A/N: All right, so here's my third chapter. It'll take me a while to get my fourth one up and running. (It consists of a whole two sentences right now.) But, Spring Break is coming up. I'm sure I'll find time to work on it then.
Only moments before, Tom had been sitting in Dorian's old chair, flipping absentmindedly through the pages of a book when he got a sudden chill. It crept right up his spine. He couldn't help but shiver visibly, and it saved his life. Had he not moved, the bullet would've struck his heart, but, thanks to chance, it buried itself in his shoulder instead.
"Gah!" Tom yelled, forgetting the book, he clamped a hand over the wound.
Jekyll was at his side in an instant. "Tom! What happened?"
"I… I don't know… that bullet came outa nowhere." Tom glanced at his wound. Brilliant red blood was seeping though his fingers. Suddenly, he recalled Skinner's earlier words, "He could be in this room right now, and we'd never know it…" "Reed," Tom said angrily. "It's gotta be Reed."
Jekyll pried Tom's hand away from the gunshot wound. "Just hold on, let me have a look…" As the doctor inspected his shoulder, Tom caught sight of a book, a rather large one, floating in mid-air. His first impulse was to say, 'Put some clothes on Skinner,' but he quickly realized that it might not be Skinner. "Doctor!" Tom scarce got the word out before the book landed Jekyll a hefty blow to the back of his head, rendering him senseless. Tom drew a gun from his holster with his good arm and took aim at the book, but it was no longer floating. The attacker had fled.
Mina, followed shortly by Nemo, strode in from the general direction of the kitchen. "What's going on? We heard shouting."
"Get down!" Tom shouted as the bullets started flying. He dove behind the chair, pulling Jekyll along with him. Bullets were coming from everywhere. "Damn Reed," he cursed. "He's made an invisible army!" Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Tom drew his other gun and peeked over the top of the chair. Every once and a while he'd catch sight of what appeared to be a floating gun, but these guys were smart, they'd found some means of camouflaging their weapons. He would just have to shoot blindly and hope to hit something.
"Sawyer!" Nemo called from behind a nearby bookcase. "Can you make it?"
Tom nodded shortly. He grabbed the unconscious doctor and made a mad dash behind the bookcases. He stumbled in beside Nemo and Mina, having received a wound to his leg. The shooting ceased – the invisible intruders knew they had their quarry cornered, and the League knew they were cornered. They couldn't fight what they couldn't see – it was only a matter of time now.
At the sight of Jekyll's limp form, Mina let out a gasp. "Is he…?"
"He's fine, just unconscious." Tom cringed as he sunk down to both knees. "Good thing they can't shoot strait." Once again, he clamped his hand over the wound in his shoulder, which was bleeding quite freely now.
Mina tore strips from the hem of her skirt and to make makeshift bandages for her American friend. Tom winced slightly as she tightened the bandage around his leg.
"Well, this is a predicament." The voice came from nowhere. Nemo drew his sword in an instant. "Woa, hold on there," Skinner's unmistakable accented voice stated. "It's only me."
"Perhaps you should learn not to sneak up on people," Nemo said, sheathing his sword.
Skinner made a face, knowing full well Nemo couldn't see him, and moved next to Tom. "So, what've we got?"
"Reed's invisible gunmen. I have no clue how many there are, or where they're at. You?"
"Hey, just because I'm invisible, doesn't make them any easier to see." Skinner said shortly. He got up and stepped around the bookcase. 'Where the hell are they?' he wondered, searching the upper level of the library. He knew there was no possible way they could've made their weapons invisible. 'Some clever paint job or other,' he decided.
Suddenly, a shrill whistle pierced the ominous silence of the library. Numerous guns cocked and Skinner decided it would be best to head back to the safety of the bookshelf. Several snickers issued from the unseen gunmen. Tom poked his head around the case. "Who the hell is that?" he asked in a harsh whisper. Skinner peeked around. "Oh God! Cabrilyn!"
* * *
Cabrilyn stood on the staircase, a large burlap sack filled to capacity sat beside her on the floor. She heard Skinner let out a gasp of, "Oh God! Cabrilyn!" Beyond that, she paid him little notice. The gunmen snickered – who did this fool girl in a fur coat think she was? Very slowly and cautiously, so as not to be seen, Cabrilyn reached down and drew a dagger from its holster on her thigh.
"Now, ain't that sweet? She's come to save her 'lil friends!" One of the gunmen guffawed, obviously seeing no threat in Cabrilyn. That was his unfortunate mistake.
Like lightning, Cabrilyn let the dagger fly. There was the dull, sickening sound of steel on flesh, and then the gunman sighed, gurgled and fell headlong from the second level with Cabrilyn's knife in his throat. The gunfire started almost immediately. Cabrilyn shed her coat and drew a sword that was sheathed across her back. Grabbing the burlap sack, she did a flying leap of off the balcony. In mid-air, she sliced the sack open and swung it around for all she was worth. Flour went everywhere. It coated Cabrilyn, the League and their attackers. Empty sack in hand, Cabrilyn landed in an almost cat-like way next to the League's bookshelf. "Skinner, get your coat," she said, moving to avoid gunfire. "You'll be fair game if you don't." She drew a second sword, also sheathed across her back.
Skinner rushed off, while the rest of the League, save Jekyll, who was still unconscious, leapt into the fray. Tom came out firing, a gun in each hand. Adrenaline had taken over, and his wounds were forgotten. Nemo lashed out, punching, kicking, and taking out any that were unfortunate to get near him. Mina took to the air, getting her fill of blood for the evening. Skinner soon reappeared, but he felt rather useless all covered in flour and wearing his coat. He did what he could nonetheless. They made short work of their formerly unseen attackers.
Tom sighed and flopped down in Dorian's old chair, which had more bullet holes in it now than before. A cloud of flour rose up around him, sprinkling his sweat-streaked face anew. His makeshift bandages weren't doing him much good anymore; blood was seeping through the dark fabric of Mina's skirt. Cabrilyn calmly shook the flour from her hair and retrieved her dagger. She pulled a kerchief from her pocket and cleaned both her swords and her dagger before re-sheathing them. Skinner dusted the flour from his black leather coat. "Charming," he said. "Shall we bake some brownies next?"
Mina came down beside him, rolling her eyes. She pulled out her compact and made sure there were no traces of blood left on her fair face. "Honestly Skinner, sometimes you…" She was cut off by a loud groan as Jekyll came from around the bookcase coated in flour and rubbing the back of his head. "What happened?" he asked. He squinted at Cabrilyn. "Who are you?"
She smiled and was about to issue a reply when something caught her eye. "Don't move," she said, her tone was grave. Jekyll froze; his eyes darted around the room. Cabrilyn let loose her dagger, it swept past Jekyll's ear in a blur of silver and steel, followed by a gasp and a gurgle. Jekyll turned around just in time to have the dead invisible man fall into his arms. "Good Lord!" Jekyll cried. He jumped back and dropped the body to the floor. Flour swirled upward, covering the man – who had remained untouched by flour until then. Skinner gaped. She could see them. He was certain of it. Somehow that man had escaped the flour, but still, Cabrilyn saw him.
Jekyll withdrew Cabrilyn's dagger very slowly. "You have quite the aim."
"Thank you," Cabrilyn said. She took the dagger from him and cleaned it. "I never miss."
"Really?" Tom said, touchily removing his bandages. "I still want to know… who are you?"
Cabrilyn smirked at the young American. "Are you certain 'who' is the question you should be asking?"