Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution nor any or Marvel's characters.

Warning: Mild language, mentions of violence, and slight angst.

Recovery: Infiltration Part 2

"Do you think we should try waking him up?"

"He's still breathing, so that's probably a good sign."

"My brother; the self-established medical professional."

"Wanda, I'm trying to be optimistic here!"

"Seriously, guys, maybe we should try to wake him up. He doesn't look so good."

"Maybe all he needs is some rest, Freddy."

"But Lance, just look at him! Poor guy looks horrible!"

"Probably looks bettah than he normally does…"

All four heads of the Brotherhood immediately turned to look at the owner of the voice; the one currently lying in bed.

With a hard groan, Todd opened his eyes weakly to see his friends, all surrounding him, concern etched all over their faces. "Hi, bros…how's it goin'?"

"'…how's it going?!'" Wanda yelled, looking furious. "We've been pacing around here for the last few hours, worried sick about you and that's all you can say?!"

"…aww, sweetums…you were worried 'bout me…? Dat touches mah heart…"

Wanda let out a groan as she facepalmed, but Fred moved past her to give Todd a (very careful) hug. "We thought we were gonna lose you for a minute there, little buddy."

"Heh…yeah…" Todd shivered a bit when he attempted to move, feeling slight shakes of pain course through him as though they were warning him not to try that again. "…I was a lil' scared, too…"

"Todd, what happened?" Lance asked from the foot of the bed. "Pietro said he found you like this, but you blacked out."

"You mentioned something about an ambush," Pietro reminded him from Todd's other side, staring at him intently. "Do you remember what happened?"

"The ambush…" Suddenly, Todd gasped and moved to go sit up before he was pushed down by Fred.

"Whoa, Toad, don't you even think about that!"

"But—the elevator!"

"Elevator?" Wanda repeated, exchanging a glance with the others in confusion.

"I was attacked—in the elevator!" Toad exclaimed, the memory flooding back to him. "I was gonna go do some paperwork when a whole buncha guys jumped me!"

"Slow down," Lance said as he walked around to stand next to Fred. "What guys?"

"I-I don' know! Some field guys, some business dudes wit' suits an' a couple agents…I didn't recognize nobody."

"…so it was them," Pietro mumbled as he lifted a hand up to stroke his chin thoughtfully.

"Who?" Todd asked.

The group exchanged glances before Wanda sat down on the bed.

"Todd…SHIELD's been infiltrated by HYDRA."

"What?!" Todd exclaimed, lifting himself up again, only to have Fred shove him back down. "But that ain't possible!"

"It is," Pietro said, now pacing around the room. "We all were attacked."

Todd's eyes widened as he looked around at his friends. "You serious?"

Fred nodded. "Yep. We don't know what happened exactly, but SHIELD is in some deep shit."

"That's why we came here," Lance commented, gesturing to the room.

Todd blinked before actually taking in his surroundings. The room was old, but it looked pretty big; kind of grand, actually. Lovely purple curtains that were sadly marred with dust and gold tassels', a chandelier that no longer gleamed, but still hung high above, and a large bed that he was now lying in, comfy as a cloud, but the springs creaked underneath him whenever he moved just an inch.

It looked so familiar…

"Are…is this the…?"

The group nodded as Wanda explained, "It was the only place we could think of."

"The Brotherhood Boardin' House…heh. Can't believe they haven't torn it down," Todd said, shifting a bit.

"They don't wanna waste the money," Lance muttered. "Just let it crumble on its own."

Todd laid his head back against the pillow before glancing down at his leg. "So, is it broken?"

"It's definitely a fracture, but it could have been way worse," Pietro replied, heading back over to his original spot. "You came out of it pretty lucky, but it still needs to heal."

"So, bottom line is, I can't move from this bed."

"Right on the nose."

"Dammit…"

"It's not like we can really go anywhere, anyways," Wanda said as she stood back up and headed over to the window.

"So…do we got a plan?" Todd asked.

A few moments of silence passed.

"You got nothin'?" Todd guessed, looking a little shocked.

"Toad, we don't even know what's going on," Lance said. "We know HYDRA's taking over, but we don't know who was an actual SHIELD agent and who was undercover."

"Yeah…Marilyn attacked me," Freddy mumbled.

"Marilyn? But she was there fo' our basic trainin'! We..." The dawning realization hit Todd and he lifted a shaky hand up to his forehead as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, God…"

"We would've called someone by now, but we don't know who we can trust," Pietro stated as he paced. "We thought about going back there, but we don't know what we'll find. By now, it could be crawling with HYDRA scum."

"So we's jus' gonna play the waitin' game?" Todd asked.

"Not much else we can do," Lance replied, taking a seat on the bed.

"…should we call the X-Men?" Todd suggested.

"They're the only ones we actually did call," Wanda answered. "They're getting right on it, but we're not going to call again."

