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.
Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.
?
The Tube. London Below.
The blood track wasn't as clear as Slenderman thought at first. Whatever the wound was, it wasn't serious enough to cause heavy bleeding. Not to mention that if it was serious enough to leave large trail of blood the man would bleed to death already. As it was, the trail was just drops. Spike could smell it somewhat, but it was faint and Slenderman claimed that he could "see" the droplets, but they were far and few between. That meant that they had to be careful to not lose the track. Which they almost did couple of times.
Soon after leaving the Earl's train they followed into the tube and the blood trail led them to a side tunnel, but not before they almost missed it and had to turn back. The tunnel led them to a deeper level and then into some old corridors from the world war II. It was there that they lost their track yet again and had to go back to the last place they saw the blood drops.
It didn't help that the old corridors were just as dark as the tube or that the floor was uneven and covered in blemish of old stains. The smell wasn't helpful either – it was a mix of cat urine, rotting meat and old, stale air. At that moment they were depending solely on Slenderman's vision because Spike was rendered nose-blind by the foulness of the air. The only thing that prevented him from puking was that he didn't eat any human food recently. He did retch at first though. Door's sense of smell wasn't as sensitive as Spike's and living her whole life Below she was better prepared to everything that Below could throw as a person, but even she had to put a handkerchief over her nose. Kroenen wore his mask and remained unmoved by foetid air. Atomic Robo couldn't really smell things so he remained immune and Slenderman seemed to not even notice the malodorous air, which made Door wonder what kind of places the creature visited if he remained unimpressed… or did she rather not know?
Slowly as they did, they finally came close to the hiding spot of Spring Heeled Jack – they could see faint light at the end of the corridor that the Slenderman was leading them trough. They were there, suddenly they realised that this was it, this would be the show down. And suddenly they were all painfully aware that they did not discuss how they would apprehend their target, or that they didn't even know if they would be taking him dead or alive. But it was too late now to hesitate or to start briefings about the actions they were about to take. They would have to proceed as the situation unfolded.
They stopped only for a second to get themselves into formation. Robo and Slenderman were up front in case their target would have firearms – Robo was pretty much bulletproof and Slenderman claimed to be sturdy enough to survive mundane weapons. After them Spike and Kroenen would go, Spike as a Wraith had his regenerative properties that would serve him well in case of attack. No one was sure if Kroenen could survive heavy fire, including himself, but he did have Kevlar vest on. Door was last – walking in after the four men would secure the area, to arrest the killer, or to confirm him killed during attempt at resisting arrest.
The door was not closed so they simply poured in, Door entering as the last one, what they have found in was not what they have expected to see. For once there was no gory display of missing organs, the place was reasonably clean. There were some closed ceramic jars on the shelves that could contain the organs, but that was all. The stolen items sat neatly on a desk at the far corner of the room, except for the looking glass – it hung on a wall, covered in what must've been an old bed sheet.
And there, opposite from the door, on a narrow bed sat Spring Heeled Jack tending to a shallow but long cut on his shoulder and arm. He was, unsuccessfully, trying to bandage it. His head shot up as soon as they entered the room. He didn't seem surprised but he glared at them as if he was offended by their presence.
"I didn't... After you didn't come immediately after, I assumed you weren't able to track me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't left the blood trail voluntarily, I was actively trying to lessen the bleeding." He admitted. His voice sounded exactly same as he did at Earl's. Only his accent became slightly thicker. "I did hope to make it hard to spot, especially that it's very dark in the tube."
"Fortunately for us, Slenderman doesn't require light to see." Door replied to him.
They have fanned out now, just in case. Spring Heeled Jack was trapped, literally cornered but that only made him more dangerous. Any creature in similar predicament would be. If the flight option is blocked, the only remaining one is to fight.
"I should have expected that." Spring Heeled Jack admitted bitterly. "The word 'extraordinary' obliges after all."
"Who are you?" Robo asked.
"I am Jack." The man answered.
"Spring Heeled Jack?" Kroenen inquired.
"The one and only." Jack confirmed.
"Spring Heeled Jack was my relative, distant cousin." Door narrowed her eyes. "You are an impostor."
"The one you speak of was my father." Jack explained. "He died in the exile, but not before fathering me."
"And so you decided to continue your father's antics, only way more extreme?" Door hissed.
"You wouldn't understand. My father was mad, that much is true, but there was method to his madness! He wanted to end the faerie exile, to bring enchantment back to England!" Jack yelled back. "His mental ailment prevented him from doing so, but he taught me what he could, and I vowed to continue his work."
