Well, well, well... Chapter 9. My how things are progressing.... Don't worry, things are really going to start to pick up in this chapter - believe you me! Because this is the museum chapter! And that means that the soldiers are coming very very soon! Peppermint!
Thanx to the reviewers time!
Alison (altickle1571@aol.com) I'm sorry that my story made you neglect your responsibilities - but that still makes me feel cool that my story could do something like that!
Remnants - I'm glad that you liked Todd's power - honestly - I was SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOO worried that people weren't going to like his character.... I was really shocked that so many people really were excited to see that he was a mutant now!
Lori - I'm glad that you thought I created a cool power - awesome!
Elfchick - Your review made me smile so much - I'm glad that you thought that Todd's power was really imaginative... I just keep thinking that someone's going to read my fic and just think " Oh, that's stupid." since it's an OC story, thanx for the encouragement!
Snitter - what can I say? You've been there from page one when we created Rob together! Your support has always brightened my day.
Wolvie's Gurl - your reviews always make me laugh : )
Escaflowne - Your review was the best one that I think I've ever gotten. You were really helpful with your review, and I'm glad that someone's noticed that this is a good OC story! Yeah!
shadow wind - I really loved your review, too! this chapter, you'll see what happens to Todd and more hints at his dad's new job. the next chapter we'll explore a bit more of Rob's 'vast' powers - glad yer enjoying this! : )
And, as a last note - this whole chapter was written to the TROJAN RECORDS MOD REGGAE BOX SET!!!! Yes! Let the dancing commence!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 9
*************************
Brit hurried down the hall, anticipation pulsing through out her body as it was the morning of the museum field trip. The feeling was thick on the air, as nearly all the students were looking forward to this day - the day that they would be going out into the world, far from the safety of their school. But of course not all the students were going.
Brit approached a corner, - seeing through the wall, she saw that someone was standing right on the other side, as if waiting to jump out and scare her. She turned the corner, prepared NOT to be scared by someone jumping out at her, and came face to face with what appeared to be a stranger. She jumped back in alarm, for she was not used to seeing strangers at the school.
The person she was facing was a boy who appeared to be around 17 or 18 years old. He was smiling at her as if she should have known him.
"W-Who are you?," Brit asked in alarm. Her question was met by a roar of laughter.
The stranger was laughing, and in a split second, Brit understood why. The stranger was Rob - at the moment, he let go of his power and his skin became bright red once again. Once Rob let go of his power, Adrian suddenly appeared before Brit - who was also laughing.
Brit probably would have been mad at them, but something else was on her mind - that's what Rob looks like when he's 'normal?' Her heart fluttered.
Rob and Adrian were still laughing uncontrollably, and Brit returned to the present. She frowned at the two boys, and realized that she had fallen for yet another one of their pranks. She smiled knowingly at Rob, and walked past the pair.
" Nice boxers," she said in an undertone to Rob. The laughter died as Rob's face dropped.
*********
Rob looked out the window of Xavier school as the bus drove from the school, bearing children away to the museum . For the first time since he heard about the field trip, he smiled at the fact that they were leaving. Standing next to him, Adrian was also smiling.
" Ah, school all to ourselves," Adrian said, stretching, as if he was warming-up his body for the day to come.
Storm had flinched this morning when Adrian announced that he felt sick and couldn't go on the field trip. She KNEW that if Adrian and Rob were left in the school by themselves for a whole day that havoc would erupt, but on the other hand, it would be better to leave Rob with company since it was her fault that he couldn't go.
In the end, she let Adrian stay back.
And he was very happy about that.
" So, what do we do first?," Adrian was whispering, and in an undertone, he added, " Everyone's gone - there's never going to be a chance like this in a thousand years."
" Everyone IS gone," Rob replied, his voice hinting that he already had a plan.
" Yeah," Adrian answered.
" Everyone's gone except for us," Rob said as the school bus outside disappeared entirely from view, " I think we need to go on our own field trip."
