AN: No other chapter should be this short. This really could be called the prologue part two I suppose, it sets up the story.
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Mina began to pull down the layers of her long scarf from around her face as soon as she entered the familiar building, her sharp precise steps echoing along the dark stone halls. The new electric lights not long ago installed by the extraordinary Mr. Tesla seemed to flicker on in response to her presence. The light was meager and tea coloured, but she allowed it a glance, appreciating the advancements in technology that she had survived to witness. Perhaps it was not quite of Nemo's caliber, but it was impressive in its own right.
Her attention snapped back to the large doors at the bottom of the stairs, her pupils dilating as she focused her energy and called on a blast of air to burst them open in an unusual show of power. To be fair, her hands had just been busy; it was un-lady like to open the door with one's hip after all.
Nevertheless all eyes were hers as she crossed the threshold. Her scarf now hanging freely around her neck, she quirked a smile and stopped her advancement, waiting.
"Well." She announced at length. "Will you not all sit down?"
The occupants of the room shared a glance, and if that look was laced with hope, well, they couldn't exactly blame each other, now could they?
It was almost a full minute before Mina gave up and let loose a much aggrieved sigh. "Really gentlemen, find your chairs and seat yourselves. I have some news that I promise you will not be disappointed in."
Skinner's smirk widened, creases forming in his white grease paint. "My oh my, what tantalizing stories from the farthest extremes of her majesty's kingdom are we to be tempted with now?"
Mina matched his stare evenly and reached into her coat, producing a sheaf of freshly printed pages, the signatures still damp where they had been scratched into the paper.
