Disclaimer: Sorry this took so long to post, I was suddenly ill. Still, it's posted now.
I don't own LXG, Tom Sawyer, Allan Quatermain, Mina Hawker, Skinner, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, M or anything else used in the fic.
Angharad:- Hope this pleases, as for Dorian... well, just read this part and see. ;)
Beguile:- It's lovely hair. And I never said the medicine worked, now did I.
Roz:- You're watching me? *scared look* Well, where is this new SW fic? I need my Obi-Angst damnit!
Clez:- This part is mostly for you, as you were kind enough to moan at me again, and again, and again. Hope you enjoy and look! The cliffhanger isn't... too... evil.
Graymoon74:- I could be more violent. Do you want me to? Please, please don't beat me up, wait till part 8...
drowchild :- It's always nice to read a non-slash. (nothing against slash.)
Please, read then review!
Black Pawn, White Pawn.
~~~
Part 4:- Edge of Darkness.
~~~
"He presently got safely beyond the reach of capture and punishment, and hastened toward the public square of the village, where two "military" companies of boys had met for conflict, according to previous appointment. Tom was General of one of these armies, Joe Harper (a bosom friend) General of the other."
~The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Chapter 3.
~By Mark Twain.
Skinner moved towards the door and the still frozen Doctor. The man turned his head to look at the guard at the end of the corridor then back at the empty room. Doctor Boca acted on the spur of the moment.
"Meet me in my room in twenty minutes." he said to the empty space in front of him then turned and walked briskly down the corridor. Skinner walked out of the room and stared after the Doctor, hardly believing his luck.
Even if it was a trap, he had to go, he had no choice.
The guard at the end of the corridor saw the Doctor walk towards him, pausing at the gold doors. He saw him look inside and freeze, then say something to empty space before walking down the corridor towards him. At no time did the Doctor enter M's private quarters.
The guard was to remember that later.
~~~
Tom groaned and lifted his head, his gaze slightly clearer than it was before. He titled his head and looked up at the handcuffs. Giving a growl he began to tug at them, trying to free his arms. The strain of pulling tore the newly formed skin on his shoulder where the bullet had been removed. Tom didn't seem to notice though as he kept pulling. After a few minutes of this he stopped and considered his next move. He coughed violently.
Tom jumped, lifting his legs from the ground so that his whole weight was on his arms and the chains. The movement jerked his broken rip, making it dig into his tender skin. There was no reaction to the pain on the young man's face.
One of the links in the chain began to weaken and bend slightly. Tom looked at it, a slight maniacal grin on his face.
~~~
Doctor Boca paced up and down his tiny room, wiping his forehead every few seconds. He was scared, scared out of his mind. He didn't know why he said those words to that empty room.
What had he been thinking?
He must have had a bought of insanity. That was the only answer he could come up. It had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to help the young man, nothing to do with the fact the M sickened him and it had nothing what so ever to do with the fact that the young man looked like his son.
No, it had nothing to do with that.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by the fact that his door opened and closed of it's own accord. Before he could react he felt himself flying thought the air and hitting the wall. An invisible hand pressed down on his mouth, making it impossible to talk.
"You listen to me." A male voice hissed in his ear. "I'm going to let you go now, but it you make any loud sound, any at all, I'll kill you. Do you understand me?" The presser on the Doctor's face was eased off slightly, giving him the chance to nod or shake his head. Doctor Boca nodded slightly. The presser left his face completely.
"Wh-who are you?" Boca asked. "Or, should I ask, what are you?"
"Why didn't you tell anyone I was in that room with Sawyer?" Skinner said, ignoring the questions. The Doctor shrugged, his mouth opening and closing, rather like a fish.
"I don't know." Boca said. "I... I want to help that young man." he sat down on his bed and placed his hands in his head. He didn't even know why he trusting a person he couldn't even see, for all he knew this... thing would walk out of the room and report him to M. Even as he was thinking this, he was looking up, his hands reaching out for his black bag.
