Morty
By Maikafuiniel

Normally I would feel guilty for taking so much time before updating… but I'm not. Really. I'm in University now, and in my history class I'm reading about all these people who do these horribly, and stupid things. Compared to them, I'm an Angel.

Least wise, I'm never going to make a horse a senator- so I'm one up on the Romans.

Ah, and to the person who threatened me with an empty milk container… :) This one is for you, you know who you are.

To Clear Something Up
The memories shtick- some of you don't get it. Alright. :) Todd has all the same memories as he's ever had- they've just been altered so that whenever somebody called him Todd, he remembers them calling him Morty, or Mortimer. The whole story about growing up in England and all, is something he made up as a cover story.
His father- his father is simply named after the original Mortimer Toynbee, it isn't actually him from the comx's. I just took the name, and said that was his father.

Chapter 13
Class ended quickly, and Mortimer was left standing in the middle of the room while Scott talked to the teacher. On one level he wanted to ask Summers where the bathroom was- so he could use his newfound fighting abilities to beat the prep up. On another level he knew Magneto would kill him for wasting this opportunity…

And the chance, a real chance at living a real life was just too great an opportunity to let slide. He wanted to hate himself for it, looking forward to living with the X-Men and all, hate himself for not wanting to go running back to the Brotherhood… But it was hard to want a hard life.

It was hard to not want real companionship.

Sure, Magneto's layer was great and all… but it was a secret base. That was it. It was a place for hiding out, but not much else. The guys were nice enough, though Pyro had a strange tendency to obsess over nicknames while he was around, and even Sabertooth had learned to accept him. So long as he didn't comment on the overpowering smell of blood after dinner time, and let the older man watch his nature shows, everything was good.

He had even went down to the science labs and talked to Forge a few times, before Magneto had gotten royally mad at him for it. The teen was doing his best to cope with being forced into working for the enemy, and he seemed extremely grateful for a chance to talk to somebody who wasn't going to turn around and torture him.

He had even tried to apologise for de-mutanizing Toad, before Mortimer had explained that he was weirdly happy this way, loath as he was to admit it. Learning wasn't hard anymore, bathing wasn't a chore, and nobody turned him away on anything about his looks. Hell, they embraced him. It was a dream come true!

Least wise, it would have been if Lance, Pietro, and Fred had been there to share it with him- but he knew better then to hope for something even better then what he had received. A chance at life.

And that was why he willingly waited for Scott after class, pushing away any lingering feelings of resentment that were still bubbling under the surface. His teachers had told him not to get emotionally attached to the subjects, he was going to have to admit who he was in the end after all, he just couldn't imagine how to go about not wanting what everybody else did.

"Come on this way," Scott said happily, breaking him out of his musings long enough to see the boy motioning towards the hallway, "We'll grab some of my friends, and go to lunch. After we can all give you a little tour of our school- it's alright, for a school and all."

"Yeah," Morty said shortly, "I wouldn't really know."

Scott raised his eyebrows in confusion, and waited for a response until finally Morty caved. "Home-schooled. I did grade nine in a real school," he made up, "But that was back home… England," he continued on his story, "But now I'm here and everything, and back there grade nine is still junior high, not high school-"

Scott cut off his ramblings as they moved through the halls, pushing past groups and flocks of students. Now this, he realized, was something he didn't like. Back when he was just Toad people moved for him. Sure, it was because people didn't want to touch him, but it didn't change the fact that it just made getting through the halls harder now.

Longingly he looked up on top of the lockers where he used to hop right over the students, but quickly wiped the thought from his mind. Weighing the pros and cons, it was obvious this was the life he was meant for. This was it; as good as it got.

"There's Jean," he nearly yelled over the hall din, "That's her locker. She's dating this guy from the football team, but she's my best friend."

"Stereotypical chit," Toad mumbled under his breath, "Tall popular redhead, dating hulking mass from the school team. Could we get anymore tellie?"

Scott, oblivious to the ramblings, pointed out another body among the group. "That there, the skateboarder- no, not that one, the black blonde. Yeah, him. He's Evan, okay kid. Obsessive over his sport though, I gotta' say. He's one of the best on the other hand, which kind of makes up for it."

"Alrighty," Morty said, trying his best not to feel claustrophobic.

"That there is Kurt Wagner," Scott kept going with the running commentary, "The blue haired kid. He's really sensitive though, he hates having anybody touch him- I mean, really."

