Disclaimer: I don't own anyone here that you recognise.
Feedback: Much appreciated
Samyo: Can't tell you that; I've never read that comic myself
DiabloCat: That's a relief; I was worried that Skinner'd just come off as an idiot rather than anything else.
ToTaKeKe13: Glad it went down well, but, unfortunately, that's all you'll be seeing of aristocrat Skinner for now.
Lucinda: Thanks for understanding; I just hope it was worth the wait.
Ten Mara: Well, I figured they deserved to be included, no matter how improbable Rosa's physiology was…
A Face in the Crowd
Walking into the control room of the Nautilus, Jekyll looked curiously over at Nemo as he stood at the wheel, staring listlessly out in front of him at the ocean. To avoid attracting attention, they were keeping the Nautilus underwater most of the time, but each League member had a signalling device that could be used if they were outside and needed it to surface.
"Anything interesting?" he asked the captain.
Nemo looked back at him, briefly startled, but relaxed after seeing who it was. He shook his head.
"No… I was merely thinking," he replied. "It simply occurred to me that this is an old anniversary for me, and I have not had the opportunity to reflect on it for a long time."
"Really?" Jekyll asked, looking inquiringly at the captain. "What would that be?"
Nemo sighed. "My wedding anniversary," he said.
Jekyll blinked in surprise at that comment.
"You're married?" he asked him, realising too late that the question might appear a bit insensitive.
However, Nemo just smiled casually, understanding what he meant. "Yes, I know I have never mentioned her before, but it was all a long time ago," he explained. Then he sighed and turned back to the window. "Besides, it is… painful… to think of her, shall we say."
"Oh," Jekyll said, slightly subdued at that. "It… didn't end well?"
"In a sense," Nemo replied. "Our home was destroyed by the British while I was attempting to organize a resistance movement against them. She died that day."
He looked back at the ocean, and sighed. "Along with my son and daughter…"
"Oh," Jekyll said again. He walked towards his friend, placing a consoling hand on his shoulder. "I'm… sorry, Nemo."
Nemo smiled slightly back at him. "Thank you, Doctor Jekyll," he said simply.
The door opened and Mina and Terry walked into the control room, Mina looking slightly concerned about something (Terry, of course, looked just as blank and vacant as he ever did).
"Something wrong?" Jekyll asked, looking back at them curiously.
"Yes, actually," Mina said, looking over at her friend, her concern now slightly more obvious on her face. "Sawyer and Hartdegen are missing."
Nemo and Jekyll looked sharply back at that.
"What?" Nemo asked, looking between the two of them. "Both of them?"
"Affirmative," Terry said, looking between the two of them as he spoke. "The reason is unknown, but it is certain that Tom Sawyer and Alexander Hartdegen have been absent from the Nautilus since early last night and have still not returned."
Jekyll swallowed. "Oh dear," he said simply. He looked over at Mina. "I assume we'll be mounting a search operation?"
Something seemed to snap inside Mina. Before Nemo or Jekyll could even blink, Jekyll found himself being held at least a foot up off the ground, Mina's hands grasping his lapels as she stared him in the eyes- her own were now their vampiric red.
"You assume, Doctor?" Mina asked him, her voice so low at first that it was terrifying, and it was rising all the time. "You ASSUME we'll be mounting a rescue to save our leader? To save the love of my life? To save our FRIENDS? If you even have to ASK that question, it almost makes me feel like you shouldn't BE here!"
Having finished that little rant, Mina threw Jekyll to the ground, watching dispassionately as he hit a nearby wall.
Nemo blinked in surprise at his associate's sudden outburst, and then glanced back at Mina Harker.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked the vampire.
Mina spun around to look at Nemo, her eyes briefly blazing red with the animal-like fury of her vampire self, but then she calmed down, gradually slowing her breathing to a calmer rate.
"No… no, it wasn't," she said, shaking her head as she looked back up at the others. "Forgive me; I'm a little… on edge, shall we say?"
Nemo nodded amiably. "Understandable," he said dismissively, before looking around at the others. "Our immediate priorities would appear to be simple; find our missing comrades, find who captured them, and get them out while finding out the reasons for the attack. Agreed?"
The other three League members nodded, and then Mina took charge of the situation.
"Nemo, you're with me; Terry, you and Jekyll stick together, but keep a sample of your serum available," she said, looking over at Jekyll. "Nemo and I will cover the East end of London, and you two cover the West; try and set off some kind of signal if you find our friends."
