Chapter Three: New Recruit
Todd followed Serena into the forest, desperate to talk to her. I have to talk to her. She needs me.
He called out to her, asked her to wait, but she seemed to run faster out of pure desperation to get away from all humanity. Soon Todd was almost out of breath. He panted as he forced his legs to keep moving. I can't give up. I have to talk to her. I have to keep going. Can't stop...
He leaned against a tree as he watched her long brown hair, now unraveled, whip out of sight. There's gotta be another way. He looked up into the tree's branches.
"Of course." He said out loud to himself. Forgetting how tired he was, he gave a huge leap and hopped on one of the braches. He could see Serena just barely through the trees. He began to leap from one tree to another following Serena at a much quicker pace. He made sure not to make too much noise so as not to startle her. Finally she stopped, out of breathe from both running and crying. She slumped against a tree trunk, sank to the ground, and started to sob, her long dark hair draping her face.
He quietly jumped into one of the trees close by to where she was sitting. He crouched on a branch and watched her inattentively. He wanted to go down there but he didn't want to scare her off. Maybe after she let go of some of her pain. But how much was pain to her?
"Why? Why does this have to happen to me?" she sniffled. "Now Todd probably hates me."
Todd looked up when he heard his name. He decided now was the right moment. He grabbed one of the branches and swung down next to her. She startled.
"I don't hate you Serena." He said gently. "I just wanna help."
She laughed sourly through her tears. "I'm a freak. Nobody can help me."
He crouched down and stared into her eyes. "I can."
She looked at him. Not in cold, unbelieving way, nor in a sarcastic, ridiculing way. It looked more like she wanted to believe him, but she didn't know how. He sighed, wondering where to start.
"Look yo, I... I kinda know what you're feeling."
"How?" she asked him.
"Well, I uh..." A fly passed by his head. He followed it with his eyes. "I can do this." And with that he whipped out his tongue and caught the fly. Serena gasped watching this event. She didn't look disgusted like everybody was after he did that, just surprised. "And I can do a lot more than that." She stared at him in disbelief. "You're a mutant, kinda like me." She got up off the ground shaking her head.
"Look, I cannot deal with this. This is just too... unreal!" She started walking away from him.
Todd called after her, "You feel confused. You don't know what to do." She slowly stopped walking as he spoke these words. "You start to think, 'Isn't life hard enough without this?'"
She slowly turned to look at him. He had a sad understanding expression on his face. She looked at him sadly. A voice suddenly came from behind them. They both turned around to see Lance emerging from behind a tree.
"You get a sick feeling inside every time you think about it. You keep wishing it would go away, but it doesn't."
Fred walked up beside Lance. "You're afraid of what might happen if people found out. Your parents don't know what's going on, and they're probably ashamed about the whole thing."
Serena's eyes started to fill up with tears again as the boys reflected how she felt. Pietro zipped out of nowhere and she jumped back.
"You feel out of place. No matter how many people surround you, you feel alone in a dark world." Serena backed into a tree and slumped back down holding her face in her hands.
Todd crouched next to her, "We know what it's like. We've been there before."
She took her face out of her hands. "I'm just... so confused."
"I know," Todd said, "and bein alone don't help neither."
She seem to be staring into nothingness as she spoke. "How will I know what's going to happen? How do I know if I can get through this?"
Todd looked down, "Well, I guess you won't know until it happens. But," He put a hand on her shoulder, "having friends always helps."
She turned her head to look at him. He gave her a hopeful smile. Through all her tears, she smiled back at him. The tears made her eyes glimmer in the moonlight.
"So what powers do you have?" Lance asked.
"Well..."
"Could you show us?"
"I don't know if I can..."
"It wouldn't hurt to try." Todd smiled at her encouragingly. "Don't let your powers control you. You control your powers."
She got up. She drew back her hands and focused. Then she shot her hands forward. Water blasted out of both of her hands as she aimed it at a huge tree. The tree groaned as its roots were pulled up from the ground. The brotherhood watched in awe as the tree tipped over from the pressure of the water blasts Serena was shooting, and finally crashed down onto the ground.
