Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Fellowship, the majority of the demons they're fighting (I'm running out of places to look for pictures, so I may be improvising for some of them from here on in), or Malcolm; he's someone from fiction going around under an alias. The plot is mine, and that's it.

Feedback: Is Skinner slightly annoying? Of COURSE I want some!

Kaudrim: Glad you liked the addition of Marcus. Regarding Malcolm, he is someone famous from fiction, but you'll have to wait and find out who he is at a later date...

Sean Malloy-1: I'll do what I can on that front.

The Fellowship of Extraordinary Men

Spinning around, the Fellowship and Malcolm saw a tall figure standing in the door of the house, dressed in a long black robe with a golden circlet on its head. The figure's face couldn't be seen apart from the eyes, because the figure wore a long black robe that was pulled up over its mouth and nose. Underneath the robe, the figure wore a dark red robe, almost the colour of blood, and had two sharp silver daggers attached to its sides, along with a long wooden stick with a golden handle at one end.

Around her were six large creatures, none of which looked exactly friendly, and none of them looked completely human.

One of them looked mostly human, but it appeared to have a lion's claws and mane, coupled with a body covered in golden fur.

Another creature reminded Marcus of the Samurai warriors he'd encountered on his travels in Japan, but its skin was green, it had a few small horns on its face, a nose that looked like it had been squashed into its face, and it had a large green jewel in the centre of its forehead.

"A Mohra demon..." Malcolm whispered under his breath.

The third creature appeared to be a badly sculpted model of a man, lacking true definition around the various limbs. Its eyes were just a couple of random dots around its head, and the only things on its arms were a few claws; its only distinguishing feature was a large mouth in the centre of its chest, with some extremely nasty teeth inside it.

The fourth figure was even larger, with two long blades in place of its arms and a face that looked like a dragon's head. It was covered in scales, and, unlike the first two, was actually wearing clothes; namely, torn dark brown trousers and a ripped top of a similar colour.

The fifth creature looked rather like the first in the majority of its body, but its face and hands looked very much like a human's, except that its ears were larger and it had two long horns on the back of its head. Malcolm and Marcus recognised it as a Fyarl demon.

The sixth and final creature looked remarkably like a dog, except that its face looked remarkably like a human's; the only exceptions were its squashed-in nose and pointed ears.

"Oh crap..." Malcolm whispered, as he looked from the demons to the figure standing in the centre of them.

Robin privately agreed with that statement, but he was determined not to let his fear get the better of him. Swallowing, he walked forward, looking the black figure in the eyes.

"You know, it is considered polite to introduce yourself to new acquaintances," he said.

"Of course," the figure smiled. "I am the Demon Master, and you, I believe, are the 'Fellowship of Extraordinary Men' that has been created to stop me." The eyes underneath the robe scanned the Fellowship, and sniffed. "Pathetic."

"You haven't seen what we can do yet," Marcus said, shifting his position into a combat stance, already calculating how to get across the house and tackle one of the creatures without going too near to the windows. "Don't start thinking we can't do anything to you until you've seen us in action."

"Oh, but I know you can't stop me," the figure replied, sounding like it was smirking under its cloak. "Because you're going to be killed by this little group." She stepped out of the door, looking around at the demons who still stood inside the house. "Kill them."

Then a dark red cloud surrounded the figure, and she vanished.

The demons charged.

The Fellowship, with the unwilling addition of Malcolm, rose to the challenge instantly, grabbing their weapons and starting to struggle with the nearest demon. Marcus found himself trading punches with the Fyarl, Ivanhoe launched himself into a swordfight with the bladed demon, the dog-creature charged at the Black Arrow, the lion monster chose Malcolm as its target, the Prince clashed swords with the Mohra, and Robin found himself facing the demon with the large mouth.

The first true battle of the Fellowship of Extraordinary Men was on.

