A/N Welcome to a new chapter! Thank you so much for all the reviews!
The next morning, after breakfast, Adeline decided to go up on deck since they had resurfaced for a few hours. Quartermain was already up there shooting some pulleys. He nodded to her as she leaned against the railing a few feet away and opened up her copy of Darwin's Origin of the Species. A few moments later she heard the sub door open and Sawyer joined them. She quickly turned back to her book, trying to conceal her blush.
"Did you want something?" Quartermain asked the young American, not taking his eye off of his target.
"No, I was just wondering why you signed up for all this," Sawyer replied honestly. Adeline's eyebrows furrowed, why did Sawyer want to know why she and Quartermain joined the League? Quartermain took his shot, hitting the buoy a good eight or nine hundred yards away. Adeline's eyebrows shot up in awe, that kind of precision was near impossible. Sawyer cupped his ear a bit at the sound. "Nemo told me you hate the British Empire."
"They called and I answered," Quartermain replied simply as he reloaded.
"Well, that ain't all of it, though, is it?" Sawyer questioned.
Quartermain avoided the question. "Salou!" Nemo's man shot out another buoy.
Sawyer sighed, "Sorry I asked." The young man came up to lean on the railing between her and Quartermain. The older man relaxed his aim and turned toward the younger two. Adeline closed her book and watch intently.
"Three years ago, the British approached me with a mission for Queen and Country," Quartermain began.
"Sounds like the morning ride to work for you, I'd imagine," Adeline observed with a small smile.
"I signed on, without hesitation," he continued. "I even took my son along. I led, my son followed…He died in my arms." Adeline and Sawyer froze at this information. "After that I washed my hands of England and the Empire, and the legend of Allen bloody Quartermain." Sawyer and Adeline shared a sad look. Quartermain picked up the gun and gave Sawyer a quizzical look. "Now, would you like to learn how to shoot?"
"I can already," Sawyer insisted.
"Oh, I saw, very American, fire enough bullets and hope to hit the target," Quartermain replied. Adeline smirked. "Sawyer, I'm talking about pipping the ace at nine hundred yards." He held the gun out to the blonde. "Try." After a moment, Sawyer grabbed the gun. "Easy." Sawyer took his aim.
"Salou!" Adeline shouted as a buoy was launched into the sea.
"Alright, aim," Quartermain said.
"That's easy," Sawyer replied.
"Allow for wind."
"That's easy too."
"Well here the part that's not," Quartermain stated shortly. "You have to feel the shot, take your time with it. You have all the time you need. All the time in the world. Take your-"
BANG! Sawyer's shot came up just short of the buoy. "Ooh, close," Adeline chuckled softly.
Quartermain grabbed the gun, "Too soon, but that was bloody close. And at five hundred yards too." He gave Sawyer the gun once more. "Again."
"Salou!" Sawyer ordered and raised the gun to aim. "Did you teach your son to shoot like this?" Quartermain didn't answer and disappeared below deck. "Quartermain?" Sawyer called but was met with silence. He put the gun down and hung his head a bit.
Adeline smiled a bit, "I believe that is what the Americans call putting one's foot in their mouth?"
Sawyer gave her a look, "I seem to be doing that a lot."
She gently nudged his shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up too much over it. People in Europe aren't so forthcoming with their feelings or their past. We like to keep up a front, a different self we allow others to see."
"But why?" Sawyer asked.
"It keeps people from hurting us," she answered staring out over the vast sea.
Sawyer watched her for a moment, "Who hurt you?"
She smiled a bit, "You deserve more credit than you give yourself. His name was Charles, his father was a member of Parliament and we went to boarding school together. I thought he was charming but one night, coming home from the library, I saw him drinking with some of his friends. They were very rude and…they attacked me." She noticed a scowl cross Sawyer's features. "I escaped only because Lau Xing, my uncle's butler and oldest friend, taught me how to fight when I was young. The thing was I'd told him things about me, my uncle, even my parents that I had never told anyone. But it is human nature, I suppose, to want to trust others and be betrayed in the end."
"I'm sorry," Sawyer told her.
"Thanks, Sawyer, but it was a long time ago. The world's changing and I guess we have to change with it," she sighed.
"Tom," the blonde corrected.
The Brit looked up at him startled, "What?"
"Tom, that's my first name, you can call me that if you want."
"Alright but then you have to call me Addie, It's what my uncle calls me," she told him.
He smiled, "Isn't that what Skinner calls you?"
"Yeah, but no matter how many times I tell him to stop, he doesn't listen so I just let him. You, on the other hand, actually have permission." The two shared a smile.
Just then Nemo appeared, "You two best get inside, we are about to dive." The two obliged and returned below deck.
That afternoon Adeline decided to do some of her Tai Chi exercises. Lau Xing had taught many of the forms to her and it really helped calm her mind. She turned on her record player and the soft music played as she slowly went through the forms. A few minutes later she sensed a presence behind her and turned around to see Dr. Jekyll in the doorway.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just walking by and…I'll take my leave now," he muttered apologetically.
