Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men in any way. Just Thymes and Haris.
Summary: When Todd gets the treatment he so badly needs and opens a plea for help, will the request fall on a deaf ear?
A/N: Ack! Sorry it took longer than usual to get this chappy internet bound, but I had to see my little cousins before they go back to Arkansas! So, I won't keep you loyal readers waiting in agony any longer! On with the fic! Enjoy ^_^
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Chapter 7: Help Wanted
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The only sound that marked Storm's decent down into the med. wing was the soft rustle of her cloak, and the occasional pained whimper from Todd. He was slightly upset that she had to carry him, especially since his back was covered in fresh cuts and scrapes. But he had to admire her for her motherly nature...he doubted that there was another person in this Institute that would have risked being struck by Wolverine's claws just to save his ass. He had left his eyes closed, feeling comforted enough in her protecting arms to do so in a place he knew he was not welcome with open arms. He stirred in his half asleep state when he no longer felt Storm walking, and could hear hushed whispers before the soft 'click' of a door closing blocked them out. He opened his eyes, looking around the sterile room nervously. His dull amber eyes shifted finally to rest on the smiling, yet sad, face of Ororo. Then he noticed a slightly snarling Logan and cringed. The door opened, and Scott Summers walked in, looking rather confused as to why he was summoned. Logan didn't glance over in Scott's direction the entire time he was giving instructions, his eyes were fixed on Todd.
"Hold him still, and whatever you do, don't let him move when I pop it back in place."
Todd's eyes widened a little at the words, filling with fear again. Scott looked confused, but did as he was told, holding Todd absolutely still in a death grip. Todd began to struggle when Logan took hold of his upper arm and held it out straight, placing his hand just below where the shoulder connected to the shoulder blade.
"Brace yourself."
Logan growled, but before he finished saying 'self', he wrapped his hand around Todd's thin shoulder and with all his strength forced the shoulder back together in one swift, fluid motion. The dead silence up until that point was broken by an eardrum shattering 'POP', which echoed through the halls like a gun shot. That was quickly followed by pained screams from Todd as he finally pried loose from Scott's grip. Storm took a step forward as she watched Todd writhe under the pain he felt. As the shock of the pain subsided, Todd drew his knees up to his chest, resting his forehead on his kneecaps and uttered every vile word he had ever learned in one continuos sentence. Logan's lips raised in a snarl and he made a motion like he might backhand Todd for using that type of language, but Ororo grabbed his arm.
"Logan, have a little sensitivity. And if you do not think you can handle it, I request that you leave. You too Scott."
She said softly as she looked to the older student, though her look told Scott that whether or not he could handle it, he was to leave. Scott backed out the door without hesitation, to find himself among a swarm of younger students. There was an excited buzz about the 'evil captive' and asking him what it was like to get to torture a 'P.O.W.' Scott scowled at them deeply, just walking away from the excited group and there beliefs. He saw Kurt and Kitty run downstairs, both looking nervous and worried.
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Kurt ran faster than Kitty, and he reached the group first. He heard excited whispers from a few students he hadn't gotten to know very well yet.
"How do you think they caught him?"
"I don't know. But just think! In the war of good versus evil, we just got one up on the evil side!"
There were even more excited cheers. Kurt scoffed at the young students. So naïve.
"Nein, 'e is not a captive."
Kurt growled at the group. There was an awkward silence, then Kitty spoke up.
"Like, the brotherhood has totally been captured by Mutant Control! He's the only one who got away"
The looks of frenzied amusement dropped from the students' faces, worried looks replacing them. Kitty's face was dropped in a forlorn stare, as it had been since Storm had taken her leave with Todd. Kurt had noticed that a certain level of shame rested in her gaze as she looked through one of the large, supposedly soundproof windows into the infirmary. Kurt pushed a few small students gently aside as he followed Kitty right up to the window. She seemed in a trance, too lost in her own thoughts to know what she was doing. Slowly, she reached out and placed her hand at the windowsill, still looking inside. Kurt didn't need to ask what was wrong with her. She had exploded at the thought of her Lance being captured, and Todd had been the best scapegoat around to take it all out on. Too quickly had the emotions blinded her and the words flowed from her mouth, and now she was regretting everything that had happened moments ago.
"Vhy don't you go in and apologize if you are going to be mortified othervise?"
Kurt's voice drew her out of her trance instantly. She turned, staring at the German in disbelief.
"I can't do that!"
She hissed at him, too low for the other students to hear.
"He's a brotherhood member...he deserves everything he got."
