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 appreciated

Naitriab: Glad to hear it's proving interesting, and don't worry too much about not knowing a lot about Terry; I acknowledged that might happen, but it'll play a deciding factor in the battle later on. Regarding the sequel… well, I just hope it'll be as popular as this one is.

Rhinoa Katherine Silvermoon: Believe me, I'm starting to feel I'll need it…

Felicia Angel: Well, we all have some things we don't like; glad to hear my including Terry hasn't put you off the story.

Sean Malloy-1: I hope I can do so as well. Sorry, I haven't read the Anita Blake novels; why do you ask?

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 2004

A few days later, the ice in Mongolia was broken by the rising form of the Nautilus's conning tower, almost exactly as it had been broken over a century ago, in the time of the previous League.

Looking around himself as he walked out of the ship that had been his first real home back when he'd first arrived in this time, Terry found himself wishing that his old friends could be here to witness this moment. He couldn't be certain- even memories stored in silicon chips tended to get a little hazy over the years- but he was sure they would be proud of the new League that had been formed. He had seen them in action, and, for all their need to learn more about each other's powers and personalities, they already functioned well together as a team….

"Damn," Harry said from off to one side, breaking off Terry's train of thought. Looking over at the wizard, Terry smiled as he saw what Harry was referring to; his glasses were covered in snow already. He was glad to see that the little details still remained the same; even after a century, the League's members still had little details about themselves or their powers that got on their nerves, and which they'd do anything to be rid off.

Sighing, Harry took off his glasses, tapped them lightly with his wand, and then put them back on over his eyes.

"What was that for?" Fiona asked, looking curiously at Harry as she pulled her large white hood over her head. The League had grabbed the warmest clothes they could find when coming up to look around the ice field, and were now all dressed large white coats, except for Clark, Gwen, the Doctor, and Terry. Clark and the Doctor's alien physiology let them stand the cold for a great length of time, Terry didn't even feel the cold, and Gwen was apparently using her electrical powers to warm the air around her.

"Repelling charm," Harry explained, as he glanced over at the scientist. "Lets my glasses repel snow, rain, hail, or anything along those lines."

"Not bad," Eilidh said, nodding briefly in Harry's direction, before turning to look at Bond as he looked over the area through his binoculars. "Seen anything we should be worried about?"

Bond put his binoculars down and looked back at Eilidh. "Nothing obvious, which doesn't mean there may not be something a bit less obvious."

"There wasn't back when my League was here," Terry put in. Then he shrugged. "Of course, technology wasn't as advanced back then; can't hurt to get a second opinion."

"Allow me," Clark said, stepping forward and squinting at the ice in front of him. "This sounds like my area of 'expertise', you could say."

Elektra looked over curiously at Angel.

"What's with the squint?" she asked the part vampire, indicating Clark.

"Oh, he has X-ray and infrared vision," Angel said casually. "That's just how he turns it on, as far as I've gathered."

"Ah," Elektra said, turning to look back at Clark as his eyes opened and he turned to look at Bond.

"Nothing," he said. "They probably assumed nobody would ever get this far."

"Either that, or they've got a mass of defences and soldiers in the fortress, just waiting for us to kill or be killed," Gwen added.

Bond sighed as he pulled out his gun and checked the bullets. "Do you always have to look on the negative side of things, Miss Raiden?" he asked her.

"I was a thief," Gwen shrugged. "If I didn't think the worst of every situation I found myself in, I could have missed an alarm system somewhere and gotten myself killed."

The Doctor nodded. "A valid point, Gwen," he said, before turning to look at Bond. "Have you given any thought as to how we're going to get into this fortress, James? I mean, we don't want to ruin the element of surprise that we've got at the moment, but we should get in there as soon as possible."

Bond nodded. "I have a couple of plans, Doctor, but first we need to see the fortress," he said, before turning to Clark. "How many of us could you carry at a time?"

Clark blinked in surprise at the unexpected question, but then stood still for a few seconds, thinking, before replying.

"Four, maybe three, depending on who they were," he said. "I might have to limit myself to just two when I come to Terry- he isn't exactly a normal human in weight- but I'll manage."

