Disclaimer: I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill.

Feedback: Please do.

War with the Future

As the League arrived at the door, a thought occurred to Sawyer.

"Nemo, do you have a spare automobile we can use, or was that one we lost in Venice it?"

"It was all I had, Mr Sawyer," Nemo replied. "I've had a few friends gathering the parts for it together, but there's a long way to go before it's finished."

"Ah," Sawyer said, sighing a little.

"So, basically, our fastest means of transportation is Hyde?" Skinner asked.

"Or me," Mina put in.

"Yeah, but I don't think you'll be able to take all of us, Mrs Harker," Skinner pointed out.

"She can still see about tracking down where the Morlocks arrived in our time," Sawyer pointed out.

"Oh, no need," Hartdegen smiled. "It was in Piccadilly Circus. They thought it would provide an ample feeding ground for them to start, but apart from you five there was nobody in it."

"Really?" Nemo asked. "Why was that? We don't report to any branch of any government; it's unlikely we'd be able to persuade them to evacuate Piccadilly in time."

"You didn't," Hartdegen explained. "Hyde dived off the rooftops directly into Piccadilly, surrounded by bats and with two guns waving themselves around on his back, and he chased everyone out just before he tore the roads up and blocked off every possible entrance."

"Oh," Jekyll said. "Well, that would work."

"The question is, will Hyde be willing to do it?" Mina said, glancing over at Jekyll.

*****

Jekyll reached into his mind. Edward? Will you be prepared to do that?

Of course, Henry, Hyde replied. If for no other reason than to ensure you don't distract me by asking me not to hit innocents while I'm fighting.

Good point, Jekyll replied, before looking back at the League. "He'll do it."

"Perfect," Sawyer said, as he pulled out his guns and checked them as he issued instructions while walking out the door. "Jekyll, you and Hartdegen are with Mina and I, we'll check out the situation in Piccadilly, see if we can work out where the Morlocks are likely to appear and pick a good location for Hyde and the bats to drop in from. If nothing else, at least knowing where they'll show up lets us know where to hit. Nemo, you and Skinner gather some weapons; you'll need them."

"I don't like having to use guns, Mr. Sawyer," Nemo said, looking over at his friend. "I have always preferred close combat personally."

"I know. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to use them if you don't want to, just use them if you have to, OK?" Sawyer said, as he slipped his guns back into his holsters.

"Very well," Nemo said, as he and Skinner headed back into the Nautilus, and Sawyer, Mina, Jekyll and Hartdegen headed for the streets of London. In a few seconds, the four of them were lost in the crowds of London.

*****

"Well, it's certainly... busier than I remember," Jekyll said, looking around himself at the crowds in London. He briefly thought about dropping in on Poole and Utterson once the Morlocks had been stopped, but decided against it; better for the moment if they believed him to be dead.

"Maybe because you mostly came out at night?" Sawyer pointed out. "From what I've read, after you became the original Hyde you only came out of your house as him and spent your time as Jekyll in your rooms."

"Good point," Jekyll nodded, as he nodded at a passing businessman.

"Well, let's get going to Piccadilly," Sawyer said, as he pulled his coat around him in a vain attempt to keep out the cold wind that was blowing. He glanced over at Mina. "Can your bats fly in these conditions?"

"Sawyer, if I can last against two immortals, each of which had a definite advantage over me in either experience or endurance, I think I can handle a little wind," Mina smiled at her lover.

"Great point," Sawyer replied. "Just don't want to run the risk of your bats scratching Hyde with their teeth; I don't think a vampire version of him would be any nicer than the normal one."

"Probably worse," Jekyll put in. "Even he's frightened of needing to drink human blood to survive; he'd hardly be able to go unnoticed if he did that. He's too large to need a normal amount of people to survive; he'd probably kill at least three people a night, he thinks Even on his worse days before the League he only killed one a night."

"You know, I don't quite understand that," Hartdegen said, looking over at the scientist. "How can you hear what Hyde's saying when you and him are two separate people?"

