Fred vs Todd (No restrictions) – Requested by Sock Munkey

Todd stared down at the object in his lap. His face showed no emotion other than a faint smirk at how he'd acquired it; the old man at the convenience store had showed it to him when he'd suspected Todd of shoplifting. Which, of course, had inadvertently showed Todd exactly where to find it. All he'd ever needed was an excuse to go and take it.
He now had one.
The grin trickled off his face as he turned the pistol over and over in his hands.

----

Todd Tolenski was tired. He was tired of living in a building that should have long since been condemned. He was tired of scrounging a living out of nothing, having to steal bare necessities such as food. He was tired of being stood on, being spat at, being hated. He was tired of always being afraid that things were going to get worse if he let his guard down.
Todd Tolenski was tired of life. To the point where he wanted to stop living it.

He was alone in the house. Lance and Pietro were at the mall, Fred was out hunting Pizza Delivery Boys, Tabitha was probably on her back somewhere, and Wanda? well, nobody knew where Wanda went out to. She did so, often, but nobody was ever quite sure what she got up to. Todd had asked her a few times and had received minor - and some not so minor - injuries as a reward for curiosity.

Wanda. Another unresolved problem in the mess that was his existence. He knew that he wasn't exactly a great catch, had had that pointed out far too many times to have illusions to the contrary. He still, however, saw no reason for her to hate him the way she seemed to. He may as well have been an enemy for all the kindness she showed.
He knew he didn't stand a chance with her. Or anyone, for that matter. All he wanted was to make her stop hating him. The rest… well, he was allowed to dream. 1
At least, he'd thought that. According to her latest ultimatum, dreaming about her would be punished by castration.
That hadn't been the final straw, but it hadn't helped a whole lot.

He'd considered leaving a note for them, but had decided against it. Logic told him there was little point - nobody was likely to miss him. The only people who might notice he was gone were the rest of the Brotherhood, and they didn't seem attached to him. He was just… there.
No, they'd know why he'd done it. If anyone could understand why, they would. And if they didn't, well, they didn't deserve a note. Let them guess.
Besides, the only reaction he'd get would probably be them complaining about how to dispose of the body.

----

"Hey, Todd."
Todd glanced up from his sitting position at the sound of a voice. There, his massive frame partially hidden by the doorway, stood Fred. On the floor next to him lay some slightly battered pizza boxes; for once, Fred wasn't glancing at them every few seconds. His was staring intently at the weapon in Todd's hands.
"Yeah?"
There was a dullness to Todd's voice that Fred didn't like. He stepped into the room, slowly.
"Whatcha got there?"
"Nuthin'."
"Don't look like nothin'." Looks like somethin'."
"Yeah. Maybe it is, yo."
Fred took another big, slow step into the room. "So… want some pizza, then?"
"Naw. No point in wastin' it. I don't need to eat anymore."
Fred's fingers flexed. His eyes were fixed on the gun. "Say, Todd, you mind puttin' that down for a sec?"
"Sure thing, yo. Gimmie a moment and it'll hit the floor."
"Hey, hang on, just a-"
"Tell the others I said bye, yo?"
With that, Todd turned the gun upwards, pressed it under his chin, and -

Fred was too quick for him. A lunge and a sudden swing with one meaty paw sent the gun clattering across the room, also knocking Todd onto his back with a grunt. Fred loomed over him.
"What the fuck do you think you're doin'?" he bellowed.
Todd glared up at him. "What everyone wants me to fucking well do! Damn, nobody'll give a shit anyway! Why'd you gotta ruin it, yo?"
"Cause it's fuckin' stupid! I ain't lettin? you do it!"
Todd's face contorted with anger. "I don't need your goddamn permission," he spat. "My life, my choice. Now leave me the fuck alone!"
Swiftly he rolled to one side, his tongue shooting out; it wrapped around the gun and retracted in a blink. Once again, Todd held the gun in one hand. Once again, Fred lunged. This time, Todd moved the gun-holding hand away - only to find that Fred wasn't after the gun.
Instead, with an awesomely powerful grip, Todd found himself lifted bodily off the floor by the shoulders. For just an instant, he gaped in surprise.
In that instant, Fred swiped one arm down, holding Todd one-handed, and knocked the gun away again.
"You ain't gonna do it," he growled. Then, mostly because he didn't know what else to do, he cuffed the smaller boy across the head.

From Fred's perspective, blow was meant to be beyond gentle. For Todd, it rocked his head backwards as stars filled his vision and he let out a small cry of pain.
Then, strangely, his face cleared. His eyes filled with anger, directed not at himself, but at the gargantuan teenager holding him off the floor.
If Fred wouldn't let Todd vent his frustrations on himself, he'd vent them on Fred.

----

Fred wasn't sure what to expect when Todd suddenly stiffened in his grasp; what came next was definitely unexpected. A thunderous kick, the most violent Todd had ever dealt out to another living being. Rather than waste effort by aiming at Fred's torso, Todd's flexible leg came up almost level with his head and cracked hard against Fred's forearm. With a surprised roar, Fred's arm jerked back, taking Todd with it. His grip slipping, Todd was thrown across the room.
This, however, was what the smaller boy had wanted. With astonishing agility, he twisted in mid-air to land perfectly against the wall on all fours, where he clung like an insect. His amber eyes glittered with anger an instant before his tongue shot out.