"Not bad." Pietro impressed.
"What else can you do?" Lance asked.
Having more confidence, Serena smiled and clenched her fists, looking like she was concentrating. Her entire body started to shimmer. Her body became steadily clearer until her entire body seemed to be made of liquid.
"Whoa," Todd said, "Now that is wicked." Serena stopped concentrating and her body became solid again.
Lance whispered to Pietro, "Hey man, with abilities like that, she could really come in handy."
"I know that." Pietro whispered back. "But we need to give her the sales pitch first." He walked over to Serena. "Those are some pretty good moves you got there."
"Thanks."
"What would you say if we offered you a place in our group?"
"W-what?" she said slightly taken aback.
The four boys stood together. "We're known as the Brotherhood of mutants." Pietro speed around her a few times then stopped. "They call me Quicksilver."
Lance strained his eyes and the ground started to shake. He looked up smiling. "Avalanche."
Fred grabbed hold of a tree and ripped it up with a yell, then threw it back down. "Blob."
Todd hopped onto a tree trunk and back flipped onto a different tree. He smirked, "I'm the Toad yo!" Serena looked impressed by the boys' performance.
"So wadda ya' say?" asked Pietro.
Serena thought for a moment, then she smiled and nodded. "Alright, just call me Aqua Woman."
"Alright Aqua. You're part of the team now."
"Cool." She said smiling.
"Well we'd better get back to the party." Pietro said come on guys.
Lance, Pietro, and Fred walked off. Todd started to follow when Serena called him.
"Hey Todd,"
"Yeah?"
"Did you know that toads are one of my most favorite animals?"
"Uh no, I didn't."
She was moving closer. He moved closer too. He realized for the first time that she smelled like strawberries. And they kissed. It was something Todd had never felt before. His lips felt as if they were burning. The heat from them seemed to spread throughout his entire body. He forgot everything that was around him. This happened in the time space of a second. They both laughed nervously, a little embarrassed.
"Wow." She said.
"First time?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Me too."
They looked at each other for a while. Todd didn't think he had ever been this happy before. The two finally knew that they felt the same ways towards each other.
"Well let's go join the others." She got up and started to walk off.
Just then Todd heard a rustle in the bushes. He looked over in time to see some dark smoke evaporating. He frowned. What the heck was he doing here?
"Todd, are you coming?"
"What? Oh yeah, I'm comin."
He hopped over to her and the two walked together. Todd glanced back at where he saw the dark smoke. I don't know what blue boy was doing, but he'd better back off.
Serena's voice broke into his thoughts, "So your nickname is Toad huh? Hmm, how about Toddles instead? Oh, or maybe Tadpole?"
He shoved her playfully. "Hey I am not a tadpole yo!"
They laughed as they walked through the forest together.
"So, you still think you're a freak?" Todd asked.
"I guess I'm not. I mean, when I saw you swallow that fly I didn't know what to think."
"Lemme guess," Todd said looking a little sad at the thought of giving up bug catching, "It grossed you out right?"
She shook her head. "No, not really."
"Really?" Todd asked surprised. He had never met anyone who could watch him eat flies and not be grossed out.
"Of course not. I mean you're part toad right? It's natural." She smiled, "And besides I don't really like flies all that much."
They had finally gotten back to the cabin. Lance, Pietro, and Fred were on the porch talking to a slight angry Tabitha.
"Where the heck have you guys been?" she looked at Serena as they walked up. "And who's this?"
"Uh, Tabbs," Pietro gestured to Serena, "meet Serena." Tabitha raised an eyebrow.
"She's Todd's girlfriend." Fred said grinning.
Serena flushed, "Well I..."
"And she's also one of us." Lance said.
"You mean you invited her into the group and you didn't even tell me about it?" Tabitha said incredulously.
"You mean you didn't notice?" Lance asked.
"Notice what?" Tabitha asked.
"When she went all liquefied and ran out into the forest."
"No."
"Well, she's in the group now." Pietro said.
