So terribly sorry I haven't updated sooner. The next one will be up sooner next time, I swear it will. So in the meantime, enjoy and reviews make me incredibly happy.

See first chapter for disclaimer and whatnot.

Mirror Image

Fights and Freedom

Jekyll opened and shut his pocket watch nervously, Hyde knew he would be let out soon. It was a half hour before they came upon a disturbing sight. It was a compound, but it was ruined beyond imagination. The others stared in amazement, but he knew what had made it. Only Hyde could rip metal like that and it looked identical to his…work.

They were close now, a few hundred feet away they could see some undamaged structures, they made for that point. There were low to the ground and hardly tall enough for even Nemo to stand in. "Jekyll! We'll need Hyde for this, I can't open it." Jekyll heard Hyde laughing as he slowly took a bottle of his serum from his pocket. Most of the League averted their eyes when Henry began his painful transformation. None of the doctors kind and gentle manner remained when the transformation into his alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde, was complete. Hyde grinned nastily and took his time about ripping the door off it's hinges.

There was a torch in the entrance along with a long flight of stairs. Mina and Allan exchanged looks before the Hunter cleared his throat to turn their eyes upon him. "Nemo, Hyde, you stay here. If you find anyone, see if you can capture them. If they get violent, do what you have to do. There's no sense in playing peacemakers if they don't want to settle things." Hyde grunted and Nemo nodded, "My men will be here soon. I sent a runner to them when we left the inn."

Allan, Mina and Skinner disappeared into the underground fortress. Actually, fortress was a bit much. As they explored a bit, they found it to be almost completely deserted, and it consisted of a few labs, one room of bunks and many storage rooms, it was not large enough that they would be searching for too terribly long, but it's passages were identical and it would have been easy to get lost if one wasn't careful. Tom had to be in one of the rooms, there didn't seem any where else he could be if not here. Allan had discovered another staircase and found that it led to the other low roofed structures that dotted the clearing they had been standing in not too long ago. So, they were all connected. That might be useful information.

"Allan!" The Hunter whirled about at Mina's call, five men were emerging from a storeroom. Once they saw Allan and Mina they produced guns and all hell broke loose when another four came barreling from another room. They were locked in a hexagon passage with all sides except two leading to storerooms. Allan stumbled into Skinner and paused only long enough to hiss at him, "Find Sawyer!"

The thief, practically on hands and knees, scurried about, dashing into storerooms calling Tom's name while trying to doge the gunfire. Rounding a corner, he ran slap bang into Warren. The man's eyes widened in shock and fear, but it took only a moment to connect his invisible barrier with the group he had been ordered to exterminate. He swung his gun in an arch around him and smiled when he felt it connect solidly with something. Skinner emitted a sharp cry and dropped to one knee, fortunately avoiding Warren's next swing. Diving for his legs, Skinner took Warren to the ground.

Yanking a pistol out of the holsters on Warrens waist, Skinner had only a second to recognize them as Tom's before he held it levelly at the man's head. "Tell me where he is, and who you are." The thief gritted his teeth against the pain that ripped through his ribs at every intake of breath. "Tell me!" Hoping to God that the man thought he knew how to shoot a gun, Skinner stood, on arm wrapped around his ribs, raising his voice to a shout, "Tell me or I shoot!"

"I'll take you to him, just please, don't kill me." Warren's fear was plain in his shaky voice. "You must understand, I had to follow orders. There aren't many of us, we didn't know how strong they would be. We thought we could keep them contained." Skinner hadn't a clue what the man was babbling about, but it clicked after a moment. The Hydes, so they were responsible for letting them loose. "Just take me to the boy, and keep your hands were I can see them." Snarled the thief while relieving Warren of Tom's other pistol and the gun he had been carrying.

Tom twisted his hands behind him even more furiously. He could hear someone coming and if he could only get his hands free! The ropes were already sticky with his own blood. The rough fibers cut into his wrists cruelly. They would be coming back to finish him off now. But Skinner was going to get help, or at least he had to be doing something. If he had not been captured, that was. But if he hadn't been then certainly he would have gotten Allan and the rest of the League. Tom noticed without thinking that the room he was in was built of metal. It may have been soundproof, but he wasn't sure. Everything was still mostly quiet to him, though there was a muffled dull roar that hadn't been there when he had woken up.

