Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Katie. Everyone else belongs to whoever they belong to.
Notes: Sorry it took me too long to get this part out. School work again. Thankfully Christmas is coming soon, so I'll have time to finish this. I'm actually really pleased at how it's turning out.
Don't Let Me Down pt.2
As I run, Skinner in tow, I try to school myself to think of anything but the pain in my arm. It throbs. It's pulsing with agony, and there is nothing that I can do to relieve myself of it. I choke down an hysterical sob, not wanting Skinner to be alerted just yet. I lead him down another corridor that should not feel so familiar and look over my shoulder briefly to announce," We're nearly there!" I hear him panting for a moment before he gasps," Thank Christ."
In that instant, I realize just how much I've missed Skinner. I've missed his sense of humor, and his comforting presence. I squeeze his hand briefly, comforted simply by his being here. He squeezes back, silently giving me strength, sharing the courage that surprises him with it's presence.
When we finally come across Mina and Tom, we literally stop in our tracks. My eyes widen with a bizarre mix of horror and perverse satisfaction as I lay eyes on the carnage that Mina has wrought. There are bodies on the floor, littering the ground like so much garbage. Many of them have had their throats simply torn out, and their now pale and still faces reveal the shock they must've felt at that fact. The air is thick with the metallic stench of blood. My stomach turns, and I fear I might just throw up.
I hear Mina's voice and know that she is currently in one of the cells, probably having just made it inside. Her voice is back to that calm tone that is so familiar, the one that is her trademark. I try not to breathe through my nose as I cautiously approach the mess of bodies, meekly saying," Mina?" The scene is enough to cow even the bravest of men. I jump slightly when Skinner grabs my arm, saying," I'll get her. Stay here."
I am thankful for his intervention, and I shoot him a look of gratitude that I can only hope he sees. I wince a little when I see his feet marking the pools of blood as he walks through them in his trip to find our comrades. Wishing I had more strength to find out what's happening with the others, I fidget restlessly, mentally urging them to hurry. When the three of them finally emerge, I smile, though I'm sure it must look ghastly.
Tom does not look well. His usually delightfully golden skin is pale as a ghost's. One of his eyes is black, and there is a large gouge on his forehead, dried blood crusted around it. His usually beautiful blonde hair is dull, and mussed much more than usual. When he fastens his blue eyes on me, there is no twinkle, no humour whatsoever. It breaks my heart to see him like this. Still, there is no mistaking his Southern drawl as he says," Fancy meetin' you here." It is a sad attempt at humour, but I take it. He lets out a tiny moan of protest when I hug him, and I apologize.
We head back the way we came, and I can almost hear Mina's thoughts (though not in the way I am used to) as she takes mental notes of our situation. Tom is in no shape to put up a fight. I am too weak to use my 'powers', for what little good they would do. She and Skinner are the only ones who can defend us now. When she turns to me, I already know what she is about to say.
" The children?"
" Same floor that we were on," I say, my voice now deceptively calm," and in tunnels below."
" How many tunnels, would you say?" She asks, looking as if she's dreading the answer. I can't blame her as the answer isn't the best.
" Perhaps ten." I say," There's maybe... a hundred children?" She hisses at the count, but doesn't comment on it. Skinner growls, and I can feel his anger from where I stand. At my directions, Mina leads us to the nearest row of children. When I see their little faces inside of their prisons, tears spring to my eyes. Tom, who is only barely standing, actually seems to gather strength at seeing them, his will to save them so strong.
We set about trying to find a key, a lock or something to open the doors with. Moreau is crafty, far more crafty than I had imagined, as there are no keys in sight, no way to open them. Mina tries to claw at the doors, and does so for quite some time before finally giving up, panting. I bite my lip as Skinner demands," What're we gonna do?" Mina shakes her head impatiently, her eyes darting around wildly as she tries to think of a solution. Seeing all of this makes me think of what I might possibly be able to do. I am weak, yes, but with the proper stimulation....
As soon as I think it, my mind is made up. I approach Mina, rolling up my sleeve to my injured and bleeding arm. I only barely notice the look of horror that Tom gives me as he sees it and the noise of complete surprise that Skinner makes. I hold it right up to her face and simply look at her. She understands what I plan on doing without a word, and she asks," Are you sure?" I nod and say," Anything for the children." She nods back at me and then, her fangs bared, she clamps down on my arm.
The agony resulting makes my knees buckle and my vision darken. I scream out loud, unable to help myself, the feeling of her tearing at my skin simply unbearable. The pain is so bad that as soon as I push outwards with my mind, focusing on the prisons, they immediately spring open, the doors to some actually exploding. I picture it all in my mind, all tunnels and all prisons suddenly opening and freeing the children.
