The Leagues

by Marco Incognito

The following is a study into several groups who called themselves or were in some way connected to "The League" a group that has existed for centuries to combat evil, often working under different nations. While formed around 1610, there came a point during the 20th century in which there was at least one League active every decade unless in times of war on opposite sides.

13. Sharpe's League-1805

Sharpe's League saw the beginning of its formation at the battle of Trafalgar, where Britain had also found its heroes. It came about as the result of a chance meeting between Horatio Hornblower and the time travelling Doctor, who was in an appearance with a bowl cut similar to comedian Moe Howard at the time. The Doctor had detected the use of a strong energy capable of altering reality but was not yet aware of its source. The two collaborated and during that time recruited promising individuals from nations opposing Napoleon's Empire.

Sharpe's League consisted of:

Horatio Hornblower
Hornblower was a courageous, intelligent, and a skilled seaman, but he is also burdened by his intense reserve, introspection, and self-doubt, and is described as "unhappy and lonely". Despite numerous personal feats of extraordinary skill and cunning, he belittled his achievements by numerous rationalizations, remembering only his fears. He consistently ignored or was unaware of the admiration in which he was held by his fellow sailors. He regards himself as cowardly, dishonest, and, at times, disloyal—never crediting his ability to persevere, think rapidly, organise, or cut to the heart of a matter. His sense of duty, hard work, and drive to succeed make these imagined negative characteristics undetectable by everyone but him and, being introspective, he obsesses over petty failures to reinforce his poor self-image. His introverted nature continually isolates him from the people around him, including his closest friend William Bush, and his wives never fully understand him. He is guarded with nearly everyone, unless the matter is the business of discharging his duty as a King's officer, in which case he is clear and decisive. He was dedicated to leading the League, only failing to do so on one occasion to attend the funeral of his father: The Reverend Christopher Syn who was murdered by a man who had discovered his former identity as notorious Pirate Captain Clegg.

Major Richard Sharpe
Sharpe was described as "brilliant but wayward" a "loose cannon". He was a highly skilled leader of light troops who takes part in a range of battles during the Napoleonic Wars and other conflicts, dangerous to have as an enemy; a skilled marksman and a good swordsman. He was six feet tall with an angular, tanned face, long black hair, and blue eyes. His most obvious physical characteristic was a deep scar on his right cheek which pulled at his right eye, giving his face a mocking expression when relaxed; this disappeared when he smiled, which was not too frequently.

Don Diego De La Vega Alias "The Fox"
"The Fox" or Señor Zorro in Spanish was an outlaw in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish evil men, to aid the oppressed" and was dubbed the "Curse of Capistrano." In the guise of Don Diego de la Vega, he was a passionless fop but in the guise of the Fox, De la Vega was a swashbuckling adventurer. The Fox would kill or humiliate criminals, corrupt governors and land owners, at times leaving them with a scar shaped like a "Z" referring to his spanish name. This strategy would often backfire, as he would occasionally be frame when a murderer would leave such a mark on their victims. His alias was inspired by the transformed persona created when Inigo Montoya inherited the role of the Dread Pirate Roberts, changing the name in honor of Captain Leatherwing's ship "The Flying Fox" upon the ship's destruction in battle and the supposed death of the Captain. The Fox spent many years fighting the corrupt landowners of the region in a manner similar to Robin Hood. Spain was an ally of Napoleon during the war. De Vega, who devoted his life to battling the wealthy saw an opportunity to assassinate those that would normally be out of his reach.

Anita Santiago Alias "Lady Rawhide"
Anita Santiago was driven to create her own costumed identity to seek revenge against the Commandante of Los Angeles, Captain Enrique Monasterio who inflected terrible injures on her brother, Roman Santiago. Anita gained a hatred for the vigilante Zorro when her brother, Roman, was falsely mistaken as being Zorro by the nefarious Captain Enrique Monasterio who shot Roman point black. He survived but was permanently blinded and disfigured on half of his face. Since then, Anita swore that she would make Zorro pay with his life. What seemed like a simple task for vendetta became more complicated after she met her adversary in person and fell in love and came to respect what Zorro stood for. Eventually she would adopt his goal to fight injustice and help the helpless against the wicked and corrupt. Santiago has been compared to Cat Burglar Selina Kyle, who had a similar romance/rival relationship as Santiago and Vega, only with the costumed crime fighter Bruce Wayne.

Pyotr "Pierre" Kirillovich Bezukhov
A later edition to the League. The large-bodied, ungainly, and socially awkward illegitimate son of an old Russian grandee. Pierre, educated abroad, returned to Russia as a misfit. After killing a romantic rival, he became a freemason out of guilt. Pierre became fanatically obsessed with killing Napoleon. His place in the League was due to his friendship with Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky. He was not simply a mere soldier, as his obsession allowed him to pore himself into training to rival the Emperor in combat. He had been present at the defeat of Napoleon in Russia and wished to finish the job.

