Disclaimer: I don't own anyone here that you recognise.
Feedback: Much appreciated
Samyo: Sam, my friend, that is putting it mildly
ToTaKeKe13: If you want to know more about Terry, read my story 'Skynet Spreads'; it explains what he's doing with the League in the first place
St Apathy: No, I do like Jekyll; I just needed to show her fear for Tom, and Jekyll was just in range.
Ten Mara: Well, his family plays a part in a future story of mine, so I thought it best to show he still thinks about them. Oh, and I'm glad you liked the other character moments.
DiabloCat: 'Uh oh' indeed…
A Face in the Crowd
Once again, Skinner checked over his clothing as he stood outside the large door; dark trousers, a long dark brown coat, and a white shirt, with his traditional trilby hat perched at an angle on his head. He knew it was a bit of an odd ensemble, but he felt that he needed to generate an air of both professionalism and eccentricity if he wanted to avoid attracting awkward questions from the man he was here to visit.
After all, where was the point in generating unnecessary concern?
Walking down towards the door, Skinner knocked on the door. After a few moments, it was opened by a tall man dressed in a white coat, with thin glasses and close-cropped hair. (AN- picture him as looking like Hugh Grant, but think of him as a competent Hugh Grant)
"Yes?" he asked, looking at Skinner.
"Doctor Kemp?" Skinner asked, trying to inject a note of authority in his voice.
Kemp nodded. "I am," he said, raising an inquiring eyebrow. "And you are?"
"Allan Sawyer, private detective," Skinner said, off the top of his head (He'd have to remember to suggest that to Tom and Mina as a name if they ever had a son; it sounded good). "Could I come in, please? I have some questions to ask you."
Kemp shook his head. "I'm really rather busy," he said, sounding only slightly regretful about his inability to help the ex- invisible man. "So, if you wouldn't mind coming back later…"
He began to shut the door, but Skinner jammed his foot in the gap, wincing slightly as it closed on him.
"It's regarding events that occurred in this village a few years ago," he said, looking as casual as e could with one foot stuck out in front of him.
He looked Kemp in the eyes. "Specifically, it concerns Mr Hawley Griffin."
Kemp stared at Skinner for a few moments, and then sighed and opened the door.
"You'd better come in," he said, indicating a door to one side of the hall.
"Any luck yet, Mrs Harker?" Nemo asked, looking inquiringly over at his friend. Mina was currently trying to track down Sawyer and Hartdegen using her heightened sense (She claimed to know Agent Sawyer's well, and Nemo could see no reason why she wouldn't), but, so far, they had achieved no breakthroughs in their attempts to find their missing friends.
"No…" Mina growled slightly at the Indian; she was getting rapidly frustrated at her inability to find the man she loved in this mess. Honestly, she'd been so eager to get out and actually start searching that she'd neglected to think about the fact that they were in London- a city filled with so many conflicting smells that she sometimes wondered how police tracker-dogs could ever find their way around the place…
I need to remember to get in some practice with these senses… Mina thought to herself, already knowing she'd never do it; even now, she found it difficult to fully accept her vampire abilities.
Even after Tom had…
Mina couldn't keep a small smile from her face at the thought of her lover, despite the pain it caused her now as she tried desperately to find him. She still couldn't quite believe how lucky she was to find another man who didn't care about her vampire aspects, but, on the contrary, simply regarded them as part and parcel of being with her. Like Jonathan and Dorian had been, he wasn't scared of them, but, unlike Gray used to ask her, he, like Jonathan, didn't encourage her to use her vampire powers in random situations unless they were necessary.
It was as though he just regarded them as an interesting… perk, she supposed… rather than something she had to use.
Something made a light cracking sound from behind her, and Mina froze.
Whatever it was that had caused that, it sounded far larger than anything human…
"So, who are you?" Kemp asked, as he poured a shot of whiskey and passed it to Skinner, pouring one for himself as he did so. "And what's your interest in Griffin?"
"It's simple," Skinner said, hoping his cover story would work; after all, it was nearly the truth, but the problem lay in the nearly. "I represent a group of people who, while not interested in harnessing Griffin's research itself for their own purposes, do believe that there was more to his demise than the public know about. These people have hired me to question you, as the sole known witness to the events in question, to find out what exactly became of Griffin in his final struggle against humanity, before he finally fell."
Kemp sighed and took a sip of his whiskey.
"Well, I suppose it was too much to expect that nobody would ask it," he said, looking over at Skinner. "I suppose you studied the college records and noticed that Griffin wasn't an albino?"
Skinner blinked.
Whatever else he'd been expecting, he hadn't been expecting that…
"Nemo," Mina said to her friend out of the corner of her mouth, "don't look around, but I think there's something following us."
"What?" Nemo asked, looking over at Mina in surprise. "Are you certain, Mrs Harker?"
