London Calling.

"(…) London calling to the underworld

Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls (…)"– The Clash "London Calling".

Warnings: Crime and everything that comes with it.

Timing: 2016, a year after "The Cabbala"

Rating: M.

Disclaimer: Disclaimer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen original comic books © Allan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Neverwhere © Neil Gaiman. Atomic Robo © Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegner. Stargate Atlantis © MGM Studios. Hellboy (in character of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen) © Michael Mignola. Slenderman © Eric Knudsen (as Victor Surge). The story © Archer Black.

Dracula (in character of Wilhelmina Murray) by Bram Stoker. Allan Quatermain by sir Henry Rider Haggard. Orlando (or his/hers alike) by Virgina Woolf.

Prologue.

?

London Below

The young Ratspeaker hurried home from running an errand for one of the rats that lived in the tunnels of the London Below. It was her duty as a Ratspeaker; her people spoke to rats and helped rats with whatever the rodents needed help. The work wasn't very hard and the rats repaid generously for humans' services, mostly by providing information, sharing some knowledge and protecting Ratspeakers, as rats were highly respected dwellers of the London Below, living there longer than anyone else and knowing its greatest secrets.

The Ratspeaker turned to a side tunnel that would take her to the Ratspeaker's camp, it wasn't normal route but rather a short-cut, one of the old, already forgotten routes that few aside of rats and Ratspeakers knew.

She suddenly turned back, as if she heard something, she stood there for a second looking around. The tunnel wasn't well lit but it wasn't completely dark either.

"Oh, dear… by the Charter." She sighed. "You gave me a fright. I thought you were something else; rumours have it that the Beast of London has been replaced…"

Moment later the tunnel was filled with blood chilling cry of a young Ratspeaker, the faint shadows danced on the walls made of red brick, the scream rolled in the semi-darkness again and then died.

?

Tesladyne Island. The next day.

Atomic Robo sat in his office, it was a calm day. Experiments planned for the day were of the mild kind and his enemies seemed to follow in bears' footsteps and fall into hibernation. Or at least he hoped so since none of them reared recently. Even Doctor Dinosaur didn't do anything insane lately. On one hand it was nice; on the other hand it could have been calm before the storm. Robo decided not to worry yet and just enjoy the nice day while it lasted.

The first thing he should be doing was reading some reports from the previous day but somehow he wasn't in the mood. He'd be having a whole day for it so he decided to just look up some funny memes on the internet.

He refreshed his Tumblr dashboard for the fifth time when his communication array chimed, it was probably Jerry.

"What is it?" Robo asked without much interest, hunting for funny animal vids was more absorbing than work right now.

[[You have a call.]] Jerry informed him through the comm. [[It's the 'M'.]]

"Her?" Robo instantly closed his laptop. Animal videos lost their charm suddenly. "What does she want?"

[[She didn't say.]] Jerry answered and it sounded as if he shrugged his arms too.

"Can't be anything good." The robot sank into his chair. He had two options. He could ignore her. Or he could talk to her. But if it was important then ignoring wouldn't be healthy. And she wouldn't call if it wasn't important. "I hate when these things happen!" Robo groaned. "Patch her through."

Robo waited for a moment for Jerry to connect the call. If he had a stomach, he'd feel it clenching.

[[Robo.]] This wasn't even a question. The voice on the other end of the line belonged to one Wilhelmina Murray without a doubt.

"I won't even ask if something happened because I know something happened. Otherwise you wouldn't bother to call." He started. "And I want you to know that no matter what it is, I already hate it."

[[Good. It is nothing pleasant.]] The woman replied.

"I am tempted to just hang out."

[[It's about the League.]]

"I hoped it'd be one time thing." Robo exclaimed. He really did hope so. Their first and so far last mission was absurd, at least from his point of view.

[[It is Door.]] There was an edge in 'M's' voice that made Robo to stop in his mental tracks.

"What happened?" He asked. Door was a nice kid as far as he was concerned. Well, a nice young lady if he was to be honest. He liked her. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her. "Is she all right?"

[[She is fine, but she needs help. She agreed to join the League so she could help us to save the Above.1)]] The 'M' explained. [[It is time for us to help her to save the Below.]]

"I have this strange feeling that joining the League is like shaking hands with Frank Sinatra – you can never un-shake it and it marks you forever." He did his equivalent of wincing. It wasn't that he didn't want to help Door, but he felt that he'd never shake that League business off.

[[In a way it is.]] The 'M' replied after a short moment of silence. [[Come to London, we will meet and I will explain you everything.]]

She didn't even wait for him to confirm before she hung up. Robo sighed through his vents. It was as if he had absolutely no say in the matter. He'd me angry if not for the fact that he did feel like he should help Door.

"Jerry, send Jenkins to my office." He asked his secretary. "And tell the boys in the hangar to prepare the BJ."

[[Will do.]] Jerry answered and disconnected.

Moment later Jenkins walked into Robo's office.

TBC.

1) See "The Cabbala" my first story about my own assembly of LotEG.