LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

Dreams of the Damned

Chapter Three

Equal…but Opposite

AN:  Alrighty, just wanted to explain why the previous chapter or two bore so many similarities to the movie:  I wanted to show that history can and often does repeat itself, given the same variables.  However, with the recruitment of Zorro, I'm showing that not everything is the same, and that's also proven very, very well in this chapter.  Now, on with the show.

"You're sure this is the place," an old, shabbily dressed and unkempt looking man with white hair and a long white beard rasped.

"Sure I'm sure, now would ya just pipe down for a second," responded another voice, cockily.  It was tense, nervous perhaps.

"You really need to lighten up, there pal," began a voice recognizable as Edward Nigma's.

"Hey, back off psycho.  I'm doing the best I can here," responded the tense voice.  "Maybe if you didn't dress so loudly we'd all be able to concentrate."

"So says the guy in the white suit," rasped the old man.

"Both of you," came another elderly voice, this one far stronger than the white haired man's, "shut up NOW or I will kill you myself."  This voice had a definite Spanish accent.

"Hey, just because you're back from the dead doesn't make you the leader," responded the cocky voice.

"He's right," came a deep, unearthly voice belonging to a large, well-muscled black man.  "Though I just want to get in there and get this over with."

"Hey," responded the raspy old man, "it's the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen we're dealing with here!  Not a bunch of inexperienced kids!"

"Oh yeah, like you should be talking about kids, Banner."

"Shut up, Nigma."

"Both of you," snarled a voice with a very distinct Egyptian caste, "shut up now!  Nothing from you either, Raze!  We do this now!  They are not ready, they will not know how to deal with us!"

"Fiiinally, someone saying something smart around here," sighed another voice, this one belonging to a scarred man in a police uniform.  "C'mon, let's get 'em, boys.  Remember, separately we've been defeated, but together…together, we can do great things."

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Darian had been up on the conning tower when he'd seen the gathering.  They came out of an alleyway while everyone else was getting the ship ready to go.  He recognized the Riddler immediately, and guessed that the others were buddies of his by the way they were hanging around.  "Uh, guys…I think you might want to take a look at this," he called down loudly.

"What is it, Darian," Alex groaned, coming up to the tower and then stopping dead.  His eyes grew wide as he scanned the crowd, recognizing only one of the assembled gatherings.  The man that stood in the uniform of a decorated police captain, with scars like his own running down his face.  But the colors were inverted, this guy was ebon black were Alex was white, and white where Alex had scarring.  "Lazarus," he whispered, shocked.

Bruce was the next to make his way up.  He'd managed to procure a new shirt from Indiana, but as soon as he saw what Darian was talking about, he knew he would be losing it again.  For before him stood David Banner, his father, and the man was grinning like the maniacal son of a bitch he was.

Next up to join the apparently haunted gathering was Selene.  "Oh, you men and your melodramatics," she mumbled, shoving in between Alex and Darian.  She hissed suddenly and reached for her guns.  "Raze."

"Guys, do you think we could get back to work," Robin grumbled, stepping up next to Alex.  "I mean, seriously, what could be…so…important…nevermind."  He reached for a Batarang but held onto it, not yet knowing who the rest were and not wanting to chance setting anything off.

Bob came up next, silent as always, figuring that his new friends had a good reason to be lollygagging about up here.  Turns out, they were right.  He took the opposite side of Robin and was astounded to see a man he recognized almost immediately.  The man was in a white suit, with little, stubby horns poking out of the top of his head.  He had black hair and a malicious smirk on his face.  In his hand, he carried a golf club.  "Hiya, Bob.  Bet you didn't think you'd see you're old pal Azrael again, did you," the man – no, demon – called up.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud, what could be so damn interesting up here?"  Indy himself shoved his way through the group on the tower, upset that most of the League was up here being lazy instead of helping out.  He stopped in mid sentence and found his blood running cold when he spied a face he recognized from a story he'd heard once.  "Im Ho Tep…he's real?"

