Author's Note: This didn't take a long time... it was just your imagination, I swear! Okay, okay, so I'm lying. Was it that obvious? Yes... I suppose it was, wasn't it? Anywho, here's Chapter 10, fresh off the presses... hmm, well not exactly. Gah! Rambling! Thanks to ikhan11 for his help with the name ^_^ Grrr... ff.net has decided to play up... *sigh*

foundapeanut: Hehe, don't worry about rambling. I do it all the time, don't I? Your favourite chapter? Awesome.

life sucks: My friend, ikhan11, had to do that once actually... I've done it by accident as well... kick in a door that is. Ack, I hope you don't think my guys are Mary-Sues o_O That would be terrible. I'm happy you like Anise.

Rayne: *waves 'Go Mina' flag, and hands you one*

RogueSparrow: Ooh! You have to show me that picture when you're done, okay? I have to see that! I pictured it in my head, but an illustration of it would be awesome!

Sethoz: Scary? I suppose you could say that, yeah. ^_^ Groovy. I might just have to write Tom and Mina having an actual fight for the fun of it, lol!

                Night settled in rather quickly in Scotland that day, and the light started to wane and fade away until the moon had risen and started to pierce through the treetops and mottle the grounds of the woodland all about the small house encircled by the foliage, in its own small enclosure, isolated from the rest of nearby civilisation. It seemed they liked their privacy.

                Tom sat in the corner of the room next to Anise, listening to her as she spoke with Dmitri. He was feeling a little tired now, and just trying to stay aware of what the two were saying. Dmitri was speaking a little too quickly, his accent a little thick for Tom to properly decipher, and therein lay the problem. He picked out words here and there, but not much.

                Anise seemed to have no problem comprehending the man, but then again, Tom supposed she had been around all of Evans' men before, and they had all been of varying nationalities, therefore speaking varying languages. He supposed it wasn't a problem for her as much as it was for him.

                When it finally became too much for him, he sighed, and started to lift himself from the floor, saying, "Excuse me. I think I'll just stretch my legs."

                "Are you all right?" Anise asked with concern in her tone, looking up at him curiously.

                Tom smiled and nodded. "I'm fine."

                With that, he offered a warm expression to Dmitri, who grinned at him, and then walked off to investigate. He was curious to see what there was in this place... and maybe find out where the Japanese - at least he guessed she was - woman had gone. She didn't seem too fond of him.

                Anise turned back to Dmitri, and smiled weakly, saying, "I think he is just tired. He has had quite a rough time lately."

                "And what do you mean by this?" Dmitri asked, leaning back on his hands behind him, knees bent up and his feet placed firmly on the floor, looking as relaxed as he always was. His dark eyes regarded her with an intrigued light, and he tilted his head to one side for emphasis.

                She shrugged lightly. "He... he has recently discovered his new DNA."

                "He is a werewolf?"

                Anise nodded. "Could you not smell him, Dmitri?" She was surprised that the Russian had not sensed it straight away. Normally, he was incredibly perceptive, almost instinctual about everything.

                Dmitri smiled broadly, and leaned forward again, crossing his long legs in front of him, and sighing lightly. "Not everything is always so clear, Anise. You know this. It is not always like when we met."

                Anise remembered her first encounter with Dmitri. They had sensed each other from across the room on the boat, and followed each other's scents that night to meet. They had each known about the other's true identity, about their urges and instincts, and had seen to it that they satisfied their bestial curiousity. After a thorough silent examination of one another at a distance, they had taken to talking, and Anise had told him all about what had happened, cutting out the part about the betrayal, for arguments' sake. She did not want him to think her untrustworthy. He was becoming a close friend. She in turn knew very little about him, only that he had fled Russia when his own family had threatened to kill him for what he was. It seemed to bother Dmitri very little, surprisingly. Anise wondered whether he was hiding his true feelings about the matter... she had no doubt he was.

                She nodded to him, and said quietly, "He is not adjusting well, but... he has potential, Dmitri. We need to help him."

