Disclaimer: I don't own Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, Phoebe, or ANY of the League; I just own the plot and the bad guy.
Feedback: The more I get, the faster I write.
Madamwolf: Glad to hear it; if I'm going to be doing such a bizarre idea as this, I might as well do it well
The One Where They Help Save the World
"How's it going?" Sawyer asked, walking over to stand beside Mina as the rest of the League began to pick up the discarded weapons of the henchmen Chandler and Sawyer had taken down earlier. Rachel and Phoebe were still refusing to use guns, but Sawyer had stationed them at the back of the room with Emma, figuring that Rachel would probably be happier to keep an eye on her baby than to try tackling an invisible homicidal maniac.
"Well, as well as you'd except, really," Mina replied, smiling back at her lover briefly before turning to her work. "I think I've managed to isolate which parts of the serum are responsible for protecting the subject's vision, but, for obvious reasons, we can't actually test it until we inject this 'Kaitlin' woman with it."
"And we still aren't sure if it'll even accomplish anything!" Monica said, looking over at Sawyer from where she was studying the gun she'd been given, unsure how she should feel about having to shoot at another person. "I mean, if it does render her blind, what do we do then? Let her stagger around while we make our escape?"
"Personally, I'm more in favour of kicking her ass while she can't see to fight back," Skinner said, shrugging casually. "After all-"
Hyde held up one hand. "Can you all stop nattering on for a moment? I think I heard something."
"Eh?" Joey said, looking at Hyde in surprise. "I'm not hearing anything."
"Well, you wouldn't, would you; Hyde does have enhanced senses beyond the human norm," Hartdegen put in, from where he, Nemo and Ross had positioned themselves to the left of the door they'd come in by- which, from what they could ascertain, was the only way in or out of the room they had arrived in. "What are you hearing, Edward?"
"A small army," Hyde grunted. "It sounds like our opponent picked up some assistance while she was on her way over here; I think I can hear at least twenty men, not counting her."
"Wait a minute; twenty!" Ross said, looking over at Hyde in horror. "How are we expected to take on that many at once!"
"Simply put, we can't," Sawyer said, as he checked the gun one last time before looking back at the others. "Which is why we'll need to improve the odds. Everyone get around the door, but stay out of sight; Mina, Monica, Alex, Chandler, you're with me."
He raised his gun, checked the ammunition one more time, and smiled. "We've got some ass to kick."
Still invisible, but now dressed in a long black leather coat that flapped behind her in what she felt was a suitably dramatic manner, Kaitlin smiled to herself as she checked the Berettas that were concealed in the pockets of the coat before glancing back at the soldiers behind her.
After the League and their allies had escaped her, she'd triggered the silent alarm to summon her top soldiers to her present location, and had then ordered them to accompany her to the League's present location.
Reaching into her coat to pull out her Berettas, Kaitlin smiled.
At last, the moment she'd waited for all her life was here.
The League would fall, and her grandfathers would at last get the chance to rule the world, as they should have done all those years ago. That she would most likely no longer exist was a price she was more than willing to pay; it hadn't been much of a life anyway.
She rounded another corner, and was greeted with the welcome sight of Mina Harker standing in front of her, daggers clasped in her hands as she stared at the soldiers in front of her in hatred.
"You came, then," Mina said, nodding briefly at the floating leather coat in front of her as she flexed her fingers over her daggers. "After the beating we gave you earlier, I would have thought you'd have preferred to count your blessings and evacuate."
"Hardly," Kaitlin said, grinning. "I've waited too long for my chance to save my ancestors to be thwarted at the last minute by a minor setback."
The invisible woman seemed to turn her attention to the daggers in Mina's hands. "I wouldn't try anything with those, Mrs Harker; my men are equipped with specially-designed hollow-tipped bullets that contain holy water. If any of them so much as graze you, no matter what kind of state you're in at the time, you'll be as good as dead; 'good' o not, you're still a vampire."
"Really?" Mina inquired, tilting her head to one side as she looked at Kaitlin in a manner that suggested she was humouring a difficult child. "You obviously didn't do your research; the effects that holy water has on my class of vampire are minimal, to say the least. At best, I'd have a light skin rash, and even that's only a maybe."
Mina allowed herself a slight smile as she heard Kaitlin's heartbeat accelerate slightly. It wasn't by much, but given the ice queen that she'd seemed to be earlier, any sign of fear was a good thing for Mina and her associates right now.
"You're bluffing," Kaitlin said; to her credit, her voice didn't betray the slightest trace of fear. "You think I won't shoot you if I'm not sure it will do anything."
"Maybe," Mina said, as she looked back at the other woman, casually rolling one dagger around in her right hand. "Or maybe I'm just trying to make things easier for you."
She stared at Kaitlin, hoping that she was looking at the other woman's eyes. "Give up, Kaitlin. This accomplishes nothing. Nothing."
Kaitlin appeared to shake her head; at least, her body moved slightly, as though it was performing that very action. "You cannot understand my motives, Mrs Harker; such is the curse of being a genius," she said. "This will accomplish much in the world. It can… it will…. It must!"
Mina sighed as she looked back at the Invisible Woman. "You know, I am really starting to dislike you," she said, rolling her eyes in pity. "I had hoped that we might be able to find some common ground; some point that we could both agree on and work our way from there. But, if you persist in this, I must concede that there is no hope for you."
She glared directly at where Kaitlin's eyes should be. "You will fall, Miss Kaitlin."
Kaitlin made a brief gesture with her arm, and suddenly, all the weapons were pointing at Mina.
"You first," she said.
Mina swallowed, apparently nervously.