"You fool! Don't you know that opening the portal to Oberon's domain would destroy London?" Door gestured widely to indicate everything that surrounded them. "Both Above and Below. You wouldn't help anyone, you would cause countless deaths!"
Jack blinked couple of times and then shook his head.
"I am well aware of that. But I have found a way around that. Charter would not be broken because the passage would not be opened in London." Jack sighed, he knew he would have to explain but that worked for him, for his advantage. "All this." He gestured to his desk and to the jars. "It was all unavoidable. I had to do this no matter how much I didn't want to. It was the only way; believe me I searched for alternatives."
"I see that you are not saner than your father was reported to be." Spike winced. He had a feeling that they would be subjected to some kind of 'you will understand once I explained and then you will join me' speech.
"I am not a mad man. I am desperate man." Jack sounded offended. "It can be done. You see, in England the enchantment is all gone but there are pockets of enchantment residue in different places, places where it was preserved. That's where my father fled to. He searched and he found many such places. He found them all over the world, but he decided to settle closer to home, in Ireland where he met my mother and where I grew up surrounded by nurturing enchantment but it is fading there too, more and more, and soon it will be no more."
"And the Sidhe1) are dying out." Door seemed to know what he was talking about. "Their birth rate is minimal to non-existent. No life births through entire XXth century. And in XXIst there was not even a stillbirth so far."
"See? This is why I had to act as I did. No more time. But I am not cruel; I don't want to destroy this place, not when it is one of the last truly stable pockets of enchantment. This is why I have found another way!" He pointed at the mirror. "To open a portal you need enchantment to power it, faerie artefacts to anchor the connection and an Opener to initialise it. But no one said that it has to be done in London Below. This is why I plan to do this in Ireland! I know of one safe place, rich with enchantment to open passage there. Once it is done, portal to London Below can be safely opened from the other side, followed by many more to bring enchantment back!"
"And you cannot open yourself despite being related to me because your Opener genes are dormant. That meant that you needed an Opener." Door deadpanned.
"Sadly, the entire Angel Islington's massacre left me with grossly limited options where it came to access to Openers. Almost all members of House Portico slaughtered, and you made everything in your power to become virtually impossible to reach."
"So all this was meant to be what exactly? An attempt to lure me?" She growled, she was starting to lose her temper. She was sick and tired of people thinking of her as some over glorified lock picker. First Islington and now this!
"Lure you? Good grief! Of course no." Jack shook his head. "House Portico is all but extinct. Except for you, Lady Door. And another one. It is that other one that I have been trying to reach."
"Impossible. Croup and Vandemar murdered my entire family." Door clenched her fists. She wouldn't allow the likes of Spring Heeled Jack to remind her of her own, personal tragedy without facing consequences.
"That's where you're mistaken. I have used various occult techniques to find another Opener, and it was that other Opener I was trying to reach." He ignored her aggressive stance. "Another member of your family."
"I do not have family anymore." Door's voice was now dangerously low.
"You have a sister." Jack exclaimed. "The Opener I have seen is a young woman, long light brown hair and your family's tattoo."
Door was speechless. She thought that she knew what happened, that she read her family's death from the walls and floors of the house… but did she? She saw her brother's death, she saw the final moments of her father… she knew the fate of her mother, but she didn't saw, didn't read her sister's death. Could it be possible that Ingress2) was alive?
"Unfortunately I wasn't able to get her exact location from the fortune telling methods and the Looking Glass isn't fully powered yet so I cannot see where she is, but I saw her." He walked to the covered mirror. "It does take some time to regain full power after activation."
"You are a fool." Door sighed with irritation. "A mirror doesn't show an exact image of reality. It shows reversed image of reality. If it showed Ingress alive, it means that she is dead."
"No, you are mistaken." Jack insisted. "The image may be reversed, but it remains truthful. And we are not talking about ordinary mirror but a Looking Glass. What use would it have if it was lying?"
"You're delusional. And it would be only your problem if not for the fact that you involved others into your madness." She had enough of it. The memory of her sister reminded her of the pain and anger she felt year before. And then she recalled the satisfaction that her revenge brought her. "Now you will answer for what you did. You will answer for: the horrors that you brought upon your victims, for stealing their possessions and for breaking Market's Truce which is violation of Charter."
Spring Heeled Jack glared at her in silence. They could see he was considering all that he just heard, juggling various futures in his head. His face showed that he didn't like his perspectives.
"You can blame me for anything you want but you will not charge me with breaking of Market Truce! Any fate is better than that!" He roared and jumped at Door. His fingers suddenly formed into sharp claws and his breath turned into clouds of blue smoke. His eyes were glowing angry red. Now it was obvious that he was indeed son of Spring Heeled Jack senior.