"Yeah, it's better to stay on the down-low now," Fred agreed. "We didn't even tell them where we were."

"That's probably fo' the best," Todd said with a soft sigh.

"Right now, we should just stay focused on keeping nice and quiet until we get any information," Pietro said, clearing his throat.

"But besides the X-Men, we don't have anyone else," Fred disagreed. "We don't even know which agents to trust! How are we gonna even get any information? Staying safe is one thing, but we can only trust each other."

The speedster sighed. "Look, I know it's not much, but do any of you have a better plan?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought," Pietro stated, folding his arms. "Look, let's all just try to relax and think about if we have any other options. We can't do jack-shit right now, so there's plenty of time to brainstorm."

Everyone nodded, all with low enthusiasm, before each of them filed out of the room, except Wanda, who stayed behind, still seated on the bed.

Todd gave a sigh. "…I can't believe this…"

"…why are we always the ones to get screwed?" Wanda questioned, mostly talking to herself.

"Born under a bad sign, baby," Todd answered, shaking his head.

"I guess so," she replied before looking up at him. "By the way…you were very brave today."

Todd blinked at her, a bit surprised before smiling softly. "Really? Aw, come on, Wanda. I been in this kinda trouble befo'."

"I know, I'm just…" She paused, trying to figure out how to word what she meant. "I'm really proud of you…how far you've come. How far we all have come, honestly." Ever so gently, she smiled thoughtfully before giving a scoff. "I mean, the Toad that I met here—" She gestured her arm around the room. "—he would have flailed around like a little girl if he was jumped by those men."

Todd gave a soft snort. "Yeah, he probably would've." He glanced up at her. "Thanks, Wanda."

She smiled gently at him, giving his hand a squeeze before getting up and heading out, shutting the door behind her.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Todd didn't know how it was possible for his watch to sound so loud. Normally, he forgot the thing was even on his wrist half the time. It was a gift given by some friends of his down in the tech department after he'd helped return their weapons back to them after a group of wannabe terrorists snatched them. Mostly, it did the things a normal watch did; it told him the time, second by second, and gave him the date up at the very top. However, deep inside, it had a circuitry that most wouldn't believe such a small device was capable of having. It had once been explained to him that it was like having a small super computer on your wrist.

Todd glanced down at the watch before letting out a sigh of frustration, flopping his head back down against his pillow.

He hated not being able to move. Sure, he could probably handle it better than someone like Pietro, but the thought of not being able to walk was almost too painful to dwell on.

Abruptly, he heard voices from downstairs. They were hushed, but the house was so old, sound traveled very easily through the vents and cracks.

"Why would you say that?" Wanda's voice echoed.

"'Cause it's true," Lance mumbled back.

"Don't mind him, Wanda. He's just being moody."

"I'm not being moody, Pietro. I'm just being honest."

"But that's not true, Lance," Fred insisted.

"Yeah, it is," Lance said.

"You don't know—" Wanda started, but the rock-tumbler cut her off.

"Yes, I do. If they were able to take over this easily, they had to be in the system for years, even before we got here. Half those missions had to be theirs."

"Fury would've noticed," Fred pointed out.

"He might've been blackmailed," Lance suggested and Todd could easily picture the rock-tumbler giving his traditional shrug.

"Not Fury," Pietro spoke up. "He's above that crap."

"Can I be part of this conversation, too?!" Todd yelled.

Within a second, Pietro was standing next to Todd's bed, arms folded. "You are supposed to be resting."

"I have been restin'. But I'm bored. An' if we're gonna be talkin' 'bout this whole thing, I wanna be included."

Pietro made a noise before yelling over his shoulder, "Get up here, guys! Toad is lonely!"

"Jerk-off," Todd sneered at him.

The speedster merely shot a smirk at him as the rest of the group walked in.

"So," Todd began, looking directly at Lance, "What's all this about?"

"Apparently, Mr. Alvers over here is claiming that we never turned over a new leaf," Pietro stated, pointing at the rock-tumbler accusingly.

"What chu talkin' 'bout?" Todd questioned. "What 'bout all those contracts we signed wit' 'em?"

"Yeah, we've been helping SHIELD for a long time now. We didn't know HYDRA could get anywhere near us," Wanda pointed out.

"I don't see how that should matter…" Lance mumbled.

"Would you care to fill in the blanks?" Wanda asked, pursing her lips in annoyance.

"We still helped HYDRA…all those missions…we might as well cross out SHIELD on our badges and put their name instead."

"Hey!" Todd snapped, gesturing at Lance angrily. "You don' know what the hell yer talkin' 'bout! We ain't the bad guys, Lance!"

"Yeah!" Fred agreed as he stood up. "I mean, what about all those people we saved? I carried a whole family out of a burning building last year. Doesn't something like that count for anything?"