"I've got some medicine he can have-" he began. Skinner interrupted him.
"Oh, yeah, I nicked it from your bag and gave it to him." the invisible man said proudly. The Doctor's reaction was not what he expected. Boca jumped up and grabbed at the area where he thought the man was.
"You did what!" he yelled, his face going purple. "how much did you give him?"
"Umm..." Skinner said, confused by the other man's actions. "I dunno, a few mouthfuls." Doctor Boca backed away from Skinner and sat back down on his bed, disbelief on his face.
"A few mouthfuls? You idiot! Didn't you read the label? You are only supposed to give them a few teaspoons, a small mouthful at most!"
"You... you mean I gave Sawyer an overdose?" Skinner asked. Boca nodded. "But, how can that be dangerous, I mean all it does is cure his head."
"It does a lot more than that." Boca said softly. "Okay, let me explain. The medicine works on two levels. One, it encourages the body to release adrenaline into the system. This helps numb pain. Two, when it reaches the brain it works on decreasing the swelling on the brain."
"I still don't understand why an overdoes of that is bad." Skinner said, loosing interest.
"Adrenaline creates energy that you wouldn't normally have. Now imagine someone who has so much adrenaline in there blood that they can't feel any pain. They would be able to run faster, jump higher and take more damage. However just because they can't feel pain, doesn't mean they are immune to pain." Boca said.
"What?" Skinner said, still confused. Boca groaned and rubbed at his temple.
"Let's say you have person A and person B. Now A puts his hand in a fire. He would instantly move it, because of the heat wouldn't he?"
"Yeah..." Skinner said slowly.
"Now, if B, who is high on adrenaline puts his hand in the fire, he won't remove it, because he can't feel the heat. He would burn his hand off."
"Oh. Hell." Skinner muttered, running out of the room.
//Great, just great. Tom was high, immune to pain and had a score to settle with M. Allan was going to kill me if he ever found out.\\ Skinner thought as he reached the golden doors and darted in. The chains that normally would have held Tom were empty, half broken and twisted, as if some mad beast had attacked them.
//Oh yeah.\\ Skinner gulped. //Allan is really going to kill me when he finds out.\\ His gaze darted from the chains to a groaning man on the floor. Skinner recognized him as the guard who had been posted outside the room. From the look of him though it was as it someone had whipped him in the head, very hard, with the missing end of the chains. There was the sound of running footsteps outside the room and the next second M and two guards had burst in, panting hard. M's gaze fell on the groaning man.
"What the hell happened here?" he snarled, grabbing the stunned man and shaking him. The guard groaned again and tried to speak.
"The brat... there was noise. I went to check it out... the next thing, there was chain flying towards me that hit me right on the head."
"Was he alone?" M asked. The man didn't answer. "I said, was he alone?" M roared.
"No-one entered the room... and only one person walked past it, your Doctor, but he didn't enter. The brat was alone." M let go of the guard and stood up, ignoring the cry of pain that the other man gave as his head connected hard with the ground.
"Find him, he can't have gone far! And get this man out of here!" M yelled, stalking up the steps and into his inner room. The two guards bowed and picked up their companion, dragging him out of the room. Skinner was about to follow when he heard the low clanking of chains come from the room M had just entered. Against his better judgment he climbed the stairs and peered inside.
It seemed that M had heard the noise as well. He was standing in the middle of the room, his whole stance ready for anything - anything that is, except what happened in the next few seconds. Tom leaped from his hiding place and smashed into M, sending the older man to the floor. The American stood over him, his chest heaving. His handcuff's had snapped in two, leaving a metal band around each wrist. Attached to each metal band was a chain. Tom snapped one of his arms around, the tip of the chain catching M right on the face. He swung around, the chains whipping though the air, hitting M and sending him flying.
M hit the ground with a solid thump. Instantly Tom was standing over him, his hands wrapped around M's neck.
