A/N: Another original character features in this chapter. She is mine... and you can't have her :P Hehehehe. And just so you know, I LOVE YOU GUYS! You're reviewing SO much, and it's making me so happy! Thanks from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous, and I'm now off to continue chapter five cuz you're all so great :D Thanks again!
Mina's head snapped to her right as her acute senses detected a disturbance. What was it? Something was amiss, and she decided quickly that it needed investigation. She made her way across the rooftops spryly, using her otherworldly swarm of bats to aide her in her progress.
It didn't take her long to detect the source of her discomfort. There, getting to his feet at the bend of a street corner down below her was Tom, holding a hand to the back of his head.
She came down behind him, and he started violently, nearly toppling back over again. "Are you all right? What happened?"
Tom winced once he realised he was in no immediate danger, and continued to touch a hand to the base of his skull testily. He brought his fingers forward, and sighed. They were clean.
"Someone attacked me from behind when I came round the corner," Tom stated with another wince.
Mina turned him around, and inspected his head for him. He wasn't bleeding at least. For this, she was grateful. She wasn't certain she would be able to contain herself if he had been. It may have been too tempting for her vampire self to resist. That last thing she wanted was to drain Tom dry.
"Did you see who it was?" Mina pondered, eyes casting about in search of the attacker.
"No, didn't get a chance," Tom told her, looking in the opposite direction, before bending down to pick up his dislodged hat, holding it in his hand now. "I was following Evans, so maybe it was one of his guys."
Mina nodded in agreement, shortly before gunshots filled the air. It sounded as though an unwelcome confrontation was transpiring not too far from their present position, and Tom dropped his hat at once, whipping out both pistols.
"That has to be them," he stated, looking over where it seemed he had been heading before his attack. "Do we have anyone over there?"
"No, not to my recollection," Mina responded knowingly. No one from the League was in the area where the gunshots had originated.
Everything fell silent again.
"You go high, I'll go low," Tom said to her briskly, and then took off up the street again, looking here and there warily.
Mina didn't even have time to acknowledge. She sighed, and made her way back up to the rooftops, her creatures fluttering madly around her as she went.
Edward Hyde looked all around him as gunshots erupted for a short time, before everything went quiet and still again. He grunted curiously, and padded across the rooftops to try and locate the source of the disturbance.
He saw a shadowy form flittering about not too far from him, and recognised it as the vampire, Harker. She was travelling with a sense of purpose, and she even moved straight past him.
Hyde took it upon himself to follow at a heavy jog, feeling the roof tiles rattle underfoot as he went. It was difficult to keep track of the vampire as she moved, but he kept his eyes on her, knowing this level of the city well enough to only keep a percentage of his concentration on it as he went.
His mind raced as he kept hold of the rough direction in which the gunfire had originated, and his pace slowed as he closed in on it. He came to an eventual wary halt, and peered into the darkness.
Why is it always dark when I want to check something out? Tom thought to himself as he carefully took a step in. So far, so good... no one leapt out at him. There was a bend up ahead in the darkness, and he made his way towards it.
There were spent shell casings on the floor, as though someone had emptied a used revolver, and Tom was careful not to kick any. They would alert someone to his presence.
Tom's breath quickened involuntarily in anticipation of what was around the next corner, even as he inched closer and closer to it. He thought he heard something, maybe even sensed it.
Flattening his back against the wall on the edge of the corner, he listened carefully.
There was someone there. He could hear them breathing.
In one fluidic movement, Tom took a wide step from his position, guns rising to a defensive stance, legs wide at the ready, eyes searching the darkness.
To his surprise, what awaited him was almost a mirror image of himself.
Twin pistols were aimed squarely at his chest, the person's legs were wide, and a long coat flowed around their calves in the slight breeze that swept through the alley. Steady hands held the guns, but something was slightly off about them... they weren't very masculine.
In fact, they were as far from masculine as they could be. Tom furrowed his brow curiously, and in a certain state of confusion.
The person facing him off took a wary step forward, even as he took a mirrored one back. What he saw both stunned and intrigued him.
Coming into the wan light now was a lean, attractive face. Chocolate brown eyes met his green ones, and locked there inquisitively. She had long brunette hair that cascaded over her feminine shoulders in beautiful waves. She was tall, broaching on his height, and dressed very practically, even wearing pants.
