Author's Note: Well hello everybody. Where have I been hiding?! Under the rug, that's where. Bwahaha! Okay… maybe not. Didn't think that'd fool you anyway. No, I've been… lazy… and busy… oxymoron! Work + children (not mine) + BTLOTM = slow updates on 'Shadow Games', leading to guilty Clez! Anyway… what was I saying? Oh yes, same as usual… a load of rubbish! But anyway, on with the show, and I'm glad you all enjoyed the whole Venice shebang! *looks at that word* Shebang?! What the…? Who's been spiking my tea!?

Scene: Need you ask…?

Shout Outs:

RogueSparrow: *watches you sitting on Sawyer* You know, he still might be a little grouchy from knowing the car is ruined and he can't have any more fun. But anyway, this is your second favourite part? Why? I know it's cool and smug and 'Grrr' and all… but… oh, I suppose it is a pretty damn good scene! Ooh cookies! My fave! *munches on cookies* Mmmm… yummy. Thanks!

drowchild: You and your Connery impressions! Lol. Ack! Are you insane? Don't whack the vampire! Hehehehe… everybody is getting whacked by you huh? Careful of that poor werewolf plushie. Yes, people who like the movie score points in my book. The speech… even though I HAVEN'T SEEN THE DELETED SCENES *cries* I am including that! How could I not?! It's so cool, from what I read in the book. *is showered in confetti*

sugaricing: Yes indeedy, go Tom! Hehe, dramatic entrances. Being an actress, gotta love 'em! As I've said before… we don't get the DVD until the 16th February… Wah! That's why they're not in here filling up said space… sad, but true… and very annoying!

Sethoz: Sethoz will agree with me abut the annoyance of living in a country that's slow to get films! Won't you, buddy, oh pal? I'm not sure why you loved the chill bit, but I'm glad you did. I was truthfully a little iffy about that line, but you have – once again – reassured me. Yes, Mina… look… Tom's right there!

Graymoon74: You like the Nemo-related Tom thoughts, don't you? Lol. That annoyed me in the film, it was like CRASH – oh look, Tom's crawling out, and he doesn't seem to have had much to struggle with in doing so. Hmmm… slightly dodgy and lazy of Norrington methinks… and he threw bricks at Shane! Bully. But he did bring us LXG, so, perhaps I can forgive him a few errors.

DarkSeverus: I am glad you like my portrayal of dear Thomas. I saw the film, and loved the way he was shown in that, and as a result I read the book. And I have to say, I love that book! Plus, I'm about to start reading 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'. It's so funny *remembers "David and Goliath!" and bursts out laughing* Sorry… you have to have read the book to get that. Ah yes… Dorian is surprisingly fun to portray and – dammit… I've just realised I don't have any more Dorian to use. Oh well. Never mind. I had my fun, and now I must go back to telling the story we all know and love! Oh, p.s welcome!

Nowicki: I had to shorten your name… sorry. It kept buggering up and trying to do a list on me *growls at Microsoft Word* Curse you! The computer, Nowicki, not you. Yes indeed… poor Tom… why am I hearing so much of that lately…?

LotRseer3350: Bad example? Oops… this update didn't help matters then did it? Sorry. I'm a workin', I'm a workin'! See? You see me typing?

life sucks: Ah yes, the last line. Had to put a mental-angsty moment in there just for the sake of it, Bwahaha. Improvisation? That's funny, cuz in drama, the one thing I despise is improvisation… but you know what? Improvising Tom's thoughts is just about one of the most fun things I've done recently… damn, that sounds sad.

Silent Bob 546: Yes, poor Ishmael. Poor guy. Thank you for sticking around, Bob, you know I love you for it… and update your fic pronto! … Please?

 


                One of Nemo's men had held out his hands willingly for Tom's baggage, and he had rid himself of the excess weight without hesitation. He had handed over his Winchester and shed his coat at once, watching the small man scurry off to Tom's cabin to replace them. Tom smiled at the man's dedication to his job. Instead of dwelling on such a matter, Tom shifted his attention back to the League and the problem at hand.

                Dorian Gray… I knew it. I knew I sensed something about him… why didn't I say something before? We might have been able to prevent all of this. God, I'm an idiot.

                He followed the others towards the meeting hall, where they had gathered a few times to discuss light matters. Nemo led the way, not surprisingly, and Tom could almost feel the man's anger and grief from where he brought up the rear.

                Ishmael was his friend… looks like we've got more than one vengeance pledge taking place here now… I'm after the Phantom, and Nemo will want Gray. He sighed. Look out, Gray.