"No, it's alright, I don't mind. Tai Chi is very relaxing and calms your mind, it may be beneficial to your situation," the dark haired girl told him.
"I doubt it would help my situation, but thank you for the offer," Jekyll declined.
She gave him a look, "Just give it a try, doctor." Reluctantly Dr. Jekyll entered the room and stood next to her. "Now, follow me and do exactly as I do, the key is your breathing and allowing the energy in your body to flow. All your emotions, thoughts, and muscles at peace." Jekyll followed her as she flowed through each of the forms and she could see him slowly relaxing. "I'm afraid I have to go," she told him when they'd finished. "Nemo just got some information and he wants my opinion on something."
Jekyll nodded, "Yes, of course. Thank you very much."
"Do you feel better?"
"Surprisingly, yes."
"I suppose I'll see you at dinner then," she said as she left the room. When she arrived, Sawyer and Quartermain were already present and pouring over the blueprints. "Sorry I'm late."
Nemo looked up, "Not at all, I was just explaining that the Fantom has gotten his hands on more explosives and so it is clear that with Da Vinci's blueprints and the explosives, he could set a bomb that will blow Venice's foundations to rubble."
"He's gonna sink the whole city," Sawyer was getting angry.
Adeline crossed her arms, "This is much bigger than we had originally anticipated. It was bad enough he was going to attack the conference but sinking all of Venice is even more catastrophic."
"Yes," Quartermain agreed. "And spark his world war."
Dr. Jekyll suddenly appeared, "I'm afraid that's not the sum of our problems."
"Jekyll, what's happened? I just saw you not ten minutes ago," Adeline demanded.
"It's Skinner, he's taken a vile of my formula," Jekyll announced.
Quartermain stood up, "Are you sure?"
"Who else?" Jekyll demanded. "You've seen the way the sneaky bugger operates."
Just then one of Nemo's men ran in, "Captain, we're approaching Venice."
Nemo nodded, "We shall continue this conversation after we save the city."
All of the League members met in the control room. Adeline had gone back to her room to grab her coat and other assorted weapons on her person before joining them. Nemo pulled down the periscope as they slowly entered Venice through its waterways. The captain gasped, "It is a carnival, by God, we must locate that bomb." He shoved the periscope up as the Nautilus sailed deeper into the city but the archways were getting lower and lower.
"We can go no further, captain," Ishmael told Nemo.
"All ahead stop," Nemo ordered and the ship slowly came to a halt.
"Let's go," Quartermain instructed. Within minutes nearly everyone disembarked the ship. Divers, in specialized suits, which Adeline requested to examine later, took to the waterways as Nemo barked orders at his men.
Mina looked up at the buildings, "This city is vast, he could be anywhere."
"What about Skinner?" Sawyer questioned noticing they were one short.
"I'd be alert for his treachery," Gray suggested.
Sudden loud explosions caused all of them to jump only to realize they were simply fireworks, hopefully they weren't too late. "Bloody carnival," Quartermain muttered.
"God, I'd feared the worst," Mina breathed.
"We still have time, let's get moving," Adeline suggested.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath them shook causing Adeline to fall into Sawyer. He steadied her as one of Nemo's men shouted from the ship's crow's-nest. "The buildings are falling like dominos!"
"We're too late," Mina gasped.
Quartermain surveyed the area, "There must be more than one bomb. Nemo! The bombs are in the city's center, we must take out one key building."
"Yes," Nemo agreed immediately. "Get ahead of the collapse and destroy the next building."
"We can't interrupt the chain of destruction," Sawyer argued.
"With a beacon placed at the exact coordinates I can launch a rocket and take out the building," Nemo continued.
Adeline noticed Sawyer ran off back onto the ship before turning back to the others, "If it's powerful enough the magnitude of that explosion should cancel out the path of the other but it will have to be incredibly precise."
"That's ridiculous, we'd never get there in time," Gray pointed out pessimistically.
"Gray's right!" Jekyll agreed sounding quite frantic.
Gray looked over to Quartermain, "I'm an immortal sir, not a gazelle. How can we outrun this?"
Gray's question was answered by the revving of an engine as Nemo's car zoomed out of the cargohold. "Care for a spin?" Sawyer asked from behind the wheel. Adeline smirked as she raced over and hoped, the others quickly following her.
"Come on, Jekyll, get in!" Quartermain shouted. Adeline looked back to see Jekyll frozen.
"I need coordinates," Nemo reminded them as he made his way back onto the ship.
"Can you track this thing?" Adeline questioned and Nemo nodded.
"Then the car will be your target," Quartermain announced holding up a flare gun. "Launch when you see the flare."
"Right!" Nemo agreed as he headed aboard.
Quartermain turned back to Jekyll, "Come on Jekyll, we'll need Hyde."
"No," he insisted. "Hyde will never use me again."
"Step on it," Adeline told Sawyer.
"Then what good are you?" Gray called to Jekyll as they raced off into the city.