The last part of the sentence was not hissed or angered, but whispered. Kurt gave a small, knowing smile. She didn't mean it, he knew by the tone in her voice. He began to slowly notice the whispers of the younger students again, and Kurt turned to them with his famous smile.
"Ok, nothing more to see 'ere!"
There was a groaned protest from the crowd, but Kurt began herding them back upstairs and left Kitty to look in the window.
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Todd sat in the exact same position he had curled into after having his shoulder popped back into place. He was still racked with pain, letting his left arm hang beside him and refused to make it move.
Storm had finally forced Logan to leave. He wasn't the most admirable 'nurse', and it was obvious that Todd was afraid of him. It made her heart ache a little to see him suffer from anxiety out of fear of the metal man and to be injured to this extent at the same time. She hadn't tried to make him move out of the defensive curl, it was rather convenient for her. Since in doing this he had pulled his feet up to rest on the metal table he now sat on, she had easier access to the cut areas on his legs. She had a soft cloth doused in water to clear away the caked blood, and another dry cloth and bottle of peroxide waiting. Carefully, she washed away the crimson from his pale skin. She closely examined the cuts, to insure that the peroxide would help and not worsen the problem. She smiled when she found that none of the wounds were very deep at all, and began to apply to peroxide.
Todd yelped at the bubbling, slightly stinging medication Ororo swabbed onto his cuts, glaring at her half-heartedly.
"Ain't I gone through enough already, yo?"
He groaned miserably. Storm leaned back, looking up at him with a gentle smile.
"I just need to make sure that your wounds don't get infected, or else you will be in far worse pain than now."
Todd just stared at her for a long moment, then buried his forehead back on his kneecaps, closing his eyes. Storm returned to her task, catching a glimpse of Kitty out of the corner of her eye. The young girl seemed to have a lot she needed to say, and Storm beckoned for her to come in. it was a long moment before Kitty even made a slight movement to back away from the window, then she frozen again. Storm motioned once again for her to enter; her movement caught the attention of Todd. He didn't look over at the window in time to see Kitty slip into the shadows of the hallway, and only saw Ororo beckoning to air. He raised a brow, watching her silently for a brief second.
"Yo,you insane or what? There ain't no one there. And if your insane, maybe it ain't such a good idea for you ta be playing doctor..."
Todd's voice became progressively more nervous as he spoke, but Storm didn't look up at him immediately.
"You have a reluctant visitor."
She informed him, her eyes still on the shadowed silhouette of Kitty. She heard Todd give her a common sighing noise, in better words, a 'tah'.
"You really are off your rocker, Storm or whateva your name is. No one here would want to come anywhere near me unless they planned on becoming a murderer."
Storm broke her gaze with Kitty and looked up into the sad amber eyes that were now cast down to the floor.
"You seem very mistaken. And my name is Ororo."
Todd didn't look up until she stated her name, but he looked rather dumbfounded.
"Ororo? What kinda name is that supposed to be?"
"African."
Storm answered him simply. Todd shook his head, requiring no further explanation. A soft squeak of the door hinges made both of them turn their gaze towards the only entrance and exit to the room, but found no one standing in the open doorway.
"This is getting freakin..."
Todd stopped his sentence short, as Kitty rose from the floor a few feet into the doorway, head hung and eyes making no contact with anyone else's gaze.
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Kurt had succeeded in keeping the herd of students moving until they were back in the rec room. Once there, the younger children all turned and glared at him.
"What's going on Kurt?"
"Yeah! What's the big deal?"
Kurt looked at all of them, giving a sigh. How he hated playing twenty questions. But the persistent youngsters wouldn't take the 'no comment' look he was giving them for an answer. Their demands to know what was going on became louder and angrier the more he refused them answers. Pulling the corner of his mouth up into a snarl, and a few backed down on their demands. But the questions and demands to know didn't stop. Kurt gave an audible growl.
"I don't know exactly vhat is going on. All I know is 'zat Tolansky vas 'ze only brotherhood member to escape capture. I don't know vhy 'e came 'ere or vhat is going on."
He kept his voice as level and calm as possible. The demands slowly silenced, murmurs replacing them. Kurt inwardly gave a sigh of relief. The younger students began to sit down to chat among themselves, no doubt about more of their own wild ideas of why Toad was in their midst. And when they were spread out, Kurt was able to recognize a few faces more clearly. Sam and Ray, as well as Jubilee and Rahne were among the confused group. He gave them a small wave before porting back down to where he had left Kitty.
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Todd watched Kitty skeptically, a growl was restrained in his throat. Storm seemed mildly amused by her choice of how to make her appearance in the room. Kitty slowly rose her eyes too meet both curious onlookers.
