Prayer of the Refugee

Summary : ToadOC:She saved him,he didn't appreciate it very much,it was an embarrassment to be saved by a weeks together will see them to her organizations base and difficult decisions will have to be non-sue experience.

Warnings: This story is going to contain coarse language, gore, violence, mentions of drug abuse, and sexually explicit content.

Memo:

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of X-Men, just my originals and this story.

Exalted Fans: ebell1

Chapter oo5

She'd caught some sort of bird. She knew what they were called, but the name eluded her at the moment. It looked like a white plumed quail. Despite the plumage, the bird was abysmally scrawny. Had it not already been dead, she would have released it, but she saw no sense in wasting food.

By the time she got back, she'd grown bitter over it's basically pointless death. "Get out of that thing. I need to see your leg." She tossed the bird corpse near the fire and dropped down on her knees next to him, yanking the zipper open impatiently.

He inwardly blanched but kept his composure well, "Cor, who do you think ya are? You can't jist-"

Cold air blasted against his side. "You know, Toad, I was a spy, I read through quite a few portions of Stryker's database," she undid the collar of her jacket and shirt, bearing her neck to him, a dark scowl firmly set on her face, she was not in the mood for his foolishness, "Control me. Order me to do what I intend to, and I shall, and you will have the security you need. If you are so damned afraid of me, do it."(1)

Her expression had turned fierce; teeth bared, eyes blazing. He glared at her a moment before turning his glare to the open air. "Been under Stryker's control. I've 'ad enough o mind control fer a while," he growled lowly. (2)

"Then would you be so accommodating as to cooperate with me for ten minutes?"

He gave her a stony look, inwardly unsettled by the thought of her examining him while he was only in his last layers of clothing; a long sleeved shirt and boxers. She prodded his leg making him inwardly flinch whenever she touched a tender spot, but he was sure not to give an outward indication that he felt pain. Pain would be a sign of weakness, at least, that was what it was in his mind.

"You know, by not letting me know when it hurts, you are almost making this pointless," she chided, "Can you feel this?" she pressed her thumbnail into a bruise as hard as she could, getting a sharp inhale from him. "Good."

"It looks like you are going to be okay," she said, trying to force some happiness into her voice, she sorely wanted to wash her hands now. She pulled her jacket and pants off. What she wouldn't have given for a shower right about then. She zipped up the sleeping bag some and got in with him. He jerked away from her, puffing up indignantly, which succeeded only in making him look more toad-like than usual.

Natalya ignored him, largely unfazed. He should have been flattered; ugly and foul-tempered as the prick was, he was probably a virgin. Hell, he should have been HONORED that even a moderately attractive woman was near him, let alone someone as lovely as herself.

The Russian was not ignorant of her beauty, and was actually fairly vain, with an added tendency of flirting with men she shouldn't have simply because she could. Never had she been shy of her body and, on many occasions, she had used it to get something she wanted.

"Wot the fuck are ya doin'?!" He did not seem to have the capacity to simply silently fume, and had to voice his every annoyance and irritation.

She finished zipping up the sleeping bag, "Keeping you warm, attempting to keep us alive; why, does that bother you?" The look he gave her could have made a bear run the other way in fear.

She mentally cursed, a cold coil of fear snaking through her heart. Natalya could hold a strong face well enough, her training had taught her how to do that, years of witnessing and dealing death had mostly cemented the skill. "I am no more happy to have those slimy legs of yours touching mine than you are about having a 'disgusting little human' this close to you, but it is our only choice if we are to survive."

This information made him no less annoyed, "You stink."

Her face went red with embarrassment and silent fury, "Piss off, you do not exactly smell like daises yourself, you slimy, disgusting, ugly bastard."

His face darkened and her heart jumped painfully into her throat, thinking he was about to snap her neck for the comment. This was the most angry she'd seen him.

Toad's hands were just itching to snap that swan-like neck, to have that pretty mouth filled with blood, to see those full lips split and broken, somehow, beautiful people got stock from a special reserve of hatred of his; but he resisted the urge to harm her. He probably wouldn't make it very long on his own until he could use his leg again. It could wait. "Bloody bitch," he muttered, not content with such a weak retaliation, but still slightly appeased.

"Warty bastard," she shot back.

"Once I can," he snarled, "You will be the first on I kill, luv, that's a promise."

"Do not make a promise you can not keep."

He bristled, insulted. Did she think that he wouldn't? Couldn't? She'd be dead right now if he so chose to make it so.

The air around them seemed to drop a few degrees with the icy look he gave her. To an outsider, it probably would have looked funny, the two of them bickering like this but just laying crammed in a sleeping bag almost on top of each other. Like a lover's spat with the possibility of more underlying violence than two people should be capable of.

Of course, if it came down to a physical fight, Toad would win, even badly injured, he would win. So she would try not to goad him so much.

"And wot makes you think I can't?"

She turned her whole body to face his, half-attempting to stare him down, "It is not that you cannot, I simply think you will not when the time comes. I would like to think… even someone like you is better than that."

He immediately scoffed, but no more was said.

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Important Info:

(1) Yeah, Toad can actually produce a chemical that allows him power over someone's mind for a time. However, he can only produce it from his tongue and his tendency as I have scene is to wrap it around people's necks. So that's what I'm playing on.

(2) Okay, if you read the X-2 script, Toad was originally in it, and there was an epic fight between him and Nightcrawler. Sadly, this was cut. Also, it's said he was under Stryker's control for the time spanning between X-1 and X-2 and for the largest portion of X-2.