                Quatermain, Jekyll and Mina were silent; waves or irritation and disbelief pulsing from them heavily, and Tom furrowed his brow at the magnitude of the situation. They had trusted Gray, quite literally, with their lives. And he had gone and betrayed them all. Why?

                Nemo pushed his way into the large room, and pointed a finger almost accusingly at once. "That is us," he said, Tom catching the words as he filed into the room last, hands in his pockets now for lack of anything to do with them. Nemo pressed on with determination lining his voice, "that is the Nautiloid." Tom followed the captain's finger with his eyes, spotting the device on the wall for the first time, and cocking his head slightly. It was making a delicate bell-ringing noise, and there were two rod-like instruments dangling down across a golden globe, one pursuing the other.

                Another tracking device. I know I thought he created the weirdest things… but they certainly come in useful.

                "We will be upon them soon," Nemo finished angrily, and stood at the head of the long table. Many of his sailors were dotted formally around the room, rigid and stoic like their leader. Tom eyed them one by one, and then remembered what had just happened and its effect on one of their team. He turned his body to Mina Harker.

                He brought his hands out of his pockets again, thinking it to look too casual when his question was filled with honest concern; "You okay?"

                Mina looked to him with those ever-dazzling blue eyes, and smiled nervously, feigning nonchalance as to the minor blow she had just been dealt. She ran one of her hands gently through her long hair, and replied, "Just a little… shaken."

                Tom wasn't convinced, and he found his feet had crossed the distance between them before he had realised. He was standing only a matter of feet from her now, looking at her face.

                Suddenly, the most horrible high-pitched whine came out of nowhere, and Tom winced at once, the sound making his ears ring. What the hell is that? It's awful!

                "Nemo?" Quatermain looked to the regal man, as if in allegation.

                Nemo looked to the hunter at the sound of his name, and simply shook his head dismissively, saying, "It's nothing of mine."

                Well I wish they'd make it stop, whatever it is. It's gonna give me a headache… and I don't need that right now. He took to looking around the room from his point next to Mina, and tried to locate the origin of the sound, before the doors opened once again, and a man Tom recognised as being called Patel strode in, an odd looking parcel in his hands. It bore a silver device on it, and Tom's brain immediately registered the item as suspicious.

                "Captain," Patel began, striding straight over to Nemo, even as the whine died down and dissipated entirely, "the noise came from this."

                Okay… that can't be good… can it?

                Nemo took the object from Patel, and turned it slightly this way and that. Tom paced up to stand beside his newfound mentor, and crossed his arms over his chest pensively, brow furrowed deeply in regards to the object.

                "A recording disk?" Nemo asked of no one in particular… and it was just as well. He got no answer whatsoever as he pulled the black object from its brown sleeve. He turned and placed the disk onto a gramophone, pulling down the pin and letting it play. A crackling noise came forth from the player, and Tom listened to the sound of the voices, wondering whom they belonged to.

                The first to speak was a woman, and quite a prim one at that, as her voice rang clear from the player, "Ready, Professor?" There was a brief pause, and Tom narrowed his eyes. Professor? "Recording," the woman stated, and fell silent.

                Then the man spoke, and Tom did not know the voice… but Quatermain clearly did. The hard lines that came to his features spoke volumes even in his silence.

                "Gentlemen," the voice began, and right away, the American decided he did not like the speaker, "if you are hearing this, then every step leading up to it has gone as planned."

                "And I've been true to the goals set to me," came a third voice, and Tom tensed at once. Gray! Tom glanced to Mina, seeing her own anger at hearing the immortal's cocky voice, even as he continued, "Yes, it's me, Dorian." The annoying man even had the nerve to sound bored! "As you now know, I'm no loyal son of the Empire. In fact, my loyalty to Mr. M comes in no small part from his possession of something I hold very dear to my heart."

                That rat has a heart? I'll believe that when I see it. He acts so callous.

                "Some I would do anything to regain." Dorian's voice carried very little emotion, something that played with Tom's anger, making it escalate.

                Sure, Gray… make it all about blackmail.

                The man titled by Gray as 'Mr. M' spoke once again, and Tom tilted his head slightly as he listened to the Englishman's words, crisp and precise; "Everything so far has been misdirection: Sanderson Reed; the assassins in Kenya; your recruitment and mission; the secret conference... a myth. Even the League itself. There is no League... there never was. It was all a ruse, to get me closer to my goals."

                Who is this man? What is he talking about? I'd be surprised if this is making sense to anyone. But looking around, Tom realised that he could very well be – with the exception of the sailors perhaps – the only one who was ignorant to the truth. That discomforted him.