"Storm, could you, like...."
The white-haired woman needed no further submission of the request. She had a feeling that Kitty was loathing herself for earlier, but she had never guessed that it would bother the girl to the point that she would make a one on one apology. Walking past Kitty, Storm took her leave. It was fine with her, she had to go speak with the professor in private.
Watching Storm as she left, Todd turned back to Kitty.
"Whatda you want, valley?"
He asked harshly, and Kitty hung her head a little more.
"Todd, I-I'm here to...to"
"Admit that you're a star pupil in bitch school?"
"Just shut up...this is hard enough already."
Kitty replied, a small hint of hate in her tone. Todd's small smirk grew just a little more when she didn't deny his accusation,nor did she really go around it. Kitty looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears and her bottom lip quivering a little. Had they been anywhere but the Institute, Todd would have burst out laughing at her. But since he was behind enemy lines, he decided to humor her by listening.
"While I'm young, valley."
He growled slightly when there was a continuing silence. Kitty took in a deep breathe, forcing back the threatening onslaught of tears.
"I'm...sorry."
She said slowly.
"For, you know, earlier."
Todd had lost his smirk, he just stared at Kitty for a long while. And x-geek was apologizing to him? He wasn't sure whether to feel proud of the fact that an x-man felt the need to apologize to him or to be offended. But then again, there were few who would even let the thought of an apology to Todd Tolansky cross their mind. In his lack of response, he noticed that Kitty had diverted her eyes to the floor again in sorrowful rejection.
"Don't sweat it, yo. You think I don't go through shit like that everyday?"
Kitty's eyes shot back up at him, seeming sad and angry at the same time. She was angry because she hadn't needed to apologize in the first place and go through the humiliation, but sad because of the latter sentence. She couldn't imagine being spoken to and treated like that every since day. The thought baffled her. Todd had allowed his eyes to close again. The same calling to sleep that he had felt back in the forest was calling him yet again. Kitty stood still for a moment, then spoke up again.
"But...how is your shoulder?"
"Hurt's like you wouldn't believe."
He paused, eyes still closed, but could sense Kitty slipping into her loathing 'I'm sorry' state again.
"All thanks to Summers and Wolverine."
He added quickly, opening his eyes just a little. Kitty gave a weak smile, hearing a small sound like a match being lit, and turned to look out the window to see Kurt standing there. She waved to him, but the effort was wasted, for the blue furred mutant had already ported into the room beside her. He was about to say something but Xavier's voice interrupted his train of thought.
~ Kurt, I need you to bring Kitty and Todd to my office. There is a meeting you are required to attend. ~
~ Alright, Professor, ve are on our vay. ~
Kurt grabbed Kitty's wrist without a word, and after studying the difference in angles in Todd's wrists, grabbed his left wrist. Todd yelped, and started to shout at Kurt to lay off the shoulder, but his words were lost in a cloud of sulfur and brimstone.
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Storm walked briskly towards Xavier's office, finding that he had already opened the door. She stepped inside, her eyes widening to find Logan, all the first recruits and the newest recruits all gathered. The only two missing where Kurt and Kitty. Xavier sat behind his desk, fingers laced together and elbows resting on the cherry wood desk, chin resting on his fingers.
"Storm, I was rather hoping you would show up without me barging into your mind. Have a seat."
At the words, Logan and the other occupants of the couch all moved to the left to allow Storm some room to sit. Storm did sit, though on the very edge since she knew that she had to get back downstairs and reset Todd's wrist in a cast. The Professor gave a small smile, sitting back in his wheel chair.
"I know you are all curious to why I have brought you here. It seems that we have a situation that is possibly threatening to us that needs to be discussed."
The Professor stopped and looked to the middle of the room, which for a moment was empty. By the time the rest of the group looked over, there was a dwindling cloud of brimstone and sulfur, where it had once been empty the room was suddenly quite full. Kurt's eyes were the first to appear in the cloud, the outlines of two passengers came next, then all three travelers were in plain sight. This happened in such quick succession that the single appearances all meshed into one sudden appearance. Storm gave a slightly pained smile when she saw the look on Todd's face from where Kurt had grabbed his arm and pulled a little. Kurt gave his famous smile, trying to cut through the thick tension held within the room, and released the wrists of his passengers. The groups attention was directed back to Xavier as the wheelchair confined man cleared his throat.
"Now then, Todd, would you be so kind as to fill us in as to the precise reason behind your visit?"