"We're not," Jekyll replied. "He is me, it's just he's a different aspect of me. The serum just lets a different one of us be in control; otherwise, the other one is just heard in the back of our head."

"Ah," Hartdegen said, turning that over in his head. It reminded him of what he'd heard of people with multiple personality problems, except that in those cases the sufferer didn't turn into their other self.

"We're here," Sawyer said, suddenly stopping. Looking around, Mina, Jekyll and Hartdegen saw he was right; in only a few minutes, they'd managed to get straight to Piccadilly in a matter of minutes.

"I looked over the maps of the city in order to know the best routes when tracking the Fantom," Sawyer explained, responding to the other's baffled looks. "By the way, there's an empty house on that side of the fountain; we can use it to get in before the entrance of the Morlocks."

"Not bad, Sawyer," Hartdegen said, nodding at his new friend before examining in the indicated building. It was very high, reaching to five stories above the ground. Plus there was a large hole in one wall on the fourth floor already, limiting the chances of there being any debris to injure innocent people. "Yes, that seems a good place to position ourselves. Good view, plenty of space, and high enough up so that nobody will hear Doctor Jekyll turning into Hyde when he drinks his serum."

"Right," Mina said, as she flexed her fingers briefly. "So, we work out where the Morlocks are going to appear, then what? Just wait for Nemo and Skinner to show up before going up there?"

"Maybe," Sawyer said. "What other option is there?"

Mina looked ready to retaliate, but then something seemed to occur to her. She smiled.

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head, so let's just forget I ever spoke," she said simply, smiling in a disarming manner at Sawyer.

"Agreed!" Sawyer smiled, kissing her briefly on the lips before they split up and began to look around Piccadilly for a likely Morlock arrival-point.

*****

Grabbing one likely looking weapon from the armoury, Skinner turned to Nemo with the weapon in his right hand.

"What's this exactly?" he asked, as he held it up to his eye and looked through the targeting scope.

"I call it a machine-gun, Mr Skinner," Nemo explained, as he slipped a few pistols into his pockets. "It fires off several bullets all at once, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to advance any distance towards you at all." He sighed as he checked his bullet supply. "I wish it was unnecessary for me to have invented this gun, but, since it is, we might as well use it."

"Agreed," Skinner said, as he handed Nemo the gun. They'd laid out a bag for the weapons to be put in, and so far they'd already got in seven extremely large guns. Sawyer was going to have a field day when they got there. Meanwhile, Nemo had picked up a few extra swords, as well as two small daggers; he was prepared to battle the Morlocks, but he would not use a gun unless he had exhausted all his other options.

"Skinner?" Nemo asked, looking up at his friend after putting the gun away. "Have you got any weapons for yourself yet?"

"Oh, I've got a few things in my coat pockets, Nemo my man," Skinner replied, patting his pocket and smiling through his grease paint. "Don't worry about me; I'll be fine."

"Good," Nemo said, as he picked up the bag and shut it. "Well, I believe we have enough weaponry now; it's unlikely the Morlocks will have any weapons of their own, so we don't need that much."

"Great! Well, let's roll," Skinner smiled, as the two of them left the Nautilus. Nemo had left orders with his crew that, in the event of the League failing to show up after three o'clock or fire a flare up into the air by that point, the crew were to leave London and alert the world to the existence of the Morlocks. Therefore, their only real time limit was to stop the Morlocks within about forty-five minutes after their arrival, or at least be close enough to stopping them for it not to matter.

"Here goes nothing," Skinner said, as they began to walk. They had only an hour and a half to get to Piccadilly before the Morlocks, and they didn't even know how much power the Morlocks had behind them.

Well, it wasn't like they hadn't been in that sort of situation before.

*****

"Ah, there you two are!" Sawyer smiled, as the distinctive appearances of Nemo and Skinner appeared in Piccadilly. He was relieved to see them; they only had about half an hour before the Morlocks showed up, and they still hadn't worked out their arrival point. On the plus side, Hartdegen and Jekyll were already waiting for them to appear in the building they'd chosen, so at least some of them were ready.