Norrell
a "practical magician" who had obtained the books of Prospero and took to practicing magic. He went public with his abilities when he exposed himself to a society of self proclaimed "theoretical magicians" a secret society living in York, who believed that magic died out several hundred years earlier. John Childermass, Mr Norrell's servant, convinced a member of the group, John Segundus, to write about the event for the London newspapers., Sonja Grushenko where ehe gained immense fame and began aiding in the war effort against Napoleon. He was recruited to counter any possible magical advantages provided by Cagliostro's presence on Napoleon's League.

Missions:
Sharpe's League would spent many years battling the forces of Napoleon. This included adding in preventing an assault on Kolberg. The skirmish with their Napoleonic counterpart on the island of New Switzerland, and battles with Brigadier Gerard and the young Captain of the Yorkshire Militia George Wickham Jr. in 1814. Of note however, were the sojourns into France itself. While Sharpe, Hornblower and Norell, could not enter the country due to the risk of recognition and lack of acting ability, this did not apply to Diego, who infiltrated certain areas thanks to Spain's allegiance with France. Diego was surprised to discover the existence of a group of four, the descendants of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan, who seeked to restore the monarchy. They had attempted to persuade Sir Percival Blackeney and the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel to aid them, seeing him as a savior of the royal family, while that may have been true at one point, Sic Percy had grown disturbed and disgusted when the infamous "120 Days of Sodom" affair was uncovered by the public and he regretted saving the lives of the nobles. The incident uncovered was that King Louis XIV and several nobles and members of the royal court had taken many of their subjects to a secluded castle and performed unspeakable acts upon them for a total of five months. Diego opposed the return of such a regime to power. Zorro and battled the Musketeer ancestors, who had allied with a group called the Knights of Maison-Rouge, who had attempted to save Marie Antionette alongside The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. The Knights revealed to the two Spanish vigilantes the truth.

King Louis XIV may have been still alive.

When it was clear that Revolution would begin. Royal advisor De Monet managed to convince the king that he needed to go into hiding, and that they would need an imposter to be him. Thus Jacques, the garçon de pisse (a.k.a. "piss-boy"), was chosen to impersonate the real king. Later that night, a woman named Mlle Rimbaud, unaware of the subterfuge, arrived and offered herself to the piss-boy dressed as the king in order to free her father from the Bastille. As she invited him to take her virginity, he pardoned her father without requiring the sexual favors. After Mlle Rimbaud and her senile father returned from the prison, the peasants burst into the room and captured the piss-boy "king" and Mlle Rimbaud. They were taken to the guillotine for the crimes committed by the crown. When asked if he would like a blindfold or any last words, Jacques declined. However, when they tested the guillotine, Jacques made a final request for a product called Novocain. The executioner declared "there is no such thing known to medical science", to which Jacques replied "I'll wait". Just as Jacques was about to be beheaded Mlle Rimbaud mused that "only a miracle can save him now", at that moment a friend of Jacques, Josephus arrived in a cart pulled by a horse named Miracle and rescued the two, and all three escaped Paris, riding away in the cart, passing the famed monument of the depicting "THE END" carved in english in the french mountainside.

Upon hearing this story, Zorro considered it ridiculous. The Knights however, claimed to have witnessed the events first hand, and that officially Louis XIV and Marie Antionette were executed but in reality still lived. The duo nonetheless agreed to help them, largely out of respect for the fencing skills demonstrated by the Musketeer descendants and the fact that A rebellion from within the Napoleonic regime may have proven beneficial in the long run. The leader of the Knights, Maurice Lindsey, was a surprisingly sane seeming brave man. He explained that the organization had a method of tricking citizens into performing tasks such as delivering messages. He was originally picked as a messenger but was mistaken for a member and rose in the ranks as he was infatuated with Marie Antionette and wished to save her life, though he did not say if he succeeded in this, refusing to answer of ignoring the subject.

By coincidence, or perhaps the true purpose the League had been sent into France to begin with, Dracula was also present in the country, seeking to have coffins containing his native Transylvanian soil spread throughout the world in case he needed them and was currently in Notre Dame. Zorro saw this as a means of killing two birds with one stone as Dracula had met the true King Louis XIV and his supernatural powers would allow him to identify an imposter, especially since he had been in the palace at the time of the Revolution.

Diego had never met the Count before. A cover story was formed in which he would travel with a recent widower, Carmelita Rodriquez aboard the same ship Dracula would be leaving France on. He recognized the vampire from his cold dead eyes and that night when Dracula attacked the woman, Zorro leaped into action. The Vampire was nearly too much for for him and Zorro was nearly bitten. Diego was extremely fortunate as the vampire teeth only left red indents on the skin but did not pierce flesh or draw blood. The two fought until the morning when the crew awoke and and both parties fled to hide their presence onboard.

