Author's Note: Ack, took so long again. I have in all fairness hit the hardest point in the film. I had to sit there with my DVD cuz the novelisation was no help in this bit. You should see my poor abused pause button… lol. There's a small voice in the back of my head saying, "Well, this is all your fault," but I'm choosing quite vehemently to ignore it. Sadly, I went a bit hyper at the beginning of this chapter. Luckily, I always script out bits first… this is what I get for listening to Muse whilst I type after eating sugar…
Scene: VENICE!
Shout outs:
Beck2: Thank you for your praise on the thoughts and descriptions. It's hard to come up with fresh thoughts for Tommy-Boy all the time, though I can't deny it's fun :D This chapter is huge, I think. What can you expect? It's the car scene! Hehe. I'm mad… I must be. Yes… Sawyer's mine *gives you Jekyll* You can have him…
Silent Bob 546: Updates are good! Yay! And here's another one! Yay!
LotRseer3350: Ah yes… virtual cookies. Sadly, they're never quite as satisfying as the real thing, are they? Impressed? *blushes* Aw, thanks.
RogueSparrow: Ah good… a fellow atheist. Not that I have anything against people who are religious. No way! I'm not like that. Ahem… moving on. I think from now on Tom will keep his brain well and truly… on. I don't think he'll be trying to turn it off anymore, because from what I see in the film, after this, he always has a pensive look on his face… not an 'I'm trying not to think of or do anything stupid' (yet still adorable) expression. Ah yeah… don't pat him on the head… he's not in a very good mood. He's been moping ever since I told him to get ready to crash in the car…
sugaricing: Venice is one of the best bits in the film! Woohoo! Sleepy Sawyer… it's tempting… so very tempting… And unfortunately, that site is down for a makeover or something, lol.
Sethoz: *watches you with the pom poms* Yes, poor Tom… and evil M. Car scene time! Hope this comes out okay… wouldn't want to put a dampener on your high spirits and… what's the word? Numb down your favourite scene…
angelic katty: *content sigh* Ah yes… Tom fics. Where would I be without them? I wouldn't be in this fandom for one thing… I'd be off in… I dunno. Now I'm rambling. There is indeed a novelisation of LXG, by Kevin J. Anderson, who wrote a few X-Files books… so it's quite violent. Just a warning…
Graymoon74: This site is playing up recently. Don't know what's wrong with it. Nemo does seem to love his ship… I mean, he calls it 'his Lady'. Each to their own…
drowchild: Yay… novelisation mass-reading! I think… hehe. So by the time you read this, you should have it. Excellent. It is good, but damn is Sawyer southern in that! Even I was getting a bit annoyed. But there are some excellent inclusions of cut scenes in there… how I wish they had kept them in the film…*pout*
Leigh S. Durron: Hey! Welcome to the re-telling of the movie! Thank you for the compliment on the way I write. I've been at it almost ten years, so hopefully I'm improving from the days of 'the cat say on the mat'. Lol! Things in common? Why am I suddenly afraid of you, hehe! Nah, only kidding. Drop me a line!
life sucks: First of all, what a name! I'm gonna abbreviate it if you don't mind? Hope not… I'd be here forever typing that out :D And before you ask, I have no idea what has suddenly possessed me to make me type out an acknowledgement to every reviewer. Inexplicable, that one. Tom thinks like you? Hmm… scary, lol. I'm glad you find this fic so entertaining, and it was what you were looking for, with the whole 'read what they're thinking' thing. I don't know why I decided to do it :S Lol. I'm deeply honoured that I'm responsible for getting you hooked. Bwahaha! My plan is almost complete! *cough* I've read the Tom Sawyer book as well, so I'm a little more aware than I was before of how he ticks. And on a final note, I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of adding you to the complimentary update list :D Let me know if you do mind, and it's not a problem :D
Without further adieu, allow me to present… Venice!