*********
They were probably pushing their luck - after all, it's hard to go by unnoticed when your skin is the color of a fire engine truck - but at the moment, they didn't care. They were young and there was no one from the school to get them in trouble. It was a perfect opportunity that would not come around again - they would not miss the chance.
Adrian 'ported them out of the school, past the surrounding grounds, and to the closest town they knew. He wasn't used to such a strain.
"Give me a second," Adrian said, double bent over and out of breath , "I feel like I just completed a marathon."
"What did you do, finish in last place?," Rob said, also wheezing for air - he wasn't used to 'porting this much either.
Adrian opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was breathing so hard no words would come out. After a second he filled in with, " Give me a minute for the come back."
They stood for a few more minutes, catching their breath.
" Remind me to find another way into town next time," Rob said as he finally felt like he could function normally.
" Hey, I'm working on it," Adrian replied, and he looked around where he was. They were behind a strip mall, which was good for them because there was no one in sight. Adrian stood still for a moment, listening. There was a lot of traffic just beyond the strip mall, and plenty of people shopping, but none of them were heading in their direction.
" I wonder what stores we're behind," Rob thought aloud, remembering the sort of treasures he used to find when he was on the run. Adrian caught him eying the dumpsters.
" It's all yours," Adrian replied as he began to walk off in the other direction.
" Oh, yeah?," Rob said with a devious smile, " I dare you to look in one."
Adrian scoffed at the threat, " Yeah, like you're going to be fair." Rob stood where he was, smiling - the dare was still on. Adrian shook his head - he KNEW that Rob was going to make him see a dead body or something, but it would still be pretty funny.
Adrian walked up to the nearest dumpster, trying to stifle his laugher - it wasn't like Rob could have heard it anyway. Adrian prepared himself to see something really bad, and he peered over the edge of the dumpster.
Adrian collapsed in laughter, and behind him Rob was laughing, too. Adrian had been so focused upon seeing something really scary that he wasn't geared up to see what he had - a dumpster that was completely devoid of everything except himself who merely looked around himself and then shrugged at the lack of scary things.
When the laughter died down, they decided to walk around to the front of the strip mall to see exactly where they were. Rob kept his head down - he was wearing pants instead of shorts so that no one would notice that his skin was bright red. Adrian looked at the store fronts.
Adrian whispered to Rob, " Hey, they don't throw away TVs, do they?"
" Sure, sometimes," Rob answered.
" Okay, I am so there," Adrian said, and Rob looked up for a brief second. They were in front of a Radio Shack, and the front window was nothing but a display of TVs, all turned to the same channel. It was the news.
" Do they really think that they can get someone to buy a TV with the news playing?," Adrian asked, ridiculing their sales technique.
They were about to leave when something flashed across the screen that made them stop dead in their tracks. Both boys stared at the series of screens with mouths wide open, the text ran across the screen - ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT BY MUTANT.
After a few seconds, the reality sunk in.
" Maybe we should be heading back home," Adrian said, realizing that if anyone else saw this news report, Rob was going to be in serious trouble.
" Yeah," Rob said back, his voice almost depleted of certainty. What kind of a mutant would do something like this? Didn't this mutant understand what kind of a backlash something like this would cause? How stupid was this one?
" Come on," Adrian said, turning back the direction that they had come, " Let's go."
But they hadn't left fast enough.
A guy who looked like he should have been in a bar at that moment had his hand on the door handle to Radio Shack when he looked at the couple of boys who looked like they should have been in school at that moment. He let go of the door - all thoughts of going inside forgotten.
One of those boys was red!
"Hey!," the man shouted as if he wanted everyone within a five mile radius to hear him. Adrian wheeled around, covering his ears at the loudness of the man's voice. Instinctually, Rob also had looked at the man, which gave himself away. Other people who were walking by looked down at the commotion and saw the two mutants.
"Oh my god!," a nearby lady screamed, grabbed her young son, and ran back to her car. At her cue, many other people took off towards their cars, and a lot more people began to scream out in terror. Adrian dropped to his knees, wincing, his hands covering his ears - this was far too much noise for him to bear.
The man who had shouted at them took a few threatening steps towards Rob, who was still standing absolutely frozen.