Zorro attempted to hunt the vampire during the day but did not find him until the arrival of nightfall. Dracula went after the same woman as before which Zorro not expected. While she was taken Zorro engaged the Count in a fierce battle. Diego was able to overcome his foe through the use of the holy relic within the cathedral, the crown of thorns said to be the same worn on the head of Jesus when he was crucified. Zorro grabbed the crown from its case, broken in the battle, and drove it upon Dracula's head. The Count was immobilized and continued to mock Zorro and boast of his greatness as the sun finally came up and the morning rays slowly burned away the vampire's body. Before he died he confessed to Zorro that he had been with the King as the Palace was stormed and could say for certain it was no imposter.

Unknown to the Spanish crimefighter, the woman Carmelita Rodriguez had become a Vampire and had vanished during the battle. Dracula's delayed death meant she would remain among the undead. The crown would be returned and Dracula's body would regenerate upon the next night. It should be stated that Dracula is not normally vulnerable to sunlight unless already weakened as was the effect of the crown.

Zorro returned with this news to Maurice and the Knights and many lost hope while others had difficulty believing such the word of a Vampire. Zorro would return to League activity and in 1812 be joined on the team by his sometimes ally, sometimes foe Lady Rawhide.

Eventually, Sharpe's team aided in fighting off the French while the device containing the Apple of eden was established in Russia and turned the tide of the war, coincidently this occurred just as russian Count Pyotr "Pierre" Kirillovich Bezukhov, who idolized Napoleon men him in person and then became disheartened and grew a desire to kill the Emperor. Napoleon suffered a loss in Russia. He attempted to take his own life with a cyanide capsule but this failed and he was captured and exiled. many military men were not satisfied including the two heads of the League Sharpe, and Hornblower. The Russian "Pierre" joined the League at this time out of a desire to get close enough to kill Napoleon while he was in exile.

Celebrating the end of the war, the group attended what would be the last of London's famous frost fairs in 1814. Sharpe's league was present. Hornblower was touched to discover that he would have a monument erected in his honor. Sharpe remained serious and never smiled. Vega and Santiago complained about the cold which baffled Pierre who claimed this weather was a warm summer day compared to Russian winter. Women attempted to flirt with him due to his status only to be threatened or intimidated away by fiancee Natasha. The Doctor also appeared at the Frost Fair, having brought a date, a woman named River Song, and a performer for the Fair, a Blind Black pianist named "Wonder".

After this the League officially disbanded. Though like Napoleon's exile this would not last.

The more military members believed that as long as he lived he would pose a threat. As stated this included Hornblower, Sharpe and Bezukhov. While Napoleon was in exile, the Knights and Maurice took control of France, seeking to find an heir and establish a monarchy once again.

The Napoleon League
The Napoleonic League had retreated to the island of Naxos and at the time of their emperor's exile, and was lead by Brigadier Gerard and consisted of Arno Victo Dorian, Charles Darnay, Jacque Clouseau, and Billy Budd. Only Gerard and Dorian were loyal to the Emperor but they were intimidating enough to threaten the others into following orders. The group realized one fatal flaw in the roster: They were all human, and could only do so much. They all agreed to recruit the members who had left, Cagliostro, Johanna Constantine and Mariya. They found Johanna at Blackwood Manor, who refused to rejoin, citing her British citizenship, and had no idea where Cagliostro was. Jacque, then spoke up, having been ignored by the others unintentionally and explained his belief that Cagliostro likely headed towards a nameless castle which the two had spoken about. The group decided to search the complex. One among them informed the British authorities, Sharpe, Hornblower and Bezukhov, having anticipated such a move were quickest to pursue.

The Napoleonic League discovered the nameless castle from Jacques's story, now renamed the Castle of Cagliostro and overlooking a small village. They found Cagliostro relaxing and he likewise refused to join. As the group spoke, Dorian searched the castle using his acrobatics to inspect difficult to reach places. It was Dorian, who discovered in the castle, the remains of countless poor. He took off to warn the others, able to shout to them while running that the castle they were in was the very same in which the infamous "120 days of Sodom took place". Just then the floor gave way. A lever had been pulled and all fell into the maze like areas. The mastermind boasted to the fallen, who could not reach him but still see him. It was Jaques the Fatalist, who revealed himself as the true King Louis XIV.

The King had retreated to hide in the infamous castle and began to form a scheme to reclaim his power. Of course he would never be accepted and he'd prefer to return to power sooner rather than later. He already knew of one person who closely resembled him and was familiar with the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask, his ancestor. He was able to find loyalists by convincing the descendants of the Musketeers that such a play had been implemented and that he was in reality a man called Jacque. he told the story as he knew it had happened except he claimed to be the man. They believed him and became his most devout followers. he also gained the support of the Knights of Maison-Rouge. He then left the group for dead to face off against their various enemies in the maze and take over France, posing as Jacques. He'd intended on luring Cagliostro who could oppose him and Napoleon to their deaths in the castle.