Catching up with Quatermain, Tom followed the adventurer and the rest of the League through the ship. Silent determination and resolve was the shared expression, and Tom felt a swell of concern.
What if we don't save Venice? What if we're too late? He stopped himself right then, and shook his head subtlely as they entered the cargo hold of the Nautilus. Tom's eyes strayed to the automobile… or as someone had dubbed it, the 'Nemomobile'. Remember, optimism. Only thing that's kept me from going insane over all these years. Tom smiled grimly.
They strode up onto the ramp just as dozens of Nemo's men started to depart the vessel as well, some in odd suits that Tom recognised as the attire of underwater divers. They travelled in filed lines down the ramps on either side of the central track the League and Ishmael used. From the rear of the group, Tom still made out Nemo's orders to his first mate; "Deploy the divers beneath the city. The explosives must be found." The insistence in his voice was not lost on Ishmael at all.
The first mate nodded sternly, and moved off to carry out the orders with a curt, "Aye, aye, sir." Then he was gone, lost amidst the swarming sailors. Tom could no longer see him, and felt the firm reassuring stone beneath his boots as he stepped onto land… the first land they had seen since Paris. He sighed quietly.
The League -what remained of it- spread out loosely on the canal side, and Mina Harker cast her blue eyes about. "This city is vast; it could be anywhere."
It didn't take a genius to figure out she was referring to the bomb they intended to find in the streets of Venice. Nemo's men would take care of the below, they would handle the above… a simple enough plan. They just had to hurry. Who knew how much time they had to spare?
"What about Skinner?" Tom found himself asking as he let his gaze wander warily about for any signal as to the invisible man's presence. He could be -like the bomb- anywhere. He could be standing right behind me and I'd never even know…
Dorian was the one who replied, leaning ever-casually on his cane as though it were nothing but what it seemed, not a mere sheath for a deadly sliver of metal that he was extremely adept in the use of; "I'd be alert for his treachery."
Before any of them could even begin to muse on a response, a mighty boom from overhead shook and chilled them all to the very bone. Each member cowered slightly, and looked up at the flaring light.
Tom almost laughed. It's just fireworks!
"Bloody carnival," Quatermain grumbled with the faintest hint of a smile. Dorian smirked openly. More cracks and bangs went on overhead as the spectacle continued.
"God," Mina began, a hand over her heart as though the shock were almost too much, "I… feared the worst."
Can vampires feel fear, I wonder? Tom reached out a hand, his compassionate instinct taking over. "It's all right," he told her as his fingertips brushed the soft fabric of her jacket, "we still have-"
This time the explosion was not innocent and meant as entertainment; it shook the whole area around them, the entire city even. Buildings trembled with the resonance, and people tumbled. Tom almost lost his balance, as did Mina and the others, but somehow they all managed to keep steady for the most part. A few of the sailors lost their footing entirely, and one or two were unlucky enough to fall into the canal.
Tom's eyes darted back and forth as he tried to reason for what to do. He suddenly felt quite useless. He caught sight of Quatermain peering around a corner building; looking at what, Tom did not know.
"The buildings are falling like dominoes!" came the cry of a small voice, and Tom's gaze went skyward, where he caught sight of one of Nemo's men craning to look out over the railing of a… Tom did not know exactly what it was, but it resembled the crow's nest of a ship. He could have sworn that hadn't been there before. The tallest point of the Nautilus had been the conning tower.
"We're too late."
Tom looked at Mina, and saw the utter distress that was not hidden from her eyes, but was veiled on her face. She felt the failure Tom too was feeling, and it was a horrible sensation indeed. They hadn't made it in time.
Optimism!
From his spying place at the corner, Quatermain was saying, "There must be more than one bomb."
Tom concurred with that reasoning. The shaking had not stopped, but it had lessened in intensity. The bombs had all gone off, but the buildings were now starting to crumble and fall all around. Rubble toppled from the rooftops and crashed against the stone underfoot.
