Author's Note: Time to say hello to our villain subordinates. You can find their biographies at my site under the appropriate section at so just pop down and have a look if you're curious… and if you haven't already. Also, all three of the werewolf forms will be explained on there as well. In fact, the area is pretty much finished ^_^ Go me! Well… not really. Lol. Enjoy! Ugh… got terrible writer's block on this chapter. Sorry!
Sethoz: 'Burn' just seemed to fit dear, fiery Thomas. I hope you all agree. Anywho, yes… it would appear it is brainwashing, wouldn't it ^_~
drowchild: The story would have hit a rut if I'd had my guys captured there, wouldn't it? But you can't be sure until you've read this chapter, can you.
RogueSparrow: Whoo! Hardcore!
LotRseer3350: Ack! Pomeranian!
Rayne: Yes, Dmitri is quite nice for a great big brick of a guy, isn't he?
Beck2: Well if Dmitri reminds you of Raze because of his werewolf form… then that is excellent news. But otherwise… fair enough.
Graymoon74: Oh, how your reviews make me smile ^_^
Raven: Did you kill your keyboard writing that out? Lol! Artful? My heartfelt thanks. It wasn't actually Allan's line at all, and I hadn't realised until you said actually… how dense of me. Falx is pronounced (I'm assuming) kind alike the utensil – forks. Except for the Americans out there… okay, remember the bird in Harry Potter 2? The phoenix… like that. Gimme a chance with Dmitri and Lei ^_^ They only just entered the scene, lol. They'll get more 'screen' time soon. Thanks very much!
The three pushed their way out of the trees, stealthy and silent beyond belief, their lupine forms hidden in shadow and undergrowth as they crouched down low in predator-like anticipation. Their growls were muted in need for covertness, as they strode in formation across the ground, their pacing gentle on the dead leaves so that the noise was slight. The form in the middle was bipedal, looming and almost gangly in the way its limbs appeared too thin for its wide chest. It was covered finely in long coarse hair, stretching from its head and neck, to its shoulders, and across its limbs and even down its back. It had a long canine head, with almost tufted squat ears. It had eyes of coal, and short but treacherous fangs in its feral maw. Its 'hands' could more or less be mistaken for human, it if weren't for the slight extension and the claws at each fingertip.
The werewolves on either side were similar; both travelling on all fours, though the one on the left was slightly larger, with lighter – and much more generous – hair than the one on the right. It also had a more bestial demeanour, carrying itself in a very predatory manner. Its shoulder blades pushed up and down like a tiger as it paced slowly and cautiously over the foliage, staying level with the upright wolf. Its yellow eyes blinked slowly, and its jowls curled up in a silent snarl as it sniffed the air to keep track of their quarry. It had lean paws, tipped with fine claws, built for shredding, same as the fangs were for tearing and killing.
The third and final of the wolves was the smaller, but it was designed for the hunt. It was muscular and agile, sinewy limbs moving it effortlessly over the undergrowth on their trail. Like the second wolf, this one had yellow eyes, though they were far more human than anything else. They carried a glint of something hidden, almost like mischief or anticipation. The muzzle was short in comparison to the first, upright werewolf, and its fine, sharp teeth clacked together in enthusiasm. It knew to wait though. The price for over-enthusiasm would be high if the operation were ruined. It had darker hair than the others, bristling across its skull above small rounded ears, and down its back, spreading thinly over its four limbs.
Even for werewolves, these three bore a frightening intelligence. They were perfectly aware of their actions... what it was that was expected of them, and the price to pay for failure. They feared this… they were not careless. They knew their mission, and worked as a unit to fulfil it, by whatever means necessary.
The central wolf let a snarl leak forward from its jaws, glancing half-heartedly to the approaching 'mob', and bolted forward after their target, the other two chasing along beside it, their pace matching perfectly.
Mina turned and stopped at once as a slight snapping sound carried to her on the breeze, drifting on the wind to her ears, and she almost smiled. She knew that smell... she had grown accustomed to it... though it might take quite a while to grow familiar with the new supernatural edge it carried.
