AN/ Wow! Thank you so very much for all the great reviews! Jinxth, please get off of my computer desk. (lol) Thanks to Funky in Fishnet, mercypapilion and citizenrased. Samyo, thanks for putting my on your favorite authors list, but I don't think all of your review got through to me. Or, if that was all you wanted to say, then that was the shortest review I've ever recieved. Here's the next chapter, but please keep in mind that chapter three might be a while because I have to fit it in around school. Cheers.
Skinner and I were in the meeting room the entire time, just like M, waiting for Quatermain to arrive. Skinner was silent, an art he had perfected. "I'll let you know when to speak up," I told him. "You're really going to give them a start!" Skinner and I smiled. He had hidden his file in one of the bookcases so he could pull it out and slap it on the table. He also draped his coat over the back of one of the chairs. The scene in this room was going to be one of the most light-hearted during this whole, dark adventure. I wanted to make the most of it.
"When you reveal yourself, you're going to steal the show," I said to the invisible man. This widened both our smiles. Despite being someone who could disappear entirely, Skinner did love being the centre of attention.
At last the giant wooden doors opened and Sanderson Reed and our new 'fearless leader' entered the dark room. Quatermain gave his coat and hat to Reed, who exited the room and closed the doors. Alan slowly walked towards the table, stopping when he heard M tapping a small metal case on the wood.
"I don't like theatrics," Quatermain said.
M stood up. "After Africa's veldts, London's weather isn't helping your mood, I see." he moved to the wall and began turning on the gas lamps.
"Identify yourself," Quatermain commanded the stranger.
"I'm known by many names, Mr Quatermain."
Man, this guy sounded like me.
"My underlings call me sir. My superiors call me M."
"M?" Alan repeated.
"Just M," M confirmed. The gas lamps brightened the room up significantly, revealing beautiful paintings of LXG members of the past. "I must say, the delight is mine," M continued. "Meeting so notable a recruit to this newest generation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."
By now, enough lamps had been lit so that Quatermain could see M clearly. "League of what?" the hunter asked.
"There have been other times when a danger upon the world has required the services of singular individuals," M explained.
"How very curious," Alan commented.
The sound of footfalls alerted us to Captain Nemo's entrance. "This museum is full of the curious." M smiled and made the interdictions. "Alan Quatermain, Captain Nemo."
"I know of Mr Quatermain," Nemo said.
"And I know of you, captain," Alan replied. "Rumour has it that you're a pirate." A small smirk twitched on my lips as I thought of the pirates I had encountered in my past. I knew that Captain Nemo was very different from them though.
"I'd prefer a less provocative title," the Indian stated.
"I'm sure you would."
That made me smirk again. I couldn't think of any unprovocative titles for Skinner.
"Gentlemen, please," M said, gaining our attention once more. There would be more time for idle chit-chat later. "Nations are striking at nations. Every attack marked by the use of highly advanced weaponry." Quatermain sat down in a chair at the table. I watched M closely. I had to admit, he was a very good actor. They would never suspect that he was a villain. As he spoke, he snuffed out a cigarette and Quatermain opened up the files that lay on the table, gaining more information on the people he was going to encounter. "These attacks are all the work of a man who calls himself the Fantom," M continued.
"Very operatic," Alan commented, looking at a photo of the Fantom's mask. "What's in it for him?"
"Profit," M answered. "Those machines are his creations, the work of scientists he holds imprisoned. His attacks have every nation clamouring for the weapons that assail them."
I nodded, thinking of the tank that broke into that bank in London. I was amazed at how calm I was. Here was the man who caused all this trouble right on front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop him. I couldn't even tell Skinner. Yet I remained cool and steady.
"Then it's a race for arms," Quatermain said.
"And millions will perish," Captain Nemo added.
"There's one last chance to avert war." M sat down at the table. "The leaders of Europe are to meet secretly in Venice.'
"And you believe that the Fantom will attack that conference?" Quatermain asked.
"If he can find it," M replied. I rolled my eyes. "We need a team to get to Venice and stop them. This team consists of six members. You'll have four days."
"Four days to get to Venice?" Alan asked. "It's impossible."
I smirked. "Wait a few decades," I thought.
Nemo spoke up again. "Let me worry about that." He had a secret smile behind his long, black beard. I could tell already that he was very proud of his technology in transportation.
"Well now," Quatermain remarked, continuing to flip through the files. "Extraordinary gentlemen indeed."
I nudged Skinner in the ribs. "Any time now," I told him.
"One of them is late," M reported. "Harker, the chemist."
That quirked Rodney's interest. "Oh, a chemist, eh? Do we get to blow something up then?"
Quatermain blinked and removed his reading glasses, failing to identify the disembodied voice's location. "My eyesight must be worse then I thought."
Skinner walked around behind him, his own file in hand. "No, your eyesight's fine." he dropped the papers loudly on the table next to Alan, who just as I predicted, jumped in surprise.
Quatermain stood up and pointed across the table to the man who had summoned him here. "No games, M," he warned.
M smiled and made a 'let me explain' gesture with his hand as he stood up. "Some time ago, a talented, albeit misguided, man of science discovered the means of becoming invisible."
