Author Notes: Thanks once again to Gremblin - you are keeping me writing. Bad language again (I'm sorry, okay? Answer honestly, can you imagine Toad NOT swearing in situations like this?!?)

Chapter 6

"Imy. Imy, please wake up." Toad shook his friend desperately, but she remained unmoving. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised – she had just transported them both across the Atlantic after almost turning half the X-Men into charred messes.

Mort would admit it. He was scared. Never had he been this frightened in the service of Magento, or in Xavier's 'care'. Not since he was a child did he remember having this almost primeval, suffocating feeling of terror. He had known Imogen was powerful, but now he had a foreboding sense about the whole thing. She seemed to be advancing fast, in a very uncontrolled manner, in a way that clearly left her drained to the point of collapse. Toad shook his head vigorously, trying to clear his thoughts. He was in way over his head, and it was only going to get worse.

Not only was there the issue of Imy's power, but there was also the problem of how to keep her safe. He wasn't an expert, but something told him that a green mutant terrorist holding an unconscious, seemingly human girl in a run down park at an ungodly hour in the morning would not go down well in any circle of authority. He had to get them somewhere safe, but the only safe place he knew in England was a mutant underground movement based in Edinburgh that had just been starting up when he had joined Magneto. He trusted them, but how the hell was he supposed to get Imy all the way there without being caught?

The sound of voices broke through Toad's thoughts, drunken, but youthful. A bottle smashed. As he squinted down the road, he could just make out a group of about seven lads, staggering slightly, yelling at each other in tones that were both hostile and amicable. He watched as two at the back engaged themselves in a wrestling match, which ending with them both lying in the road. The one at the front stopped, "Oi! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The other voices stopped their own conversations, "This is our patch, ain't it? Fuck off!"

Toad had a horrible feeling this was not going to end well. The one next to the first one's shoulder (clearly these two were slightly less drunk, and boasted a brain cell count that was faintly above that of their companions) nudged his friend in the ribs, "Look at 'im. He's green!"

The first one whacked him over the head, "Don't be a knob."

"He is! Look!"

A third spoke up, scrambling from his place in the road, "Oi, I reckon he's one of them mutants, ain't he? And what bout her?"

Toad tensed as the words turned to Imy. The first one grinned, "Get 'em!"

"Oh fuck." He had to run. Scooping up Imogen's limp form, he took one fearful glance at the teenagers pelting towards him, and ran in the other direction. A sharp pain in his shoulder made him cry out as one of them lobbed a brick at him. He stumbled and fell, Imy's still body rolling from his grasp. He turned to face them. He dearly wanted to fight, but now he had Chaos with him, he didn't want to risk getting knocked out and them…

He glared. With any luck, they might be easy to scare. He took a bounding leap, and wrapped himself around a lamp post about halfway up. "What the fuck?" The leader drew a knife. Damn, apparently not.

One of the idiots started to walk towards Imogen, and Toad felt his anger darken. It didn't matter what Imogen said. This had nothing to do with them being human. They were bastards and deserved to be hurt. A lot. He jumped down, kicking the closest one in the head, only to be caught along his cheek with a sharp edge of a shard of glass. He kicked and punched wildly, his martial arts training sending his body into automatic, while his mind whirled with worry, panic and fear. There were so many of them. It didn't matter whether they were drunk or not, sheer numbers gave them an advantage. Toad delivered a roundhouse kick to the leader, using up most of his energy reserves. He staggered into two others, giving Toad the opportunity he needed. Snatching up a discarded knife from the floor and hoisting Imogen into his arms, Toad ran and ran and ran.

"Professor, this is ridiculous. We're wasting time." Storm growled, "Toad has Imogen, you need to find them!"

The staff of the academy were in one of the many libraries of the manorial home and school. Xavier shook his head, "You are forgetting, Ororo, Mortimer has no teleporting capabilities. It was Imogen who did it."

"Do you really think her power is elemental?" Scott asked.

Xavier shook his head, "I don't know. Without being able to see within her mind, it is impossible to tell for sure. However, whatever her true power is, she is lost in the world with Toad, and for that, we need to find them both. Before Magento."

Logan frowned, "How the hell would he know about the kid?"

"How does he find out about any of the mutants?" The Professor answered with a question with his own, "Logan, I want you to take Jean and Storm on the X-Jet. As soon as I have location on Toad, I'll send you after them both. Be aware that both of them will be scared, and unlikely to be acting rationally. I want them both back here."

"What on Earth brings you here at this late hour, Raven?" Magneto looked up and smiled as a blue woman walked into the room.

"News from Xavier's. It's a new mutant. She's been there for a while now; she's the one I told you about; the one who I thought Mortimer was trying to turn. Her name is Imogen, or Chaos, and she has a very volatile power. The first good look of her that I got was yesterday. She almost burnt the school to the ground, killing Logan in the process, not that it mattered, and then transported herself and Toad out of the school grounds. All of Xavier's mutants were shocked. She's powerful Eric."

A small smile spread on Magneto's face, "Ah, but then why has Callisto not sensed her?"

"She has mental shields like your helmet, I heard Xavier talking about it with the others. I couldn't get any closer, or I would have found out more. That man has tightened security since the last time. But she will be with Mortimer."

"Good work, my dear. Fetch Callisto on your way out, won't you? It seems we've got some hunting to do."

The sun was just rising, the warmth beginning to spread and evaporate the morning dew, heralding what promised to be a hot, humid day. Mortimer sat curled up in a crumbling underpass. It was overgrown, weeds creeping through cracks in the blank grey walls. It ran below a now disused road system, one that was never completed before a new bypass was decided upon. It was this that made Toad almost certain that they would not be found. There were very few houses on this edge. A few burnt out prefabs, but that was all. Rubble indicated work once thought about, but never followed though to completion.

It had taken Toad the remainder of the night to get them this far out into the isolation of the outskirts, and now his whole body felt like it was falling apart. Imogen still had not made a sound since earlier that morning, or whatever the hell the time difference made it. He supposed it was tomorrow morning now. As the sun rose, the evaporated water hung in the air in such a way that it made you feel as if the very concrete was trying to suffocate you, encase you and keep you for its own.

Toad absently stroked Imogen's cheek, thinking about how he would fix everything. Nothing came to mind.

To Be Continued…

Author Notes: I would be updating sooner, but blame the stupid dark ages. If someone had actually taken the time to write down whether there was or wasn't an invasion in no uncertain terms, I wouldn't be doing this stupid coursework -seethes-.

Anyway, hope you stick with me!