"Affirmative," Terry said, as he glanced over at Jekyll. "Do you have a sample of your serum on you at present?"
"What?" Oh, er… yes," Jekyll said, patting one of his pockets. "Yes, I do."
"Good," Terry said, as he checked under his coat for the Colt pistols that he traditionally kept under there; he'd started wearing them after Sawyer recommended he have more conventional means of defending himself in a fight than just his remarkable strength. "Let's go."
From around a corner, just out of range of the enhanced senses (Natural or mechanical) of the League members, an invisible form chuckled as he watched them head for the submarine's exit.
Honestly, sneaking on here had been so easy he was surprised that nobody had tried it before. Admittedly, his invisibility gave him a certain advantage, but still…
Looking at the four blasphemers as they walked towards London, he made his choice; he'd target the doctor and the machine first. That way, even if by some miracle the machine was able to perceive his godlike countenance, he would be able to use the doctor's drug to enhance his already formidable power to a far greater degree…
He ran after them, chuckling as he noticed them go past the warehouse where he'd hidden the spy and the teacher; these four really had no clue how to find something. Quite frankly, he was doing the world a favour by taking them out of the equation…
Apart from the obvious blessing of depriving it of such terrible blasphemers, obviously.
"Great…" Jekyll sighed, as he stared down at the ground listlessly, Terry looking around at their surroundings; a deserted alleyway in one of the darker areas of London. Jekyll vaguely recalled Terry mentioning something about using 'infrared vision' to try and spot Sawyer and Hartdegen, but he wasn't clear on what that was.
Then again, he was sometimes able to see people by their body heat when he was Hyde; maybe this was something similar…
Suddenly, Terry froze, looking at something in front of them (At least, Jekyll assumed it was in front of them; Terry always wore a spare pair of Skinner's pince-nez glasses when he went out in public, presumably to avoid attracting attention to the fact that he rarely ever blinked).
"What?" Jekyll asked, looking inquiringly at his friend. "What's wrong?"
"There's someone behind us," Terry replied, looking over at Jekyll. "They're trying to be quiet, but they trod on a fallen stick and it broke." He sighed slightly, although Jekyll knew it was mostly for appearance's sake than anything else; Terry's skin might need him to breath at times, but he still didn't do it that much, even after the best efforts of the League to help him blend in. "Damnit; I don't like the sound of this."
Jekyll smiled slightly. "If they think they can attack us, they've got another thing coming, my friend," he said, allowing a slight grin across his features. "After all…"
He patted Terry slightly on the shoulder. "You were made for fighting."
"Affirmative," Terry said, nodding slightly. One corner of his mouth raised slightly in a smile. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Jekyll replied. Superhumans were one thing, even with the Hyde serum, but a normal criminal? And with Terry to help him?
The man didn't have a prayer.
Reaching into his pocket, Jekyll pulled out the bottle of serum he had in his pocket; he wouldn't use it all, of course, but if things went wrong, even a little sip should be enough to increase his strength to above the average level.
The two men- well, one man and one machine- tensed, turned around…
And there was nothing there.
At least, nothing that Jekyll could-
"Move!" Terry called out to Jekyll, reaching out to grab his arm…
Just as something hit Jekyll in the face at high speed, throwing him to the ground and causing the bottle with the serum in it to fly out of his hand before something caught it in mid-air.
Jekyll stared at the bottle in horror.
Only one man, to his knowledge, could do something like this…
"Skinner!" he yelled in horror, looking at where he could only assume his opponent's head was; he could feel a pair of legs pinning him down, but even that was only guesswork. "But… but…"
"And you call yourself intelligent," a mocking voice said- not Skinner, Jekyll was relieved to note; there wasn't even a trace of the invisible man's cockney accent.
Then, to Jekyll's horror, the bottle's cork popped open, and it began to trickle down in the air above him; evidently, the invisible man was…
Was drinking it!
"NO!" Jekyll cried out, lashing out with one desperate fist at where he thought his foe's head was, noting with relief that Terry was doing the same…
And something grabbed their oncoming fists.
Something that was getting very, very much larger.
"Oh no…" Jekyll whispered to himself, as he felt whatever was pinning him down suddenly get far heavier.
He looked over at Terry. Even though Terry was originally a ruthless machine dedicated to the destruction of humanity… even though he had faced off against a deranged monster with the powers of four of his friends and an alien invader from Mars…
Terry actually looked scared.
Then something struck Jekyll in the face, apparently with his own hand, and he knew no more.