Fortunately Slenderman had excellent reflexes and managed to pull Door out of Jack's way while Robo jumped in between her and the man, pushing the attacker away. Jack fell back, quickly looked around and grabbed the first thing that fell into his hands which incidentally was a dagger; he got back to his feet with triumphant grin. He jumped again, wanting to get past them, but he managed to land close to Spike who threw him back with just one punch.
The Wraith's strength was enough to send the man back to the other side of the room, unfortunately Spike didn't mind where he was aiming and Jack hit the Looking Glass, shattering it. The glass shards fell from underneath the cover just as Jacks was falling to his knees. Unlike the glass however, Jack quickly got up again, ready to try to get free yet again.
Unfortunately for him, Kroenen wasn't waiting for the Underworlder to attack again and took the initiative. Spring Heeled Jack saw the masked German and decided that he would have to cut through the ex-Nazi, but he didn't take into account that the ex-Nazi in question wasn't about to just stand there and get slaughtered.
Kroenen grabbed the dagger's handle just when Jack lifted the weapon to deliver a wide cut from above. They struggled for a second; it was when Jack made yet another mistake. Kroenen didn't even try to overpower Jack, it was clear that the Underworlder was stronger; he chose to use that strength against his opponent.
They spun for a second as the dagger went down, it was hard to tell how the blade would descend but a second later it was over. Kroenen stepped away from Jack, slowly, one stiff pace, then another, revealing Spring Heeled Jack standing motionlessly with shocked face.
The dagger was buried seep into his stomach. The angle was awkward, it went in just below the ribcage and it seemed that the blade managed to get to the liver and that the wound was deadly – Kroenen managed to get the area rich in blood vessels.
"He was right." Spike glanced at the dying Jack. "You will not charge him with breaking the Market Truce."
"He got away easily." Door swallowed loudly. "He would be put on the rack for what he did." She came closer.
The internal bleeding had to be more profound than the external one because the man was already unconscious. Or was he a man? Now it was clear that he was not a man. As he was passing away his fingers stopped looking anything like human ones – they were just bony claws with blades for nails. His skin while pale due to the blood loss also changes its appearance – it seemed more leathery and shiny, almost like Spike's. Only Wraith skin was silky and soft while Spring Heeled Jack's was thick and oil-skin like. His face became sharper, the nose pointier than in any human and entire bone structure narrower. Eyes, now half-closed became rounder and more bulging.
"And you're related to this?" Robo pointed at the Spring Heeled Jack's corpse.
"If it will make you feel any better, I can promise you that I am not able to change my appearance." Door rolled her eyes. It was true that they were related… well, not exactly. Her family's blood ran in his, well, used to run in his, but his didn't run in hers. Still. He was a relative. She wasn't sure if she should feel sad that he was dead, or relieved that he was dead and wouldn't bring shame upon her family.
"Herrin Door." Kroenen's voice pulled her out of her musings. "I am sorry about the Looking Glass." He pointed at the broken glass. "You will not be able to use it to find out if what He said about your sister was true."
"It is all right, Doctor Kroenen." Door looked at the glass shards with sadness. "I am fairly sure that he lied."
"I didn't feel a lie in him, but I can't tell if he was telling the truth either." Spike admitted. "He was filled with strong emotion and Slender says that he was focusing on stalling so his wound could seal at least partially."
"It doesn't matter." Door turned away and headed to the door. "Let's go. This affair is finished. I want to close this case."
"What about the corpse?" Atomic Robo pointed at the fresh cadaver lying on the floor.
"What about it?" Door shrugged. "The nature will take its course."
There was no discussing with that. A funeral would be nice, but who would hold it? There was no true government there. Door was Jack's relative, but she didn't look eager to get him a funeral, and no one else would care about it anyway. All that was really left to be done was for Door to report the case solved to other Lords of London Below and be done with it. The man was guilty by his own admission, he didn't even deny it. The case was closed. It was over.
?
House of Arch. The next morning.
They were sitting in the dining room of the guest wing of the house. This was their last day in London Below, as soon as the case was officially closed Door was to take them back. Right now they were just spending their morning idly. Door went to report the events of previous day to other Lords of Below while she sent Richard Mayhew to collect the items from Jack's hiding place – these things had to be returned to their rightful owners or their heirs. Everyone was pretty sure that the Earl would be happy getting his sculpture back, and perhaps even the stolen book, if Spring Heeled Jack had it there that is. The Looking Glass was broken, but the person who did it was dead, and as Marquis de Carabas explained the day before, it was just some glass; the true power was in the frame so the mirror would be fixed easily. When it came to the seven years of bad luck… well, the person who broke the mirror had instant bad luck in the form of being dead.