To ensure the group's demise. Louis XIV had called the attention of three independent foes, The rogue Assassin Shay, Dracula, and "Le Violateur", the latter two having followed the League to Caglisotro. The Castle was revealed to be a deathtrap, intended to confuse the two supernatural enemies of its owner and included towers with no entrances and underground mazes. The various members survived their battles with the villains, but only because the monsters were using them until they reached Cagliostro when they all convened in one area the sorcerer revealed to the surprised villains that he was no longer capable of being manipulated by either Dracula or Violateur. Louis XIV had, as one of the few good things during his reign, found a cure for vampirism, which Cagliostro had kept a vial of, as he had invented it. He had faked his condition to try and kill Dracula, having once succeeded and now lured the Vampire into a trap. His role as a demon spawn had been simply "wished away" by Napoleon using the Apple of Eden. Violateur and Dracula retreated in defeat, especially when Cagliostro found among the bodies his creation Mariya, whom he's given a more human appearance. She promptly smashed a hole into several walls until they reached the outside.

Sharpe and Hornblower had assembled a battalion outside following an anonymous tip from Jacques. The group surrendered and revealed what had happened, though they denied they planned on freeing Napoleon. Cagliostro, who had never agreed to rejoin the League departed back to the Castle immediately along with Mariya. The Napoleon League was taken captive and taken into the custody of the French Government under the rule of Jacque, though Dorian was able to escape custody and while he tried to free the others they insisted he save himself. Darnay and Budd were given dates of execution. A Letter was sent to Napoleon by Dorian ensuring him of a plan to rescue him. However, the Emperor's response was passed through a line of messengers which the Knights had infiltrated and the secretive group under the guidance of Maurice, followed their policy of concealing their messages and their members by using an intentionally misinformed messenger and framed a man named Edmond Dantes for being a Bonapartist, resulting in his imprisonment before his escape to the island of Monte Christo.

Dorian escaped to the island of Elba, hoping to convince Napoleon to return and overthrow the monarchy. He was still Emperor but now had his reign limited to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 20 km (12 mi) off the Tuscan coast. His wife and son took refuge in Austria. In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, oversaw the construction of new roads, issued decrees on modern agricultural methods, and overhauled the island's legal and educational system, and was well loved. A few months into his exile, Napoleon learned that his ex-wife Josephine had died in France. He was devastated by the news, locking himself in his room and refusing to leave for two days. Pierre Bezukhov had travelled to the island as well to kill the Emperor, who in his depression welcomed death. Seeing him in his current state, Pierre was convinced to abandon his vengeance just as Dorian arrived, as did the rogue Assassin Shay. Shay revealed that he believed the Apple of Eden had been hidden on the island and was searching for it. Connor Kenway arrived as well for the same reason and allied with Dorian to combat Shay. Napoleon still refused to take control again but King Louis XIV and the knights made an attempt on the Emperor's life. Fortunately, Sharpe had anticipated this when Pierre had not joined him on the journey to the Castle of Cagliostro, realizing he would attempt to kill Napoleon, and sent a message to Zorro and Santiago to intercept the attempted assassination. They would never reach their destination.

En route, on the same ship was the vampire Carmelita Rodriguez. Who had denied her vampire urges. She witnessed the Musketeer descendants attempt to kill the two vigilantes. Santiago was wounded and lay dying. Carmelita lost control upon seeing the bleeding heroine and bit into her. Zorro attempted to stop this but was knocked overboard. While he would survive, he was unable to reach the island in time.

On Elba, The Knights reached Napoleon and prepared to kill him. The commander boasted that he had personally killed Josephine Balsamo and Napoleon's son personally and was left unsatisfied without the Emperor himself being dead. At this revelation, Napoleon regained his fighting spirit and grabbed the man's sword and killed him, fighting off the soldiers. Shay escaped but remained on the island. Kenway and Dorian argued when it was revealed Dorian had hidden the Apple of Eden and not destroyed it as the two had planned resulting in an argument, wherein Connor revealed Shay killed Dorian's father and had thwarted Connor's attempts to establish a Colonial Assassin's guild. Dorian reluctantly led Kenway to where the Apple was buried. Shay attacked again, having waited and a fight ensued. The two assassins were joined by Napoleon who wanted to protect his friend even as he knew he was outmatched. The Emperor grabbed Shay, who was about to use the apple and leaped off of the palace balcony, falling into the sea.

