Disclaimer: None of the League here are mine, and Eilidh, Fiona, Sarah, Kate, and Gash belong to themselves and their names are used here with their permission.
Feedback: Much appreciatedHiril Moon: Hope the Syndicate meets your expectations. By the way, Riley didn't agree to be bitten; what gave the impression he got involved with Im Ho Tep and the Syndicate voluntarily?
Sean Malloy-1: I've read Artemis Fowl, and I agree with you; it is rather good. I just don't think I could include anyone from there in this story; I've got a full enough cast list as it is.
Rhinoa Silvermoon: Glad ya like it.
Felicia Angel: Yep. Clark is going to hit Whitney, but it's not quite the Whitney we remember; he's had to go through some upgrades in order to rate membership in the Syndicate...
Lee McLean: What are mad props? But, that aside, glad you're enjoying the story so far; I hope this chapter continues to keep you interested.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 2004
The nine figures advanced towards the League, each one of them looking eager for the coming battle. Whitney and Riley in particular seemed especially eager to get their hands on Angel and Clark, although those two League members were anticipating a fairly easy victory when the fight began.
The supercriminals (Or, at least, seven supercriminals and two potentially misguided individuals) advanced ever closer to the League, barely even noticing the way their opponents were ready to begin fighting.
Closer...
Closer...
Closer..."NOW!" Bond yelled.
Instantly, Eilidh and Gwen tossed three suits each at the approaching group of super criminals, Clark tossing another two as Angel threw the last one.
The suits flew towards the nine figures in front of them, each of whom reacted in a different way; Bullseye leapt over the suit that came in his direction, Trevalyan and Sarah dived to the ground, Malfoy fired his wand at the ground to throw himself into the air, Gash grabbed Kate, spread his wings and rose into the air over the suit, and Drusilla, Riley, and Whitney just struck the suits directly in the chest with their fists, knocking them back onto the ground with the three of them only sustaining slight bruises.
Clark and Angel blinked.
"Ah crap," Angel whispered under his breath as he looked at Riley.
"Agreed," Clark commented, as he looked over in Whitney's direction. "I don't know what happened to him to make him capable of that, but I'm prepared to bet it can't be good."
"We'll worry about the how later, Clark," Bond said, as the Syndicate members got back onto their feet and began to dust themselves off, but looking around at the other members as though waiting for them all to be ready. "Right now, we just have to stop them. On my command, charge at your intended targets with everything you've got; we can't afford to give them time to target someone who may not be able to handle them."
"Right," the Doctor said, swinging his scarf over his shoulder in a partly jokingly dramatic gesture. "Let's go."
"Charge!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand forward, a little grin spreading across his face in the process.
Instantly, the entire League leapt towards their respective opponents, just as the last one of them to get back onto their feet (Malfoy; the spell he'd cast had thrown him further up into the air than he'd expected), tackling them all to the ground or further down the street.
"So, you're the 'Doctor' I've heard so much about," Bullseye said, as he looked at the tall figure in the floppy hat and long scarf with a small smirk on his face. "I have to confess, I'm not especially impressed."
"Well, I'm not especially concerned with your opinion of me," the Doctor smiled, as he stood still in front of the lethal assassin, legs apart and arms spread out. "All I'm interested in pulling off is stopping you right now, and then attending to the little matter of dealing with your new superior."
"Nice speech," Bullseye smiled, as he reached towards his belt. "Too bad you won't be able to back it up."
He pulled three small throwing stars off his belt, raised one hand, and threw all three of them at the Doctor.
Operating on pure instinct, the Doctor grabbed the ends of his scarf, folded some of the ends together as fast as he could, and held it out in front of him. He moved his hand rapidly through the air, stopping briefly three times, and then stood still.
He smiled at Bullseye. "Yours, I think?" he said, as he opened the scarf up.
The three bladed discs that Bullseye had just thrown landed on the ground in front of the assassin, complete with a few small threads from where they'd torn the Doctor's scarf.
Bullseye stared in horror at the discs.
"I have remarkably efficient reflexes, Mr. Eye," the Doctor smiled, as he examined the scarf briefly, shrugged, and tossed it over his shoulder. "Now, shall we continue, or are you ready to surrender?"
Bullseye simply growled under his breath as he stared at the Doctor.
"Ah well," the Doctor said, as he took up a combat stance once again. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Bullseye launched a punch at the Doctor's face, and the battle was on.
