Chapter 5
Nightcrawler:
Without further delay we headed to Professor Xavier's office. Rogue and Ms. Grey were there speaking with the professor when we entered.
"Ah, I'm glad you're all here," said the professor. Spotting Wolverine he added warmly, "Wolverine, welcome back."
"Good to be here," he said, nodding at the professor and Rogue and then looking noticeably longer at Jean Grey. Rogue smiled back at Wolverine enthusiastically, and Jean Grey smiled at him for a moment and then looked away. I may have been the newest of the X-Men, but even I could sense the tension. Cyclops moved closer to speak to the professor (and coincidentally closer to Jean Grey).
"Professor," he said, "it seems Phorm and Wolverine spotted Sabertooth today."
"Really?" said the professor.
"Yup," Phorm added. "We got into a little tussle, but he chickened out and ran down an abandoned subway."
"That's strange," said the professor.
"What, Sabertooth running like the cowardly lion?" Cyclops looked a bit annoyed by the interruption, but the professor didn't seem to mind.
"No, it's just that today I was unable to find Sabertooth using Cerebro..."
"Could this possibly have been an illusion or a holographic image?" Jean Grey asked. Wolverine shook his head.
"I doubt it. Whatever it was it fought like Sabertooth, and it definitely smelled like him."
"So what does this mean?" I asked, looking around at the concerned expressions.
"It means that Sabertooth is still unaccounted for, and we will have to investigate this subway further. It's possible I overlooked him earlier or he's found a way to block Cerebro. However, first there is a more pressing issue. Though I was unable to find Sabertooth, I did locate Toad."
"Cool, so where's he at?" asked Phorm.
"The history museum located a few miles south of here," answered the professor. "Beast has the necessary equipment ready downstairs, and Scott will organize the team for a fast and inconspicuous retrieval. I suggest you all move quickly and cooperate, or we may lose this opportunity. Good luck."
I followed the others out of the professor's office and caught up with Phorm, who was hanging back a little ways from the group.
"So, your first mission," she said to me, patting me on the shoulder jovially. "This ought to be fun. When we get there I could morph elephant and..."
"And what?" Said Cyclops, who had apparently overheard Phorm.
"And calmly explain that smoking and flash photography are strictly prohibited inside the museum," said Phorm, smiling sheepishly. Cyclops looked on the verge of giving Sharon a strict reprimand, so I cut in.
"Uh, Sharon, I was curious about something."
"Shoot," she said, turning toward me with a grateful sideways smile. I searched for a legitimate-sounding question.
"How is it that you turn into animals?"
"Oh no, you're starting to sound like Dr. McCoy," she said, rolling her eyes. "You should ask him if you want the scientific details, but pretty much I just focus on any animal I've touched and I change into it."
All six of us entered the elevator that led to the X-Men's underground base of operations. Jean Gray edged closer to Cyclops as Rogue casually asked Wolverine about his trip. I continued talking to Phorm, now genuinely interested.
"You mean you just think about it?"
"Yeah. I kind of form a picture in my mind," she said, lifting her right hand. The small, defined fingers suddenly melded and hardened into a hoof. "And according to Beast, 'this mental picture sends a message through the network of neurons to the part of the brain containing all the imprinted DNA sequences, which then triggers the transformation'. Spiffy, huh?"
I nodded, watching with awe as the hoof split back into five human fingers.
"I've gotten better at it," she added. "When I first started it was slower and I couldn't control which parts morphed when."
The door to the elevator opened and we stepped into the brightly-lit passageway. A large, blue-furred mutant in a lab coat greeted us cordially.
"Greetings and salutations," he said. "The professor informed me you were to recover our amphibious friend and I have been anticipating your arrival." I was taken aback by his eloquent speech, and realized this must be the doctor Phorm had told me about. She'd never mentioned he was, well, big and blue and furry.
"Pardon me for forgetting my manners," he continued, looking to me and then to Wolverine. "We haven't met before, though I have heard of both of you. My name is Dr. Hank McCoy, or simply Beast. You are Wolverine and Nightcrawler, if I'm not mistaken?" We both nodded. He led the group to a conference room where Cyclops informed everyone of the plan over a diagram of the museum.
"We go in, find Toad, isolate him and bring him back for questioning," he said. "Our first objective is to keep him from harming anyone or anything. Like the professor said, we'll need to move quickly and try not to attract attention." Just then I had a troubling thought.
"Excuse me," I said, raising a three-fingered hand, "but how will I avoid attracting attention?"