"Hmm, I don't know if she can be one of us." Tabitha said walking around Serena who looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Just give her a chance Boom Boom." Todd said hopping next to serena. "I'm sure she'll fit right in."
"Well," Tabitha considered. "Alright kid. You're part of the team I guess."
Kurt walked up to Cyclops and Jean looking a little disappointed. "Hey Kurt. Did you find the girl yet?"
"Ja, I found her but..."
"But what?"
"The Brotherhood got to her first."
"What!?"
"I don't think she is bad, I just don't think she knows what she's getting herself into."
"Oh man."
"How did they manage to find her first?"
"Because she was Toad's date."
"What?"
"I kind of find that hard to believe."
"I'm just telling you the facts."
"Guys!" Kitty and Rogue ran up to them.
"We couldn't find her."
"We looked just about everywhere."
"It's alright guys, Kurt found her."
"And?"
"The Brotherhood has her."
They both gasped.
"But I don't think she knows what they are like."
"How do you know blue boy?"
"I don't know. I could tell just by looking into her eyes that she wasn't bad."
"Oh please Kurt, do you like even know her?"
"We've met."
Cyclops sighed. "Come on guys, let's get back to the institute."
(Back at the institute)
"Sorry Professor, we didn't get to her in time."
"That's quite alright Scott, we may not be too late. If Kurt is correct in thinking that she doesn't know what the Brotherhood is really like, then we might still have a chance."
"Yeah, but it wont be easy to reach her." Kurt said.
"That is why I want you to try and talk to her Kurt."
"Me?"
"Yes. Serena has already met you. That might make it easier."
"But I hardly know her."
"That's alright Kurt. You can try talking to her at school."
"Alright. I'll try."
"Until then I'm afraid we'll just have to wait."
It was Sunday and the Brotherhood was just kicking back and relaxing at home. Serena was washing the dishes using her powers.
"Y' know, you don't have to do that." Lance said.
"I don't mind. If it's washing dishes, mopping floors, or washing windows, I don't really mind doing it." She flexed her hand. "Especially since I have my powers to help me out."
"I see you've had a change of heart about them." Todd said smirking.
"Well, thanks to you, I'm not afraid of them anymore."
"You shouldn't have been afraid of them," Tabitha said. "You should have learned to use them a long time ago."
"Hey just out of curiosity when did you get your powers?" Lance asked.
"When I was thirteen. I'm turning fifteen soon."
"So you're fourteen!?" Lance said surprised. He had thought she was already fifteen or sixteen.
"A very well-developed fourteen." Pietro whispered in his ear.
"So did your mother really say you could spend the night?" Todd asked.
"Yeah but it took an hour to convince her. She is so over protective. She asked me about a million questions."
"Like what?" Fred asked.
"Like if you smoke, drink, or carry weapons. But I guess she was so glad I've made friends so quickly she didn't ask me to introduce her to the parent."
"Did you tell her about our powers?" Pietro asked.
"I don't think she's ready for that yet. I mean, she doesn't even like the fact that I have powers."
"Well, no big deal." Lance said shrugging. "It's probably better that way."
"Oh, I have something to show you guys." She set down the dishes. "Be right back." She walked up the stairs to the guest bedroom she was using.
"Man, fourteen. That's unbelievable."
"Hmm, I wonder why she's not attracted to me."
"Hey back off Pietro!" Todd said hopping up.
"Maybe I don't want to." Pietro said standing up.
"Hey guys knock it off!" said Lance who also got up to stand between the two boys.
"Oh brother." Tabitha said rolling her eyes.
"You said it Tabby." Said Fred.
"So what do you guys think?" They turned to see Serena standing at the foot of the stairs. She wore a tight metallic blue outfit with steel blue designs on it. It went great with her skin tone and hair color. "You like it?" she said turning. "I made it myself. I thought since all of you have outfits I should too."
"It looks great!"
"Awesome!"
"Cool yo!"
"Not bad." Said Pietro. "Whaddya say you try it out tonight?"
"You mean-"
"That's right. Tonight will be your first mission in the Brotherhood."
