Never before, in his entire live, Toad was that happy to get out of a plane, like he was now. Soon after he boarded the plane and sat down on his seat, he fell asleep and awoke just as they announced they would land in five minutes. Rubbing his eyes he lifted himself to sit straight in his seat and looked around. In the line next to him sat three young girls who started to whisper and giggle as Toad looked at them. He wondered what was gotten into them but he just smiled at them; it wasn't unusual that girls started to get nervous when he looked at them. Still smiling he turned his head to the other side and saw two elderly people sitting in that line, which were also looking at him with a smile. Toad looked at them for a few seconds, before his eyes got caught by two kids, which were sitting in the line behind the elderly. The kids laughed really hard as he looked at them and Toad began to wonder why everyone he looked at was acting so hyper friendly. He shook his head; maybe they never had seen such a good looking guy before? He turned his gaze back to the front and saw the stewardess stepping up to him with a big grin on her face. She asked him if everything was okay and Toad just nodded and smiled at her. The stewardess told him they were about to land and left him again, to talk to her associate. Toad stared at the two women a while and realized the other women started to laugh and looked at him with a goofy face. Toad knitted his eye-brows, the people in here were acting really strange. Pretty insecure Toad looked down on himself, to check if he wore something funny but no, everything was alright. He even checked the zipper of his pants, maybe it was open but no, it was closed. Sighing he waited impatient for the plane to touch the ground.


Toad was wandering through the airport lobby, to leave this place and head back to base. The General had assured him that he send a driver to pick him up. Toad started to get annoyed from all the people around him. As the travelers in the plane looked at him and smiled he found it weird but didn´t think about it deeply; but now he had the feeling that every person he passed smiled at him weirdly. What was wrong with all them? Hadn´t they seen a well build man before? Walking faster Toad left the airport and looked out for the truck that picked him up. He soon found it parked a little apart from the entrance and stepped up to it and opened the door. He threw his duffle bag on the back seat and climbed into the front passenger seat, seeing Archer looking at him with big eyes and a clearly puzzled look.

"What?" Toad asked in anger as his partner didn´t stop to stare at him.

"Good to see you too. Had a nice flight?" Archer asked as he started the engine headshaking.

"Can´t say that. People around me acted like they had never seen an attractive man." Toad answered and closed his eyes.

"What are you talking about? I wasn´t in the plane with you." Archer replied smiling and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Funny Archer, really funny. Everyone knows that I´m the good looking one in our friendship." Toad just answered and earned a smack on the head from his partner.

"Dream on Mona Lisa." Archer replied and started to chuckle.

Toad let out a groan, why did his partner call him Mona Lisa? Has Archer took the time he wasn´t at base to create a new nick name for him? Not that he would be sad to lose his old nick name the older sniper had created for him, it was definitely more annoying than Mona Lisa, but where got Archer this idea from? He knew why his partner called him Mr. Fire head; the first time they met Toad accidently put his hairs on fire as he tried to light a cigarette and didn´t notice it until he felt that his head was getting hotter and hotter. Back then he had burned most of his hairs and what did Archer? He just laughed so hard that he couldn´t help Toad, who saw his only chance to put the fire out by jumping into the lake they were at. Unfortunately Toad didn´t realize in his panic attack that the lake was frozen and he ended up in the infirmary with a mild concussion and a half bald head. Since that day he always made sure to keep his hair short.

So why did Archer call him Mona Lisa? Toad never was interested in any kind of art and so he clearly couldn´t understand why his partner named him after a famous picture. Maybe Archer´s just getting old. Toad thought and kept his eyes closed, listening to the music his partner had turned on. After a ten minute drive both snipers arrived at base and Toad was happy to be back in his comfort zone. Excited he jumped out of the truck, snatched his bag and hurried inside the base. He was on his way to his room as he passed Roach´s room and saw how the young Sergeant packed all of his belongings into various duffle bags.

"Hey Roach! What are you doing?" Toad asked surprised and stepped into his friend´s room. Roach who was bended over his bed and folded his clothing leered up to Toad who was standing next to him and surveyed his friend. Roach stared for a few seconds at him, before he started to snort with laughter. Toad just stood there and shot Roach a rather nerved glance; Roach was laughing too?

"For god´s sake! Why is everyone laughing at me? My look hasn´t changed. What´s wrong with you people?" Toad yelled in anger and Roach´s laughter died down.

"Ohm, it´s just nice to see you man." Gary answered and scratched his head still grinning.

"Yes, I know, the beauty has come back to base." Toad replied self-confident and Roach just rolled his eyes.

