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Chapter 3

"Er…"

"Well?" she pressed.

Jekyll was spared from answering when another voice cut in smoothly. "This does not concern you at all, Miss Joan."

Mina Harker strode towards them, face pale. Jekyll noticed that the blood on her face had been cleaned up. In one hand she clutched a note. In the other she held a small rectangular machine-like device that the doctor did not recognize. "We have an urgent case here…"

"Well…" a new male voice said. "What did you expect? A ball? We're stuck in a different time zone with no means of getting back. Of course we have an urgent case here!" Joan looked around alarmed, as she noticed that neither Tom nor Jekyll had moved their lips. "Who said that? And what did he mean when he said that you are all stuck in a different timeline?"

 "Skinner, shut up." Jekyll heard Mina hiss.

She surveyed Joan coolly, disdain oozing from every pore. "As I have said before, if you might recall, this is of no concern of yours. Please leave." Joan stood up, glaring at Mina, pure defiance displayed plainly on her face. "Make me," she hissed. Jekyll saw that Mina's eyes were glowing yellow- a danger sign well-known by every league member. Getting up hastily, he gripped Joan's am, his eyes pleading. "I'm sorry but I must beg you to l-leave. It is for your own safety. I-"

"Oh forget it, doctor. I have no time or energy left to bother with her." Mina's eyes had reverted back to their normal colour. Joan opened her mouth, ready to speak, when she caught the look on Jekyll's face. He shook his head rather vigorously, silently warning her not to say anything. Then, realising with shock what he was doing, he quickly released her arm and muttered a hurried apology. In ordinary times, Joan would have spoken up, but the doctor's frantic and nervous expression however made her close her mouth instead. Fine, she thought, I'll see where this leads to.

"Gentlemen, I must stress upon the seriousness of our situation. While searching for all of you, I found that the captain… has been captured."

"WHAT?" Tom exclaimed loudly, shocked. Jekyll did not say anything, but he too felt very nervous and worried.

"The crook left us a message," she said, holding up the piece of paper clenched in her fist. "I'll tell you all its contents as soon as we are in a more private location." She looked pointedly at Joan. Joan muttered under her breath, "Whatever."

"And I also found this near the place where the note was." Mina held up the curious rectangular machine. There were coloured lights blinking on the surface, and Jekyll could not make head or tail out of it. "I know it belongs to the captain because of all these intricate designs." She pointed out the elaborately carved surface of the machine, whose designs were a trademark of Nemo's. "Without Nemo I'm afraid we're stump-"

"Hey, wait a minute! I recognize that thing!"

"What?" asked Mina, sounding slightly unnerved.

Joan reached forward and snatched the machine from Mina's hands. "I never thought I'll see one of these! Wow! It's a pretty old prototype but still in mint condition! It even has all these nice patterns!" She began inspecting all its flashing lights.

The whole league stared at her. She carried on fingering the machine, oblivious that she had done anything wrong. Mina's lips pursed and her eyes glittered dangerously again. Ever since Mina had taken over as head of the league since Quartermain's death, she was very touchy about her authority. Anyone who disobeyed her orders or acted without informing her was severely punished.

"You mean you know what that is?" Tom finally spoke up.

Joan turned to face him, eyes shining brightly. "Know? Of course I know! I love all these kinds of spy gadgets! This is an old prototype of the model X78976. It's a tracking device."

"Do you know how to work it?" asked Mina, her eyes shrewd.

"Well, duh! If you want to track someone, all you have to do is to put a kind of special microchip onto the person. This device would be able to track its whereabouts. However…" she frowned. "This version is quite obsolete. I can update it though, using my computer."

"And when you… update it, what happens?"

Joan looked incredulously at Mina. "You don't know what 'updating' is? Are you serious? When you update something it will become more efficient, fast and reliable."

The league members looked at each other. A small smile had formed on Mina's face and everyone knew what she was thinking. "Miss Joan," she suddenly said, sounding warmer and pleasant. "I have a favour to ask of you." Joan stopped playing with the machine and looked at her suspiciously. "A favour?" she repeated.

"Yes. We would be very grateful if you were to help us with that machine and tell us its co-ordinates."

Joan tossed the device from one hand to the other. "You mean you want me to help you?"

"Yes," said Mina impatiently. "We're in a hu-"

"Nothing doing."

"What?" Mina nearly screamed, outraged. Jekyll felt rather alarmed. It was not common to see Mina lose her cool like that.

Joan, however, was unfazed. "Hey, you pop up suddenly, holding a tracking device and you expect me to help you just like that? I'm not brainless you know. How do I know you're not doing something illegal? First you wanted me to leave so badly. And then when you realise that I know how to work this rather obsolete model, you become all nice to me," Joan stared at all the members of the league (though not at Skinner, obviously). "I don't like being manipulated. You're all behaving really strange. First, this guy appears right out of blue in front of me," she gestured at Jekyll, "and you are all talking in very perfect English which is kind of weird and sound so shocked at hearing what this century is. The clothes you all are wearing are also very outdated, even more outdated than me and that's saying something."

She said all this very fast.

Joan turned to look at Mina again, a slight smirk playing on her lips. "I won't help you unless you explain clearly what exactly is going on."

It was obvious to everyone present that as hard-headed and stubborn the girl may be, she was no fool and would not be easily deceived. A few moments passed. Mina's face was masked, and it was clear that she was doing some very hard thinking. Finally she answered, "Very well. Would you please excuse us for a moment, Miss Joan? I would like to discuss your proposition with my colleagues."

"Go right ahead."

Joan walked off in a distance until she was safely out of earshot.

 Mina looked at each of the league members in turn. "Well?"

 "Well what?" came Skinner's voice from the right of Tom. "Isn't it obvious that we'll need her help? She's familiar with this place and knows how to operate that machine-thingy. If we tried to do this ourselves, we'll never be able to find Nemo. I mean, come on! Look at us. We don't even fit in!"

"Yeah," chimed in Tom. "That Joan is a little rough for a girl, but she's got a face I would trust."

"Speak for yourself," retorted Mina. "I for one don't trust her. Doctor?" She turned to look at Jekyll.

"W-well," Jekyll began, looking slightly nervous. "L-looking at it from a logical point of view, I feel that it is necessary to have her aid. That t-tracking device could probably tell us the location of the villain and the Time Machine. I agree with Rodney. Without Miss Joan, I don't think we will stand much of a chance to find Nemo and get back to our own time."

"So it is agreed then," said Mina heavily. "Then I must warn all of you to take extreme precaution. We must not tell her more than what we really have to and keep her under guard at all times. Do not ever allow her to communicate to anyone about us. The less people who know about us, the better. Remember this, gentlemen. We do not belong here. And when we are done…" She paused for a moment.

"…I am afraid that we may have to dispose of her."