                Dmitri's smile waned like the daylight had hours before, and he considered the woman very seriously at length, and spoke quietly, "You care for him."

                Anise hung her head a little, her short hair in her face, and whispered, "Very much so."

                She felt Dmitri's hand on her arm, his large limb so gentle, and looked up into his eyes as he said, "Then we will help him, Anise."

                He found Lei Cheung in the room at the very rear of the house, and he heard the sounds of her practise from outside the door. The soft ringing of steel as the blade whipped through the air made him hesitate at the door, before he summoned his nerve, and opened it quietly. He stepped into the room.

                In the blink of an eye, she had him pinned up against the wall, the katana to his throat, her eyes locking with his in a silent threat, but a very real one. She was angry about the interruption.

                "I-" He stopped when the blade pressed a little tighter, and opened his clenched palms to show they were empty. He was not a threat to her. She regarded him with narrowed eyes, her expression cold and hard as she searched him with her gaze, before letting him away from the wall and sheathing the katana with skill and ease, sliding it back into the wooden scabbard at her left hip. She stood before him in her training outfit, and glared.

                "What are you doing?" she asked of him in a smooth but icy manner, her words slow and precise.

                Tom was very careful in his response. He did not want to anger her again as he just had. "I was just looking around."

                "You should not sneak up on people." Lei turned from him, her dark hair still despite the motion, and picked up a dagger from the floor, toying with the blade before slotting it into her belt. She began to unwrap white cloth from around her palms, her eyes never leaving his face.

                "I wasn't sneaking... not intentionally anyway." Tom put his hands in his pockets, feeling a little sheepish all of a sudden. He felt like he'd just been caught with his hand in the sugar bowl. "Sorry." Her speed and stealth had been astounding... and frightening. Tom was suddenly glad she was an ally of Anise's, and not an enemy. The Japanese woman would have very easily killed him.

                Lei sighed, a delicate sound, and rolled her eyes. "Americans."

                Tom nearly laughed, smiling only slightly, before looking to her again. "I'm not the first one you've met then."

                "Unfortunately," she grumbled, and folded the cloth carefully and neatly without the aid of a flat surface with which to do so. She was still looking at him. "Why are you here?"

                "I..." Tom realised he didn't know, and carefully, cautiously, he took a step away from the wall. "I don't really know myself." He smiled experimentally, seeing if she would return the expression. She did not, just continued to stare for a moment, before she turned away from him and paced over to the window. She peered out of it briefly, and turned back, narrowing her eyes.

                "You have come to a place you do not know," she began slowly, "with a woman you do not know... to people you do not know." She paused, and lifted her brows. "Some would call you a fool."

                Tom nodded at that, and then quickly corrected, "But I do know Anise... at least I think I did... do."

                Again, Lei narrowed her eyes. "Americans are difficult to understand."

                "So it would seem," he muttered.

                Suddenly, something exploded through the very window Lei had peered out of, and Tom instinctively covered his head for protection as glass was scattered in all directions. Looking out from under his arms, he saw Lei had rolled away, and she was staring reproachfully at the opening as if the window itself were to blame. She had her hand on her katana hilt, waiting with paused breath before distant shouts could be heard.

                Tom jogged to the window, flattening his back against the wall next to it, his boots crunching on the broken glass all over the floor. He risked a glance out of the window, and saw them. There was a crowd of people on the hill surrounding the building, and he noticed one or two at the front lift something to the sky, each with a similar object in their hands, pulling back...

                Tom widened his eyes, and yelled to Lei, "Get down!" He pulled his head from the window.

                That was when a flaming arrow shot through the window, catching on the practise mat on the floor and igniting it instantly. Lei had taken his advice and indeed ducked down, but now looked up in fury, an angry light in her eyes as she glared out the window.

                "C'mon!" Tom called to her, "We've gotta get out of here." He ran for the door, with Lei behind him. She grabbed up a long satchel-type bag from the floor near the door before doing so, and worked on unfastening her katana from her belt. Tom did not question her motions as he tried to remember where he had left Anise and Dmitri. Lei slipped the katana into the long bag, and dropped her dagger inside. She pulled on the cords of the bag, and tied them briskly, hooking the satchel over her head and shoulder, tightening it a little so that it was secure.