"This place is odd, but I feel strangely at home here." Spike admitted suddenly. "It seems so familiar."
"This is how it is constructed. It is supposed to seem familiar so people who get stuck here have it easier to find themselves in their new home." Kroenen explained. "I am sure that Richard could tell you something about it."
"I do not feel that much at home." Spike shrugged slightly. He felt at ease here but he certainly wanted to get back to his Hive.
"Don't you have any remarks about how this all is but a nonsensical misunderstanding about how parallel universes work, and perhaps phase shift, Doctor Tesla?" Kroenen's mask was as always plain and empty, but his entire being radiated mocking smirks.
"I'm tired of being the only voice of reason here." Robo huffed back. "You believe in whatever kind of wizardry you like, and I'm telling you that there is hard science behind all if this."
"Why can't it be both?"
They instantly turned to where the voice came and saw Door standing in the door, looking a bit tired but rather happy.
"How it went?" Robo asked with courtesy.
"They had no other choice but accept my report." Door sat heavily on a chair. "I think they were happy enough to forget that such an issue existed in the first place but expected that if it did come to an end, it should be more impressive."
"I don't understand, the problem is solved." Spike seemed confused. "Why do they care how it was done?"
"Great men's favours are uncertain. Even if Door is great lady herself." Kroenen said philosophically.
"He is right." Door agreed. "If I was to guess, I'd say that they would prefer to hold a trial and execution for the people. If I have failed then they would simply say that the perpetrator fled and be done with it. But now they have to say that the murderer is dead but the people will not see the show of his trial."
"What would happen if he succeeded with the portal?" Spike asked.
"He wouldn't. He would need an Opener and he would never reach me and he would never find my sister." Door shook her head. "You cannot find dead people."
"Slender says that she may be alive. He says that Jack was right and Looking Glass couldn't show him anything made-up because mirrors don't create images, just reflect them." Spike passed Slenderman's words.
"Yes. But these things aren't the most reliable fortune telling artefacts. It could've showed him the past. Or some parallel reality." Door stood up again. "I don't want to hold any hope. If my sister was alive she would show up by now, London Below isn't that large place."
"So, the case is closed." Robo summed up everything.
"I guess it is. Finally." Door sighed with tiredness. "I will get you back to the London Above as soon as Richard is back. I tasked him with returning the items to whoever owns them now."
"Can he do that?" Robo asked not sure if the shy man will manage such a task.
"Oh yes, he will do just fine. He's one of the Below's most successful accountants, he offers his services at the Floating Market so everyone knows who he is. He is also my personal accountant, so he won't have problems with people questioning his involvement." Door assured Robo. "We do not have many such specialists here so they serve as figures of public trust. Richard will do just fine."
?
London Above. MI6 HQ.
Door let them out right in front of Miss Moneypenny's desk, startling the poor woman into jumping. But it did save them lots of time with the security. Fortunately Miss Moneypenny's reflex was undeniably excellent and after settling back in her chair, she dialled 'M's' phone.
"She will see you in a moment; she is not in her office at the moment." Miss Moneypenny smiled brightly at them. "You managed to catch her during her lunch break."
"It is quite all right. We have time." Door nodded while everyone sat in the available chairs.
A few moments later Mina walked in with rather angry scowl on her face.
"It is not at you." She exclaimed seeing their reactions. "Politicians, you know, they ruin everything!"
"You know what they say about 10 000 politicians chained to the bottom of the ocean." Robo joked in hopes to lighten the mood.
"Yes. A good start." Mina opened her doors and let them in. "What do you have for me?"
"The mission is over." Door said. "It was successful."
"Thank God, at least one good thing to hear for me to hear today." The 'M' slid down into her chair. "I'd though that today would be a total loss."
"It can't be that bad." Kroenen waved his hand.
"It is worse. Brexit, Syria, terrorists, cyber-security." The woman hid her face in her hands. "It was so much easier back in the XIXth century."
"Slenderman says that it wasn't." Spike stated.
"Probably not. But the sentiment to the good old times remains." Mina composed herself. "Do you have any written report?" She asked and blinked when she realised what she just said. "Oh, not for me or the agency. I just think that Duke Prospero would appreciate having some news about it all."
"I can write one." Robo offered. The moment he left London Below he felt better. The surge of radio signals was exhilarating.
"I would appreciate that greatly." Mina smiled.
"I can send it to you through secured e-mail if you want. Or by regular mail, but it will take longer to get to you." The Atomic Robo proposed. He, personally, preferred e-mail, but it was hers choice.
