Well, I'm surprised to be doing such an early update but I had this chapter done unexpectedly early and since people haven't reviewed much, I figured I could put another chapter up. Yes, the last chapter was a violent and slightly gruesome piece of fiction from me, but lets face it, I did rate this fic at T for a good reason. because it gets violent, there's vulgarity and yes, that's life. So I have the next chapter and hopefully it will pick up nicely from the previous one.

Well, last time we had it it appeared that Todd had recieved an injection of some form and we don't know what it has done to him yet. In this chapter, the jack is out of the box and the party is about to start. I think the overall chapter is at a decent level and I feel that it will do well. Just keep in mind everyone, the end is coming and I'm plotting a sequeal and a possible spinoff but more on that later.

For now, just read and enjoy the chapter!

The Next Stage

It hurt to breathe….it hurt to move….

As morning came, he was barely conscious but he had been unable to black because of the small tremors of pain. They were just in the right order that kept him semi-conscious for most of the night. He barely felt anything when Magneto released him from his bounds, collapsing on the floor, and Gambit and Colossus helped him stand before they helped carry him from the room.

Todd could hear the rasps as he tried to breathe, wondering it his lungs were bruised or just collapsed, or even if he was just too damn sore everywhere to know what was wrong. He could walk but just barely, his legs shaking whenever he put weight on them and he would have fallen over if Remy and Piotr hadn't been carrying him. The cuts on his chest, scars that had been reopened by the brute Sabertooth, had stopped bleeding but still gaped open.

But still, his jeans and his tattered shirt were covered in dried blood, his face caked in it down one side.

His gums were ripped and his left eye was swollen a bit, but his ears were perfectly fine. He may have had a hard time speaking or been visually impaired a bit, but his hearing was razor sharp. Hence why the next command he heard made his body stop shaking, his vision sharpen and stop the two pulling him along.

"Bring me the clone, Sabertooth." Magneto's voice echoed into the room, the bestial man snarling in acknowledgement.

His body was destroyed, but he held his two captors still with ease. He was exhausted from his torture session, but his mind was suddenly alive in a fury. Remy tugged on his arm lightly and as he peered at the amphibious mutant, he saw the amber eyes dark to a rich gold color with red specks.

Jean watched the teenager's body shake as Piotr managed to drag him a few feet, Toad glancing over his shoulder. He watched as a bond and thrashing X23, dried blood over her already healed wounds, was carried into the room and roughly tossed on a table. And then Magneto's back blocked his view.

The red haired psychic's powers were dimmed and block by the barriers she was behind, but it didn't take a telepath to know what Todd was thinking. Piotr, fed up with Todd being difficult, lifted him up and tossed him roughly on his shoulder.

"Hey, mon ami, be careful. The boss told us to just-" A blood curdling scream interrupted Remy as Todd rammed his knee to the unprotected face of Piotr.

The large man stumbled back and gripping the back of the massive man's shirt, Todd swung his legs around the Acolyte's neck. Squeezing his thighs together and falling back, Todd bucked his entire body to throw Colossus off his feet and spin with his flip. The large man fell on his back and Todd jumped up as he swung his hands around, the shackles swinging under his feet. As he dropped down, he brought his fists and chains down on the prone form of Colossus, his body going limp as he fell unconscious.

Todd leapt back and his hands touched the ground before he rolled down to his feet, jumping to the side as Gambit threw an explosive card at his body. Remy was taken back by the appearance of the teenager, his torn body rippling with strength as his body swept back and forth before shooting forward. The Cajun rolled out of the way and those present were shocked when Todd's leg ripped through a wall, the rubble falling from his legs as his limb tore through.

Gambit back up as the boy pressed his attack and pulled his staff out, trying to block the kicks that the boy kept throwing at him. But the thing was no matter how much he blocked the kicks, he was still being shoved around like a rag doll and with each kick the attack got stronger. Todd's body dropped low and his leg unexpectedly clipped Gambit's heels, tossing him up in the air and then to the floor. As he landed, the Cajun watched as Todd's leg kept spinning around and he fluidly tossed himself in a cartwheel, his knee flying down at the man's chest. Rolling to the side, Gambit was startled to watch as Todd's knee shattered the cement under it and his shock got him a kick to the chest as Todd flipped onto his feet.

The green mutant's torso suddenly dropped down and his leg came around with so much speed that it pretty much cut the pipe, the heel continuing on until it connected with Gambit's ribcage. The Cajun mutant was sent rolling on the floor and into a set of table legs, his entire chest on fire. As he shakily got up, his leg like jelly after that strike, Gambit looked up in time to see the green tongue whip him along side his head, dropping him as it connected to his temple.

Todd's head snapped to the room were X23 was being held and began to make his way over when a serpent of flame raced at him. The amphibious mutant leaped backwards, sliding back on his toes and palms as Pyro came around, cackling madly.