                Tom leaned in to Quatermain slightly, arms still across his chest, and said, "He likes the sound of his own voice, doesn't he?" Despite the fact that he had no idea who this man was, he had no doubt Quatermain did… the look of anger on the hunter's face was evidence enough for that. The older man did not respond.

                "You see, I want you. Each of you. Even tired old Quatermain, because he'll capture Hyde where all others have failed." The man took a pause here, and Tom imagined the smug 'gentleman' pacing extravagantly around some lavish study, perhaps smoking a cigar. One of his fists clenched in irritation as the Englishman persisted, "But the question is 'why'. Why all this mask and mystery?"

                Finally, a question I can relate to.

                Tom caught a glimpse of Mina's eyes wandering only momentarily to the ceiling above them, and he wondered why. Had she realised something?

                "Because in the war to come, I intend to wield the greatest weapon of all. The power of the League itself."

                Tom felt his jaw clench, and he let his eyes wander from the gramophone, trying to imagine the ways he would enjoy watching Gray suffer for his betrayal. He paced away from Quatermain slightly, letting the adventurer stand alone next to the table and listen.

                "To that end," M continued, "I set my wolf among you sheep."

                Then came the most aggravating thing Tom had ever heard the immortal say, and he was amazed that one man could irritate so effortlessly. All Gray said was a dry and humourless, "Growl."

                "To earn your trust and quietly lead you astray," M added after Gray's remarkably witty quip. Tom stared at the gramophone as if in accusation, and narrowed his eyes.

                Dorian Gray's cocky voice came through the device again, and he sounded almost as bored as he always did… though there was an undeniable humour lingering in his voice as he said, "And all the while I'll collect you… the parts of you I need."

                I don't like the sound of this…

                "Nemo's science…"

                Mina held up her hands before herself, and looked at them as if wondering why she had not seen the treachery before now. "Magnesium phosphorous," she said quietly, even as Gray's voice cut back in.

                "Skinner's skin sample," he went on, "Jekyll's potion…"

                The doctor turned from where he had been staring, into a reflective surface – something that always confused Tom – and there was a horror in his wide eyes as he heard the revelation as to the missing vial.

                "… and Mina's blood," the immortal finished. The triumph was less disguised here, and Tom glanced to the vampire as she let her hands drop to her sides once again, a look of distress in her blue eyes.

                "He's stolen us," Jekyll practically growled, the most fierce Tom had ever heard him, and for a moment, the American found it impossible to think of this man as the same who had hidden from helping Venice when he had been needed. "And we let him!"

                Despite the fact that the betrayal was aimed at others, not towards him in any way, Tom couldn't stem the flow of anger that coursed through his veins, making his heart beat faster and his eyes narrow with hatred.

                What were they thinking when they stole that pod? There's no way they can outrun this thing! We'll catch them in no time for sure.

                "If you fail to save Venice," M began again, casually and aloofly, "then I get my war. If you succeed… well, it's a small price to pay for Gray to go about his task." There was a tense pause here, and Tom waited almost eagerly for the continuation; "War will come, sooner or later, as the end of summer into autumn."

                Cocky bas-

                "Now some of you – perhaps Quatermain if he isn't dead – will pause to ask why I'm letting you know all this. What fool reveals his strategy before the game is over?"

                I'm really starting to hate this guy's voice.

                There was another pause, one in which Tom felt the atmosphere thicken if that was at all possible… it was already extremely tense. It was closing on unbearable.

                "It is over… for you anyway." M sounded extremely confident, and that triumph that Gray had displayed in his tone was back again, this time from the 'Professor'.

                Near to Tom, Quatermain's brow loosened slightly from its furrow, as if something had just gone off in his head, like an alarm or a klaxon. What had he realised?

                "Because my voice isn't the only sound being made. While I've… rambled on, a secondary layer of inaudible sound, higher than humans can hear… audible only to dogs and lower animals, has been heard by crystal sensors dotted about your vessel."

                The eyes of both Nemo and Mina Harker widened at this statement, and Tom felt something deep in his stomach clench… and it was not pleasant. It was something very much akin to dread.

                I really don't like the sound of this…

                Gray spoke again now, taking up the mantle of gloater, as he revealed, "Sensors attached to bombs."

                Oh god…

                "Bomb voyage."

                The drollness of Gray's final quip was lost to them in its intended humour as Nemo tore the gramophone from where it had sat, and threw it viciously to the ground. The player shattered into pieces, the wood splintering and clattering away. All sound stopped emanating from it at once, and a deafening silence descended on the room and its occupants, the weight of the previously spoken words making their stomachs and hearts sink.

