Kurt and Toad sat in the dark hold, trying to stave off the boredom that
tended to come with long, trans-Atlantic flights. They had spent the last
hour or so just talking about random things, and they actually had
discovered that they had more than a few things in common.
"So, I guess this'll be a homecoming for you, won't it?" asked Toad.
"Yeah, it will," said Kurt. "I haven't been back to Germany since I first came to the Institute,"
"Planning on going sight-seeing after this mission's over?"
"I might go visit my parents. I haven't talked to them in a while," Kurt said. "My adoptive parents, anyways,"
"Right," said Toad, remembering the relation between Kurt and his real mother, Mystique. "Your family's important to you, ain't it?"
"Yeah," said Kurt. "My adoptive parents were always very friendly to me. It didn't matter that I looked like a demon to them. They were just happy to have a child of their own,"
"You think you ever might try to patch things up with your real mom?" asked Toad.
"No," said Kurt. "She's hurt me too much. She's hurt all of us, remember?"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Toad. "You know, I never really found her that bad. I mean, sure she yelled at us a lot and I guess she did kinda have it in for you guys, but she was ok most of the time. She was a lot better than my real parents, anyways,"
"What were your parents like?" asked Kurt. He had never known where Toad had come from.
"My dad was really strict. He hated me from the day I was born. And my mom was right from Poland, so I could barely understand half the things she said to me. They didn't take it well when they found out I was a mutant. My dad damn near tried to kill me, but my mom stopped him. I don't know how, but Mystique somehow found me and convinced my parents to let her take me in. She's been the only family I've known since,"
"I never knew," said Kurt. "I'm sorry,"
"You don't know who your real dad is, do you?" asked Toad.
"No, I don't," said Kurt. "And right now I don't really need to know,"
"What would you do if you found out it was Magneto?" asked Toad. "Mystique was running away from him the night she lost you, wasn't she?"
"If that were true, I don't know who I'd kill first," said Kurt angrily. "Him, or myself. I don't care if it were true. I'd never accept him as my father,"
"Wow," said Toad. "Sorry I brought it up. Maybe we should talk about something else,"
"Yeah, good idea," said Kurt.
Just then, the plane shifted forwards.
"Woah, what's going on?" Toad asked nervously.
"We're descending. We're going to land soon," said Kurt.
"Thank god," Toad said. "If I don't get out of here soon I may never be able to see again,"
A few minutes later, the plane touched down on the runway and slowly coasted to a stop. Toad breathed a sigh of relief once the jostling had stopped.
"Hey, we probably shouldn't stick around when they open this thing up to get their bags," said Toad.
"Yeah," said Kurt. He took Toad's hand, and they vanished in a puff of smoke.
X
They reappeared on the far side of the runway. It was early in the morning and the skies were dark, so nobody saw them appear. They quickly ran across the tarmac and hopped over a fence. On the other side, Kurt set up the satellite phone and contacted Professor Xavier.
A few moments later, Xavier's face crackled into view.
"Hello, Professor, we've just arrived. Can you hear me?" said Kurt.
"Yes, Kurt, I can here you," said Xavier. "I take it you weren't detected?"
"No problems, Professor," said Kurt. "We're going to follow Gambit and see where he takes us,"
"Good. Cerebro has narrowed Electra's mutant signature to a 30-mile radius of your location. We're going to set out for Germany in two hours. That should give you plenty of time to follow Gambit to Electra's location and gather some reconnaissance before we arrive. We'll rendezvous with you back at the airport at oh-800 your time," "Roger, Professor," said Kurt, and deactivated the phone.
"What does he mean oh-800?" asked Toad.
"Military time," Kurt replied. "It means eight o clock,"
"But that was 6 hours ago!" Toad said, looking at his watch.
"No, silly!" Kurt said. "We're a day ahead of New York right now,"
"Oh," said Toad, blushing a little as he adjusted his watch.
"I just hope we can find a place to rent a car this early," said Kurt, and they set off for the terminal.
X
A little while later, Kurt and Toad were cruising down the autobahn behind the wheel of a sleek silver Mercedes. They were driving a comfortable distance behind Gambit so they wouldn't be noticed. They followed him through the German countryside until they approached the Magneto's castle.