Todd followed Serena into the forest, desperate to talk to her. I have to talk to her. She needs me.
He called out to her, asked her to wait, but she seemed to run faster out of pure desperation to get away from all humanity. Soon Todd was almost out of breath. He panted as he forced his legs to keep moving. I can't give up. I have to talk to her. I have to keep going. Can't stop...
He leaned against a tree as he watched her long brown hair, now unraveled, whip out of sight. There's gotta be another way. He looked up into the tree's branches.
"Of course." He said out loud to himself. Forgetting how tired he was, he gave a huge leap and hopped on one of the braches. He could see Serena just barely through the trees. He began to leap from one tree to another following Serena at a much quicker pace. He made sure not to make too much noise so as not to startle her. Finally she stopped, out of breathe from both running and crying. She slumped against a tree trunk, sank to the ground, and started to sob, her long dark hair draping her face.
He quietly jumped into one of the trees close by to where she was sitting. He crouched on a branch and watched her inattentively. He wanted to go down there but he didn't want to scare her off. Maybe after she let go of some of her pain. But how much was pain to her?
"Why? Why does this have to happen to me?" she sniffled. "Now Todd probably hates me."
Todd looked up when he heard his name. He decided now was the right moment. He grabbed one of the branches and swung down next to her. She startled.
"I don't hate you Serena." He said gently. "I just wanna help."
She laughed sourly through her tears. "I'm a freak. Nobody can help me."
He crouched down and stared into her eyes. "I can."
She looked at him. Not in cold, unbelieving way, nor in a sarcastic, ridiculing way. It looked more like she wanted to believe him, but she didn't know how. He sighed, wondering where to start.
"Look yo, I... I kinda know what you're feeling."
"How?" she asked him.
"Well, I uh..." A fly passed by his head. He followed it with his eyes. "I can do this." And with that he whipped out his tongue and caught the fly. Serena gasped watching this event. She didn't look disgusted like everybody was after he did that, just surprised. "And I can do a lot more than that." She stared at him in disbelief. "You're a mutant, kinda like me." She got up off the ground shaking her head.
"Look, I cannot deal with this. This is just too... unreal!" She started walking away from him.
Todd called after her, "You feel confused. You don't know what to do." She slowly stopped walking as he spoke these words. "You start to think, 'Isn't life hard enough without this?'"
She slowly turned to look at him. He had a sad understanding expression on his face. She looked at him sadly. A voice suddenly came from behind them. They both turned around to see Lance emerging from behind a tree.
"You get a sick feeling inside every time you think about it. You keep wishing it would go away, but it doesn't."
Fred walked up beside Lance. "You're afraid of what might happen if people found out. Your parents don't know what's going on, and they're probably ashamed about the whole thing."
Serena's eyes started to fill up with tears again as the boys reflected how she felt. Pietro zipped out of nowhere and she jumped back.
"You feel out of place. No matter how many people surround you, you feel alone in a dark world." Serena backed into a tree and slumped back down holding her face in her hands.
Todd crouched next to her, "We know what it's like. We've been there before."
She took her face out of her hands. "I'm just... so confused."
"I know," Todd said, "and bein alone don't help neither."
She seem to be staring into nothingness as she spoke. "How will I know what's going to happen? How do I know if I can get through this?"
Todd looked down, "Well, I guess you won't know until it happens. But," He put a hand on her shoulder, "having friends always helps."
She turned her head to look at him. He gave her a hopeful smile. Through all her tears, she smiled back at him. The tears made her eyes glimmer in the moonlight.
"So what powers do you have?" Lance asked.
"Well..."
"Could you show us?"
"I don't know if I can..."
"It wouldn't hurt to try." Todd smiled at her encouragingly. "Don't let your powers control you. You control your powers."
She got up. She drew back her hands and focused. Then she shot her hands forward. Water blasted out of both of her hands as she aimed it at a huge tree. The tree groaned as its roots were pulled up from the ground. The brotherhood watched in awe as the tree tipped over from the pressure of the water blasts Serena was shooting, and finally crashed down onto the ground.