Clark blinked a little as he stopped in front of Whitney. For a brief moment, as Whitney had turned to look at him, he'd almost felt like there was Kryptonite somewhere near him, but it vanished almost at once.
He stared at Whitney in confusion for a couple of seconds, before he broke the silence.
"Would you mind telling me what you're doing with all these guys, Whitney?" he asked, indicating the other members of the Syndicate as they started to face off against the various League members. "I mean, I'm not denying I occasionally thought you had issues with your life, and you were a fairly tough guy back in school, but you hardly rate as highly as everyone else here on the power scale."
Whitney just grinned and raised his arms in a combat stance. "Why don't I show you?" he smiled at his former schoolmate. Then his gaze hardened, and he looked at Clark as though he were something dirty on the sole of his shoe. "Alien."
Clark briefly blinked at that comment, but shook it off; he should have expected that Im Ho Tep would have filled in his associates on the abilities of the League members if they didn't know them already.
"All right, so I'm an alien," Clark said, as he started to tense his muscles in preparation for the fight; it wouldn't be much, but any fight was a fight. "So what? I'm still as human as everyone else where it really counts."
"Yeah, right," Whitney said, as he walked towards Clark, flexing his fingers. "Clark, humans aren't as strong as you. Humans can't see through walls. Humans can't make people fall in love with them!"
And he launched a powerful punch at Clark's jaw.
Clark was knocked straight to the ground the second he felt the punch, and found himself looking up at Whitney in a combination of pain and confusion. Since when had Whitney been that strong?
And, come to that, what had that last comment of his been referring to?
"Impressed?" Whitney asked, as he walked towards Clark's fallen body in an almost casual manner, as though he had all the time in the world. Then again, with strength like that, he probably did. "My benefactor gave it to me after my body was nearly destroyed when my ship was torpedoed. It's not quite as human as my original body, but it gives the power to do what I've always wanted to do; take you out of the picture." Suddenly, his fingers were around Clark's throat and he had hauled him off the ground. "And, of course, having learned that you've been manipulating Lana's feelings for ages, I feel morally obligated to take you down before you can do it to any other innocent girls."
Clark blinked in horror at that statement. Im Ho Tep, whoever or whatever he was, had practically brainwashed Whitney to make him think that Clark was a danger to the planet? He couldn't attack someone who didn't know all the real facts...
Then Whitney punched Clark again, and Clark put all thoughts of pity out of his mind. Unless he fought Whitney at the moment, he wouldn't be able to help him see sense later on.
As he leapt back onto his feet and began to trade punches with Whitney, he could only hope Whitney's new strength left him capable of absorbing a lot of punishment as well as delivering it...
"This again?" Fiona asked, as she stared at the floating coat that was the only indication of Kate's presence. "No offence, but if memory serves, you lost the last time we fought?"
"That was then," Kate said, as her sleeve moved towards one of her coat pockets. "This is now."
She whipped out a small gun and fired it.
Admittedly, it wasn't as big a deal as it might have been- Kate missed Fiona by about a foot and hit the wall behind her- but the gun blew off such a large chunk of the wall that it nearly hit Fiona. Near- invulnerability or not, there was only so much punishment one woman could take, and if getting hit by those rocks wouldn't hurt her, she didn't want to know what could.
Best she got down to business, then.
Grabbing one of the rocks near to her, Fiona spun around, the rock clenched in her fist, and threw it towards Kate. She'd never been much of a bowler or pitcher in school, but she was good enough when it really counted.
The rock struck the gun clasped in Kate's hand, sending it flying from her hand and landing on the ground near one of the destroyed suits. The gun wasn't damaged much, beyond a small dent in the handle, but it was out of the reach of both invisible women.
Fiona smiled smugly at Kate, but changed it to a chuckle when she realised Kate wouldn't be able to see it.
"It would appear that you are at a disadvantage now," she smiled simply. "You have your invisibility, and I have my invisibility, practical invulnerability, and a good knowledge of hand-to-hand combat taught to me by Angel and James. Got to tell you, the odds don't look good."
"We'll just have to see about that," Kate said, sounding like she was almost smirking as the coat fell to the floor. "Let's go. I'll bet you I can take you down without even needing to go NEAR that gun."
"Doubt it," Fiona smiled, as she flexed her fingers in anticipation for the fight. "Let's go."
