Another few weeks passed by with little incident. Although Victor was growing more and more irritated with his growing stomach and the constant check-ups by Roshan, Jekyll, and Mina, he knew they were making sure everything was going on as normal with him and the baby; still, he could do with a little less poking and prodding at his stomach not to mention neither regions.
Yes, he was sure those bits worked!
But Frankenstein was glad he had been moved into a regular bedroom, the infirmary walls blank and boring no matter how much the League and Crew tried to cheer him up with books and conversation. And he could now walk around as he pleased inside the headquarters without needing a human crutch.
Victor was not about to lie and say he was not a bit frightened at what was fast approaching. Mina's assurances that everything was normal only did so much for the ex-scientists nerves. The idea of actually using the new opening down there to push out a mini-human was a scary concept. However, he overheard Jekyll mentioning a C-section if anything looked off, even for a moment.
Boxes of medical tools had arrived the other day and had been quickly rushed inside the infirmary out of the life weaver's line of sight—an attempt to not frighten him further by seeing their contents.
It was not working very well and was just another reminder of how he got into this situation in the first place.
That afternoon, now December first, Victor was sleeping in his quarters as the League gathered in the meeting room after a few crew members mentioned disturbing news they had overheard from the locals and felt needed to be shared.
"This must be some sort of sick joke," Nemo said, not bothering to sit down with the rest of his friends, the lumpy seats of the meeting room needed to be gutted and replaced by more suitable chairs before he would think about it.
Not that the Captain planned on returning any time soon once this was over; a nursery that Frankenstein approved of was already set up on the Nautilus after the Italian-Swiss man had agreed to go with them. He also decided to work as an assistant for Roshan, who seemed pleased with this outcome and agreed to train Victor as a proper nurse and specific medical information on the League and crew for future reference.
"No, their serious, Captain, stories of an unusual looking man skulking around," the first crew member said, looking very nervous.
Another spoke up not a second later, "And a security guard at the museum was practically beaten to death."
"He did seem to have some serious injuries," Roshan chimed in, having managed to catch a glimpse of the poor soul as he collected the instruments for Victor's delivery and offered assistance before returning to his regular duties.
"Heard a Bobby was found with his neck snapped and crammed into a box! With his limbs broken to make him fit inside..." the first crew member shivered.
"Urban Legends, dear boy. If these things were happening, certainly we would have been more officially informed," Alan said as he crossed his arms and leaned back into the chair.
"Not if they think it is just a loose madman," Mina said, something picking at the back of her brain about this story.
"You'd think a loose madman would be right in our job description," Skinner joked, lightly nursing a glass of brandy in his hands; he had not drunk anything fun in weeks, being so focused on helping everyone care for Victor.
Despite how useless he was as far as medical things went. That stuff was all pretty much pig Latin to him, But he could still make Victor laugh.
Mina just shrugged, too bothered by her gut telling her something was wrong to chastise Skinner for joking at a time like this. He had been accommodating the past weeks, a surprise no one expected, so she would allow him his wisecracks for now.
Just so long as he kept his hand off of her buttocks.
"I do recall Victor mentioning his child's father was rather large," Jekyll piped up. "I know the baby seems to be on the more considerable side of the scale. Do you have any ideas, Skinner?"
"He, um, hasn't spoken of the father much to me, just someone he hurt who in turn liked hurting others" Rodney looked at the floor, scratching lightly at his head, ignoring the grease paint that slathered his gloves at this action "I didn't want to rush him, been through enough already in my opinion."
"Think it might be the Sire causing all this trouble? Looking for Victor?" Mina suggested, the feeling getting stronger inside her; perhaps she should check on the ex-scientist.
"I guess it is possible..."
"We should look into this ourselves, can't let Victor know, though; we have no idea how close the birth is, and a huge shock like this could trigger something too soon," Mina stated. The last thing she wanted was to cause the premature birth of a baby.
"Where should we start looking?" Alan asked.
"Well, the attacks have been happening all around the museums, so better than nothing, the next one would be the medical museum," Nemo replied, something feeling off to him as well.
"Then we head out as soon as possible; I will just check on Victor before we leave," Mina said and, without waiting for a proper dismissal, exited the room with a graceful turn to enter Frankenstein's bedroom, the one closest to the infirmary.
Entering in, the door not even giving so much as a creak at being opened, Mina made her way over to the bed, lightly smiling when Victor did not stir, a calm look on his face as it seemed his little one was offering his rest no disturbances.
The vampiress lightly surveyed the life weaver with her senses, her perfectly tuned hearing picking up the heartbeats of parent and child, taking silent note of how it seemed there was an extra beat, twins? She would need to inform Roshan and Jekyll of this when they returned and, of course, Victor himself.
And with that, she left the room as quick and quiet as she came.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Blinking creepy out here," Skinner complained as he pulled his trenchcoat more around himself at the chill; the odds of him comfortably using his powers in this weather were minus ZERO; going to be like Siberia all over again!
It took him days to get feeling back down there!
An ominous fog surrounded them all, which added to the discomfort that settled in all of their stomachs at being out there with apparently a man who could stuff people into boxes like they were pieces of clothing in a suitcase.
Seriously did it have to be so foggy out!?
What were they even going to do with this thing when they found it? Casually ask him if he was a soon-to-be father to a baby conceived through a mix of science and magic via a warlock?
Yeah, it did not take a genius to figure out that could go very wrong, very fast.