                Lei overtook him, and darted down an adjoining corridor, and burst into the very room where Tom had left the others. They were on their feet, looking around wildly. Dmitri's smile was gone, even as he moved over to Lei and Tom.

                "What is happening?" he asked gruffly.

                "Your little hideout is under attack," Tom informed him bluntly, glancing to Anise. "We're surrounded."

                Anise, wide-eyed, looked to the other two, and opened her mouth to speak. She hesitated when the sound of more smashing glass reached their ears, and she whirled on Tom.

                "I know you hate it," she began hurriedly, her accent making it difficult to decipher her tone, "but you have no choice. It is our only option for escape."

                "What? No, there must be another way. Why are they attacking at all?"

                "They clearly do not wish to lose anymore livestock," Lei cut in blankly, raising a brow as if it mattered very little. She spoke as if they weren't being assaulted from all sides.

                "Tom!" Anise snapped, taking a hold of his bottom jaw and turning his head roughly back to her. "Do it, now!"

                "Can't you talk to them?" he retorted, and pulled his head from her grasp, looking at her as one would a stranger who acted irrationally.

                Dmitri had fallen very silent, and closed his eyes. Tom ignored the odd behaviour.

                Tom felt Anise grab him, and kiss him quickly, before shoving him back, and almost toppling him. When she yelled at him, her voice was distorted; "Do it!" Her eyes were a feral yellow now, and she was growling.

                Tom stared at her, and shook his head. He had already given in to the change once, and he had despised it. He had nearly been sick to his stomach.

                Anise walked right up to him, and - much to Tom's surprise - punched him so hard he though he saw colours swim in his vision. He reeled from the blow, and looked back at her suddenly, not at all surprised when a loud growl emanated from his own throat.

                "That's better," she whispered harshly, and started to contort.

                "You are full of surprises," Lei said bluntly to Anise, and glanced once more to Tom.

                Tom took a step back at the woman's appearance. Her hair was shrinking back into her skull, and she was glaring now with amber oculi, blinking once before craning her neck as bones snapped.

                A snarl drew his attention to Dmitri, who arched his back as his spine reformed loudly, a sickening sound as his ribcage began to expand with horrible cracks and hollow snapping sounds.

                Tom closed his eyes for a moment, hearing the shouting escalating into a frightening cacophony outside, before he cursed lightly, and ripped the fabric of his shirt, the buttons coming loose with the strength he exhibited in doing so. He pulled the shirt off, and was surprised to find that Lei tossed the bag at him. Hesitating for only a moment, he shoved the clothing inside, and kicked off his boots before doing the same with those. Lei snatched the bag back from him, and retied it, slipping it on quickly, before dropping to her knees and curling up with a howl of discomfort... or possibly excitement. There was an undertone that was hard to ignore, and when her face raised again, her features starting to stretch, he could have sworn she was smiling. Her legs started to twist and shorten, whereas her arms did quite the reverse, stretching and lengthening considerably. Her hands and feet morphed and cracked, her fingers and toes contorting and extending, claws pushing through from the nails. Her ankles snapped and twisted, bending backwards to become almost like a second knee joint. Her chest broadened and widened, her ribs quietly reshaping themselves, the entire cavity deepening as a low growl rumbled forth from her thick throat. Her face lengthened into a head of a gnarled dog, her maw opening wide as long canines pushed forth from her gums, and her long pink tongue licked at her jowls almost hungrily. Her ears reshaped only slightly to become vaguely pointed, and her eyes became more narrowed, almost sunken in and shaded. Hair bristled from the top of her head, down her neck and along her spine under the tattered remains of her blouse. Her arms were tufted with fur now as well, and Tom guessed it was the same with her legs, which were still covered in her pants. She dropped to all fours, the satchel now tight around her torso, and shook as if stepping from a bath, stretching and letting her limbs crack.