Finally, out came Zorro, who had by this point decided something was seriously amiss.  His hand was on the hilt of his rapier, ready to draw at a moments notice.  Which was good, because when he looked over the railing, he saw his former master, ex-Zorro, Diego de la Vega standing there…but with Dracula's mark on his forehead and an evil grin on his face.

As one, the League looked confused.  Villains they'd either heard of or defeated at some point were all standing in front of them – together – and that, to them, meant only one thing.

They had banded together.

"So," Azrael began, "I guess you guys are wondering why we're all standing here."

"Oh, heeeere it comes," Lazarus groaned, rolling his eyes.

"You're too melodramatic, Azrael," Raze quipped, though he did appear to be amused at the confused faces of the League.

"Just get on with it, fools," Im Ho Tep growled.  "We do not have all day."

"Oh, for the love of," David growled, "I'll handle this."  He stepped forward, while absorbing the pavement.  He began to grow and become the pavement, until a large fist slammed into the boat and rocked it backwards.  Bruce grabbed onto the railing and groaned.  "That's right Bruce, get angry.  Release your inner self.  I won't make the same mistake I did last time!"

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Meanwhile, Azrael smirked and glanced to Raze.  "Mind giving me a ride, big guy?"  Raze growled at him, but all the same, he flung away his clothes and transformed into his Lycan form.  Azrael was forced to grab onto Raze's large arm as the Lycan jumped, but they both made it onto the ship, so it wasn't too bad.  Selene opened fire immediately, while Bob ducked in and swung at Azrael, a white light glinting off of the steel bat.

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Im Ho Tep grinned as a wicked wind kicked up.  Indy found himself being knocked off balance by the strong gusts, and then completely blown off of the ship.  Im Ho Tep began to dissolve into sand and rise up like a wave, ready to smash down on the intrepid explorer when he got low enough to the ground…

…and then a large, green hand shot out and caught him.  Indy found himself being launched, as gently as Hulk could (which isn't much, mind you) THROUGH Im Ho Tep.  Indy rolled with the fall and immediately ducked behind the most readily available cover – a building.  "Okay…he can become sand.  I can handle sand.  Just so long as he can't become a snake.  THAT…would be bad."

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Robin flipped off of the boat, intending to land in a crouch and follow that up with a few swift Batarangs aimed for the Riddler's head…but instead, he found himself being smacked like a baseball by the Riddler's staff.  He grunted in pain and staggered back, though he had the presence of mind to bring up his guard.  Which was lucky, given the stiff kick Nigma tried to follow his swing up with.  Robin caught his foot and grinned before shoving him backward and then following that up with a rising kick of his own.

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Hulk, having saved his temporary benefactor, moved on to dealing with his scum of a father.  Sure, Hulk didn't think of it like that; in fact, his thoughts were more along the lines of "rock, smash" but the sentiment was there, nonetheless.  It seemed the elder Banner was having trouble removing his currently rock fist from the boat, so Hulk took this opportunity to leap onto it and start battering away.  He was having success, but what he didn't see was the maniacal grin that spread across the rocky face as David Banner began to absorb his son's energy and BECOME his own Hulk, of sorts.

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Selene growled at Raze.  "You'll pay for what you did to Michael."  Raze just roared in return, before charging forward.  Selene was definitely the most agile of the pair, so she was able to leap over the railing and down onto the streets of the Mexican city they'd docked at, but then Raze was on her, and she had to slam backwards into a wall to get him off.  She immediately spun and fired, hitting Raze with three regular AG rounds.  Raze roared at her, and Selene let her fangs drop down and return a hiss of her own.

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Bob and Azrael were locked in heated combat on the tower, feinting, blocking, thrusting, and slamming, each swing intended to bludgeon the other into death.  "This is what you get for fucking with a demon, moron!"  Bob merely curled his lips in a snarl before thrusting suddenly, slamming the top of his bat into Azrael's gut.  The demon staggered back, the wind knocked out of him, and Bob followed it up with a rising swing to the chin that sent Azrael toppling over the side of the tower.