"Go on then." wheezed M, struggling to breath. "Kill me. Put me out of my misery. Become like me." Tom's fingers tightened around M's neck, the expression on his face one of utmost delight.
At that moment ten of M's top guards came running into the room, alerted by the banging. Tom let go of M and turned to face this new threat. Skinner jumped backwards to avoid being trampled.
Tom sent a hand flying, the chain smashing full force into the face of the nearest man. The chain wrapped around his neck, trapping him. Tom spun, using his new found strength to drag the trapped man with him, using his as a human shield. Even with his extra strength, Tom was no match for the sheer number of men who charged in after the original ten.
M walked over to the struggling boy, trying to control his breath. He felt at his tender neck, a growl escaping as he realized finger shaped bruises would come up. M slapped Tom, hard across the face.
"Does it make you feel strong?" Tom spat out, still struggling to reach his tormentor. "Does it make you feel all powerful and manly to hit a restrained person?" For a second M held Tom's gaze before hitting him again in the face.
"Yes."
~~~
"Well, at least one good thing came of this." Doctor Boca said, looking at the indent on his bed the signified where Skinner was sitting.
"Oh yes? And what might that be? We all get the chance to have tea and crumpets?" Skinner answered. Boca shook his head.
"Due to the overdose and the fact he had that other medicine in his body, his broken rib should have begun to heal faster than it normally would. I would guess that it had already begun to knit together." Boca finished.
"Yeah, great, so M can inflict more pain on him." Skinner said.
"At least Tom won't be able to puncture a lung." Boca said, before the two fell in silence.
~~~
Tom leaned against the cool wall, the natural high he was on slowly dissipating. The door to M's room creaked open. The boy didn't look up as footsteps came towards him, he didn't react to the shadow that fell over his bowed head.
Tom was just so tired. So very, very tired.
The shadow didn't speak for a while, it just watched the boy. Then a cool, delicate hand reached down and cupped Tom's face, forcing him to look upwards - right into the arrogant smile of Dorian Gray.
TBC...
There you have it! Please, please leave a review, hopefully the next part will be up soon!
~Sethoz
I don't own LXG, Tom Sawyer, Allan Quatermain, Mina Hawker, Skinner, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, M or anything else used in the fic.
Angharad:- Hope this pleases, as for Dorian... well, just read this part and see. ;)
Beguile:- It's lovely hair. And I never said the medicine worked, now did I.
Roz:- You're watching me? *scared look* Well, where is this new SW fic? I need my Obi-Angst damnit!
Clez:- This part is mostly for you, as you were kind enough to moan at me again, and again, and again. Hope you enjoy and look! The cliffhanger isn't... too... evil.
Graymoon74:- I could be more violent. Do you want me to? Please, please don't beat me up, wait till part 8...
drowchild :- It's always nice to read a non-slash. (nothing against slash.)
Please, read then review!
Black Pawn, White Pawn.
~~~
Part 4:- Edge of Darkness.
~~~
"He presently got safely beyond the reach of capture and punishment, and hastened toward the public square of the village, where two "military" companies of boys had met for conflict, according to previous appointment. Tom was General of one of these armies, Joe Harper (a bosom friend) General of the other."
~The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Chapter 3.
~By Mark Twain.
Skinner moved towards the door and the still frozen Doctor. The man turned his head to look at the guard at the end of the corridor then back at the empty room. Doctor Boca acted on the spur of the moment.
"Meet me in my room in twenty minutes." he said to the empty space in front of him then turned and walked briskly down the corridor. Skinner walked out of the room and stared after the Doctor, hardly believing his luck.
Even if it was a trap, he had to go, he had no choice.
The guard at the end of the corridor saw the Doctor walk towards him, pausing at the gold doors. He saw him look inside and freeze, then say something to empty space before walking down the corridor towards him. At no time did the Doctor enter M's private quarters.
The guard was to remember that later.