"What is it?" Quatermain asked of her, coming up beside her with his elephant gun – fondly named Matilda, something Mina found tedious – in his hand. "What do you sense?"
"Sawyer," was all she said, and nodded.
Even as she motioned, the large black werewolf charged out of the trees, slowing to a halt and regarding them with silver oculi, before giving a shake and transforming with shocking speed. It stood up on its hind legs as it did so, and Tom Sawyer moved towards them in the matter of two minutes, seemingly unfazed by the shift. Mina stared with wide eyes.
"What…?" Tom panted, looking over his shoulder, and then at himself. "Look, sorry I-"
"Did that not pain you, Agent Sawyer?" Mina breathed, still in disbelief as to the absence of discomfort he showed.
"What… oh…" He furrowed his brow, and touched a hand tentatively to his stomach as if checking he was indeed in human form. "I guess not…" He allowed a ghost of a smile to come to his lips, a rather forced one as he added, "Adrenaline, maybe." Then he turned to look back into the trees.
A tan-coloured werewolf whose scent was slightly familiar crept forward, and shifted into human form, clinging the tatters of their clothing around them, even as Dr. Jekyll shrugged off his black jacket, and passed it to Anise. She accepted it gratefully, and slipped it around her frame, fastening the buttons for concealment.
A third form – much to the surprise of the League – paced from the trees, towering and near on hairless, save for a spinal ridge of fur, which quickly drew back into the skin that lightened as the body shrunk slightly, the chest withdrawing and reforming noisily, and a large muscular man was soon in its place.
And finally, out of the very trees, leapt the final werewolf, small, strapping and yet lithe. It carried across his torso a kind of leather satchel, fastened tightly. The body started to reshape itself in midair, and Mina watched with dropped jaw as the body of a woman took precedence over the form of the wolf, and before long, she was rolling into a crouch by Anise's right side, and glancing to the League guardedly, warily.
The distant shouts of the angry crowd could be heard.
"We were being followed," the new man said, and Mina deciphered his accent as Russian. It was smooth, but carried the familiar rough edge that she had heard from many of his countrymen in the past. His nationality could very well explain his bulk. He was looking pointedly at the other three werewolves.
Quatermain removed his coat, and handed it tentatively to the oriental woman. Mina would have guessed she was Japanese. She was short, but by no means did that indicate she was weak. She was, after all, a lycanthrope. She accepted the coat, staring at the floating trilby and jacket next to the hunter with a raised brow, before she removed the satchel, which Anise took from her whilst she donned the coat. It dragged slightly on the floor, and Mina smiled slightly despite her better judgement.
"Yeah," Tom replied to the Russian, still a little breathless from the sounds of it. Needless to say, it was obvious they had been fleeing from the locals. "We saw the mob."
The large man shook his head once, and explained, "This was not human. It was werewolf scent. They were behind us… in pursuit."
Tom glanced to Anise, and then to the League. The four werewolves were clearly tired, worn after their flight from the angry villagers. Mina could see – and sense – that they needed rest and a chance to recuperate.
"Go… to the Nautilus," she told them briskly, looking Tom directly in the eye pointedly. He hesitated for only a moment, before nodding once, and taking off at a jog, Anise in pursuit instantly. A little reluctantly at first, the two others chased on after them in human form.
Once they were gone, Mina turned on Dr. Jekyll and gave him a look he knew well. He sighed lightly, and reached into his back trouser pocket, drawing out his formula and removing the stopper. He hesitated, and then downed the contents. He started to change at once, a transformation that somehow seemed more abrupt and vicious than that of Agent Sawyer into his lupine counterpart. With sharp twists and turns, bulging and expanding, Mr. Edward Hyde exploded into view within a matter of seconds, stretching as though thankful to be out of his inner subconscious confines of Jekyll.
