The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
The Cabbala.
"When you were young and your heart was an open book
You used to say live and let live
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we're livin'
Makes you give in and cry, say live and let die
Live and let die, live and let die, live and let die
What does it matter to ya
When you've got a job to do, you gotta do it well
You gotta give the other fella hell. (…) – The Wings "Live and Let Die"
Warning: Violence, explicit language, possibly gore.
Timing: 2015, for particular timing of the characters original universes, see footnote of their respective chapters.
Rating: M, possibly MA.
Pairings: Wilhelmina and Allan (past). Wilhelmina and Orlando (friends with benefits).
Disclaimer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen original comic books © Allan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Neverwhere (in character of Lady Door) © Neil Gaiman. Atomic Robo © Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegner. Stargate Atlantis (in character of Spike the Wraith) © MGM Studios. Hellboy (in character of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen) © Michael Mignola. Slenderman © Eric Knudsen (as Victor Surge). The story © Czarna Archer.
Dracula (in character of Wilhelmina Murray) by Bram Stoker. Allan Quatermain by sir Henry Rider Haggard. Orlando (or his/hers alike) by Virgina Woolf.
Tell what you have to tell.
"You had something to hide
Should have hidden it, shouldn't you
Now you're not satisfied
With what you're being put through
(…)
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell
You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue
The policy of truth
Never again
Is what you swore
The time before" – Depeche Mode "Policy of Truth".
oOo
France, Limousin region1), east of Tulle. Early in the next morning.
It was so early that it was still dark outside. The weather was most unpleasant with cold drizzle making the streets shine in the light of street lamps. It seemed that the day would be one of the lazy, sleepy sort when anyone who can stays in their bed.
There was no such luck for the members of the League however. When Robo returned from the spot where their car died everyone were up and about gathered in the room that the Jihadists have rented. The lamps were lit but everyone sat in silence. Slenderman and Spike looked like they were out too, their clothes still moist but Robo chose not to ask why they have left1). He preferred not to know. Door was painting her nails and Kroenen seemed to be dozing off, not surprising taking that he was up all night, as far as Robo knew, consulting his grimoirs.
"So, how does it look?" Door asked dipping the brush in the bottle and covering another nail in dark nail polish.
"The battery is gone for good." Robo stated. "We need new one."
"Human technology." Spike snorted. To be fair the energy sources was weak spot of Wraith technology too, but he didn't have to tell his team mates that.
"I'll go to the station and ask if they have car batteries." Robo sat down on the only unoccupied space – one of the beds.
"No, you're easily recognisable and famous. You'll make a scene." Door finished the painting and started to blow at her nails. "I'll go. And if they don't have them I'll try in the large hypermarket I saw yesterday on our way here. They should have car batteries there." She started to wave her hands to make the polish dry faster.
"Fair enough." Robo shrugged in his own, robotic way. He'd prefer to deal with it himself but it was true that his appearance would cause sensation; he was the Atomic Robo after all.
"Now, Doctor Kroenen, what have you managed to uncover?" Door focused on the German who shifted in his chair, proving that he wasn't dozing off after all.
"I managed to confirm my suspicions." He said without much enthusiasm. "The clay Slenderman saw in mind of the Jihadist, can be used for three things. And before I will say anything more I want you to realize that both contingencies are equally dangerous, each of them in its own way."
"Before he will say anything more, I want you to realize that he's talking about occult things." Robo interrupted. "Which means it is all horsefeathers."
"Indeed. Summoning Slenderman was absurd as well." Spike smirked. His race was all about science and he didn't believe in occult as such, but he did acknowledge what Kroenen said that night when they met Slenderman for the first time. The mere fact that he couldn't examine something scientifically didn't mean that it wasn't real.
"The first two possibilities are that they will try to create resources for the ISIS, the third is that they will demonstrate more direct approach – all three depend heavily on clay." Kroenen counted on his fingers. "Each of these perspectives carries various dangers that each of you must be aware of and be prepared for."
"Alright, what do you think they want to do? What are we dealing with?" Door nodded encouragingly.