Recognising the large-mouthed creature from the battle back at Locksley Hall, Robin quickly went over what he remembered of the creature from Sir Edward's fight with it; it had a remarkably hard skin, but its mouth and eyes were rather tender. The eyes weren't exactly large, but, if nothing else, it gave him something to aim for with his sword.

As he lashed out towards a nearby eye and the creature blocked his swipe, he could only hope that he managed to get past this thing's defences before it got past his.

As the dog-like demon charged towards the Black Arrow, the costumed adventurer did the only thing he could think of; he ducked underneath the flying form, spun around, and fired an arrow at the creature. It struck the dog thing in one shoulder, but it didn't appear to have much of a long-term effect; the creature just pulled the arrow out, sniffed it, and then threw it aside and turned to face the Black Arrow once again.

Swearing under his breath, the Black Arrow pulled a couple of daggers off his belt and held them up in front of him. They probably weren't the best weapons to use when you were fighting a creature from hell itself, but he didn't have any other options right now.

He just hoped that one of the other members of the Fellowship would get involved before things got too bad.

After trading a couple of blows with the bladed demon, Ivanhoe somehow ended up with his back to Malcolm, who was defending himself against the attacks of the lion-like demon with two unusual, three-pronged daggers.

"Interesting swords!" he called back to his new acquaintance, as he parried blows from his own demon opponent.

"Thanks!" Malcolm replied, as he finally managed to land a blow on his opponent, scratching the lion-thing on its left arm. "They're sai daggers from Japan; I brought them home with me after I spent a while studying Japanese magic there some years ago!"

"Right then," Ivanhoe said, as he narrowly managed to avoid getting his head taken off by one of his opponent's blades. "Well, if you can come up with something that will allow us to stop these things as soon as possible, I would be very grateful."

"I'm trying!" Malcolm replied, as he slashed one of the lion-creature's arms with one of his daggers. "But these things aren't going to go down easily, you know!"

Ivanhoe swore and kicked out at his opponent's knee, knocking it off-balance for a few brief moments; not enough to win the fight, but enough to buy Ivanhoe some breathing space.

If they didn't get this fight out of Malcolm's house and into somewhere with more room to manoeuvre, the Fellowship wouldn't survive this fight.

Marcus launched the first punch in his fight with the Fyarl demon, but it was so powerful that he might as well have tapped it on the shoulder, for all the effect he had. When the Fyarl launched a punch of its own at Marcus, the vampire barely managed to catch the creature's fist before it hit him in the face; he may not have been able to do much damage to this sucker, but he was prepared to bet that it would be able to hurt him.

He couldn't afford to take any injuries right now. The odds were already stacked against the Fellowship; he couldn't afford to let them lose their strongest member, no matter how briefly.

He continued to desperately punch and kick away at his opponent, hoping and praying that he'd come up with a strategy to stop it before he got himself killed for good.

The Prince slashed and ducked as he struggled with the Mohra, trying to land a blow on his demonic opponent without taking a blow himself. Whatever this thing was, it was definitely powerful, and it appeared to have a great deal of experience in the art of the sword. Plus, whenever he actually succeeding in landing a blow on the creature, its wounds seemed to heal before the Mohra had even noticed them.

How can I stop something that can heal so fast it doesn't notice my most damaging moves? the Prince asked himself, as he barely managed to parry one of the creature's sword blows in the nick of time.

He sighed, deciding it was time he used one of his extra powers. He didn't like using them- without the Sands, he was forced to rely upon his own life energies to fuel his powers, and it constantly left him far weaker than he had been earlier- but, right now, he had no choice.

Whipping out a dagger from his belt, he lunged towards his opponent, stabbing the demon right in one shoulder. There was a brief flash, and instantly the Mohra demon had stopped moving, surrounded by a thin white layer that made it look like it was covered in sand.

The Prince smiled at the still form in front of him. Then he raised his sword and swung it towards the large jewel in the centre of the creature's forehead, breaking it with one blow.

