"You suppose maybe Toad did us a favor and ran away?"Blob asked her.
"Not without his slippers," Lance said, pointing
to where they lay on the carpet. One was by the couch; the other had almost
fallen behind the TV.
"He's gonna get pretty cold feet then."
"I think that might be the least of his worries," Mystique said,
looking at the total disorder in the living room.
"Check and see if anything's missing," she said. "Maybe someone broke in."
"Or maybe Toad just trashed this place to get back at us." Blob said.
They searched the house, top to bottom, but nothing was
missing. In fact, the bedrooms hadn't even been touched.
"Something weird is going on."
Toad,meanwhile, woke up in a strange place, with his hands tied behind him.
"Hey!" he groaned. "Let me outta here!"
"Why?" said a strange voice. Todd couldn't even tell if
it was a man or a woman. "Why should I let you go?"
"Why are you keeping me here?"
"I do so hate those who answer a question with a question. Even if it is
rhetorical," the voice said. A shadow moved across the wall--a very BIG
shadow.
I'm gonna die, Todd
thought.
"Why'd you do it?"
"All in good time."
The shadow reared up again, and Todd could feel breath on the back of his neck.
He was too afraid to turn around.
"You're not one of the X-Freaks,are you?"
"What I am," it hissed, "is not your concern."
"Says who?"
An excruciating pain hit him in the base of his spine and
radiated outward. The mystery person had hit him with something. Hard.
"You'll never get away with this," Todd murmured as he passed out.
Meanwhile, Magneto was still at the hospital, keeping vigil by his son's
bedside. He was startled to hear his phone ring.
"Yes? What do you mean he's gone? Well, find him! I have more important
things to worry about!"
He hung up in irritation and then shut off his phone. Maybe Mystique had had the right idea. Throw it down a toilet or something.
"We're on our own," Mystique said.
"You mean Toad's not gonna bug us non-stop anymore?" Blob said hopefully.
"Nope. I'm guessing he's gone for good."
"I doubt we'll be that lucky." Mystique sighed.
"You can't just give up on him! You gotta go find
him!"
"How?" Mystique raised an eyebrow.
"I know how," Lance said. "Get your jacket."
Toad, meanwhile, was trying frantically to escape...but it
was no good.
"You're mine," the stranger said. "Now and forever."
Mystique's eyes widened when she saw where they had ended up--the Xavier
mansion.
"We're not going to--"
"We have to," Lance said. "Something really terrible could
happen to Toad if we don't."
"And that's a bad thing?"
Lance didn't answer. He went up and rang the front doorbell.
"Why don't we just break in?" Blob asked.
"Cause they won't help us if we bust their door down!"
"You sure you want to do this,Mystique?"
She sighed. "No, I'm not sure, but we seem to be out of options."
So she knocked on the door...
Just by luck, exactly the person they wanted answered the
door.
"Ms. Darkholme," Brenda said, "what are you
doing here?"
"Toad's disappeared."
"What do you mean, disappeared? He ran off?"
"We don't know. That's why we need your help."
(A/N: yes, this is Brenda from Mindshadow! She likes to
visit my other stories. Part 4 may be a little longer in coming, but it'll be
worth the wait!)