" You freaks think you can just get away with this shit?," the man shouted, pointing to the TV. Rob looked over at the screen, where there was a clip that had been taken from the security cameras in the White House of a blue skinned mutant teleporting all over the place.
Rob looked back at the man, who appeared to be debating whether or not it was safe to taunt a mutant. But the man's love of country overrode his fear of the mutant before him.
The man took another step towards Rob, shouting at him, " You think you can just go around EXTERMINATING us? Like you freaks are better?"
The man took another step forward, but he didn't have to do anything. Another person who had been watching the whole ordeal ran up behind Rob, and knocked him to the ground. Who knows what they would have done, but when Rob fell to the ground, he was within Adrian's reach. Before anyone else in the strip mall could do anything, both boys vanished from sight.
Adrian teleported away just as the television showed a clip of Night crawler doing the same.
They left a crowd of people, now more affirmed in their fear and distrust of mutants than ever before.
***********
Todd was pacing in his room. He could hardly even remember having been so indecisive before. He badly wanted to tell his parents that he was a mutant - how could he hide it after he had spent so much time trying to convince Rob not to? But now that it was heaped upon his shoulders, he so greatly wished that he could just shrug it off.
But that wouldn't be right, would it?
Todd finally stopped pacing but it didn't help clear his mind. He was scared - a lot more scared than he would admit - but there was no other reaction he could feel. His mother had been perennially ill since Rob had left. The fear of not knowing where her son was and knowing that he was a mutant in a very hostile world had degraded her into a state of extreme despair.
Todd would often hear her mutter to herself, " He had such a potential for a good life...Why would he give that up?"
How could Todd do anything that would upset her even further?
Then, there was his father. Ever since Craig Vincennes had taken that promotion and started working in D.C., he had continuously shut himself out of his family's world. It was as if he was a stranger in the lives of those that he loved - but even more scary, it appeared as if he preferred it that way.
Todd was alone in his room - sitting now rather than pacing. He was sitting on his bed, staring at the door debating with himself. It wasn't like him to WANT to hide things from his parents - he always tried to be honest with them, even if it meant that he would end up in trouble. And how could he hide the fact that he was a mutant when he had bothered Rob so long about being truthful to his parents?
Todd turned his eyes away from the door and turned his attention to the television. On the screen, he recognized the memory that was being played - when he was five and he and his brother had gone to Disney World. Yeah, Disney World was cheesy as hell, but just watching the memories brought back a flood of emotions. It made him smile - Todd had almost forgotten those memories, yet now replayed on the TV, he had to regret to say that he still felt the same. He still felt that same sort of innocent belief of right and wrong.
And Todd felt like he had finally decided on what was right.
He left the comfort of his room in search of his parents - all predispositions of uncertainty vanished. He was confident that he was doing the right thing.
Todd reached the bottom of the stairs and nearly ran into his father.
" Hey!," Craig said in surprise.
" Sorry," Todd mumbled. What a great way to begin a conversation like this.
" Hey, Dad, can we talk?," Todd asked somewhat shyly.
" Not now, Todd, I'm very busy," Craig returned and started to ascend the stairs to retreat into his study.
" Dad, please! I need to talk to you," Todd protested. This was suddenly not as easy as he had hoped.
" I have a lot of work to do," Craig said, stopping half way up the stairs as if to illustrate his point.
" But - ," Todd began in a frustrated voice - his dad was going too far - but was cut off.
" Not now!," Craig boomed, but that was about all that Todd could take.
" I'm a mutant, too, Dad!," Todd said - and the impact of those words was deafening. Todd looked up at his dad, his nerve suddenly evading him, and his dad stared down at him, still only half way up the stairs. They stared at each other for a few moments that dragged on as if they were days.
" Forget I said that," Todd quickly mumbled, kicking himself for thinking that this would be easy.
" Why did you say that?," Craig asked, but his voice was filled with an untold emotion - as if someone had just announced his own death sentence. Todd couldn't think of anything to answer that with, and merely shrugged.