Trevalyan shook his head slightly as he hit the ground for the second time in almost as many minutes. His head smarted slightly from the knocks he'd taken in the process, but otherwise he felt fine.
Looking up, he saw the man who'd knocked him down, and grinned.
"Ah, James," he said, getting gingerly to his feet while he waited for his headache to subside a little. "Good to see that you haven't lost any of your old talents over the past couple of years."
"You're not him," Bond said, as he dusted down the arms of his business suit- immaculately dressed as always, Trevalyan noted- and looked at his adversary. "You're only a clone, created by some freakish twist of science or magic or maybe both. All you are is a blank slate, who's been told enough about the original to know who I am."
"You're wrong there, James," Trevalyan smiled, idly scratching the burn on the right side of his face as he looked back at the spy. "I'm not just a physical copy. Oh, I'm not saying I'm possessed with the original's spirit or anything stupid like that, but I do have enough of his memories to make myself as good as him in combat." He smiled a little at Bond. "Let me demonstrate."
And he launched a powerful punch at Bond's head.
Quickly, Bond bent back slightly, allowing the fist to speed past the front of his face without actually touching him, and then launched a punch of his own at Trevalyan's stomach. Trevalyan managed to dodge the majority of the blow, but Bond still managed to graze his chest slightly. Trevalyan instantly retaliated with a kick at Bond's left leg, which the spy blocked by ducking down and grabbing his foe's leg and twisting it slightly. Trevalyan spun around in the air, yelled briefly, and then collapsed onto the ground.
"Venusian aikido," Bond explained, as the copy of his former friend and far more recent enemy got back onto his feet. "The Doctor taught it to me while we were going to Paris. You may find it far more difficult to stop me than you remember, 'Alec', no matter how good you are now."
Trevalyan smiled and shifted into a combat stance, looking like the cat that had been given the proverbial cream.
"Let's go," he said simply.
Bond nodded.
Instantly the two spies started trading blows, launching punches and kicks at each other with a speed that was almost superhuman.
Eilidh looked Gash directly in the eyes as she walked towards him, trying to focus more on the fact that his arms and face were growing fur than how damned attractive the face itself was behind all that fur.
"So, you're trying to face me again?" Gash grunted through jaws that were already lengthening to a manner that reminded her more of a dog's mouth than anything else. She noted with some distaste that he appeared to be letting the transformation go on for longer than it had the first time; he must be trying to get her too shaken up with fear by the anticipation of what he'd do to her to worry about actually fighting him when the time came.
Screw it, she thought to herself. I'm not going to give this bastard what he wants.
She raised her right hand, fingers outstretched, and, before Gash could do anything, she closed her fingers as though she was holding a ball in her hand.
Instantly Gash screamed in pain, clutching his head, as agony tore through him as though someone had stuck sharp needles into his head and through his brain, never mind the fact that the brain had no feeling, and if he felt anything it should just be the pain in his skull.
Eilidh grinned a little at the sight. It was one of the earliest tricks she'd learned after she'd started using her powers to help people; using her hand as a focal point, she extended an astral projection or it out towards her selected target before partly clenching her fingers, those sending spikes of pain directly into her opponent's brains'.
After a few seconds of pain for Gash, she opened her palm, giving him a brief moment of rest before raising her other hand and firing a powerful psychic bolt at Gash. This wasn't quite as deadly as the 'mind clench', as she called it, but it should do some damage, which was all Eilidh wanted; demons were one thing, but she had no desire to kill a human being.
Besides, if he could be cured of his insanity, he might actually turn out to be rather likeable...
The he looked up at her, his teeth now bared in full wolf form, and she stopped that train of thought at once. Whatever he may be when he was sane was irrelevant; right now, she had to make sure she survived this fight with him...
Sarah looked over in disdain as Elektra stopped in front of her, her daggers outstretched and looking ready for the upcoming fight. The assassin smiled, reached down to her right, and pulled out a long katana, which she clasped tightly in her right hand.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sarah asked, as the former millionairess casually took up a combat stance a few feet away from her. "After all, the last time you tried going up against an assassin you briefly died and ended up on witness protection."
"Yeah, but the last time I was in a fight, it was with a werewolf, and I'm still here," Elektra grinned. "I doubt you can be any tougher than a werewolf."
