AN/ Thank you for the reviews and for waiting for this chapter. Special thanks to Samyo, ToTaKeKe13, Jinxeh, and mercypapilion. The lines I have Skinner saying are correct for the DVD I have of LXG, which is Australian. It's the same for the move novel I have. I suppose it is possible though that in different versions from other countries, the lines are slightly different. And Jinxeh, it's too bad they removed one of your fics. I do hope you update the surviving one as soon as you can though!

It will probably be a few weeks before I can update again because I have exams coming up. I might be able to write a chapter, but I won't have time to upload it. So enjoy this one for now and I'll see you later! Please review!

For the first few days, Skinner and I explored the Naulitus, learning its basic layout - where the control room, kitchen, library, meeting/planning, and the League's bedrooms were. Skinner spent most of his time completely invisible, forcing me to spend most of my time with my 'Skinner Vision' on so that I wouldn't loose track of the invisible man. I soon discovered that if I left my 'Skinner Vision' on for more then a few hours, my eyes began to hurt and a throbbing headache developed behind them. I told Skinner about this and he complied to wear his coat whenever we were in his room together so I could give my eyes a rest.

I didn't see a lot of Serro during our trip to Paris. I barely even had time to think about him what with me trying to keep Skinner in line. But at night, when most of the Naulitus was asleep, my thoughts would drift to Serro. One time, when Skinner was snoring soundly, I tried to sneak out to see Serro, but he couldn't talk with me for very long. He couldn't leave Mina, vampires being nocturnal by nature. When I did see my spirit friend, albeit briefly, I noticed that his eyes were changing colour. They used to be bright sky blue, but they were morphing into a deep forest green. I didn't mind the change. Serro has always been able to change his eye colour, and he looked handsome no matter what hue they were.

I remember talking to Skinner the night we arrived in Paris to capture Mr Hyde. Quatermain and Nemo had devised a plan using herding techniques and a giant net that could be retracted into the Naulitus. I knew that Mina wanted to help Alan and Tom hunt for Hyde, but Quatermain had said no. "This hunt's too dangerous for a woman, even one such as you. Leave it to me." So now Mina was sulking in her room, making remarkable accurate impressions of Quatermain's accent as Serro tried to stifle his laughter. I don't think Dorian really cared how Hyde was caught, just as long as it was successful. Skinner also couldn't have cared less, and the good Doctor Jekyll and his more robust alter-ego never entered our conversation. Instead, Skinner wanted to find out a little bit more about me.

We were sitting in Skinner's room. The invisible man was wearing his coat but nothing else. It was enough for me to have my 'Skinner Vision' off. Skinner was drinking again, a glass of sherry snug in his hand.

"So," he said, beginning the interrogation. "I have to ask, how many people have you done this for, this…what do you call it?"

"Guiding," I said.

"Yeah, guiding. How many people have you guided?"

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "You're my third assignment," I told him. "Before you, I've done a pirate from the past and a mutant from the future." I knew that I would be asked to go into more detail, and Skinner didn't fail me.

"A mutant from the future? What do you mean?"

"A few generations from now, there will be a population of people who are born with extraordinary powers. They're a bit like you, only they'll have these powers naturally instead of through chemical means," I explained.

"Okay, go on." Skinner urged.

"I can't tell you the name of my assignment in that world," I continued. "But I can tell you that he could teleport - that is, disappear from one place and reappear in another - and he had blue skin and a prehensile tail that could grab things. He looked like a demon, with pointed ears, fangs, yellow eyes and the tail, but he was really very kind." Talking about Nightcrawler made me wonder, and not for the first time, how he was doing and what he was up to with the X-Men.

"And what did you do with him?" Skinner asked, sounding interested. He took a sip of his drink. I watched the alcohol slide down his throat.

"Something slightly similar to what we're doing here," I said. "Only a bit different…but it would take me too long to go into a lot of detail. Just know that on the whole, our mission was successful." I smiled.

"And what about that other guy, that pirate, what about him?"

A different smile, more amused then my last one washed over my face as I remembered my adventure with Captain Jack Sparrow. "Well, he was a pirate captain who had his ship stolen from him by his mutinous crew and I helped him get it back."

There was a pause. "That's it?" Skinner asked. "No saving the world that time?"

I shook my head, remembering a quote I had heard somewhere about Pirates of the Caribbean being a "multi-million dollar character movie," or something like that. "Nope. Although…" I had to admit there was a bit more to the story. "The pirates who had stolen my assignment's ship were cursed. They were immortal, but turned into frightful skeletons in the moonlight. My assignment and I had to wait for the opportune moment before we could lift the curse and kill the evil captain."

Skinner was quiet, contemplating my story. At last he said "I don't believe it."

I was mildly surprised. "What?"