"Right then," Bond said, as he put his gun back into its holster and turned to look at Clark. "There should be a cave above the fortress; it was where the original League stationed themselves while waiting for the Invisible Man to bring them reports on the Fantom's defences. We can station ourselves there and decide on our next move. Agreed?"

The entire League nodded. Bond smiled and turned to Clark.

"What order do you want us to do this in?" he asked.

Clark looked around at the League briefly, and then nodded as he made his decision.

"You, Fiona, and Elektra first, followed by Harry, Angel, and Gwen, and then Eilidh and Terry last of all," he said. "Shall we go?"

"Please," Elektra said, sliding her daggers into their sheaths.

"Wow," Eilidh commented to herself, as she looked at the vast fortress in front of her. "That is one large secret base." She looked over at Bond. "Why didn't he just station himself underground and blow that place to smithereens?"

"The rock here is particularly sturdy," the Doctor put in, from where he was examining the cave with a magnifying glass. "It would probably take several tonnes of explosives to make a few dents in the ground, and that wouldn't really serve to help anyone." Then he shrugged. "Besides, the vampires on his team may make it difficult for him to construct an underground base; how could he make sure they could get out without being hit by the sun?"

"He has a point," Angel said. "At least with this fortress he can set up some specially tinted windows to stop the sunlight without it looking conspicuous. In underground caves, well… if he wanted them to go out without getting fried, it'd mostly be guesswork as to whether or not the sun was up."

"OK, got that," Fiona said, from where she was sitting on the floor. "What I want to know is, what's our next move?"

"Well," Terry said, raising one hand, "I would say our best chance is to target the side nearest us; if memory serves, the fortress's sewage system drains out in this direction, and the wall's a bit weaker in that direction. Also, the fact that it's apparently the most vulnerable point in the defences helps us; they'll never expect we'd attack there, it's too obvious."

"That old trick?" Gwen asked. "It's got to be the oldest one in the book!"

"That's why it will work," the Doctor smiled. "The obvious things are often the least used; everyone's always trying to be clever and trying to do something far more difficult."

"Right, then we're decided," Harry said. Then a thought occurred to him and he looked over at Terry. "Do you remember the layout of this place?"

Terry looked up at the roof for a few seconds, and then nodded.

"Yes, I think I have it…" he said. Crouching down onto the ground, he sketched a brief map in the snow with his finger, looking around at the League as he finished.

"If memory serves, when we get in there, the Fantom's old room is just over here, down the hall from our entrance, while the factories and foundries are in the other direction," Terry explained. "They might be more modern, but the basic location should be unaltered. I recommend that James, the Doctor and Elektra go after Im Ho Tep, or whoever he really is, while the rest of us tackle the foundry; he's bound to have more forces there than anywhere else." He looked over at Bond. "Sound good?"

"Excellent suggestion, Mr Nator," Bond said. He turned to look at the others. "You heard the man, League. Let's go."

"Wait," Angel said, just as Gwen was about to walk out the cave. As the League turned to look in the ex-vampire's direction, Angel laid his hand out in front of him, palm downwards, and looked around at the others. After a second or two, Harry laid his hand down on top of it, followed by Fiona, Bond, Gwen, Clark, Eilidh, the Doctor, Elektra, and Terry.

As Terry looked around at his new friends, he smiled.

This collection had been a League before, he wouldn't deny that.

But now…?

Now, he felt like they were a real team.

And he was looking forward to getting to know them better…

Then the League pulled their hands back and walked out of the cave. Terry smiled and followed on after them. Somehow, even knowing the odds he was facing at the moment, he couldn't imagine feeling more relaxed than he did right now.

Their foe had a mass of high- tech weaponry and, unless they were still recovering from their beating in Zurich, a bunch of super-criminals who'd probably stab each other in the back if they thought it would help them personally gain money and/or power.

They only had ten of the most remarkable men and women on the planet on their side. They were almost totally unarmed, Bond and Elektra being the only two people carrying any conventional weaponry, and they were walking straight into the heart of the enemy's stronghold, with only the barest ideas of both a plan and what they were up against.

Those guys are going down…Terry vowed to himself.

And then the world would have a League again.