"That kind of werewolf prefer the term 'lycan', actually," Sarah said, as she lowered her sword arm and walked a little closer to Elektra, all the time grinning in a manner that reminded Elektra of a 'lycan', or werewolf, or whatever they wanted to be called. "Besides, the thing about lycans is that, in beast form, they generally aren't that good at any form of combat other than beating the crap out of their opponents with brute strength. I, on the other hand, am an expert at hand-to-hand combat with any opponent, be they superhuman or normal, and I have one advantage over you in regards to our choice of weaponry."
"Namely?" Elektra asked, as she started to lower her daggers slightly.
Instantly Sarah brought her katana up, in a swipe that would have taken off Elektra's head if Elektra hadn't brought down her daggers in a powerful strike that stopped the blade in the air.
Sarah smiled at Elektra. "You're good," she explained, as she drew the sword back and raised it above her head. "But I've got the longer blade."
"So what, size matters?" Elektra asked, as she stepped back slightly and looked at the sword in disdain. "Sarah, neither of us are guys, and that's just utterly pathetic to assume that you're better than me because you can hit me from further away."
Sarah shrugged. "Maybe you're right, Elektra," she said, sounding slightly thoughtful as she looked at her blade. "Maybe I do rely on the length of this blade too much. Shall we find out?"
She leapt forward again, her blade outstretched, only to be narrowly intercepted by Elektra as she knocked it to the left with one of her daggers.
"You're actually trying this again?" Harry asked Malfoy casually, as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at his old school rival, who was in a similar, if more aggressive-looking position. "Surely you remember that I beat you the last time this happened?"
"Only because that see-through scientist bitch of yours threw our invisible woman into me," Malfoy replied arrogantly. He pulled out his wand and held it in front of him like a sword, a gleam in his eyes that put Harry in mind of Professor Lupin when the wolf was in full control of him. "This time, you won't have that advantage."
Grinning, he raised his wand, whispered something under his breath, and fired a massive ball of black energy at Harry.
"Eneverate!" Harry yelled, raising his wand. Instantly, the ball bounced back towards Malfoy, who was forced to fire an identical ball to destroy the first one.
Harry groaned as he looked despairingly at Malfoy. "Is that the best you can do?" he asked. "If so, you really should quit now; you're never going to get anywhere like that."
Malfoy chuckled in a manner that put Harry in mind of a Stephen King movie he'd seen a while back, and raised his wand again.
"Prove it," he said simply.
"So, Riley, care to tell me where you picked up the superhuman strength?" Angel asked casually, as he walked towards his lover's ex-boyfriend. He knew that he should probably go easy on the guy- after all, he might not even know the truth about his teammates- but, well....
Could anyone honestly blame him for wanting to beat up a guy who cheated on the girl who, in Angel's opinion, was perfection itself?
And cheated on her with vampire whores, come to that?
Riley simply growled in his throat and lunged towards Angel, his eyes gleaming in a manner that Angel found vaguely familiar...
Then Riley hit him in the face and Angel didn't have the chance to do any more thinking.
Instantly, he launched a blow of his own at Riley's head, striking out at the scar on the left side of his face. It didn't appear to damage Riley too much, but the young man was still in some pain; evidently, no matter what had happened to 'Fish-Boy' to increase his strength, his scar was still a fairly sensitive part of him.
As Riley fell back, clutching his face in pain, Angel stepped back to look at Riley, dusting his hands off in the process.
"Are you ready to talk yet, or do I have to do this the hard way?" he asked the young man, letting his casual manner show as he slid his hands into the pockets of his leather duster while he spoke. "I assume Xander filled you in on the fact that Angelus always wanted to use a chainsaw when he was active the last time? If you don't hurry up and fill me in, I might just forget that I'm trying to deal with you more these days and get one."
Riley smirked a little, in a manner that Angel found slightly familiar (But from where, he asked himself), and simply got back onto his feet as he adopted a combat stance.
"You'll have to fight me first," he said.
Then his face changed into a vampire's.
Angel blinked. That was unexpected...
"How?" he asked, trying not to show how badly he'd been shaken at that change; he'd never been expecting Riley to be a vampire; he'd just assumed that Riley had gotten his hands on a spell that boosted his strength.
"Drusilla," Riley grinned at the ex-vampire. "Im Ho Tep captured this body and she sired me, giving me the opportunity I've wanted for so long; the chance to kill you for good." He grinned, running his tongue over his fangs. "
Angel ran over that sentence in his mind. There was something about it that didn't quite make sense...