~~~
Tom groaned and lifted his head, his gaze slightly clearer than it was before. He titled his head and looked up at the handcuffs. Giving a growl he began to tug at them, trying to free his arms. The strain of pulling tore the newly formed skin on his shoulder where the bullet had been removed. Tom didn't seem to notice though as he kept pulling. After a few minutes of this he stopped and considered his next move. He coughed violently.
Tom jumped, lifting his legs from the ground so that his whole weight was on his arms and the chains. The movement jerked his broken rip, making it dig into his tender skin. There was no reaction to the pain on the young man's face.
One of the links in the chain began to weaken and bend slightly. Tom looked at it, a slight maniacal grin on his face.
~~~
Doctor Boca paced up and down his tiny room, wiping his forehead every few seconds. He was scared, scared out of his mind. He didn't know why he said those words to that empty room.
What had he been thinking?
He must have had a bought of insanity. That was the only answer he could come up. It had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to help the young man, nothing to do with the fact the M sickened him and it had nothing what so ever to do with the fact that the young man looked like his son.
No, it had nothing to do with that.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by the fact that his door opened and closed of it's own accord. Before he could react he felt himself flying thought the air and hitting the wall. An invisible hand pressed down on his mouth, making it impossible to talk.
"You listen to me." A male voice hissed in his ear. "I'm going to let you go now, but it you make any loud sound, any at all, I'll kill you. Do you understand me?" The presser on the Doctor's face was eased off slightly, giving him the chance to nod or shake his head. Doctor Boca nodded slightly. The presser left his face completely.
"Wh-who are you?" Boca asked. "Or, should I ask, what are you?"
"Why didn't you tell anyone I was in that room with Sawyer?" Skinner said, ignoring the questions. The Doctor shrugged, his mouth opening and closing, rather like a fish.
"I don't know." Boca said. "I... I want to help that young man." he sat down on his bed and placed his hands in his head. He didn't even know why he trusting a person he couldn't even see, for all he knew this... thing would walk out of the room and report him to M. Even as he was thinking this, he was looking up, his hands reaching out for his black bag.
"I've got some medicine he can have-" he began. Skinner interrupted him.
"Oh, yeah, I nicked it from your bag and gave it to him." the invisible man said proudly. The Doctor's reaction was not what he expected. Boca jumped up and grabbed at the area where he thought the man was.
"You did what!" he yelled, his face going purple. "how much did you give him?"
"Umm..." Skinner said, confused by the other man's actions. "I dunno, a few mouthfuls." Doctor Boca backed away from Skinner and sat back down on his bed, disbelief on his face.
"A few mouthfuls? You idiot! Didn't you read the label? You are only supposed to give them a few teaspoons, a small mouthful at most!"
"You... you mean I gave Sawyer an overdose?" Skinner asked. Boca nodded. "But, how can that be dangerous, I mean all it does is cure his head."
"It does a lot more than that." Boca said softly. "Okay, let me explain. The medicine works on two levels. One, it encourages the body to release adrenaline into the system. This helps numb pain. Two, when it reaches the brain it works on decreasing the swelling on the brain."
"I still don't understand why an overdoes of that is bad." Skinner said, loosing interest.
"Adrenaline creates energy that you wouldn't normally have. Now imagine someone who has so much adrenaline in there blood that they can't feel any pain. They would be able to run faster, jump higher and take more damage. However just because they can't feel pain, doesn't mean they are immune to pain." Boca said.
"What?" Skinner said, still confused. Boca groaned and rubbed at his temple.
"Let's say you have person A and person B. Now A puts his hand in a fire. He would instantly move it, because of the heat wouldn't he?"
"Yeah..." Skinner said slowly.
"Now, if B, who is high on adrenaline puts his hand in the fire, he won't remove it, because he can't feel the heat. He would burn his hand off."
"Oh. Hell." Skinner muttered, running out of the room.
//Great, just great. Tom was high, immune to pain and had a score to settle with M. Allan was going to kill me if he ever found out.\\ Skinner thought as he reached the golden doors and darted in. The chains that normally would have held Tom were empty, half broken and twisted, as if some mad beast had attacked them.