Two days later, Napoleon washed up on the French mainland along with the corpse of Shay. He was found lying on his stomach and picking himself up when the 5th Regiment arrived, they had been sent to intercept him. Napoleon saw the Regiment came he shouted "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish". He then sat up to reveal the Apple of Eden in his hands. The soldiers quickly responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" Ney, who had boasted to the restored King Louis XIV, who now posed at on the throne as his own ancestors Louis XVIII, that he would bring Napoleon to Paris in an iron cage, affectionately kissed his former emperor and forgot his oath of allegiance to the restored monarch. The two then marched together towards Paris with a growing army as more and more Parisians ran to join the army. The unpopular Louis XVIII reportedly fled to Belgium after realizing he had little political support, where according to rumors he coincidentally ran into the real Jacques, whom he had impersonated and while the two failed to recognize each other a fight broke out in which Louis XIV was killed by accident. Napoleon, restored to the role of Emperor, but having grown fond of the island of Elba where he ruled, through the recommendation of Bishop Myriel, whom Napoleon had known in his youth, the new Mayor of Elba was appointed, a former fugitive named Jean Valjean, though this was unknown at the time as he used the alias Monsieur Madeleine. Napoleon's reasoning was that he knew personally form his ruling of Elba, the good a man who wished to redeem himself could do. The next course of action taken by the Emperor was a crackdown on the Knights of Maison-Rouge which resulted in almost all of them being wiped out including the murder of Maurice Lindsey who, having discovered the true identity of Jean Valjean, attempted to expose this truth. He was wounded in an ambush and fled into the Parisian sewers where he began to write the word "Jean Valjean" presumably intending to form the phrase "Jean Valjean is Madeleine" but he died from his wounds before completing the message. Valjean later became the mayor of the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer.

With all opposition at home defeated. Napoleon sent the British a package containing the Apple of Eden with a sword impaled through it, destroyed. Sharpe interpreted this as the Emperor saying he did not need it and they in turn destroyed theirs.

The return of Napoleon was not the only concern of Sharpe's League at this time as they were also hunting the murderous vampire Lord Ruthven, whom had been written about by this time, many falling claiming he was an invention of Lord Byron who only documented incidents concerning him in a theatrical manner akin to the studies of his acquaintance Mary Shelley into the doings of Victor Frankenstein. The two were apr too a group of friends who often met to tell each other true stories of their cases while attempting to scare one another, predating such rituals by Thomas Carnacki and the Midnight Society. Edmond Dantes, under the suspicions of Lady Caroline would be confronted by Sharpe's League as she believed him to be a Vampire, not aided when he returned as a mysterious Count who set about murdering those who had wronged him. This case would end up ruining Lady Caroline's reputation when it was discovered that as a youth she had been seduced by Ruthven, resulting in a scandal that ruined her.

The Battle of Waterloo

The First Day: June 15 1815

While patrolling the roads connecting the Anglo-Dutch and Prussian forces, Sharpe witnesses the main body of Napoleon's Army of the North crossing the border from France, revealing that Napoleon did not intend to maneuver around the flank of the allied armies, via Mons as the Duke of Wellington, but instead to ram his army into the gap between the two allied forces and defeat them in detail. Sharpe sent an urgent message to Wellington, while he stayed behind to continue spying on the invading French. Unfortunately, the cavalry's commander, General Dornberg, decried Sharpe's message as a French deception, and teared it up rather than forwarded it to Wellington.

Later that day, after the French had entered Charleroi, Sharpe returned to the Prince of Orange's headquarters and was aghast to find that the army was ignorant of the French invasion. A messenger was dispatched a messenger to retrieve the Prince from Brussels, while Sharpe carried orders to the troops nearest to the crossroads at Quatre Beas,and rode to Brussels to warn Wellington. The Leagues were dispatched. Both of them.

Sharpe's entrance into the Duchess of Richmonds ball- covered in dirt, sweat, and the blood of a slain French Dragoon.- causes a stir to which Sharpe is oblivious as he informed Wellington of the invasion. The French had attempted to stop him and had sent a Dragon rider after him, which Sharpe had only barely managed to kill after it slaughtered his forces. Wellington was equal parts dismayed and admiring at being "humbugged" by Napoleon, who had brought his army to the allies' doorstep before the Anglo-Dutch army can converge, much less link with the Prussians.

Exiting his conference with the Duke, Sharpe was outraged to encounter Lord John Rossendale, the lover of his estranged wife Jane. He insulted Rossendale in public and demanded the return of the money Jane took from him. Rossendale, knowing full well that he would lose any combat with Sharpe, meekly acquiesces, but Jane encouraged him to use the impending battle as a cover to kill Sharpe.

The Second Day: June 16 1815

On the field at Quatre Bras, it quickly became apparent that the Belgian contingent of the Dutch-Belgian army would not fight against their old comrades in the French army, and the Belgians brought up to reinforce Saxe-Weimar's men break and run as soon as the first French appear in the fields. Likewise, the Prince of Orange comically attempts, twice, to lead a charge of his Dutch-Belgian cavalry against an opposing force of French lancers, but is forced to turn back when his horsemen refuse, twice, to move. The man leading the charged happened to be the one true Jacques, who previously impersonated and was impersonated by the King of France.

Wellington saw the Belgian troops Prince of Orange, humiliated by his own troops' poor performance, to assert his authority, the Prince ordered General Halkett's brigade to form line and advance, but Sharpe objected that the French cavalry were lurking in a depression in the field, and would massacre any infantry in line. The Prince disregarded this advice, and dismissed Sharpe from his staff when Sharpe refuses to carry the orders to Halkett's brigade. He then proceeded to rejoin with the League.