"I am," Mina said, nodding slightly in response to his query. "I can't be certain what, but it sounds dangerous; it certainly seems to be bulky enough to give Hyde a run for his money."
Nemo blinked.
"But… we have not seen anything of that size, and nobody else has either," he said, staring at the vampire as though she'd grown an extra head. "Are you sure you are not mistaken?"
Mina sighed. "Trust me, Nemo; I don't know what's back there, but I do know it's big, and I'm pretty sure it might be hostile; we have to be ready to react."
She tensed slightly, as though preparing herself to attack, and glanced over at the captain.
"Get your sword ready, and, on my cue, spin around," Mina whispered to him, nodding in approval as Nemo's hand went for his sword. "I don't know what's going on here, but there's only one way to find out."
Nemo nodded and grasped his sword.
"On three," Mina whispered to him. "One… two… three!"
The two of them spun around…
And there was nothing there.
"But…" Skinner said, looking at Kemp in confusion. "But all records clearly state that Griffin was an albino!"
"No, they don't " Kemp said, looking back at Skinner with a sigh. "Griffin's school records were altered by myself and a few old friends after the Invisible Man was thought to have been killed; we were concerned about the possibilities that awaited the world if people knew how easy it was to become invisible. If they knew that the process worked for everyone…"
He sighed. "We'd have had countless people trying to steal Griffin's books, uncaring of the consequences that awaited the subject of permanent invisibility."
He looked back at Skinner. "You can see why we'd want to keep the truth quiet."
"Indeed," Skinner said, nodding slowly in understanding; after all, hadn't he tried to stop the spread of the invisibility serum himself, all those years ago on his first mission with the League? "So, if Griffin wasn't an albino, why is it that all medical records of the invisible man that was collected after he died in that fight clearly indicate that the bodyof the Invisible Manwas that of an albino?"
"Simple," Kemp replied, looking back at Skinner. "It wasn't Griffin."
"What the…?" Mina asked, looking around in confusion. "But… but…"
Then something seemed to strike her in the chest with incredible force and she collapsed to the ground, leaving Nemo staring at the apparently empty air in horror.
He could only think of one thing that could do something like this…
"Moran?" he said, staring at where the punch seemed to have originated from. "What are you doing back here so soon?"
A voice spoke. It was tinged with the madness Nemo had come to associate with the former tiger-hunter and second-in-command to Moriarty, but it wasn't the same voice; if anything, this voice sounded more fanatical, almost… drunk on power.
Nemo knew how it felt; he'd felt that way himself, in the old days when he'd used the Nautilus as a weapon of war against the British forces he blamed for the deaths of his family.
"I am not this… Moran, blasphemer," the voice said, its voice bearing the traditional harshness that Nemo now associated with the voice of Edward Hyde. "I am far, far worse…"
"It wasn't Griffin?" Skinner asked, staring at Kemp in surprise. "But then… then who was it?"
Kemp sighed as he took another drink. "I've puzzled over that myself for ages," he said. "I eventually came up with a possibility; he was used by Griffin as a test subject of the serum, presumably to see how it affected someone with no colour in them and then work out a way to duplicate for someone who actually had pigmentation in their skin and hair." He looked back at Skinner as he spoke. "I was never able to find where the man in question came from; I eventually concluded it was one of those mysteries that man is destined never to solve."
"And… Griffin?" Skinner asked, looking inquiringly at Griffin.
"He must have gone underground after the subject was killed," Kemp said. "I assumed he'd just be biding his time until he could strike back, but I've never heard anything that might be him since."
He sighed. "And, God, am I grateful to see the last of that man and his god complex…"
"His what?" Skinner asked, looking at Kemp curiously. "What do you mean, his god complex?"
Kemp swallowed and looked at Skinner.
"Towards the end… before he fled my house… Griffin was becoming convinced that there were other invisible men out there," he said, as he put down his drink while continuing to talk. "Not many- maybe just one or two others- but he was certain that, while he'd been deprived of access to his books, someone had looked at them and copied the information recorded within about the invisibility process."
"And… how did he feel about that?" Skinner asked, his fingers crossed inside his jacket pockets. This might just be the missing piece to the puzzle he'd been looking for…
"Angry," Kemp said, as he looked back at Skinner. "He felt that his invisibility made him… well, a god, to be honest. He regarded all these others with the serum as being guilty of blasphemy, pretending to be him when he was the only man who truly deserved to be invisible and wield the power that offered. Before he left, he was starting to rant about finding them and punishing them for their supposed 'crimes'…"
He looked at Skinner again, concern on his features at the memory. "Along with any of their friends."
Skinner nearly dropped his glass.
Oh no… he thought to himself, staring blankly ahead at nothing in particular.
If Kemp's assessment of Griffin's psychological state was accurate- and he really was alive…
The League were in danger!
Skinner stood up and smiled slightly at Kemp.
"Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Kemp," he said, smiling idly at the man in question. "I have to go now."