" Why did you say that?!," Craig repeated - but this time the fear that had been on his voice was gone. In it's place was rage.
" I...," Todd had no idea what to say - who could have?
But that answer was not what Craig wanted to hear. He started to descend the stairs, approaching Todd in the most threatening manner imaginable.
" Damn it, answer me!," Craig was shouting. Todd didn't know what to do - he had never seen his Dad this angry before. " Don't you know what this means? God damn it, Todd! Why did you have to do that?"
" I just wanted to tell you," Todd answered meekly, all previous courage lost. He was not preparing for this sort of reaction, he didn't understand why his dad was acting like this.
Craig clearly did not want to be told about Todd's mutation. He had reached the bottom of the stairs, letting Todd's last comment sink in. Months upon months of anxiety had been building up in Craig ever since he had learned that Rob was a mutant, and this was the last straw. Todd had no idea what had been going on with his father's work, what Todd was now risking by telling his dad that he was a mutant.
But Craig did know, and the fact that Todd had willingly thrown himself into it only fueled his frustration.
" Sorry that it came out like that, but-," Todd began, but he never finished. It was all that Craig could take.
With a driving force, Craig punched his son as hard as he could. The blow knocked Todd right to the ground - he had not been expecting anything remotely close to that. Todd merely laid on the ground, staring up as his dad in fear and confusion.
" Do you have any idea what they're planning to do?," Craig shouted as if to justify his anger, but he never gave a hint of an answer. Of course, Todd couldn't understand what kind of danger he had placed himself in by telling his father that he was a mutant. Craig couldn't say anything, and he merely turned and climbed the stairs once again. In a moment, he was in his study.
Todd still laid on the ground, his heart racing so fast he thought it would make him sick. It burned - that hurt, it burned deep inside of him, a feeling that could not be easily consoled.
But he made up his mind in those moments of burning betrayal. With a new found sense of determination, Todd grabbed his backpack and stormed out the door. Rob had been right just to run away.
Todd was going to find Xavier's school.
*******************
Okay, so this is the end of this chapter. Well, that's a little obvious.
Please review, review!
Next chapter will be up soon! Much luv, Deke.
Thanx to the reviewers time!
Alison (altickle1571@aol.com) I'm sorry that my story made you neglect your responsibilities - but that still makes me feel cool that my story could do something like that!
Remnants - I'm glad that you liked Todd's power - honestly - I was SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOO worried that people weren't going to like his character.... I was really shocked that so many people really were excited to see that he was a mutant now!
Lori - I'm glad that you thought I created a cool power - awesome!
Elfchick - Your review made me smile so much - I'm glad that you thought that Todd's power was really imaginative... I just keep thinking that someone's going to read my fic and just think " Oh, that's stupid." since it's an OC story, thanx for the encouragement!
Snitter - what can I say? You've been there from page one when we created Rob together! Your support has always brightened my day.
Wolvie's Gurl - your reviews always make me laugh : )
Escaflowne - Your review was the best one that I think I've ever gotten. You were really helpful with your review, and I'm glad that someone's noticed that this is a good OC story! Yeah!
shadow wind - I really loved your review, too! this chapter, you'll see what happens to Todd and more hints at his dad's new job. the next chapter we'll explore a bit more of Rob's 'vast' powers - glad yer enjoying this! : )
And, as a last note - this whole chapter was written to the TROJAN RECORDS MOD REGGAE BOX SET!!!! Yes! Let the dancing commence!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 9
*************************
Brit hurried down the hall, anticipation pulsing through out her body as it was the morning of the museum field trip. The feeling was thick on the air, as nearly all the students were looking forward to this day - the day that they would be going out into the world, far from the safety of their school. But of course not all the students were going.
Brit approached a corner, - seeing through the wall, she saw that someone was standing right on the other side, as if waiting to jump out and scare her. She turned the corner, prepared NOT to be scared by someone jumping out at her, and came face to face with what appeared to be a stranger. She jumped back in alarm, for she was not used to seeing strangers at the school.