The Prince's orders were carried out, and, shortly, the regiment were all but wiped out by a cavalry charge, although Sharpe and the League rushed to the side of their old regiment, volunteers saved the majority of them by urging them to run and take cover in the forest. The rest of the brigade likewise takes casualties, and the French cavalry advances before reinforcements arrive and pushed them back. Sharpe raged at the needless loss of life caused by the Prince.

The Third Day: June 17 1815

The British army began the day expecting to pursue a routed French army, but instead were forced to retreat just south of the village of Waterloo. Sharpe and the League were stunned to see Napoleon himself sitting Astrid this horse from across the water.

During the confusion of the retreat from Quatre Bras, Lord John Rossendale was separated and Sharpe cornered him in the woods. Rossendale aimed a pistol at Sharpe, but hadn't the nerve to pull the trigger, and Sharpe disarmed him easily. Sharpe said Rossendale is welcome to Jane, but Sharpe wants his money back.

The Fourth Day: June 18 1815

Wellington deployed his forces on a ridge south of Waterloo, preparing to defend against Napoleon's inevitable attack, The Prince of Orange, expecting a flanking maneuver by Napoleon, posted Sharpe on the British right, to watch for any French forces. Privately, The League agreed that, as fond as he usually was of maneuver, Napoleon was so confident of victory, that he will make a frontal attack in overwhelming force. In fact, Napoleon was so confident that, although both armies were assembled on opposite sides of the battlefield well before dawn, he did not commence the attack until close to 11:00 a.m.

Orange was humiliated further when, again, the Dutch-Belgian troops under his command refused to advance, and, again, the Prince found himself virtually ignored by the rest of the army's commanders, as the allied infantry are slaughtered as a result of following the Prince's orders.

Rossendale, desperate to regain his honor in battle after being humiliated by Sharpe, joined the British charge. Rossendale fought bravely, but allowed himself to be swept along with the ill-disciplined English cavalry as they continue the charge across the field and to the French artillery park. By the time a retaliatory charge of French lancers formed up behind them, the Englishmen's horses were exhausted, and they were easily slaughtered. Rossendale was crippled by a lance strike to his spine and blinded by a sword slash across the face, knocked off his horse, and left lying wounded on the battlefield.

Sharpe, outraged to learn that the Prince has repeated his mistake and caused yet more needless deaths, gives the Prince the V sigh and rode away. The League were forced to retreat by the French to a shelter formed the Prince of Wales' own volunteers. The French cavalry were largely wasted in repeated fruitless attacks on the squares, but enough of them remain in the valley floor to force the British to remain in square, which made them prime targets when the French artillery commenced fire again, taking a dreadful toll.

Orange, for the third time, causes his men to be slaughtered by ordering them forward in line in the proximity of cavalry. Lieutenant Doggett, once the most deferential of the Prince's aides, called the Prince "a silk stocking full of shit,"and rode off to find Sharpe. Fearing more men will die if Orange remains in command, Sharpe attempted to kill him under cover of a rifle barrage but only succeeded in hitting him in the shoulder and wounding him, forcing him to retire from the field.

Napoleon decided to issue the final blow by advancing two columns of the Imperial Guard. Although some of the less-experienced soldiers and officers are unnerved by the sight of the Guard, Wellington is well-experienced at repelling troops in column formation, and personally introduced another magician into the field, one that rivaled the abilities of Norell, Jonathan Strange, an ancestor of Stephen Strange, who quickly demonstrated his abilities by destroying the larger column.

Sharpe and the League along with Strange quickly took command of the regiment and helped to turn back the smaller column of the Guard. With the Imperial Guard defeated and the Prussians finally arriving on the field, the morale of the French army collapsed, and Wellington ordered a general advance, driving them off the battlefield. The Napoleon League members, freed from imprisonment upon Napoleon's return was deployed into the field and engaged in their rivals.

From the water began a naval battle between Hornblower and Gerard. Bezukhov and Darnay engaged in hand to hand combat one they ran out of bullets. Norrell and Strange alone would have ensured victory were it not for the arrival of Cagliostro, who brought along with him the robotic Mariya. The human League members responded with fear, A Prussian assassin on the battlefield, Sonja Grushenko who claimed to wish to kill Napoleon to avenger husband Boris Grushenko who was caught attempting to assassinate him and executed, though she would occasionally have to be reminded of this fact, called the fearful soldiers on the Prussian force cowardly and walked up Mariya, calling her harmless. She was promptly killed when the mechanical woman shoved her hand through her face and out the back of her head. The soldiers opened fire and destroyed the mannequin, the majority of the parts falling into the hands of the Austrian army. Faced with two sorcerers, Cagliostro was forced to retreat, and Brigadier Gerard's ship was sunk in battle with Hornblower. Billy Budd, as an Englishman was sent as a spy to kill Hornblower but this to failed, resulting in the Budd's death. Dorian continued fighting until Connor Kenway approached him, wishing to speak with him. He would not be swayed and the two Assassins fought in an intense battle. It ended with Kenway being forced to kill Dorian.

