Thank you to all who reviewed. You have been a really great help to me, and you are the main fuel on which this story burns. Sucky chapter title, not so good with names. Please bear with me if the format is impossible. I'm experimenting.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, especially not the League of Extraordinary Gentleman.
Improvising
As Huck was walking away from Meyers' office, he realized through his anger that he had no idea of where to start looking for the Fantom without Secret Service intelligence. For a brief second, he considered going back to Meyers and asking to come back on, just long enough to find out where he could find the Fantom. However, his pride got in the way and the thought was quickly discarded.
Huck looked around as he walked through the halls he knew so well, and saw the faces of friends staring at him intently. He gazed into each of their eyes individually and watched as their heads whipped down. Oh, yes, Huck thought. The nation's finest, not even able to keep a straight face to their own. He gave a disgusted snort, and walked on out the doors, blinking at the bright sunshine in comparison to the gloomy darkness inside. His own teammates, his supposed friends had known what was going to happen and didn't bother to tell him. These thoughts shoved away any notions of going back to ask for help. Oh, yes, from here on out he was on his own. Quickly he went through all the information that he had had available during his brief stint on the assignment. He sat on a bench and reviewed his memories for nearly an hour before he gave up. Dangit, everythin' I do know, he's either finished doin' it or moved somewhere else. He's like water! Having no other choices, he headed out to the New York harbor to get passage on the fastest boat to England. He was just going to have to start from there.
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Huck stifled a sigh of impatience as he waited outside another abandoned home on the East London Docks. This was the end of his second week of stakeout, just waiting for a sign that the Fantom had been there or was now residing there. So far, nothing. Nothing but some empty liquor bottles. He slowly bent down and picked one up. He smiled wearily at it, the impulsively threw it against the building across the street from him. Half a second later, Huck saw movement, just out o f the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he crouched down and pulled Tom's Colts—he had kept them in honor of Tom's memory. He walked towards where the movement had come from, low to the ground. As he did he saw what the movement had been—a brute with a platoon helmet and a piece of cloth hanging idle at the side of his face. A cigarette was hanging haphazardly from his mouth. His gun, if you could call it that, was boxy and covered in rivets. It had nothing of the style that Huck's modified Winchester had. He suddenly realized that he had seen that uniform before—on the Fantom's men! Huck silently crept closer to the goon.
Then he realized what he was doing and nearly burst out laughing. He was doing exactly what Tom would've done! Or maybe not. He didn't know for sure. Either way, he was going to do it his way, so the world better get used to it.
Carefully he rested the Colts back in their holsters. Still crouching, he moved away from the goon to a small, almost invisible corner to anyone who did not know it was there. It was the backside of a small building; the bottom half of the wall covered with boxes shoved against it, and had small posters advertising the names Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Huck had found it while searching out this place when he had just arrived. He laid his Winchester on the ground and begrudgingly unfastened his holsters and placed them on the ground.
Then Huck turned around and straightened. He started walking purposefully towards the goon, but caught himself. He stretched his arms out in front of himself and staggered around the dividing wall, squinting his eyes.
Huck looked over at the goon, who was now staring at him full on, his cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth. Cautiously, Huck dropped to the grime covered street and moved his hands back and forth over the cobbles, muttering about a pair of glasses, portraying a general sense of panic. He continued this until he reached the goon's feet and stood up, using the goon's leg as a guide. "Oh, sir, perchance have ya seen a pair of glasses? Oh, please help me, I'm blind as a bat without 'em!" he said, going on in a babble. The goon wasn't looking too interested, so Huck had to think up something quick. "I'd be willin' to give a reward if you'd be so kind as to help me…" Suddenly the goon's eyes lit up, and a sneaky smile lit his face. Apparently, the Fantom didn't pay his goons well enough.
"Yeah, okay, okay, I'll help you find your glasses if you'll just shut up." The goon put his gun down, thinking that Huck couldn't do him any harm, not thinking of the circumstances or their location.
Seeing his opportunity to get the machine gun out of the equation, Huck clumsily stumbled over to the goon and vigorously shook his hand, saying, "Oh, thank you so much. It means a lot to me, it does!" while 'accidentally' kicking the gun far away from them. "Now, I know I lost it somewhere right around here, so how 'bout we start here?"
The goon nodded his head and bent down, looking around for a nonexistent pair of glasses.
Huck smiled wryly and bent down, picking up the lid to a box lying nearby. He raised it high above his head and brought it smashing down on the goon's head. The goon dropped to the ground without a sound.
Huck's smile turned into a full on grin. He jogged over to where he had his guns hidden and retrieved them. He tried the door that the goon had apparently been guarding, but found it was locked. Huck was amazed that one of the Fantom's men had finally shown a smidgen of common sense and intelligence. He bent down and searched the goon and found what he was looking for in the goon's right hand pocket.
Huck was about to unlock the door when he thought about how he was going to get to the Fantom the way he was dressed: a well worn shirt that was covered in dirt stains and missing several of its buttons, a pair of black pants with holes in both knees, and an overcoat over all of it.
Huck shrugged off his overcoat and carefully pulled the goon's coat off him. He pulled it on and grabbed the goon's helmet and scarf. He put them on, and then tipped the helmet towards the unconscious goon. "Thanks."
Huck walked towards the door again, taking a wide berth around the ugly machine gun as if it would give him bad luck. As he put the key into its slot, he realized he had no idea what he was going to do. He sighed. "Let's hear it for improvisation," and with that, he quietly opened the door and slipped inside.
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A/N—Yes, there really is a building with signs that say Kevin O'Neill and Alan Moore in the movie. Go watch and see!