                Tom turned his attention to Dmitri, who was much more silent during his own transformation. The man had clearly gone through the change many times, and was accustomed to the pains of such an act. He was growing taller, if it was possible. His legs twisted back, and then forward, his knees broadening and cartilage snapping as it changed shape to accommodate for the extra weight. His feet widened and became more wolf-like, long and clawed, padded and large. His hands stretched into eerie fingers with a huge palm, talons breaking from the tips, black claws like knives. His neck tripled in size, his jugular a good deal wider than before, a protected throat, even as his ribs broke in unison and expanded to create a mighty cavernous chest. His shoulders broadened intimidatingly, and his head turned upward as it began to morph and reform. His face extended, and his skin darkened like a wave taking over his body. The nose and jaws of the wolf became evident, and he barked out a growl, a threatening, grumbling sound of displeasure. His eyes became black slits in the skull, and long hairless ears flattened back across his head as he brought his face down to observe the others, apparently very comfortable on his hind legs. The only hair visible was running like a striped marking from the middle of his skull, between his ears, and down his back. Other than that, it was simply bulging muscle and dark skin evident.

                Anise was mostly transformed, the hair pushing forth from her pores and covering her head to toe as her face finished its reshaping. Her lips curled in a snarl, and she flexed her paws, the claws scratching the floor, and she looked up at Tom with yellow, lidded pupils. Her knees had cracked backwards, her blouse hanging in tatters from her reformed chest and abdomen, and she crouched low with impatience.

                Closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath, Tom called on the change.

                Mina paced through the Nautilus, listening to Quatermain ramble on behind her. He really was starting to give her a headache, and quite an impressive one at that. He had done nothing but complain since she had explained everything to him, demanding why they had even welcomed the woman in the first place - which Mina had informed him she had in fact been far from doing at all - and why they had just let Tom leave.

                "I did not simply let him leave. He needed time to deal with his new existence, and that is all I allowed him." She did not turn back, on her way to the stateroom in order to get herself a glass of water or something else similar in order to soothe her throat, a little sore from all the explanation. The others had kindly let her take the mantle in the telling, and had remained quite quiet. Skinner actually looked guilty, as though he had done someone a great wrong. Mina had ignored it.

                "We should go after him. What if something happens?" Quatermain demanded next, right behind Mina as she pushed through the double doors before the crewmen could even allow her entry themselves. She was in no mood for formality.

                "And how do you suggest we find him, Mr. Q.?" she asked heatedly, whirling on him so that her skirts turned around her ankles smoothly. "We can't very well go gallivanting around Scotland in the hopes we'll simply stumble across the two of them!"

                "No," Nemo interrupted, stepping away from a crewman who had just arrived to tell him something; something that seemed of importance. "We could simply follow the angry crowd of locals."

                Mina and Quatermain forgot their debate almost at once, and turned to face the captain, along with Jekyll and Skinner, all puzzled as to what he meant.

                As he informed them of the angry crowd converging on one spot in the woods where it was believed monsters lived, Mina brightened as the prospects of their finding Tom increased rapidly. She had not said that she was worried, but had known deep in her being that Tom could get into trouble very easily with his new unstable DNA. He could barely control the change on the ship... let alone beyond it.

                "There you are, Mr. Quatermain... satisfied?" With a wry smile, she left the room to fetch her coat.

                Deep in the belly of the large federate building, many men converged around a table, jackets of formality cast off as they leaned in a very business-like fashion over the data strewn across the table. Test results and diagrams were the majority, but there were also communiqués and records from informants all over the country, and a few from global positions within their chain.

                When the door was thrown open and a very sombre man walked in, they all raised their heads, looking cautiously to the man as he strode over. From the look on his face, they expected bad news... the last thing they expected was for him to toss a file onto the table amidst the papers, and declare, "We've got another one."

