Shout-Outs:
todd fan: Thanks for reviewing! Payin' for it must suck but at least u don't have to beg for access…
A/N: Hey, here's another chapter, and once more, begging is a necessary tool in my gainin' access to the computer. Review please, and oh, review! ((Selfish, aren't I? ;) )) I also thank all of u who took the time to look at my fic.! ( I love the hits counter!)
Disclaimer: (Sporting an icepack and one massive headache) Ok… I'm not even going to say I own X-Men this time 'round, b/c I'm afraid of getting hit by another steel desk… bye for now…
"…"- conversation
'…'- thoughts
(…)- extra facts/actions (some)
((…))- author's/my own thoughts
'blah…' -telepathy/what people say mentally
Chapter 13: Todd's Punishment and the Plan
Living Room, Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House, Bayville, NY- May 15, 11:25 PM
"Father…" asked Wanda warily as she looked from the floating Todd to her father. "Just exactly what did you do?"
Everyone then noticed where Wanda was looking, and were all surprised to see Todd floating up there. Piotr stopped drawing, Leon quickly morphed back into his human form, and Opal had stopped shooting bullets and was staring at Todd with surprise and fear evident on her face. Remy quickly folded the poker table and stood it up against the wall and Fred turned off the television, got up, quickly took off his bathrobe, and stared at one of his best friends with fear in his eyes. John even stopped flicking his lighter, but no one noticed except Wanda, who shot him a look of surprise.
"Nothing at all, daughter, except ensuring that he will never bother you again. Toad," said Erik as he looked from Wanda to the mutant floating in the air, "Did you forget your promise so soon? If you did, then I am afraid that I must punish you for breaking it and disobeying orders. However, I have need of you tonight, so I'll not punish you… hard."
With this, Erik swept his arm down, and because of the metal collar on his neck, Todd was flung down to the floor, and ended up with a few bruises from the impact, as Erik had supported him enough to not seriously injure him. He got up quickly, and with fear in his eyes once more, ran to hide behind Fred, who was quickly stuffing the cereal into his mouth so as to make sure that Raven didn't yell at him for eating… again.
As Todd was putting bandages on himself quickly from his stash of first aid supplies under the sofa he could hear Raven yelling at Fred for eating again, considering he had just eaten an hour ago, and that had been a big meal mind you. Todd also heard Erik ask Jason why he had come running down the stairs with some money, and heard Remy softly chuckle, with Pietro talking, or rather giving orders to Opal and Leon.
After a few minutes had passed, in which yelling could be heard from Raven, Erik quickly shut Raven up as he flung an arm in front of her, signaling that she was to remain quiet until given the signal to talk once more.
"Very well, now that that problem has been dealt with… we are moving out now," said Erik as he looked at his Acolytes and then at the Brotherhood. He then finally looked at Pietro, who was standing at full attention in front of the two new mutants, as if telling him to get his teammates ready to go.
"Yes, sir!" said the Brotherhood and Acolytes as they moved into position and stood to attention.
Piotr stood up to his full height and Remy got out a deck of cards, shuffled them, and lit one to show he was ready to go. John, flicking his lighter open again, brought out a flame and manipulated it to form a menacing grin, which he chuckled at, as he thought it was a good representation of how he felt about what they were going to do to the X-Men. Jason closed his eyes and projected into everyone's mind a picture of the defeat of the X-Men. Opal grinned evilly and lifted her hands to cross in front of her like she had two pistols, one in each hand. Leon shifted into his favorite form: a hawk, as it was small, maneuverable, and could see in the dark, along with being able to reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.
Wanda was standing there with her arms crossed, thinking sarcastically 'Oh good. Here we go again. Another one of my father's plans that will just probably fail like it always does. Why am I even with the Brotherhood? I have control over my powers so I could technically leave any time I wish, but I feel like I'm needed here for some reason. Plus, my friends Rogue, Kitty, and Lexie live at the Institute, so why would I even live with people who want to destroy my friends? Also, I know for a fact that Remy loves Rogue, and Lance still has feelings for Kitty, not to mention that my dear brother has a crush on Logan's daughter... I wish I had someone who cared about me the way Remy cares for Rogue and Lance for Kitty and maybe even Pietro for Lexie… '
Her eyes then softened as she looked at Remy, and she knew how deep his feelings for Rogue ran, and thought of how much Lance cared for Kitty, though he acted like he didn't. She took a quick glance at her brother and even thought of how nice her brother could be to a girl, and how he would get nervous whenever he saw Lexie. Wanda sighed sadly, and didn't notice John looking at her from the corner of his eye, thinking, 'God, she is beautiful. That there sheila is one hell of a woman. Oy wonder if she feels anythin' for me the way Oy think… Oy know… Oy feel 'bout her?' He then shook his head and didn't notice the nasty look directed at him by Todd.
While Fred was just standing up as straight as he could without making himself look like a fool, Todd had finished putting on his bandages and was now standing up straight next to Fred, but unlike Fred, his eyes weren't directed towards Erik, Raven, or even Pietro. Instead, they were focusing in on John, whom he felt was a threat to his future with Wanda.
'How dare that bastard think of goin' after Wanda, yo. How dare he even think of her, or even look at her?' thought Todd as he stared venomously at John.