//Oh yeah.\\ Skinner gulped. //Allan is really going to kill me when he finds out.\\ His gaze darted from the chains to a groaning man on the floor. Skinner recognized him as the guard who had been posted outside the room. From the look of him though it was as it someone had whipped him in the head, very hard, with the missing end of the chains. There was the sound of running footsteps outside the room and the next second M and two guards had burst in, panting hard. M's gaze fell on the groaning man.
"What the hell happened here?" he snarled, grabbing the stunned man and shaking him. The guard groaned again and tried to speak.
"The brat... there was noise. I went to check it out... the next thing, there was chain flying towards me that hit me right on the head."
"Was he alone?" M asked. The man didn't answer. "I said, was he alone?" M roared.
"No-one entered the room... and only one person walked past it, your Doctor, but he didn't enter. The brat was alone." M let go of the guard and stood up, ignoring the cry of pain that the other man gave as his head connected hard with the ground.
"Find him, he can't have gone far! And get this man out of here!" M yelled, stalking up the steps and into his inner room. The two guards bowed and picked up their companion, dragging him out of the room. Skinner was about to follow when he heard the low clanking of chains come from the room M had just entered. Against his better judgment he climbed the stairs and peered inside.
It seemed that M had heard the noise as well. He was standing in the middle of the room, his whole stance ready for anything - anything that is, except what happened in the next few seconds. Tom leaped from his hiding place and smashed into M, sending the older man to the floor. The American stood over him, his chest heaving. His handcuff's had snapped in two, leaving a metal band around each wrist. Attached to each metal band was a chain. Tom snapped one of his arms around, the tip of the chain catching M right on the face. He swung around, the chains whipping though the air, hitting M and sending him flying.
M hit the ground with a solid thump. Instantly Tom was standing over him, his hands wrapped around M's neck.
"Go on then." wheezed M, struggling to breath. "Kill me. Put me out of my misery. Become like me." Tom's fingers tightened around M's neck, the expression on his face one of utmost delight.
At that moment ten of M's top guards came running into the room, alerted by the banging. Tom let go of M and turned to face this new threat. Skinner jumped backwards to avoid being trampled.
Tom sent a hand flying, the chain smashing full force into the face of the nearest man. The chain wrapped around his neck, trapping him. Tom spun, using his new found strength to drag the trapped man with him, using his as a human shield. Even with his extra strength, Tom was no match for the sheer number of men who charged in after the original ten.
M walked over to the struggling boy, trying to control his breath. He felt at his tender neck, a growl escaping as he realized finger shaped bruises would come up. M slapped Tom, hard across the face.
"Does it make you feel strong?" Tom spat out, still struggling to reach his tormentor. "Does it make you feel all powerful and manly to hit a restrained person?" For a second M held Tom's gaze before hitting him again in the face.
"Yes."
~~~
"Well, at least one good thing came of this." Doctor Boca said, looking at the indent on his bed the signified where Skinner was sitting.
"Oh yes? And what might that be? We all get the chance to have tea and crumpets?" Skinner answered. Boca shook his head.
"Due to the overdose and the fact he had that other medicine in his body, his broken rib should have begun to heal faster than it normally would. I would guess that it had already begun to knit together." Boca finished.
"Yeah, great, so M can inflict more pain on him." Skinner said.
"At least Tom won't be able to puncture a lung." Boca said, before the two fell in silence.
~~~
Tom leaned against the cool wall, the natural high he was on slowly dissipating. The door to M's room creaked open. The boy didn't look up as footsteps came towards him, he didn't react to the shadow that fell over his bowed head.
Tom was just so tired. So very, very tired.
The shadow didn't speak for a while, it just watched the boy. Then a cool, delicate hand reached down and cupped Tom's face, forcing him to look upwards - right into the arrogant smile of Dorian Gray.
TBC...
There you have it! Please, please leave a review, hopefully the next part will be up soon!
~Sethoz