To whom it may concern:
Yeah, so that was a long break. Not intentional, but I was just so stuck on this next chapter and then I had to fuss about Uni! I resolved this by chucking out this chapter and just adding a few paragraphs to the start of this one. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of this fic soon.
Sammet Liselle - No, Sawyer doesn't die... in this fic. I have one in mind where he might kick the bucket, but alas, not this fic. Sorry I haven't emailed in ages either. I will do so tonight, after posting this!
Morph - Thanks for the compliment. And, ok, so the update wasn't soon, but I hope you're still interested in reading it.
Faust - No problem! It's good to over analyse things. Give me an email if you want to some more!
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Not gonna be ever. :sniff:
Chapter 10 – Kidnapped!
"We are receiving another message," Nemo's crewman told him. "It's from John Stapleton. It may take a while to translate. The reception can't be very clear."
The League walked into the communications room and waited. The radio emitted slow, separated beeps, as if someone was using it very slowly.
"kaling the leeg ov xtrodinare gentulmen." The crewman translated slowly. "Ar yu ther?"
"It must be Bet!" Jekyll exclaimed. Nemo nodded to the crewman to reply. They waited patiently for the reply. Jekyll tapped his fingers on his side. What could have happened to cause Bet to need to get in contact with them? She could barely read or write. If they needed to get in contact, surely Stapleton would have sent the message!
"Jons bin kidnapd. The hous haz bin intrudid."
There was a strange silence as the League looked at each other. Jekyll let out a mental sigh of relief and calmed down slightly.
"She must have known he was helping us!" Mina commented. "She was following us the other evening. I knew I saw something!" She looked at the others as if to find some support in her theory. The crewman spoke again.
"Plees cum qwikly. I dont feel saf. Thers sumthing heer." Jekyll stepped forwards and spoke to the crewman.
"Tell her it's alright, we'll be there soon." He said urgently. "But do it slowly. She can't really read and she'll be trying to translate from a code book." The crewman tapped slowly at the radio. There was a long pause before Bet replied.
"Thank yu. Im reely worryd abot him." He translated slowly. Jekyll was already walking out of the communications room. Mina told the crewman to wind up the conversation, and called after Jekyll.
"I'm not leaving her any longer," He shouted back without returning to the room. Sawyer rolled his eyes.
"Well, you heard the man." He told the rest. "Look's like we're going back to his house!"
Bet led them into the living room. The whole place had been turned over. The cardboard boxes had been overturned and books and papers were scattered about the floor. Feeling slightly self-conscious, Bet bent down to the floor and started to tidy up the mess.
"What's really strange," Bet told them. "Is that nothing has been taken. Nothing that I've noticed at least." Mina walked over to a vase that had been knocked to the floor.
"I wouldn't touch anything else," Mina said to Bet, as she was reaching for a smashed ornament on the floor. "I may be able to get some finger prints. That would be a step closer to finding our thief at any rate." Bet stepped towards her.
"You think the thief did this?" Bet gasped. "But why?"
"She saw us talking to John," Mina replied. "She's probably captured him to avoid him helping us further." Mina turned to her, about to ask her about any female guests she may have had, but she saw Bet raise a hand to her mouth and collapse in an armchair. She began to sob. Sawyer marched over to her rescue, producing a handkerchief from his waistcoat. He passed it to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you," She sniffed at him. "I can't believe that she would do such a thing. I do hope that he's alright. I couldn't bear it if she…" Bet started to cry softly into the handkerchief. Jekyll shuffled uncomfortably on his feet.
"What's this?" Skinner called out from a corner of the room. They turned to face him. He emerged from the corner carrying a large, white feather. It was about two foot long. Bet gulped.
"Oh," she spluttered. "What is it?" Nemo walked up to Skinner and ran his finger over the fibres.
"It can't be…" He muttered.
Jekyll stood up quickly.
"Did you hear that?" He asked the others. He ran over to the broken window and looked over the empty streets. In the sky a bird was flying towards them. It looked very much like an eagle, but was a perfect white. As it got closer, it got bigger. Jekyll's eyes widened. "Everybody get back!" He shouted as he ran to the other side of the room, whisking Bet up from the arm chair.
There was a loud crunch as the birds talons lashed through the window. They scratched at the walls, causing the whole house to shake. Bet screamed, as more objects from the shelves behind them fell on top their heads.
Sawyer pulled his gun from his back and started to shoot at the bird. The talons coiled back in pain, giving the League time to spread out. Jekyll pushed Bet into the far corner.
"Don't move from this spot," He told her pointedly. She nodded up at him, petrified. Jekyll smiled briefly before reaching into his pocket for Hyde's potion.