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Todd looked from face to face, catching all the malice glances that were sent towards him. The only eyes from which came no motive to kill him where from Storm, Xavier, and partly from Kurt and Kitty. He avoided Logan's gaze all together. His inner coward screamed at him to make a break for it, but Todd forced himself to stay. He by himself couldn't do much anything to help the captured members of the Brotherhood, and that would mean he had absolutely no one he could turn to. Kurt and Kitty, he noticed, had stepped at least three feet away on either side of him; leaving him in the spotlight. Finally, Todd focused on the patiently waiting Professor.
"It's like this, yo. Lance got this invite to crash here, so..."
He was abruptly interrupted by Scott leaping up, and even from beneath his ruby quartz shades, pure daggers were shot from the glare he must have been giving Kitty.
"Invited!? We didn't hear a word about this!"
"Scott, please sit down."
The Professor urged. Scott turned his head slightly towards Xavier, more to acknowledge that he had heard him than to show that he would comply though. Logan took the opportunity to step in.
"I'm just as curious about frog-boys little waltz into the mansion as the resta your team Summers...so I suggest you sit down and shut up."
Scott reluctantly sat down, giving Logan no acknowledging turn of his head. Todd smirked inwardly, but remained visibly nervous on the outside.
"Like I was sayin'...Lance drug us all out to come here. That's when the agents jumped us, yo. Outta no where too."
"If they were so 'out of no where', Tolansky, then how did you escape?"
Evan snarled.
"The guys darted Rocky, we slammed into a tree and I got a free flyin' lesson."
Todd scoffed back in Evan's direction. He noticed Evan start to flex the muscles in his arms as he clenched his fists shut, and ducked just in time to miss a spike. Storm gave her nephew a stern look.
"Evan, control yourself. If there are Control agents around, then it concerns us a great deal more than we might realize."
"Sorry Auntie-O"
Came Evan's hollow reply, though he didn't look a bit sorry. Xavier began to speak after a long moment, diverting everyones attention back to him.
"Todd, you need to tell us everything you can about what the agents were using, better yet which direction they headed off in."
Todd watched Xavier, and shrugged.
"I was out cold up in a tree, yo, there ain't much I can tell ya. But I did see the vans, they were loading up the guys n' Wanda. They headed East after that."
Xavier thought for a long moment, closing his eyes and Todd could only guess envisioning something like a town map in his head.
"That would bring them to New York Bay within a few hours..."
He mused aloud, though it was clearly part of his thought process.
"But where would they go from there?"
Xavier opened his eyes, looking at Todd as if to ask for more information. When Todd only shrugged, Xavier sighed.
"They could be heading in any direction from there...it will be difficult to locate them on Cerebro."
The instant Xavier's eyes started looking doubtful, Todd's own eyes widened.
"Yo, you guys gotta help me. Those guys are practically my family, an' I can't do to much in the line a' savin'. Come on, yo, I'm desperate!"
He heard a harsh chuckle from the back of the room and looked over his shoulder to see Evan laughing.
"You must be pretty desperate to just leave them and come to get out help. Why don't you just go to a swamp or somewhere like that, I'm sure you'd fit right in with the locals there."
There was a hushed laughter that filtered through the room that was quickly silenced by a very pissed looking Kitty. She had come out of no where and was suddenly up in Evan's face, a snarl pasted over her usually calm features.
"Listen here, Evan. That's Lance out there! And unless you, like, want to see just how much pain you can take when I decide to just start phasing your insides out here, then you keep talking!"
The room was silent. It was an eerie and unnerving silence that even the instructors dared not disturb. Evan looked around at all the eyes on him, and slowly held his hands out to the side. He stared into Kitty's heartless eyes for a minute.
"Ok, you shut me up."
He growled at her, though not half as harshly as he would have. He knew that she was being serious, and a serious Kitty was a dangerous one. The tension was still there as Kitty looked towards Xavier. Even the Professor seemed a little taken back by the apprehensive twist Kitty's emotions had taken.
"Professor, you like, have to find Lance and the others!"
"She is right Charles."
Storm said, standing up.
"If we speak of peace, that is peace between mutants as well. We can't just leave them at the hands of Mutant Control."
Todd looked at both the females coming to his aid and couldn't help but smile a little. Maybe the x-geeks weren't so bad after all...sometimes. He looked to the Professor, a pleading look in his eyes. Xavier looked at each face in the room; testing to see that each was ready, then nodded.
"I'll begin searching with Cerebro immediately."
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A/N: Not much to say but, hope you liked it! I was thinking about adding an OC in the next chapter...please tell me if I should or not in your reviews!
