Chapter 6: Venice
Rebecca pulled the hood of her trench coat over her head as the league stood waiting to exit the Nautilus. They had arrived in time for the carnival, which meant there were lives at stake if they couldn't find the bomb in time. Rebecca clapped her hands and placed one over the hole on her other hand and fixed it. She grinned with pride as she looked it over. The gangplanks lowered, and the league walked out onto the streets of Venice, along with men in diving suits and some other men from Nemo's crew.
"Deploy the divers below the city," Nemo ordered Ishmael. "The explosives must be found."
"Aye, aye, sir," Ishmael said.
"This city is vast," Mina pointed out. "He could be anywhere."
"What about Skinner?" Sawyer wondered.
"Oh, I'd be alert for his treachery," Dorian warned, and Rebecca and Jekyll glanced at each other. There were sudden explosions and lights in the sky, and the league jumped, Rebecca grabbing a hold of Jekyll's arm. They looked up and saw fireworks lighting the night sky.
"It's only fireworks, dear," Jekyll murmured to Rebecca, and she nodded.
"Bloody carnival," Quatermain muttered.
"God, I feared the worst," Mina confessed, breathlessly.
"It's alright," Sawyer assured, reaching out to her. "We still have---" He was interrupted by a loud rumble and the ground quacked beneath their feet causing them all to struggle to keep their balance.
"The buildings are falling like dominoes!" a man called from the ship.
"We're too late," Rebecca breathed. Quatermain ran around a building to examine the scene.
"There must be more than one bomb," he theorized, then ran back to the group. "Nemo! The bombs are at the city center. We must take out one key building."
"Yes!" Nemo agreed. "Get ahead of the collapse and destroy the next building!"
"We can interrupt the chain of destruction!" Sawyer added.
"With a beacon placed for the exact coordinates I could launch a rocket and take out the domino," Nemo said, and Rebecca noticed Sawyer run back into the ship.
"Well, that's ridiculous!" Dorian protested. "We'd never get there in time."
"We have to try!" Rebecca insisted.
"There would be no room for error, but I tell you it could work," Nemo argued.
"What are you talking about?" Jekyll cried. "Gray's right!"
"I'm an immortal, sir, not a gazelle," Dorian said sarcastically. "How can we outrun this?"
The group suddenly heard an engine from inside the ship, and saw Sawyer driving the car out of the Nautilus.
"Care for a spin?" he hinted. Quatermain, Mina, Dorian and Rebecca all ran to the car.
"Come on, Jekyll," Quatermain called. "Get in!"
Rebecca whirled around to face him after getting in the car herself and wondered why he wasn't coming.
"I'll need coordinates!" Nemo told Quatermain.
"Can you track this thing?" he asked.
"Of course."
"Then the car will be your target. Launch when you see the flare."
"Right."
"Henry! Come on! We'll need you!" Rebecca called desperately.
"We'll need Hyde!" Quatermain corrected.
"No!" Jekyll said. "Hyde will never use me again."
"Then what good are you?" Dorian wondered tauntingly, and Rebecca glared at him. The car drove forward and she looked back at Jekyll.
"Henry!" she cried, reaching out for him, but Mina pulled her back to sit down.
"Beck! He's made his decision! You'll fall!" Mina cried and Rebecca sat in her seat.
"Useless," Dorian muttered of Jekyll.
"He's a better man than you will ever be!" Rebecca snapped. Quatermain took out a map and told Sawyer where to go.
"Straight ahead, then turn left."
"No. No," Mina argued. "Take a right after the canal forks."
"We must turn left to get ahead of the---" Quatermain was interrupted by gunshots hitting the car, and Sawyer turned right to escape them, hitting a building as he did.
"Snipers!" Gray stated the obvious. "Damn Skinner! He must have told them we were coming." Without another word, he jumped from the car, and the four left in the car saw men coming at them with guns ahead. Sawyer turned into a walkway, taking out a few columns while he was at it. Mina turned back to try to catch a glimpse of Dorian, and she shouted for him.
"Mina!" Rebecca shouted, pulling her back. "He's not worth it! Sit down!"
Bullets ricocheted off the back of the car, and Quatermain tried to aim his rifle at some snipers above a building across the street.
"I can't get a clear shot," he complained.
"Then take the wheel," Sawyer said, and stood up, pulling his handguns from their holsters. He began shooting at the men, and Quatermain panicked, grabbing hold of the wheel. Mina looked up at Sawyer and smiled, and Rebecca knew she was thinking he was so brave.
"Sit down you buffoon!" Quatermain ordered. "I don't know how to drive this bloody thing! Sit down!"