Children! I say mentally, putting some urgency into my mental 'voice', Quickly, come! I sink to the ground as soon as I have accomplished my goal, Skinner's invisible hands clutching at me carefully.
" My God..." Tom says, sounding shell-shocked," my God...." Skinner is angry, so angry that it frightens me. I tremble as he snarls," So this is how you did it? This is how you contacted us? You put your plan into action, huh?" I nod and say," I had to... I had to." There is no response, though I know it is not the end of this conversation.
Suddenly, an incredible thud rocks the entire building. I cradle my hand to my chest, looking up as dust is shaken from the ceiling and wonder aloud," What on Earth...?" Mina gives a wry smile and says," Mr. Hyde must be enjoying himself." I force myself to my feet, waving off protests, knowing that there is still more to be done. Tom moves to take off his tattered shirt to wrap my arm with but I say," No. Save it."
The children begin to approach us at this point, looking frightened. My heart aches for them as they approach me, their little eyes wide. One comes right up to me, his thumb in his mouth, and grabs onto my skirts, looking up at me as if I knew exactly what to do. In this instant, I know that what I have done has been worth it.
" It's all right children," I call out," We're going to get out of here." They come faster now, more and more of them, and one little girl asks," Can I see my mommy?" I smile at her and say," Yes." She is satisfied at this and, much to my surprise, she calls out," We're going home now." She says it as a fact, as if there were no other choice. When all the children are accounted for, we head out again. I almost laugh when I hear a little boy with a lisp say," Hey! There'th an invithible boy!"
" That's man thank you very much. Heh." Skinner replies, and I chuckle a little, marveling at his resilience and ability to continue to invoke humour, even in this situation. We head back upstairs, Tom bringing up the rear, Skinner somewhere in front of him, Mina in the lead and I roughly in the middle. The little boy has continued to cling to my skirts, his little knuckles white. Another little girl holds my good hand, her big blue eyes looking up at me trustingly when they are not looking ahead.
When we reach the main foyer again, we are met with sheer chaos. Mina was right, Mr.Hyde is enjoying himself. He growls in glee as he tosses guard after guard (and a few of Moreau's creations) like toys into walls and other assorted objects, killing most of them instantly. I shudder a little when I see one guard's head bounce off of a wall and open up like an overly ripe melon. It is hard to believe that my Henry is in there somewhere.
Nemo is doing his fair share as well. His limbs move faster than I can see, his saber doing irreparable damage to man after man. There is no sign of Moreau or his son. I frantically search for Quartermain, but don't spot him. I feverently hope that he is safe. Mina turns to me and firmly says," Take the children to the ship." I nod, assuming that Nemo's underwater ship is outside waiting for us.
" Skinner?" Mina says, but receives no response. I hear a shout from my left and know that he has already gone to join the fray. Mina tells Tom to help me, and though he protests, she refuses to hear any excuses, saying that he is no help to them in the shape that he is in. I begin herding the children towards the door, relieved when Tom begrudgingly helps. I tell him to take the lead as I double back to the rear of the group to urge on the stragglers.
I notice one little boy has hidden in a doorway, his eyes trained on the fighting, terrified. I run towards him and say," Come!" He lets out a little whimper as I forcibly lift him off his feet and into my arms. My injured arm throbs, but I force myself to ignore it. Just as we reach the door, a voice says," Stop right there!" Recognizing the voice right away, I practically shove the boy outside before whirling around to see Kaspar leering at me. His eyes are still unfocused, and now I am definitely assured of his madness.
" You unimaginable bastard." I say, or rather breathe, my eyes fixed on his face and unable to move. He grins a bit at me and I can feel the rage return to my body. He reaches for me and I do the first thing that instinct calls for.
I make a fist, draw it back, and punch him right in the face. I am more surprised that I actually managed to hit him than the fact that I hit him in the first place. He staggers back, blood coming from his nose, and I grin before I can help it. I shake my hand in the air though, sure that I've bruised a bone at the very least. I watch as he looks down at the blood on the floor and then looks at me. My heart flutters in fear as he growls, and I cry out when he suddenly runs for me.
My mind almost acts on it's own as it stops him in his tracks, physically lifts him right into the air and slams him against the wall. Fueled by adrenaline, I watch calmly as I slam him up against the wall over and over until his very skull is nothing but a mush. I let the body drop to the floor, surprised only by the fact that I was able to watch the event, not commit it. When I close my eyes, I know that what I have done is not wrong. Kaspar was not human. He was a monster, more of a monster than the beings that he helped his father create. I fight the urge to go over and spit on his body.
