The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Dreams of the Damned
Chapter Six
Saviors
AN: Well, I hope that last chapter answered some of your questions. Not sure how long this story is going to go on for, but I've already got the ending and sequel planned, so it probably won't go for more than another three or four chapters. After that, it'll be my first complete story, so YAY! Okay, moment over, lol. Back to your regularly scheduled story.
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While the rest of the League was off being betrayed by someone that was supposed to be a friend, the aptly dubbed Three Amigos were finishing up the joint on the conning tower. Hulk had long since become Bruce Banner again, and Bruce had immediately wandered away from the other two. He had ventured down into the quiet of the inner decks somewhere over half an hour ago, and Darien and Indy were beginning to realize something. "Hey, Indy," Darien slurred, "duncha think the rest of 'em should be back by now?"
"Yeah," Indy replied after taking a heavy puff of the joint, "I mean, they were just goin' to find that lady, um…Har…Har…Har-something, right?"
"Yeah," Darien replied. "Think maybe we should go check and see if Brucey's doin' okay down there?"
"Yeah," Indy returned, and the pair of them tossed the rest of the joint off the tower before pushing themselves up from their positions on the ground, dusting themselves off, and heading inside. "Man…it's really quiet in here."
"Kill kill kill kill," Darien hissed, and Indy laughed. "If that Scream idiot jumps out at me, I'm kickin' his ass."
"I'll help," Indy offered, and they peered around a corner to make sure no one was there before striding confidently down the hallway. "Hey, isn't it kinda quiet in here?"
"Yeah, it is," Darien returned. "You'd think they'd make a little more noise than this."
"Maybe they're not back yet," Indy replied.
"Not back yet? They have to be back, all they were doing was getting that Har lady." After a few moments of silence, Indy glanced at Darien.
"But they're not," the explorer said, his voice sounding a bit more clear and less effected than it had a moment ago. "They said they'd let us know when they were back, remember?"
"Yeah…yeah, you're right," Darien stated, rubbing his head to try and clear it. "That was a while ago, too. Maybe…an hour ago?"
"That's right," Indiana agreed. "They should definitely be back by now."
"C'mon, let's go talk to Bond," Darien suggested. "After we find Bruce."
"No need," Bruce replied, coming around the corner. "I just wanted to change, and then I was trying to look for you two."
"Well, we're going to talk to Bond," Indiana explained, rubbing his temple to get rid of the headache that was coming on.
"Alright," Bruce said, and then looked around a minute. "There's nobody else on the ship, is there?"
"Apparently not," Darien stated, adding in a slight sigh towards the end of the sentence. The trio walked in silence the rest of the way there, mulling over what had happened as well as what was said while everyone was high. Darien was the quickest walker of the three, and he pushed open the door and held it for the other two to go in first. Indy took a seat in front of the webcam, Bruce pulled up a chair nearby, and Darien leaned up against the wall. Indiana typed in the password for the signaler, and within moments, he was facing a rather shocked Bond.
"Jones," Bond queried. "What's going on?"
"Well, Mr. Bond, that's what we're here to ask you," Indiana explained.
"Where are the others?"
"They left us here," Darien cut in quickly. "They said they needed people to watch The Sword in case Dracula or anybody else attacked. They figured that since they were just going to pick up Mrs…um…."
"Harker," Bruce added in swiftly, covering up for Darien's lack of memory, "Since they were just going to pick up Mrs. Harker, they didn't need everybody, and it was better to be on the safe side and leave the three of us here."
"They left the leader here," Bond asked, raising his left eyebrow questioningly.
"Who do you think had the idea," Indy returned, mocking Bond by sticking up his eyebrow in an exaggerated manner.
"Why are your eyes bloodshot," Bond queried after a moment. When Indy tried to stumble over himself to explain, Bond waved it off. "Oh, don't even bother. You were high, that's why the others left you here."
"Well," Bruce began, trailing off.
"Yeah," Darien replied. "That's why."
"So where are the others," Indy asked again.
"I can only assume they are trying to convince Mrs. Harker to join us, and taking a much longer time than expected." Silence descended on the room for all of a minute.
"We'll head out to look for them," Bruce stated, slipping out of the room.
"Yeah," Darien agreed, following behind Bruce. Indy was about to shut the webcam off when Bond stopped him with a look.
"Mr. Jones," the super-spy stated in an amused tone, "you might want to apply a few eye drops first."
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"Alright," Darien stated, looking at the map that had been drawn from Bond's instructions, "it says we have to take a left here."
"Too bad you won't make it any farther," Azrael's familiar voice rang out. "And you were so close, too." The demon clambered out from behind a bush, looking rather upset at having to hide behind it. "I swear to Satan, Dracula and I are going to have to have a talk about where he assigns high ranking demons to hide," Azrael complained.
"Bruce, go on ahead," Darien stated, handing Bruce the map.
"What if there's more there," Bruce questioned.