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"So, my pupil, you've taken up with some new friends," de la Vega stated, smirking.  "I always thought you would drop into the wrong crowd.  I just never thought it would be as one of them."

"You are not my teacher," Zorro returned, choking up.  "You are a demon in his skin, and I will slay you!"  Zorro stepped forward, thrusting hard, but de la Vega dodged to the left easily, bringing his blade down to guard against another such attack.

"Oh, you will, will you," the elder of the two returned.  "Not with that sloppy technique.  I believe the drinking has gone to your head, my old friend."

"I do not know you," Zorro growled, slashing at a downward angle in a feint, spinning to the left to avoid the attack he had known would come, and then thrusting forward.  Diego dodged to the right, but gasped sharply as he found that he hadn't been quick enough to dodge the entire attack.  The cut was deep, but superficial, and would heal.

"Apparently not," Diego chuckled.  "I was under the impression I had taught you how to use that thing, but apparently, I was wrong."  He chuckled deeply and added, "You are still merely a child, Alejandro.  You are merely a child make believing he is the real thing."

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Bob was about to follow Azrael down when he felt a hand grab his collar from behind.  He was yanked backwards and spun, to face…no one.  "Bob, it's me," Darian whispered sharply.  "Listen, these guys are too much for us right now.  We're not going to win.  I know it and you would too, if you weren't so damned caught up in your anger to think.  We have to get out of here.  I'm going to go get the others.  You better have this thing ready to go by then, because if not, I don't think we're going to make it to Transylvania."  Bob almost looked like he was going to argue, but then his face cleared of anger, replaced with realization.  He nodded sharply and ran back into the ship, while Darian headed towards the closet member of the League…Robin.

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Nigma had been mounting a comeback, slamming Robin with some hard hits from both his staff and his fists.  Robin was holding his own, but steadily giving ground, getting close to the water, where Nigma noticed that Azrael was waiting.  The demon had a smirk on his face, and Nigma began to mirror it as Robin got closer and closer to the edge of the docks.  Just then, Nigma was thrown to the right, ending up sprawled out on the ground.  "Behind you," Darian's voice growled, and Robin spun to see Azrael launching himself out of the water, club raised high, intended to be a sharp, quick strike to the head.  Robin sidestepped quickly and swept out his foot, tripping Azrael up and sending him straight into Darian's line of attack.  Darian, now holding the Riddler's staff, delivered yet another rising strike to Azrael's chin, this one knocking him hopelessly unconscious.  Nigma was struggling to get up until Darian attacked him in a similar fashion.  "Two down," Darian grumbled.

"Help me with the others!  We have to work as a team if we want to beat them," Robin exclaimed, glancing around to find the Leaguer in need of the most aid.  "Where's Bob?"

"Getting the ship ready," Darian returned, chucking Nigma's staff onto his prone body.  "Once we're done here, we'll need a quick exit."  Robin nodded and the two then looked to Selene, who appeared to be having some trouble with Raze.

"I have an idea," Robin stated.

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"Michael had done nothing wrong," Selene snapped loudly, her voice carrying over the constant gunfire that sounded from her weapons.  "Nothing!  And you murdered him!"  Raze didn't bother to dignify that with so much as a growl.  "Shit," the beautiful vampiress cursed, "need to reload!"  Robin ducked in to act as cover almost as if on cue.

"Selene," he whispered sharply.  "Do you have any silver bladed weapons?"

"Yes, why," she snapped, not wanting to be interrupted.

"Throw it at him and miss."

"What," she asked, her head shooting up sharply.  "Miss?  Are you insane?"

"Just trust me!"  Selene stared hard at Robin for a moment, and then her hand shot inside of her coat.  Robin sidestepped just in time to see a gleaming silver blade whiz by his head.  Just as Robin had asked, she missed, and the blade stuck in the wall behind Raze.  "Now watch," Robin stated softly.

