Shard 2: Todd

It's almost midnight before I manage to stagger home, yo. Which is pretty late, even for me, but, you know, I ain't exactly in the best shape. Frickin' Cyclops.

Bastard caught me jus' as I was pickin' a quality crop, yo. It was a jock, too, a drunk jock just outta a club. Couldn't tell his ass from his elbow, an' I nearly had his wallet, but Scott 'stick-up-his-butt' Summers came along and spoiled all my fun.

I put up a fight, of course. Nearly whupped him right hard, yeah. I was all karate moves an' slick wit, but he had those fuckin' eyeblasts, right. Hit me on the leg. Hurt like hell, yo, so I tried to hightail it outta there, but I weren't fast enough wit' only one leg workin' properly. So Cyclops grabs me an' makes me empty out my pockets. Lost all the stuff I got. Bastard.

An' that ain't the first time, either. The X-geeks is always lookin' for me. Know how good I am, yo. Between them an' the cops, I hardly ever come home wit' full pockets no more.

Anyhow, after Summers is finished givin' me the once over, I scramble outta there, an' back here.

Straight off, I see that Lance is back, 'cos his jeep's outside, an' I ain't surprised to find Freddy watchin' the box alone. Lance goes to bed pretty soon after comin' home, an' snuggle-lumps always goes to bed at nine. She likes to go to bed early, yo, so she can get up wit' the birds to catch the worm. That jus' leaves Pietro.

So, soon as I get in I'm askin' Freddy about that, an' he says that Pietro fucked off ages ago. 'Bout nine, he says. Good ol' Pie-Pie probably went to get himself jazzed up. He sucks up coffee like... yo' know... like a slug. Yeah, a slug. Which is cool by me, 'cos he makes a bigger stink than I do, you know what I'm sayin'?

Anyhow, I'm flippin' whacked; out of it, man. I just wanna crawl into bed, but I got business to attend to. Yeah, business.

So, Freddy's askin' me what happened to my foot, why I'm limping an' shit. I tell him the truth, 'cos I trust him, an' he listens real good. Then I ask him if we got any bandages or sumpin'.

Well, Freddy digs into the First Aid kit we got a few months back, grabs some things, helps me set my foot right, bandagin' it an' stuff. It's only a sprain, but it hurts like fuck. That's the thing with fightin' the X-men; we ain't got no fancy-assed medical lab. We jus' got a First Aid kit, each other, an' some rags to bite down on if the pain gets too much, yo. It ain't pretty.

Freddy asks me if I want anythin' to eat, an' I say yeah, but I gotta do my usual thing. Gotta sort things out.

Freddy understands what's goin' on. He's the only one I can talk to now,

'cos we got this big assed secret goin' on.

Cool, yo, major secret coolness.

Anyway, I jump up the stairs, tryin not to make too much noise, an' get straight into the bathroom. We got runnin' water, doncha know? Yeah, hot an' cold.

I do it in the sink, and it's major gross, even for me. I just stick my fingers as far back down my throat as I can get and it all comes out.

Real simple, real smooth.

But still gross, an' it's a good thing I missed lunch, yo, 'cos this way it's mostly bile.

Bile and a few credit cards.

Bet yo' didn't see that comin' did ya?

Bet yo' didn't see Toddy throwin' up credit cards?

Bet yo' wonderin' how I did it, wonderin' if my stomach's made o' gold or sumpin?

I wish.

Heh, maybe I caught the Gold Bug!

Get it, gold bug, wantin' money and I eat bugs an' -

Yeah. Gold Bug.

Anyway, it's real simple, an' no, I don't just eat 'em. I could ruin them, an besides, my throat's big, but not that big, yo.

Nah, I got a better way.

Yo' ever wonder where I put my big tongue? Ever consider where my slime comes from? Well, just at the back of my throat, on either side of my neck, I got these, like, sack things, this weird space where my tongue stays when it's not in use. So, what I do is this; I take the cards, right, an' I put them on my tongue, then I just, like, roll my tongue in, so they end up in the back o' my mouth.

Cool, yeah?

That way, it don't matter if the X-Men or the cops get me, don't matter if they strip me naked, yo, 'cos I always got the big stuff, the credit cards, riding in the back of my mouth where it's safe.

So I clean off the cards in the basin. Then I go back down an' pass them over to Freddy, who puts them in the secret hidin' place, at the back of one of the cupboards, behind some food cans.

Tomorrow mornin' soon as I wake up an' see Cuddle-bumps, I'll take 'em and cash them in, get us some more dough in the bank, yo. I use 'em to pay the bills too, yo, all legal like.

I don't have much of a problem, neither. On a good night I can get more cash than Lance earns in a month! 'Course, sometimes the card's dud by the time I use it, or it's already at the limit, but, y'know, sometimes it works out. An' works out well, too.

S'funny. I mean, look at me; I'm like the main earner now. Heh, Toddy's bringing home the bread again, kids.

Feels good, I gotta say.

But I can't tell 'em. No one but me an' Freddy know. See, Lance has this control thing; he needs to feel needed or sumpin'. Freddy reckons that if he found out about this then he'd feel pretty bad - useless, even. I mean, he only jus' got over that Kitty bitch, yo. He don't need no more on his plate, don't need to know about this. That wouldn't be no good, yo, 'cos we need him. He keeps us together, y'know; keeps things goin.' Wit' a bit of help, of course.

He's the one that keeps Pietro in check, too, an' the last thing I want is Pie-Pie runnin' loose, if you catch my drift. Yeah, I do as he says, we all do, but everyone round here knows that, if thing's get too outta hand, Lance is the one to reign Pietro in, the one we all look up to. But he needs all his confidence for that, see, and if he knew he wasn't the one earning the cash he'd go ape-shit, y'can bet.

