The Return (Part Two)

Toad stood there. He was dressed in a dark green shirt with black pants. He was wearing a long black trenchcoat and had on a bandana with gold markings on his forehead. He had a Bo staff strapped to his back. He did not look pleased to see his former teammates.

"That's impossible!" Mystique sputtered. "You…You…AAGGGGH!" She screamed as Todd doused her with a generous amount of slime.

Todd stormed up to Pietro. "Whatsa matter?" Todd snarled. "Ain't you ever seen a dead guy before?" Pietro just stood there in shock with his mouth wide open. He didn't even move.

Which is how Todd was able to knock him out with one good sock to the jaw with his fist.

"It's Toad!" Fred said happily. "Hey Toad's alive!"

"Yeah now kill him!" Mystique shouted as she tried to clear the slime off of her.

"Back off Toad," Lance started to shake the ground. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"Funny," Todd leapt into the air. "Can't say the same for you!" He did a flip and kicked Lance in the chest, enough to wreck his concentration. That didn't knock Lance out, but a punch to the jaw did.

"Okay it's time to put a Toad on the Barbie!" John snarled sending a wave of flame at him. "AAAAHHHH!" John screamed as Todd covered him with slime. The fire died out. "What? I can't make any fire come out! He stopped up my flame-thrower!"

"Anybody tell ya you can't light a fire with a wet match?" Todd quipped as he advanced on him. A few swift punches took care of him.

"Don't just stand there with your big mouth open!" Mystique snarled at Fred. "Do something!"

"Okay," Fred said reluctantly. He screamed and he charged Todd who dodged him easily.

"Speed never was your strong suit eh Blob?" Todd shouted as he easily dodged Fred's attacks. "Here's a little trick I cooked up!" He spat some kind of purple goop on Fred's face.

"YEOWWWW!" Fred screamed, blinded. "THAT BURNS! MY EYES! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY EYES!" He tried to tackle Todd but fell flat on his face.

"Did you know some toads can spit out some kinds of acid?" Todd sneered. "Well now this one can!"

"I'm gonna get you!" Fred screamed trying to grab Todd. "Stop hopping around and stand still!"

While this was going on, the other X-Men were waking up. "What's going on?" Kitty asked dazed. "Wait…is that…Toad?"

"Yeah," Rogue watched the battle, unable to keep her eyes off it. "And he's kicking major butt!"

"Ole!" Todd crowed as Fred crashed into a wall.

"You pathetic little…" Mystique attacked him, but Todd deflected her attacks easily. She started to fight but soon her attacks turned into defense moves. To her horror, Todd was striking back, fighting like a wild animal. "You can't beat me!" She screamed, trying to convince herself more than Todd.

"Wanna bet?" He pulled a leg sweep and knocked her down.

As Mystique got up Todd spit more of the purple slime. This time it hit her left hand. She screamed in agony. "That hurts!" She snarled.

"GOOD!" Todd snapped as he attacked her with his fists, actually able to hit her once or twice.

"Man he's really pounding her," Scott gasped.

"Can you blame him?" Kitty asked as she helped free the others using her phasing abilities. "Uh …should we help?"

"I think Toad's got this under control," Jubilee said.

Mystique realized that she was tiring rather quickly. In fact, she could hardly move her left arm. "What did you do to me?" She snarled.

"Oh just another little side effect," Todd railed on her as she tried to escape. "That spit also has a paralyzing effect. Pretty handy for a useless incompetent huh?"

He kicked her hard, sending her flying. "We got to stop him!" Kurt gasped. "He'll kill her!"

"Go ahead," Bobby said. "Be my guest!"

Kurt ported in front of Todd. "Enough!" Kurt shouted, blocking his way in front of Mystique. "Don't do this!"

"Out of my way fuzzball!" Todd snarled. "You ain't exactly on my list of favorite people right now, so don't think I won't trash you too!"

"You can't kill her!" Kurt grabbed him. "I won't let you!"

"That's not a problem for me," Todd snarled as he tossed Kurt aside. "You have no idea the hell that witch has put me through! And I ain't the only one! This ends right here, right now!"

"I don't think so!" Mystique pulled out a gun. "This will take care of you once and for all!"

Suddenly her gun was sliced in half by a scimitar. She looked in shock as a huge bald man with a little brown moustache grinned over her.

Three other huge men came up. "Now what did you go and do that for Taurus?" One of them joked. "You broke the lady's weapon!"

"That's no lady," Taurus snickered. "That's Mystique!"

"You got that right," A huge bald black man with a moustache and goatee stood over her. "Lady you lost this fight!"

"That ain't all she's gonna lose," Todd snarled.

Suddenly everything flew around them, crates, boxes, dirt, and bits of metal. "Forget about me?" Wanda appeared out of nowhere. "Mystique move it!"

She and the Brotherhood fled while Wanda covered them. Soon they were gone. "She's getting away!" Todd started to go off after her.

"Forget it," The black man held his shoulder. "She got away. We'll get her another day. Let 'em go running back to their masters. Right now we gotta deal with a few more trespassers!" He glared at the X-Men.

"Wait," Kitty looked at Todd. "You've been alive all this time?"

"You're the mutant we were sent to find?" Evan groaned. "Talk about a wasted trip!"

"You're welcome!" Todd snapped. "See what I mean Roadblock?"

"Now that Toad has saved your rear," Roadblock looked at them. "Care to tell us what you are doing here?"

"Uh…" Kurt gulped as the huge men glared at them. "Would you believe we were in the neighborhood?"

"So what do we do with them?" Taurus asked.

"Uh," Scott gulped. "We could just go right about now…"

"Red Dog, Mercer," Roadblock motioned. The other two Joes blocked their way. "I think it's safe to say, with us now you are going to stay. At least until we have a nice long chat with your professor."

"Good!" Todd smiled. "I'll get the stockade ready!"

"Toad!" Roadblock groaned.

"What?" He looked at him. "They were breaking and entering! Even I know you're not supposed to do that!"

"I was thinking more along the lines of them sleeping in the barracks," Roadblock told him.

"Rats," Todd grumbled.

"Oh man," Bobby groaned. Mercer grabbed him by the shirt.

"Listen you little twerp," Mercer hissed. "You are getting off way too easy! Do you know what usually happens to people who break into our home unannounced?" His eyes seemed to glitter. "It's not very pretty."

"At ease Mercer," Roadblock told him. "Now let's all now take a little walk. With Xavier we are gonna have a talk."

"Shouldn't we try to make a break for it?" Kurt whispered to Scott.

"Oh please do," Todd grinned. "Make my day."

"I think we'd better wait for the Professor to get here," Scott said. He saw several other Joes appear.

"You kids?" Falcon shook his head when he saw them. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Let's just get some sleep and call it a day," Roadblock said. "All of you kids okay?"

"We're fine," Kitty told him.

"We'll get you kids cleaned up and fed," Roadblock sighed. "Then it's off to bed. And you too Toad. You and I might as well sleep with them tonight. I wanna keep these kids within my sight."

"Oh goody," Kurt grumbled. "A sleepover with the Toad."

"This ain't exactly my idea of a fun evening either you know!" Todd snarled as they went into the barracks.

"I just got a call," Dial Tone told Roadblock. "The Professors on his way. He should be here in a few hours."

"Oh goody," Roadblock sighed. "This is gonna be fun all right. Better hold on to your horses it's gonna be a long night!"