                The businessmen glanced in unison to Sebastian Woods. He was in command of the operation, and had a good head on his shoulders; filled with the kind of intelligence they needed for the success they strived for. He was approaching fifty now, but still in - what he liked to call - his prime. He was a strong, clever man who had had a shining career in the American Government... despite his recent shadowy, somewhat undercover activities. He had receding, greying brown hair that was combed back neatly, and grey eyes alight with intrigue.

                The other men looked down at the recently acquired file, and one by the name of Edmunds said, "Another one?"

                "Yes," replied Sebastian, nodding briefly, before neatening his tie, and tightening the knot. He seated himself in the leather chair at the head, and leaned back casually, hands folding on his lap, elbows on the armrests as he looked proudly at the stars and stripes of the American flag on the far wall.

                The operation had been in the works for nearly a year, and progress was too slow as of late for the last acquisition. Now that this file had come into his possession, Sebastian had a feeling that things would speed up immensely. He even had his specialists working on the collection. It would not be long, if all went to plan... and he didn't see any reason why it shouldn't.

                Edmunds picked up the file tentatively, and flicked it open, looking to Sebastian at once with an eager expression. "You've found a final subject?"

                Sebastian held up a finger, and said, "Only final for the moment. When they are integrated, and the test carried out, if it is possible to expand the operation, then we will do so... but not until we know how well the unit operates."

                "The three we have right now work fine," another said, this one by the title of Higgins. He was quite possibly the youngest in the room, at thirty, all prim and neat... overly so in fact. Sebastian would have to tell him to ease up on the formalities a little.

                "Yes they do," he agreed, standing from the chair and striding to reclaim the file from the inquisitive Edmunds, taking it out of his hand without even asking. He was in charge after all... Edmunds let go without hesitation, and they all watched as he strode to the board with their findings on it. Three columns of data were attached, three photos heading it all. Underneath the black and white photographs themselves were single words... codenames in fact.

                The first photo, shockingly, was of a redheaded woman - though you could not tell this from the photo itself - with a fiery expression of determination, looking off at something to the left that clearly interested her. She was tall and lithe, but strong nevertheless. Falx... 'blade'.

                The second was a neat man of roughly six feet, with dark hair and the eyes to match, a long, angular face, with a hard expression. He was wearing a suit in the photo, his hair combed to one side rather plainly. His look said it all. He was all business. Gladius... 'sword'.

                The final photo - at least at the moment - was of the youngest member as of late. He was in his mid-twenties, with curled black hair to his brow, ears and neck in varying degrees around his youthful features. His eyes were bright with intelligence and enthusiasm. He was the newest recruit to date, but had settled in just as well as the first two, if not better... his age and zeal had proven to be his strongest points. Lacertus... 'strength'.

                Sebastian turned to his fellows, and nodded to the table. "The results?"

                "Everything is going smoothly," Edmunds reported briskly. "No problems to report. The subjects are performing at peak efficiency, and we have met no resistance in their obedience."

                "Excellent," Sebastian said bluntly with a smile, and turned back to the board, removing the last photo from the file and attaching it quickly to the board, smoothing it out with his palm before stepping back and regarding it with the others.

                The last of the four was close in age to Lacertus, though with blonde hair, and the enthusiasm seemed lost from his face, replaced with a nobility and valour beyond his years. Resting back on his shoulder was a rifle, and he was speaking to someone off frame, to his right, oblivious to the photographer at all. Below the photo was the intended codename. Exuro... 'burn'.

                The team was almost complete...

                "How can you be sure it is in this direction?" Jekyll asked from the rear of the group, waiting until the opportune moment until he drank the formula. He wasn't even certain it would be needed as of yet. He wanted to wait until this was evident before letting Hyde out at all.

                Mina did not turn back as she replied, "Because I can smell the fire."

                "Fire?" Skinner squeaked, and faltered slightly in his stride, the coat and trilby floating hesitantly before Quatermain gave him a nudge.

                "C'mon, Skinner, no time to back out now," the hunter informed him, holding the elephant gun Tom Sawyer had been keeping hold of, the rifle in his right hand firmly. It was loaded, and the man had spare rounds in his waistcoat in case trouble arose... and Henry had a feeling it would.