"Sorry," Nemo said to his friend. "Skinner said that, since he knew London better than I, he should lead the way to Piccadilly. I followed him, mainly to stop him going on all the time, but he kept on making little detours and I had to drag him away."

"Hey, can you blame me if I saw a few nice things while I was walking?" Skinner protested.

"Skinner, you are not a thief anymore. You are a man on whom the fate of the world may one day rest. Stop getting attracted to bright shiny things, OK?" Sawyer said, sounding almost threatening.

"Check," Skinner squeaked, he didn't feel like arguing with a man with several guns on his person. "I'll put it on my To Do list when I get back. In the meantime, how're things down here?"

"Mina's just trying to work out where the Morlocks are going to arrive, and Hartdegen and Jekyll are waiting for their cue to begin."

"Well, I think it would be best if we joined them," Nemo said, as Skinner took the bag of guns from his friend. "After all, there's nothing we can do down here, is there?"

"No, I guess not," Sawyer said, as he briefly took the bag from Skinner and looked inside it before passing it back. "Good job, by the way. Looks like you've got enough bullets there to stop Hyde."

"Don't know about that, but it's definitely enough to stop something big," Skinner said, as he took the bag back. "Well, let's get going."

"Don't forget to arm Hartdegen," Sawyer said, before they started walking. "He hasn't asked for anything, but he'll probably need it before too long."

"I'll remember that," Nemo said, as he and Skinner began to walk.

"The closed building with the hole in the wall's the one you want," Sawyer called after them before they vanished into the crowd.

*****

"The others?" Mina said from behind Sawyer.

"Exactly," he replied, turning around and pecking her on the lips again. "Found something?"

"I believe I have," Mina replied, smiling in that manner that always made Sawyer go weak at the knees. "I think they'll appear directly in the cross- section of those three streets; knowing what Hartdegen has told us of the Uber-Morlock, he'll probably want an overly dramatic arrival, and there would allow him to make an impressive appearance."

"Makes sense," Sawyer said. "Looks like some things about villains never change; no matter how far into the future you go, they'll always have a large ego."

"True," Mina sighed. "Well, let's get going up to the others. We've got everything we need to know now, and they'll need all of us up there."

"Very well," Mina said, as the two of them headed towards the aforementioned building.

*****

Twenty minutes later, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen were sitting with Hartdegen in the building. They'd got themselves positioned in the room with the hole in one wall, but were currently just waiting at the sides of the room to allow Hyde enough room when Jekyll drank his serum.

Skinner had passed his coat and hat along to Sawyer, saying he wanted to be sure they'd be safe until he got them back on, and Jekyll was fingering his serum as he waited for his cue. Nemo had already handed out the weapons; Hartdegen was holding two machine-guns, Sawyer had a few smaller pistols in addition to his normal Winchester and six-shooters, and Skinner had taken the two that were left.

"You are sure this'll work?" Hartdegen asked, looking over at Sawyer.

"Not as sure as I'd like, but what alternative is there?" Sawyer replied. The plan was that, after Hyde had blocked Piccadilly off, Mina's bats would carry the other three down to the ground, and then position themselves around the tops of the piles of rubble to both keep people out and keep the Morlocks in. Mina wasn't sure if that would work during the day (Her powers as a vampire were diminished when the sun was up), but she was prepared to risk it.

Hartdegen pulled out his watch and flicked it open. Skinner, who was sitting nearest to him, noticed an inscription on the inner face of the watch, but no sooner had he read it (TO ALEXANDER, FOREVER. EMMA.), then Hartdegen snapped it shut. "It's time, Doctor," he said to Jekyll.

"V-very well," Jekyll replied, as he pulled the top off his serum and swallowed it. He got up and moved into the centre of the room just before his muscles began to bulge out at an unbelievable rate. His shoulders burst through his shirt to above his head, his head grew thinner as his hair receded, and his arms almost trebled in size. Within only a minute or so, Edward Hyde was ready to battle.

"Are you two ready?" he asked, looking over at Mina and Skinner.