"Watch for wha – oh."  The blade was yanked out of the wall by an invisible hand.  It then surged forward and slammed into Raze's back.  The Lycan howled in fury and flailed, trying to get the blade out or perhaps trying to shred his assailant, but to no avail.  Selene charged forward while Robin readied a net, and as soon as Selene had pushed the Lycan over, Robin tossed the net.  "That was a good plan," Selene breathed, and then pointed over to Zorro.  "Robin, get him!  He's far too proud to retreat from a fight like that on his own.  Darian and I will get the others."  Robin nodded and the trio split up, Selene and Darian heading towards the rather back and forth fight between Alex and Lazarus and Robin heading towards Zorro and…well, ex-Zorro.

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"Nice stab, kid," Lazarus growled, and then laughed as the wound closed up.  "Damn, this is going to take forever."

"I've got forever for you, bastard," Alex spat.

"Hey, I told ya kid, didn't I?  I told you I'd come back, just like you – a big fucking shit spewing bird."  He gave a faux bow that served the purpose of both infuriating Alex and dodging a lunge and then slammed an uppercut into Alex's jaw.  "I'm the one that doesn't go down, remember?  Can't kill me just like I can't kill you.  Why are we even wasting our time?"

"If I kill your bird," Alex returned, "I kill you."

"Yeah, vice versa for me," Lazarus stated.  "I kill your bird, you die."  He grinned and dodged to the left to avoid an angry stab.  "Wanna know the difference between you and me, kid?"  Without waiting for a response, Lazarus reached inside his coat and pulled out a gun, immediately opening fire.  "I have a gun!"

"Oh yeah," Darian returned, slapping the gun up into the air before catching it and spinning it so that it faced an albino crow, perched on a rooftop.  "Now I have a gun."  Lazarus bolted forward, but Selene slammed into him from the side, sending him flying through the wall of a warehouse before coming to rest inside.  The bird took off, and try as he might, Darian couldn't get a good shot.

"Don't bother," Alex growled before pointing to where Indy was whipping desperately at debris blown up by Im Ho Tep's winds.  "Let's go get him!"

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Meanwhile, Robin was having a tough time with Zorro.  "I'm telling you," the Boy Wonder was saying, "this isn't worth it!  You can't kill him, not like this, all you'll do is get yourself killed!"

"What do you know of it, boy," Alejandro spat without looking at Robin.  He blocked a slash from de la Vega, barely, and Robin took that opportunity to grab him and throw him backwards.

"What do I know of it?  I've seen two father figures killed – one my real father, the other a father in everything but blood – and I know what it's like to lose one!  I lost an entire family," Robin raged.  "But I had to pick and choose my battles, or I would have wound up as dead as they are!"  Zorro threw Robin out of the way to avoid a thrust by Diego, almost getting hit himself.  Robin growled and grabbed Zorro.  "Fine, if you want to do this the hard way," he shot out sharply.  Robin launched his grappling hook onto the tower and the two were pulled upwards.  At the same time, he sent a Batarang down on an unsuspecting de la Vega, who had to flee to avoid further pelting.  Without waiting for Zorro to so much as utter a word, Robin shoved the man into the waiting arms of Brody and then looked to where Selene, Darian, and Alex were running.  He followed their path and saw Indy get hit with a small, round table that sent him reeling backwards.  "Damn it," Robin growled, launching his hook yet again, this time sticking it to the roof of a building.  He then took a running leap off the tower, pumping his legs forward to add to the momentum.  He detached the hook and backflipped, landing squarely on Hulk's shoulders.  The monster started to flail around, but identified Robin as friend and stopped.  Robin whispered something to him, Hulk nodded, and then launched the two of them towards Im Ho Tep.

"What are they doing," Selene shouted above the roaring of the winds.

