The Nautilus was above the ocean's surface so she could absorb what she needed from the sun before her captain sent his beloved ship beneath the safety of the waves once again along with her loyal crew.

The crew and the league took advantage of the day to go onto shore for personal items or even just to enjoy a stroll on a surface that didn't move. However, the captain of said ship chose to stay on his vessel. Nothing on land interested him at that particular moment.

Nemo was mildly examining a seashell that Skinner had gifted him with after the man had broken the trunk off his Ganesha statue during an intoxicated state, and well, the sea captain was still very irritated with the self-proclaimed 'gentleman thief; the figure was fixable, and the shell did prove to be a rather lovely apology gift.

The seashell had rainbow swirls around the top before fading into a dark blue near where the old occupant of the exoskeleton would have popped out of before it found a new home or grew another one.

Wonder what species had called this shell home? It was like no other shell he had seen, perhaps a yet-undiscovered crab? An exciting prospect for sure. There was something new to uncover, and all from their resident invisible man finding a seashell.

A mild chuckle came from Nemo's throat as he thought of Skinner, of all people discovering a new creature of the sea; such a boost to the ego would undoubtedly leave the man almost intolerable for weeks to come.

A sudden sound made Nemo drop the shell to the ground, where it cracked but didn't break, and the captain felt a minor wave of disappointment and annoyance at his clumsiness with his friend's gift before registering what had caused it.

That was a scream

And a familiar one at that, Nemo bit back a groan as he prepared to deal with the problem.

The day had started out so peacefully, but such things never seemed to last for long around here. Suppose someone else got a bit of cabin fever and wanted to enjoy the morning with the rest of them.

The captain ran as fast as his legs would allow to the source of the bloodcurdling noise as it echoed, and this nearly caused him to trip over said cause, barely catching himself on a nearby railing to avoid falling, wincing a bit as the muscles in his arm were pulled harshly at this action. Still, it went to the back of his mind as he observed his friend.

Doctor Jekyll was on his back, eyes blown wide but unseeing as his limbs contorted, screaming even louder as if he was being murdered. Nemo knew if he were transforming, there would be no stopping it, but the moment Mr. Hyde appeared, he was getting the full force of the captain's wrath at peace being disturbed.

But after a few seconds of no change in appearance and flecks of red splattering onto the walls proved nothing of that sort was happening and what was, was arguably worse in the circumstances.

Blood coated Henry's hands from what appeared to be broken glass if the shattered mirror out of the corner of Nemo's eye was anything to go by, a few large shards visible in the wounds. The Doctor kept thrashing around, his screams now hoarse, and the Indian could only briefly wonder why he was the only one who had been alerted by the cries.

Everyone could not be gone into the town other than himself and Jekyll, could they? Or did they also guess the problem and not wish to deal with the brute and promptly make themselves scarce?

More blood splashed to the floor as the glass shards embedded themselves into more of the Doctors body.

Nemo was on him in a blink.

The ordinarily stoic Indian's face contorted in his efforts to turn the other man onto his stomach to prevent his friend's apparent seizure from doing any more damage to himself, pushing against the other body hard to slide him away from the majority of the glass and Nemo grunted as a sharp sting went across his face as a serrated piece of glass from Jekyll's wounds found itself dragged across the captain's flesh.

The wound bled fast, but Nemo was grateful it had not been something more vital that had been sliced open, and lower a swing and the thing cut would have been his throat.

Pinning the Doctor's body using his own weight was easier said than done as more glass shuffled around despite the Indian's attempts, more seemed to fall from nowhere, and Nemo was grateful for his thick clothing preventing more cuts to his person as he tried to figure out how to reach help since it seemed everyone was out of earshot. However, he could not just wait to be stumbled upon by one of the league.

The captain would be unable to carry Henry by himself; the Doctor was not a heavy man despite all the cook's attempts to stuff him like a goose, but he was taller, which would prove tedious to try and figure out how to carry him in a way without risking further injury to them both, and even if Jekyll was closer to Nemo in height, thrashing about with glass in his body was still a risk Nemo did not want to take.

Thinking fast, Nemo used the belt of his coat to tie the Doctor's hands together, the skin of the other cold and clammy under his hold, glass stinging his own hands in the process of looping the rest around a handrail to act as an anchor, hoping the makeshift restraint would hold till the captain could fetch more help and perhaps keep the glass from doing any more harm to Jekyll or others.

Now to find help, then to figure this mess out, where was everyone? Miss Harker would be preferable for her medical skills, but he would have taken Quatermain if just for the extra hands.

A high-pitched whistle came from the direction of the kitchen before it went silent again.

Nemo wasted no time bolting for the dining area door, throwing open the sliding bypass in his way, about to shout he needed assistance, and almost drew back at what he saw standing in front of him.

In his bedrobe and hair wet, Doctor Jekyll poured tea into a china cup, not a speck of blood on him and a contented smile on his face as he picked up the beverage before raising his head to observe the captain.

"Oh, hello Nemo, you are just in time; care for some-what is that on your shirt, did you-you're bleeding!"

The delicate teacup uncaringly shattered on the hard floor as Jekyll went into doctor mode, rushing over after grabbing a towel to hold to the captain's wound, gently leading the shocked Nemo over to a chair to sit down, of which the man offered no resistance.

"What happened? You look like you have seen a ghost," Henry asked, putting his hand on Nemo's forehead, grimacing a bit when he felt that the other man was warmer than he would have liked. "You have a mild fever; I'm going to-"

"I'm alright. You must come with me; it's important," Nemo responded before standing back up as Jekyll tried to convince him to relax, he had another job to do, and the captain did not want his friend out of his sight till it was done, something was very wrong here.

"Now, Captain, sit back do-AH!"

With the strength of a much younger man, Nemo pulled Henry by his sleeve, ignoring the complaints and calls for him to calm down. It all became white noise in his desire to solve this puzzle.

They reached the spot in record time, and Nemo let Henry take his arm back as he looked around, frowning even deeper at the scene, or rather, its lack of one.

Nothing

Not a drop of blood or fragment of glass, and certainly no thrashing doppelganger of Doctor Jekyll tied to a railing.

"There was a broken mirror right here, and someone was injured," Nemo said, as calmly as possible, no need for the Doctor to think him mad by telling him that the injured man was Henry himself. "They were convulsing and had glass in their hands."

"So that's how you got cut," Jekyll said softly, a hint of an emotion that Nemo could not place in his voice, mind too distracted to pinpoint it "another crew member must have found them and put the poor man in the infirmary before cleaning up the glass, we need to go there anyway so I can clean that cut on your face before it gets infected, and you can check on the crew member."

Nemo knew that was impossible but said nothing; he needed more evidence before he mentioned anything; it only took him a few minutes in the kitchen. He knew no more than five minutes had passed since the incident.

Certainly not enough time to drag someone convulsing to the infirmary, after untying them no less, then coming back to clean up every speck of glass before Nemo had managed to fetch Henry and bring him to the site.

But admittedly, the infirmary was the best option for finding the doppelganger. Significantly injured as they were, perhaps a few of the crew had found them, and that explained how quickly it had been cleaned up; Nemo's staff was efficient.

Perhaps the crew member was simply a look-alike? And the man was prone to fits? And with the right cleaning equipment, someone could have made quick work of the glass.

It was the only explanation he could reach at the moment.