"Hulk out," Darien offered. "We need the others if the rest of the anti-League is here."
"Anti-League," Azrael mused. "I like that. Thanks, addict. I'll have to take that one up with fangboy, too." Bruce reluctantly took the map, but didn't go anywhere. "Oh, go ahead, nerd. Not like there's anything you or your Jolly Green Giant can do to help your friends."
"What do you mean," Indiana asked, taking a bold step forward to distract Azrael from Indy's right hand, which was reaching for his gun.
"That house is poisoning them. They don't even know it." Indy's gun snapped out and he fired on Azrael, but in a lightning flash of movement, Azrael brought the golf club up and deflected the bullet. Bruce took off running, while Darien slipped into invisible mode. Indy yanked his whip out of its holder and attempted to crack it at Azrael's face. Azrael dodged to the side and tried to thrust in with his golf club, aiming for Indiana's gut. Indiana leapt backwards and cracked his whip around the club, and as soon as his whip had wrapped up around it, the explorer gave it a good yank and the club flew from Azrael's hand. Azrael growled and shot forward, tackling Jones and sending his gun skittering across the ground. He gripped Indiana's hat and yanked it off, placing it on his own head. "Nice hat." Indiana decked him right between the eyes, sending the demon rolling off of him and falling into unconscious. Indy reached down and grabbed his hat, placing it triumphantly back on his head.
"It looks better on me."
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Bruce ran swiftly through the forest surrounding Mrs. Harker's mansion, trying to break through the seemingly never-ending line of trees. He wasn't built for this kind of thing, what with his already low endurance and lack of physical fitness. What was worse was that he could hear someone following him, but every time he looked back, he saw nothing at all. He was really beginning to get worried, but unfortunately, worry didn't unleash Hulk. "Bruce," hissed a familiar voice from nowhere, "it's me."
"Dar…ien," Bruce gasped heavily, starting to slow down. He found himself being shoved forward.
"No, don't stop! I'm not the only one back here! I saw Nigma take off after you while Azrael distracted Indy, so I took off after him. Thank god both of you science guys aren't all that fit."
"Thanks," Bruce managed to growl out, even as Harker's mansion came into view.
"Don't worry about Nigma, I'll handle him, you just keep going! Get the others!" Darien flew off to the side, and a moment later, Bruce saw the Riddler fly out of the forest and land hard on his back. He knew he had to get through whatever was in that house; his two friends had cleared his way.
It wasn't until he ran into the steel door that he realized that instead of getting through what was in the house, he might need to get through the house itself.
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Bob's head shot up as he heard a thumping against the metal of the door. Robin dropped his cards and hopped over his chair, Alex a second behind. Selene was rushing to the door, while Zorro was drawing his blade, in case what was knocking was hostile. Bob followed suit after scooping up his cards, bringing his bat up and coming to stand next to Zorro. "Who is it," Robin shouted.
"It's me, Bruce! What's with this house?"
"It's reinforced with steel," Selene returned loudly.
"Oh! Then stand back!" Bruce's voice paused, and then he added, "Oh, and somebody start calling me names!" Everyone on the inside of the house looked at each other oddly.
"Call you names," Zorro asked, perplexed.
"Just do it!"
"Hulk is aroused by anger," Selene realized. Robin's eyes flew wide and then he started pelting Bruce with insults, from his face to his toes. He was pulling out every insult he'd ever heard in any school or TV show about schools. Within a matter of moments, a green hand shoved through the door, and Hulk let out a triumphant roar as he ripped a huge hole in the house. The others cheered him on, and then he spun just in time to see Im-Ho-Tep chanting from yet another book. A huge wind suddenly came forward and lifted Hulk into the air, slamming him into the roof of the mansion. Robin shot out the door, tackling the ancient mummy, the book clattering out of his hands. Alex was out a moment later, but a huge fist made of a tree backhanded him into the forest, where another large tree tried to bare hug the immortality out of him. Zorro ducked out quickly and began to hack at the tree, Alex joining in, trying to saw the tree branch off with his knife. Bob ducked out and mistook de la Vega's head for a baseball, sending the elderly swordsman reeling backwards with one hell of a swing. Alex was wriggling free now, and Zorro was trying to fend off a vine that was apparently trying to grasp for his throat. Robin was struggling with Im-Ho-Tep, trying to get to the book he'd been chanting from before the Egyptian. Hulk grabbed the sentient tree, lifted it up, spun once, and launched David Banner high into the air and away from the battlefield. Alex saw that he was needed over in Robin's corner, and he bolted towards the Boy Wonder, grabbing the downed book just before Im-Ho-Tep could snatch it from the ground. Lazarus popped out from a nearby guardhouse and made a grab for the book, but Alex dodged backwards and slammed the book into the back of Lazarus's head. Lazarus stumbled forward and found himself impaled on Zorro's sword. The masked freedom fighter growled and decked the evil immortal in the face, sending him stumbling off of his sword. Alex grabbed him and threw him into the house. Robin had managed to get a firm hold of Im-Ho-Tep, and he did the same. An invisible hand lifted up the Riddler's prone body and chucked him into the Egyptian, who was forced to catch him instead of getting hit with his unconscious teammate. Bob grabbed de la Vega's shoulder and sent him stumbling towards the hole, finishing the job with a vicious swing to the back of the swordsman's head that sent him, unconscious, into the house. Indiana appeared from the treeline, dragging an unconscious Azrael behind him, grumbling about being too old for this sort of thing. Hulk moved aside, while Zorro and Robin went and grabbed Azrael, each of the two taking an arm. They chucked him in with his teammates. Lazarus tried to get out, but a vicious shove from Alex sent him backwards and over the table that had been used for playing poker, tripping him up and tangling his legs hopelessly in a chair. Hulk grabbed the hole he'd made and started to close it up. Then he dashed over to the forest, ripped a tree out of the ground, and set up a barricade in front of the somewhat repaired hole, trapping most of the anti-League within the house. David Banner was far away, somewhere in the ocean; unconscious and looking like a large piece of floating driftwood.