The huge bird tended to the wound on its leg for a moment.
"Well, this must be the second of her creations." Sawyer yelled, keeping his eye line along the gun.
"No, it's a Roc," Nemo answered, loudly. "I had met a sailor named Sinbad a few times. He was always bragging about various 'adventures' that he'd had. He'd spoken of an enormous white bird, a Roc, that he had encountered in two of his tall stories. I would never have believed that he was telling the truth."
The Roc launched itself at the wall, beak first and started to rip at the window. Mina ran forwards and changed into a flock of bats. They began to attach themselves to the bird, feeding from it. Leaving the wall, the Roc turned on the bats and began to beat them of with its beak.
Nemo ran his sword at the beast, aiming for its eyes, but the bird swiped back at him and knocked him to the floor. Taking the opportunity, Hyde charged at the bird's head from the other side and leapt up onto its head. Digging his heels into its back, Hyde grabbed the Roc's head and attempted to pull it back.
The Roc, ignoring the remaining bats, continued to pull at the walls. Sawyer continued shooting at it, but the bullets seemed to get consumed by the feathers before hitting the bird. It was useless.
The wall began to crumble slightly, and the Roc managed to force his first talon through the hole. It swiped at Sawyer, catching his feet and knocking him over. It then proceeded to grasp at the corner in which Bet was sitting. She began to scream.
Hyde pulled further at the bird, but failed to even move it an inch. Jumping down, he grabbed onto the Roc's talon and started to pull it away from the corner. Nemo, managing to pull himself from the floor, plunged his sword into the bird's eye.
A horrific scream emitted from the Roc, who jerked his leg throwing Hyde across the room and crashing into the wall. In a last attempt, it stretched across the room and plucked Bet from the corner. Skinner, racing over to her, grabbed her waist and dug his heels into the ground. Nemo swung his sword at the Roc's leg, catching it sharply from above.
With a final surge of energy, the Roc pulled Bet from the corner, throwing Skinner to the floor. It scrambled from the wall and took off. Bet screamed as the bird began to fly south from the house.
Sawyer rushed to the window and aimed his gun at the bird.
"Tom, it's too late!" Mina called to him, once she had materialised in the corner of the room. Sawyer continued to stare up at the sky. "You may hit Elizabeth." He continued to stare.
His finger pulled at the trigger and the bullet cut through the air. It hit the Roc in the leg. The bird faltered slightly, but carried on flying. Sawyer threw his gun to the floor.
"It was too strong," Hyde growled at him. "We didn't stand a chance."
They looked around the room. Mina sighed. There weren't going to be any fingerprints. This thief was managing to find plenty of other things to be doing her dirty work.
Hyde began to transform back into Jekyll as the others stood, slightly shocked for a moment. They had nothing now. Both Bet and John had now been kidnapped. Their only possible source of information was the reluctant anonymous messenger.
"We should at least try looking for something," Mina told them. "If she didn't come here herself to get the notes, she must have sent something else." Sawyer snatched his gun from the floor, angrily, and walked to the door.
"I'll look upstairs," He told them, gloomily. Nemo looked at Mina for a moment, and followed him. Skinner kicked at the floor and up righted a toppled table.
Jekyll leant against the wall, gasping, taking in the view around him. This was his home. The place he had spent the most of his life. The place where he had started his experiments. This is what it all lead to. And now Bet had gone too. Sadly, he started looking over the bookcase.
Mina bent down to retrieve the books that had scattered out of one of the cardboard boxes. Just as she was placing them back into the box, a page from one of them fluttered gracefully to the floor. Upon it was another of John's elegant sketches. An enormous coal-black dog, a cross breed of some sort, was heavily annotated with script. Curious, she took a moment to read a section.
"With the specially prepared phosphorous that has now been developed successfully, I should be able to apply the substance to the hound without overpowering Sir Henry's scent."
Mina glanced over a few more sentences. Her eyes widened in sudden recognition.
"Stapleton," She whispered. Jekyll looked up at her between looking for clues.
"What about him?" He asked angrily.
"I thought there was something about the name that was familiar." She folded the piece of paper up. "Skinner," she called to the invisible man who was currently ferreting about under a table. He lifted his head, banging it sharply on the edge. He cursed briefly under his breath.
"What?" He asked. "It better be worth that bang on the head."
"It will be," She replied, handing him the piece of paper. "I think we need to pay a visit to 221B Baker Street."
NB: Ah! That feels a lot better. I have been very naughty with this fic, but I'm gonna be good now! Look forward to much more action from now on! Reviews are fab!