Chapter Eighteen:
Now, a horde of rampaging Trolls may have been terrifying to behold, it was nothing compared to the shock of what happened next.
As the rhythmic sound began to fill the club, everyone stared in dismay as the Trolls got their groove on.
"Oh, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woooman's man... no time to talk..."
Gambit's jaw dropped as the Trolls inexplicably turned from the battle, and began gyrating to the disco beat. The Brothers Gibb chanted gloriously from the surrounding speakers, and the creatures raised their arms (weapons and limbs) in to the air with an enthusiastic cry.
"Noooooooooooooo!" the Troll King shouted in dismay, as his troops were once again defeated by the call of disco.
Oz looked on with confusion, his expression shifting significantly when he raised a single eyebrow. God, he hoped the camera was still running.
The others in their party began to gather around Gambit. The Cajun nearly fainted as he fell into a nearby chair, beginning to consider for the first time all night that he was not going to die.
Rebecca and Sid peeked from behind the bar. At first all that was visible were their wide eyes, and then they slowly rose to their feet. Nancy was beside them in an instant, her arms crossed over her chest and a cocky smirk on her lips.
The twins turned their heads and stared at her in amazement. Nancy just glared and nodded, gloating happily as she watched the Trolls party. Rebecca and Sid glanced at each other again. Sid spotted one surviving bottle of Bacardi, poured a shot for his sister (who accepted gratefully) and then took a long swig from the broken glass neck.
"Get on your feet, girl," Nancy said to Mary, "I don't know how you talked the CD into playing... but thanks for helping me prove to these idiots that I'm always right..."
Toad still clung to the wall, his tongue tucked safely in his mouth again, and stared at the dancing Trolls with the same bewilderment as every other mutant in the room.
He frowned when he spotted Remy in the crowd, alive and obviously still annoying. Pyro, the vampire and the mutant Lance were standing nearby, all grinning with relief. The werewolf was dodging a small circle of break dancing Trolls as he made his way toward the ruined stage, where the camera was indeed still standing.
"Right..." Toad muttered to himself, "Now I remember why I hate this city..."
With a quick kick, Toad leapt to the ground. He decided he had enough of the Underground for one night, and was going to head outside when he spotted the Troll King slumped at the bar.
Toad walked over toward the bar and stepped behind it. He grabbed a frosted mug from the fridge and filled it with heavy ale from the tap. He could hear Relish ranting angrily to himself, his gnarled face buried in his hands.
"Not again...not again!" Relish moaned, "Curse the Brothers Gibb and their unholy magics!"
Toad put the beer mug on the counter and shoved it toward the Troll King. Relish frowned with surprise, and glared suspiciously at the green mutant. He sniffed the foamy brew and sampled it. Relish then lifted the ale to Toad in a silent salute of appreciation and proceeded to drink away his sorrows.
Toad acknowledged with a nod, and then shifted his long, black coat with a shrug of his shoulders. As the cloth settled, he knew immediately that the extra weight of Magneto's small computer was gone. Toad quickly reached into his pockets, searching fruitlessly for the device. He froze when a familiar voice spoke from behind him.
"Lose something?" he heard Mystique's intricate voice say softly.
Toad turned and glared at her. She was still disguised as a Troll (her white dress making her more like a Troll in drag) and was smirking around the imitated lower fangs. She was holding the small computer limply, almost carelessly, in one hand. Toad's eyes fill with cold fury as the shape shifter mocked him.
"Don't worry," Mystique said coyly, "I won't tell Erik of your recklessness. I suppose I was not meant to know about this little list, a fact which I'm sure he has a good reason for..."
Mystique took a few steps toward Toad, allowing her body to resume its natural shape.
The Troll King watched her transformation with surprise, and began to examine his ale suspiciously.
"And, I suppose you want this back," she continued, holding out the computer toward her 'brother'.
Toad snatched it rudely from her grasp, and immediately secured it within his coat.
"Magneto didn't say it was a secret," Toad shot back, obviously distressed by Mystique's discovery.
The shape shifter chuckled softly, and shook her head.
"That doesn't mean he doesn't have any," she replied, and then turned and walked off into the crowd again.
Toad ground his teeth angrily. He touched the device in his pocket one more time, assuring himself of its presence. He hated Mystique's games, but he still wondered what her cryptic words about Magneto's secrets had meant.
He needed to get some information about the mutants on the list, and he knew the best source he had right now was the Malloy family and their Underground friends.
"This is the greatest thing I have ever seen," Lance Alvers announced to the others. He had not been able to stop laughing since the Trolls came down with disco fever.
"Where do you think they got the roller skates?" Harmony asked as several creatures maneuvered passed.
"I don't know," Pyro replied, shaking his head, "Where do you think they got the leisure suits?"
"Ug, polyester. I don't want to know that," Harmony said quickly, sending Lance into a peal of laughter again.
"I don't remember the floor lighting up different colors, either," Rebecca remarked from behind the bar, still helping herself to rum and coke, "...and then, there's the mirror ball... It just appeared out of nowhere..."
"Troll magics," Nancy said with a sigh, obviously annoyed about having to explain this over and over again.
"Magic Troll Disco Ball," Rebecca said, "...Word..."
Gambit was still slumped in a chair nearby, leaning his chin in his hand and staring at the dance floor in disbelief. A female Troll on roller skates spun up to him and grinned broadly.
"Can I get you anything, hun?" the Troll asked, shifting a tray toward him, "Ale? Cigarettes? Candied elf?"
"Merci, but no, chere," Gambit replied, and then shrugged apologetically, "Designated driver..."
The female Troll nodded, and skated on. Gambit shook his head and got to his feet.
"I hate to spoil everyone's fun," he remarked, "But can we get the hell out of here? Si... vous... plait?"
"Worried they'll change their minds about you?" Sid shot at the Cajun gleefully.
"Yes ...and I think that one Troll waitress was hitting on me..." Gambit replied.
Sid raised an eyebrow, "That means you would win our little bet..."
Gambit frowned cynically, "Every Cajun has his limits, ami..."
Author's note: All right! Everything is finally coming together in a horrible and stupid little package! All my muses working hard together and that's (see above) what I got out of them... nicey nice... Thankees to reviewers! I promise to get the rest of this mess over with quickly-D