"I would prefer it to be in regular mail. You know how to secure it, and send it to my private address as a private correspondence." Mina requested.
"No problem."
"Is that all?" Door asked.
"Of course. I do not want to stall you." Mina blinked and glanced at her watch. "You're probably busy."
"Not really, but I'd like to go home." Door admitted. She wanted to get some rest. The entire crisis was pretty exhausting for her.
"Naturally. You do deserve rest. It must've been stressful time for you." Mina nodded. She remembered how it was being the head of a League.
"Then I will return home now." Door smiled and now it was plainly clear that she was tired.
She marched to the door, but instead of opening it, she Opened it – the blue light pooled over the wood and an image of her own study appeared behind the glow. She took one step and simply walked pass the liquid blue, looked back, waved her hand and then the strange image dissipated, leaving just the plain wooden door.
"That was strange." Spike noted. He never saw it from this perspective.
"It is time for us too." Robo decided. "I still need to take Spike back to A51 so he can go home. And don't think that I have forgotten about you Kroen… "Robo silenced. Kroenen was gone.
The German couldn't go with Door because they would see him following her. He couldn't walk out either because the only door out of the room was the ones that Door used to teleport or whatever was that she did. He couldn't jump out of the window not because it was too high – Robo suspected that the Occultist would somehow manage to land safely – but because it was on the wall on Mina's desk left, just next to the door, which meant that if Kroenen would go for the window they would see him. And the wall opposite to the window was occupied by a bookshelf with elegant looking books, and a pot fern on top of it.
"Where did he go?" Robo looked around confused. "How did he..."
He turned to see if Slenderman was gone too, just like the last time, but the slim entity was still there, not looking like he was about to go anywhere though his shoulders were trembling slightly. Robo was about to comment about it but Spike spoke first.
"He says 'L-space3)'." The Wraith repeated what he has heard from Slenderman, though he looked as if the joke was lost on him.
"What the hell does that mean?" Robo asked with deep irritation glaring at the faceless being, but the same moment Robo spoke, Slenderman just vanished in the thin air.
"He's gone too." Robo face palmed with a 'clank' noise.
"Back in Siberia he did say that he intended to remain a free man." Spike smirked recalling their meeting with the German. "He seems to be a man of his word."
"He bragged about being a perjurer." Robo reminded.
"Swearing an oath your higher-up orders you to and sticking to your own will are two different things." Spike noticed.
He was a Wraith and to him it was obvious that oaths only counted if one intended to stick to them when they swore them because they wanted to swear them. But then again he was a Wraith and Wraith while having their own code of honour were notorious for not being overly loyal to those they didn't like.
Robo knew about that particular trait of Spike's kind and wondered briefly if that meant that Spike was more or less trustworthy than Kroenen?
"Whatever." Robo decided that he wasn't in a mood for pondering about other people loyalties. "Come, Spike, let's go." He turned to the 'M'. "Send me an e-mail with the address you want me to send that report to."
"I will. And have a safe journey." Mina smiled watching the two men leaving her office. She would have to get back to her tedious duty again but for now she basked in memories of when she was League's operative herself.
TBC.
Oh yes, one more chapter to go: epilogue, because there is one happy end I really want to write.
1) In Irish it is the name of elf-like folks living under hills and kurgans or barrows (actually Aes Sidhe). The name comes from the fact that in Irish a hill or barrow is called Sid, plural Side, so the folk living there was called the same, the word in time turned from "Side" into 'Sidhe". I find it fitting word to use especially since Neverwhere was taking place in London Below, technically making Door and everyone there Sidhe as well.
2) I based this on the comic book, not the TV series, but even in the comic book Ingress' survival was strongly hinted by Mr Croup that Ingress was taken but she was too small to be of use to Islington, and that she was alive at the time when they tortured de Carabas to death (but he got better soon). And in the TV series Croup openly admits that Ingress is alive. So, alive she is in here as well. Also she is considerably well and a bit older since the time has passed.
3) You know... Knowledge is power, and power... It's a quantum space of all possible books (L-space as in Library Space): books of the past are quoted by the books of the present which in turn will be quoted by the books of the future. This of course includes all books in all formats (also digital ones – as long as they're books). L-space was invented by Terry Pratchett and is part of Discworld.
The L-space can be used to travel through time and space – and in this case Kroenen used it to travel through space: to another place with books.
Naturally there has to be large amount of knowledge in a library to connect to L-space strongly enough to create a passage… which incidentally sometimes takes just one book, but more often takes several rooms tightly packed with books, depending on the books. There's even an equation describing the L-space: books = knowledge = power = mass x distance2 / time3
Now think about this: Congress' Library and where it could lead?