed to learn you haven't got paid, you need the money I need the slime, now do it before I get my friend here to squeeze it out of some other way!" he sneered, Todd looked up sadly and sighed as he grabbed a bottle and filled it. Harold smiled and went back to filling the syringes.

It was late that evening when Todd got back, Lance looked at him as he stumbled past and then collapsed on the sofa. Lance went over to him and poked him only to get a small murmur of discomfort and Todd curling up more tightly.

"Lemme alone" Todd mumbled softly.

"Dude what's up with him?" Lance asked and Fred looked at him sadly.

"I think he's ill I mean is it me or does Todd sleep more lately?" Fred whispered "I think we should save what we've got and let Toad quit"

"Oh no,no,no,no,no,no!" Pietro cried and yanked them into kitchen "com'on we've got a good thing going here! We're getting rich and the X-men can't beat us up because we're doing nothing illegal to get it"

"But Toad…" Fred began.

"Okay let me put it like this, Fred are you hungry?" Pietro demanded.

"No"

"Lance are you cold?"

"No"

"Am I thirsty? No, and why is that because Toad is finally doing something right and we're finally got some money!" Pietro declared happily, Lance growled and dragged Pietro to the living room and pointed to the now sleeping Todd who sprawled over the sofa completely exhausted.

"Look I'm glad we've got the money too but look at him Pietro he's totally spent, he comes home every day and sleeps and then goes again, we don't even know what he does!" Lance declared.

"True but who cares?" Pietro grinned and zipped away, Lance groaned and then sat down next to Todd and flicked on the TV, a news bullet came on and Todd stirred and looked around bleary eyed.

"Huh?" he mumbled.

"You fell asleep on the sofa again…hey what's this?" Lance muttered and turned it up.

"A group of teens have been found dead in the inner city of Bayville; police say that they died from drug abuse. In the crime scene they found empty syringes of a drug called 'Elixir' a drug that can stimulate the muscles and strength…" declared the report lady showing a picture of the apartment.

Todd shot up and stared at the TV his hands were shaking and he clamped them together to stop them trembling.

"This dangerous drug is made from basic household chemicals except for one unknown substance which is the active ingredient for the drug, the police are looking for any suspects and are trying to find the source of this unknown catalyst, we will keep you informed and updated but until then back to you Dave"

Todd hugged his knees and felt tears prick his eyes, he killed some kids? He didn't think that anyone would be stupid enough to take an over dose, he trembled and got up.

"Toad you okay?" Lance muttered.

"No" Todd whispered and ran into his room.

The next day Todd had just left for work and Lance and Pietro followed him silently, they peeked from the bushes and Pietro blew away a leaf which had flopped on his forehead.

"Remind me why are we doing this?" he demanded.

"Todd was really shook up when he heard about that drug thing on the news and plus I want to know what Toad does for a living" Lance declared. They followed him all the way to the 'factory' and watched as he went inside; Pietro lugged Lance over his shoulder and ran up the building to a window where they could watch.

"Hello Todd ready to work are we?" Harold beamed and Todd nodded sadly he walked over to bottles and sat down, Lance looked down to see Harold put a bottle of slime in the machine and see the machine churn out some kind of goo into syringes. He pointed at one and nudged Pietro who in turn nodded and zipped down and grabbed one before Harold or the Door man noticed.

"What is this stuff?" Pietro demanded.

"Trouble"

"Let's get out of here!" Pietro muttered and with that they left, Todd watched as his friends' shadows in the window disappeared and he sighed sadly before starting to fill the first bottle. But something was wrong, he tried but nothing came out, he swallowed as he took a deep breath and focused. He tried again and this time a small amount came out slowly.

"This can't be good" he muttered after painfully filling the first bottle, how long could he keep this up?

Pietro and Lance returned home before they were spotted, all three stared at the syringe and Lance growled angrily.

"I can't believe it! Why on earth would Toad work for that freak?"

"Does it matter he's getting paid!" Pietro demanded.

"Yes it does, we don't do drugs! It just isn't right!"

"Hello this is the Brotherhood! We might as well have a sign or mat saying 'welcome to the Brotherhood leave you morality at the door'!" Pietro cried.

"So what was Toad doing anyway?" Fred asked

"We couldn't see he was sitting on a stool in front of a table but that's it" Lance muttered.

An hour later Todd came home he looked pale and pasty and his head throbbed horribly. He went into the kitchen and got a bottle of water out and closed the door only to find the other standing there.

"Oh hi guys" he muttered Lance slammed something on the table and Todd looked to see a syringe from work.

"Hello Todd maybe you'd like to tell us how you are connected to this" Lance said softly but sternly.

"Well…I…errmm…how did you get it?"

"We found at your work place, there were crates full of these Todd, why were you there!" he demanded angrily "Are you taking them?"

"No…" Todd said.

"So you're dealing them? Is that it?"

"No…" Todd cried.

"Then what Todd? What were you doing in a drug house?" Lance yelled, picking Todd up by the collar and lifting him up.

"I was making them okay!" Todd shouted and Lance shoved him away.

"What?" Fred demanded "You failed Chemistry a thousand times but you can make a drug?"

"No…it's just that…the news said that the drug had an unknown active ingredient in it right? Well you're looking at the guy who makes it. When I was wandering the streets as a kid he took me and taught me how to steal and stuff, when my mutant powers began to show he found that my slime can be used as a catalyst for Elixir, it 's like a steroid only ten times more powerful. I…I…I didn't want to but…we need the money and…" Todd explained.

"Toad I want you to stop, whatever this guy is doing to you is hurting you, I can't remember the last time I saw you catch a fly or hop…you're just not you any more" Lance said and Todd looked at them angrily.

"Since when have you guys given a flying shit on how I am? Look I'm pulling my weight I'm actually proving to you guys that I can do something right and now you want me to stop? I can't stop I…" he shouted but stopped when he started to cough loudly and he put a hand over his mouth and coughed hard enough that blood began to splatter his hand. He looked at his hand and then at the others.

"It's a bit fucking late for you people to care about me!" he whispered and with that leapt out of the open window…

He ran as fast as he could into the park and he collapsed coughing again, he huddled up against a tree and began to cry. A roll of thunder sounded across the sky and it began to rain softly, Todd looked up and sighed as he curled up not caring anymore if he got wet.