Fred instinctively put up his hands to defend himself against the attack; this, however, was pointless. Todd wasn't aiming at him. Rather, his tongue wrapped around the ceiling fan, pulling tight. As Fred watched, dumbfounded, the pale teen swung out as though on a pendulum, straight for Fred. One foot lashed out as he passed by.
This time, the blow was aimed at Fred's torso. When it struck, shockwaves of flesh rippled around the site of impact, wreaking havoc with Fred's nervous system; this, combined with the crushingly powerful blow, was enough to make the huge mutant stagger back with a grunt. Todd, however, merely completed his swing by reaching the other wall. Again, he clung there for a moment; then he launched himself again.

Fred's teeth gritted as he attempted to rein in his anger. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that this was most certainly not the time to trounce Todd. The boy needed help, and beating him to a pulp wouldn't achieve that at all.
As Todd swung in again, Fred moved in close. The kick, when it came, had less windup, and therefore less impact; although the impact jolted him, this time Fred held his ground. His arms came up to seize Todd and crush him in close, prevent him from moving; he lunged forward a little to intercept Todd's trajectory.
He failed.
His eyes narrowing from effort, Todd flexed his tongue against the speed of his swing and stopped on a dime in mid-air as Fred stumbled in front of him. Then, hanging from the ceiling by his tongue, he lashed out again.
His left foot struck Fred's side with enough force that his kidneys felt it, despite his invulnerability.
His right thudded into the back of Fred's knee, causing it to buckle.
As Fred dropped, Todd's left foot came up again, connecting with the side of the huge boy's head.
Fred went down hard; the impact of the final blow sent him rolling away. Seeing this, Todd released his grip on the fan and dropped easily into a crouch in the centre of the room, even as Fred came to a halt some three meters away and raised himself halfway off the ground with both hands.
Todd sneered at him.

HAAA-AAAA-AAACHKKK...
PH-THOUI!

A glob of semi-translucent green slime splattered over Fred's right hand, sticking it fast to the floor. Satisfied, Todd turned his attention away from Fred. He now had what he wanted.
Time to retrieve the gun from the floor between his feet.
Not wasting any time, he scooped up the weapon, checked the safety, cocked it, and raised it. He glanced at Fred one final time.
"My choice, yo."
Fred's face contorted with a combination of fury and desparation. "Fuckit, NO!"

CRAA-AAACK

With a sound of splintering wood, Fred ripped his hand free, along with a sizeable chunk of the floorboards. Through the hole in the floor, the den of the Boarding house could be seen, directly underneath Todd's room.
Astonishment slowed Todd for just an instant. He paused, gaping at the sight, not yet squeezing the trigger. That was all the time Fred needed. With a surprising burst of speed, he lurched forward, diving low, tackling at Todd's legs.
He succeeded. And he failed.
The success was that he did, indeed, manage to tackle Todd and bring him down in a heap.
The failure was that the floor was already damaged. Besides the decrepit state of the Boarding House, Fred had recently torn a hole in the floor only a few meters away from where Todd stood. His leap, landing full-force on the wooden surface, was too much for the termite-eaten structure.
With a shattering crash, the floor gave way. Todd and Fred fell together into the den in a jumble of wooden beams and chunks of plaster.

The noise was loud enough to mask the sound of Lance's jeep pulling up out the front.

----

The door burst open as Lance and Pietro ran in, looking around wildly. Their eyes were irresistibly drawn to the pile of rubble in the centre of the den, and the two forms underneath it. One very large, sitting up and swearing volubly; the other small, limp and unmoving.
Lance found his voice first. "What the FUCK is going on here?"
Fred wiped plaster dust from his eyes. "Christ, am I glad to see you two. We got trouble."
Lance stepped forward and started digging Todd out of the debris. "No shit. What the hell happened here, and why - shit, he's bleeding…"
Fred looked grim. "It gets worse. He was tryin' to kill himself."
Pietro's jaw dropped. "So? What, you tried to save him the effort?"
The speedster received a very dangerous look from the dusty behemoth. "I tried to stop him. An' I did. An' then he attacked me instead. It worked into a fight, an' this is what happened."
Pietro shook his head. "What? Why the fuck would he want to kill himself?"
"Maybe because he got sick of getting' stood on?" Fred growled. "Why don't ya ask him when he wakes up?"
Lance slung the unconscious boy over one shoulder. "I will. But first we gotta wake him up. He needs a doctor. Pie, you come with me to the hospital. Fred, wait here and tell the girls what's up. Then we can try to figure out what the fuck is going on, alright?"
Fred stepped forwards. "No, I'm goin' to the hosp-"
The ground shook slightly. "Do not make me angry, Fred, now is not the time. You will stay here, you will wait for us, and we will come back when everything is sorted out. Understood?"
If looks could kill, Fred's would have reduced Lance to carrion, but the enormous boy nodded grudgingly. "Fine. Just be quick."
"Yeah, yeah. Pie, c'mon."

As they left, Fred turned back to the destruction of the den. Carefully, he began to pick out the larger pieces to take into the back yard.
Then he stopped as his foot struck something metallic.
Bending down, he picked up the pistol that Todd had been going to use, which had fallen downstairs with them. Slowly, he opened it up and shook the bullets into his hand. They went into a pocket.
Then he carefully crushed the gun into a small mangled metal heap.

Often, Fred wished he wasn't as slow as he was.
Never before had he wished so strongly that he was smarter. Smart enough to have seen what was happening in front of him.
Smart enough, maybe, to help his friend.
As he began lifting boards onto his shoulders, he found himself hoping feverently that whatever brains he had would for once be enough.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1 Shameless side-fling to Running In Circles