"What now?" he grumbled, as if aggravated by the interruption and his being called upon, which Mina knew the brute accepted willingly. Any chance to break from his cell inside Jekyll never went unappreciated… if Hyde could feel appreciation. She looked up at him with blue eyes, raising an eyebrow, even as she thought she heard a growl.
"There is little time to waste, Mr. Hyde," she revealed briskly, looking to the others, "but we are being approached by werewolves. They must be stopped at all costs."
"What for? Aren't they beasts like that as well?" He motioned off to where Tom and the others had retreated.
Mina glared. "This is different. Now, either you will help, or-"
"All right, all right," he grumbled, and grunted as he turned back to prepare for the threat.
"We must split up and lead them astray," Mina declared, suddenly grateful for the initiative she had shown in bringing her daggers along. She had come primed for confrontation… though she could not tell why. "Skinner, Quatermain, you will come with me. We will lead them along the woods in this direction."
They nodded, the hunter a little more reluctantly than their invisible companion. Nevertheless, they stood ready.
"Hyde, you and Nemo will head in the opposite direction. Whatever you do, do not let them follow the trail of Agent Sawyer and the others. Understood?"
Hyde nodded gruffly, and Nemo bowed his head halfway to show he comprehended, before the League separated to head off on their separate endeavours. Mina led the way off along the other end of the tree line, and she could hear the swift approach. Suddenly she stopped, Skinner almost crashing into her from behind.
"Hyde!" she called, and saw the beast turn to regard her. "You must distract them to follow, or they will chase the scent!" The alter ego nodded, and waited. Mina looked to Quatermain and Skinner. "I will do the same. The two of you will carry on in this direction. They are fast, but I will be able to escape them easily. Go." The swift approach was getting louder… they were running out of time.
Quatermain opened his mouth to protest, only to have Mina practically snap at him as she hissed, "Go!"
With that, the hunter and the thief turned and ran as fast as their legs would carry them on the trail Mina had chosen. She waited… with Hyde standing in a mirrored position some thirty feet down the edge of the woods from her, looming and impatient. He shifted on his feet, and tensed his muscles in anticipation of what was to come. The beast knew what he was up against, and was aware of the need for caution.
That was when they burst from the trees in a tightly formed unit, three werewolves poised to pounce. They looked left and right, setting their feral eyes on the targets presented. Mina arched an eyebrow and smiled slightly, lifting a hand in a mocking wave to them.
The creature in the middle was bipedal, the tallest of the three… that was, until the other two threw themselves up onto their hind legs, and they bellowed in unison. The two outer wolves were similar, though one was slightly smaller and darker in colour, and the muzzle was shorter… not quite so obviously canine.
The wolf in the middle turned its head to the smallest of the three, and growled at it. It sunk down onto all fours, and started to creep eerily towards Mina.
That's it… just a little closer… she thought patiently, watching it approach, crouched low as it paced bestially forward, its lips curled in a silent snarl of a threat.
They seemed to know they had lost their quarry… whatever that may be. Mina was certain it was the other werewolves, though the exact identity was lost to her. She cared little, so long as they were stopped. She saw with her spare attention that the other two werewolves started to move towards Hyde. A grin spread on the face of Jekyll's alter ego as he waited eagerly for the challenge.
The werewolf approaching Mina crept right up in front of her, and rose up halfway onto its hind legs, growling in a feral manner, almost inquisitive. She looked straight into its yellow eyes, a trace of the human underneath still visible in the oculi, and she cocked her head. It returned the motion, before opening its maw in a loud growl, saliva dripping from its vicious fangs.
With lightning speed, Mina delivered a hard blow to its head with the heel of her boot, cursing her skirts, and shouted to Hyde as the beast recuperated, "Go! Now!"
Hyde turned and bolted off after Nemo on the chosen route, the two werewolves in hot pursuit. Mina did the same in the opposite direction, hearing the roar of the wolf she had struck as it dropped to all fours and began to gallop after her. She resorted to her bats after a few feet, knowing they would carry her faster, and also most probably intrigue the monster long enough to keep it behind her. Sure enough, when she glanced behind her, the wolf was still there, flat out in the chase, limbs reaching back and forth rhythmically in a swift run.