"Yes, I recall the tale, but didn't he die?" Quatermain asked.
"He did, but his process didn't," Skinner replied. "You see, I stole it, and here I stand for all to see."
"In a manner of speaking," I muttered.
Alan was still having some difficulty grasping this. "Is this some parlour game?"
Skinner gave him a shove. "Believe it!"
Quatermain swung his arm backwards trying to strike the invisible attacker. Skinner dodged and bumped into one of the lamps behind him, almost knocking it over. "Easy now, Alan!"
I passed through Quatermain, (causing neither him nor me any ill effects. He didn't even feel it.) and walked backwards towards Skinner's coat. I gestured for Skinner to come over. He hid his amazement of me passing through Quatermain well, and continued to speak as he walked to his coat. "I'm feeling a bit of a draft in my neither regions. And I must say, it's quite refreshing."
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "More information then we needed to know."
The invisible man picked up his long, black leather trench coat off the back of the chair and put it on. "Allow me to introduce myself. Rodney Skinner, gentleman thief." Skinner's form had suddenly taken a shape in the coat. I blinked and turned off my 'Skinner Vision' so to best view the magic and illusion of the scene. Quatermain looked amazed at the sight of the floating coat. Nemo's expression has hard to read, but his eyes widened. M wore a smirk. Skinner pulled out a tin of white greasepaint and began to rub it on his face, causing his features to materialize out of thin air as he spoke. "Now, I thought invisibility would be a boon to my work. Well, you can imagine, it was my undoing." He walked closer to Alan. "Once you turn invisible, it's bloody hard to turn back." He spoke like a man with experience in this field. Probably because he was a man of experience.
"We finally caught him," M said. I thought that Skinner would indeed make for a difficult quarry, especially with the technology available, even to the Fantom. I doubted he had heat sensing equipment that would be able to pin point Skinner, although I could be wrong. It also made me wonder how long exactly they had been hunting for Skinner.
"And they'll supply an antidote," Skinner added, explaining his personal motivation for joining the League. "Well, that's if I'm a good boy."
"And are you a good boy?" Quatermain inquired.
"I guess you'll find out, won't you?"
I tried my best not to sigh as I clenched my jaw in anger. I knew they weren't going to give Skinner his antidote, but I couldn't tell him. It was so unfair! It was a dirty, rotten, sneaky way of recruiting someone, promising them they one thing they really want and then not delivering on the goods. Suddenly, I wanted to strangle M. I wanted to dig my claws into him. I wanted to…
My thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the doors and a woman entered the room. I instantly knew who it was; Mina. She looked prim and proper, like a perfect Victorian woman should, but I knew that a powerful force ran through her veins. I could almost feel it.
Everyone turned to look at the new entry. "Am I late?" Mina asked, gazing around the room and striding forward.
That's then I saw him. My friend, my crush, a spirit who's names were Serro, Rocko, Andrew, Cedar, and Zorroco. "So that's who Master Fox also sent here!" I thought, delighted. He was obviously guiding Mina. His friendly azure eyes found me. He smiled and waved. I smiled and waved back. I didn't know his name in this world though, and I wondered if he knew the one I had chosen. Skinner wasn't aware of him, nor was Mina aware of me.
"A woman's prerogative, Mrs Harker," M said. He didn't sound very annoyed at her tardiness. Quatermain, on the other hand, wasn't happy, and it wasn't because Mina was a little late.
"Please tell me this is Harker's wife with a sick note," he snapped.
I sighed. "Heaven forbid a woman should join the team," I thought. I knew it was called the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but still…it made me glad that times were to change in the future.
"'Sick' would be a mild understatement," Mina said as she approached the hunter. "My husband's been dead for years."
"Yet it's only a 'mild understatement'," I thought with a 'mild' smirk. Her spirit guide gave me a look.
"Gentlemen, Mrs Wilhelmina Harker," M introduced. Nemo nodded his head towards her in greeting. "Mina's prior acquaintance with a reluctant League member may prove useful," M told us. I frowned, knowing who that 'reluctant League member' was and just how much help he was going to be to the team.
"I'm waiting to be impressed," Quatermain announced to Mina. Clearly, he could see no real reason why she should be of any use to the League.
"Oh, don't worry, you'll be impressed," I said under my breath. My spirit friend heard me and smiled. We knew not to underestimate Mina, and soon the others would too. Skinner shot me a side-on look and smirked. He, for one, was not complaining about the new recruit.
"The fate of the world is at stake," M said in an attempt to tell Alan to set his differences aside and get on with the mission. "There are still two more members to recruit."
"Three," I mentally corrected, but I let it slide. M didn't know about Tom Sawyer.
"The clock hands turn, gentlemen." M made his point clear. It was time to go.
"Kicking us out already?" Skinner asked. "A moment ago, it was sherry and giggles." He turned and headed for the door, flipping the collar of his coat up in the process. I followed right behind him like a faithful dog. We were the first ones out. Everyone else followed behind. I heard M shut the doors behind us, and I didn't need to look at him to know there was a pleased, evil smile on his face.