"This looks like the place," Toad said as Kurt stopped the car. They ran up to the edge of a cliff, where Kurt pulled out a set of binoculars and they watched Gambit stop the car at the castle's drawbridge. A moment later the bridge lowered and Gambit drove across. Kurt and Toad watched the car's inhabitants get out. Wanda yawned and stretched as she got out.
"Boy, she's something, ain't she?" Toad asked Kurt.
"Sure, if you like dealing with psychopaths," said Kurt.
"Hey, deep down she's a big sweetheart," said Toad. "Say, how's things with your girlfriend, anyway?"
"Fine, no thanks to you," said Kurt. "Believe it or not, her family didn't try and kill me that night you broke into their house,"
"Oh yeah, right," said Toad. "Sorry about all that. Guess I should have knocked first,"
Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Hey, they're going inside!" said Toad
"I see them," said Kurt. "Hang on a minute. I have to contact the Professor," He set up the phone and waited for it to connect. Several seconds passed before the Professor's face appeared on the screen. The image was very distorted.
"Professor, there's a lot of static on my end. Can you hear me?"
"Just barely," said Xavier. "There must be some interference at your location,"
"Alright," said Kurt. "We've arrived at a castle. This must be where Magneto is. I'm sending you the GPS coordinates now,"
He punched in some numbers on the phone and waited.
"Kurt--- adjust--- not reciev---. -- ease retrans- --ignal. Yo-br--- up,"
Kurt tried to adjust the phone to break through the interference, but it had no effect.
"What's wrong with that thing?" asked Toad impatiently.
"I don't know," said Kurt. "You heard the Professor. Something's interfering with the signal,"
"Here, let me see it," Toad said, picking up the phone.
"What are you doing? Leave it alone," said Kurt.
"Hang on, I think I've got it," said Toad.
"You don't know what you're doing! Let me have it," said Kurt, reaching for the phone.
"Will you wait a sec? I told you I can fix it!" said Toad.
"Toad!" Kurt shouted, and grabbed for the phone. Toad jerked his arm back.
"Hey, leeme alone!" he shouted. Kurt dived for him, and Toad jumped back. As he landed on a rock, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The impact jarred the phone loose from his hand and he watched it bounce off the ground and fall over the cliff.
"No!" Kurt shouted.
"It wasn't my fault!" protested Toad, still looking over the cliff. "Look what you did, you fuzzy freak! If you hadn't, hey, where'd he go?" Toad asked as he turned around. Kurt was nowhere in sight.
Toad scratched his head, trying to figure out where Kurt had gone. A second later, there was a BAMF as Kurt reappeared, holding onto the phone. "Phew, that was close!" he said, wiping a few beads of sweat off his forehead. Then he turned on Toad. "Next time, listen to me when I say not to touch something, will you?" he shouted.
"Hey, sorry, yo," Toad said. "Good thing you can teleport around and stuff,"
"Yes, it IS a good thing," said Kurt. "Otherwise we'd probably be stuck here! Now from now on, listen to me and do exactly what I say, alright?"
"Hey, you ain't the boss of me!" Toad said.
"I am for as long as we're on this mission!" Kurt shot back.
"Fine, whatever, fearless leader," said Toad. "Gambit and the others just disappeared inside. So now what are we gonna do?"
"They're not going anywhere for now," said Kurt. "We're going to wait here until the Professor and the others arrive,"
"How are they gonna know to come here?" asked Toad. "I thought the phone was broken,"
"Even if they didn't get the exact coordinates, they can still trace our signal," said Kurt. "And besides, that castle's pretty hard to miss,"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Toad. "But why just wait around? I say we take a look inside and see what all we can find,"
"We don't know what's in there," said Kurt.
"Ah, c'mon," said Toad. "What are you so worried about? If we run into trouble, you can just teleport us out. And besides, we've got two hours before the rest of your buddies show up. That's plenty of time to scope the place out. Gotta be better than just sitting around doing nothing," he said.
Kurt gritted his teeth. He would have preferred to wait until help arrived. But he could sense that Toad wasn't going to take no for an answer and was probably going to go in anyway, with or without him. If he did, Kurt would need to go along to keep him out of trouble.