The agent had nearly tipped the chair over once, that certainly wouldn't have done him any good. The way his hands were tied, he would have broken an arm or worse. He could hear footsteps now, and they were getting closer; Tom worked his hands more furiously, they were almost loose, he could fight just as well with his hands…well, almost as well, it would be enough for him to escape at least. The throbbing in his skull had magnified in the stuffy room and sounds came even more muted and distant than they already were, but he could hear the door handle being turned, sweat rolled into his eyes as he twisted his hands.

The door banged opened, assailing his head, the sound ricocheting painfully inside his skull like a bullet. This was it, this time his luck ran out, before he shut his eyes against he pain he saw Warren come through the door. Tom gritted his teeth, he wouldn't go out with his eyes closed and cringing like a cur. He snarled at Warren and lifted his chin high.

"Glad to see you too, Sawyer." The cockney voice came from behind Warren. The man shifted, and for the first time, Tom was able to see the floating gun shoved against Warren's back.

"Skinner?" Tom's jaw dropped, his tone incredulous. The thief snorted, "Do you know another invisible man?" There was only a slight hesitation before he spoke again, "You're alright…right?" Tom smiled weakly, "Are you going soft on me, Skinner?" He this time, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just untie me. You took long enough."

The thief kept the gun pointed at Warren, Tom noticed that the hand that held the gun shook slightly. Or at least the gun was shaking, it was this only indicator to where Skinner was. As Tom had predicted, the knots were loose, the agent would have gotten himself free in little less than half an hour if he had been left to his own devises for that long. He became aware that Skinner was talking to him and he blinked himself out of his thoughts, "Allan and Mina are inside. It's kind of like an underground fortress, only it's made of mostly storerooms. It's really pathetic, but according to our friend 'ere, there aren't many people left anyways." Warren nodded his head furiously. The thief pressed Tom's pistol into his hands, "'ere you go, I'm afraid I'd shoot my own foot if I had to actually fire it." Warren scowled at Skinner and his mouth opened but closed just as quickly. His eyes took on a note of panic.

Tom touched his bloody wrists lightly, wincing at the pressure of his finger tips on the torn skin. "What did you do to him? He looks terrified." The thief's voice was a bit breathless and tight, but nothing could dampen his dry humor, "I told 'im I'd make 'is death excruciatingly slow if 'e opened 'is mouth." Tom nodded satisfactorily. "Did you have any trouble capturing him?" Skinner laughed softly, but it cut off in a pained grunt, "A bit, yeah, but nothing that a little scotch couldn't fix. Come on, Allan is going to skin me alive if I don't show up with you soon."

With Warren leading the way, acting as guide and shield against and sudden shooting, they found Mina and Allan standing in the honeycomb passage amidst the bodies of a few of the men that had attacked them. The rest were herded into a room and guarded by the vampiress. Allan embraced Tom fondly and Warren was added to the temporary prison under the watchful eyes of Mina. The Hunter examined Tom injured wrists and the lump the size of a pigeon's egg on the back of his head. Clasping him on the shoulder, Allan smiled down at the agent, "Not too bad, you could have been in much worse shape." Tom glowered at his in mock anger, "Well thank you for being concerned."

Ruffling Tom's hair, Allan called to Mina, "How many do we have?" Not taking her eyes off of the captives, the Vampiress's voice sound calm and soft, soft like velvet covering steel. "Five. Let's get them to the surface. I don't think there's anymore here; though there should be more above ground I believe."

They walked along the narrow corridors with the prisoners in the lead with Mina and Allan at their backs. They were already petrified of Mina; Allan's gun was only just in case they decided to snap out of their fearful trace. Tom elbowed Skinner playfully in the ribs, "You had me worried, I thought yo-" The agent cut off in surprise as Skinner groaned and gripped Tom's arm, nearly toppling him as he staggered. Skinner tried to breathe lightly, but it was hard not to gasp at the pain that cut through his lungs. At least he knew now that something had definitely been knocked loose by that gun. Well, on the lighter side, he hadn't been shot. He looked ahead to see if Allan or Mina noticed, they didn't look back.