"As we'll ever be," Mina said, as she got up and closed her eyes. Instantly her body vanished, to be replaced by several black bats. As they flapped around Hyde, the guns that showed the location of Skinner got up and flew through the air before landing on Hyde's back. Hyde briefly winced as something knocked his head slightly.

"Skinner, if you're going to be taking a lift on me you'll keep your feet away!" Hyde yelled up at the guns.

"Sorry, Eddie," Skinner said, sounding at least a little apologetic as the bats began to gather around him and Hyde. "Well, let's go!" he said, pointing one of the guns forward.

"Agreed," Hyde replied, as he leapt out of the building in one bound, the bats flapping around his shoulders.

*****

As soon as they heard the crash that had to be from Hyde landing, Sawyer, Nemo and Hartdegen looked out of the building at the sight below them. Hyde, true to form, was making everyone run away simply by walking towards them, while Mina's bats were dive-bombing the stragglers or anyone who looked like standing up to Hyde, no matter how impossible it was that they'd do anything. And as for Skinner, he mostly just took a couple of shots at the heels of some of the other stragglers, managing to get though the entire incident without wounding anybody.

After only a few minutes, Piccadilly Circus was devoid of civilians. As the bats and the guns kept everyone back, Hyde shoved his hands into the streets and pushed forward, churning up all kinds of rubble. In only a few seconds, the street had a large ditch running down the centre, and the former contents of the streets were piled up at the entrances to Piccadilly. After only about two more minutes, every street was blocked off and the League were alone in the Circus.

Looking over the building, Skinner saw that Sawyer, Nemo and Hartdegen were getting down from the building easily enough in the quickest way; they were using the hooked rope that Sawyer had taken while hunting Dracula and were abseiling down the side of the wall, Sawyer at the bottom and Hartdegen at the top.

As Hartdegen's feet touched the ground, he flicked the rope and pulled the hook off the wall. Catching it as it fell, he slipped off his waistcoat, wound the rope around his shoulder, and then slipped his waistcoat on over it.

*****

"Well, that went well," Skinner said, as he jumped off Hyde's back and took his coat and hat back from Sawyer. As he shrugged them on he put his guns into his pockets, but Nemo noted that he seemed to briefly check on something in one of his inside pockets.

"True enough," Sawyer said, as he pulled out his pistols before glancing over at Hartdegen. "Do we conceal ourselves and attack when the Morlocks come out, or just wait here and shoot when they show up?"

"The second one, I think," Hartdegen replied. "They won't be expecting us to be waiting for them when they arrive, and besides, if we can blow up their machine when it arrives we should be able to take them out pretty quickly."

"Right then," Sawyer said as he pulled his rifle off his back and loaded it. "You're sure it'll be over there?" he asked Mina, as he indicated the cross-section of the streets. Hyde may have turned the roads into large ditches, but there were still a few flat spaces where the Morlock's time machine could rest.

"All the evidence points that way."

"Then let's get organised," Sawyer said. As soon as he said that, the League began to dash into certain positions. Hyde and Mina stood at either side of the cross-section of the streets, taking up a combat stance as soon as they were ready; Hartdegen and Sawyer stood beside the fountain in the centre of Piccadilly, aiming their guns directly between Hyde and Mina, and Skinner and Nemo were directly opposite them, Skinner with his guns drawn.

"Everyone comfy?" Sawyer asked, looking down his rifle with his finger twitching over the trigger. The League nodded at him, and visibly tensed up.

*****

Hartdegen only then acknowledging something he hadn't really been paying attention to, being more worried about organising for the Morlock attack. Sawyer was the youngest member of the whole League, and yet they still obeyed his orders without question. He made a mental note to ask about that if he got the chance, but before he could go any further on that line of thought the distortion that he knew showed the arrival of a time machine began to appear in the centre of the League.

"Here goes nothing," Skinner said, as he cocked his guns and aimed them in front of him.

"Remember, I shoot first!" Sawyer called over at his friend...

...Just as the Morlock's time machine appeared.