The two of them stood perfectly still for a while, so silent it seemed that they were holding their breath.
"Was it you?" she asked with a delicate French edge to her voice. It was clear she was from this country, but obviously she was capable of speaking fluent English. She didn't look to be struggling with her words at all. Her delicate brow knitted slightly as she spoke to him, and her head tilted to one side ever so gently, her hair tumbling around her pretty young face.
"What are you talking about?" he inquired carefully, having no intention of startling her into firing on him. From the looks of her aim, she would do some serious damage.
"The man I..." she began, losing the end of her explanation for a moment. "I think I may have jumped you."
Tom was wary again. The guns did not waver in his hands, stayed steadily aimed at the woman standing before him. Why did she have to be intoxicating?
"I didn't mean to hurt you," she said to him earnestly, starting to lower her guns simultaneously. "I thought you were with them. When I noticed they did not stop to check on you, I realised I must have been wrong."
Tom began lowering his own weapons now, brow still furrowed in consideration of her apology. "You know who I was following?"
"Charles Evans, and Jacques Beauvais. I have been tracking them for two months now, when my government was alerted to their intentions."
"Your government?" Tom asked, finding himself intrigued and reassured at the same time.
"I work for the French government. I am an agent."
Tom almost smiled. So she was a good guy... girl... whatever. She wasn't an enemy, she was a potential ally, and she was beautiful. He found it hard to take his eyes off her.
She took a step towards him, holstering her pistols in her overcoat skilfully. She held out her hand smoothly. "My name is Anise Delacroix."
Tom took it, still a little on the alert, and shook it up and down in greeting. "Tom Sawyer, American Secret Service."
She leaned forward, a pretty smile on her face. "Not so secret now."
Tom couldn't help but smile back at her, even as there was an almighty thud behind the woman he had just met. Something growled loudly.
"No, Hyde! It's okay!" Tom yelled, grabbing hold of Anise and pulling her forward away from the man-come-monster. Anise gasped.
"Are you certain, Tom?" came the feminine, eloquent voice of Mina from behind him. He whirled, as did Anise, and she was stood there expectantly. She threw an unconvinced gaze at Anise.
"It's fine. She works for the French government. She's an agent like me," Tom assured them, hearing Hyde's wary grumble from behind them. "Look, if she was dangerous, I'd be dead already, right?" He looked at Anise for backup.
He trusted her... that was all they should have needed.
"Yes," Anise insisted honestly, a pleading look in her eyes, "I meant him no harm. I did not know his intentions."
"Besides," Tom continued, realising he may have sounded a little desperate now, "she didn't hurt me too badly, just stunned me."
"And she can be trusted?" Hyde grumbled from their rear.
Tom looked up into the savage face of the counterpart for Dr Jekyll and nodded. "I believe her."
Hyde sniffed at the air for a moment, as if testing it for any signs of deceit, and then said gruffly, "Very well."
Mina looked less than satisfied, and she paced up to Anise, almost threateningly. "I would be very interested, Miss..."
"Delacroix," Anise informed her politely.
"Miss Delacroix," Mina continued, "to hear your side of the story, and what exactly it is you were doing here." Mina narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps you could start by explaining where the gunfire came from."
Anise sighed. "That was me. I did not mean to concern you. I followed Beauvais and Evans this way, and they detected me. They fired at me, and I returned it. I am almost certain I hit one of them."
"Evans got himself grazed when I chased him last time," Tom offered as a side note, and Anise looked impressed. He suppressed a smile. He felt his face warm suddenly.
Hyde came around them, a tight squeeze in the alley, and added, "Well, we have lost track of them once again. Perhaps we should return to the Nautilus."
"I beg your pardon?" Anise inquired lightly, her accent soothing to the young male agent.
His shook his head to clear it of the sudden infatuation, and nodded slowly. He glanced to Mina.
She sighed. "Very well. She may return with us, but I will be keeping a close eye on our 'guest'." Mina turned abruptly and strode from the alley with Hyde.
Anise gazed after them, puzzlement clear on her face. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Nah," Tom said to her gently, leading her out after his companions. "She's just got her hackles raised for no reason. Don't worry about it."
Anise managed a wan smile, and followed close behind Tom.