Disclaimer: 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' movie is copyright of 20th Century Fox. No infringement is intended.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
By Etcetera Kit
Chapter Six: Landing In Egypt
"Oi! Sawyer!"
Tom shook himself from a light sleep. The last thing he remembered was sitting down at Nemo's desk and burying his face in his arms. And what that was jabbing in his ribs? He looked over to his left side. Skinner was poking him in the side. Tom swatted his hand away.
"Shove off!"
"The captain wants us in the dining room."
"Why?"
"I don't know!"
Sawyer sat up and looked around the room. Golden sunlight was pouring in the windows of Nemo's office. The office itself looked much the way it had when he had fallen asleep. The piece of paper was still where it had been on the desk, no one willing to touch it. His rifle was still across his lap. Nemo's gun was still lying on the bookshelf where he had left it at first light. Skinner began tapping his foot loudly.
"All right!" Tom said loudly and stood up. "I'm assuming we caught the intruder."
To his eternal surprise, Skinner did not give a cheeky remark or make some comment on the inability of Nemo and his crew to catch one intruder. The invisible man shifted from one foot to another. "In a way."
Sawyer rolled his eyes and followed Skinner out of the office and down the hall to the dining room. And he stopped dead in the doorway. Allan Quartermain was sitting at the dining room table with Nemo, Jekyll and Mina, carrying on a quite pleasant conversation. 'We've died,' was the only thought Sawyer had. 'Someone blew up the ship and we've all died. That is the only way that this is possible.' The conversation slowly came to a halt as everyone acknowledged Skinner and Sawyer's presence.
Allan looked the same as he did before he died. He stood up and crossed the room to Sawyer. Tom felt like fainting. It wasn't possible. No one came back from the dead- ever! They had to have died. He took a step backwards and ran straight into the butler.
"Excuse me, Mr. Sawyer!" the butler said in a highly accented voice so it came out more as, 'Exscoose me, Meester Soyer.' The butler looked up at Allan. "Ah! Mr. Quartermain! I was wondering if you would like the same chambers you had during the last voyage." The short little Indian fellow was dressed in all white, complete with a turban and towel over his arm. Sawyer sluggishly got out of the butler's way because he was known to hit people over the head that did not move immediately.
Allan smiled at the butler. "That will be fine, Hasaan."
The butler bowed and backed out of the room. Tom stood rooted to the spot, staring at Allan as if he had seen a ghost. Skinner shoved him in the shoulder.
"He's not a ghost, Sawyer," Skinner said matter-of-factly. To prove his point, Skinner walked up to Quartermain and poked him in the arm. "See, I can't go through him, so he must not be a ghost." Allan swatted Skinner's hand away.
"Skinner, shut-up," he growled.
"Why is everyone always telling me to shut-up? What do I say that everyone finds so irritating? Why don't you tell Sawyer to shut-up?"
"Because Sawyer doesn't run his mouth off all the time," Quartermain replied through clenched teeth.
Skinner muttered something under his breath and threw himself down in the chair next to Mina. She rolled her eyes, obviously sick of Skinner trying to sit next to her all the time. She scooted her chair closer to Jekyll, who was on the other side of her. Sawyer was too distracted to even notice or care.
"How?" he asked Allan weakly.
"The witch doctor," Quartermain replied simply. "I have been sent back until my task is complete."
"Oh," Sawyer nodded, not knowing what else to do. Quartermain grabbed his upper arm and guided him to a chair before he lost all control of his muscles. Tom sagged in the chair across from Jekyll. Allan sat next to him.
"Captain, we're coming into port," the new first mate on the Nautilus said.
"Excellent," Nemo said, standing up and striding to the control room. "Everyone be ready to go ashore in half an hour."
The occupants of the room stood up and within a few seconds the entire dining room was devoid of life except for Sawyer. It was only then that he chose to fall over.
This hotel is gorgeous, Mina thought to herself as she walked to the large floor-to-ceiling windows in her room. Whoever Nemo's contact at the hotel was had put them in a series of suites on the top floor of the hotel. The rooms were lavishly furnished with every luxury one could imagine, including the modern bathrooms. A meeting room was also reserved specifically for their use and they could meet there or even eat dinner without fear of some undesirable person overhearing their plans. It was, in fact, a brilliant set-up. The owner and manager had not been in the least way shocked to see Nemo or the rest of the League. And the presence of a known pirate and an invisible man they just took in stride.