She could smell Quatermain and Skinner, and knew she was gaining on them. Damn, they weren't going fast enough! The wolf would be upon them soon if it caught their scents and strayed from his path behind Mina.
She knew it was male… she could sense it. It was, in it's other form, most definitely a man. Regardless of this, it would be no less strong if it were female. Werewolves were brutal, vicious and physically powerful. Its prowess was shown in the ease it displayed as it gave pursuit, in the lack of exhaustion it displayed, even as it leapt at her, snarling furiously.
Mina rose into the air on the wings of her bats just in time to avoid the vicious claws and teeth, and felt the air brush past her skirts as she was lifted clear.
And she saw her companions, fleeing off into the neighbouring village! What did they think they would accomplish?
Ridiculous! Mina thought, angry, and swooped down to catch the werewolf's attention again before leading it after Quatermain… and his gun. It would not kill the beast, but it would certainly wound it enough to take it out of action in time for their escape.
Hyde charged along the tree line, hearing the swift pursuit of the creatures behind him, and soon came up behind Nemo just before they reached a barn.
"Quickly!" Nemo urged, "Inside!"
The two entered the abandoned barn, and Hyde closed the doors behind them with a creak and a slam. The two stepped back from the barricade after Hyde slid the large bar in front of the doorway, a beam of wood blocking all entry from the outside. Nemo gripped the hilt of his ornate sword, and it clattered against the scabbard.
Hyde grunted in anticipation, even as the first crash landed heavily against the doors, and they wobbled dangerously against their hinges, creaking ominously and dislodging dust from the ceiling. There was the sound of vicious snarling from the other side of the barricade, and then another slam, and another, before the two beasts started to work in unison, and smashed right through the doors in a splintering of wood and horrific bellows of fury and inner triumph at their slight advance.
One was upright, very human in shape but not in appearance, all lengthened muzzle and straggly hair, lips curled in a snarl. The other was dropping down onto all fours, grumbling threateningly in a reinforced throat, covered in thick, shaggy hair down over its body. They advanced together, their strides in simultaneous pace with one another, like soldiers.
Hyde moved forward in a challenge, one that the beasts seemingly understood, and the four-legged monster leapt. Hyde swung his arm out like a club, and swatted it away, careful to avoid to teeth and claws at all costs. The werewolf was knocked aside with a slight yelp, and it crashed into a dilapidated cart, shattering it with its mass. The second werewolf lunged at Nemo during the distraction, but the Indian lashed out with his sword, catching it across the arm that it rose to strike with.
It made no sound to show its discomfort as it lashed out with the other arm, catching the captain in the chest and sending him flying backwards over a barrel. When he had landed, he did not rise again, and Hyde grumbled in irritation at his companion being incapacitated, and so easily it seemed. He turned his head back around to face his opponents, and saw the four-legged beast had regained its footing, and was now pressing forth, shoulder blades arching threateningly, jaws open wide with saliva oozing from between its teeth. Hyde sneered.
Roaring at them in a challenge, he pressed forward, and as one, they pounced.
Allan glanced over his shoulder and saw the flurry of the bats as they pressed towards him and Skinner, who was more than slightly out of breath. He cocked the elephant gun, and lowered the barrel toward the form he knew to be behind the vampire. She saw the weapon, and suddenly soared upwards, even as the bullet exploded out of the gun with a deafening crack like thunder.
The hunter watched in dismay as the werewolf had leapt upwards to avoid the projectile at almost the same time as Harker, and averted wounding. It landed athletically on all fours, forelimbs first, and charged, bellowing, towards them. Skinner gave a yelp, and darted off to the left into an alley. Allan saw fit to confuse the beast by dividing its attention, and so let off his next shot, grazing the animal's hindquarters and sped off as fast as he could manage to his right.
It gave a roar, and Allan turned back when he heard the sound fade, and realised it was not behind him… blast! It had gone after Skinner!