                He could hear the distant shouting off in the woods as they entered the tree line, the five of them pushing through the foliage and growth carefully but at a swift pace. The doctor understood Skinner's hesitation, from the conclusion of the mission in Mongolia in the battle against Moriarty, where the invisible man had sustained terrible burns from an armoured flame-throwing figure. His fear was comprehensible.

                Nevertheless, they might need all hands on deck for this one, if Tom and Miss Delacroix were in trouble.

                The distant shouting of words like 'murderer' was certainly not comforting. Henry had a bad feeling.

                The four werewolves burst from the front door, one leaping from one of the shattered windows with a satchel hanging around its frame firmly, and the small pack snarled and bellowed angrily. The locals backed away instinctively at the horrifying sight of the collection of beasts. 

                The four were very differing in appearance. The first was a towering, almost hairless mass of muscle and bone, its short maw open wide in a bestial roar of anger and irritation at the nerve of the crowd, glaring with black, inky eyes. The second was the one that had leapt through the shattered window, the smallest of the four with rippling spine and bristly hair, a squat head full of snarls and cruel fangs, with amber, narrowed, sunken in eyes. The third was the lighter is colour, with tan fur sprouting from all over its bulk, down on all fours like the smallest of the group, long lupine head arched in an eerie manner to take in the threat with yellow slitted eyes. The final one stepped through the doorway, and let out a holler of animalistic fury, looming on its hind legs like the first, covered in coarse black hair from head to toe, with tall ears, and huge limbs, its silver eyes glinting in the moonlight.

                The four stared around at the intruders, daring any of them to act out, when finally one man was brave enough to yell, "That's them! Kill them all! Murderers!"

                The four lycanthropes let out growls and snarls as the words settled into the feral minds and registered as a threat. As a unit, they charged towards the fence. The smallest - Lei - with the satchel, scaled the wire enclosure with breathtaking ease.  The one with the least hair - Dmitri - tore through the fence with his claws, shredding the wire as if it were paper, and charging right through the hole. The third, with its tan shaggy hair - Anise - took to digging under the fence, and wriggling through with a quick twist of its body, and scurrying out the other side in as little as twenty seconds, and without hurting itself. The last to leave the enclosure, after sniffing the air and glancing around, was the huge black-haired werewolf - Tom - that took it upon itself to crash bodily into the gate, which was slammed off its hinges and sent useless to the floor in a heap of wire and frame. The small pack charged up the hill, panting and bellowing until the humans moved out of the way, screaming and shrieking for fear of being attacked or ripped apart by the monsters.

                The humans scattered, leaping in all directions as the werewolves bounded right on past them, even as a few of the humans fired on them, a couple with hunting rifles, and one or two with the bows and arrows they had used before. The werewolves took note that some of the humans carried flaming torches, and instinctively shied away from the fire and the heat.

                They charged through the trees, travelling as a tight unit for the first few minutes, before Lei used her powerful back legs to spring agilely up into the trees, and leaping from one to the next gracefully. Dmitri weaved in and out of the trunks to make himself a difficult target, and he grunted as he pumped his hind legs to run, staying up on two limbs in travel. He ducked under low hanging branches, and leapt roots and fallen logs with ease.

                The last two, Tom and Anise, travelled side by side in their flight from the angry crowd, who gave chase - albeit rather slowly compared to the creatures themselves - both down on all fours now to ease their journey. They crushed dead leaves underfoot, and sprung bodily over obstructions, glancing to their side and over their heads to check on their companions. Lei and Dmitri were never far away.

                The wolf that was Tom caught a familiar scent on the wind, and howled a brief signal to the others, despite their only recent acquaintance. They made sharp signals in return, and followed him as he suddenly changed direction to follow the somewhat reassuring smell.

                Little did they know that they were being trailed, and not only by the human crowd of angered locals sick of having their livestock slaughtered by 'monsters'... in the shadows, three eerie, haunting pairs of lidded eyes watched, and waited for the opportune moment to pounce.

                The hunt was on...