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.
Sean Malloy-1: This soon enough for you?
Elenrod: It wasn't Hartdegen who shot Mina; it was the Beast. But, glad you liked Tom carrying Mina; I just figured it was the kind of thing he'd do.
Clez: Nobody's fault; the important thing is that you found out I'd updated, and you know who Logan is now. Glad you liked the line about Tom watching Mina take flight, and I can assure you the Beast will get his ass kicked in the not-too-distant future. Just give the League time to work out who he is and how he can do what he does, and they're set.
LotRSeer3350: You're right, but not quite there yet; he has nothing from Nemo, and as for the gun thing... well, I'll tell you this; that wasn't acquired from any of the League....
Drakena the Destroyer: He wasn't meant to be good news, so I'm glad to see that I've succeeded in that regard. By the way, the picture you mentioned sounded rather interesting; where is it?
Legacy
"Uuhh..." Logan grunted, as he slowly blinked his eyes open and looked around himself. He was relieved to see that all of the other League members were still there, although none of them looked like they'd come out of their last fight in very good condition; all of them had bruises, Hyde had some nasty-looking cuts on his arms, Mina's thigh was still bleeding, Sawyer's forehead had a large slash on it, and Hartdegen's right arm stuck out at an odd angle. However, Logan was fairly sure it was only a dislocated shoulder, so at least none of the League were permanently injured.
Getting up, Logan looked around, and noticed that Terry was beginning to wake up as well.
"Terry!" he called out to his friend.
The robot looked over in his direction, and nodded when he saw that it was the mutant who was talking.
"Logan," he said simply. "Do you know where the Beast has gone?"
"Nope," Logan said, shaking his head. "Unless..." He sniffed the air, and then groaned. "It smells like he flew away. If Mina was awake, we might be able to do something about that, but as it is, we can't." He looked over at the other seven League members. "Even if Mina was awake, it probably wouldn't do much good; that guy took us down without even breaking a sweat." He clasped his hands behind his head and stretched, hearing a slight slick from his back before he stopped. "How the hell can one thing be that powerful?"
"I don't know," Terry replied, as he walked towards the rest of the League, crouching down to pick up Nemo and Sawyer as he spoke. "All I know is, we have to get these guys back to the car, back to Military Intelligence, and then worry about what to do next."
Logan looked over at the large form of Edward Hyde. "I think we're going to need to come up with another means of transport for this guy."
Eventually, after much trial and error on the part of the two of them, Logan and Terry had managed to get the League back to Nemo's car. Most of the League they'd managed to put on the seats in the back, but Hyde was the real problem. It didn't look like his serum would be wearing off anytime soon, and, with the sun starting to rise in the sky, they couldn't wait around for him to turn back into Jekyll; some of the League members needed to have medical attention as soon as possible, and they didn't want to be found by the general public.
Eventually, they decided to just tie him on the roof of the car and drive back to MI5 that way. It wasn't exactly the easiest solution in the world, but it was all they could do at the moment.
"Dammit!" Logan commented, as he found himself having to grab Hyde as he nearly fell off the roof as the car stopped outside the MI5 building. He looked over at Terry with a reproachful glare in his eyes. "Next time you have to drive, go slower, OK?"
Terry looked over at Logan. "I thought that it would be best if we didn't spend a lot of time out in the open right now," he replied. "Whatever the Beast is, he is clearly possessed of phenomenal strength, and it would be unwise to stay somewhere where he can easily reach us for any length of time." As he spoke, he and Logan got out of the car and untied Hyde from the roof.
Terry looked over at Logan. "Pull him off the car by his feet, and then grab his left arm," he said to the mutant. "I shall grab his right, and, hopefully, we'll get him into the building before anyone else can see us."
Logan nodded. The two of them walked around to the back of the car, grabbed Hyde's legs from where they slumped over the edge of the roof, and pulled on his body. After a couple of tugs, Hyde slid off the roof of the car, and landed on the ground, still unconscious.
Logan looked up at Terry. "Can you believe how powerful that sucker was?" he asked his friend. "I mean, taking this guy out for this long with just one punch? What is he?"
"I don't know," Terry replied, as he placed one of Hyde's arms over his shoulders and hauled himself to his feet; even with his superhuman strength, Hyde was not the easiest thing to carry. "What I do know is that we need to have all our friends get checked over by a doctor as soon as possible, and the doctor here in the only one who will be prepared to help a group as unusual as we are. So help me get Hyde in, or leave."
Logan sighed, grabbed Hyde's other arm, and placed it over his shoulder. "Can't argue with that," he smiled, as the two of them started walking towards the door.
It wasn't the easiest thing they'd ever done, but, after only a few minutes, they had finally reached the door of the Military Intelligence headquarters, Terry kicking the door open as he entered it.
"Yes?" the man at the front desk asked, looking up at the three of them, but his expression changed to one of near-total shock as he saw Hyde. "What the...?"