~Dragonmistriss
Summary: When Todd gets the treatment he so badly needs and opens a plea for help, will the request fall on a deaf ear?
A/N: Ack! Sorry it took longer than usual to get this chappy internet bound, but I had to see my little cousins before they go back to Arkansas! So, I won't keep you loyal readers waiting in agony any longer! On with the fic! Enjoy ^_^
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Chapter 7: Help Wanted
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The only sound that marked Storm's decent down into the med. wing was the soft rustle of her cloak, and the occasional pained whimper from Todd. He was slightly upset that she had to carry him, especially since his back was covered in fresh cuts and scrapes. But he had to admire her for her motherly nature...he doubted that there was another person in this Institute that would have risked being struck by Wolverine's claws just to save his ass. He had left his eyes closed, feeling comforted enough in her protecting arms to do so in a place he knew he was not welcome with open arms. He stirred in his half asleep state when he no longer felt Storm walking, and could hear hushed whispers before the soft 'click' of a door closing blocked them out. He opened his eyes, looking around the sterile room nervously. His dull amber eyes shifted finally to rest on the smiling, yet sad, face of Ororo. Then he noticed a slightly snarling Logan and cringed. The door opened, and Scott Summers walked in, looking rather confused as to why he was summoned. Logan didn't glance over in Scott's direction the entire time he was giving instructions, his eyes were fixed on Todd.
"Hold him still, and whatever you do, don't let him move when I pop it back in place."
Todd's eyes widened a little at the words, filling with fear again. Scott looked confused, but did as he was told, holding Todd absolutely still in a death grip. Todd began to struggle when Logan took hold of his upper arm and held it out straight, placing his hand just below where the shoulder connected to the shoulder blade.
"Brace yourself."
Logan growled, but before he finished saying 'self', he wrapped his hand around Todd's thin shoulder and with all his strength forced the shoulder back together in one swift, fluid motion. The dead silence up until that point was broken by an eardrum shattering 'POP', which echoed through the halls like a gun shot. That was quickly followed by pained screams from Todd as he finally pried loose from Scott's grip. Storm took a step forward as she watched Todd writhe under the pain he felt. As the shock of the pain subsided, Todd drew his knees up to his chest, resting his forehead on his kneecaps and uttered every vile word he had ever learned in one continuos sentence. Logan's lips raised in a snarl and he made a motion like he might backhand Todd for using that type of language, but Ororo grabbed his arm.
"Logan, have a little sensitivity. And if you do not think you can handle it, I request that you leave. You too Scott."
She said softly as she looked to the older student, though her look told Scott that whether or not he could handle it, he was to leave. Scott backed out the door without hesitation, to find himself among a swarm of younger students. There was an excited buzz about the 'evil captive' and asking him what it was like to get to torture a 'P.O.W.' Scott scowled at them deeply, just walking away from the excited group and there beliefs. He saw Kurt and Kitty run downstairs, both looking nervous and worried.
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Kurt ran faster than Kitty, and he reached the group first. He heard excited whispers from a few students he hadn't gotten to know very well yet.
"How do you think they caught him?"
"I don't know. But just think! In the war of good versus evil, we just got one up on the evil side!"
There were even more excited cheers. Kurt scoffed at the young students. So naïve.
"Nein, 'e is not a captive."
Kurt growled at the group. There was an awkward silence, then Kitty spoke up.
"Like, the brotherhood has totally been captured by Mutant Control! He's the only one who got away"
The looks of frenzied amusement dropped from the students' faces, worried looks replacing them. Kitty's face was dropped in a forlorn stare, as it had been since Storm had taken her leave with Todd. Kurt had noticed that a certain level of shame rested in her gaze as she looked through one of the large, supposedly soundproof windows into the infirmary. Kurt pushed a few small students gently aside as he followed Kitty right up to the window. She seemed in a trance, too lost in her own thoughts to know what she was doing. Slowly, she reached out and placed her hand at the windowsill, still looking inside. Kurt didn't need to ask what was wrong with her. She had exploded at the thought of her Lance being captured, and Todd had been the best scapegoat around to take it all out on. Too quickly had the emotions blinded her and the words flowed from her mouth, and now she was regretting everything that had happened moments ago.
"Vhy don't you go in and apologize if you are going to be mortified othervise?"
Kurt's voice drew her out of her trance instantly. She turned, staring at the German in disbelief.
"I can't do that!"
She hissed at him, too low for the other students to hear.
"He's a brotherhood member...he deserves everything he got."
