Disclaimer: I own the idea of the Beast, but his real identity is the property of his creator, as are the League.
Feedback: I would REALLY appreciate some of it.
Elenrod: I'll do what I can on that front; I assure you of that.
Clez: Glad you like it so far; things are going to get more interesting pretty soon...
Sweetdeath04: Glad you liked your introduction to the world of LXG fan fiction; I hope you continue to enjoy these kind of stories.
LotRseer3350: Yes it is. Regarding the Wolverine comment... maybe. He has battled the Hulk on occasion, and done fairly well in the fight. Regarding Van Helsing, I might include the Dracula one in a future fic, but not the Hugh Jackman one; he just wouldn't fit into the League's timeline.
daveykins: Nice point about the Predator; I hadn't thought of that one.
Sean Molloy-1: I did my best on the update front; hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long.
Legacy
"Great," Skinner groaned under his breath, as they walked out of the doors of Military Intelligence headquarters.
It was raining.
Skinner hated the rain. Even when he was young and visible, before being stealthy had become necessary for him to make a living, he'd never liked getting wet; as far as he was concerned, if you wanted to get wet, you should just go take a bath. Then, in his time as a thief, he hadn't liked the rain because all the puddles made it difficult to get anywhere without someone hearing, even if the rain was still on.
Then he'd acquired his invisibility, and had started to hate the rain even more. It wasn't just the fact that he got incredibly cold while walking around in the rain in the stark; it was also the fact that the rain drops falling on him gave people at least a vague idea where he was, although in most cases it wasn't all that obvious.
Skinner looked over at Sawyer, who'd put on the hat and coat that Skinner recalled him wearing when they'd boarded the Nautilus for the first time. The young spy had a slightly fearful expression in his eyes, but his general expression had a look of determination as he looked at Nemo's car, standing out there in the rain.
The thief groaned. He'd been partly hoping that Sawyer's show of bravado in the morgue had just been that; a show.
Now, it was beginning to look like they were genuinely going after this... thing that was killing people.
Because it almost certainly wasn't human.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked the young spy, looking over at the man who he personally considered his closest friend in the League. "I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to try and find out a bit more about this creature, before we-"
"Find out more?" Mina asked, butting into the conversation before her lover could reply himself. "Somehow, Mr Skinner, I doubt that we shall learn anything new no matter how long we wait."
"She has a point, Skinner," Logan put in. "Mycroft may not be the kind of guy who shares information that much, but he'd probably let us know if the creature had made any demands. Since it hasn't, I'm in agreement about tackling this creature before it can hurt anyone else."
Skinner groaned. "Fine," he said, as the League walked down the steps towards Nemo's car, Skinner lagging behind in a sulky mood. "But don't blame me if everything goes wrong!" he said to Sawyer and Nemo as they got into the front of the car, the rest of the League entering the passenger area.
Jekyll sighed a little as he glanced over in Skinner's direction. "Could you possibly try and be a bit more positive about this mission?" he asked the thief. "Lives may depend on our finding this monster, and we don't need you complaining about things on top of everything else."
"Hey, can you blame me?" Skinner asked. "Unlike the rest of you, I'm not exactly that good at combat against anything that isn't one hundred per cent human; even Tom and Nemo have their guns and swords!"
Terry looked over at Skinner. "Tom Sawyer doesn't use a sword," he said.
Skinner groaned. "Terry, try to learn not to take everything we say so literally," he said, looking at the League member that always freaked him out the most.
He'd never admit it to anyone, but, sometimes, he found Terry a bit unnerving; after all, a sentient machine from a future where the world fell apart? What was there about the guy to not freak you out?
Besides, whenever he turned invisible in Terry's presence, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that the guy was watching him, even though nothing was meant to be able to see him...
He'd never bothered asking Terry if his hunch was accurate or not; somehow, he didn't want to know for sure either way.
"So," Frank asked, looking over at Sawyer and Nemo in the driver's seat, "Where are we going now?"
"The scene of the last murder," Nemo replied, as Sawyer turned the car down another street. "A simple deduction to make; criminals are often creatures of habit, as you all should be aware of from our previous missions."
"Yep, that's certainly accurate," Skinner commented, looking over at the Indian scientist. "I mean, look at me; I made a great living just robbing houses in one area of London!"
Mina sighed. "Which is also the reason you got caught by Moriarty's men, Mr Skinner," she said, in a bored sort of voice. None of the League commented on it; she often used that tone when talking to Skinner. "Still, that factor should help us track down the creature before it can kill alone, especially if we dived our resources across the area."
"Exactly," Sawyer said, still driving as he spoke. "Nemo, Terry, Frank? You're with me; we'll handle half of the streets. Hartdegen, you take Skinner, Logan and Jekyll and handle the other half. Mina, you'll be our air support, and also let each group know if the others run into trouble."
