Chapter Ten Can't Break These Walls
Cyclops hurried to the professor's office, to his surprise, followed obediently by his captive- whose eyes were fixed on his boots.
"Mortimer, I have been meaning to speak with you." Said Xavier before Scott could say a word. "And it seems I shall get that chance. What is the problem?"
"He was walking around the mansion unescorted. After a Danger Room session!"
"Is this true?"
"Completely." said Mortimer tiredly. "I don' see the harm of it- I wasn't going around poisoning th' oatmeal-"
"I require a scan of your mind, Toad."
"Require?" he responded nervously.
"I will not probe deeper than necessary."
"Listen!" he snapped. "I wasn't doing anyth-"he collapsed on the floor, holding his head in agony.
"Relax!" exclaimed Xavier
"I AM relaxed!" he shouted back, his eyes bulging. "Stop…please!" the wall Xavier now encountered wasn't the steel brand that Mortimer conjured they were almost seemed to be constructed of a mental Adamantium.
Mortimer writhed in agony, but the Professor couldn't stop himself. Something was urging him to probe onward….and when he finally tore himself away, Mortimer laid thrashing, his eyes rolled up in the back of his head.
Marie's head snapped during English, Toad's mental voice shouting out loud and clear.
"Help!"
"I'm coming! Just hold on!" she said aloud, rushing down the hallways until she faced Professor Xavier's office, inside spotting Cyclops and Xavier frantically trying to revive him.
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Marie
watched Toad with bated breath. It was days before Mortimer's eyes
finally fluttered open. Xavier had restrained him again for fear of a
revenge tactic, but her 'inner toad' told her he wasn't angry.
He was just afraid, confused, and in pain.
"Is anybody there?" he asked uncertainly. Marie's heart skipped a beat. Had the mental infiltration blinded him?
"I am here." She said, walking forward and grasping his green, webbed hand in her own.
"Everything's fuzzy." He said, still not fully conscious. "Why are you touching me?" he asked groggily.
"Should I not?"
"No, I like it." He said quietly.
"Then why do you ask?"
"No one ever… touches me." He said in that same meek tone. The feverish Mortimer almost seemed like a child.
"I'm touching you because I like you." She said. There was a short pause, where they just sat. It was a comforting silence.
"Who are you?" he asked suddenly.
"I told you… a friend."
"Am I dying?" he asked wistfully.
"No. You're going to be all right."
"Then…why are you here? Why are you doing this?"
"Because I'm your friend." She said, squeezing his hand.
"Then why don't you tell me who you are?" The truth was, Rogue was afraid to tell him. She was afraid he would hate her.
"You're an angel, aren't you?" he asked, yawning. She didn't have time to respond before the mutant fell back to sleep. He wasn't acting like himself…but the thermal readings solved that phenomena, he was running a temperature of 103.9.
Toad was still on the road to recovery, and it looked like he would need a map.
Fun, fun, fun! Angst, pain, and a little bit of romantic awkwardness!