The last part of the sentence was not hissed or angered, but whispered. Kurt gave a small, knowing smile. She didn't mean it, he knew by the tone in her voice. He began to slowly notice the whispers of the younger students again, and Kurt turned to them with his famous smile.
"Ok, nothing more to see 'ere!"
There was a groaned protest from the crowd, but Kurt began herding them back upstairs and left Kitty to look in the window.
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Todd sat in the exact same position he had curled into after having his shoulder popped back into place. He was still racked with pain, letting his left arm hang beside him and refused to make it move.
Storm had finally forced Logan to leave. He wasn't the most admirable 'nurse', and it was obvious that Todd was afraid of him. It made her heart ache a little to see him suffer from anxiety out of fear of the metal man and to be injured to this extent at the same time. She hadn't tried to make him move out of the defensive curl, it was rather convenient for her. Since in doing this he had pulled his feet up to rest on the metal table he now sat on, she had easier access to the cut areas on his legs. She had a soft cloth doused in water to clear away the caked blood, and another dry cloth and bottle of peroxide waiting. Carefully, she washed away the crimson from his pale skin. She closely examined the cuts, to insure that the peroxide would help and not worsen the problem. She smiled when she found that none of the wounds were very deep at all, and began to apply to peroxide.
Todd yelped at the bubbling, slightly stinging medication Ororo swabbed onto his cuts, glaring at her half-heartedly.
"Ain't I gone through enough already, yo?"
He groaned miserably. Storm leaned back, looking up at him with a gentle smile.
"I just need to make sure that your wounds don't get infected, or else you will be in far worse pain than now."
Todd just stared at her for a long moment, then buried his forehead back on his kneecaps, closing his eyes. Storm returned to her task, catching a glimpse of Kitty out of the corner of her eye. The young girl seemed to have a lot she needed to say, and Storm beckoned for her to come in. it was a long moment before Kitty even made a slight movement to back away from the window, then she frozen again. Storm motioned once again for her to enter; her movement caught the attention of Todd. He didn't look over at the window in time to see Kitty slip into the shadows of the hallway, and only saw Ororo beckoning to air. He raised a brow, watching her silently for a brief second.
"Yo,you insane or what? There ain't no one there. And if your insane, maybe it ain't such a good idea for you ta be playing doctor..."
Todd's voice became progressively more nervous as he spoke, but Storm didn't look up at him immediately.
"You have a reluctant visitor."
She informed him, her eyes still on the shadowed silhouette of Kitty. She heard Todd give her a common sighing noise, in better words, a 'tah'.
"You really are off your rocker, Storm or whateva your name is. No one here would want to come anywhere near me unless they planned on becoming a murderer."
Storm broke her gaze with Kitty and looked up into the sad amber eyes that were now cast down to the floor.
"You seem very mistaken. And my name is Ororo."
Todd didn't look up until she stated her name, but he looked rather dumbfounded.
"Ororo? What kinda name is that supposed to be?"
"African."
Storm answered him simply. Todd shook his head, requiring no further explanation. A soft squeak of the door hinges made both of them turn their gaze towards the only entrance and exit to the room, but found no one standing in the open doorway.
"This is getting freakin..."
Todd stopped his sentence short, as Kitty rose from the floor a few feet into the doorway, head hung and eyes making no contact with anyone else's gaze.
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Kurt had succeeded in keeping the herd of students moving until they were back in the rec room. Once there, the younger children all turned and glared at him.
"What's going on Kurt?"
"Yeah! What's the big deal?"
Kurt looked at all of them, giving a sigh. How he hated playing twenty questions. But the persistent youngsters wouldn't take the 'no comment' look he was giving them for an answer. Their demands to know what was going on became louder and angrier the more he refused them answers. Pulling the corner of his mouth up into a snarl, and a few backed down on their demands. But the questions and demands to know didn't stop. Kurt gave an audible growl.
"I don't know exactly vhat is going on. All I know is 'zat Tolansky vas 'ze only brotherhood member to escape capture. I don't know vhy 'e came 'ere or vhat is going on."
He kept his voice as level and calm as possible. The demands slowly silenced, murmurs replacing them. Kurt inwardly gave a sigh of relief. The younger students began to sit down to chat among themselves, no doubt about more of their own wild ideas of why Toad was in their midst. And when they were spread out, Kurt was able to recognize a few faces more clearly. Sam and Ray, as well as Jubilee and Rahne were among the confused group. He gave them a small wave before porting back down to where he had left Kitty.
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Todd watched Kitty skeptically, a growl was restrained in his throat. Storm seemed mildly amused by her choice of how to make her appearance in the room. Kitty slowly rose her eyes too meet both curious onlookers.