"I believe this device will solve your predicament," answered Beast, handing me a small black box. It had a clip on one side and a minuscule switch on the other.
"It is a portable holographic projector that creates an image with a radius of approximately two feet. I've enabled it with heat and vibration sensors so the image will be able to mimic your movements, but you'll have to remember to keep your arms and tail within the projection."
I clipped the device onto my belt and flipped the switch. I noticed the air around me flicker slightly for a moment, and the others looked at me wide-eyed.
"Does it work?" I asked, uncomfortable at their shocked expressions.
"Oh yeah," said Phorm. The others seemed equally impressed.
"I may need to make a few adjustments," said Beast, looking me up and down with a scrupulous eye, "but it should function well enough for the time being." He beamed at his handiwork.
"Nice work, Hank," said Cyclops. "Now then, we'll approach the museum in two cars to avoid suspicion."
"What," said Wolverine, "you mean we're not landing the jet on the front lawn?"
"No," said Cyclops dryly. Phorm spoke up enthusiastically.
"The X-Men go on a field trip, oh joy!"
Phorm:
I was in peregrine falcon morph over the museum, and the sun was hovering just over the horizon. Beast had decided to stay back at the mansion but did give us some more nifty toys. To make communication easier we each had a mini-radio transmitter. It's basically the same as any store-bought walkie talkie, only a little bit smaller so that it's inconspicuous. I watched as the rest of the team parked a little ways from the building in two different cars. Out of one car came Cyclops, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler, and out of the second came Rogue, Storm, and Jean Grey. Then I spotted Toad through a window in a large room.
I think I've found froggy, I said to the rest of the X-Men telepathically. The only reason I had a radio was so that they could respond. I saw that the window to the room was open, probably how Toad got in. There were also some statues, pots, etc., which were probably what Toad was after. He's in the Babylonian exhibit on the west side. What can I say, I know my artifacts.
"Good," said Cyclops over the mini-radio. "Keep an eye on him until we get in."
Okie Dokie. I said. Then I saw a group of people though another window.
Uh oh, I said. We got tourists three o'clock.
"We're inside the building," said Cyclops. "Did you say tourists?"
Yeah, I said, a whole bunch of 'em. I think their headed towards the room Toad's in.
"This doesn't sound good," said Kurt.
"What if Toad attacks those people?" asked Rogue.
I'm going in, I announced, not waiting for a reply. I folded my wings and dived towards the open window. Toad was too busy watching the tourists walk in to notice me swoop behind a jewelry display.
"No," said Cyclops over the radio I was still clutching in my talons, "stay as look out." Too late. I quickly demorphed. As the final feather shrank away I took in my surroundings from behind the display. The room was larger than it had looked from the outside. Toad was sticking to the ceiling, looking menacingly down at the unaware group of tourists. I could tell by the look in his eyes what he was thinking, something to the extent of 'It's time for some fun.' I spotted a camera in the corner covered in slime. No doubt Toad's doing.
Meanwhile the tour guide lady droned on about the artifacts, "Now the Babylonian pottery is quite unique due to the blah blah blah…" you get the point. All the while she was oblivious to the danger lurking overhead.
I realized that this was going down here and now, and the others wouldn't be here in time to stop Toad. I needed to lure him away from the tourists, distract him. If I morphed grizzly I'd just scare the people, but if I didn't do something he was going to terrorize those tourists and probably get away with some priceless stuff. Then I got an idea, which, like most of my ideas, was totally insane.
I could feel my eyes bug out just as my skin turned bright red and blue. Before you could say supercalafrajulisticexpialadocious - I was a frog. I checked to make sure the tourists couldn't see me at that angle and hopped up on top of the display case in perfect view of Toad.
Hey Slimeboy, why don't you pick on someone your own species? He looked around for a second, then spotted me on the plexi-glass display. It's hard to miss a bright red and blue frog sticking its tongue out.
Yeah I'm talking to you, you frog-faced freak. What can I say, I'm a trash talker when I have to be. At first he had looked confused, but now he was just mad. Real mad. He didn't even notice the group of tourists exit the room. Good timing on their part.
"Why you little," he said and jumped to the floor. All of a sudden he looked a whole lot bigger.
Yipe! I thought aloud as I turned and started to hop away, trying to reach the open window. He grabbed me by the foot with his tongue and lifted me off the ground. I realized there wasn't enough time to demorph from such a small animal.
Um, I don't know where you guys are but I could really use a little help right now, I said, directing it at the X-Men. Then with a glaring look and a flick of the tongue from Toad, everything went dark.