Sawyer did as he was told, and grabbed the wheel.
"Save your bullets," Mina growled. "These men are mine!" She flew up and onto a building.
"Did you see that?" Sawyer asked but Quatermain and Rebecca were watching the bats beginning to fly around her. "Did you see what she just did?"
"Keep your eyes on the road, Sawyer!" Rebecca shouted, and gripping his head she turned it to face the street ahead of him. He turned to dodge a falling piece of building then made a hard turn to the right. Rebecca clapped her hands and placed them on the car causing a clear film-looking shield to cover the car. Some bullets bounced off the shield.
"It's a gauntlet!" Sawyer cried and Quatermain looked at Rebecca.
"The magic lady has us covered," he smiled.
"Not to mention the vampire lady!" Rebecca retorted, gesturing to the sky where bats flew above. They drove on as fast as they could, and Rebecca kept the shield up to protect them from falling rubble. Quatermain saw the Fantom and turned to Sawyer.
"Remember the flare," he said. "I'm off."
"What?!" Sawyer yelled as the old man climbed from the car.
"Don't forget. You're the target!" He jumped out, and Rebecca scrambled to the front seat, grabbing the flare gun and keeping the shield up at the same time.
"I'll fire the flare," she said, sitting down. "You tell me when!"
Venice crumbled around the car, and Rebecca struggled to keep the shield up while being jostled around in the car.
"Get ready!" Sawyer said, and she grabbed the flare gun, dropping the shield around the car. The car launched off a ramp-like stair way, and flew into the air.
"Now!"
Rebecca held the gun up and fired. The car's front bumper hit the stairs of a building across a waterway and flipped into the building.
Rebecca shook away the dizziness from being flipped over only to realize that the car was upside down. She scrambled from beneath it and ran to the other side to pull Sawyer out.
"Sawyer!" she yelled, shaking his arm. "Hurry up! The rocket is coming! Get up!"
The young man scrambled to his feet and they ran for the entrance they had come in through. The building exploded, and the shock threw the two onto the ground. Rebecca clapped her hands and quickly materialized the shield around herself and Sawyer, allowing pieces of wood and other debris to bounce off of them. They covered their heads out of reflex as things fell on top of and around them, and they didn't look up until everything was calm. Rebecca and Sawyer sat up and looked at the wrecked building, then at each other.
"We did it," Rebecca smiled breathlessly with wide eyes then they both stood up.
"We did it!" Sawyer agreed. They laughed and hugged in celebration. "We have to find the others."
"Point taken," Rebecca smiled. She clapped her hands and started floating into the air. "I see the Nautilus! This way!" She started flying away and Sawyer ran after her.
Rebecca and Sawyer rounded a corner and saw the other had regrouped, with the exception of Skinner and Dorian. They had heard that Quatermain had found out that the Fantom was M, and they had heard that Dorian was missing in action.
"And Sawyer and Beck?" Quatermain asked, wondering where they were.
"They'll live to fight another day," Sawyer said as they emerged from the shadows. Mina came close to Sawyer and held her hand to his temple but stopped at seeing him recoil back a bit.
"Don't worry," she murmured. "I've had my fill of throats for this evening."
Rebecca ran to Jekyll and he held her in his arms.
"I'm glad you're safe," he whispered.
"Me too," she scoffed.
"Captain!" Ishmael called, staggering weakly down one of the gangplanks. They all ran to him with Jekyll behind to steady him as he fell back and Nemo kneeling down in front of him so that he could hear his first mate speak.
"It was Gray," Ishmael panted. "Not Skinner. Gray's tricked us all." With a final breath out, he fell limp in Jekyll's arms, and he looked up at Rebecca.
"I knew it," she hissed angrily. They suddenly heard sounds of metal clanging from the ship, and looked at it.
"What is that?" Sawyer asked.
"The sound of treachery!" Nemo growled and the league ran to through the ship to the other side where more gangplanks were lowered. They watched as an extra appendage extended from the ship with something strange on the end of it.
"What is that thing?" Rebecca asked, gripping to Jekyll's arm.
"My exploration pod," Nemo explained. It fell into the water, and turned to face the league. The window opened to reveal Dorian behind a piece of glass, and he blew a kiss to Mina making her glare at him.
"We can track it," Quatermain assumed.
"I intend to catch it!" Nemo growled. The group ran back into the ship, but Rebecca noticed Mina was staring at Dorian as he turned and left. She went to her friend and placed a hand on her arm.
"Mina?" she called and the woman looked at her. "We'll get him."
Mina nodded, and they went into the ship.