The Mohra screamed, clutched at its forehead as the shattered jewel started to glow red, and then the demon fell apart, dissolving as though it had never been.

Smiling, the Prince quickly looked around the house at the other members of the Fellowship. After only a couple of seconds, he decided that, although they all appeared to need some help, Marcus would be the best candidate; with him available to help the others take down their opponents, this fight would be over in a matter of moments.

No sooner had that thought occurred to him, the Prince was running towards the Fyarl demon, his sword drawn, his subconscious mind already slowing down the flow of time in his immediate vicinity...

Even with his vampire reflexes, Marcus would never be entirely certain what had happened to the Fyarl demon. One moment he was trying to beat it down with brute strength (A futile gesture, particularly when taking into account that only a weapon made of silver could kill a Fyarl), and then the creature was lying on its face, a sword in its shoulder, and the Prince's foot on its head.

The Prince looked at Marcus, an inquiring expression on his face. "Any ideas what we use to kill this thing?" he asked.

"Something silver should do it," Marcus replied, the Prince leaping off to one side as the Fyarl started to regain its footing. "Do you have anything like that on you?"

"Just this," the Prince replied, pulling a small dagger out of a sheath on his side and passing it to Marcus. "Your cue, I believe?"

"Right," Marcus smiled, taking the dagger in his hands, steadying it in his right hand, and throwing it at the Fyarl just as it got back onto its feet. A throw like that could have hit the Black Arrow if thrown a second too early or too late, but Marcus's vampiric reflexes let him time the toss to exactly the right moment.

The dagger struck the Fyarl demon in the throat, and it fell to the ground, gargling as it died.

Marcus looked over at the Prince and nodded briefly at his new friend. "Thank you," he said simply.

"Any time," the Prince replied. "It is for moments like this that I feel grateful for my time powers."

He smiled briefly at Marcus, then his face hardened as he glanced around the house; the other members of the Fellowship had managed to drive their opponents to outside the house, which at least gave them more room to manoeuvre in a fight, but had the disadvantage for the Fellowship of rendering Marcus useless.

Marcus looked briefly out the door at the struggling Fellowship members, and then looked back towards the Prince.

"Can you slow time down for me as well as for you?" he asked, as he pulled his cloak on over his head.

The Prince thought for a few seconds, and then slowly nodded.

"I could, but it will not easy," he said, looking pointedly at Marcus. "I shall be drawing the power to slow time from your own life energy, so you may feel a bit weak for a while after this; in fact, I cannot absolutely guarantee that it may not drain more energy from you than it does from me, since I am more used to this than you."

Marcus shook his head. "The concern is appreciated, but we have no other options," he said simply. "If we don't take these creatures out, the Fellowship will fall, and that cannot be allowed to happen."

The Prince nodded, placed his hand on Marcus' shoulder, and focused.

Instantly, the demons and the other Fellowship members froze in place, none of them even blinking or breathing.

Marcus nodded at the Prince. "Impressive," he said, "Would you care to explain how you can do this?"

"Later," the Prince said. "Right now, we have to move fast; this won't keep them immobilized for long, and I doubt you want to be out in the sun when its rays start to affect you."

"Right," Marcus said, scanning the demons for where he'd be of the most help. He quickly selected his target; the bladed demon that was attacking Ivanhoe. If he could immobilise that one, not only was the fact that, as a knight, Ivanhoe was the member of the Fellowship best equipped to help the others handle their foes, but the demons would lose one of their side's hardest hitters. If that didn't give them a blow to their confidences, nothing would.

Marcus pointed at the bladed demon. Nodding, the Prince and Marcus charged towards it, tackling the creature to the ground as the Prince raised his sword.

Marcus stepped back, his hand still on the Prince's shoulder to keep himself in this frozen moment in time, and broke one of the creature's blades in half. At the same time, the Prince lashed out with his sword, slashing the creature's repulsive excuse of a throat apart. Although no blood came out of it, the wound would obviously kill the demon when time restarted.

