Chapter 5: wherein Lance sings a Lullaby

"This is bad news" Professor muttered.

"Yeah dude we barely made it out" Lance said "And for the record we didn't know he could do that either"

"Yeah check us if you don't believe us!" Pietro said.

"I already did and you're telling the truth, Todd has indeed gone feral and now protects what he deems his territory" Xaviar muttered.

"Man how are we gonna get him cured? Beast has the antidote and when we tried to talk some sense into him he attacked us anyway" Lance exclaimed.

"Did ya try singing his lullaby?" Fred asked and Lance, Pietro and the Professor stared at him strangely.

"Toad has a lullaby?" Pietro demanded "For God's sake Blob he's fourteen!"

"Yeah but he likes it, it helps him go to sleep" Fred explained "We came up with it during a scary storm and it works every time now"

"Okay so we sing this lullaby and he falls asleep then we inject him with it" Lance muttered "This could work"

"I call dibs on not being the one to sing" Pietro cried quickly.

"We've heard you sing, I've heard better from roadkill cats!" Fred exclaimed.

"So here we go again, into this slimy wood to save our little pest of a friend" Pietro declared staring into the gloomy wood.

"Feel free to stay here" Lance muttered as he walked in.

"Oh no!" Pietro laughed "The only reason why I'm coming is to see you sing!"

They had gotten into the area where they were attacked and looked around, as they went deeper into the wood. They came to a cave and wandered in, inside the X-men were plastered to the wall.

"Okay…I've seen this movie" Lance muttered.

"Don't even go there!" Pietro shuddered "I'll dig Beast out you keep a look out for…HIM!"

At the entrance Toad crawled in and hissed angrily, Toad looked the same physically except his eyes were dark and red, he was crouched on all fours and acted more like an animals now. He snapped out his tongue at Pietro, he barely dodged it.

"Todd…listen we want to help you" Lance began as they circled Toad just hissed again; Lance swallowed and severely wished he didn't have to do what he did next.

"Five little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs…" he sang, Toad stopped and cocked his head to one side. "…one jump into the pool where it was nice and cool, then there were only four little frogs…"

"Keep going he loves it!" Pietro whispered as he dug deeper into the slime.

"Not a comfort!" Lance growled Toad hissed softly.

"Keep going!"

"Four little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum yum! One jump into the pool where it was nice and cool, then there were only three little frogs…" Toad sat down and watched. "Three little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum yum…" he stopped and glanced at Pietro.

"Will you hurry up I'm running out of frogs!"

"You should have picked a higher number!" Pietro whispered back "Which pocket did Beast put it in?"

"Left" Lance hissed back and Toad hissed as well "One jump into the pool where it was nice and cool then there were two little frogs glub glub!" Lance carried on. Toad got more comfortable and Lance crept closer.

"Two little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum…yum" Lance sang and Toad flopped down as if going to sleep.

"Don't forget what Fred said!" Pietro murmured, Lance looked at him and held up the tattered old plush frog as if to say 'way ahead of you'.

"Ahah! Got it!"

"Good past it to me nice and slow and make sure he can't see it!" Lance whispered "One jump into the pool where it was nice and cool then there only one little frog glub glub!" Lance sang as he handed Toad the frog who was now curled up and watching, Pietro palmed the syringe to Lance as he sat down next to Toad.

"One little speckled frog sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious bugs yum…yum!" he took off the lid and Toad shifted as if to warn Lance off but Lance stroked Toad's hair and he calmed down again "One jump into the pool…" he injected it into Toad's arm who shrieked and try to get away but Lance grabbed him and held on.

"Where it was nice and cool, then there no more little frogs glub glub!" he sang softly and Toad fell asleep, he snuggled up to Lance and sighed happily.

"Right…" Lance mumbled "Okay let go…" he said and laid Toad down onto a pile of leaves. "Guess all we have to do now is dig the others out"

As he strode over to get Kitty out he glanced to Pietro who was grinning like an idiot.

"Hey remember the deal! What happens in the cave stays in the cave!" he growled.

"Aww but that was so cute!" Pietro giggled "Five little speckled frogs…" he began to sing happily.

"Shut it…" Lance growled

"Sat on a speckled log…"

"Pietro…I'm warning you!"

"Eating the most delicious bugs"

"Pietro I swear if you carry on I'm gonna kill you!"

Pietro stopped singing and they got back to digging out the others.

Pietro started to hum and waving his fingers as if to orchestrate it.

"SHUT UP PIETRO!" Lance roared and the cave began to rumbled and little rocks fell from the roof.

"Okay okay no need to yell!"

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