Morty nodded his comprehension, but before Scott could continued he said, "So, lunch then?"

Scott smiled, as though everything was going his way, and pulled Morty along to show him the way to the lunch room. He went with this, even though he knew the way perfectly well, because he didn't want to mess the charade up so early. It didn't stop it from getting really annoying though.


10 Minutes Later

Morty sat at his table, nervously looking at the others as they chatted amongst themselves. Every once and a while one of them would throw him a quick, searching look (Jean most of all) as though they were trying to figure him out. …But without actually saying anything.

They tried to include him in the conversation, but as soon as they had sat down he had felt a blow of absurdity. The fact that he was here at all, talking to them at all, eating with them… he almost felt guilty for knowing he was actually there to spy on them.

Just a little.

His gaze wandered over to where Lance and Pietro sat- on the table, despite the protests of the teachers, and where Freddy was standing to eat his own lunch. He couldn't sit of course, lest he send the person at the other side of the bench flying. That, or break the bench entirely.

"So?"

His eyes flew back to the X-Men, each of whom was giving him a long look. "Pardon?" He said lightly, taking a leaf of lettuce from his salad and eating it nervously.

"Where are you from?" Kitty asked again, batting her eyes a few times (and confusing Morty greatly in the mean time), "Somewhere in England, right?"

"Um, yeah," he replied, "Nowhere interesting. I've been here for a few months though- schooling with my uncle. Great guy. Bit of a shut in though."

"That's too bad," Evan said, "But we've seen you out and around some- the mall."

Everybody gave a quick look at Scott who had turned quite red.

"So," Kurt concentred, shooting a nervous grin towards Scott, "Vhat are you into? Sports, movies…?"

Mort shrugged, not knowing quite how to respond. "I do some kung-fu, boxing, floor boxing… it's fun enough… Reading, I guess. Probably one of the only guys you'll ever find that really enjoys shopping for clothes. I'm training to be a helicopter pilot- it's pretty fun."

Kitty looked like she was about to comment, a wide smile on her face at the thought of this hot, new boy who hadn't said anything about a girlfriend, and his love for shopping- but before she could, Scott cut in again. "Hey, I have a pilot licence too," Scott smiled from across him, "Never done a 'copter though. Is it anything like a regular plane?"

"Never done a regular plane," Morty replied, still overcome with nervousness and the oddity of the entire conversation.

"Any particular taste in music?" Rogue asked from her corner of the table- the first thing she had said to him yet, and it sounded as if this were the true test of who he was in her mind.

"Rap. Punk. Rock, but not heavy metal. Can't say anything in particular- I do have a strange love for the bagpipes that I can't really explain though."

Rogue smiled, nodded, and went back to her food- Morty had the strange feeling that he had passed her test.

Nobody said anything for a full minute, and then suddenly… WHAM!

…Okay, not wham. Probably more like a boink.

Looking down beside him, on the floor, was a small milk container. It had obviously come from the Brotherhood Boys' table- but hadn't been aimed for him.

Before he could comment, a yell broke out from the other table.

"FOOD FIGHT!"


In the office, thirty minutes later
Pietro said in his chair, fidgeting slowly with a smile. Lance frowned at him over the whole debacle, while Fred merely continued to eat his sandwich. "What the hell do you think you were doing?" Lance hissed at the blonde boy, "Mystique is going to kill us!"

"Yeah," Pietro said slowly, "But on the plus side, I think I have that new kid figured out."

Lance blinked three times slowly, trying to figure out just how the left hand turn on the conversation had happened, and Pietro continued. "Didn't you see him, over with the X-Geeks? He looked almost embarrassed! I actually almost felt sorry for him, being stuck with Summers!

"But on the plus side," he continued, "As soon as I started the fight, he got into it. Threw some pudding right into Summers face before anybody saw him. I think…"

"You don't think."

"Shut up, rock head. I think… he's Brotherhood material."

"He's not a mutant." Lance explained, as though talking to a very stupid three year old, "We would know."

"Why do you think they're so interested in somebody outside their clique?" Pietro questioned, "They ignore everybody else until it suits their needs- and their needs always means mutant war needs. He's a mutant, and they're trying to recruit him without scaring it off. I can just smell it!"

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Fine," Pietro shrugged, "Whatever. You want to be the leader, fine. But I'm telling you- either he joins us, or he doesn't. But I bet you anything that he's going to be the one to turn the tide of this entire war."

TBC