They would spend three days here. The League could do as they pleased, provided that no one got arrested. They could see the sights, visit the pyramids and cities, while the crew was replenishing the supplies and doing routine maintenance on the ship. And then there was Allan. She had been more shocked at seeing Allan again than she was embarrassed at being caught in a less-than-proper situation. It was the same for Henry. Once they had realized it really was Allan and not some trick of the mind, the full implications of what he might think had set in. But Mr. Q had smiled and told them to get to their rooms and get dressed. He would explain everything on the way to the dining room.
She strongly suspected that he had something to do with the fact and she and Henry had adjoining rooms. The rooms were connected by a door located inside the rooms. They could come and go in each other's rooms and no one would be the wiser.
"The view is lovely." Mina whipped around and then relaxed. It was Henry. He smiled apologetically at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's all right."
The rooms on their side of the hallway had a view of the marketplace and from a distance the bright colors and tents and classic marketplace paraphernalia gave it a romantic charm. The rooms across the hall had a view of the alleyway between the hotel and the building next door. She had heard Skinner and Sawyer out in the hallway complaining about it.
"Allan has called a meeting before lunch."
She smiled as Henry crossed the room to her and pulled her into his arms. She settled against his chest and sighed, glad that Mr. Q had not told anyone yet. For now, she wanted it to remain their secret. No one needed to know the details about how Mr. Q had found them although she was sure it would amuse Skinner to no end and give him harassment ammunition for months, perhaps years.
"Why?"
Henry shrugged. "I don't know. I was just instructed to pass on the message." He paused. "Were you surprised to see Allan again?"
"Around this bunch? I've come to expect anything to happen."
He laughed. "You have a point."
"What time is the meeting?"
"Eleven-thirty. We have-" He took out his pocket watch and looked at it. "Twenty minutes."
"I suppose we can think of something to do with twenty minutes."
He inclined his head towards her. "I suppose we can."
The meeting room was about the same size as the dining room on the Nautilus. The only difference was the rich, dark colors and thick brocade fabrics everywhere as opposed to the gleaming white decor on the ship. Sawyer leaned back in his chair and surveyed everyone else sitting around the table- the usual group with some exceptions. Allan was at the head of the table with Nemo sitting to his left. Tom, himself, was to his right and Skinner next to him. The only ones missing were Jekyll and Mina. Of course, Mina was usually late, but Jekyll? That man was never late.
What Allan had told him since they settled in the hotel had shocked and unnerved Sawyer. The pretense of why he had been sent back, how that was even possible and how he knew so much all of a sudden was swimming in his mind. None of it seemed possible and then the old mantra of 'anything happens around here' kept repeating itself through his mind. His companions were, in every sense of the phrase, extraordinary gentlemen.
The door burst open and Mina and Jekyll hurried in the room. They both looked flushed and slightly rumpled as if they had run some way to get here and hurried to look presentable. And their joined hands did not go past Sawyer. He glanced to Allan.
"So sorry," Jekyll began to apologize. "We lost track of the time."
"I'm sure you did," Quartermain said, trying to hide his amused grin. "Sit down." They took the empty seats next to Nemo.
Tom felt his mood blacken. Mina had told him that she did not want a relationship with him or Jekyll and here she was making every pretense that she was doing something with Jekyll. What was Jekyll that he wasn't? 'Lots of things,' an inner voice told him, but he pushed it away as soon as it came. Something had to be straightened out here.
"Sawyer, contain your jealousy," Quartermain hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
His mouth dropped open in amazement. How did Quartermain know about any of that? Or what did Quartermain suspect?
"I think Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Harker have something to tell us," Allan continued as if this was the normal way to start any conversation. He also sounded more like a father coaxing something into the open that would result in hurts if left unsaid.
"We do?" Mina asked, looking confused.
"Or would you prefer I tell them."
"Er-" Jekyll trailed off without saying anything. The pair of them suddenly looked flustered and extremely embarrassed. Sawyer narrowed his eyes.
"Is the term 'engaged' or 'lovers'?" Allan prompted.
A pink flush appeared high in Mina's cheek bones while Jekyll's eyes nearly popped out of his head. The doctor made several noises in the back of his throat but nothing coherent. Sawyer suddenly wished that something very bad would happen to Jekyll.
"Ah… we hadn't decided… yet…" Jekyll trailed off yet again.
"A wedding?" Skinner asked, his voice sounding pleased. "Oh I love weddings! Drinks all around!"