"So be it," she said. She began to lower her daggers, as though recognising that she was in a hopeless position…
Then she leapt back up, threw the daggers towards the gunmen, leapt into the air, turned into a bunch of bats, and flew off down the corridors, leaving two men with the daggers in their throats and at least three others with injured arms.
"AFTER HER!" Kaitlin screamed at the remaining walking soldiers, as the two who'd been struck collapsed to the ground. "DON'T LET HER GET AWAY! SHE- ALL OF THEM- MUST PAY!"
Chandler chuckled slightly as he heard their opponent yell, glancing over at where Monica and Hartdegen were holding guns as they stood on the opposite side of the corridor; Sawyer was standing a foot or two down the corridor on the same side as him.
"Think she's annoyed yet?" he asked his wife, as he raised his gun and checked the ammunition once again, trying desperately to take his mind off the fact that he was going to have to kill people again before they could get out of this place…
"Oh, she's ticked; she sounds like me on a bad day," Monica said, smiling over at her husband as a faint flapping sound was heard. "Here they come…" she said, as a black mass of bats came tearing past them, faint glimpses of red the only sign that Mina was there, followed closely by pounding feet.
"On three," Sawyer said to the others, as they all raised their weapons. "One… two… THREE!"
The three of them leapt out into the corridor and fired wildly in front of them, mowing down Kaitlin's followers even as they turned around the last corner, bullets riddling them from the unexpected attack. Those who could dived back around the corridor out of harm's way, but even with that move, the originally eighteen-man team was still reduced to about a third of its original numbers by the time the unlikely gathering had run out of ammunition.
Monica blinked in surprise at the fallen bodies in front of them, and then she dropped her gun, turned to face Chandler, and collapsed into his arms, sobbing quietly into his shirt.
"Oh God…" she whispered, as he held her in his arms. "I killed them… I killed them…"
"Ssshhh…" Chandler whispered, as he planted a light kiss on her forehead. "It's OK… we had to…"
"It was them or us, Mrs Bing," Hartdegen said, placing a consoling hand on Monica's shoulder. "We don't blame you for what you have had to do to help us."
"Oh nice way of avoiding guilt, murderers!" a voice screamed from behind them. "Is that what you always say; 'It was them or us'? You think that excuses what you'll do to my grandparents!"
"Kaitlin," Sawyer said, as he turned around to face the floating coat and guns that was all that gave away the presence of their latest challenge, "can't you just give us a break and let us get you some help? This is pointless; it doesn't help anyone!"
"It helps my ancestors achieve their true status!" Kaitlin yelled back, as she raised her guns and pointed them at Sawyer and Hartdegen. "You must DIE!"
"You first," Sawyer said, as he reached into his jacket, whipped out his traditional Colts, and fired them directly at the coat. Kaitlin ducked downwards as the bullets flew towards her, but she still gave off a small yelp of pain as one bullet grazed her right shoulder.
"MOVE!" Sawyer yelled at the others, as the four of them spun around and began to run down the corridor, Sawyer turning around now and again to fire off a bullet at the coat that was flying through the air after them.
As they rounded a corridor and dived through the door into the lab, Sawyer spun around to look at where Ross and Joey were standing on either side of the door.
"Get ready!" he said. "She's coming!"
The two men nodded, raised their arms, and grabbed the arms of the coat as it tore into the room, guns pointing ahead of it. Simultaneously, Phoebe and Rachel kicked the weapons out of Kaitlin's hands, and Skinner, grabbing Kaitlin's shoulder, whipped out a hypodermic needle and dug it into a vein in her neck as he pushed the needle home.
Kaitlin screamed in rage, lashing out with a kick that knocked Skinner off her, an empty needle now clutched in his hand as he struck the ground. Ross and Joey soon followed, flying off to the side as Kaitlin hit them both on the foreheads with a desperate punch.
The invisible woman than dived towards Sawyer, arms outstretched, before the two of them fell to the ground, fingers closing around the spy's throat.
"DIE!" Kaitlin yelled at Sawyer as her fingers tightened around his throat. "Die for good, you bas… bas…"
Suddenly, she relaxed her grip and looked up at the rest of the room in confusion.
"What the…" she muttered in horror. "W-who turned the lights out?"
Ross chuckled slightly as he looked at the dazed… coat. "Nobody did, Kaitlin," he said, mockingly. "That needle Skinner hit you with contained an enhanced version of the serum; this model doesn't leave your eyes absorbing light while everything else stops."
"WHAT!" Kaitlin yelled in horror as she rolled off Sawyer and leapt to her feet, her sleeves feeling at her eyes. "I'm… I'm blind!"
"Yeah…" Sawyer said, gasping as he staggered to his feet and looked at Kaitlin. "It's over, Kaitlin; please believe that. Just… end it now, and everything'll be fine…"
"NEVER!" Kaitlin screamed, as she lashed out with a massive punch in the direction of the spy's voice…
Only to have Sawyer grab the wrist in question and twist it with such force that Kaitlin collapsed to the ground.
"Hold her down!" Sawyer yelled over at Ross and Joey, who grabbed the invisible woman's arms and legs as Sawyer crouched down beside her head.
"Look, Kaitlin," Sawyer sighed, as he stared at where her head should be, even if he couldn't actually see it, "it's over. You've failed. Can't you just accept that?"
"NO!" Kaitlin screamed, trying to break free…
Then Phoebe kicked her in the head, and the invisible woman collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Noting the stares in her direction, Phoebe just smiled.
"What; you think I can't kick ass when I need to?" she asked casually.
"Uh… right…" Hartdegen said, as he looked over at the other League members inquiringly. "So… what now?"