"Storm, could you, like...."
The white-haired woman needed no further submission of the request. She had a feeling that Kitty was loathing herself for earlier, but she had never guessed that it would bother the girl to the point that she would make a one on one apology. Walking past Kitty, Storm took her leave. It was fine with her, she had to go speak with the professor in private.
Watching Storm as she left, Todd turned back to Kitty.
"Whatda you want, valley?"
He asked harshly, and Kitty hung her head a little more.
"Todd, I-I'm here to...to"
"Admit that you're a star pupil in bitch school?"
"Just shut up...this is hard enough already."
Kitty replied, a small hint of hate in her tone. Todd's small smirk grew just a little more when she didn't deny his accusation,nor did she really go around it. Kitty looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears and her bottom lip quivering a little. Had they been anywhere but the Institute, Todd would have burst out laughing at her. But since he was behind enemy lines, he decided to humor her by listening.
"While I'm young, valley."
He growled slightly when there was a continuing silence. Kitty took in a deep breathe, forcing back the threatening onslaught of tears.
"I'm...sorry."
She said slowly.
"For, you know, earlier."
Todd had lost his smirk, he just stared at Kitty for a long while. And x-geek was apologizing to him? He wasn't sure whether to feel proud of the fact that an x-man felt the need to apologize to him or to be offended. But then again, there were few who would even let the thought of an apology to Todd Tolansky cross their mind. In his lack of response, he noticed that Kitty had diverted her eyes to the floor again in sorrowful rejection.
"Don't sweat it, yo. You think I don't go through shit like that everyday?"
Kitty's eyes shot back up at him, seeming sad and angry at the same time. She was angry because she hadn't needed to apologize in the first place and go through the humiliation, but sad because of the latter sentence. She couldn't imagine being spoken to and treated like that every since day. The thought baffled her. Todd had allowed his eyes to close again. The same calling to sleep that he had felt back in the forest was calling him yet again. Kitty stood still for a moment, then spoke up again.
"But...how is your shoulder?"
"Hurt's like you wouldn't believe."
He paused, eyes still closed, but could sense Kitty slipping into her loathing 'I'm sorry' state again.
"All thanks to Summers and Wolverine."
He added quickly, opening his eyes just a little. Kitty gave a weak smile, hearing a small sound like a match being lit, and turned to look out the window to see Kurt standing there. She waved to him, but the effort was wasted, for the blue furred mutant had already ported into the room beside her. He was about to say something but Xavier's voice interrupted his train of thought.
~ Kurt, I need you to bring Kitty and Todd to my office. There is a meeting you are required to attend. ~
~ Alright, Professor, ve are on our vay. ~
Kurt grabbed Kitty's wrist without a word, and after studying the difference in angles in Todd's wrists, grabbed his left wrist. Todd yelped, and started to shout at Kurt to lay off the shoulder, but his words were lost in a cloud of sulfur and brimstone.
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Storm walked briskly towards Xavier's office, finding that he had already opened the door. She stepped inside, her eyes widening to find Logan, all the first recruits and the newest recruits all gathered. The only two missing where Kurt and Kitty. Xavier sat behind his desk, fingers laced together and elbows resting on the cherry wood desk, chin resting on his fingers.
"Storm, I was rather hoping you would show up without me barging into your mind. Have a seat."
At the words, Logan and the other occupants of the couch all moved to the left to allow Storm some room to sit. Storm did sit, though on the very edge since she knew that she had to get back downstairs and reset Todd's wrist in a cast. The Professor gave a small smile, sitting back in his wheel chair.
"I know you are all curious to why I have brought you here. It seems that we have a situation that is possibly threatening to us that needs to be discussed."
The Professor stopped and looked to the middle of the room, which for a moment was empty. By the time the rest of the group looked over, there was a dwindling cloud of brimstone and sulfur, where it had once been empty the room was suddenly quite full. Kurt's eyes were the first to appear in the cloud, the outlines of two passengers came next, then all three travelers were in plain sight. This happened in such quick succession that the single appearances all meshed into one sudden appearance. Storm gave a slightly pained smile when she saw the look on Todd's face from where Kurt had grabbed his arm and pulled a little. Kurt gave his famous smile, trying to cut through the thick tension held within the room, and released the wrists of his passengers. The groups attention was directed back to Xavier as the wheelchair confined man cleared his throat.
"Now then, Todd, would you be so kind as to fill us in as to the precise reason behind your visit?"