The League carefully moved around, searching for anything that could be useful or lead to their quarry, trying not to head too far from each other. Still, in the fog, the group eventually found themselves further away from their fellows than desired.
Jekyll was clutching a potion vial in his coat pocket, almost to the point he feared breaking it; Hyde was not needed yet, so Henry had not taken any elixir; if anything looked like it was going to go south, he would have to down it as quickly as he was able.
"Be careful, Henry," Hyde warned, ears pricked for anything suspicious; even when not in control, Edward was more than capable of using his advanced senses. The fact Moriarty's sound bomb had been nothing short of pure torture for him had been proof of that.
"Hey! Doc! Have you found anything yet!?" Skinner called out to him from inside the mist.
A low voice came from behind Henry.
"Doc...doc...tor?"
"Well done, Skinner..." Jekyll groaned, pulled out the vial, popped the top off with his thumb, and raised the tube to down the liquid inside, and with it, release Edward.
A strong hand grabbed hold of the Doctors arm, halting this action.
Henry spun around at a nearly dizzying speed, and stormy grey met luminous orange as Jekyll found himself pulled onto his tiptoes, his arm going numb at the rough grip and his limb straining, trying to take on his weight all at once.
The man before him dwarfed the split man in both height and width, looking to be about eight feet tall; stitches snaked their way across the body of the monster, long black hair hung in his face, the features on it might have been handsome if not for the fact his skin possessed a yellowish tint, like a sickly newborn, and his eyes were glowing like hot coals in a fireplace.
Jekyll could almost feel the blood drain from his face; he fought back the urge to shake, not that he could tremble much being hoisted up like he was, feeling every inch a mouse in the claws of a curious cat.
'H-hello..." Henry managed to squeak out, Hyde roaring in his ear to fight, to do something other than dangle there like an about-to-be-gutted hog.
The blazing eyes narrowed slightly. "You are not Victor...but a Doctor still, are all doctors the same in all ways?" the deep voice asked, rumbling low in the creature's chest.
"N-no," Henry stuttered before yelping as he was pulled backward, his backside coming into contact with a sizable crate, and managed to sit properly on it with some twisting.
The wretches free hand came up, the other still holding tight to Henry's arm, taking Jekyll's face between fingers the size of sausages, the Doctor getting a sense of deja-vu at his head being gripped much like Hyde had made him hallucinate months ago.
A calloused thumb ran itself over Henry's mouth, the lingering taste and smell of blood transferring at this action.
"You smell like the same chemicals," Adam said, an odd look on his face like he was thinking hard on something.
Jekyll did not want to know!
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"
Adam growled, annoyed at this "so noisy..."
"Hang on, Doc!" came Skinner's voice off to the size as the sounds of crunching leaves and pounding footsteps rang through the trees.
Henry did his best with this moment of distraction to attempt to shift the vial so he could pour the liquid into his mouth, the container having blessedly not lost any formula in the whole encounter.
Just a bit...more!
The hand around Henry's wrist tightened painfully, forcing the Doctor's hand open, the vial falling harmlessly to the ground as he feared the wretch intended to break his arm or rip it off.
A thick branch came into contact with Adam's skull.
The creature looked confused at the floating stick for a moment before swinging a meaty hand with an inhuman bellow to grab the branch, and Skinner found himself launched through the air to land hard on the grass.
"Qu-Quatermain! Minnnaa!" Skinner shouted, finding enough breath in his lungs to call for them before falling back onto the ground, his ribs screaming at him as he rolled to avoid being hit with the branch himself as Adam threw it like a javelin where it impaled the dirt.
Mina appeared from nowhere, Alan at her heels, a swarm of bats flying forward as Quatermain fired his gun.
Adam hissed as the sound of the bullet hitting metal was heard, and Henry cried out as he was the next one tossed into the air, sailing several feet to come into contact with Mina, both of them crumpling to the floor with Jekyll having enough sense left to scramble off of the vampiress.
"He touched my FACE!" Henry informed, rubbing at his face childishly with a sleeve, trying to wipe the stench of blood off of himself.
Skinners coughing and groaning drew their attention, and Jekyll turned to tend to him.
"I think he cracked some ribs!" Rodney hissed as Jekyll rolled him over to check for further damage to his person.
"Mina! The monster is getting away!" Quatermain shouted as he tried to aim again, but the fog covered the wretch's escape perfectly, and Mina hissed as her bats swirled around in irritation before flying into the fog themselves, trying to blow the offending mist away.
"The brute is fast!"
"Not fast enough..." Mina growled as her now red eyes darted across the trees, every little movement caught by her senses and sending them into a frenzy as she bolted for the creature that picked up its pace to try and escape her bats and Mina herself.
A slight buzz at her hip forced the vampiress's rage back as she almost tore the mini radio from her hip to answer the thing, "What is it?" Mina growled, her bloodlust forcing her voice into a gravely hiss.
"We have a problem," came Jekyll's voice from the other end.
"If Skinner is that hurt, take him ba-"
"Skinner will be alright, I wrapped his ribs and had him lay down near some crates, safe and sound, but I just got a message of my own, Victor went into labor, and Roshan says he is panicking," Henry said quickly, knowing it was rude to interrupt a lady, but desperate times.
Mina's mouth became a thin line before she answered, "You head back and see what you can do; take whoever else you can; Quatermain and I are too close to catching the monster to stop now; I will return as soon as I can, labor takes hours, but your and another one of the Leagues presence should keep him calm enough till I get there."
"Alright...I see Nemo now; he can help me with Skinner; good luck."
"Likewise"