The remaining members including Darnay and Gerard surrendered.

As night fell, a delirious Rossendale was killed by a peasant woman looting the battlefield. After finding Rossendale's body, an officer reluctantly informed Sharpe that the promissory note had no value, then left to break the news to Jane, who was pregnant with Lord John's child and now utterly alone.

after the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon retreated with his personal army to the Château de Malmaison. Representatives of the allied armies asked his old flame Désirée to speak with Napoleon, hoping that she can persuade him to surrender. Napoleon agreed to speak with Désirée alone, and mused on what his destiny would have been if he had married her. Napoleon proclaimed that he had given his life to protect France, but Désirée gently told him that he must do as France asks and go into exile on St. Helena. Napoleon gave Désirée his sword in surrender and assured her that her dowry was not the only reason that he proposed to her many years ago in Marseille.

In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, after six years in exile on the isle of St. Helena, had a plan to escape. Switching places with lowly French deckhand Eugene Lenormand, Napoleon made his way to Paris, at which time Eugene would announce the switch, allowing Napoleon to reclaim his throne.

However, the plan quickly went awry: the ship Napoleon was serving on abruptly changed its itinerary and docked in Belgium instead of France. Having to make his way to France by land (and gaining an appalling look at the tourist trap the Battlefield of Waterloo has become), he finally met at the French border by a loyal agent, Sgt. Bommell, formerly of the French Imperial Guard. Bommell gave him the name of another agent in Paris he can trust, Lt. Truchaut.

Arriving in Paris, Napoleon was surprised to find that Truchaut has recently died. Passing himself off as an old comrade of the Lieutenant, Napoleon accepted the hospitality of Truchaut's widow, Nicole, whom everyone called "Pumpkin", and made the acquaintance of her other lodger, Dr. Lambert and her adopted young son, Gerard, named after the now war hero.

The crucial flaw in the plan reveals itself when, back on St. Helena, Eugene decided he liked living in the relative luxury of Napoleon's exile, and refused to reveal the switch. Napoleon's French entourage found themselves unexpectedly powerless, as Eugene stuffed his face with sweets, dictated his own bawdy version of Napoleon's official memoirs, and even managed to convince his British captors that he is the true Napoleon.

With no news from St. Helena, Napoleon was drawn into Pumpkin's life. When her fruit-selling business was on the brink of failure, he applied his own talents for planning and organization, and the business becomes prosperous again.

As affection developed between Napoleon and Pumpkin, Dr. Lambert, who had designs on Pumpkin himself, jealously searched for some kind of dirt on "Eugene." Going through his bedroom, Lambert is shocked to find a small cameo portrait of Napoleon's young son whom he unknowingly had with Countess Marie Walewska, and realized who "Eugene" really was.

On St. Helena, Eugene abruptly dropped dead of some kind of stomach complaint (later believed to be stomach cancer). Quickly realizing that the dead man on the island was not Napoleon, the British garrison commander layed out their options: either they announce the fraud, and commit themselves to heinous punishment, or else they maintain that "what we have here is a dead emperor" and so everything is well. Only in one of their journal's war this recorded.

When "Napoleon's" death was announced throughout France, the real Napoleon abruptly remembered his original plan and announced to Pumpkin that it was time for him to take his rightful place on the French throne. To his fury, Pumpkin was horrified and dismisses him as a delusional lunatic, pleading with him that she loves Eugene, and hates Napoleon.

With no loyalist agent in Paris to vouch for his identity, Napoleon found himself an Emperor without an army, or a friend. He was reduced to going to Dr. Lambert, who he realized stole the portrait, and demanded it back. In revenge for being beaten to Pumpkin's affections, Lambert lured Napoleon onto the grounds of a sanitorium, where it seemed every patient was dressed up as Napoleon, and pretending to be him. Lambert withdrew, expecting the real Napoleon to be rounded up by the attendants, but a shaken Napoleon escaped the grounds by climbing over the wall, suffering a nasty cut on his hand from the chevaux de frise on top. Lambert dropped the cameo down a sewer grate.

Emotionally and physically exhausted, Napoleon returned home to Pumpkin's house. She lovingly tended his wounds, and whispers in his ear, "you are my Napoleon."

While Gerard was looking at a pictorial account of Napoleon's life on a magic lantern, Napoleon told him the story of what really happened. It seemed that Gerard, if no one else, believed Napoleon's story.

Deciding that he is happiest living a simple life with Pumpkin, Napoleon destroyed all his mementos of his former life, except his old Imperial Guard uniform, which he left at the local military post as a gift for Sgt. Bommell, with a message reading: "Eugene Lenormand has moved on."