"Something smart," Alex shot back.  "Look!"  He pointed at Robin, who was yanking a book from Im Ho Tep's hands.  Hulk kicked the Egyptian man backwards, sending him careening through three buildings.  The winds died down, and Indy came bolting out of his cover behind a McDonalds.  Hulk and Robin both began taunting Im Ho Tep, who responded by forming himself into a large wave of sand intent on slapping down ontop of the pair.  Hulk spun then and launched them upwards, landing on his father's shrinking arm.  Im Ho Tep realized too late what was happening, and just before he slammed down, Hulk jumped once more, getting both of them clear.  Im Ho Tep smacked down on top of the elderly Banner, who ended up with his own absorbing powers being used against him.  Banner's powers rendered him into Im Ho Tep's sand.  Im Ho Tep couldn't transform back until Banner was able to focus on absorbing something else, and Banner couldn't do that until Im Ho Tep managed to pull enough of himself back together.

The League, seeing their opportunity, bolted back to The Sword, which promptly left the dock as soon as the entire League was aboard.

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"I don't believe this," James Bond stated, his voice dripping with disapproval on the computer screen.  "We tell you to do a simple thing-"

"We were defending ourselves," Jones growled back, interrupting Bond.  "What choice did we have?  They just popped up out of an alley, it was either fight or die, and there's no way in hell I was prepared to die!"

"The Mexican government is going to be all over this by midnight," Bond shot back.

"Tell them to deal with it!  It's not like much was damaged-"

"Oh, of course, just a dock and four buildings!"  This time, Bond had cut Jones off.  "Not to mention you broadcasted your abilities in broad daylight!  Be lucky no one had cameras or camcorders handy, because if they had-"

"They would've had pictures to show their grandkids," Jones bellowed.  "Bond, just calm down.  We did what we had to do, no more, and we ended it quickly.  If you want us to do our job, you've gotta give us the leeway to do what we have to do to stay alive long enough to get to Transylvania."  Jones then waved angrily.  "We're done."  The web cam feed cut off, and Indy imagined that Bond would be sighing heavily from wherever he was.  Indy got up and stretched, and then jumped when Darian, still invisible, tapped him on his shoulder.  "Damnit Darian, don't do that!"

"Oops," Darian laughed, suddenly becoming visible again.  "Sorry.  Listen, I just came by to let you know Bruce is back to being normal.  Selene's with him, Zorro's brooding, Bob's smoking up in the game room, Alex said he was going to listen to music in his room, and Robin's just wandering the halls."  He sighed and shook his head.  "The kid looks haunted.  I think you should talk to him."

"Me," Indy returned, incredulous.  "Why me?"

"He needs a new role model.  He's been looking to you for that since the fight at Alex's place," Darian explained.  "It's obvious.  You need to talk to the kid, he'll listen to you."

"And he won't listen to the rest of you?"

"Only Selene, and she's in no hurry to get close to anyone," Darian replied.

"Yeah, yeah," Indy groaned.  "I'm goin'."

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Indy found Robin pacing the halls, hands laced behind his back.  "Heya kid."

"Oh.  Um…hey."  Robin appeared to be lost in his own little world, and Indy understood completely.  He'd been there a few times himself.

"Hey, you did good back there," the elder of the two stated.  'Oh, great job Indiana' he scolded himself mentally.

"Really?"

"'Course.  That was a good plan you came up with, forcing Banner to absorb Im Ho Tep."

"Well, it was just a spur of the moment thing-"

"It was a good spur of the moment thing.  You did a good job with Zorro too, most people would've either been too afraid or too damn sensitive to just grab the guy and yank him out of there."  The pair walked in silence for a few moments.

"Indy," Robin began.  "Thanks."

"Hey," Indy replied, clapping Robin on the shoulder, "no problem, kid.  You saved my ass back there.  Hopefully I'll be able to repay the favor."  Robin smiled, and so did Indy.  "C'mon, let's go get the others together.  We've got to talk about how we're going to get to Transylvania."