"Perfect," Mina said, smiling.
Terry looked out the window. "We're here," he said, as simply as ever.
Braking the car on the kerb, Sawyer looked out his side window at what Terry had noticed.
It was a rather large, rather ruined building that looked exactly like the building in the photographs the League had been shown in the British Museum. Sawyer had mainly been focusing on the road earlier, and must have missed the building himself because of the rain.
Sawyer looked back and Terry, nodded his thanks, and then turned to the other League members.
"Let's move on out," he said, as he opened the car door.
Outside the car, Nemo pulled out a couple of flare guns and handed one over to Hartdegen, keeping the second one for himself.
"Fire those if you encounter the creature," he told Hartdegen. "If we do not see it, Mrs Harker shall, and we shall endeavour to join you as quickly as possible."
"Right," Hartdegen said, as he slipped the gun into his pocket. "See you when we see you."
The League started to walk away from the car, but Mina grabbed Sawyer's arm before he could really get started.
"Be careful," she whispered to him.
Sawyer smiled. "I always am," he told her. He kissed her briefly on the lips. "Let's go."
Nodding, Mina leapt up into the air, turning into her bat form as she got higher into the sky.
Looking up after her, Sawyer smiled briefly at her vanishing form. Even when she was flying around with a bunch of bats, he found something about her remarkably attractive.
Maybe it was the thrill of her keeping an eye on him from above that he liked about it...
Shaking his head, he turned towards the others.
"Let's go," he said.
The two groups started walking, Sawyer calling out one last-minute instruction to the other group.
"Meet back here in two hours if we haven't found anything!"
Then he was out of hearing range of the other group.
Logan stretched a little as he walked through the streets, unable to shake the nagging feeling that he was being watched. Ever since Rose had... died... he'd found it difficult to feel comfortable in cities; he always felt like Dog was hunting him, still revenge for the murder of his father all those years ago...
"Are you all right?" someone said behind him.
Logan recognised Jekyll's voice, and looked back at the doctor in question. Hartdegen and Skinner had gone to check out a side street, giving the other two a chance to talk a little.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Logan smiled reassuringly. "Just... you know... I sometimes get a bit uncomfortable in cities like this."
"Really?" Jekyll asked. "Why?"
He knew that Logan may not want to share with someone he hadn't really talked to that much, but he couldn't help it; he was insatiably curious about his fellow League members. He'd learnt all he could about the regular members, and had even managed to find out a bit about Frank, but Logan was the greatest enigma of them all.
Logan sighed. "You have a right to know, I suppose," he said. "I was born into a wealthy family, with access to every comfort you could imagine. My parents took in an orphaned, red-headed girl called Rose to be my companion. We fell in love, but everything changed when I saw the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan, murder my father."
Jekyll winced at that. He couldn't even begin to imagine what Logan could have felt like when that happened, but he doubted it had been a good experience.
"What happened?" he asked.
"My claws emerged for the first time," Logan answered. "I killed the groundskeeper, but the village chased me out as a freak. Rose stayed with me, however, and we eventually found work in a quarry. Then..." he sighed. "The groundskeeper's son, known to all as 'Dog', found me, and tried to kill in revenge for his father's murder. When I almost dealt a killing blow, Rose... got in between me and Dog and I... I..."
"You killed her by mistake, didn't you?" Jekyll replied.
Logan nodded, tears sparkling in the corner of his eyes. "I ran from civilisation after that. Drop in now and again, but I try and avoid it in general; I keep on feeling like Dog's out there, hunting me." He swallowed. "Or... that Rose is haunting me... blaming me..."
Jekyll placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault, Logan. If it's anyone's fault, it's Dog's; he shouldn't have provoked you. You can't blame yourself, you know."
"I know, I know..." Logan said, looking up at Jekyll. "Someday, maybe I'll be able to forgive myself." He clenched his fists. "But I'll never forget it..." he whispered.
Before Jekyll could say anything, he heard a loud roar sound from further down the street.
"What was that?!" Skinner yelled, as he and Hartdegen raced towards their comrades.
"Well, if it wasn't the thing we're hunting for," Logan said, as his claws burst out from between his knuckles, "then I'd like to know what the hell it is."
"Right," Hartdegen said, as he pulled out the flare gun and fired it up into the air. Watching it burn, he nodded in approval. "The others will be with us soon," he said, looking at his fellow three members. "Let's go."
They charged down the street, Hartdegen and Skinner puling a couple of guns out of their pockets while Jekyll searched for his serum.
Time to see what this bastard can do, Logan thought to himself, mentally preparing himself for battle.