Tom looked like he was going to say something, but he closed his mouth, brows drawing together as he drew Skinner's arm about his shoulders. "You'll regret not telling them, believe me." Skinner winced, but Tom could hear nothing more than his sarcastic, and a little more than cranky cockney voice, "Let's not and say I did, right?. C'mon, we need to keep up." And indeed he was right, Allan and Mina were almost about to round a corner and vanish from sight.

Allan was relieved when they reached the large iron doors that led to the surface. He believed that there had to be more men that this in the entire operation. They would not send a score of men to look after the beasts. But, very likely there could have been more. The Hydes were more than capable of taking out the men that could not retreat to the underground refuge. There could be more men trying to round them up, they would not have only stocked the place with food and supplies, they had to have to have firepower too. When they stepped up onto the surface, Allan found that he had indeed been correct.

Chaos reigned above ground. The guttural roars of the beast were in the near distance. There were men were fighting Nemo's crew and the actual captain and Jekyll were nowhere to be found. Some of either side were lying motionless on the ground or moaning, but the Nautilus's crew outnumbered the men two to one. Allan fired a few shots in the air and Mina's hair started to curl once again. It the men were expecting something amazing, they obviously weren't expecting anything of this magnitude. Some of them crossed themselves, muttering prayers and a few fingered their guns before they found themselves staring down the barrels of Tom's pistols and Allan's Matilda; and even Skinner stood holding his stolen rifle uneasily.

"Listen all of you!" Allan's voice snapped everyone's attention to the Hunter. "Since we're all trying to exterminate the same foe, or at least I hope we are, we need to work together and until this is over, the only one we'll be hunting is the beasts."

"You can't kill them!" Cried a voice, Tom thought it was Warren, a good look said he was correct. "They are men! Their formula hasn't worn off and they still have access to the lab. We need to capture them or divert them until it wears off." Allan harrumphed, "And how do you propose we do that? We know very well that they are men, but they will only kill and destroy until they are stopped. I will not sacrifice our men to distract those beasts if they can be killed with less bloodshed. And we will be confiscating the rest of the serum, if there is any left"

Warren was tightly corralled with his other men that populated the damaged command center, but he came to the edge of his, his face pleading with the Hunter, "Please, you can't destroy them. And at least leave the formula, it's too valuable to be terminated." Allan smirked, "I didn't say we were going to destroy it."

There was no more chance for words, Hyde came rushing through the trees, clad in the tattered remnants of Dr. Jekyll's clothes. He was locked together with one of the beasts, they tore up the dirt and scattered all of the men. Bestial snarls and bellows made the air erupt in an explosion of noise. It seemed than now their lives were in danger, science would have to wait and the scientists scattered in panic, seeking shelter and leaving their own small force behind. All the men now strove to kill the beasts. Well, everyone but Warren; he was fairly jumping in fury as they rained bullets on the beast, screaming about his work and advances on military defenses. Allan, Tom and Mina tried to tell them that one was on their side, but the bullets hardly made an impression on the thick skin of the beasts. Hyde roared as he was knocked back a step, "Nemo's leading on the others. Go!"

The scientist's men seemed surprised Hyde could speak, but then again, they seemed only to be around to protect the scientists and didn't appear to know much about science. They joined Nemo's crew and everyone took off in a group. They slowly spread out, however, in a large line as they ran through the thick brush and occasional clearings. Occasionally the tree's immense and thick foliage would block out the sun and they discovered that hardly any ground vegetation grew in these area's. It was in one of these dark patches that they ran into Nemo with a small group of his men. Though they also encountered another Hyde in the process.

The Captain yelled something to Allan, but the Hunter shook his head to say he did not catch the Nemo's words. The hailstorm of bullets and ripped up earth, trees and other debris was almost Deafening. Nemo put his head close to the Hunter's, "There is a cliff. We have been trying to direct him towards it. I think it may be our answer." Allan nodded, "Good thinking, it'll be just the thing. We don't have enough ammunition to kill them."