The person she was facing was a boy who appeared to be around 17 or 18 years old. He was smiling at her as if she should have known him.
"W-Who are you?," Brit asked in alarm. Her question was met by a roar of laughter.
The stranger was laughing, and in a split second, Brit understood why. The stranger was Rob - at the moment, he let go of his power and his skin became bright red once again. Once Rob let go of his power, Adrian suddenly appeared before Brit - who was also laughing.
Brit probably would have been mad at them, but something else was on her mind - that's what Rob looks like when he's 'normal?' Her heart fluttered.
Rob and Adrian were still laughing uncontrollably, and Brit returned to the present. She frowned at the two boys, and realized that she had fallen for yet another one of their pranks. She smiled knowingly at Rob, and walked past the pair.
" Nice boxers," she said in an undertone to Rob. The laughter died as Rob's face dropped.
*********
Rob looked out the window of Xavier school as the bus drove from the school, bearing children away to the museum . For the first time since he heard about the field trip, he smiled at the fact that they were leaving. Standing next to him, Adrian was also smiling.
" Ah, school all to ourselves," Adrian said, stretching, as if he was warming-up his body for the day to come.
Storm had flinched this morning when Adrian announced that he felt sick and couldn't go on the field trip. She KNEW that if Adrian and Rob were left in the school by themselves for a whole day that havoc would erupt, but on the other hand, it would be better to leave Rob with company since it was her fault that he couldn't go.
In the end, she let Adrian stay back.
And he was very happy about that.
" So, what do we do first?," Adrian was whispering, and in an undertone, he added, " Everyone's gone - there's never going to be a chance like this in a thousand years."
" Everyone IS gone," Rob replied, his voice hinting that he already had a plan.
" Yeah," Adrian answered.
" Everyone's gone except for us," Rob said as the school bus outside disappeared entirely from view, " I think we need to go on our own field trip."
*********
They were probably pushing their luck - after all, it's hard to go by unnoticed when your skin is the color of a fire engine truck - but at the moment, they didn't care. They were young and there was no one from the school to get them in trouble. It was a perfect opportunity that would not come around again - they would not miss the chance.
Adrian 'ported them out of the school, past the surrounding grounds, and to the closest town they knew. He wasn't used to such a strain.
"Give me a second," Adrian said, double bent over and out of breath , "I feel like I just completed a marathon."
"What did you do, finish in last place?," Rob said, also wheezing for air - he wasn't used to 'porting this much either.
Adrian opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was breathing so hard no words would come out. After a second he filled in with, " Give me a minute for the come back."
They stood for a few more minutes, catching their breath.
" Remind me to find another way into town next time," Rob said as he finally felt like he could function normally.
" Hey, I'm working on it," Adrian replied, and he looked around where he was. They were behind a strip mall, which was good for them because there was no one in sight. Adrian stood still for a moment, listening. There was a lot of traffic just beyond the strip mall, and plenty of people shopping, but none of them were heading in their direction.
" I wonder what stores we're behind," Rob thought aloud, remembering the sort of treasures he used to find when he was on the run. Adrian caught him eying the dumpsters.
" It's all yours," Adrian replied as he began to walk off in the other direction.
" Oh, yeah?," Rob said with a devious smile, " I dare you to look in one."
Adrian scoffed at the threat, " Yeah, like you're going to be fair." Rob stood where he was, smiling - the dare was still on. Adrian shook his head - he KNEW that Rob was going to make him see a dead body or something, but it would still be pretty funny.
Adrian walked up to the nearest dumpster, trying to stifle his laugher - it wasn't like Rob could have heard it anyway. Adrian prepared himself to see something really bad, and he peered over the edge of the dumpster.
Adrian collapsed in laughter, and behind him Rob was laughing, too. Adrian had been so focused upon seeing something really scary that he wasn't geared up to see what he had - a dumpster that was completely devoid of everything except himself who merely looked around himself and then shrugged at the lack of scary things.
When the laughter died down, they decided to walk around to the front of the strip mall to see exactly where they were. Rob kept his head down - he was wearing pants instead of shorts so that no one would notice that his skin was bright red. Adrian looked at the store fronts.