"Dammit…"
He ran as fast as his bare feet would carry him, and panted with the exertion, hearing the horrifying sound behind him. He gave a muttering of a gasped curse, and scrambled over a fallen bin, hoping it would provide some sort of obstacle. He knew he was wrong when he heard the stealthy padding speeding up behind him, accompanied by the feral snarling of eager pursuit.
Oh for crying out loud, leave me alone! Skinner let his mind run with possibilities, until he almost cursed aloud at his stupidity, reaching up with both intangible hands and snatching at the lapels of his jacket, tearing it free of his body and tossing it aside as quickly as he could. He pulled his trilby from his head, and let it spin off into the darkness, hoping beyond hope that the invisibility would give him some sort of edge in the chase.
Skinner could still hear the pursuer, but it seemed they had slowed somewhat, as if confused by the sudden disappearance. Skinner resisted a chuckle, and reminded himself to just keep running until he ran out of land or luck.
Soaring high above the lazy rooftops, she let her otherworldly bats swirl around her, and growled at the sight below her. Mina could see the galloping werewolf, and knew instantly that it was chasing Skinner. Her heightened senses helped her to pick out from her height the form of Quatermain chasing off in the same direction, loading his rifle at the same time to try and lend a hand.
He wasn't running fast enough however, and before long, the wolf would have its teeth and claws sunken into the invisible thief extraordinaire if someone didn't – literally – swoop in to the rescue. Raising a brow, even as her bats swarmed and chattered around her, she commanded them to lower her, her power over them making her descent swift and precise.
Before long she was swooping in over the alley like a ghostly apparition.
Yellow eyes narrowed in enthusiasm and anticipation, maw open slightly as it panted lightly with the chase, and the beast gave a light snarl and a shudder as it leapt over another obstacle. Its padded feet carried it easily, and the werewolf gave a chattering noise of eagerness.
Lacertus pumped his limbs in pursuit, and sensed that he was closing in on the concealed prey. He could smell them; vaguely see a blurred outline with his supernatural vision. Giving an echoing roar, he caught the other scent, and twisted his head and neck to see the monstrosity bearing down on him. Unfortunately for him, his speed failed him, and he was barrelled right off his feet and sent tumbling into a heap, bristling with rage at the indecency of the interruption the thing had seen fit to provide.
Rising to all fours, he arched his powerful spine, letting his hackles rise just slightly to show his fury, and curled his snout in feverous anger. His eyes narrowed, shortly before he heard the deafening boom, and felt the searing pain.
"Is that all you've got?" Hyde asked mockingly, thoroughly enjoying himself… but he had to admit, these wolves were far more cunning than the ones Evans had had in his employ. These ones were smart, stealthy and swift. He didn't like that aspect at all, but all three combatants appeared to be tiring. The two werewolves' chests were heaving, and the bipedal creature was bleeding from a slight wounding to the arm from Nemo's sword. The other favoured one leg slightly.
Just as Hyde was about to press forward again for another round, the two wolves turned their heads to the door, and froze, poised predatorily, before, with a twin snarl, they bolted out of the broken opening, the alter ego of Jekyll's looking on in disappointment.
Pacing out of the door, he raised a brow curiously, and then turned his head back at the sound of someone scrambling to their feet, probably with as much of their pride as they could muster. It was Captain Nemo, sword in his hand, reclaimed after his brief visit into unconsciousness.
Rolling his eyes, Hyde pressed on out of the gap, and moved off to find the others. He wondered why the werewolves had departed so suddenly… it seemed unfair – to Hyde at least – that they abandon a fight like that. He had been enjoying himself, something he wasn't allowed to indulge in too often… sulking slightly, he heard Nemo come up behind him.
Together, the two walked over the grass away from the ruined barn in search of the rest of the League.
A/N2: Ugh… how much did this suck? I'm truly, truly sorry… you will get more action in chapters to come, and though Hyde's 'fight' seemed rather abrupt, I made it like that on purpose. Couldn't very well have him killing two of the cronies now could I? See you next update ^_~