"I think I'm going to regret this, but fine. Let's go," he said, and they set off towards the castle.
X
"So, I guess this'll be a homecoming for you, won't it?" asked Toad.
"Yeah, it will," said Kurt. "I haven't been back to Germany since I first came to the Institute,"
"Planning on going sight-seeing after this mission's over?"
"I might go visit my parents. I haven't talked to them in a while," Kurt said. "My adoptive parents, anyways,"
"Right," said Toad, remembering the relation between Kurt and his real mother, Mystique. "Your family's important to you, ain't it?"
"Yeah," said Kurt. "My adoptive parents were always very friendly to me. It didn't matter that I looked like a demon to them. They were just happy to have a child of their own,"
"You think you ever might try to patch things up with your real mom?" asked Toad.
"No," said Kurt. "She's hurt me too much. She's hurt all of us, remember?"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Toad. "You know, I never really found her that bad. I mean, sure she yelled at us a lot and I guess she did kinda have it in for you guys, but she was ok most of the time. She was a lot better than my real parents, anyways,"
"What were your parents like?" asked Kurt. He had never known where Toad had come from.
"My dad was really strict. He hated me from the day I was born. And my mom was right from Poland, so I could barely understand half the things she said to me. They didn't take it well when they found out I was a mutant. My dad damn near tried to kill me, but my mom stopped him. I don't know how, but Mystique somehow found me and convinced my parents to let her take me in. She's been the only family I've known since,"
"I never knew," said Kurt. "I'm sorry,"
"You don't know who your real dad is, do you?" asked Toad.
"No, I don't," said Kurt. "And right now I don't really need to know,"
"What would you do if you found out it was Magneto?" asked Toad. "Mystique was running away from him the night she lost you, wasn't she?"
"If that were true, I don't know who I'd kill first," said Kurt angrily. "Him, or myself. I don't care if it were true. I'd never accept him as my father,"
"Wow," said Toad. "Sorry I brought it up. Maybe we should talk about something else,"
"Yeah, good idea," said Kurt.
Just then, the plane shifted forwards.
"Woah, what's going on?" Toad asked nervously.
"We're descending. We're going to land soon," said Kurt.
"Thank god," Toad said. "If I don't get out of here soon I may never be able to see again,"
A few minutes later, the plane touched down on the runway and slowly coasted to a stop. Toad breathed a sigh of relief once the jostling had stopped.
"Hey, we probably shouldn't stick around when they open this thing up to get their bags," said Toad.
"Yeah," said Kurt. He took Toad's hand, and they vanished in a puff of smoke.
X
They reappeared on the far side of the runway. It was early in the morning and the skies were dark, so nobody saw them appear. They quickly ran across the tarmac and hopped over a fence. On the other side, Kurt set up the satellite phone and contacted Professor Xavier.
A few moments later, Xavier's face crackled into view.
"Hello, Professor, we've just arrived. Can you hear me?" said Kurt.
"Yes, Kurt, I can here you," said Xavier. "I take it you weren't detected?"
"No problems, Professor," said Kurt. "We're going to follow Gambit and see where he takes us,"
"Good. Cerebro has narrowed Electra's mutant signature to a 30-mile radius of your location. We're going to set out for Germany in two hours. That should give you plenty of time to follow Gambit to Electra's location and gather some reconnaissance before we arrive. We'll rendezvous with you back at the airport at oh-800 your time," "Roger, Professor," said Kurt, and deactivated the phone.
"What does he mean oh-800?" asked Toad.
"Military time," Kurt replied. "It means eight o clock,"
"But that was 6 hours ago!" Toad said, looking at his watch.
"No, silly!" Kurt said. "We're a day ahead of New York right now,"
"Oh," said Toad, blushing a little as he adjusted his watch.
"I just hope we can find a place to rent a car this early," said Kurt, and they set off for the terminal.
X
A little while later, Kurt and Toad were cruising down the autobahn behind the wheel of a sleek silver Mercedes. They were driving a comfortable distance behind Gambit so they wouldn't be noticed. They followed him through the German countryside until they approached the Magneto's castle.