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Todd looked from face to face, catching all the malice glances that were sent towards him. The only eyes from which came no motive to kill him where from Storm, Xavier, and partly from Kurt and Kitty. He avoided Logan's gaze all together. His inner coward screamed at him to make a break for it, but Todd forced himself to stay. He by himself couldn't do much anything to help the captured members of the Brotherhood, and that would mean he had absolutely no one he could turn to. Kurt and Kitty, he noticed, had stepped at least three feet away on either side of him; leaving him in the spotlight. Finally, Todd focused on the patiently waiting Professor.
"It's like this, yo. Lance got this invite to crash here, so..."
He was abruptly interrupted by Scott leaping up, and even from beneath his ruby quartz shades, pure daggers were shot from the glare he must have been giving Kitty.
"Invited!? We didn't hear a word about this!"
"Scott, please sit down."
The Professor urged. Scott turned his head slightly towards Xavier, more to acknowledge that he had heard him than to show that he would comply though. Logan took the opportunity to step in.
"I'm just as curious about frog-boys little waltz into the mansion as the resta your team Summers...so I suggest you sit down and shut up."
Scott reluctantly sat down, giving Logan no acknowledging turn of his head. Todd smirked inwardly, but remained visibly nervous on the outside.
"Like I was sayin'...Lance drug us all out to come here. That's when the agents jumped us, yo. Outta no where too."
"If they were so 'out of no where', Tolansky, then how did you escape?"
Evan snarled.
"The guys darted Rocky, we slammed into a tree and I got a free flyin' lesson."
Todd scoffed back in Evan's direction. He noticed Evan start to flex the muscles in his arms as he clenched his fists shut, and ducked just in time to miss a spike. Storm gave her nephew a stern look.
"Evan, control yourself. If there are Control agents around, then it concerns us a great deal more than we might realize."
"Sorry Auntie-O"
Came Evan's hollow reply, though he didn't look a bit sorry. Xavier began to speak after a long moment, diverting everyones attention back to him.
"Todd, you need to tell us everything you can about what the agents were using, better yet which direction they headed off in."
Todd watched Xavier, and shrugged.
"I was out cold up in a tree, yo, there ain't much I can tell ya. But I did see the vans, they were loading up the guys n' Wanda. They headed East after that."
Xavier thought for a long moment, closing his eyes and Todd could only guess envisioning something like a town map in his head.
"That would bring them to New York Bay within a few hours..."
He mused aloud, though it was clearly part of his thought process.
"But where would they go from there?"
Xavier opened his eyes, looking at Todd as if to ask for more information. When Todd only shrugged, Xavier sighed.
"They could be heading in any direction from there...it will be difficult to locate them on Cerebro."
The instant Xavier's eyes started looking doubtful, Todd's own eyes widened.
"Yo, you guys gotta help me. Those guys are practically my family, an' I can't do to much in the line a' savin'. Come on, yo, I'm desperate!"
He heard a harsh chuckle from the back of the room and looked over his shoulder to see Evan laughing.
"You must be pretty desperate to just leave them and come to get out help. Why don't you just go to a swamp or somewhere like that, I'm sure you'd fit right in with the locals there."
There was a hushed laughter that filtered through the room that was quickly silenced by a very pissed looking Kitty. She had come out of no where and was suddenly up in Evan's face, a snarl pasted over her usually calm features.
"Listen here, Evan. That's Lance out there! And unless you, like, want to see just how much pain you can take when I decide to just start phasing your insides out here, then you keep talking!"
The room was silent. It was an eerie and unnerving silence that even the instructors dared not disturb. Evan looked around at all the eyes on him, and slowly held his hands out to the side. He stared into Kitty's heartless eyes for a minute.
"Ok, you shut me up."
He growled at her, though not half as harshly as he would have. He knew that she was being serious, and a serious Kitty was a dangerous one. The tension was still there as Kitty looked towards Xavier. Even the Professor seemed a little taken back by the apprehensive twist Kitty's emotions had taken.
"Professor, you like, have to find Lance and the others!"
"She is right Charles."
Storm said, standing up.
"If we speak of peace, that is peace between mutants as well. We can't just leave them at the hands of Mutant Control."
Todd looked at both the females coming to his aid and couldn't help but smile a little. Maybe the x-geeks weren't so bad after all...sometimes. He looked to the Professor, a pleading look in his eyes. Xavier looked at each face in the room; testing to see that each was ready, then nodded.
"I'll begin searching with Cerebro immediately."
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A/N: Not much to say but, hope you liked it! I was thinking about adding an OC in the next chapter...please tell me if I should or not in your reviews!
~Dragonmistriss
