AN- Thankyou for your reviews, I'm glad you're interested. Just to clarify, the M in this story is Mycroft Holmes from the graphic novel, not Moriarty.

Wilhelmina sat outside of the inn alone, enjoying the cool evening breeze as it played across the common. She was staring up at the heavens, observing the sprinkling of stars in the inky blackness. It seemed so peaceful. How could something so horrifying and destructive have come from such a place?

Although it was a beautiful night, there was an eerie atmosphere to the darkness. Outside by herself, she felt something she hadn't for a very long time- fear. There was no sound but the distant clattering and working noises coming from out on the common. Yet there was no other sound to be heard. No nocturnal activity of any kind. It seemed the animals had left, most likely before the humans in the area had even seen the aliens emerge from their machine. Then they had to run.

''Are you alright?''

''I'm fine, Agent Sawyer.'' She answered the young American without looking away from the sky. She could hear the crunch of gravel under his boots as he walked towards the bench and sat next to her. He sat there quietly and joined her in watching the sky.

''Sure is a nice night.'' He said calmly, leaning back against the wooden frame of the seat. He saw her nod and he fiddled with his shirt collar. He'd come out for some air, feeling hot and stuffy in his room. He had the window open and left it to air out for a while.

''Do you still believe it impossible for life to exist elsewhere in this vast universe?'' she asked him with a slight tone of amusement. He smiled briefly before it faded from his features.

''Who knew,'' He replied simply, scuffing his boot against the ground, ''I sure wasn't expecting anything like today…guess there was someone to build the thing after all.''

The two sat in a comfortable silence for some time. Mina continued to watch the sky, whilst Tom stared at the ground, leaning forward on his knees. His brain was continually re-playing the events of the day back to him. Over and over he thought about the heat ray, the burnt corpses, the creatures that had caused him to feel such disgust and terror.

''Why are they here, Mina?''

The vampiress lowered her head and turned her gaze to the young, blonde man seated next to her. His green eyes were alight with the inquisitiveness of a child. She studied his features with fast, keen eyes.

''I don't know.''

The light breeze caused the sign of the inn to creak back and forth on its rusty, ageing hinges. Green smoke could be seen rising steadily above the trees and a loud whirring noise began. The couple listened to the sound, both wondering what the Martians were doing down in the sandy crater they had made for themselves.

Under the lamplight, Nemo silently played a game with a pack of matches, attempting to make the word NINE.

Dr Jekyll sat in an armchair nearby reading a novel he had found on the empty bookshelf. The owners of the inn had left very little behind, and there was a very small amount of food in the pantry for them.

Luckily they had eaten well on the ship and were likely to be satisfied until the morning.

Skinner stood at the window, watching the dark trees in the distance that hid the pit from view. He swirled dark wine around in its glass, enjoying the scent of the alcohol over the taste. He sipped and swilled it around in his mouth before finally letting it enter his system. Sighing heavily he adjusted the pince nez that were balanced on his nose.

''The army is here.'' He muttered. The two looked up at him and saw the men approaching in their regal red uniforms. They had helmets with a small spike on top, military swords strapped across their shoulders. They carried bayonets as they marched in perfect synchronisation.

The evident leader of the troops rode a magnificent white horse and paused to speak with Mina and Sawyer. His helmet bore a large white plume with fluttered around with the movement of his head, and the medals spread across his chest glinted in the moonlight.

''You must be the military intelligence group we were told about. Some business about a pit, with giant 'slugs' inside?'' He said, truly intrigued by the situation. Sawyer watched the men marching towards the common.

''Certainly…but they are hostile.''

''No trouble, miss, we can handle it. Already there are adjacent troops heading towards the North side of the common to put up a guard. I say, I've heard the things can't move?''

''They don't seem capable of much movement, no…''

''Well, we'll sort them out. Good evening to you both.''

The man commanded his horse to trot on and it moved quickly. The last men of the brigade came and went, all heading towards Horsell common. Sawyer gave a small sigh and shook his head.

''Most of those men…they're going to die.'' Mina said quietly. The spy at her side remained silent, unable to answer, seeing no point in answering. Even if he said that they wouldn't, he knew that he was wrong and it was foolish to think otherwise. They'd seen first hand what these things were capable of whether they could leave the pit or not.

''Guess we should call it a night…'' He muttered. She nodded and they turned towards the door, heading inside.

''Great Christ and all his angels,'' Skinner said suddenly, obviously taken by surprise. His team mates looked at him quizzically as he moved towards the door, ''you'd better come out and look!''

