A.N: Sorry this chapter is so late in coming… my social calendar has been kind of hectic and my exam results are being published in four days… GAH! (Btw, good luck on that everyone!)

In this chapter we're going to travel forward in time basically, because I imagine that the League probably wouldn't encounter much action after that little adventure in the previous chappie… no doubt word would have spread of their adorable freakiness and no one's going to mess with them any time soon! So basically right about now they're at Cairo.

Not much happens in this chapter, again it's simply setting the scene.

Shoutouts:

Melantha Nocturne: Heya! I wasn't actually sure if they used locals back then, but after I got your review I went back and did some research on it and I found this little tidbit:

"Surprisingly, the first local anaesthetic was Cocaine which was isolated from coca leaves by Albert Niemann in Germany in the 1860s. The very first clinical use of Cocaine was in 1884 by (of all people) Sigmund Freud who used it to wean a patient from morphine addiction. It was Freud and his colleague Karl Kollar who first noticed its anaesthetic effect."

I couldn't actually believe it at first! People actually used cocaine as an anaesthetic! WEIRD! So I guess Mina was pumping Tom full of coke! The first modern, artificial anaesthetic however was Novocaine (or Procaine) which basically got rid of the high and bad trips associated with cocaine but retained the pain-killing properties… but that wasn't invented until 1905, and the League are currently in 1901!

Anyway… thanks for your review! 'Twas très sweet!

Silent Bob 546: He he he… yeah, I think that Mina/Jekyll is SO sweet! Besides, I never in a million years could picture Mina and Tom having anything but a cute fluffy relationship with perhaps the occasional one night stand of passionate sex! (snicker). Ninjas are pretty cool. My lil' sis has this obsession with them at the mo, so that's pretty much all she talks about! Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: Don't hurt me! ...Please? It's not really mine! SOB! Btw, I based the look of "The British Hotel of Cairo" on the "Raffles Hotel" in Singapore and the "Sheraton Mirage" in the Gold Coast (Australia)… so I'm not stealing that either y'hear? Proper credit has been given!

Chapter Nine: Cairo

Four days had passed since their pirate attack when they caught their first glimpse of Cairo. The League gathered about under the canopy at the prow and looked in wonder at the strange city before them. Nothing they had seen so far on their trip around the world could yet compare to this. All around them little fishing boats pushed passed each other, intent on selling their produce at market to make what money they could. On the shore, various merchantmen were haggling over their wares, and the cries of the street-vendors filled the hot air.

Jimuta again stood at the helm, carefully directing their own boat towards an available space on the shore, calling out orders and yelling at the more impetuous of the fishermen who would occasionally dart into the path of the League's vessel, risking the destruction of their own means of transport. Eventually, he managed to manoeuvre their boat into one of the larger spaces and the crew set about tying the ship onto the rickety wooden dock.

"I received a transmission yesterday from the British Museum here." Nemo spoke up as his crew finished. "Apparently, we are to wait here on the docks until some arrives to escort us to our lodgings."

As if on cue, a squat little man appeared on the quay before them, his round bald head shining in the hot midday sun. He wore a black suit which he had buttoned up over a starched white collar, on which a growing patch of sweat could be seen. He continually dabbed at his forehead and the back of his neck with a much-used handkerchief while holding his rounded black hat in front of him in an almost pious manner.

"Is this the party from the Nautilus?" His voice was surprisingly deep for a man his size, but it had a shy tone to it, even though he had to yell over the noise from the nearby bazaar.

Nemo replied that indeed it was, and the party made its way off of the boat, carefully walking over the gangway, Henry placing a steadying hand on Mina's waist as they crossed. Tom scowled slightly but said nothing and he waited patiently as introductions were made and common pleasantries exchanged.

"We have a carriage waiting for you just up that street," he motioned with his arm up a wide dirt path that had been considerably blocked by the various market stalls, "your luggage will be brought along presently." With this he nodded slightly and turned and walked up the afore mentioned street, and the League took this as a sign that they were to follow. They pushed and shoved their way through the crowded street, smiling at the vendors and muttering a polite "no thanks" to the fish and various other forms of produce that were shoved under their noses, while ducking under the street performers who blew flames and twisting to avoid the dancers.

