Chapter: 12: The Good and Bad News
Author: Beck2
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"Does anyone else see the irony of this?" Skinner commented smugly from the back of the room. Tom glared at him from over the black book.
Jekyll watched with feigned interest. Skinner had been making jokes about everything from similarities between Tom and the boy and the fact that only the American could read the author's writing, when the author itself was American. He could have smiled at the situation, except that he deeply disapproved of the constant hazing put on Sawyer. He was a good man, a good agent, even if he was a bit on the hardheaded side.
Edward shuffled and grumbled in the back of his head, cursing about how he wanted to do something. He didn't bother to ask what Edward wanted to do. After the time they had spent living in the same body, he already knew.
Mindless destruction and murder.
A dark shadow passed over his face momentarily, but he quickly wiped it away, replacing it with his normal visage. Shy, gentlemanly Jekyll.
Don't make me throw up, Henry.
"This has to be the luckiest break we have ever gotten." Sawyer's voice stopped him from swearing mentally at his alter ego.
"What does it say?" Captain Nemo demanded imperiously, excited that the chase may soon reach its climax.
"Well, there's good new and bad news."
"Get on with it! I do not care which news comes first!"
"Apparently the Captain of the canoe that tried to take out this one is named Orick…Commander Orick. The good news is that apparently he was real excited with his new toy and wanted to cause some real trouble, so he went off without putting a lot of armor in the hull. So basically one good blow to the bottom will sink it."
"I can hardly believe what could be the bad news after this." Mina exclaimed. He twitched a bit as he watched her. He too, was shocked and heartened by the news Sawyer had just read off. But bad news always had the potential to turn things around to the point that winning appeared to be totally out of grasp.
"The bad news is that Orick loaded a whole bunch of weapons onto his ship. Rockets and stuff."
"We have rockets on our ship, wot's so special about his?" Skinner asked over his glass of brandy. His buttoned up black coat and trilby were placed strategically so that no one would see the brandy going down.
"Says here that some of his are scatter rockets. I don't know exactly what they are."
"Scatter Rockets?" Nemo mused. "What are they?"
"Uh…Rockets that scatter?"
"That would be my vote, Nemo." Skinner commented.
He just shook his head. Sometimes Skinner and Sawyer really could miss the entire situation. Nemo just glared at them briefly before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.
"What else does the book say?"
"I got what looks like a schedule, but I wouldn't rely on it too much."
"That would be the first thing they change." He said a little timidly, his first words uttered since they met in the meeting room.
"That is true. But unfortunately, we have nothing else to rely on. My lady has been restored to full power, we will tour the places mentioned."
"And wot if they are below the water? We didn't see them the last time we met up with them. They could just be hiding from us." Skinner commented.
"Then we will use the depth charges." Nemo said decisively, and, motioning Sawyer to follow, he stalked out of the meeting room, presumably to round up the navigators and plot a new course.
"Wot's a depth charge?" Skinner wondered aloud.
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"It'll be a long way back to London." Gilly commented down to Clunky. Clunky whined at him.
"Wot's your problem now?" He patted the mutt on the head. The dog looked sadly at him. "Don't tell me those blasted maniacs were growing on you."
The dog just hung his head.
"Don't worry about it, we'll be alright. The team is better with two alone anyway, eh?"
The dog whapped his tail on the ground. Satisfied, he straightened his hat upon his head, wiped some imaginary dust from his sleeve, and started walking down the street. Clunky followed easily.
It would be a long way to London. It was best they started now.
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It was luck that the nearest stop in the schedule was Naples, a little less than three hundred kilometers down the coast. Naples itself was only a stone's throw from Pompeii, which made it a brilliant strategic point.
The destruction of two bird's with one stone. And with the capabilities of His Lady, The Nautilus, it was a simple enough task.
Apparently, Commander Orick had some sort of vendetta against Italy. But that was neither here nor there, as the saying goes. The main idea was that Orick had attacked his Lady. Sullied her good name.
And he, Captain Nemo, would not stand for it.
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A/N
Alright people, it's my outright shame to have to admit that my updates are about to get a lot more sporadic. Next week at school Wizard of Oz is getting ready for it's debut, and as a pit member I have my entire week booked for then and about half of this week. So, I will do my best to keep updates as normal as possible, and do my best to write with a vengeance when Spring Break hits.
Silent Bob 546: It wouldn't be closure if Gilly dropped off the face of the earth, so don't worry! He'll keep showing back up. Thank you very much!
Chaotic Dreamer: Yes, you are correct (sort of-these are two very different world basings, really) Danny is his descendent. I put it in there as a little joke when I started. You're about the third person to comment to me about that.
Asteria: Illegible, actually. And no, that's not the end of Gilly. He'll be back. And thank you very much!
Rayne: Thank you very much!
Niani: I have satisfied your craving…for now…That laugh scares me. I'll have to keep ahead of it by making more Skinner chapters. Thank you!
Rogue77: Thanks a bunch! And yes, I know all about the updating thing. *hides eyes* I have no fallen victim to the horrible truth-I cannot write everything on time. Ah well. As long as the writing's good, I'm happy.
Please leave your reviews on the way out!