"Nemo!" Quatermain blurted suddenly, as if something akin to an idea had struck him. Tom perked up, and listened intently, as the adventurer said, "The bombs are at the city centre. We have to seek out one key building." He strode back over with a defined and reassuring confidence, Winchester rifle in one hand.
"Yes!" Nemo had caught on now, and it was starting to dawn on the young American as well. The captain persisted in his understanding, "If we could get ahead of the collapse, and destroy the next building-"
"We can interrupt the chain of destruction!" Tom cut in to finish, and Quatermain nodded. Tom was filled with a new sense of courage and resolve, and something hit him then. He hid his smile.
"With a beacon placed with the exact coordinates, I could launch a rocket and take out the domino," Nemo was saying. He understood fully now it seemed, and was starting to twist and formulate the idea into something much more complex and feasible.
As Tom turned on his heel and took off at a jog back into the hold of the Nautilus, he just made out Dorian Gray's voice proclaiming that such an endeavour was ridiculous.
Cynic… that guy needs to lighten up! Tom skidded to a halt beside the automobile. The top had been removed, and Tom grinned. Perfect… why didn't I think of this before? He hopped inside, placing his Winchester on the ground beside him, and looked at the board full of controls, humming pensively to himself as his green eyes perused the buttons and knobs. On a whim, he pressed one, and heard the satisfying whine and roar of the engine kicking into life, and it purred pleasantly. Tom's grin only widened.
Now… how did those ridiculous Ford contraptions work again? His mind raced, and it all came flooding back to him. One hand on the steering wheel, and the other on the gear-stick, Tom made the car leap forward. He revved it, mostly for the personal gain of the power he felt at his fingertips, and pressed his boot down even harder on the pedal below. The car lurched forward further as his reward.
As the edge of the hold came into clear focus, he could see through the opening that the League were debating, Jekyll looking rather distressed, and Dorian Gray insisting on something. The words were lost under the roar of the car as it exploded out of the hold, and shot down the ramp.
Mostly for the thrill of feeling in control, Tom brought the car into a controlled skid out on the land, and spun it around, eyes meeting his companions. With a cocky expression, he called, "Care for a spin?"
With a certain sense of gratitude, Tom noted Mina Harker was the first to press forward, and to be gentlemanly; he reversed the vehicle towards the woman slowly. She climbed into the rear seat on the right, and smiled at him. He threw her a similar friendly gesture, and felt the sense of slight victory increase as Allan Quatermain came up on the passenger side.
"Come on, Jekyll!" Quatermain called to the frozen and terrified form of the doctor. "Get in!"
"I'll need coordinates," Nemo called to them from the bottom of the ramp. He didn't even look in the slightest bit perturbed that Tom had commandeered the automobile… and that was reassuring.
Quatermain halted in the process of getting into the vehicle, even as Dorian Gray clambered into the back next to Mina. Tom frowned, and then remembered they would need all hands on deck for this one. With a sigh, he held his tongue, gripping the wheel. "Can you track this thing?" the hunter asked of the captain.
"Of course." The way Nemo said it, perhaps it was supposed to have been obvious.
"Then the car will be your target."
The car? You're kidding, Quatermain… this thing? You wanna blow it up? Tom felt like laughing at the ridiculousness of the comment, but then remembered the consequences, and kept quiet once again.
"Launch when you see the flare," Quatermain concluded in address of Captain Nemo, holding aloft one of the guns he had used in the capture of the monstrous Mr. Hyde. Tom recognised it at once.
Nemo let out a curt, "Right!" and was back off into his mighty ship to set about the preparations.
Tom revved the engine impatiently as Quatermain called out, "Jekyll, come on! We'll need Hyde!"
Tom turned his head, half-twisting his body to see the expression of sudden resolve on Jekyll's worn features as he shook his head. "No," he grumbled stubbornly, "Hyde will never use me again."
Oh, what a great time to grow a backbone! He couldn't have waited?