"I don't believe that there will be mutants in the future or that pirates can be cursed like that." Skinner swallowed his drink. I could see it pouring into his stomach. "I don't believe it," he said again.

Luckily, I had a ready-made retort to comments like that from my assignments. "Oh yeah? Well, you don't have to believe it." I leaned forward. "But consider this, Mr Skinner; the next person I'm assigned to probably won't believe I've met an invisible man."

Skinner laughed. "Good point!"

"Plus," I added. "I have a scar from when my pirate assignment was fighting a rather upset blacksmith who was also a skilled swordsman. I was impaled to a door."

I imagined Skinner's eyes widening. This was the general reaction whenever I told anyone that story. "Impaled to a door?"

"Yep. Right here." With two fingers I pressed on my chest, right in the middle of my breast bone. I could still remember how much it had hurt. It would have been a bit risky to show Skinner my scar, but he seemed to trust me that it was there.

"And that didn't kill you?"

I shook my head. "Obviously not."

"Incredible." Skinner poured himself another drink. "All right, Nikita, I believe you." Perhaps it was the alcohol, or maybe he really did believe me, or maybe he just wanted me to shut up. I like to think that he believed me. Besides, he was an invisible man. He shared a ship with an immortal, a vampire, two spirits, and soon a man with serious personality issues. Skinner is in no state to be so hypocritical as to say he didn't believe that I've met a mutant or seen cursed pirates. He rased his glass in another toast. He liked toasts. Any excuse to drink in a social setting was good for him. "Cheers!'

I smiled again, pleased. I don't like it when people don't believe me.

All of a sudden, there was a tremendous bang. The liquid in the bottle and in Skinner's glass splashed about lightly in its container. The bang was followed by another and another, accompanied also by an unearthly growling noise, as if the Nautilus herself was groaning in protest.

"What's going on?" Skinner demanded.

I felt a smile creep onto my lips. "The last member of the League has arrived."

"What?"

"They've caught Mr Hyde," I explained. There was another mighty thump. The Nautilus shuddered. A small amount of Skinner's drink leapt out of the glass from the force of it. "Make yourself more visible and we'll go meet him," I told Skinner.

The tin of greasepaint appeared from Skinner's pocket and he started applying it to his face and head with practiced speed and ease. I jumped up and found his hat, glasses and gloves. When he was ready, we stepped out of the room and followed the noise down a level, then down another. It was much colder down there. I supposed the space was mainly used for storage and such. As we walked down a long corridor, I noticed Dorian coming towards us. We strolled confidently towards him, turning at the same time down another hallway that formed a 'T' junction.

The men walked side by side, brisk, business-like. I followed along behind them. "Hello, Dorian," Skinner said. The immortal didn't reply. "They great white hunter's bagged his prize," Skinner commented.

Ahead of us, one of Nemo's men flew screaming into a wall, hurled there by an impressive force. Mina approached us in much the same manner Dorian had before, Serro on her heels. The vampire and her spirit guide stopped at the man's body, as did we. He appeared to be unconscious as the five of us gave him a once-over.

"Or the prize bagged him," Dorian remarked as he stepped over the body and started down the way the unlucky man came. Skinner and I came behind him. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mina and Serro doing the same.

We came to an open room scattered with crates and meat hanging from the ceiling. But the focus of attention was on the source of the commotion, a massive man, loosely wrapped in chains anchored at several points to the walls. He was heavily muscled, almost ridiculously so, and clothed in a shirt that was so tattered it was nearly unrecognisable. The black pants he wore were thankfully in better shape. Some of Nemo's braver men stood around the aggressive beast holding spears, trying to keep him in one place. Quatermain was patrolling the border of the scene. Nemo was holding a spear and Tom watched on in amazement.

"Stay back, if you value your life," Quatermain warned my group. We approached carefully, keeping what we hoped was a safe distance from the creature called Mr Hyde.

Hyde grunted and snarled, flinging a massive arm, backhanding a man and sending him tumbling through the air. The beast-man struck another man with similar results. The chains lashed through the air as Hyde really went for it, swiping and swinging, sending Nemo's men flying left and right.

Skinner was startled by the chaotic and threatening noise and movement and he stumbled, hitting the floor. Before I could give a warning, Dorian grabbed the invisible man's arm and hulled him to his feet. It might have been seen as a gesture of friendship to anyone else who saw it, but I knew differently.

"Ow!" Skinner exclaimed, jerking his arm away. He looked from it to Dorian and back again, glaring accusingly. "You scratched me."

"Better me then him," Dorian said as more of Nemo's crew were tossed amuck by the monstrous Hyde.

I had an almost sick feeling in my gut as Skinner briefly examined his arm. It was just a scraping of skin. It left no lasting damage on my assignment's body, but it would have tremendous negative repercussions in the future.

