DiabloCat: My apologies for taking so long. I hit a mental blank. Don't worry; I've got a fair idea of where I'm heading now. I think. My thanks to all of the reviewers. Can't remember all the names, but you know who you are. Anyway, this chapter will satisfy any Tom Sawyer worshippers out there. Enjoy...
Tom grizzled under his breath as the rain slowly but surely soaked him. A drop of water plopped off the brim of his hat and struck him of his nose. With a muttered curse he swiped it off and glared at the sky.
This was getting annoying. It had been three days since the ambush in the reps room, three days of stalking the streets for clues. And they'd found nothing. Not one single thing.
They'd interviewed the victims. They'd scoured the city. They'd talked to complete strangers. But no one seemed to know anything.
Tom kicked the wall next to him, and cursed. Smart move Tom. Now you've got a sore foot as well.
It was just so frustrating. Six more people had been attacked, though only one had died. It was like the mysterious assailants were warning the League – stay out or we'll take even more people down.
Tom looked up at the giant clock. Hmm, time to be heading back to the League. They'd agreed to split up and search, on the condition that every three hours they met at the Nautilus and swapped information.
He turned to head back, when a shriek of alarm assaulted his ears. Tom whirled and dashed towards the sound. He looked around frantically. Where did the scream come from?
A terrified sob came from an alleyway to his left. He ran swiftly towards it, unslinging his Winchester from his shoulder as he went. He could see two dark shapes down the end.
"Freeze!" he shouted, then inwardly winced. That sounded so stupid.
The two figures turned, and as they did so, one of them came out of the shadows. It was a young woman, clutching her shopping tightly in her hands – and she had a knife pressed to her throat.
Tom's blood ran cold. He remembered a similar scene from a while ago, when he first met the League. A soldier had done almost exactly the same thing, holding a blade to a woman's throat. Tom had been unable to do anything. But the woman had been Mina then, and she'd got herself out of trouble. Tom doubted this woman would be able to do what Mina had done.
"Let her go."
The attacker said nothing. Damn, these people weren't taking any chances. They wouldn't even talk for fear of being identified.
"Let her go or I'll shoot."
The assailant's only response was to press the knife down harder. A trickle of blood dripped down her throat. She gave a whimper, and looked pleadingly at Tom.
"If you kill her, I'll definitely shoot you." What was something that would really make them think twice? Sudden inspiration struck. "And then we'll have a nice dead body to identify, won't we?"
Tom could sense the aggressor's hesitation. He'd guessed right – these people didn't want to be identified at any cost.
Suddenly the knife was removed from the woman's throat and she was shoved forwards. The attacker turned to make a run for it. Tom darted forwards. It would be a great help if they could take someone alive. But the guy was too fast. He leapt up on a rubbish bin, and then scrambled onto the wall at the end of the alleyway. They paused for a moment, silhouetted against the sky. But Tom still couldn't see any features.
Something shot out of the darkness, striking the attacker on their shoulder. They let out a cry of pain, and toppled backwards off the wall.
Tom turned to the woman in surprise. It was she who had thrown the object, probably something from her shopping bag. Her face was twisted in rage.
"That bastard! Wish I'd hit him in the head." she growled. She took a deep, calming breath and faced Tom.
"Thankee kindly for helping me sir," she said. "That bastard snuck up on me. Didn't know he was there until he had that knife at my throat. Probably would'a slit it too, if you hadn't come along."
Tom smiled. "No worries. You said the guy was a he. Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Oh yes. Rough and strong as a man, and the voice that told me to shut up was male too."
"He talked to you!" Tom leaned closer. This was their first lead. "What did he say?"
"Oh, nothing much. It was cos I'd screamed, see. He said 'Shut up or I'll kill you right now.' But that was all."
Tom was a touch disappointed. But, then again, it wasn't like they'd go around telling their victims exactly where they lived or anything. "Oh, okay. Can you describe the voice?"
"Husky, rough – menacing tone obviously. Sounded like he was young, maybe around my age, hard to tell." She looked at him curiously. "Hey – ain't you one of them people who're hunting those bastards? One of them weird folks who go around saving the world and all?"
Tom gave an embarrassed grin. "Um, sort of."
"Well good luck to you, and your friends. I hope you catch the mongrels – and make them pay!"
Tom tipped his hat. "We're working on it."
She beamed at him. "See ya then."
"See ya."
Tom watched her walk out of the alleyway and down the street, keen eyes scanning for any sign of a renewed attack on her. But the guy seemed to have given up for now.
He glanced at the clock again, and gave a yelp. He was late! By a good fifteen minutes! The League probably thought he'd been abducted! He turned tail and ran all the way to the Nautilus.
As he'd expected, an anxious League awaited him.
"Tom! What took you so long?" asked Mina, both relief and anger evident in her voice.
"Sorry," he panted. "Busy...rescuing...people...lost track...of time."
"Rescuing people? Nice try mate, but you should stick to something more convincing if you want us to forgive you," said Skinner.
"No...I'm serious. Woman...got attacked by one of them. Saved her but the guy escaped."
"Did you get any information?" enquired Jekyll eagerly.
"Not much. In fact, nothing very helpful. Her attacker was a male, with a rough husky voice. He threatened her, but said nothing handy. She reckoned he was around twenty-one years of age."
"Now we know at least one of them is a male." the doctor mused.
"Well, of course one of them is gonna be a guy," said Skinner. "Unless it was some cult of avenging women, which I doubt."
"Did anyone else find anything?" asked Tom
"No."
"Nothing."
"Ditto here."
"I'm afraid not."
"Damn!" Tom slammed his fist on the table. "This is hopeless! We have NOTHING to go on. Not one cursed thing!"
"It may be," said Nemo gravely. "That for the first time, the League will fail."
DiabloCat: Dum, dum, duuuum...are they beat? Will they fail? Of course not, they're the good guys! But tune in sometime or other to see how they get out of the mess!