Nemo was thrown flat as Allan tackled him out of the way of a deflected bullet. They scrambled to their feet tried to tell as many as they could about the plan, Nemo's unflappable manner seemed a bit ruffled and his eyes widened the slightest bit as he thanked Allan. The Hunter gave him a tight grin before they took of, stooping low to avoid any more scattered gunfire.

The scientist's guards did not all speak English, but they seemed to understand that they were supposed to do well enough through hasty miming and broken English spoken on their part; or at least Allan hoped they understood. The Hunter caught up to Tom as they began to pressure the beast in the direction they wanted him to go. "We're going to lead him to a cliff. Nemo knows where it's at. Follow us if you can." He started to leave before yelling back at the agent, "Where's Skinner, I haven't heard from him since we came above ground."

"Right 'ere Allan." The Hunter started as the thief's voice came from his left, near Tom. Allan gave the seemingly thin air where Skinner stood a stern glare before running off to join the men trying to make the beast run in the intended direction. Tom search through the air until his hand came into contact with Skinner's shoulder, "Are you fine to keep up?" The thief shrugged off Tom's hand, "To each 'is own Sawyer; don't worry about me." The saying sounded odd coming from the thief and Tom suspected he was hiding something, though he didn't question further. There was much more important things to tend to, and they had to act fast before they all ended up injured or dead.

They started to run after the main party. It was larger now. Including the League, Nemo's men and the scientist's men, they equaled about four score men altogether. Only about twenty remained behind to be the rear guard, they did not stray too far, only just in sight of the main bunch. It was in this group that Skinner and Tom stayed back in. They hadn't run a hundred yards before screams sounded behind them and then an angry howl as a third beast followed by Hyde came tearing through the trees. it seemed Hyde had taken care of his double back in the ruined site they had left because as odd as it sounded, the beast Hyde was battling now looked distinctly different that the other had.

Well at least they only had two to worry about now, though now they were caught in the middle. Tom felt the breath leave his lung in one whoosh of air as he hit the ground. A second later, half of an uprooted tree sailed above them, obviously hurled by one of the warring brutes. The thick limbs tore through Tom's coat and shirt as it narrowly missed him, gouging long, deep furrows down his chest. The weight that had sent him to the ground, knocking him mostly out of harms way, rested heavily on his right arm and he felt a heartbeat that was not his own hammering wildly.

"Skinner?" Gasped Tom, pushing the invisible man off of himself, "Are you all right?" An equally as breathless voice said from where the thief was seated on the ground, "Am I all right? I thought my 'eart was going to climb out of my throat. It's Allan's job to take care of you, not mine, Tom. The next time you decide to try and step in the middle of a fight between Hydes, I'm not goin' to stick around to pull your chestnuts out of the fire. Let's go, I'm sure another chance to get killed is waitin' for us." An invisible hand helped the agent to his feet and shoved him forward to get him moving.

It was tougher than he thought to keep up with Tom. He should have guessed, the boy was younger, in better shape, and then there was the fact he could feel the stabbing pain in his lungs with every breath. If any ribs were broken, Skinner was certain that it was doing them no good by running; but it was either that or stay behind with the beat and Hyde.

Thankfully, they had not lost too much ground and they reached the back runners of the main party in almost no time. Skinner's raspy breaths hitched in his throat and his vision swam. Tom was panting too, even though the run had been a short one. Blood soaked the agent's shirt and coat, dripping onto his trousers. A lightheadedness made his steps unsure and voices came from far away. Slipping a hand inside his shredded shirt, Tom winced and withdrew his hand, damp with bright blood that shone in the beams of light that filtered through the thick canopy. Shots rang out so loud that they would have only come from on gun…Allan's.

A number of men lay groaning around a newly made clearing. The men was made up of most of the scientist's men. Those who were not groaning, lay disturbingly still. Hardly a handful of the scientist's guards were left, but Nemo's men were used to Hyde's antics. Or, if not used to them, had experience in controlling him. The cliff they were backing the last monster towards, led to a secluded beach. The narrow strip of wet sand showed that it was low tide, when the tide came in, it would wash the body away. Allan raised his gun, a bloody hole already gaped in the beast shoulder. It looked as if it had also done a capable job of forcing the brute back a few steps.