"Well, this is nice," Dorian remarked of the scene and Hyde. I had lost track of how many men had been tossed by the agro beast. Anyone who was stupid enough to get within his reach was soon forcibly moved away.

"Mr Hyde," Quatermain addressed the captive monster. He stopped thrashing about and looked at the man who had caught him. "You've done terrible things in England," Alan said. Hyde paced and growled like a lion, but he was listening. "So terrible that you fled the country." Hyde thrashed his chains again. This was old news to him. "Now I an ashamed to say that Her Majesty's government is willing to offer you amnesty in return for your services." Hyde stopped pacing, his interest quirked. "Do you want to go home?" Quatermain asked him.

"Home?" Hyde said, his voice like growling gravel. "'Home's where the heart is,' that's what they say. And I have been missing London so. Its sorrow is as sweet to me as a rare wine."

I was amazed. You don't hear poetic phrases like that coming out of monster's mouths very often. I guess everyone gets homesick once in a while, even Edward Hyde.

The beast leaned slightly towards Quatermain. "I'm yours."

A semi-smile twitched on my face. My body was stiff, alert. This adventure just got a bit more interesting.

Hyde huffed the air with his near-animal like senses as the rest of the room stood in tense silence. "Don't be afraid," he said, and went to turn around.

"Who says I'm afraid?" Tom spoke up, trying to be brave. Who was he kidding? Weather or not they showed it, every other person in the room was afraid to some degree. Hyde didn't even know I was there and even I was afraid of him at that moment. I had a strong suspicion Serro felt the same.

"You do!" Hyde roared. He swung his mighty arms, ripping a chain from the wall with little effort. It whipped in our general direction, causing the group to duck. A small scream escaped from my mouth as I threw my hands over my head and crouched down. I new that Hyde was going to do that, but I didn't expect the chain to come so close to hitting me. Skinner shot me a quick "Are you okay?" look. I straitened up and took a deep breath to calm myself.

"You stink of fear!" Hyde spat.

"Well, do you really blame us?" I muttered. I saw Serro looking at me with a worried expression. I smiled tightly and he returned it.

"Quite the parlour trick," Dorian commented to Hyde. I supposed even he was impressed by the brute's show of strength.

The beast's hunched form straitened up. It was hard to catch, but I thought I saw a sudden flash of pain in his eyes. "You wait till you see my next one," he growled.

Hyde bared his teeth and groaned in pain, and then I knew for sure. He crouched down again, threw the League an almost angary glare, then roared. He thrashed wildly against his chains, but this time he was not trying to escape. He shuddered and spazzed violently. What looked like white smoke clouded the metamorphosing man. Time seemed to slow down. The horrible, pain-filled groaning and roaring of a thing in agony filled my ears and echoed throughout the space. There was a moment when we could see him clearly mid-way through the grotesque transformation. Hyde had shrunken, and his hair had grown. One arm looked almost normal. He still had a hunchback and a horribly shaped face. I had to wince at the sight of it. The man gave a few more dramatic shudders and suddenly the agonizing physical and mental switch was complete.

A pale, shaking, skinny man stood where Hyde had been, gasping for air. He collapsed to the floor, severely weakened and understandably taking a moment to compose himself.

I realised that I had barely taken a breath during the past few minutes and filled my lungs. Serro looked at me and mouthed "Wow!" I nodded in agreement. Jekyll and Hyde's transformation was much more intense in real life then we had realised.

The recovering man pushed himself to his feet, throwing the heavy and now too-large chains off his back. He held the fabric of his trousers around his waist to prevent them from falling down and causing him even more embarrassment. He was still trembling, but he faced the League with as much dignity as he could.

"Doctor Jekyll, at your service," he said.

"So," Quatermain turned to face the rest of the team, a smile on his lined face. "The League is set."

The hunter's words provoked me to smile. The atmosphere in the room had changed, and everyone felt it. All the tension had evaporated along with Mr Hyde's appearance. I ignored Dorian Gray and savoured the fleeting moment. The League was indeed complete now that Jekyll and Hyde had joined.

There was a ding and a ticking sound as a ribbon of ticker tape was expelled from a device on the wall. Nemo ripped the paper off and read the message. "So is the date for the conference," he announced. "We have three days."

"Three days?" Tom Sawyer smirked doubtfully. "Can this canoe do that?"

Captain nemo raised his eyes to him. "You underestimate the Nautilus, sir. You underestimate her greatly." He didn't really sound angry at the American agent. If anything, Nemo was mildly amused.

"You underestimate a lot of things," I thought, feeling a tad word weary. I looked at Jekyll who was still recuperating. To think a monster like Hyde brewed inside of him… "In time you'll learn never to underestimate. It's a dangerous thing to do."