Standing out in the settling dust left by the army's march, five extraordinary individuals stood underneath the black sky as a large, vivid streak painted it with an ominous green glow. It stood out against the heavens, so bright it rivalled every other star, and disappeared into the dark horizon in the direction of Woking.

''That makes two then.'' Sawyer said obviously, unable to think of anything else to say. The others stood silent.

''If these things continue falling and the English plans fail to subdue them…we may find ourselves on the losing side.'' Nemo replied grimly, continuing to stare upwards. He shook his head and turned to go inside, the 'meteorite' gone.

Saturday Morning
The Bleak House Inn

The League was awoken by the thunderous sounds of shelling coming from the common. They converged outside to see if anything was visible in the air, still dressing and pulling on clothes in their haste.

''Is that the army making all the noise, or the Martians?'' Tom asked, rolling up his shirt sleeves. No-one could be sure as they listened. The detonation came from distant Surrey, where the second cylinder had landed following the descent witnessed by the League. An eerie silence fell over the area.

''Perhaps we succeeded? Perhaps it's all over..,'' Jekyll suggested, breaking the silence. Suddenly there came a roar of noise, the sound of shouting and explosions from in the distance, ''…perhaps not.'' From nearby on the common the same sound could be heard. Great belches of dense smoke rose from Horsell suggesting the defeat of the regiment that had been sent there the night before.

''They…they've destroyed our artillery positions…every one of our machines will have been smashed to create so much smoke…'' Jekyll said, watching the smog rising into the pale blue sky. He could feel Edward Hyde stirring inside him. He had been infuriated with Jekyll for making him miss out on attacking the creatures in the pit when they had fired the heat ray. The beast was not only aching for freedom, he was flared up with a violent desire to have a go at the Martians.

'I could handle those slug-things, I'll rip them apart! I'll eat them and pull out their greasy tentacles; I'll throttle them! Let me out Henry- what possible use could anyone have for you this time? You're no bloody use to ANYONE. LET ME OUT.'

The doctor sighed inwardly as his alter-ego began this tirade upon him again, a rant which only he could hear.

'Move forward you pratt!'

Jekyll was startled by the warning which came seconds before the roof of the inn turned to flame. He moved quickly away from the building as it was engulfed by fire, struck by the ghostly beam of the heat ray.

''How could the device throw its attack so far?'' Nemo asked incredulously, watching as their lodgings for the night burnt to the ground. The group were astonished once more by this strange machinery, and worried by the fact that the member with the most technological awareness was as utterly astounded and baffled as they were.

There came the sound of an approaching cab, the hooves of the driving horses clattering noisily across the ground. The driver shouted for them to stop, causing them to rear up. They pawed the ground and snorted continuously, agitated at being so near to the pits. He looked down to them from his seat, a long whip in his hand and thick reins in the other.

''Are you the 'League'?'' He asked gruffly, ignoring the smoke and noise coming from Horsell. Mina said 'yes', glancing at the nervous Jekyll. Of course, he had reason to be anxious for once, but something about him seemed different…

''I've been told to return you to London if things went badly- and as you can probably guess, they went badly- atrociously in fact- so in you get.''

The five clambered into the cab without hesitation and began their return to London, by no means at a slower pace than their journey to Horsell common had been. Of course a horse drawn carriage couldn't rival a coal powered train for speed, but the driver certainly knew how to make the horses go. They themselves were too agitated to stay in the place for much longer anyway.

As they passed through Maybury, another village on the common, the panic amongst the inhabitants was evident as they piled up and packed all the belongings they could and fled their homes.

All the while, as Mina watched this from the cab window and all the way to London as her gentlemen companions brooded over the mission, she was haunted by something. A thought. Or rather a feeling, cold, deep in the pit of her stomach.

She had the feeling that not all of the League was going to survive this mission.

They had already lost Alan and Dorian, even though Gray had deserved to die. Sawyer had a lucky escape when he crashed the automobile, and Skinner had been burned alive, saved only by Dr Jekyll's medical expertise and months of rest. She stared out of the window sadly as they reached the outskirts of the city.

She had grown close to these men, they shared sin and darkness in their lives that no-one else could understand. It was a like a family…could she really handle seeing any of them die? Would she be able to bear losing another League member? Mina knew she had cut herself off to such things as affection since her change, and could react very coldly to others. But she had retained her human emotions, not fully lost in her vampirism…

She was distracted as they pulled up outside the Albion museum and the door was held open for her by Agent Sawyer.

To Be Continued.