Chapter 4
Normal POV at the boarding house
Tabitha ran up the stairs towards Toad's room, she may not actually be a member of the brotherhood but the little guy was always nice to her so she thought she should at least find out where he had disappeared to hours ago. The guys followed more slowly, they were still a little nervous about actually invading his privacy like that, I mean they teased him but this was a little more then that.
Before they even reached the door Tabitha was coming out holding a small black notebook, it was pretty beat up and torn in multiple places, "I found his journal, he didn't even try to hide it, either he doesn't care or he really trusted you guys not to read it."
Tabitha mused on this idea as the others shifted nervously from foot to foot.
Pietro was the first to speak, babbling in the hyper talk that happened when he was nervous or excited, "Soarewegoingtoreadthejournalorwhat?Shouldwereadit?Itispersonal"
Lance interrupted him before he could continue, learning long ago how to decipher the large majority of what Pietro said, "Yeah, yeah, Tabby why don't you do the honors?"
Lance bowed as he gestured towards the living room earning a smirk from Tabby, "Alrighty, lets see what this little dude had to say."
Tabby opened the journal to the first page and began to read,
August 19, 2000
Dear Journal, (Tabby smirked at this predictable beginning and kept reading)
It happened again, I don't think I will ever escape, I mean he holds my mothers life over my head like a damn trophy, I leave and ruin his business and my mother dies, what in the hell kind of choice is that?!
Either I stay and eventually lose my soul or I lose the only person who has ever meant anything to me at all. I wish I could just end it and kill myself, slitting my wrists wouldn't be such a horrible way to go, but Reginald (I will never call him father again) is having me watched 24/7 I am much to valuable to him to die, I mean not only do I bring in good money, but I am his little experiment in genetic manipulation, It seems every time a power emerges it only makes my living life a little more like hell.
Oh no, I can hear him coming down the hall, most likely to punish his slave (me) for something. Hopefully this time he will kill me, Goodbye journal.
Serpent
The others sitting on the couch were silent, unsure of what to say to what they had just heard in the entry before them, Tabby spoke very quietly, "That's the first entry it goes like that for awhile, we probably don't have time to go through all the entries...."
Lance interrupted her, "Jump ahead a year" Tabby nods her head and looks for the right page finally finding it.
August 19, 2001
Dear Journal,
I do believe that writing in you is one of the few things that is keeping me sane anymore. My powers are emerging one after another, however I wish they would simply disappear, these new powers merely make me a better target for Reginald, the one I have always hated the most is this tongue I have, long like a toad's, one of the few things that was part of my natural genetic blip, my X-gene, I believe is what he calls it.
Not even to you journal can I describe the pain that the experiments inflict, the horrors that can be done to me with my new powers, it seems that I always hurt now. Oh another little note, my mother is dead, for some reason I cannot cry for her.
She was the last thing here that I cared about, the last thing that held me tied here. She loved me, the only one that ever has and most likely ever will, the tears are coming now as I write, for her I must escape from this place.
Escape, the word itself brings hope to my heart, if I am careful perhaps there will be a time for me to leave, to journey into a world I have never except through bars. I must go, but I will watch for every chance, and someday, I will leave.
Serpent
"We have to find Todd! If this is what he is writing in his journal then imagi..." Pietro's ramble was suddenly interrupted by the blaring of the telephone.
Pietro leaped off the couch and ran over snatching it off the hook, "Hello?" Suddenly his face was lifted in a smile as he heard a familiar voice, "Hey, Todd, where the hell are you, we were getting worried." Pietro listened for a few minutes throwing in an occasional yes or nod of his head. He thed turned and gave a cheerful "goodbye."
The rest of the Brotherhood was on the edge of their seats wondering what was up, Pietro turned around, and explained, "Todd said that him and his father have some things to work out and he will be back later."
Lance still looked worried, "Are you sure it was Todd, I mean it didn't seem like he would actually stick around with his father after what we saw."
Pietro just shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe they made up, anyway as long as that is solved I'm going upstairs." Pietro flew upstairs to his room and the rest of the brotherhood headed off in different directions, they all still had a feeling in the back of their head that something was not quite right, but they ignored it trusting the voice on the phone.
Elsewhere....
In a lavishly decorated office Reginald Hardwick hung up the phone and smiled darkly as he reverted back to normal, his sons friends has bought the story; hook, line, and sinker.
It helped that he himself was a mutant and could change his voice to match anyone, even well enough to fool a voice print identifier. He gave a small chuckle as he watched the boy on the screen curl up in a ball and cry.
His son had always had such pretty tears. He closed his eyes and smiled hugely as he enjoyed to the sounds of the sobs coming through the speakers in the room.