"I managed to narrow their options to three possible routes that I think they may follow, in each they need clay for either creating traditional alchemical crucibles capable of withstanding high temperatures or as an ingredient in certain processes." Kroenen listed three fingers and started counting on them. "Firstly they may attempt obtaining resources for further fight by trying their luck with Lapis Philosophorum2) which would allow them to transmute common metals into gold and silver and serve as yet another source of financing for their terrorist efforts."
"Oh, come on! Everyone knows that changing lead into gold is balderdash!" Robo couldn't stay silent. "You can't change lead into gold, you'd have to change it on molecular level! It's a hard science fact!"
"I realize that. I know that alchemist gold was used to create coins in the past. These coins did not survive to our times, but in XIX century a medal made of alchemist gold was examined and it was confirmed that it wasn't real gold3)." Kroenen confirmed Robo's reservations. "Regardless, however, of how successful the alchemists really were in metal transmutation, effects of their work looked golden enough to fool people. I don't have to tell you what that means."
"No you don't. They still can sell that alchemist gold as real one. If they will create little of it they will get the money from the deal. And if they will create enough, they can flood the gold market with fake gold and destabilise it. Before anyone will notice the damage will be done." Door shook her head. "What else can they have in store for us?"
"Their second option would be experimenting with dangerous substances, such as Alkahest – a universal solvent – to use as chemical weapons unknown to the allied forces, which would not have any protection against such substances at ready."
"Oh, yes, another example of poppycock." Robo raised his hand in surrender. "I've already heard about it too. It's a word that Paracelsus made up! If it was such a universal solvent, then tell me what it was kept in?"
"It was a two-phase substance, it was kept in two separate vessels and only mixed upon use, the phases of the alkahest were however very unstable and would dissolve quickly." Kroenen crossed his arms on his chest. "Rasputin once showed me how it works."
"But wouldn't these substances be dangerous to the Jihadists too?" Spike asked curiously.
"They would, especially that these two most likely have no experience with alchemy, or chemistry for that matter." Kroenen agreed with the Wraith. "This is why it would be twice as dangerous: they might not only endanger themselves but the unsuspecting people around them as well."
"You mentioned three routes they can take. What is the third one?" Door directed the conversation back on its original track.
"The third one would be them trying to create artificial soldiers, a cannon fodder if you will." Kroenen stated as if it was the most obvious thing. "And they can approach this problem in two ways."
"Artificial soldiers? How?" Door's eyes grew round. As she understood the manpower was one of the most serious weak points of terrorists: as brutal they could be, they were still a minority that was terrorising the majority and as such they had limited supply of soldiers willing to risk their lives for their cause.
"They have two options open for this. The first one would be creating homunculi4), and use them as suicide bombers." The Occultists spoke with calmness of someone who dealt with such things on daily basis.
"There we go again." Robo moaned. This entire nonsense was taking some serious toll on him – a man of science (so much more that he was an AI after all) that lived in a world of admittedly crazy and dangerous but science none than less.
"What's a hommunculi?" Spike's eyes grew round. The word sounded familiar. Wraith and Latin were derived from Ancient, and this made all three languages similar in certain ways.
"Homunculus. It's an artificial human-like creature." Kroenen explained. "It is made by taking seamen and other ingredients, placing them in horse manure and sealing in glass retort for forty days to incubate. In result you obtain an embryo. Paracelsus claimed that he managed to create one of such creatures but in all reality I doubt that he did."
"Of course he didn't." Robo huffed. "You can't have a human made like that! You need full genetic material from two patents and a uterus!"
"Wraith drones are created in incubation pods." Spike confessed. "The Queen mates with a chosen commander and then provides the genetic material from that union to create number of Drones."
"I've seen a homunculus once." Kroenen declared. "A pitiful creature it was."
"Let me guess. Rasputin showed you?" Robo sighed.
"No, that was before I met Rasputin. The Thule Society had one dead homunculus in a formalin jar. That one was made by a Thule Society member some years before I joined." Kroenen elucidated. "It was only partially developed. You could tell it was not just dead human foetus because it had multiple umbrical cords sticking out from various places, something I was told was common in homunculi."
"Slenderman just showed me how such a thing looked like." Spike shuddered in disgust. "He said that homunculus is easy to make if you have right ingredients but it is difficult to keep it alive until it is fully formed but if they do, they become obedient servants."