The tree he was holding hung limply from his now useless arm. He feebly attempted to bat the crew with it, but his snarls were pained. When the gun was leveled with the beast's heart, the Hunter gently squeezed the trigger. Howling with pain and stumbling the last few steps, it seemed that nearly everyone held their breath as he teetered on the brink of the precipice. A shriek that lasted the entire fall was silenced gruesomely with a muted thud as the large body his the sand far, far below.

Mina tucked a faintly curled lock of hair behind on ear. She found it almost impossible to try and straighten her mused dress, it was ripped and dirty from their flight through the jungle. She thought much better of her appearance, however, when he caught sight of Dr. Jekyll. The man could hardly stand, as he was in such a state. Trembling from exhaustion and strain with his garments torn and hardly hanging on. He modestly kept his trousers from falling about his ankles, but he looked about to drop himself at any moment. Stepping quickly to cross the gap of space between them, the vampiress offered an arm and supported the majority of his weight.

He sat down in the dry cool loam of the jungle floor. Channels of light streamed down from gaps in the canopy of trees, making pools of radiance on the dark ground. The doctor peered about surveying the dieing chaos. Nemo rounded up his men, taking charge of what was left of the other men and sending a small party to fetch the scientists from where they had been left under guard of a scant few crew members. The wounded were being looked after and treated as best as could be expected with hardly any equipment. It was a few miles walk back to the scientist's destroyed encampment, there would be supplies there.

Seeing the amount of wounded, the doctor soon picked himself up and began to see if he could make himself useful. It would hardly do for the only real doctor to sit around while there were men that needed tending to. Striping away the long tatters of his shirt, Jekyll used them as a sort of rough belt to hold up his trousers as Mina assisted him from one victim to the next. Allan was searching among the men that lay on the ground, some made small grisly heaps that were enough to turn anyone's stomach. He could guess what the Hunter was looking for, and he wouldn't be calmed, no doubt, until he found that Tom was not among the dead that littered the ground like broken dolls.

It was Skinner, however, who found the agent first; indeed, he had not left the boy's side. Tom was almost fully unconscious now, the thief was slowly joining him. Letting his back rest against a rough tree trunk, he slid down until he was sitting. Sawyer was cradled awkwardly against the thief's chest, pressing painfully on his ribs. He had almost sunk fully into unconsciousness when Allan retched them. "Sawyer!" He cried, kneeling next to the Agent, accidentally jarring Skinner in the process. The thief bit his lip hard to keep from yelping. Muttering a hasty apology, Quatermain gathered the boy in his arms and stood, calling for Jekyll. Remaining where he was seated on the ground, Skinner tried to placate the Hunter even as his voice faded, "Settle down Allan, it's not too serious; I think the bleeding stopped, 'e just needs to rest after 'e's been patched up." Allan turned towards the patch of ground where the thief sat, "Thank you looking out for him." Directing an invisible smile at the Hunter, Skinner murmured, "No need for that, it's been mutual between 'im and me."

Quatermain turned once again to take Tom to Jekyll. The thief had spoke the truth, the gashes had stopped bleeding, but they had yet to be bandaged and he had lost an unhealthy amount of blood before the wounds had begun to clot. "Come on Skinner," Allan sighed wearily, "let's go, by tomorrow we'll all be back aboard Nautilus." He took a few steps before realizing that Skinner had not said anything, nor had he heard the thief get up. "Skinner? Skinner are you all right?" There was no answer.

DiabloCat: I do so love Tom and Skinner, so yeah, they'll be my primary characters. Thanks for the review!

Silent Bob 546: He's not too badly mauled in this chapter, but I can't promise anything once the action picks up later. I agree, Tom does get beat up quite a bit doesn't he? As for me, I think Skinner needs his turn . It won't all be torture though, there's quite a bit of action and a bit of angst if I can swing it.

Sawyer Fan: Consider my not-exactly-a-promise to be as binding as a straightjacket, that should be good enough. I dearly love a good father/son story.

Faust: Ooooo! I love Abbott and Costello! And Yep, Nemo is the father in law, I'm glad no one's told me that he looks nothing like Mia or Jekyll yet, but then again hopefully no one noticed. Guess what? Your nonchalant was spelled right! I didn't think I would spell it either so I put it through a word document spell check.

TBC…