I do not know what to do, now that I have confronted Kaspar. Should I stay and see if I can help the others, or should I go outside and tend to the children? I know that I have no offensive powers to speak of, and that I would probably only be in the way, but that doesn't erase the nearly overwhelming urge to join the fray. With much reluctance, I leave the building, stepping out into the sunlight for the first time in what seems like years.
I don't take the time to enjoy it, my mind now focused on helping the children. When I see Nemo's ship, I run up the plank. When I am greeted by the children and Tom, who looks overwhelmed by them, I willingly take over, relieving Tom of his responsibility. Before I can stop him he leaves the ship, heading back to the building to assist the others. I do notice that he has two guns with him, and ammunition. I silently wish him luck.
I turn my attention to the children, trying to comfort them as best as I can while wondering what's happening inside. I don't know what Alan's plan was, or even if he had one, and I hope that whatever it was it's working. The island is deceptively calm now, the only sign that there has been a battle at all being the damage done to the building itself. I realize belatedly that it was done by this very ship.
" Excuse me."
I look down as another little girl, this one with shockingly red hair and ruddy cheeks, tugs on my skirt. I kneel down so that we're at eye level and try to keep my voice calm as I say," Yes sweetie?" She sniffles a little and asks," We goin' home now?" I bite my lip and then hesitantly say," Soon sweetheart, very soon." I stand up again and ask them all if anyone's hurt. None of them say a word, and I take this to mean that everyone is all right.
They are all silent, probably due to a lingering fear that they will be harmed if they speak. As I look back to the building, my apprehension growing, none of them protest or whine at all. They simply watch me watch the building. They too know that there are people in there, good people fighting against some very bad people.
Time passes, far too much time. I am desperate to know what is going on, and so I try to contact them from inside. Exhaustion has settled back into my body once again, and so my feeble attempts bring nothing but more fear, more frustration.
Lord, let them live. Let them be safe.
One of the children breaks the silence with a tiny whimper, and I automatically draw her closer to me, resting a hand on her shoulder as she buries her face in my skirts. My heart thuds in my chest, and I begin to entertain thoughts that they might not make it. I berate myself for doubting them. Against my better judgment, I reach back into my bag of tricks and squeeze my injured arm tightly with my free one. The resulting pain helps me contact Mina very briefly.
Katie, she tells me, sounding grave, you have to promise to tell one of the crew to pick up anchor in ten minutes.
Mina... I can't!
You have to. Do it, promise me. Even if we don't....
Mina....
Promise! Didn't you say that you would do anything to save the children? If you were speaking the truth then, then you will promise to leave in ten minutes right now!
All right... I promise.
I am forced to retreat out of her mind at this point, and I can feel myself slipping into a tizzy again already. I know that this is one promise I will not break. Looking down at the children by my side, I know I can't. It hurts to think that I might have to leave my friends... my family... behind.
I swallow thickly and wait for what seems like an eternity. We are all as still as statues as we watch the building for any sign of the others. Tears well in my eyes as I contemplate life without them... without Henry. I begin to pray silently as the tears slip down my face. I wait, hoping that He will grant my prayers to save them.
More time passes, and I know that the deadline approaches. I debate for a moment, over the promise I made. Just as I am about to go to find one of Nemo's crew, the doors suddenly swing open. A smile crosses my face as I recognize the unique forms of the League. My tears are now those of joy as I watch them approach. The children give excited cries of joy as they see them, knowing that they owe them a lot. When they near the ship, Nemo in the lead, I take a mental account of each member, making sure that they are all there. When I am satisfied, I tell the children to stay put and meet them halfway down the ramp. Mr.Hyde is now Dr.Jekyll once more, and even in the situation I am more than a little dismayed to see that he does not look me in the eyes once.
I help Quatermain up the ramp, seeing that he is in very bad condition, his pants stained with more than a little blood. I'm sure he's been wounded badly. He gives me a brief smile to reassure me when he sees the anguish on my face. We manage to get everyone inside before the ship starts moving, but only by scant moments. I wonder why there is so much urgency, and why the others looks so anxious, but my questions are answered before I can voice them.
An amazing explosion rocks the ship violently, nearly throwing Quartermain and I right off our feet. Several of the children do fall, and I spend a little time helping them back up and trying to comfort them. When they are quiet again, or at least quieter, I turn to Alan and demand," What-"
" I rigged the place with explosives." He tells me, knowing what I am about to ask. I nod, not surprised in the least. In fact, it would take very little for me to be surprised now. I look up at him and hesitantly inquire," Moreau?" He gives me a dark look and lowly says," Trust me... he's not going to be hurting anyone anytime soon. I nod, and, now assured that everything has been taken care of and that I need not worry any longer, my vision darkens and I finally allow myself to collapse.
[Next time]
The aftermath of the battle. Will Henry forgive Katie?