Dorian was turned in his seat as well, even as Quatermain sat down in his seat and waved one of his aged hands to the steering column as an indication to Tom, who raised his eyebrows in question. Before revving again and pushing the car forward, he heard Dorian call back to Jekyll, "Then what good are you?"
Well there was no need to be so cruel to the guy, Tom thought as he turned the car sharply to the right and away from the Nautilus and her crew, even as Mina rewarded Gray with a glare that could have frozen over a volcano. Now which way am I supposed to go?
Thankfully, Quatermain had thought ahead, and pulled a folded yellowing map out of his waistcoat, studying it for a moment as he put his glasses on carefully, even with the steady bouncing of the speeding car. Tom kept his attention on the road. The most he had ever driven was a small strip of land in a ridiculous comparison of this design created by Ford. There was the branch of the canal on their left, and quaking buildings on the right. So far, they were moderately safe from tumbling rubble.
"Straight ahead," Quatermain told him over the thunderous engine, "and then turn left."
"No," Mina countered from the rear seat, and she pointed between Tom and Quatermain, "take a right after the canal port!"
Oh great… back seat driving, Tom thought, concentration taking precedence on his face. But she's probably been here before, so maybe I should-
"You must turn left to get ahead of the collapse!" Were Quatermain and Mina Harker doomed to bicker for the rest of this mission? It seemed so.
Before Tom could turn left or right under the cautious advice of the adventurer or the vampire, cracks of gunshots exploded from the windows and balconies of the building separating the fork in the road. Tom gave a yell, and yanked hard on the steering wheel. The car lurched swiftly to the right as a result, but not before they had smashed a considerable chunk out of the very same building, sending debris soaring into the air. Tom ducked his head for a moment to protect his eyes, and then looked up to see their new course.
"Snipers!" Dorian revealed -rather pointlessly- from behind Tom. "Damn Skinner! He must have told them we were coming!"
But how would he have known I'd get the car? Wait… never mind. The guy could have been standing right there… he could have run off to tell the Phantom, or signalled him…
Dorian Gray chose that point to physically leap from the car, landing with almost feline grace on the road, and they were soon speeding off with him fading into the distance. Tom felt no great loss as their numbers dwindled.
The street they hastened down now was especially wide, enough for at least two or three of the magnificent automobiles to travel side by side. Bullets continued to ricochet off the side of the car, and Tom risked a glance to the rooftops, catching sight of the lines of sniping gunmen. He recognised their attire; they were the Phantom's men.
This man seems determined to ruin my life. His concentration was back on the road as they sped through a small gap, only to reveal a crowd of the same automatic rifle-wielding men, helmeted and clad in black. Tom pulled on the wheel again, turning the speeding vehicle hard to the right in a hasty curve, and before he could angle them further, the front of the vehicle slammed through pillars in the arched walkway running down the side of the street. They went through two, three more before he gave a tug to the left, and they levelled out, leaving blocks of the pillars in their wake. Mina poked her head out from under the protection of her arms, and blinked quickly in disbelief that they were still alive.
The snipers persisted, like irritable insects that forever buzzed close by, as if eager to be swatted. Tom would have been only too happy to oblige right then.
Mina turned her body, and leaned over to look out the back of the car, and she let out a desperate cry, "Dorian!"
Is she serious? Tom thought with a pang of jealousy. That guy can't die! What is she worried about him for?
Beside him, Quatermain pulled out his own Winchester rifle, and aimed it swiftly and with ease, but there was a look of unconcealed anger fluttering across his lined face, and he practically growled, before lowering the gun, and yelling, "I can't get a clear shot!"
Tom turned his face to the adventurer, overcome with bravery or idiocy -or an odd combination of both- and bellowed, "Then take the wheel!"
Before Quatermain could deny him the oppurtunity, Tom pushed himself upward in his seat, and propped most of his weight steadily on top of it, pulling both Colts from their holsters simultaneously, taking quick aim and letting loose with a rain of bullets and a determined shout.