Terry reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a small leather book, which he held up in front of the man. It was the League ID card that the Government had given the League after the Martian crisis; it gave them the status of official Government spies, but it didn't actually commit them to just the one Government. They had similar passes from the American Government, and the Indians were working on giving them some from them at the same time. The man instantly lost his confused expression and brightened up considerably.
"Good day to you, Mr Nator," he said, smiling. "What can I do for you?"
"Get the doctor," Terry replied, as he and Logan gently placed Hyde down on the ground. "Tell him to bring some help and all the equipment he needs to make a good diagnostic. And while you're at it, get Mycroft Holmes down here at once; We have vital information for him."
"Of course, Mr Nator," the man replied, turning around and quickly writing a couple of messages down on some pieces of paper. He then rolled the papers up, put them in two cylinders, and slid the cylinders into two similarly sized holes in the wall. Terry recognised the messaging tube system; they had a similar arrangement on the Nautilus, although they rarely used it these days. "They should be here shortly."
"Good," Terry replied. "Keep an eye on him," he said, indicating Hyde. He turned to face Logan. "Let's get the others in."
As Terry and Logan carried in the last two League members from the car- Skinner and Nemo, to be specific- Logan was relieved to see the large form of Mycroft Holmes standing in the hallway, looking around at the unconscious League members where they lay in the entrance hall.
"Ah, Mr Logan, Mr Nator," he said, looking up at the two of them as they placed Skinner and Nemo with the rest of the League. "What, pray tell, is the situation regarding our serial killer?"
"This isn't the place to talk about that kind of thing, Mycroft," Logan put in. "Take us to your office, and get the rest of the League to the medical centre. We need everyone up and ready by tonight."
"Really?" Mycroft asked, raising one curious eyebrow. "Well, then come right this way." He waved them towards a nearby door, before walking through it himself. As Terry and Logan entered the door, which led to a staircase going to the upper regions of the MI5 building, they heard a door open behind them.
Terry glanced back briefly as the door shut behind them, and smiled at Logan.
"The medical team," he replied simply to Logan's unasked question.
Logan smiled, and then the two of them started to walk up the steps after Mycroft's rather noticeable bulk. However, even though he was relieved that their fellow League members would be getting a sorely-needed check-up, he was more busy thinking about another problem.
What the hell was the Beast?
And how could they stop him before he killed again?
"So," Mycroft asked, as he sat down in his office and faced Logan and Terry across his desk, "based on the condition of your fellow League members, I think it's safe to assume that you encountered the killer I sent you after?"
"Oh, we did," Logan replied. "And may I say, Mycroft, that thing was so powerful that the only reason it didn't kill was it wanted to make us look like a bunch of idiots? Because I certainly can't think of any other reason it didn't take us down for good right then."
"It's powerful?" Mycroft asked, as he picked up a pipe and filled it, a habit that often reminded people of what they'd heard of his brother Sherlock.
"Hyde failed to damage it," Terry replied simply.
Mycroft blinked. "I would have thought that to be impossible," he replied, as he put the cigarette down and looked at Terry. "Edward Hyde is generally acknowledged to be the most powerful being this world has ever seen."
"This guy's bigger," Logan informed Mycroft. "I don't know what he is, but this bastard managed to knock all of us down without breaking a sweat, and I get the impression he was in a good mood at the time. Can you imagine what he'd be like when he's ticked off?"
Mycroft looked up from his desk, where he'd been slowly puffing on his cigarette while Logan spoke.
"Indeed?" he said, sounding more intrigued every minute. "This is interesting. Have you any plans as to how to stop this creature?"
"Well, we're mostly waiting for the rest of the League to wake up before we decide on our next move," Terry replied. "Come to that, where is the medical room in this place?"
Mycroft pointed at a door opposite his desk, on the adjacent wall to the door to the stairs they'd taken to the office from the reception area.
"Through there; the fourth door on the left," he replied, as Logan and Terry got up and walked towards the door. "Oh, and one more thing."
"Yes?" Terry asked, looking back at Mycroft.
"Tell the League that I am grateful for their attempt to stop the killer, and that..." Mycroft smiled. "I hope they will recover from their injuries soon."
Logan nodded briefly at Mycroft, and then walked out of the door with Terry, not even bothering to thank Mycroft for the comment. The man meant well, but Logan had never really liked the guy. He may be the League's superior in rank, but Logan had never managed to view the guy as anything more than a glorified politician who specialised in criminals.
Besides, they didn't owe any genuine allegiance to the guy; he just called them whenever there was a problem going on that threatened innocent civilians. Mycroft was the equivalent of a graveyard, in Logan's opinion; you needed him to be there, but you didn't have to like him.
As that thought crossed Logan's mind, Terry opened the door to the medical bay. The two of them walked in, praying that their friends would be all right....
Because if they weren't, the Beast would continue to slaughter innocent citizens of London for no apparent reason.
And the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen could not allow that to happen.