                Please tell me that was a cruel joke… please. But he knew with every fibre of his being that – even for Gray – the joke was far from feasible.

                When the first bomb exploded deep in the belly of the Nautilus, all hope was dashed from Tom's brain as the ship lurched dangerously. The second bomb detonated, then the third, and Tom – along with the others – pitched to the side, the great table in the centre of the room sliding with them.

                He managed to keep his feet as the ship started to lilt, and only just avoided the table slamming into him by leaping aside at the last moment. Nemo – furious beyond belief and comprehension – stormed from the hall, the League in quick pursuit. Faces were grave, eyes wide with hidden fear and disbelief as to what was happening.

                The journey to the bridge was short and swift, the captain at the front of the procession charging through his crewmen as they raced about to try and save the vessel. Even as they were walking, Tom could tell they were sinking, and by the time they had managed to reach the brain of the ship – as Tom liked to call it when by himself – they were forced to grasp onto anything solid to pull themselves up the length of the room.

                Nemo pushed the man at the helm aside, gripping the wheel himself, yelling, "Out of the way!"

                Poor guy didn't have much of a chance, Tom thought as he scrambled up the length of the room, gripping onto a pair of meters and pressure gauges that were still firmly fixed into the floor beneath him. He looked around himself, trying to hide his fright, seeing Quatermain holding tightly to the mapping table.

                The hunter called to Nemo, "We have to surface!"

                "We are taking on too much water!" Nemo countered, his knuckles white with the pressure he was applying to his grip on the wheel. "The controls are not responding!"

                Tom realised he had never heard the Indian sound so desperate, yet he noticed there was still the stoic – but horrified in its own way – expression on his toned face.

                C'mon, Nemo… think of something!

                The same crewman from earlier tumbled into the room, and he shouted to Nemo urgently, "Primary engine room almost full; aft bulkheads are still open; pump valves are jammed!"

                Which means we're going down… fast. Tom could feel his ears popping with the pressure from outside the ship, and he noticed the slight muffled edge everything had now. His body was trying to compensate for what was happening, and doing a damn lousy job. This can't be it… it can't end like this. Tom did not want to die without having his chance for vengeance. To him, it was worse than anything he could think of.

                "Seal it off!" Nemo ordered Patel, and the man widened his eyes in realisation of what his captain was asking of him.

                "But there are men in there, Captain!"

                "For the greater good, we must seal it!" Nemo's attention was back on trying to save his beautiful vessel at once, but his efforts went un-rewarded. A crack had established itself in the glass at the front of the bridge, and there was a spray of water shooting into the room, succeeding in covering everything inside and soaking it. The League – or what remained of it – clung on desperately to anything that would hold them, and Tom glanced to the woman close to him.

                She was hiding her fear well… but Tom wasn't an idiot. She was frightened. He yearned to try and comfort her, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears. Not only would she fail to hear him most probably… but it was not the time. His hopes were fading fast, and even with his normally cheerful optimistic outlook on things, he was having a tough time with coming to a conclusion that didn't involve them dying… right here, and right now.

                Oh dammit, why did I have to start being negative now? That's the last thing I need. His eyes wandered again. This is awful… all the while we thought it was Skinner, and it was Gray… the bastard even managed to plant three bombs without us realising!

                Caught up in his own thoughts, Tom almost missed Jekyll lose his balance, but turned his head in time to see the doctor crash into some fixed instruments against the back wall. It was too loud in the room to call out to ask if he was okay, but Tom was reassured when the man quickly came to his senses. He turned his chestnut head to the wall beside him… another reflective surface, and amazingly started to carry out a rather one-sided conversation.

                What on Earth is he doing?

                Before Tom could ask the man, Jekyll cast a quick, wide-eyed glance about the room, and then fled from the bridge, slipping on the wet floor but managing to keep upright. He darted down the corridor, aided by the listing of the ship, and disappeared.

                Tom blinked. Okay… what just happened?

                A crewman toppling down the length of the bridge and crashing against the wall brought Tom back to painful reality, where everything was thrown back into sharp and frightening focus.

                They were sinking fast… and they had just about run out of options.


A/N2: And yet again I realise this is not a true cliffhanger, but hey! Who could blame me, huh? It seemed a good time to leave it, so I did. Bwahaha! And you are powerless to stop me. Of course… if you're in a more fortunate country than I am, you can just pop the DVD on, and watch the outcome yourself… sniffle. *muttered* No fair… stupid UK… grumble, grumble… *looks up* Oh… you're still here? Sorry. Well, I shall try and get the next update up pronto! No promises, but I haven't let you down yet, right? Right?