"And that is why I believe the Jihadists could consider homunculi as a useful resource." Kroenen stated. "Virtually endless supply of willing and fearless suicide bombers so that their own men wouldn't have to blow themselves up. Their very own version of allies' drones."
"And that could encourage other terrorist organisations' members to abandon their original groups and join the ISIS. They would offer better chances of survival than other terrorists." Door visibly paled.
"Yes. Most of them have the same offer: join and become martyr so you go to paradise." Robo said in sour tone. "Now, Daesh could bid higher: come, join and you don't have to blow yourself up." He rubbed his forehead. "Not that I believe that it is even possible. But they could try to sell some bull to people anyway." He added.
"You said that they have two options for this." Door refocused on Kroenen. "What is the second way of approaching the soldier making?"
"The second way of creating an artificial soldier is making a golem5)." The ex-Nazi stated coldly. "This would be extremely foolish for them to do."
"Again I am not familiar with the name." Spike was slowly getting accustomed to be clueless about things his team mates were talking of.
"Ask Slender." Robo waved his hand in resignation. All this was just plain nonsense and he was now waaaaaay beyond and outside of his personal, scientific comfort zone.
"All he said was 'idiots' and facepalmed." Spike gestured to the pale man who indeed sat in his chair facepalming. "Though I'm not sure if he meant you of the Jihadists." The Wraith added with tiny, waspish smirk.
"Golems are artificial creatures made of clay and mud." Kroenen started and paused expecting to be interrupted yet again but Robo stayed silent this time. "They can be formed as any living or fantastic creatures but usually are formed as humans. They are being animated by application of Chem which gives them life."
"Like Atomic Robo?" Spike nodded at the robot sitting on the bed. He was tempted to give the Replicators6) as an example but he realised that he'd have to explain what they were first as his companions never met the malicious machines.
"Not exactly. Doctor Tesla while artificial and having certain features of a golem is not one." The occultist explained eyeing the robot again.
"Don't look at me." Robo lifted his both hands in defence. "I'm not going to get involved in your storytelling. You all know what I think of all this codswallop."
"Why would creating golems be any more foolish than creating homunculi?" Door asked. She knew what a golem was but aside from some basic information of what it was made of and what gave it life; she was not knowledgeable in the field of golem making.
"Golems are very dangerous. A golem has no soul or mind of its own, it cannot speak or reproduce." The German spoke in earnest voice, so much more grim due to his damaged vocal cords. "They grow in power as the time passes because they never age, never tire and never die."
At that moment Slenderman threw his arms in the air, which was an epic sight on its own, thanks to how long his limbs were, and Spike almost jumped. The silent creature seemed exasperated.
"He says… he's jabbering actually." Spike winced. "Calm down, I can't understand you when you gabble like that." The green alien hissed at the rambling creature, which suddenly glared at the other man and lowered his arms. "Thank you, can you repeat?"
Slenderman sighed and calmed down.
"He says that they grow in power as the time passes because they never age, never tire, never die and accumulate power." Spike repeated Slenderman's thoughts. "That doesn't sound encouraging." He added in his own name.
"Yes. Indeed. And as they become more powerful they become less controllable to the point when they pose a threat to everyone around including their own makers." Kroenen confirmed Slenderman's words.
"But if they want to make cannon fodder, then it wouldn't seem to be a problem." Door pointed out. "All their golems would be destroyed before they'd become dangerous."
"In theory yes. The old alchemist scripts advise to remove the aleph symbol from golem's chem and revert it back to unanimated clay." Kroenen nodded. "But there is a catch. There are no two identical golems. Even if you use a mould and create entire series of golems, they will still differ. And different golems gain power differently. It can take months, weeks or days before a golem will become dangerous."
"Slenderman says that it depends on quality." Spike passed the message from the Slenderman. "It depends on the clay, chem and method of creating it. He says that he never faced one but he saw it and the damage it did."
"Where and when?" Door asked the silent entity.
"In 1942 in place called Chełm near the town of Lublin in what is now eastern Poland7)." Spike repeated words of the creature. "He says that the golem was old, but it was reactivated. It was eventually stopped by Nazi German soldiers. He didn't witness the fight but he heard people talking about it."
"Was it destroyed?" Door observed the chalk white being. Slenderman only shrugged his shoulders which served as more than adequate answer. "And how do you propose we should proceed in each of these cases?" The woman turned back to the occultist.