"Ho, ho, seems a toad what to get barbequed!" He screamed as his flamethrowers sprayed streams of fire out. "Ya really wanna fight me, boyo?"

"Fight you?" Todd spat, his voice almost unrecognizable as he pulled the remnants of his shirt from his pants and threw them aside. "I'll beat the living shit out of you!"

Pyro hadn't expected that answer and was even more when Toad leaped backward, squatting on the wall. He then rocketed off the wall and shot across the room like a hyper bouncy ball, bouncing off another. The pyromaniac Aussie tried to follow the green teenager but the dark setting of the room made him blend in like a shadow, sending fire balls after Todd just after he moved. Todd then shot off another wall and made a beeline for Pyro, the Aussie leaping to the side.

The green mutant landed on his hands and flipped backwards, dodging a length of flame. Todd continued to dodge and bounce around the fire controller, blood splattering all over the lair as he moved and continually pissed off the redhead. Pyro extended his hands and Todd paused as he saw the room was suddenly covered with small points of fire, the room now cast in a ethereal glow.

But before Pyro could send all the fire at Todd at once and cook his green ass, a large hand cracked him behind the head. He crumpled down like a sad sack of potatoes, all the points of fire latched on the nearest burnable source of energy. Todd stared at his enemy's prone figure and then lifted his new, dark eyes to a pair of equally dark eyes.

"We will finish what we started, boy." Sabertooth snarled, tearing his shirt off and flexing all his muscles. "That way there will be no question-"

Sabertooth gagged as his stomach was impacted, the blow strong enough that his organs rattled. Todd's knee was imbedded an inch and half through his abs and when the limb was ripped out, the amphibious mutant leapt to the side while clocking him across the face with his shin.

"You talk too much, kitty-cat."

The feral mutant staggered from the blow and glared at the teenager, who glared back from him odd looking stance. Sabertooth lunged at the boy who leapt to the side used his tongue to wrap around his neck and throw him against the wall. The impact was nothing but the fact that Todd punched him instead of kicking him and that it nearly hurt as much made Sabertooth unprepared for the roadhouse kick that followed the punch.

Sabertooth's large arm stopped the kick, even if the force of the impact rippled through his muscles, and he booted the boy with the heel of his foot. Todd fell back, panting as his chest stung from the wounds, and propped himself up as he stood up. Sabertooth hacked and slashed at the green teenager, the tips of his claws catching the left side of his face. Todd spun with the blow and dropped down to slam his knee into the side of Sabertooth's knee, popping the joint out.

Sabertooth buckled and fell but grabbed the teenager by the ankle, smashing him against the wall and then slamming him on the ground. Todd spat out a mixture of slime and blood, clenching his teeth as the larger man lifted him again. Opening his mouth almost to the point he unhinged it, the amphibious mutant lashed his tongue around the other man's neck and squeezed.

Sabertooth felt his breathing stop and his arm shudder before falling on his side. He pulled at the thing around his neck and felt his head getting heavy from the lack of oxygen, growling when Toad dislocated his arm. Letting the boy go, he stabbed the thing and suddenly it unraveled and the green teenager was cradling his mouth while blood pooled out of it.

The feral mutant hacked and wheezed his breaths as he stood and towered over the prone boy, his arm popping back into place. "Still a weak, spin-"

Again he was silenced, but this time Todd had slammed both feet up and in-between the man's legs. Throwing him a good foot and a half in the air, Todd watched as the man skidded across the floor before standing up. He may have been suffering from blood loss and his muscles may have been at half of their normal strength, but that was still a great deal stronger than any average man. Staggering over, he jogged the last four steps so he could kick the feral mutant's head like a football.

Sabertooth staggered about, the blow even more crippling as having his lungs impaled and a broken arm. But Todd knew this enemy too well; as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, Todd kicked him again in the side and lifted him onto his feet with enough force to shatter those ribs. Jumping and twisting his hips at the same time, both shins bashed into Magneto's right hand man and sent him out a window, out into the pouring rain.

Todd didn't care to look were he fell because for one, he didn't care that much, and two, a metal table slammed into him and sent him roll across a room. Rolling onto his chest, his arms shook as he pushed up and then his head jerked up as a chain wrapped tightly around his throat, pulling him to his feet.

"You know, Toad, off all the subordinates that I've had, you were the last one I thought that would turn on us." Magneto said snidely, Todd growling as he tried to breathe. "Who would have guessed you could have grown a back bone."
"….lucky….me…" Todd choked out, feeling spitting blood as he did so.

"Disgusting worm….how you beat my son, remains a miracle." Magneto said, glaring while Todd actually attempted to laugh. "What is so amusing, boy?"

