Todd perched on the back of an overstuffed armchair studying the empty fireplace with his yellowish eyes. He dropped off the chair and hopped into the kitchen where the others were eating their dinner.
"I was thinking," he began.
"Don't strain yourself," said Pietro, who then proceeded to dodge a slimy green tongue that shot out at him.
Todd glared at him. "Anyways, as I was saying; I was thinking, if something was big enough to get one of the X-Men to come ask for our help, they must be in a pretty tight place."
"Yeah, so?"
"So, if they's in trouble, I'm thinking they're a bit busy right now. We could get in on Mystique's good graces if she comes back if we've got a couple souvenirs from that mansion up there."
Lance waved the notion off in dismissal. "That's stupid. One, Mystique's not coming back; and two, we can't go up against all of the X-Men."
"Who says we've got to fight them? All we need to do's pop in, steal some of their junk, kick a few vases, then disappear. We don't need to go full battle. They'll be too busy to even notice."
"I, for one, think it's an awesome idea," said Tabitha.
Pietro leaned against a wall and looked as though he was pondering it. "It's not a bad idea, actually." Todd beamed, but then Pietro continued. "It's probably your first one ever that's had. With a few touch ups by yours truly, it might just work."
"Well, I still think it's stupid," said Lance. "You know how their security system is. We wouldn't make it five yards without getting tackled by Wolverine."
"You just don't want to do it because Kitty's in there."
"That's not why," he protested. "I just think it's a stupid idea. If you guys are so set on it, then fine. I'll go. Someone's gotta bust us all out once we get caught."
"Alright! X-Mansion, here comes the Brotherhood!"
"Whatever the girl's power is, it might have to do with psychic energies," the Professor informed them. "When she simply walks through a room, she can have the headaches triggered. This could be because she absorbs the psychic energy and will often get bits and pieces of information, like the fact that Lance was supposed to be in detention, for example. It would also explain why she's so sensitive to telepaths."
Jean nodded, understanding dawning on her face. "Yes, you're right. If she's absorbing psychic energies then telepaths would be generating way more than other people."
"Exactly. When I probed her mind, the psychic energy that I was using flooded into her, causing her headaches to increase with the amount of pressure that was placed on her mind."
"So she's absorbing psychic energies," said Evan. "How does that give us any more than what we had before? We still don't know why."
"Way to be optimistic," Scott muttered.
"No, Evan is right, Scott. We still don't know how to help her channel her powers, but we do know where to start now. I had probably better go and check on her and tell her the news. If she could just figure out how to channel it..."
"That's been the problem all along, Professor," said Rogue. "She can't, and now she's getting worse. I think I should drain a bit."
The professor acknowledged that statement. "Very well. Rogue, you may come with me. If her condition has worsened, I'll send you in. Logan, I'd appreciate it if you could come along as well. In case the girl loses control of the psychic, or if something should happen to Rogue, I'm afraid I can only do so much."
"'Course, Charles."
The control room had several large computer monitors, keyboards, and systems similar to large switchboards. It was a fairly small room, about half the size of most of the bedrooms at the Xavier Institute. The walls had metal paneling and were practically soundproof for when there were people in the infirmary that had information Professor Xavier didn't want spreading to the entirety of Bayville High School.
The professor flipped a few switches, then enabled the night vision cameras in the isolation ward where Haddy was. There was a brief flicker before the feed went up on the screen. Haddy lay on the floor, the tubes from the IV torn out from her readings still seemed to be active, and her brain activity was through the roof on most scales. Other than that, though, she appeared to be in some kind of a coma.
"That bad enough, you think?" said Rogue, wedging two fingers under her glove to pull it off.
"Logan, take Rogue in to Haddy, quickly now."
Logan nodded and the two left the room, only to reappear on the monitors a few moments later. Rogue slid her glove all the way off and Logan gave a thumbs up signal to the camera. Logan lifted the girl and put her on the bed again. There was a loud noise as the brain activity went way up and body temperature began to rise.
Rogue placed a hand on the girl's head and the brainwave spiked more. It seemed like it was getting worse, not better. Rogue collapsed to the floor and the professor reached out to Logan's mind.
Get her out of there.
Did it work?
The professor looked gravely at the monitor tracking the vitals. No.
"Shut up, Toad, you'll get us caught for sure if you keep up that racket," Lance whispered.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Todd, at regular voice level. "Blame everything on the toad. Besides, you're the one who's gonna blast the gate open."
Tabitha, otherwise known as Boom-Boom, stepped forward with a small, speckled orb that glowed a golden-orange color. "Actually," she said, "I'm blowing the gate open."
Todd skittered backwards as she threw the orb at the entry gate and it exploded inwards, knocking it off of its hinges. An alarm started to blare and red lights started to flash as the security system sprang to life.
"Come on," said Lance, taking off towards the mansion. "The guns will start anytime now!"
Several lasers shot out, creating deep furrows in the ground where they hit. A couple orbs knocked a few of them out of commission, and a miniature earthquake took care of a couple more.
Pietro was already up at the mansions front door making quick work of the passcode lock. By the time the rest of the Brotherhood reached the front porch, the system had been disarmed and the front doors of the X-Mansion were unlocked.
"Hurry, hurry, guys. We'll gather a crowd if you slowpokes can't keep up."
Their shoes all clattered on the floor of the front room,except for Todd's which made loud squeaking sounds as he hopped to an area out of sight from anyone who might walk into the room.
"Let's all go upstairs and get this job done with snappy like. I don't wanna get caught up down here once Wolverine shows up, no sirree."
"Shut up, Toad," said Pietro. "Go on up with the others, grab whatever you want and meet me out front."
"And where are you gonna be?"
"I've got my eyes on a bigger prize."
"And what's that?" Todd asked.
"Something Mystique will really want, bigger than any trinkets you'll find upstairs."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just tell me what it is, Pietro."
"Cerebro."