Todd was so focused on trying to gain the ability to kill John with his looks that he didn't hear Pietro calling his name until he was jabbed sharply in the ribs as the speed-demon came up to him and elbowed him roughly in the stomach. This caused Todd to gasp in pain.
Todd, clutching his stomach, fell to the floor, and faintly heard Pietro yelling, "Todd, you idiot! What do you think you were doing, not listening to me? I mean, come on, I'm in charge of the Brotherhood! Got that?"
"Yeah, yo, I got it," whispered Todd as he slowly regained his breath and got to his feet, wincing every now and then at the pain present in his chest. He could feel Raven's eyes boring into him, daring him to do any more disobeying and see what happened, but Todd didn't want to risk it and just listened as Pietro told everyone the plan, including the parts on Sabretooth's demise and Lance's betrayal. At this, Todd's ears perked up, and he couldn't resist; he had to know.
"Yo, are you's saying that Lance betrayed us?" asked Todd cautiously, and this drew the attention of the other mutants who hadn't heard that statement before.
"Yes, Toad, I am," said Erik as he turned his eyes to the toad-like mutant. "He has betrayed us, and if he happens to be there at the Institute with the other X-Men, then make sure you all show him how we tolerate betrayal. Got that?"
At this everyone nodded and Erik signaled them to get into uniform, which they quickly did.
Pietro's uniform is blue in different shades, going from dark blue at the bottom to light blue at the top, and is tight to increase his speed even more. He also wears silver-colored boots and white gloves.
Raven's uniform is a black tank top and a short black skirt with black gloves and boots.
Todd's uniform is tight fitting dark green body suit that increases the speed he has and helps him jump even higher in battle. He also has black gloves that protect his hands from the impact he makes when landing from one of his jumps, silver boots, and a black belt. He will also sometimes wear a black jacket that reaches to his ankles, as he says it makes him look cool, and he was presently wearing said jacket.
Wanda's uniform consists of black boots, form-fitting black leather pants, a red corset top covered by a red tank top, a black trench coat, and black gloves with red streaks on them, almost in the shape of flames. She also wears a her silver charm bracelet, her black and red Celtic-cross necklace, and her dark blue earrings
John's uniform is a long-sleeved shirt and jeans in a mixture of red and orange, representing the colors of fire itself. He also wears orange gloves, light red goggles that he uses to protect his eyes from the fire, and silver boots. A silver jetpack that holds the fuel he needs to be able to produce fire resides on his back, with cables that connect to 2 blowtorches he wears, one on each hand.
Piotr's uniform is a black outfit, which consists of a muscle tank, jeans, and gloves that become invisible when he activates his armor. He has a silver "A" (for Acolyte) emblazoned on the back of his outfit, and when he activates his armor, the only parts of his clothing to be seen are his jeans and the "A" on his back turns from silver to black. The "A" is shown because Erik put a metal disk onto Piotr's back that has the "A" emblazoned on it. When he activates his armor the "A" shows itself on top of his armor and is a constant reminder to Piotr that he is an Acolyte and therefore Erik's servant.
Remy's uniform is a brown and black tight-fitting outfit with a blue stripe going from shoulder to shoulder with a dark brown trench coat over it. He also wears brown leather gloves and black combat boots. He will also sometimes wear a black bandana that helps to keep his bangs out of his eyes. In the coat's pockets, he stores his favorite weapon- decks of playing cards. When fighting, he's most often seen with his cards lit up, and also has a Bo staff -which can be mad as big or small as needed-, and although rarely used, is also stored in his coat. If he doesn't have his cards and pole on him, he uses the fighting skills he's picked up on the rough streets of New Orleans; so if needed, he's a pretty decent fighter in his own right. His stealth skills from being a former thief don't hurt either, along with his agility.
Fred's uniform is a pair of large black overalls with a light blue T-shirt, a dark green vest that's cut in places, and white tennis shoes.
Opal's uniform is a dark blue tank top, dark blue leather pants, a bright red belt, silver boots, light see through goggles to protect her eyes, and red gloves, which have no fingers so she is able to access her ability easily and quickly.
Leon's uniform is a navy blue muscle shirt, black pants, black boots, and a yellow and red belt. When he activates his power and turns into an animal his uniform turns into the outer skin/scales of the animal, and when he turns into another human his outer form changes to imitate the person he's morphing into.
Jason was already in uniform , which is black dress pants, black turtleneck, dark brown trench coat, black gloves, and black shoes, the same outfit he wears during the day.
Finally, Erik's uniform is a maroon and royal purple battle-suit, with a cape coming from his shoulders to his feet. He also wears black boots, purple gloves, and always wears his helmet, which is red and purple and comes down over his face, with a part covering his nose, so you only see slots for the eyes. This makes them seem to be a yellowish-color and the rest of his face is cast in shadow, but sometimes it will be shown, but not often.
Erik placed his helmet on his head, and after nodding as each of his "servants" reappeared in their uniforms, used his powers to summon the metal pods he had devised for quick travel. Once everyone was inside a pod he transported them out of the Brotherhood House for the attack on The Xavier Institute for the Gifted.
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