Todd's POV
Somehow during the night I had managed to fall asleep curled up on the floor in a ball. The sound of the door opening drew me out of my light sleeping, I looked up to see a man dressed in a white lab coat looking at me with cold eyes.
I had forgotten just how much I hated the color white and this man brought all those bad memories back. My eyes went to behind the man when two large men came in, both of them held chains and their faces were twisted cruelly into large smirks as they looked at me.
Suddenly the man in white spoke, "You are to call me Doctor and you are to come with me and my two colleagues" (the Doctor smirked as he motioned to the two lumbering men behind him) "right now, you can either come quietly or we can do this the hard way, either way you are coming with us."
Hearing what he was saying had brought me fully out of my sleep state, I leapt up my strong legs bouncing me up quickly as I put on a face of utter hate as I glared at him. I finally found my voice and when I spoke it was in a low dangerous hiss that would of shocked everyone in Bayville, "Like hell I will come with you, you motherfu.....AAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
My words quickly became a high scream as terrible pain again came from the collar around my neck, it was much worse then last time and the tears that started to gather in my eyes refused to stay there and started to fall down my face, I noticed then that the Doctor had the same remote that my father had, and was pressing the button hard watching me with nearly clinical detachment, I fell to the ground my legs no longer supporting me he spoke to the two behind him, "Lock those chains to the holds on his neck, wrists, and waist, and hold him tight ."
The two muscle heads did just what he said and suddenly I was chained in a complicated manner starting at my neck, spiraling to my waist, to my hands and back to my neck, then the two of them grabbed my arms and pinned them to my sides, finally the man released the button and I whimpered as the shooting pains disappeared.
Out of his pocket the doctor pulled a syringe and slowly tapped the side to make sure no air bubbles appeared. I struggled weakly but my strength had been sapped away. The Doctor walked over to me and jammed the large syringe into my elbow, I bit my lip to keep from crying out, not wanting to give him the pleasure.
He quickly removes the needle after injecting me and sits the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room, "Just a little tricolyphyne to knock him out so we can get him to the room, we cannot afford any ill marks to mar him" I feel myself being pulled unwillingly back to the black abyss and I fall into it screaming in my mind as I disappear."
Normal POV at the Xavier institute
Professor Charles Xavier woke from a sound sleep swearing he had just heard a scream, he shuddered as he remembered what he had heard in the scream, pain, despair, and an utter sense of hopelessness. He sat up in the bed and stared out the window, it had just been a dream, hadn't it?
Normal POV at the boarding house
Tabitha ran up the stairs towards Toad's room, she may not actually be a member of the brotherhood but the little guy was always nice to her so she thought she should at least find out where he had disappeared to hours ago. The guys followed more slowly, they were still a little nervous about actually invading his privacy like that, I mean they teased him but this was a little more then that.
Before they even reached the door Tabitha was coming out holding a small black notebook, it was pretty beat up and torn in multiple places, "I found his journal, he didn't even try to hide it, either he doesn't care or he really trusted you guys not to read it."
Tabitha mused on this idea as the others shifted nervously from foot to foot.
Pietro was the first to speak, babbling in the hyper talk that happened when he was nervous or excited, "Soarewegoingtoreadthejournalorwhat?Shouldwereadit?Itispersonal"
Lance interrupted him before he could continue, learning long ago how to decipher the large majority of what Pietro said, "Yeah, yeah, Tabby why don't you do the honors?"
Lance bowed as he gestured towards the living room earning a smirk from Tabby, "Alrighty, lets see what this little dude had to say."
Tabby opened the journal to the first page and began to read,
August 19, 2000
Dear Journal, (Tabby smirked at this predictable beginning and kept reading)
It happened again, I don't think I will ever escape, I mean he holds my mothers life over my head like a damn trophy, I leave and ruin his business and my mother dies, what in the hell kind of choice is that?!
Either I stay and eventually lose my soul or I lose the only person who has ever meant anything to me at all. I wish I could just end it and kill myself, slitting my wrists wouldn't be such a horrible way to go, but Reginald (I will never call him father again) is having me watched 24/7 I am much to valuable to him to die, I mean not only do I bring in good money, but I am his little experiment in genetic manipulation, It seems every time a power emerges it only makes my living life a little more like hell.
Oh no, I can hear him coming down the hall, most likely to punish his slave (me) for something. Hopefully this time he will kill me, Goodbye journal.
Serpent
The others sitting on the couch were silent, unsure of what to say to what they had just heard in the entry before them, Tabby spoke very quietly, "That's the first entry it goes like that for awhile, we probably don't have time to go through all the entries...."
Lance interrupted her, "Jump ahead a year" Tabby nods her head and looks for the right page finally finding it.