And then it occurred to him.
Riley had said that Im Ho Tep had captured 'this body'.
Not 'me'; 'this body'.
No matter what else vampires were, they generally thought of themselves as being the original inhabitant of the body, just minus a soul. Even if Riley had been turned, he should still think of himself as Riley Finn, not as a separate entity...
"You're not Riley, are you?" he said to the vampire, as Riley started to walk towards him, a grin on his face and his fingers flexing eagerly. "Not even a vampire version of him."
"Correct," 'Riley' smiled, as he stopped at only a couple of feet away from Angel. "Of course, this body wouldn't have been my first choice if I'd had one, but given the alternative, anything would have done."
"What?" Angel asked, starting to get a little confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, can't you guess yet, 'Soul'?" 'Riley' asked mockingly. "Honestly, the Master, or Jasmine, or whatever you want to call her, had a point; evil does automatically 'up the IQ points'."
Angel froze.
He knew for a fact that only three people could know about that conversation apart from himself. Jasmine was wiped out, and Cordelia would never do something like this to him...
Leaving only one possible candidate for the person currently operating Riley's body.
"Angelus?!"
"Bingo," 'Riley'- Angelus- smirked.
Then he launched a punch at Angel's head.
Quickly, Angel raised his left arm and grabbed the fist in the palm of his hand, twisting the arm back and punching Angelus in the face before he could react.
"You may have our experience, Angelus," Angel said, as he looked at the new face of his demon, "but you don't have the strength to go with it. Don't assume I'll go down easily just because you're not in my body anymore, OK?"
Angelus growled a little, and then kicked out at Angel, striking his other half in the chest. Although it wasn't as problematic as it would have been for a human, Angel was still stunned enough to let go of Angelus's other arm, staggering back a couple of feet in the process.
"I'm still not exactly a pushover, 'boy'," Angelus smirked- at least, Angelus assumed that's what it was meant to be. On Riley's face, however, it just made him look like a lunatic. "I may be weaker than I was, but, as you said yourself, I still have all our experience in combat situations. Plus, Riley may have been an idiot, but he still had a little bit of combat experience to draw on."
Angel blinked. "You can access his memories?" he asked, surprised at that; he'd assumed all of Riley's personality would be submerged by Angelus's strong force of will.
"Oh yeah," Angelus smirked. "I've gotta tell you, you would not believe how much memories he's got of our little Slayer... Once you get past the rage, they're pretty enjoyable..."
Angel punched his demon in the face, cracking a couple of fangs.
"Talk about her like that, in any body, and I'll send you right back to Hell," he stated simply, as Angelus wiped his bloody mouth. As Angelus looked up, Angel was pleased to note that Riley's old scar was bleeding as well, although Angelus didn't seem to care.
"You couldn't," Angelus smirked. "Unlike last time, this is a fair fight, remember? I've got a bit more combat practice than you do, remember?"
"Just because you were in control at the time doesn't mean I don't remember it," Angel growled. He raised one hand, palm upwards, and beckoned with all four fingers. "Bring it on."
Angelus roared with rage, leapt for his other self, and the fight was on.
From the top of one of the nearby buildings, a tall figure dressed in black leather watched the scene in front of him, as the League struggled desperately with their old foes. Behind his dark glasses, his eyes carefully examined each member of the League, the slightest traces of a smile passing across his face as he watched them fight.
So much like my League...Then he froze.
No...
NO!
I'm winning.
Clark smiled to himself as he struck at Whitney's face again and again. The former Marine and quarterback was still holding his own, and Clark was starting to wonder if maybe Whitney had gained a sample of Kryptonian DNA to enhance his strength, but he was definitely starting to fall. Just a few more punches...
And then Clark was struck by sudden sharp waves of agony all over his body. His muscles seemed to be contracting, his skin was burning up, and his head felt like it was being pierced by needles. It was as though he was near...
...Kryptonite!
"Yes..." Whitney chuckled, as Clark dropped to his knees in agony. "You feel it, don't you, Clark? A single shard of Kryptonite near you, and you might as well be a normal human on fire..."
He raised a fist. "And right now, you're as vulnerable as any normal man."
Help me! Clark silently begged, praying that not all his new friends were occupied with their own struggles, praying that one of them could help him...
But they were too busy.
He was alone.
He was going to die....
And then something struck Whitney in the side of the head and knocked him down onto the ground.