"Well, that's that, then," Alex said, sheathing his knife and clapping his hands together. Hulk surveyed the torn up battlefield before nodding in satisfaction and heading back towards the Sword. Indy followed a moment later, followed by a visible Darien, Selene, Robin, Zorro, and then finally, Bob. Until a familiar voice stopped the bearded Leaguer in his tracks.
"Hey, tubby, you forgot about someone."
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Bob spun, bat still in hand, to see Jay standing in the middle of the torn up battlefield, holding a short sword. "C'mon, fat ass, don't tell me you forget your hetero life mate." Bob winced at the words, hearing malice in them now that had never been present before. "Awww, did I hurt your feelings? Fuck, Bob…I remember you having more balls than that. Hangin' with these dopes has turned you into a sissy ass little pansy." Robin started to step forward, but Hulk held out his arm and shook his massive head. The others seemed to understand as well, and Zorro put a hand on Robin's shoulder.
"This is Bob's fight, Robin," Zorro whispered. "He blames himself for Jay's death and return as a vampire just like you blame yourself for Batman's death and I blame myself for my teacher's return from the dead. He needs to beat this inner demon on his own, just like you would want to beat it if it were Batman standing there." Robin understood now, and turned and began heading back to the Sword. The others all gave nods to Bop as they followed.
Finally, after everyone had cleared from the battlefield and the sounds had all died away; Jay and Silent Bob struck…but this time, at each other. And it was a sad day indeed. Unnoticed by either combatant, Alex's crow was perched on a nearby tree, watching the battle discretely.
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Several hours later, Robin and Alex froze as they heard the door to the Sword open and Bob walk in, obviously brooding. He was bruised and cut in a few places, and Robin strode forward to help him to wherever Bruce or Selene was. True, neither were medical doctors, but both knew how to treat wounds of that nature. Instead, Bob sulked past him, ignoring the offered help. "Bob…do you want to talk about it?" The silent prophet shook his head, not bothering to slow his pace. Robin caught up and stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Alright, but don't forget…we're here for you." Bob looked up to Robin at that, and the ghost of a smile crossed the older man's face.
"I know." With that, Robin let Bob continue on his way to the conning tower. Alex sidled up alongside the Boy Wonder.
"I had my crow watch the fight," he said, in hushed tones. "Just in case Bob decided he wanted help."
"What happened," Robin asked.
"…Jay beat him," Alex explained, after a moment's hesitation. "Bob was on his back, and Jay had his sword pressed against Bob's throat. Then he said that their story didn't end here. He said it ended it Transylvania, which was fitting because that was where the end of all things would begin. Then he just…he became a huge flock of bats, as best as I can guess, and flew away."
"Geez…poor Bob." With a heavy sigh, Robin said, "We need to get the others. Now we at least have some idea of Dracula's plan. We should let Bob brood for now, he needs it, but we'll need to drag him to get treated eventually. Then we'll head to Transylvania."
"Sounds like you've been taking lessons from Indy," Alex stated, grinning. Robin tried to hide the smile of pride as the pair of them slipped through the door.
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"Oh," Lazarus stated, "I am so going to kill that kid once we get out of here."
"And how do you intend to do that, Lazarus," Im-Ho-Tep questioned sarcastically. "We're the only two conscious at the moment, and I'm useless in this situation without one of the copies of my book. Your strengths are not suited to tasks such as this. We need Banner if we are to have any chance of getting out of here."
"I've already sent my bird to look for him," Lazarus replied. "But that's gonna take a damn long time. That big green freak threw him farther than I've ever seen."
"However…I do agree with your sentiment on our course of action once we get out of here."
"Of course you do, Im-Ho-Tep." Lazarus grinned and reached inside his coat. "Until then," he began, pausing momentarily as he removed a deck of playing cards from his jacket, "how 'bout a game of poker?"