"Luckily for us, the methods are plain and simple: we must destroy their alchemist laboratories." Kroenen leaned back in his chair. "We must find them and destroy their athanor8) and the Philosophical Egg9) inside it along with the resources in their laboratory. If they will try to create a homunculus – we need to destroy their incubator and any already finished creatures."
"And if they decided to make a golem?" Door inquired further.
"The same. And if they already have a golem we will have to destroy it as well." Kroenen shrugged.
"As nice as this entire bunkum sounds, we still don't know where they went to do all their happy hocus-pocuses." Robo pointed out in a flat tone.
"There is but one area that they can go." Kroenen seemed unfazed. "The coins I mentioned were produced on Habsburgs' courts, the most famous golem was created in Prague, the one mentioned by Slenderman was destroyed near Lublin." Kroenen enumerated.
"That is still large area." Robo wasn't giving up.
Slenderman stood up suddenly and reached for one of the bags they carried from the car. He pulled one of the road maps and unfolded it purposefully. After a moment of studying it, he placed it on the table and circled an area with one of his long, elegant fingers.
"Why do you think they will go there?" Door questioned the entity's suggestion.
"Because before the war there was a large Jewish diaspora there." Robo answered touched the map. "That town near Lublin Slenderman mentioned was called Small Jerusalem."
"Then we will go there." Door decided. "Perhaps we will be able to intercept them on the way?"
"Hopefully so." Kroenen agreed. "I'd rather stop them before they can brew anything perilous."
oOo
Later.
Robo sat in the driver's seat and shut the door. He gave a look to the Door sitting in the passenger seat next to him and buckled his safety belt.
"There we go." He muttered not all too sure if a hypermarket car battery is worth all that much. He ignited the engine and it started without as much as a single cough.
They drove away without any further delay. They were delayed already.
TBC
OK. Since while LoEG fic, the LoEG is in itself a crossover, so do not worry if you won't be familiar with any of the characters, if the need will arise it will be explain and if you will have any additional questions or something won't be clear, you can also contact me and ask and I will answer you to the best of my abilities.
1) With both Slender and Spike being predators, he might not like the answers anyway.
2) Lapis Philosophorum – Philosopher's Gem. It could be used further as an ingredient for Elixir of Life that grants eternal youth; or as a crucial element in transmutation process that can change common metals into precious ones. Most commonly to change lead into gold.
3) In 1648 Kaiser Ferdinand III Habsburg ordered coins to be made of alchemist gold prepared by Johann Richthausen from what was called 'magical powder' and two and a half pound of mercury. Leopold Habsburg, son of Ferdinand also ordered such coins to be made, this time by monk Vaclav Seyler who used tin and copper to produce gold. Neither Ferdinand's nor Leopold's coins survived to be examined. But Vaclav Seyler's gold was also used to produce 'golden medal' that did survive and in XIXth century it was confirmed that it only looked gold. As sir Terry Pratchett stated in his Discworld series: alchemist only manage to turn gold into less gold.
4) Singular: Homunculus – an artificial human created in alchemical process.
5) Golems are creatures hailing from Jewish tradition. By replicating the act of Creation an alchemist, cabbalist or magician can give life to an artificial creature. Such creatures however possess no soul, cannot speak or reproduce. The most famous golem was made circa 1600 by Rabbi Liwa, who served as magician, alchemist and astrologist on court of Kaiser Rudolph III.
6) Replicators were malevolent machines created by the Ancients from Stargate (both SG1 and SGA). The ones Spike has in mind were created to fight Wraith but ended up being hostile to humans as well.
7) This is the one from Andrzej Pilipiuk's "Jakub Wędrowycz" series. And yes, it was destroyed. Twice. First by Nazi Germans, then it was rebuilt and destroyed for the second time.
8) Athanor – (Arab. Tannur – furnace, oven) an alchemical furnace. The temperature inside it is relatively low, but once heathen-up it stays hot for a long time. Various types of athanors were known. The athanor is similar to bread oven, it has a furnace and main chamber above the furnace. Inside the main chamber the philosophical egg is placed.
9) Philosophical Egg – glass retort shaped as an egg. It was used for creation of Philosopher's Gem or other alchemic creations.