"This looks like the place," Toad said as Kurt stopped the car. They ran up to the edge of a cliff, where Kurt pulled out a set of binoculars and they watched Gambit stop the car at the castle's drawbridge. A moment later the bridge lowered and Gambit drove across. Kurt and Toad watched the car's inhabitants get out. Wanda yawned and stretched as she got out.
"Boy, she's something, ain't she?" Toad asked Kurt.
"Sure, if you like dealing with psychopaths," said Kurt.
"Hey, deep down she's a big sweetheart," said Toad. "Say, how's things with your girlfriend, anyway?"
"Fine, no thanks to you," said Kurt. "Believe it or not, her family didn't try and kill me that night you broke into their house,"
"Oh yeah, right," said Toad. "Sorry about all that. Guess I should have knocked first,"
Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Hey, they're going inside!" said Toad
"I see them," said Kurt. "Hang on a minute. I have to contact the Professor," He set up the phone and waited for it to connect. Several seconds passed before the Professor's face appeared on the screen. The image was very distorted.
"Professor, there's a lot of static on my end. Can you hear me?"
"Just barely," said Xavier. "There must be some interference at your location,"
"Alright," said Kurt. "We've arrived at a castle. This must be where Magneto is. I'm sending you the GPS coordinates now,"
He punched in some numbers on the phone and waited.
"Kurt--- adjust--- not reciev---. -- ease retrans- --ignal. Yo-br--- up,"
Kurt tried to adjust the phone to break through the interference, but it had no effect.
"What's wrong with that thing?" asked Toad impatiently.
"I don't know," said Kurt. "You heard the Professor. Something's interfering with the signal,"
"Here, let me see it," Toad said, picking up the phone.
"What are you doing? Leave it alone," said Kurt.
"Hang on, I think I've got it," said Toad.
"You don't know what you're doing! Let me have it," said Kurt, reaching for the phone.
"Will you wait a sec? I told you I can fix it!" said Toad.
"Toad!" Kurt shouted, and grabbed for the phone. Toad jerked his arm back.
"Hey, leeme alone!" he shouted. Kurt dived for him, and Toad jumped back. As he landed on a rock, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The impact jarred the phone loose from his hand and he watched it bounce off the ground and fall over the cliff.
"No!" Kurt shouted.
"It wasn't my fault!" protested Toad, still looking over the cliff. "Look what you did, you fuzzy freak! If you hadn't, hey, where'd he go?" Toad asked as he turned around. Kurt was nowhere in sight.
Toad scratched his head, trying to figure out where Kurt had gone. A second later, there was a BAMF as Kurt reappeared, holding onto the phone. "Phew, that was close!" he said, wiping a few beads of sweat off his forehead. Then he turned on Toad. "Next time, listen to me when I say not to touch something, will you?" he shouted.
"Hey, sorry, yo," Toad said. "Good thing you can teleport around and stuff,"
"Yes, it IS a good thing," said Kurt. "Otherwise we'd probably be stuck here! Now from now on, listen to me and do exactly what I say, alright?"
"Hey, you ain't the boss of me!" Toad said.
"I am for as long as we're on this mission!" Kurt shot back.
"Fine, whatever, fearless leader," said Toad. "Gambit and the others just disappeared inside. So now what are we gonna do?"
"They're not going anywhere for now," said Kurt. "We're going to wait here until the Professor and the others arrive,"
"How are they gonna know to come here?" asked Toad. "I thought the phone was broken,"
"Even if they didn't get the exact coordinates, they can still trace our signal," said Kurt. "And besides, that castle's pretty hard to miss,"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Toad. "But why just wait around? I say we take a look inside and see what all we can find,"
"We don't know what's in there," said Kurt.
"Ah, c'mon," said Toad. "What are you so worried about? If we run into trouble, you can just teleport us out. And besides, we've got two hours before the rest of your buddies show up. That's plenty of time to scope the place out. Gotta be better than just sitting around doing nothing," he said.
Kurt gritted his teeth. He would have preferred to wait until help arrived. But he could sense that Toad wasn't going to take no for an answer and was probably going to go in anyway, with or without him. If he did, Kurt would need to go along to keep him out of trouble.
"I think I'm going to regret this, but fine. Let's go," he said, and they set off towards the castle.
X