Any road, after Freddy's put away the cards, he comes back wit' some grub, which I gulp up an' refill my stomach. Then I say goodnight an' hop upstairs again, to bed, 'cos like I said before, I'm totally whacked.

'Course, I don't head straight to my room. Gotta check on Snuggle-Bunny first.

I slip across to her bedroom door an' put my ear against it. Then it's a matter of drownin' things out - selective hearin' right? I lean real close to the door, try to ignore all the background shit, like the sound of the TV an' cars outside. I even ignore the sounds o'the cockroaches crawlin' around under the floorboards.

I'm good, ain't I? That pointy eared plush-rat can go eat his heart out.

Toddy's got *excellent* hearin.'

Eventually all I can hear is my own breathin', an' my heartbeat. It's faster than usual. But I don't hear her.

I usually hear her when she's sleepin', she makes these noises, see. I guess that mojo Mastermind put on her, it didn't get rid o' all her memories, just hid them away, or something, 'cos they come back to her when she sleeps.

I've heard her. She mutters and tosses and turns. I love how the bed sheets sound against her body. Maybe I'll get to hear it up close, someday.

Sometimes she even moans, yo. Once she screamed. I remember that night, 'cos

I heard her and bashed her door open wit' my feet, super strong leg muscles an' all that. But she jus' screamed at me, told me to piss off.

It don't matter what I do, she always tells me to leave.

As it is, I just like listenin' to her sleep. When I'm not too desperate for sleep myself, that is. I could stay outside her door all night, jus' listenin' to her, wishin' I could go in an' take away all those nightmares.

Corny huh? But I guess it's true.

S'funny; she's so powerful, but so weak. I love that power, I guess, but I also like the weakness. I kinda want to have both, y'know? I jus' wanna feel her lips on mine again...

But it ain't gonna happen. Not soon, anyways; but I'm gonna keep tryin', cos thing's are gonna get better soon. They gotta, an' there ain't no point in thinkin' otherwise.

But tonight, like the last three nights before this, I don't hear her in her room. But I know where she is.

I head over to Pietro's room, which is also closed and locked, and I listen.

I hear her, hear her soft breathin.' She's been sleepin' in Pietro's room for the last three nights, yo.

His room's locked, a'course. Both his and Wanda's room got locks on, an' they both have keys to each other's rooms. Cosy little deal, eh?

Yeah, I'm onto 'em, or I'm onto him.

See, I reckon Bucket Head fucked up my baby's brain too much, I reckon  somethin's going on that stinks worse than me.

I reckon Pietro's been playing the game that all the family can join in on, if yo' take my meanin'.

Why else she go to his room every night? It ain't to argue, that's for sure.

For a moment I wanna just barge on in an' shout at her, ask her why she's doin' this, tell her the truth.

I nearly do, though, but I can't. If I did she'd never forgive me, never like me again. She'd leave, an' I couldn't live with that.

So I slip back into my own bed an' try to get some shuteye.

Soon as I start to drift off, though, I hear someone come in. Gotta be Pietro, an' he comes straight up, into his own room.

I strain my ears, tryin' to catch everythin', but if they talk then I don't here it. Perhaps they're gettin' straight down to business.

No, Toddy, don't think that, there might be a better explanation, yo.

Yeah, like what? Their dad has fucked them both over royally, so now they're fuckin' each other.

After that I can't get to sleep at all, head's to busy thinkin', can't calm down. I wonder what they're doin' in there, wonder how they manage to stay so quiet. Is he touchin' her? Kissin' her? Makin' her moan in a different way? I wonder what it must be like to do that. Wonder what her skin feels like, wonder is she smiling at him now? Fuck, why she goin' to him?

I keep listenin', but I know I shouldn't. I don't understand why I'm doin' this. Part of me wants to crawl under the covers, shut up my ears, but I can't. It's like a... a morbid curiosity. I just gotta keep listenin', gotta see if I can hear sumpin'.

Despite all this, I'm almost asleep when I hear movement. Footsteps, quick, a bit of cloth movin', and a door openin'. It's Pietro, he's left his room, I can tell 'cos of his footsteps, light an' quick. He goes downstairs, I think, an' the TV gets turned up. Perhaps he's tryin' to wake Freddy up, or maybe he jus' wanna watch the box for a bit. I don't give a fuck. He's done this for the last few nights, fucked her an' left her. I even saw him once, peekin' though a hole in the wall. He left his room wearin' only his underpants, an' he was carryin' his bed-sheets. Probably had nasty stain's on them, if yo' get my drift.

So, that's the story. He's abandoned her, gets her here, fucks her, screws her up, an' then leaves her.

It makes me so fuckin' angry!

Part o' me just wants to go into his room, grab Wanda, an' tell her the truth. Tell her she don't need him, she's got me. Tell her everythin.' But I can't, 'cos at the end of the day she's chosen him.

She chose her own brother over me.

Says a lot for my gene-pool prospects, don't it?

Anyhow, things will work out. They always do, it all comes around, all balances out. Lance'll sort it out, I'm sure. Yeah, Lance'll know what to do.

Meantime, I'm gonna lie low, get some sleep, wait for things to play out. Gonna show Wanda I can wait, and I can, yo.

But Pietro better watch out, 'cos if I'm right... if he is... y'know... if he hurts her, I'll show him who's got the stronger legs and I'll use every muscle I got to pound his fucking face in. I swear it.