"Not bad." Pietro impressed.
"What else can you do?" Lance asked.
Having more confidence, Serena smiled and clenched her fists, looking like she was concentrating. Her entire body started to shimmer. Her body became steadily clearer until her entire body seemed to be made of liquid.
"Whoa," Todd said, "Now that is wicked." Serena stopped concentrating and her body became solid again.
Lance whispered to Pietro, "Hey man, with abilities like that, she could really come in handy."
"I know that." Pietro whispered back. "But we need to give her the sales pitch first." He walked over to Serena. "Those are some pretty good moves you got there."
"Thanks."
"What would you say if we offered you a place in our group?"
"W-what?" she said slightly taken aback.
The four boys stood together. "We're known as the Brotherhood of mutants." Pietro speed around her a few times then stopped. "They call me Quicksilver."
Lance strained his eyes and the ground started to shake. He looked up smiling. "Avalanche."
Fred grabbed hold of a tree and ripped it up with a yell, then threw it back down. "Blob."
Todd hopped onto a tree trunk and back flipped onto a different tree. He smirked, "I'm the Toad yo!" Serena looked impressed by the boys' performance.
"So wadda ya' say?" asked Pietro.
Serena thought for a moment, then she smiled and nodded. "Alright, just call me Aqua Woman."
"Alright Aqua. You're part of the team now."
"Cool." She said smiling.
"Well we'd better get back to the party." Pietro said come on guys.
Lance, Pietro, and Fred walked off. Todd started to follow when Serena called him.
"Hey Todd,"
"Yeah?"
"Did you know that toads are one of my most favorite animals?"
"Uh no, I didn't."
She was moving closer. He moved closer too. He realized for the first time that she smelled like strawberries. And they kissed. It was something Todd had never felt before. His lips felt as if they were burning. The heat from them seemed to spread throughout his entire body. He forgot everything that was around him. This happened in the time space of a second. They both laughed nervously, a little embarrassed.
"Wow." She said.
"First time?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Me too."
They looked at each other for a while. Todd didn't think he had ever been this happy before. The two finally knew that they felt the same ways towards each other.
"Well let's go join the others." She got up and started to walk off.
Just then Todd heard a rustle in the bushes. He looked over in time to see some dark smoke evaporating. He frowned. What the heck was he doing here?
"Todd, are you coming?"
"What? Oh yeah, I'm comin."
He hopped over to her and the two walked together. Todd glanced back at where he saw the dark smoke. I don't know what blue boy was doing, but he'd better back off.
Serena's voice broke into his thoughts, "So your nickname is Toad huh? Hmm, how about Toddles instead? Oh, or maybe Tadpole?"
He shoved her playfully. "Hey I am not a tadpole yo!"
They laughed as they walked through the forest together.
"So, you still think you're a freak?" Todd asked.
"I guess I'm not. I mean, when I saw you swallow that fly I didn't know what to think."
"Lemme guess," Todd said looking a little sad at the thought of giving up bug catching, "It grossed you out right?"
She shook her head. "No, not really."
"Really?" Todd asked surprised. He had never met anyone who could watch him eat flies and not be grossed out.
"Of course not. I mean you're part toad right? It's natural." She smiled, "And besides I don't really like flies all that much."
They had finally gotten back to the cabin. Lance, Pietro, and Fred were on the porch talking to a slight angry Tabitha.
"Where the heck have you guys been?" she looked at Serena as they walked up. "And who's this?"
"Uh, Tabbs," Pietro gestured to Serena, "meet Serena." Tabitha raised an eyebrow.
"She's Todd's girlfriend." Fred said grinning.
Serena flushed, "Well I..."
"And she's also one of us." Lance said.
"You mean you invited her into the group and you didn't even tell me about it?" Tabitha said incredulously.
"You mean you didn't notice?" Lance asked.
"Notice what?" Tabitha asked.
"When she went all liquefied and ran out into the forest."
"No."
"Well, she's in the group now." Pietro said.