Adrian whispered to Rob, " Hey, they don't throw away TVs, do they?"
" Sure, sometimes," Rob answered.
" Okay, I am so there," Adrian said, and Rob looked up for a brief second. They were in front of a Radio Shack, and the front window was nothing but a display of TVs, all turned to the same channel. It was the news.
" Do they really think that they can get someone to buy a TV with the news playing?," Adrian asked, ridiculing their sales technique.
They were about to leave when something flashed across the screen that made them stop dead in their tracks. Both boys stared at the series of screens with mouths wide open, the text ran across the screen - ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT BY MUTANT.
After a few seconds, the reality sunk in.
" Maybe we should be heading back home," Adrian said, realizing that if anyone else saw this news report, Rob was going to be in serious trouble.
" Yeah," Rob said back, his voice almost depleted of certainty. What kind of a mutant would do something like this? Didn't this mutant understand what kind of a backlash something like this would cause? How stupid was this one?
" Come on," Adrian said, turning back the direction that they had come, " Let's go."
But they hadn't left fast enough.
A guy who looked like he should have been in a bar at that moment had his hand on the door handle to Radio Shack when he looked at the couple of boys who looked like they should have been in school at that moment. He let go of the door - all thoughts of going inside forgotten.
One of those boys was red!
"Hey!," the man shouted as if he wanted everyone within a five mile radius to hear him. Adrian wheeled around, covering his ears at the loudness of the man's voice. Instinctually, Rob also had looked at the man, which gave himself away. Other people who were walking by looked down at the commotion and saw the two mutants.
"Oh my god!," a nearby lady screamed, grabbed her young son, and ran back to her car. At her cue, many other people took off towards their cars, and a lot more people began to scream out in terror. Adrian dropped to his knees, wincing, his hands covering his ears - this was far too much noise for him to bear.
The man who had shouted at them took a few threatening steps towards Rob, who was still standing absolutely frozen.
" You freaks think you can just get away with this shit?," the man shouted, pointing to the TV. Rob looked over at the screen, where there was a clip that had been taken from the security cameras in the White House of a blue skinned mutant teleporting all over the place.
Rob looked back at the man, who appeared to be debating whether or not it was safe to taunt a mutant. But the man's love of country overrode his fear of the mutant before him.
The man took another step towards Rob, shouting at him, " You think you can just go around EXTERMINATING us? Like you freaks are better?"
The man took another step forward, but he didn't have to do anything. Another person who had been watching the whole ordeal ran up behind Rob, and knocked him to the ground. Who knows what they would have done, but when Rob fell to the ground, he was within Adrian's reach. Before anyone else in the strip mall could do anything, both boys vanished from sight.
Adrian teleported away just as the television showed a clip of Night crawler doing the same.
They left a crowd of people, now more affirmed in their fear and distrust of mutants than ever before.
***********
Todd was pacing in his room. He could hardly even remember having been so indecisive before. He badly wanted to tell his parents that he was a mutant - how could he hide it after he had spent so much time trying to convince Rob not to? But now that it was heaped upon his shoulders, he so greatly wished that he could just shrug it off.
But that wouldn't be right, would it?
Todd finally stopped pacing but it didn't help clear his mind. He was scared - a lot more scared than he would admit - but there was no other reaction he could feel. His mother had been perennially ill since Rob had left. The fear of not knowing where her son was and knowing that he was a mutant in a very hostile world had degraded her into a state of extreme despair.
Todd would often hear her mutter to herself, " He had such a potential for a good life...Why would he give that up?"
How could Todd do anything that would upset her even further?
Then, there was his father. Ever since Craig Vincennes had taken that promotion and started working in D.C., he had continuously shut himself out of his family's world. It was as if he was a stranger in the lives of those that he loved - but even more scary, it appeared as if he preferred it that way.
Todd was alone in his room - sitting now rather than pacing. He was sitting on his bed, staring at the door debating with himself. It wasn't like him to WANT to hide things from his parents - he always tried to be honest with them, even if it meant that he would end up in trouble. And how could he hide the fact that he was a mutant when he had bothered Rob so long about being truthful to his parents?
