Mystique strode towards a familiar steel door and paused. She glanced at a small metal device on the wall as a blue line cautiously paced back and forth. With a soft metallic "whoosh" the door slid up and disappeared; Mystique entered the freezing room. Boldly, she made her way into the darkness and halted as she reached, what she thought was, the center of the room. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed over the entire room, making the shape-shifter shade her eyes with both scaled hands. Smaller ones followed, flooding the room in horrid illumination, scaring away the darkness. Mystique tried to spare her eyes, but to no avail. The brightness stung her eyes making the piercing yellow color turn watery and clouded.
Suddenly, a hidden voice spoke to her, "Mystique!" The voice boomed loudly. Then in a much softer voice, "We're trying to fix the lights, would you mind moving?"
Mystique huffed and headed toward a small spiral staircase that her memory had reminded her of. Despite being blinded, she made her way upstairs and stopped with both hands on her hips. She waited until she saw Magneto's eyes sweep her way; her face was of utmost annoyance.
"Tell me, Erik, was that for dramatic affect or permanently blinding me?"
There was a sharpness in her voice that Magneto didn't want to mess with. Instead, he laughed sheepishly and smiled.
"Dear, Mystique..." He paced toward her with open arms, "I didn't expect you so early." He watched as her eyes darted to a corner where Sabretooth stood.
"Well, you know I don't like to keep you waiting."
Erik smiled and released the blue female from his embrace. "There's a girl! Now, where is Toad?" Sabretooth sneered, baring his white fangs.
"Hasn't that been the question for ages?" His growl had an added bite to it when talking about his comrade.
Erik turned from Mystique to face the large man. "He is the main individual for this mission, yes?"
Sabretooth didn't like where this was going. He watched as Magneto neared him.
"And as such, he would be of the utmost IMPORTANCE!" The feline was enraged by being yelled at, but he knew that he was no match for the man that stood before him. He decided to just let himself shiver a tad underneath his instructor's words.
Magneto righted himself and resumed speaking in his velvety voice. "Now, if he is not here soon, you will go out and search for him. Is that understood?" Sabe nodded. "Good. That is all from you. Now, Mystique, come help me with these lights."
Sabretooth internally growled, not wishing for anymore reprimanding. He'd find that frog, all right...
Toad felt no rush at all; he took his leisurely time in getting to the Briefing Room. The thought that the others might be mad at him for being so late played in his mind. He loved "pissing them off" as they would say. He couldn't imagine getting any of them drunk! He shook his head at his silly comrades. What a way to put that he was making them angry! He messed with them so much because they couldn't hurt him; he was almost invincible to each of their gifts.
Magneto for example couldn't lift him up anywhere because Toad never carried any metal. But on the other hand, the old man could fling metal objects his way and pelt him with steel rods and beams. But on the other hand of the other hand, Toad knew that he was quick; he could easily escape or lash out his long tongue to trip the metal-mover backward. Toad laughed haughtily and clasped his hands together. He imitated Magneto's voice:
"Why Toad! I'm so in love with you! You sweep me off my feet!" The green mutant shook his head at his so-called leader. "Bugger's such a queen, I wonder if he knows..." Toad shrugged and thought about the other two members of the Brotherhood.
Mystique- she was easy enough. Toad sniggered.
In more ways than one...
He could identify her in a snap, even when her eyes weren't giving away her secret. She always hated this of course. But did he care? No, he sure didn't.
Sabretooth, now there was a laugh. All brawn and no brains, Sabretooth was, unlike Toad who seemed to possess each of those traits. He could easily avoid the slow blows from the large feline. They might be slow, but Toad knew not to underestimate his strength, even though his own was a considerable rival. Well, considerably more than considerable.
Toad couldn't keep himself from thinking that he was better than the rest of the Brotherhood. Sometimes he felt like he wasn't even a part of them. He had always had dreams of becoming one of the X-Men, but those dreams were quickly stomped on and dismissed. If anyone found out that even the slightest thought of being an 'X-Man' danced in his mind, he would be shunned for the rest of his life by his own brothers- something he did not want at all. It wasn't as if he wanted to be apart of the band of mutants... it was just...
Toad sighed. He supposed now that he was Mortimer. "For the time being at least."
He breathed, cursing himself silently. Did he want to be an X-Man? Did he want to leave the Brotherhood? What did he want?
Mortimer sighed. Toad was so difficult.
