"Can't be what, Fogg? Really, if you're going to take this long to tell me I might as well give chase and ask her myself," Verne said impatiently.
"I had a friend from college, a chemist named Pierre Dubois, who was always experimenting with one thing or another, nearly blew our lodgings to smitherines. After graduation, he was recruited to work on a highly secretive project, with details he couldn't disclose – even to me. What I do know is that the task before him was to create some sort of chemical capable of something."
"Some sort of chemical capable of something, fantastic. Phileas, where is this going?"
"The chemical, whatever it was, smelled like this," Phileas waved the candlestick beneath Jules' nose.
"Who recruited him then to create this? The government?"
"No, not the government. According to him, the government was the one trying to foil his plans. Whoever his sponsor was, they possessed a great deal of funds, for the tools he had at his disposal were amazing, things the like of which I'd never seen before. Though I'd never of confronted him with it, I long suspected that The League was behind it."
"Well what happened? Did he finish his work?"
"I can't be sure. Intelligence called me away on a mission and upon my return I found his apartment in shambles and Pierre himself missing – along with his work. I haven't seen or heard from him since, thought several years back I thought…"
"You thought what Fogg?"
Phileas paused, unsure of whether or not to disclose the information,"I thought I saw his name on an Intelligence file but my questions in regards to it received no response. I suppose I'd forgotten about him until now, until this scent."
"And the girl? Do you know why you remembered her?"
"It's not her, Verne, that I remember, it's her eyes. Blue eyes, unbelievably blue, eyes identical to Pierre's."
"You mean, they're related?"
"Verne, didn't you see her eyes? You can't tell me they were common and I wouldn't doubt that they appear only in the bloodline of the Dubois'."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"First we find the girl Verne, then we'll ask the questions." Verne nodded in agreement and snatched his coat from the peg as he followed Phileas out of the building. Jules' landlady was not pleased to find him hurrying down the stairs in a haste, and confronted him at the bottom.
"Really, what do you think I'm running here, a zoo? You and your crazy guests thumping up and down these steps at odd hours of the night. Don't you know other people live here too? Other people that require sleep!" Her complaints and scoldings continued as Verne and Fogg hurried past her out onto the street.
"Which way?" Verne asked unsure.
Inhaling deeply, Fogg smiled and replied,"Just follow your nose." Verne's
landlady was still shrieking after him as they walked briskly to the left, and didn't let up until a large figure stepped in front of her, blocking the light of the lamp post.
"Verne lives here?" the figure asked in a low, gruff tone.
"Another one of his friends are you? Strange crowd he surrounds himself with. Well I won't be playing butler for him tonight, you can find him yourself," she retorted, not the least bit phased by the stranger. Turning her back, she sauntered off towards her own door. A large hand clamped down on her shoulder, and the figure stepped closer, into the light in which she could see his face.
"Verne lives here," it repeated. Stricken with it's frightening appearance, the landlady stuttered a reply.
"Y-y-yes-s-s. S-s-second floor, f-first room o-on the left-t-t." Releasing her, the stranger started up the staircase as the landlady retreated quickly to her quarters, locking the door tightly behind her.
Who is this second stranger? For that matter, who is the first? Besides Phileas and Jules, who is else is after the girl? These questions and more answered in the next part, but please review!