"Hmm, I don't know if she can be one of us." Tabitha said walking around Serena who looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Just give her a chance Boom Boom." Todd said hopping next to serena. "I'm sure she'll fit right in."
"Well," Tabitha considered. "Alright kid. You're part of the team I guess."
Kurt walked up to Cyclops and Jean looking a little disappointed. "Hey Kurt. Did you find the girl yet?"
"Ja, I found her but..."
"But what?"
"The Brotherhood got to her first."
"What!?"
"I don't think she is bad, I just don't think she knows what she's getting herself into."
"Oh man."
"How did they manage to find her first?"
"Because she was Toad's date."
"What?"
"I kind of find that hard to believe."
"I'm just telling you the facts."
"Guys!" Kitty and Rogue ran up to them.
"We couldn't find her."
"We looked just about everywhere."
"It's alright guys, Kurt found her."
"And?"
"The Brotherhood has her."
They both gasped.
"But I don't think she knows what they are like."
"How do you know blue boy?"
"I don't know. I could tell just by looking into her eyes that she wasn't bad."
"Oh please Kurt, do you like even know her?"
"We've met."
Cyclops sighed. "Come on guys, let's get back to the institute."
(Back at the institute)
"Sorry Professor, we didn't get to her in time."
"That's quite alright Scott, we may not be too late. If Kurt is correct in thinking that she doesn't know what the Brotherhood is really like, then we might still have a chance."
"Yeah, but it wont be easy to reach her." Kurt said.
"That is why I want you to try and talk to her Kurt."
"Me?"
"Yes. Serena has already met you. That might make it easier."
"But I hardly know her."
"That's alright Kurt. You can try talking to her at school."
"Alright. I'll try."
"Until then I'm afraid we'll just have to wait."
It was Sunday and the Brotherhood was just kicking back and relaxing at home. Serena was washing the dishes using her powers.
"Y' know, you don't have to do that." Lance said.
"I don't mind. If it's washing dishes, mopping floors, or washing windows, I don't really mind doing it." She flexed her hand. "Especially since I have my powers to help me out."
"I see you've had a change of heart about them." Todd said smirking.
"Well, thanks to you, I'm not afraid of them anymore."
"You shouldn't have been afraid of them," Tabitha said. "You should have learned to use them a long time ago."
"Hey just out of curiosity when did you get your powers?" Lance asked.
"When I was thirteen. I'm turning fifteen soon."
"So you're fourteen!?" Lance said surprised. He had thought she was already fifteen or sixteen.
"A very well-developed fourteen." Pietro whispered in his ear.
"So did your mother really say you could spend the night?" Todd asked.
"Yeah but it took an hour to convince her. She is so over protective. She asked me about a million questions."
"Like what?" Fred asked.
"Like if you smoke, drink, or carry weapons. But I guess she was so glad I've made friends so quickly she didn't ask me to introduce her to the parent."
"Did you tell her about our powers?" Pietro asked.
"I don't think she's ready for that yet. I mean, she doesn't even like the fact that I have powers."
"Well, no big deal." Lance said shrugging. "It's probably better that way."
"Oh, I have something to show you guys." She set down the dishes. "Be right back." She walked up the stairs to the guest bedroom she was using.
"Man, fourteen. That's unbelievable."
"Hmm, I wonder why she's not attracted to me."
"Hey back off Pietro!" Todd said hopping up.
"Maybe I don't want to." Pietro said standing up.
"Hey guys knock it off!" said Lance who also got up to stand between the two boys.
"Oh brother." Tabitha said rolling her eyes.
"You said it Tabby." Said Fred.
"So what do you guys think?" They turned to see Serena standing at the foot of the stairs. She wore a tight metallic blue outfit with steel blue designs on it. It went great with her skin tone and hair color. "You like it?" she said turning. "I made it myself. I thought since all of you have outfits I should too."
"It looks great!"
"Awesome!"
"Cool yo!"
"Not bad." Said Pietro. "Whaddya say you try it out tonight?"
"You mean-"
"That's right. Tonight will be your first mission in the Brotherhood."