Todd choked out the answer, still inaudible to the magnetic master and the other people in the room. So Magneto let the chain loosen until he could breathe a little better. Todd gasped in a strained breath of air, coughing before glaring at Magneto. He then smiled and grinned.

"I said….its because….your son….is…an incompetent….spineless…cock sucking fairy…hurk!" Todd choked as the chin tightened and jerked him off the floor, his back and neck striking the rafter above before falling again.

Other chains suddenly lashed out, wrapping around his wrists and ankles and then, rather forcibly, snapped out so his entire body was spread with his neck being pulled back like he was wearing a dog's leash. Todd's muscles swelled at he pulled against the force of the chains, the sadistic torture making each of the X-Men flinch and shake.

Clenching his teeth, Todd actually managed to bring his head up, much to the surprise of Magneto, and the magnetism master floated up to him. The look he gave Todd was one of superiority and disgust.

"If only you had been worth something, maybe the serum would have increased your powers. But now I see you are what you'll always be." Magneto said, scoffing as he turned his back. "A weak reject of a mighty gene pool."

The chains then began to pull even more and Todd felt every joint pulling to the breaking point, his muscles ready to tear at any given moment. He could feel his throat burning as phlegm came up and he coughed it out, his arms shaking as he tried to pull against the force. He knew that this could be the end but he refused to stop fighting now, now after all that he had done.

But even as he fought he could see Lady Death approach with her scythe, shaking his head to free the vision from his eyes.

A soft sizzling sound came to his ear and suddenly the chain holding his neck snapped off, air rushing down his throat like the breath of life. Death smiled at him and disappeared with a wave, Todd gasping as he looked at the falling chains. Some substance with a sick color blend between yellow and purple chewed away at the metal.

Coughing again and spitting the phlegm on his shirt, blinking when the same colored gunk fell on his shirt and began to dissolve the fabric. Twisting his head up, Todd forced his self to gag and drag up that foul substance from within him. Magneto turned just as he spat it at his left and then right wrist, before aiming at his legs.

"You're persistence is annoying!" Magneto spat, reaching out and clenching his fists.

Under the pressure and the effects of the new acidic slime, the chains exploded when Magneto pulled again and Todd dropped to the floor. His legs gave out and he fell onto his hands, which he managed to use to support his body, and twisted his head around to see a table flying at him. Rolling back onto his shoulder with shriek of pain, he swung his legs over so his toes touched the ground and the table missed him by inches.

He then pushed himself up into a handstand as an I-beam fell on the other side of him, rolling off to the side in a cartwheel and then began running while favoring his right leg. Magneto's irritation was apparent in his face and he jerked his hand up, a door swing out and into Todd's side. He stumbled and fell over a table, the table falling on its side saved him from the cabinet that fell after him.

Todd yelled as he raised his legs and the cabinet wobbled above him before falling over. Now he was rightly confused, looking over to see if Jean had helped him but she was just as equally confused. The green teenager stood up painfully and rolled his neck, the pops like bubble wrap. He then took a deep breath and expelled it quickly, the shreds on the floor sliding away from his breath but he didn't notice this.

Jean did, however. As did Magneto.

"So that's your next stage? Acidic spit and an increased lung capacity?" Magneto sneered, raining his hands. "Truly a waste…"

Todd suddenly leapt back and shot off the wall, the wall cracking and dented from the pressure of his legs. He then rocket forward and just as Magneto sent a table at him, the amphibious mutant twisted his body. He landed on the floor before shooting off again, nearly flying into the other room where X23 was.

The girl look worried and horrified at the same time, not even flinching when Todd broke her restraints with three kicks and she then sliced her legs free. She jumped off the table that Todd had been strapped down to and pulled him away from flying chains.

"You okay, Todd?" She asked as she readied herself.

"Like a million bucks, yo." Todd wheezed, spitting blood form his mouth before whispering to her. "Get the X-Men out….we're goanna need them."

"And him?!" X23 yelled as they jumped different ways as the table fly at them.

"Why would you worry about him, yo? He can't even catch me." Todd said, Magneto and the X-Men's jaws dropping as he smiled broadly. "Some superior mutant….can't even kill a frog."

That was the last straw; Magnus tore the support beams out of the walls and twisted them into various shapes. Todd sighed and readied himself, his right leg's bleeding slowly stopping at last. As the first two approached, Todd new that he might be suffering from blood loss but he could take the time to stop as he pulled the acidic substance up from his throat.

X23 was counting on a distraction.

Throwing his body between the two pieces of metal with a twist, he then spat a mouthful of acid at Magneto and then spun to block another piece of metal. Magneto jerked out of the way but some small spittle landed on his chest armor and his helmet, slowly eating away at the metal. Jumping and springing off the next piece that came at him, he used his tongue to pull himself to the roof and carefully hide in a shadow.