Todd turned his eyes away from the door and turned his attention to the television. On the screen, he recognized the memory that was being played - when he was five and he and his brother had gone to Disney World. Yeah, Disney World was cheesy as hell, but just watching the memories brought back a flood of emotions. It made him smile - Todd had almost forgotten those memories, yet now replayed on the TV, he had to regret to say that he still felt the same. He still felt that same sort of innocent belief of right and wrong.
And Todd felt like he had finally decided on what was right.
He left the comfort of his room in search of his parents - all predispositions of uncertainty vanished. He was confident that he was doing the right thing.
Todd reached the bottom of the stairs and nearly ran into his father.
" Hey!," Craig said in surprise.
" Sorry," Todd mumbled. What a great way to begin a conversation like this.
" Hey, Dad, can we talk?," Todd asked somewhat shyly.
" Not now, Todd, I'm very busy," Craig returned and started to ascend the stairs to retreat into his study.
" Dad, please! I need to talk to you," Todd protested. This was suddenly not as easy as he had hoped.
" I have a lot of work to do," Craig said, stopping half way up the stairs as if to illustrate his point.
" But - ," Todd began in a frustrated voice - his dad was going too far - but was cut off.
" Not now!," Craig boomed, but that was about all that Todd could take.
" I'm a mutant, too, Dad!," Todd said - and the impact of those words was deafening. Todd looked up at his dad, his nerve suddenly evading him, and his dad stared down at him, still only half way up the stairs. They stared at each other for a few moments that dragged on as if they were days.
" Forget I said that," Todd quickly mumbled, kicking himself for thinking that this would be easy.
" Why did you say that?," Craig asked, but his voice was filled with an untold emotion - as if someone had just announced his own death sentence. Todd couldn't think of anything to answer that with, and merely shrugged.
" Why did you say that?!," Craig repeated - but this time the fear that had been on his voice was gone. In it's place was rage.
" I...," Todd had no idea what to say - who could have?
But that answer was not what Craig wanted to hear. He started to descend the stairs, approaching Todd in the most threatening manner imaginable.
" Damn it, answer me!," Craig was shouting. Todd didn't know what to do - he had never seen his Dad this angry before. " Don't you know what this means? God damn it, Todd! Why did you have to do that?"
" I just wanted to tell you," Todd answered meekly, all previous courage lost. He was not preparing for this sort of reaction, he didn't understand why his dad was acting like this.
Craig clearly did not want to be told about Todd's mutation. He had reached the bottom of the stairs, letting Todd's last comment sink in. Months upon months of anxiety had been building up in Craig ever since he had learned that Rob was a mutant, and this was the last straw. Todd had no idea what had been going on with his father's work, what Todd was now risking by telling his dad that he was a mutant.
But Craig did know, and the fact that Todd had willingly thrown himself into it only fueled his frustration.
" Sorry that it came out like that, but-," Todd began, but he never finished. It was all that Craig could take.
With a driving force, Craig punched his son as hard as he could. The blow knocked Todd right to the ground - he had not been expecting anything remotely close to that. Todd merely laid on the ground, staring up as his dad in fear and confusion.
" Do you have any idea what they're planning to do?," Craig shouted as if to justify his anger, but he never gave a hint of an answer. Of course, Todd couldn't understand what kind of danger he had placed himself in by telling his father that he was a mutant. Craig couldn't say anything, and he merely turned and climbed the stairs once again. In a moment, he was in his study.
Todd still laid on the ground, his heart racing so fast he thought it would make him sick. It burned - that hurt, it burned deep inside of him, a feeling that could not be easily consoled.
But he made up his mind in those moments of burning betrayal. With a new found sense of determination, Todd grabbed his backpack and stormed out the door. Rob had been right just to run away.
Todd was going to find Xavier's school.
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Okay, so this is the end of this chapter. Well, that's a little obvious.
Please review, review!
Next chapter will be up soon! Much luv, Deke.