"Skinner, shut-up!" Quartermain growled.
"It's true?" Sawyer asked, standing up. Mina nodded weakly. "But I thought you said-"
"Things change, Tom," she quickly cut him off.
"YOU SAID IT LAST NIGHT!" he yelled.
"Sawyer, sit down!" Allan said loudly and stood up. He then pushed Tom back into his chair. "Please remain seated."
Skinner, on the other hand, was having the complete opposite reaction from Sawyer. He was shaking with silent laughter and pointed one gloved finger at Jekyll. "We have to get him drunk now," he said through rib-cracking laughter.
Tom scowled, his emotions running back into the spiral. Allan was back, sure, but Allan was not going to stay. He had thought that Mina liked him enough to consider a relationship and in the space of less than twenty-four hours Quartermain was asking Mina and Jekyll if they were going to remain lovers or actually get engaged. He felt a the slow burn of jealous hatred start in his heart and spread out all the way to his fingertips and toes. Jekyll was nothing! He was quiet, weak (unless he was Hyde), nothing like the way a proper man should be! A proper American man, an inner voice said. Jekyll was nervous and twitchy and… a… coward! The only thing that him anything worth respecting was the fact that he could change into Hyde!
God, they had played him for a fool. But not anymore. They could take their little love affair and their lives and stay away from him!
"Almost makes me wish I was the one lost with Mina last night," Skinner muttered.
Sawyer snapped his head towards Skinner. "What?"
"I was just saying that I almost wish I was the one lost with Mina last night," Skinner repeated and then looked in the direction of Henry and Mina. "But they do look well together."
He looked the same way as Skinner and, with a sick feeling in his stomach, he had to admit that Skinner was right this time. Hell, they even had the same hair color.
"Oi! You all right?" Skinner poked his side.
"Do you have any idea how irritating that is?" Sawyer asked him impatiently.
The thief just shrugged. "It gets your attention." He paused. "But look on the bright side, we can throw Jekyll a bachelor's party and get him stinking drunk. Imagine the possibilities!"
Sawyer raised an eyebrow. "Can you imagine Jekyll drunk?"
"Yes," Skinner said with satisfaction. "And it is the funniest thing in the world!"
"I'll bet."
The angry ball of fire that had ripped through his very soul began to cool down, leaving him with a weak achy feeling. He wasn't angry or envious, he was just sad, sad that he had lost any chance he had with a woman who intrigued him.
"Gentlemen!" Nemo called, getting everyone's attention. It never failed to amaze Sawyer how six people could turn a seemingly peaceful table into a wild cacophony.
"We're going to split up when we get out of Egypt," Quartermain said.
"Why?" Sawyer asked.
"You'll see."
Skinner elbowed Sawyer in the ribs. Sawyer shrugged in return. Quartermain stood up, indicating the meeting was over. "That's the most pointless meeting I've ever been to in my life," Skinner declared.
Sawyer had to agree with him. Whatever was going on, it certainly was being kept a good secret.
The doors to the meeting room opened and the first mate came in. Behind him were two other crew members, holding an armful of maps and rolled up papers. It looked like Nemo and his crew were calculating their next course of action, because Quartermain joined them in a little huddle around one end of the table, indicating that no one else was invited. He gave one last glance to Mina and saw her and Henry smiling at each other… Sawyer shook himself inwardly. He had lost her and he was sad… even though he never really had her in the first place…
Henry whispered something to Mina and they left the room.
Nemo and the crew had compasses and rulers out and were listening intently to the murmurings of Quartermain as he pointed out places on the map.
"Come on! Let's go!" Skinner urged him, picking up the habit of poking his side.
Sawyer swatted his hand away. Skinner looked over were he was watching Allan
"Allan will be here when we see him again. What are you so worried about? That he's going to die again?"
Sawyer nodded. "Actually, yes." He watched Quartermain for another moment before turning and following Skinner from the meeting room. The invisible man studied Sawyer's door.
"Damn! I can't booby trap it! There's an actual lock!" Skinner walked over to the door of his room and took one glance back at Sawyer. "Don't let all this trouble you mate. We'll get Jekyll nice and drunk and we can remind him of it when's he's got twelve kids who worship him."
Skinner gave him a cheerful wave and the gentleman thief's forever parting wisdom. "Things are looking up, eh old chap?"
Sawyer went into his room and for the second time that day, he fell over.To Be Continued...