Magneto shook his head, trying to wipe the acid off his body and then tossed the chest plate off. Todd then carefully and silently moved in the shadows, trying to arrange a good ambush strike when he watched the magnetic master turn and locked his sights on Laura. Todd then jumped, twisting and flipping in the air as piece of metal came after him.

Magneto turned and started when Todd laded with a thud in front of him, stumbling when Todd punched him. Granted it was nothing like what an uninjured fighter could have down but it still rattled him, his mental grip on the metal objects slipping. Todd went to kick him but a piece of chain shot up and blocked the attack.

Blindsiding him, Magneto pinned him against a wall with the metal and then slapped another piece over his mouth. He then looked back at the clone and saw she had gotten some the bars hacked off, closing off the bulkhead doors that separated their room. It would take the clone a few minutes to get out, even with her claws and the other helping her, and that was all Magneto needed.

"Well, Toad, you surprised me, I'll say that." The older man said, removing his helmet and stared at the boy who was glaring pure hate back at him. "But I'm afraid your all out of tricks and friends. I'll make it painless as possible."

Holding his hand out to the side, a large piece of reinforcing metal twisted into what looked like a large screw. Todd shook and fought, even head-butting the metal mouth restraint with some success. Magneto did admire his determination but his mind was made up and waved the metal at him.

The large body of metal flew forward and before it reach a foot to Todd, a large red bolt of energy flew out of nowhere. It smashed into the twisted metal and slammed it into the wall beside Todd. Magneto spun around and had to fly up and back as long red claw slashed at him, the black demonic body with red markings and red streaks holding a claw up to his face while beckoning.

"He's still got one friend left, asshole." Caleb Ira growled, cutting the metal objects that came at him with his large forearm blades.

The former HYDRA agent hacked and slashed as he approached Todd, cutting him free before turned back to Magneto. Todd fell into a low crouch, breathing heavily as he stared at he older man.

"H…..how'd you….get here, Wrath?" Todd asked, only remembering the man's codename. "Better yet….why, yo?"

"Xavier gave me a call and asked if I could provide some assistance in helping you guys escape." Caleb explained, kicking a piece of metal back so hard that it was cut in half. "I'll explain when we get out of here, but let me give you a fucking hand first, Toad."

Todd nodded and leapt off the floor, Caleb running underneath him while throwing superheated bolts of energy. Magneto was able to block several of the bolts but missed when Todd leapt off Caleb's shoulder and Todd's foot smashed into his chest. Thankfully he was weakened because the blow didn't kill him, only winding him and break a rib or two.

Both landed with thuds, Caleb pulling Todd up while Magneto used his powers to levitate himself. Suddenly the bulk head doors were blast open and there was X23 with Cyclops, Jean, Rouge, Nightcrawler, Iceman and Shadowcat. Todd and Caleb both took up their fighting stances and then tensed even more when Magneto levitated his Acolytes, edging them out of the room.

"It seems you luck has paid off, Toad." Magneto said before leaving, the two fighters racing after him as he rounded a cornered.

Suddenly Sabertooth stepped out of no where and backhanded Caleb to the point that he was embedded in the rock wall. Spinning around, he blocked Todd's kick and then slammed his claws in Todd's chest. The world stopped, Creed's sick and twisted smile as Todd looked at him in mild shock, claws that were buried up to half his hand. Todd suddenly coughed and spat blood, Sabertooth jerking his hand out as residue acid landed on his forearm.

The feral mutant may have continued if Caleb didn't send a small blast of energy from his hand to Sabertooth's face and a telekinetic shove sent him sliding down the hall. Todd rested almost airily on his knees, the sounds of Laura's screams in his ears before she filled his vision.

But he couldn't make out what she was saying, the world going warm and fuzzy as he slipped from consciousness into unconsciousness as his body finally decided to fall. His world was fading with one thing penetrating his thoughts.

"Please, Todd, don't die!"

Dun-dun-DUNNN. Oh dear, I seem to have weaved an extremely tangled web and now have events in a rather….dramatic conclusion….

Ah, but fret not. You all still have another four, maybe five chapters to go before the end has finally clouded the horizons and the story is left completed on your bookshelves. I have reintroduced an OC that many of you should know if you have been following the story so far and I will explain for his return in the next chapter as well something else that I have been plotting and preparing. Insert dramatic laugh.

As for the fate of Toad? Well, some things are cast in stone and other can be washed away with the tides of time, leaving their faded scratches until they are permanently faded. I will leave my cryptic messages and cliffhanging results until the next chapter.

Until then please review and send any ideas or thoughts, whether they are positive or negative, I wish to hear them. They are very interesting and quiet amusing as well, some even making ideas for other stories that I may write.

- Lin