Nightcrawler:
Without further delay we headed to Professor Xavier's office. Rogue and Ms. Grey were there speaking with the professor when we entered.
"Ah, I'm glad you're all here," said the professor. Spotting Wolverine he added warmly, "Wolverine, welcome back."
"Good to be here," he said, nodding at the professor and Rogue and then looking noticeably longer at Jean Grey. Rogue smiled back at Wolverine enthusiastically, and Jean Grey smiled at him for a moment and then looked away. I may have been the newest of the X-Men, but even I could sense the tension. Cyclops moved closer to speak to the professor (and coincidentally closer to Jean Grey).
"Professor," he said, "it seems Phorm and Wolverine spotted Sabertooth today."
"Really?" said the professor.
"Yup," Phorm added. "We got into a little tussle, but he chickened out and ran down an abandoned subway."
"That's strange," said the professor.
"What, Sabertooth running like the cowardly lion?" Cyclops looked a bit annoyed by the interruption, but the professor didn't seem to mind.
"No, it's just that today I was unable to find Sabertooth using Cerebro..."
"Could this possibly have been an illusion or a holographic image?" Jean Grey asked. Wolverine shook his head.
"I doubt it. Whatever it was it fought like Sabertooth, and it definitely smelled like him."
"So what does this mean?" I asked, looking around at the concerned expressions.
"It means that Sabertooth is still unaccounted for, and we will have to investigate this subway further. It's possible I overlooked him earlier or he's found a way to block Cerebro. However, first there is a more pressing issue. Though I was unable to find Sabertooth, I did locate Toad."
"Cool, so where's he at?" asked Phorm.
"The history museum located a few miles south of here," answered the professor. "Beast has the necessary equipment ready downstairs, and Scott will organize the team for a fast and inconspicuous retrieval. I suggest you all move quickly and cooperate, or we may lose this opportunity. Good luck."
I followed the others out of the professor's office and caught up with Phorm, who was hanging back a little ways from the group.
"So, your first mission," she said to me, patting me on the shoulder jovially. "This ought to be fun. When we get there I could morph elephant and..."
"And what?" Said Cyclops, who had apparently overheard Phorm.
"And calmly explain that smoking and flash photography are strictly prohibited inside the museum," said Phorm, smiling sheepishly. Cyclops looked on the verge of giving Sharon a strict reprimand, so I cut in.
"Uh, Sharon, I was curious about something."
"Shoot," she said, turning toward me with a grateful sideways smile. I searched for a legitimate-sounding question.
"How is it that you turn into animals?"
"Oh no, you're starting to sound like Dr. McCoy," she said, rolling her eyes. "You should ask him if you want the scientific details, but pretty much I just focus on any animal I've touched and I change into it."
All six of us entered the elevator that led to the X-Men's underground base of operations. Jean Gray edged closer to Cyclops as Rogue casually asked Wolverine about his trip. I continued talking to Phorm, now genuinely interested.
"You mean you just think about it?"
"Yeah. I kind of form a picture in my mind," she said, lifting her right hand. The small, defined fingers suddenly melded and hardened into a hoof. "And according to Beast, 'this mental picture sends a message through the network of neurons to the part of the brain containing all the imprinted DNA sequences, which then triggers the transformation'. Spiffy, huh?"
I nodded, watching with awe as the hoof split back into five human fingers.
"I've gotten better at it," she added. "When I first started it was slower and I couldn't control which parts morphed when."
The door to the elevator opened and we stepped into the brightly-lit passageway. A large, blue-furred mutant in a lab coat greeted us cordially.
"Greetings and salutations," he said. "The professor informed me you were to recover our amphibious friend and I have been anticipating your arrival." I was taken aback by his eloquent speech, and realized this must be the doctor Phorm had told me about. She'd never mentioned he was, well, big and blue and furry.
"Pardon me for forgetting my manners," he continued, looking to me and then to Wolverine. "We haven't met before, though I have heard of both of you. My name is Dr. Hank McCoy, or simply Beast. You are Wolverine and Nightcrawler, if I'm not mistaken?" We both nodded. He led the group to a conference room where Cyclops informed everyone of the plan over a diagram of the museum.
"We go in, find Toad, isolate him and bring him back for questioning," he said. "Our first objective is to keep him from harming anyone or anything. Like the professor said, we'll need to move quickly and try not to attract attention." Just then I had a troubling thought.
"Excuse me," I said, raising a three-fingered hand, "but how will I avoid attracting attention?"