"But now tell me, why are you packing all of your stuff? Are you leaving?"

"We´re all leaving. Hasn´t Archer told you this?" Roach asked surprised and Toad just shook his head.

"Oh, you should go to the Captain. He´ll explain you everything." Roach said and continued to fold his clothes.

Toad shrugged his shoulders and left Roach in his room to go to the Captain and ask him what was going on here. Why were they leaving? Had they found something about Makarov out? Were they after him? Did they go on a mission all together? But why would Roach pack all of his belongings? If they had a mission going on he would only take the important things with him. Maybe it was a lie as Natasha spoke about Makarov and the 141 could take a break from the work. Thinking about this Toad shook his head; the General had called him and told him he could stay longer with his girlfriend. Contemplating Toad reached the Captain´s room and knocked on the door. He heard MacTavish yell from the inside he could come in and so Toad opened the door and stepped into his superior's room.


As he entered the room he saw Soap and Ghost sitting on the floor, studying some papers, not paying much attention to Toad. Chris cleared his throat and his two superiors looked up at him. He was about to ask them what was going on here as both started to laugh at him. Toad stood in front of the door paralyzed and wondered what the hell was going on. They were laughing too? He closed his eyes in anger and clenched his fist. Has everyone around him become insane? Was he the only normal person in here? Still hearing their laughs Toad knitted his eye-brows and tried to control his anger. It was hard for him to not scream them into the faces to shut the hell up and tell him what´s so funny about him. Toad breathed heavily and buried his finger nails into his flesh; if they wouldn´t stop immediately he would implode with anger. Ghost and Soap must have noticed that the sniper tried his best to hold his anger back and stopped laughing; apparently Toad didn´t know why they were laughing. The room went silent and Ghost and Soap tried their best to give Toad a serious look.

"Why are we leaving the base?" Toad asked and slowly opened his eyes to look at his Captain.

"Mac told us to leave. We´re going to his Secret Base and finally got to meet his whole team." Soap answered giggling.

"Why´s that?" Toad asked still angry about his superiors.

"He said the base isn´t safe anymore. He fears that Natasha´s going to tell Makarov about the local conditions and that he´s going to try to infiltrate the base and kill us. That´s why we´re leaving tomorrow morning." Soap answered and stood up from the floor.

"And where´s this base?" Toad kept on asking.

"He hasn´t told us. He says it´s not necessary for us to know." Ghost joined the conversation and stood up from the floor too.

"Hm, so I don´t have to unpack my things?" Toad asked and looked at Ghost.

"No. By the way Toad, do you know if Julia´s coming to the base tomorrow too?" Ghost asked and Toad could see that he couldn´t await a good answer from him.

"I´m sorry. I don´t know. As I said goodbye to her earlier she said she´ll think about joining again but she wasn´t sure." Toad answered and looked down to the floor. He could understand if Ghost would be disappointed right now but as he heard him chuckle he looked up to him surprised.

"You´re not disappointed?" Toad asked confused.

"No, why should I? She has all the rights to leave the military and live a normal life." Ghost just said and stretched his back.

"I think I should go now and start to pack my things." Ghost said and headed for the door.

"What about you Picasso? You´re going to pack your other stuff too?" Ghost asked Toad as he opened the door.

Toad just looked at him puzzled. First Mona Lisa, now Picasso? What was going on here? He wanted to ask Ghost what he meant as Soap laid a hand on his shoulder and asked him if he had looked into a mirror since he got out of the plane. Somehow surprised of the Captain´s question Toad shook his head and MacTavish told him, he would understand their reactions if he had seen himself in a mirror.


As Toad was on his way to his room, he thought about the Captain´s words. He should look in a mirror? He had seen himself in the mirror as he left Caroline´s house and since then he only was at the airport and at the plane. Maybe he looked pale and sick; maybe his eyes were red after he took a nap. Toad tried to remember what he did before he fell asleep; maybe he had eaten something and he had some food between his teeth. Quickly Toad had arrived at his room, put his bag down and followed the Captain´s advice. He went to his bathroom and took a look in the mirror; getting shocked of what he saw. He stood in front of his mirror image with his mouth and eyes wide open and just stared at it. He couldn´t believe that he hadn´t noticed this before. Why hadn´t he woke up? Who had done this to him? He tried to remember the people which were with him in the plane. He remembered the three young girls, the elderly couple and…the kids!

Cursing Toad wondered how they managed to do this to him. Usually kids were loud, anxious and clumsy. Usually kids were innocent and painted pictures of horses or butterflies.

Usually kids' wouldn´t cover the face of a grown man with little, pink and green manly private parts….