Napoleon Bonaparte lived out the rest of his life in Paris and was buried next to Pumpkin; while Eugene Lenormand's body was brought back to Paris and interred with high honors in Les Invalides.

The deception eventually became known at least to the King of England, who for a laugh sent the remains of Eugene Lenormand to France to mock the country. The true remains would later fall into the hands of the criminals Les Vampires.

Napoleon's legacy would live on, literally. The Emperor was among a number of historical figures including Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, John F. Kennedy, and Cleopatra, who wear cloned by a government program in the 1980's and placed in a facility known as Clone High under the supervision of scientist J. Scuddleworth, until it was discovered he had been mistreating the clones a sport of a complex plan to create his own clone based theme park called Cloney Island. Upon reaching adulthood many of the clones would live lives either mirroring those of their "clone fathers" or find careers imitating them in some capacity in film. For example the clone of Abraham Lincoln went on to star in the film "Lincoln" by Steven Spielberg though he was credited as Daniel Day Lewis. He then went on to play the titular character in the director's next film "Obama" concerning a fictional president combining elements of the presidencies of Mathew Santos and David Palmer.

The Napoleon clone would journey across America, claiming to regret letting go of Iowa in the Louisiana Purchase, and meeting and befriending a young teenage named Napoleon Dynamite, whom he engaged in a fierce rap battle with.

Fates
Napoleon's League met its fate at Waterloo. Of the dead the most notable is Mariya, who's robotic remains were taken to Kolberg, the only city to have fought off French rule. The Germans attempted to reverse engineer the automatron. This task was given to professors Spallanzani and Coppola, who fell in love with their creation, which they named Olimpia. The town of Kolberg became a symbol of power during the reign of the Nazis and was chosen as the location of which to implement Project: Metropolis by Rotwang, transforming the city into a futuristic if classist society until it fell due to a revolution of the poor. Among the devices believed to have perished along with Rotwang was his creation, his own version of "Maria".

Cagliostro would resurface several times in the coming centuries, notably engaging in a friendship with Actor Orson Welles and in the 1990's educating the new Hellspawn, Al Simmons and convincing him to become a hero. His daughter Josephine Balsamo, The Countess Cagliostro and rumored dead ex wife of Napoleon Bonaparte who resurfaced as a seemingly ageless foe of gentlemen thief Arsene Lupin. This rivalry would extend to their descendants as Arsene Lupin's grandson, Lupin the third, would battle one such relative of the Count, who took residency in the Castle fo Cagliostro.

Lady Johanna Constantine lived in Blackwood Manor and had a large family of practicing occult magicians. This included a foe of Sherlock Holmes who took the title of "Lord Blackwood" and of course, John Constantine.

The surviving members of Darnay and Gerard both would return to somewhat normal life. Darnay retired, having survived the Guillotine twice. Gerard continued to have a successful career until his death on April 17th 1852.

As for the members of Sharpe's League.

Sharpe himself had retired and lived as a farmer in Normandy by 1820. He met Napoleon in exile on though it is unknown if he was aware of the deception.

Hornblower would have many adventures and lead many battles which even included aiding Napoleon the Third until he retired in 1848 at the age of 72.

Diego continued to operate as Zorro for almost a decade. Eventually Diego took on Don Cesar as an "apprentice Zorro." in 1830. An acquaintance of Diego, Montero, also took the identity of Zorro in 1833. When Diego was imprisoned, Montero took his daughter Elena and raised her as his own. Don Cesar, having married Dolores de Muro is informed that Diego and his wife and daughter, Esperanza and Elena hadbeen killed in a fire at the de la Vega hacienda. With nothing to return to California for, he remained in Spain with his bride.

Diego later escaped from prison and trained Alejandro Murieta to be the next Zorro. The two of them defeated Montero though Diego was fatally wounded in the conflict. Alejandro, in accordance with Don Diego's will, changes his name to Alejandro de la Vega and inherits the de la Vega estate, becoming the new Zorro. His son Joaquin"Ken" Mason inherited the role next. Don Cesar meanwhile fathered both Dom Ramon and Don Manuel and continued the line through them. Others to take the Zorro identity include Jeff Stewart in 1865, Barbara Meredith as "the Whip" in 1889 and James Vega in 1935.

The fates of Vampire Carmelita Rodriquez and Anita Santiago are somewhat similar. Both became famous and even infamous Vampires. Carmelita became the vessel for an even older Vampire, similar to how Dracula was able to transfer part of himself to possess another vampire. She became Countess Mircalla Karnstein, whom she would die as.

Lady Rawhide would late been seen having made a startling recovery, yet never being the same afterwards. Struggling to control her vampiric urges. In the 1920's while using the name Lemora she attempted to seduce a 13 year old girl named Lila into the joys of vampirism but was unsuccessful, eventually she found a way to better control her vampirism, even becoming a celebrity of sorts in Hollywood under the stage name: Vampirella.