"I believe this device will solve your predicament," answered Beast, handing me a small black box. It had a clip on one side and a minuscule switch on the other.
"It is a portable holographic projector that creates an image with a radius of approximately two feet. I've enabled it with heat and vibration sensors so the image will be able to mimic your movements, but you'll have to remember to keep your arms and tail within the projection."
I clipped the device onto my belt and flipped the switch. I noticed the air around me flicker slightly for a moment, and the others looked at me wide-eyed.
"Does it work?" I asked, uncomfortable at their shocked expressions.
"Oh yeah," said Phorm. The others seemed equally impressed.
"I may need to make a few adjustments," said Beast, looking me up and down with a scrupulous eye, "but it should function well enough for the time being." He beamed at his handiwork.
"Nice work, Hank," said Cyclops. "Now then, we'll approach the museum in two cars to avoid suspicion."
"What," said Wolverine, "you mean we're not landing the jet on the front lawn?"
"No," said Cyclops dryly. Phorm spoke up enthusiastically.
"The X-Men go on a field trip, oh joy!"
Phorm:
I was in peregrine falcon morph over the museum, and the sun was hovering just over the horizon. Beast had decided to stay back at the mansion but did give us some more nifty toys. To make communication easier we each had a mini-radio transmitter. It's basically the same as any store-bought walkie talkie, only a little bit smaller so that it's inconspicuous. I watched as the rest of the team parked a little ways from the building in two different cars. Out of one car came Cyclops, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler, and out of the second came Rogue, Storm, and Jean Grey. Then I spotted Toad through a window in a large room.
I think I've found froggy, I said to the rest of the X-Men telepathically. The only reason I had a radio was so that they could respond. I saw that the window to the room was open, probably how Toad got in. There were also some statues, pots, etc., which were probably what Toad was after. He's in the Babylonian exhibit on the west side. What can I say, I know my artifacts.
"Good," said Cyclops over the mini-radio. "Keep an eye on him until we get in."
Okie Dokie. I said. Then I saw a group of people though another window.
Uh oh, I said. We got tourists three o'clock.
"We're inside the building," said Cyclops. "Did you say tourists?"
Yeah, I said, a whole bunch of 'em. I think their headed towards the room Toad's in.
"This doesn't sound good," said Kurt.
"What if Toad attacks those people?" asked Rogue.
I'm going in, I announced, not waiting for a reply. I folded my wings and dived towards the open window. Toad was too busy watching the tourists walk in to notice me swoop behind a jewelry display.
"No," said Cyclops over the radio I was still clutching in my talons, "stay as look out." Too late. I quickly demorphed. As the final feather shrank away I took in my surroundings from behind the display. The room was larger than it had looked from the outside. Toad was sticking to the ceiling, looking menacingly down at the unaware group of tourists. I could tell by the look in his eyes what he was thinking, something to the extent of 'It's time for some fun.' I spotted a camera in the corner covered in slime. No doubt Toad's doing.
Meanwhile the tour guide lady droned on about the artifacts, "Now the Babylonian pottery is quite unique due to the blah blah blah…" you get the point. All the while she was oblivious to the danger lurking overhead.
I realized that this was going down here and now, and the others wouldn't be here in time to stop Toad. I needed to lure him away from the tourists, distract him. If I morphed grizzly I'd just scare the people, but if I didn't do something he was going to terrorize those tourists and probably get away with some priceless stuff. Then I got an idea, which, like most of my ideas, was totally insane.
I could feel my eyes bug out just as my skin turned bright red and blue. Before you could say supercalafrajulisticexpialadocious - I was a frog. I checked to make sure the tourists couldn't see me at that angle and hopped up on top of the display case in perfect view of Toad.
Hey Slimeboy, why don't you pick on someone your own species? He looked around for a second, then spotted me on the plexi-glass display. It's hard to miss a bright red and blue frog sticking its tongue out.
Yeah I'm talking to you, you frog-faced freak. What can I say, I'm a trash talker when I have to be. At first he had looked confused, but now he was just mad. Real mad. He didn't even notice the group of tourists exit the room. Good timing on their part.
"Why you little," he said and jumped to the floor. All of a sudden he looked a whole lot bigger.
Yipe! I thought aloud as I turned and started to hop away, trying to reach the open window. He grabbed me by the foot with his tongue and lifted me off the ground. I realized there wasn't enough time to demorph from such a small animal.
Um, I don't know where you guys are but I could really use a little help right now, I said, directing it at the X-Men. Then with a glaring look and a flick of the tongue from Toad, everything went dark.