And on that topic...the Prince thought, as he looked over towards Marcus.

"We need to get you inside, now," he said. "Time won't remain frozen for much longer, and you'll be a lot harder to carry if you're bursting into flames in the process."

Marcus simply nodded. The two of them scrambled to their feet and ran back towards the house, Marcus breaking contact with the Prince when he was only a few feet away from the door.

Then everything happened at once.

Marcus landed at the door of Malcolm's house.

The Prince appeared beside Robin, already starting to hack away at the demon facing them both as Robin did the same.

Ivanhoe, realising he was now free from the bother of his foe, glanced around briefly and dived towards the Black Arrow and his dog-like opponent.

And Malcolm continued his struggle with the lion demon, apparently not even noticing that Ivanhoe's foe was down for the count.

Realising that Malcolm was going to need some help if he'd have any kind of chance against the lion creature, Marcus quickly glanced around the house for something he could throw at the creature. If he could just distract the creature for a few seconds with some kind of weapon, it might be long enough for Malcolm to get his much-needed advantage in his fight with the creature...

His eyes fell on a small knife lying on a table near him.

Quickly, Marcus grabbed the knife, aimed, and threw it at the creature, striking it directly in the left shoulder. The creature let out a brief squeal of pain, allowing Malcolm to stab one of his sais into its mouth, up by a few degrees...

And through its brain.

As the creature fell to the ground, Malcolm glanced around at the members of the Fellowship, and noted that all their foes had fallen as well. The demons were tough enough in a one-on-one, but pit two of them against one demon and it was strictly no contest. The Prince had managed to wound the large-mouthed demon so badly that it (Literally) screamed, giving Robin the chance he needed to get an arrow and fire it into the creature's mouth.

As for the dog-like creature, it hadn't had much of a chance against Ivanhoe's sword and the Black Arrow's trademark weapons. No matter where it went, one of the weapons could still hit it.

Robin looked around at the Fellowship, and nodded his approval.

"Good work," he said, before looking over in Marcus's direction. "How are you?"

"Well, thank you," Marcus replied. "Particularly thanks to the Prince..." He paused and looked over in the Prince's direction. "How can you do that anyway?" he asked.

"Do what?" the Black Arrow asked, looking over in the Prince's direction. "What did you do?"

The Prince shrugged. "I froze time for all of you but myself and Marcus," he said, indicating the fallen form of the bladed demon. "We cut its throat, and then I got Marcus out of the sun before I went over to help Robin."

Ivanhoe blinked. "You... froze time?" he said, baffled. "I thought you said you gave up the Dagger of Time?"

"I did," the Prince replied. "However, contact with the dagger for so long tainted me in some way. For reasons I still do not fully understand, I am still capable of manipulating the fabric of time to some extent, although constant use of it weakens me. Therefore, I shall only use it when I have no other option, otherwise I'm in no shape to help anyone."

Robin nodded at the Prince. "A sensible belief," he said to his new friend. "We shall ensure that you are not pressured to use your power except in dire need, do not fear that." Then he looked over at Malcolm. "Do you have any plans for the immediate future?"

Malcolm blinked. "No, nothing is arranged for me any time soon. Why do you ask?"

"Because, if you're interested, there is a place in the Fellowship of Extraordinary Men for you," Robin said.

Malcolm stared in surprise.

"Wh-what?" he asked, almost unable to believe what he'd heard. "You... you want me to join the Fellowship?"

"Why not?" Robin replied. "Your knowledge of the occult cannot fail to be useful, and you appear perfectly capable of handling yourself in a fight. I am sure we would be honoured if you would join us."

Malcolm looked around at the rest of the Fellowship, and watched as they all nodded their approval at Robin's suggestion. He looked back at Robin, and nodded.

"I'm in."

Robin smiled. "Excellent." He looked around at the other Fellowship members. "Let's go; we have an appointment with some demons, and I, for one, don't want to be late."