Hello again.

Sorry that you had to wait for so long, my computer has been a bitch.

Sethoz – Thanks. And you should be confused, I think, it didn't really make sense to me either. I wrote it to get him into the story, but I feel a bit sorry for doing that to poor Jack.

Clez – Ooh, many comments! Glad you liked Skinner's line J. "Two words that combine to make one…" *takes note* And people tell me there's nothing to learn off the net. Railing? Strange, Microsoft Word told me that reeling was right. Oh well… thanks for pointing that out. English is just my second language. Does it show? Two persons like chapter 6! This makes me so happy! I am so very happy!

But I won't torment you any longer now. J

- - -

Tom leant against a wall in a hall inside the Nautilus. He thought about Mina's suggestion. She had made it days ago, and he had promised to think about it. At first, it had seemed to be a crazy idea. The League could last on their own, without a replacement for Quatermain. But the more he thought of it, the more he believed she was right. After all, it was a creature out for him.

Selfish.

Out for them, of course.

He sighed and cracked his fingers before he began his search for Mina. He had to tell her she was right. One of the bad parts about the Nautilus. It could take hours to find someone.

- - -

Jekyll checked Adria's pulse and temperature. Her pulse was steady now, but she seemed to have a light fever. He put a thermometer in her mouth before he began changing her bandages. He couldn't help but think he was doing something wrong when he did it, and he always saw enough skin to make Hyde wish for more. He removed the bloody bandages and checked the wounds with a puzzled look.

She sure has good healing flesh… he thought when he saw how remarkably fast they had healed. He took the new ones and just put them over her chest when he realized something.

Hyde was quiet.

Normally, it would've been a pleasure, but now it was just unsettling. There was an almost half-naked woman in front of them, why didn't he give him bad advice?

Can't last a second without me, can you?

Jekyll shrugged, trying to simply not talk to Hyde. When he had put the bandages on and washed his hands, he couldn't help but look at Hyde's picture in the crane.

Why bother, Henry? You know, or should know, as well as I do that there's something wrong about her.

"Because I'm a doctor. I can't turn anyone away because of what you say, Edward."

While he said it, he glanced at Adria. He was worried about her. And, in another way, almost afraid of her. He was both glad and worried about her strange sleep.

You can say it was an accident…

Adria's eyelids flickered. Jekyll didn't notice that the water still poured over his hands. His eyes wandered to the drugs in the cabin.

Just a little too much. C'mon.

She gasped sharply and stared at the roof. After a couple of seconds she took out the thermometer of her mouth and looked at it, surprised. She put it down on the bed, her eyes darting back and forth in the room. Jekyll slowly turned the water off and sat down on the end of the bed, to calm her down. Hyde went from trying to convince him to taunt him angrily. Had Adria been asleep longer, he might have let Hyde be in charge for a little while.

- - -

Mina slowly walked down the street, back towards the Nautilus. She had much to think about, the assassin, the creature, the hunter, Adria… Too much to do it onboard while keeping an eye open for Skinner. Of course, she was a bit overconfident in her own strength to be out all alone with all of this hanging over her head, but it was a beautiful night.

"Hunter… hunter…" she muttered to herself, not really paying much attention to her surroundings.

"Hu…"

Her head snapped up, her eyes widening when she recognized the smell. It was the same she had felt on Adria a while ago. She tried to find whatever it was that smelled like that while her eyes reddened. Something moved a little bit away from her. Thinking it was another creature this time after her, Mina stepped back into the shadows. The creature stepped out on the street. Mina couldn't really make out any details, but she saw that it walked with its hands almost touching the ground. Its legs seemed to be bent in strange ways. But what surprised her was its size. Almost as large as Hyde. But this particular beast seemed to be afraid or awaiting something's arrival. It looked around itself, sometimes lifting its head to sniff in the air. Mina made herself ready to attack it when something struck the wall next to them. With a shriek the beast fled, quickly disappearing in the dark. Mina remained in the shadows, wondering why it smelled just like Adria did.

"Son of a… wrong bullets! I knew I should have put some kind of mark on the box, I just knew." Someone grumbled a while away. Mina leaned out from her hiding spot and glared at the darker spot on the street. It seemed to be a man holding a large rifle, grumbling curses to himself while he reloaded it. Mina couldn't help but to become curious about this man. She tried to make out some details, but had to retreat to the shadows behind her when the man looked up. He growled something and raised the rifle to his shoulder. He stood like that for minutes, just waiting.

"I know you're there, beast!" he called. Mina unconsciously slowed her breath down, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Go on! Attack! I'm giving you a chance here!"

She wondered what he was doing. He couldn't hurt her anyway. She let herself get less careful and took a closer look at him from where she was standing. He didn't move. Just when she was about to take a step out of the darkest shadow, another bullet hit the wall. A cloud of dust shot up. Startled, Mina snarled quietly and took the step back again. She heard a victorious laugh.

"Seems like I got you exactly where I want, eh? You can run, I'll chase you down and kill you, I swear. Or you could get out of those shadows and attempt to rip my head off and die in battle, it's your choice."

Mina rolled her eyes and stepped out on the street. She crossed her arms and glared at the figure. He took a step closer to her.

"Aren't you even going to try?"

"Not at all." Mina said loudly, making sure the armed man heard every single word. "Unless you are serious of course. You will actually give me a chance to get over there and kill you?"

The man lowered his rifle.

"You're not one of them. You don't feel right. But you do…"

He gasped and made a quick movement. Suddenly, there was a knife in his hand. Mina raised an eyebrow.

"Do you have a death wish?" she asked.

"I have a feeling my guns aren't going to do much good anyway."

Mina grinned, more to frighten him if she could see her than because she found it funny.

"Something is very, very wrong about you… You smell like death." The man growled.

"And what do you think that you smell like?"

They stood like that for a long time, just glaring at each others silhouette. The man finally spoke again.

"Tell me what you are!"

"You should know, assassin!" Mina scoffed.

"Ha! I knew it! You must be working for them then! Let's just find out exactly what you are!" the man cried and lunged at her with his knife. She only had time to grasp her own knifes before she heard the familiar sound of a gunshot. The bullet burrowed itself into her stomach, sending her to the ground. She gasped for air, awaiting the familiar tingle of healing. She saw the man look down on her with a satiated grin on his face and the smoking gun in his hand. No familiar sensation, just incredible pain.

What's wrong?

The man leaned down and let the tip of his knife rest on her throat.