August 19, 2001
Dear Journal,
I do believe that writing in you is one of the few things that is keeping me sane anymore. My powers are emerging one after another, however I wish they would simply disappear, these new powers merely make me a better target for Reginald, the one I have always hated the most is this tongue I have, long like a toad's, one of the few things that was part of my natural genetic blip, my X-gene, I believe is what he calls it.
Not even to you journal can I describe the pain that the experiments inflict, the horrors that can be done to me with my new powers, it seems that I always hurt now. Oh another little note, my mother is dead, for some reason I cannot cry for her.
She was the last thing here that I cared about, the last thing that held me tied here. She loved me, the only one that ever has and most likely ever will, the tears are coming now as I write, for her I must escape from this place.
Escape, the word itself brings hope to my heart, if I am careful perhaps there will be a time for me to leave, to journey into a world I have never except through bars. I must go, but I will watch for every chance, and someday, I will leave.
Serpent
"We have to find Todd! If this is what he is writing in his journal then imagi..." Pietro's ramble was suddenly interrupted by the blaring of the telephone.
Pietro leaped off the couch and ran over snatching it off the hook, "Hello?" Suddenly his face was lifted in a smile as he heard a familiar voice, "Hey, Todd, where the hell are you, we were getting worried." Pietro listened for a few minutes throwing in an occasional yes or nod of his head. He thed turned and gave a cheerful "goodbye."
The rest of the Brotherhood was on the edge of their seats wondering what was up, Pietro turned around, and explained, "Todd said that him and his father have some things to work out and he will be back later."
Lance still looked worried, "Are you sure it was Todd, I mean it didn't seem like he would actually stick around with his father after what we saw."
Pietro just shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe they made up, anyway as long as that is solved I'm going upstairs." Pietro flew upstairs to his room and the rest of the brotherhood headed off in different directions, they all still had a feeling in the back of their head that something was not quite right, but they ignored it trusting the voice on the phone.
Elsewhere....
In a lavishly decorated office Reginald Hardwick hung up the phone and smiled darkly as he reverted back to normal, his sons friends has bought the story; hook, line, and sinker.
It helped that he himself was a mutant and could change his voice to match anyone, even well enough to fool a voice print identifier. He gave a small chuckle as he watched the boy on the screen curl up in a ball and cry.
His son had always had such pretty tears. He closed his eyes and smiled hugely as he enjoyed to the sounds of the sobs coming through the speakers in the room.
Todd's POV
Somehow during the night I had managed to fall asleep curled up on the floor in a ball. The sound of the door opening drew me out of my light sleeping, I looked up to see a man dressed in a white lab coat looking at me with cold eyes.
I had forgotten just how much I hated the color white and this man brought all those bad memories back. My eyes went to behind the man when two large men came in, both of them held chains and their faces were twisted cruelly into large smirks as they looked at me.
Suddenly the man in white spoke, "You are to call me Doctor and you are to come with me and my two colleagues" (the Doctor smirked as he motioned to the two lumbering men behind him) "right now, you can either come quietly or we can do this the hard way, either way you are coming with us."
Hearing what he was saying had brought me fully out of my sleep state, I leapt up my strong legs bouncing me up quickly as I put on a face of utter hate as I glared at him. I finally found my voice and when I spoke it was in a low dangerous hiss that would of shocked everyone in Bayville, "Like hell I will come with you, you motherfu.....AAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
My words quickly became a high scream as terrible pain again came from the collar around my neck, it was much worse then last time and the tears that started to gather in my eyes refused to stay there and started to fall down my face, I noticed then that the Doctor had the same remote that my father had, and was pressing the button hard watching me with nearly clinical detachment, I fell to the ground my legs no longer supporting me he spoke to the two behind him, "Lock those chains to the holds on his neck, wrists, and waist, and hold him tight ."
The two muscle heads did just what he said and suddenly I was chained in a complicated manner starting at my neck, spiraling to my waist, to my hands and back to my neck, then the two of them grabbed my arms and pinned them to my sides, finally the man released the button and I whimpered as the shooting pains disappeared.
Out of his pocket the doctor pulled a syringe and slowly tapped the side to make sure no air bubbles appeared. I struggled weakly but my strength had been sapped away. The Doctor walked over to me and jammed the large syringe into my elbow, I bit my lip to keep from crying out, not wanting to give him the pleasure.
He quickly removes the needle after injecting me and sits the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room, "Just a little tricolyphyne to knock him out so we can get him to the room, we cannot afford any ill marks to mar him" I feel myself being pulled unwillingly back to the black abyss and I fall into it screaming in my mind as I disappear."
Normal POV at the Xavier institute
Professor Charles Xavier woke from a sound sleep swearing he had just heard a scream, he shuddered as he remembered what he had heard in the scream, pain, despair, and an utter sense of hopelessness. He sat up in the bed and stared out the window, it had just been a dream, hadn't it?