Finally, the little man in front stopped, and again took out his kerchief and wiped reflexively at his head. He ceased to move so abruptly that Tom, who led the League along the streets, nearly fell over their guide's shiny little head and into a camel pen. Nemo reached out and grabbed the spy's arm, reducing Tom's fall to a simple stumble. He looked back and gave the captain a thankful smile before focusing his attention the man clad in black, scowling only slightly.

The carriages were unlike those that were normally found in England, and more like those that were frequently seen around the orient. They consisted of a simple wooden frame suspended on four spoked wooden wheels. A simple roof had been constructed which consisted of a thick muslin-like material supported by four wooden poles, which provided shelter from the sun and the dust that rose up from the street in choking clouds.

They took their leave of the little man that had safely guided them through the perilous Egyptian streets and settled back as their carriage was pulled along by two donkeys through the hectic mess of streets that was the city of Cairo.

No more than a half-hour later, they pulled up outside a tall marbled building which they all understood to be their hotel. The bright white of its walls stood out among the various mud-brick homes and stores which surrounded its tall columns and long elegant glass windows.

Upon exiting the carriage, the League could see that they had in fact been driven up a long gravelled pathway around which various species of plants and trees were growing, some being tended to by gardeners in dark blue tunics, similar to those that the crew and stewards of the Nautilus wore.

A doorman dressed in a more elegant white outfit led the team through two tall doors made of alabaster on which had been carved images similar to those that frequently adorned the walls of tombs found in Egypt, the sideways postures and strangely dressed figures contrasting with the apparent Greek influence of the architecture of the building itself.

The League walked up to the front desk, closely followed by several doormen who now carried their luggage on a rolling cart, and were assigned their rooms. Unlike on the boat they had recently disembarked, each person present had been allocated their own personal suite facing the courtyard on the farthest side of the hotel. All together, the company took up all of the rooms around the lower floor of the courtyard, so essentially they would have the floor in the East Wing all to themselves.

"Nice. You don't think they're trying to win us over do you?" Skinner asked with a grin, he hadn't failed to notice that the British Government had footed the bill for them all, including the American spy.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Tom mentioned off-handedly as they were again led through a series of corridors that were almost as daunting in their complexity as the streets of the city. "We didn't part with them on good terms after all."

Upon arriving at their rooms, each member was given their luggage and left to their own devices having been told that they would be summoned shortly to attend a meeting.

Each suite was composed of three basic rooms: a bedroom, a drawing room and a bathroom. The furnishings were similar to those around the rest of the hotel, the same square pattern on the floors and the white wooden panelling on the walls, with tall round-topped windows on either side of the main door looking out into the courtyard. There was no door between the drawing room and the bedroom, but thick curtains could be pulled over the space at any time to provide privacy. The furnishings in the drawing room were luxurious: a long teak desk adorned one side of the room, while large soft sofas and seats were dotted around the centre of the room facing a tea table which sat upon a woollen carpet. Windows flooded the room with light, around which dark blue curtains had been delicately arranged and tied up.

A door made of the same panelling as on the walls separated the bathroom from the bedroom. The bathroom itself consisted of a spacious tub with a flushing toilet, and a sink embedded into a dark marbled set of cabinets above which hung an elegantly patterned, teak-framed mirror. Gaslights spaced evenly along the walls provided a soft gentle light that complemented the smooth contours of the room's furnishings.

The bed was low and made for two, and covered in sheets of the finest Egyptian cotton complete with a fluffy thick duvet for cold nights when the sun relented its savage attack on the Earth. A mosquito net which was suspended from a peg high up in the ceiling encircled the bed. Tall shuttered, lead-paned windows covered one wall, which projected an orange chequered pattern onto the sheets from the setting sun, and a small bureau adorned the opposite wall, next to which there was ample closet space, which most of the party now set about filling.

An hour later, the League met out in the court yard, each having changed their dust-covered clothing in anticipation of the meeting ahead of them, where they would finally find out why it was that they had again been summoned by the British Empire.

A.N: Another little cliffie! How evil!

PEACE OUT! (Sorry… randomness!)