He heard Quatermain's panicked yelp, and simply continued to pull the trigger over and over again, squinting as the wind rushed past him, trying to focus. It did him no good, and he only prayed the quick aim he had been practising paid off, even though he saw no men fall. They were going too fast for that.
"Sit down, you buffoon!" shouted Quatermain from his place on the other side of the car, Tom still firing his guns and straining to hear the voice, "I don't know how to drive this thing!"
What makes him think I know it any better? Tom thought as he continued to pull the triggers, feeling rather than knowing he was almost out of bullets.
"Sit down!" Quatermain insisted loudly and desperately.
Tom's pistols clicked on empty, both of them, and he slotted them away as he slid back into his seat, his foot quickly finding the accelerator again, and his hands claiming the wheel. "Got it!"
Quatermain gratefully snatched his grasp away from the steering, and breathed out a sigh of relief that only amused Tom further.
"Save your bullets," Mina said from the back seat ominously, and there was an eerie hiss to her voice.
She could have said that before I blew all my ammunition, Tom thought, only slightly irritated. After all, not once on the voyage had Mina Harker truly angered him.
"These men are mine!"
Tom heard a flurry of a noise as they passed under an archway with a fluttering rag like a curtain. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Mina had physically launched herself from her seat, soared up into the air, and latched gracefully to the side of the buildings to their right. She seemed to be breaking apart, swarming around now like… were those bats?
"Did you see that?" Tom asked in disbelief, only himself and the adventurer remaining in the vehicle. Tom was leaning on the seat behind him, his eyes still up to where he had last seen Mina. He turned his gaze on his companion. "Did you see what she just did?"
Instead of confirming or denying the otherworldly display, Quatermain jabbed a finger out the front of the car, a startled look to his face. "Keep your eyes on the bloody road!"
Tom snapped his attention back to what he should have been concentrating on all along. "Whoa! Sh-"
A rather large block of rubble had been toppling towards the car, and Tom was forced to swerve violently to avoid their getting crushed. The building wreckage landed a comfortable inch shy of them, shortly before the front of the car smashed through part of a small bridge that they subsequently crossed.
Tom was having a little trouble keeping the vehicle straight, and he fought the controls, even as small metal guide poles were knocked clean over by the solid front of the car. A small canal ran down to the left hand side of the car, and as rubble and brick continued to rain down all around them, Tom pulled a rough right at the end of the street. There was a terrifying moment where Tom felt the car pitch to the side, and he noticed their rear left tire had skimmed clean over the canal's waters before finding the road once again. His heart skipped a beat.
Maybe I should take it easy on the corners.
The car came bursting out from the bridge, and into a narrow street. Gunfire hailed all around them, and Tom's gaze darted upward, and he felt a surge of panic and anger at the familiar tactic he saw displayed up above. "It's a gauntlet!"
Instead of sharing in the slight panic Tom was feeling, Allan Quatermain twisted in his seat, and pointed skyward, replying, "The vampire lady has us covered!"
What is he talking about? A quick glance up to the rooftops made him suddenly feel very calm… eerily so. There were dozens of bats skittering from rooftop to rooftop as Mina converged hungrily on the snipers. Tom would have grinned if he hadn't needed to concentrate on the road, the bullets slowing suddenly.
As he pushed the car ever faster down the street, hearing and seeing the carnage and chaos of the collapse all around, he heard the screams as men were bodily thrown by Mina Harker from their sniping perches. Luckily, he had far passed their point of landing before he could hear the sickening thuds that no doubt accompanied them when they hit the road.
They emerged on another wide street, this one devoid of snipers or ambushing gunmen, and for that, Tom was grateful. Maybe I'll get out of this one alive after all. Wait… the bombs had to have been set recently… the Phantom's men are here… where's the Phantom?