Lance folded his arms, glaring down at the floor. Pietro's eyes softened a bit and he moved over to him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

"We're all pissed off, Lance," Pietro stated, "But we can't just act like we haven't done good things. No matter how long HYDRA has been trailing us, we are still SHIELD agents. We made an oath to protect the world. We are heroes."

The room was quiet for a while, Todd hearing his watch ticking softly.

Finally, Lance gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "I know."

"Then don't ever say shit like that again. Understand?" Pietro demanded, his voice gruff, but his eyes were filled with emotion.

Lance nodded gently, saying nothing more.

The room became quiet again, all the members glancing anywhere but at each other until Pietro removed his hand from Lance and declared, "Alright. Now that we've got that outta the way, let's start thinking strategy."

"But we don't—"

"I know we don't know anything, sis," Pietro interrupted Wanda. "But we still have to do something. The longer we sit with just our own thoughts, the quicker we'll go completely mad. There has to be a way we can get more information on what happened."

"Okay, well, what do you want us to do?" Wanda asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Pietro tapped the tip of his nose, evidently thinking hard. "Hmm…I need a computer."

"Whatcha gonna do wit' that?"

"Hack into SHIELD'S database. Maybe I can find out who's a real agent and who's a spy."

"But we don' got—oh, wait!" Todd unlatched his watch and held it out to Pietro. "'Member how much power they said these little things have?"

The speedster took the watch from him, examining it curiously. He moved over to the seat that connected to the window, fiddling with it. The group all stayed quiet, all thinking privately to themselves as he worked.

"Ha! Got it!" Pietro exclaimed after a long while, his fingers moving like mad across the device. "Someone get me a pad and paper!"

Lance, looking like he was finally out of his depression, shot up and went on his search throughout the house.

"What'd you find?" Fred asked, moving over to him and peering over his shoulder.

"These B-E-A-utiful files," Pietro grinned brightly.

"How the hell did you do that?" Wanda asked, peering over his shoulder to see for herself.

"I've got the magic hands," Pietro waved her off as Lance ran back in.

"It's a crappy pencil, but it'll get the job done. We don't know if those files will be open forever or if we're being tracked. I say we get this done as quick as possible."

"Fair point," Pietro agreed as Lance took a seat next to him, handing him the pen and pencil before telling him, "Okay, hold this up so I can copy everything."

Todd watched as Pietro copied down the names, the pencil moving fast over the paper. On one hand, this was perfect; they were finally catching the break they needed to try to get through this mess. On the other hand, he felt a bit sick at finding out who was actually part of SHIELD. What if it was more people he knew—people that he'd considered friends?

"Okay," he heard Pietro mutter as Lance lowered the watch, shutting it off. "We've got a lot of names. Not as many as I'd hoped for, but it's something to go off of."

"What do we do with them?" Freddy asked.

"I presume we either try to contact them or if they contact us, we answer," Wanda said with a shrug. "Not much else we can really do."

Pietro nodded. "She's right. Let's start making a few calls and see who picks up. If they don't…well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

"Who's on the list, yo?" Todd mumbled. "Anybody we know?"

"A few," the speedster answered. "Some I've only heard of, some that I've never seen before."

"It's better than where we were ten minutes ago," Lance pointed out. "Any names are good news."

"Even if it's…bad," Todd muttered softly, glancing down at his hands.

Freddy pulled a phone out of a nearby drawer (Mystique's private phone) and handed it to Pietro. "Might as well start now."

Pietro took it and paused for a moment. He glanced around the room at everybody. A flash of nervousness passed through his eyes before he cleared his throat and began to press the series of buttons as Todd watched in nervous trepidation. He laid back in bed, trying to keep a cool head.

He knew they would figure this out. They weren't the bad guys and they were going to do everything they could to find out the truth. Once everyone got back together, SHIELD would pick itself up from the ground, dust itself off, and get back to work. He reflected on that old saying; HYDRA may have won the battle, but they sure as hell hadn't won the war.

A/N: The long-awaited part 2 of Infiltration! Or maybe just long-awaited for me since this chapter was so hard...I mean, seriously, guys, this chapter was a bitch to write. It gave me so much trouble. I don't think I'm going to make another part, since I don't have any ideas right now to continue the story. Unless any of you know where to go with it, let me know and I can try to make it happen!

So, as difficult as this chapter was, I did have some fun with it. Sending them to the boarding house was a given from the start and I really like writing dialogue between them now that they're older, such as Wanda and Todd acting more like actual friends, Pietro being a level-headed leader, etc. Grown-up Brotherhood is fascinating to write because now they're actual thinking about their actions and because they finally have a significant purpose in life, they take it very seriously.

Again, fun but hard chapter. Hope you all liked it! Read and review if you desire! It brings a smile to me face! :D