The car was speeding past a small side canal off to their right, Tom's eyes constantly on the road now that they were without interruption, when Quatermain looked to him suddenly and said, "Remember the flare. I'm off!" He jabbed his thumb at his own chest, and Tom threw him a distraught glance, confused beyond belief.
Where the hell is he going at a time like this?
"What?" he yelled over the roar of the vehicle's engine, even as Quatermain started to haul himself out of his seat.
"Don't forget," he called back as he finally completed his climb, ready to throw himself from the speeding car, "you're the target!"
And then he jumped. Tom glanced over his shoulder to see the older man land quite spryly, and blinked once. I could've pulled over! Why is everyone abandoning me… wait… oh, now this is not a good sign. What if they know I might not be coming back?
Trying not to think so negatively, Tom turned his full attention back to the road, seeing the approaching collapse. He was about to drive through it, instead of past it, and all he could think of as a reaction was a simple, "Whoa!"
Pressing his foot down as far as it would go on the pedal, his mind completely overtaken with the mission he had been trusted with, Tom pushed the car through the gap, even as bricks and buildings collapsed on all sides like an avalanche. The vehicle tore through the tight squeeze with a rebellious roar, and shot out the other side like a bullet out of a gun.
Don't even look around you… just keep driving. If you don't see how close you are to death, you can't get scared. Of course, as soon as he thought this, his eyes flickered to the collapse on all sides, and he swallowed dryly. Okay… I'm gonna die.
The word 'optimism' tried to reassert itself, but was pushed aside by the thunderous noise of buildings crashing into their own foundations and toppling like the dominoes they resembled, and with a growl of fury, Tom pushed the car even faster.
His heart started to race madly as he realised he had overtaken the collapse, and he looked over his shoulder swiftly and briefly to see that he was indeed in the clear now. Not long until he would have to take action. He just needed to find that key building.
None of these will do… the rocket would never get here in time. His eyes searched madly for a perfect oppurtunity, whilst his hands gripped the resisting steering wheel. The last thing he needed was to lose control. Then he spotted it… the perfect structure. It was a risk… but he was willing to take it.
I really am going to die. Not a bad way to go, I guess… saving a city.
Gritting his teeth resolutely, Tom snatched up the flare gun from where Quatermain had left it, and kept his left hand on the steering wheel, which fought against him, seemingly with a life of its own. Tom doubted the car had ever travelled this fast before.
That was when the front of the car exploded through the stone banister to the side of the canal, over some stairs leading down to the water's edge. As the car hit the uneven surface, all six wheels left the ground, and the automobile took off over the canal's shimmering water.
Now!
Tom twisted in the seat, raising his arm skyward, and pulled the trigger on the flare gun. As the beacon shot off into the sky, everything around Tom Sawyer seemed to drag; time itself slowed, and the car seemed to hover over the canal for an eternity. Tom looked back at his trajectory, and his eyes widened, even as time snapped back into place and everything sped up once again. The car started to pitch forward with an eerie whine.
Biting off a curse before it had even begun to pass his lips, Tom let go of the wheel, ducked his head under both arms and shrunk down into his seat as far as he could go, even as he felt the front of the car slam into the ground on the target side of the canal. Miraculously, the vehicle stayed in one piece, but instead flipped right over onto its back even as the main body smashed completely through the solid front of the abandoned building.
As the car crashed into a messy landing inside of the disused theatre, Tom Sawyer was trapped underneath it, pinned in his seat.
A/N2: Lame cliff hanger I know, cuz we all know what happens to Tommy-Boy! But I had to try, right? Okay… originally, this chapter was going to cover all of the Venice scene, right up to where Dorian takes off in his retreat, but I realised (with the help of Sethoz) that it was just too damn long, and it would be better if cut in two :D So now, this story will be a nice even 14 chapters, instead of unlucky 13… do please let me know what you thought of this exciting instalment of Tom's POV of the movie! Sorry it took so long again! Thanks!
