A/N New chapter, sorry it's been awhile but the last few weeks have been crazy.
Debris was falling everywhere and they only just barely avoided most of it. Quartermain took out one of Da Vinci's schematics in order to direct them through the winding streets. "Straight ahead and then turn left."
"No!" Mina disputed, "Take a right, after the canal port."
"We must turn left to get ahead of the-" he was suddenly cut off as a volley of bullets nearly hit them and Sawyer instinctually turned right. Adeline rolled her eyes a bit.
"Damn, Skinner! He must've told them we were coming!" Dorian yelled as he hopped out of the car. As they drove on down the street a whole slew of the Fantom's men appeared shooting at them. The four of them ducked their heads to avoid the bullets. Sawyer swerved to avoid the bullets but ended up running through several columns.
"Dorian!" Mina screamed causing Adeline to look back and see Dorian fighting his way through the Fantom's men.
"He's immortal, he'll be alright, Mina," Adeline assured her.
Another bout of gunfire rained down on them from the tops of the roofs. Quartermain picked up his gun and attempted to aim at the men but couldn't. "Can't get a clear shot."
"Then take the wheel!" Sawyer ordered as he let go and fired at the men on the roofs.
"Sit down, you buffoon, I don't know how to drive this bloody thing! Get down!" Quartermain growled causing Sawyer to resume driving.
"Save your bullets these men are mine," Mina snarled as she suddenly, and quite literally, flew out of the backseat onto the wall.
"Did you see that?" Adeline asked as they watched Mina crawl up the wall and bats came out of nowhere and followed in her wake. She turned to see Sawyer and Quartermain still watching Mina as she attacked the men on the roofs. "Keep your eyes on the bloody road, Tom!"
"Whoa!" the blonde shouted as they ran into a few more columns, breaking bridges, and other assorted debris. Still more men on the roofs fired at them.
"There's more of them!" Adeline pointed out.
Quartermain glanced behind them, "The vampire lady has us covered." Mina and her swarm charged at the minions on the roof and quickly dispatched of them. Moments later they lost sight of Mina as they continued to make their way toward the city's center.
Quartermain suddenly turned to her and Sawyer, "Remember the flare! I'm off."
"What?" Sawyer shouted confused.
"Don't forget, you're the target!" With that the legendary hunter hopped out of the car.
Adeline moved up to the front seat, "Guess it's just down to us."
Sawyer gave her a small smile, "Sure, put everything on the two youngest members of the League, sounds reasonable."
Adeline giggled before observing the buildings, "We're getting close." She picked up the flare gun and held it tight in her hand. A moment later they pulled ahead of the falling buildings, "Alright, we're in the lead. Now we need to find a good spot to launch the flare."
"There, the bridge," Sawyer suggested.
"That'll work."
Sawyer grabbed her free hand, "Hold on tight."
"See you on the other side."
A moment later they were airborne and Adeline shot up the flare before they crashed back onto the ground and through the nearest building.
Adeline wasn't sure but she could've sworn she blacked out for a moment. When she opened her eyes she realized she was in a lot of pain and could barely move. She turned her head a bit to look at Sawyer, who lied right next to her as the car pinned them down. He met her gaze and nodded as he moved out from under the car. "Come on, Addie, we've got to go before the rocket hits."
"I can't," she panted. "I can't move. Go, get out of here before you get blasted to pieces."
The American shook his head, "Not without you!" He ran around to her side of the car and dragged her out from underneath. He swooped her up into her arms and ran out of the building. Seconds later the building exploded and Sawyer was knocked off his feet.
Adeline groaned, "You okay?"
He got to his feet and picked her up again, "I'll live, let's go."
They managed to find their way back to the Nautilus. "Sawyer and Adeline?" they heard Quartermain question as they appeared.
"They'll live to fight another day," Sawyer announced causing everyone to turn to them.
Jekyll ran up to them, "Is she alright?"
"She can hear you," Adeline muttered earning small smiles from the both of them.
"We crashed and she's having a hard time moving," Sawyer explained.
"Give her to me, I'll take a look at her, perhaps there is something I can do," Jekyll requested.
Sawyer hesitated but Adeline nodded so he passed her over to Jekyll. The doctor set her down near a few of Nemo's men on a makeshift blanket of sorts.
"Adeline, I need you to stay awake and tell me what hurts," Jekyll told her.
"My leg, the left. And my ribs," Adeline explained. "I think my left fibula is fractured and possibly two broken ribs but as far as I can tell no punctures."
Jekyll nodded and quickly examined both of her legs before doing the same with her stomach. "I believe your conclusions are correct, once we're back on board I shall wrap up your abdomen and your left leg. Once we bind the leg you should be alright to walk but do not overexert yourself."
Adeline nodded, "Yes, doctor."
"Captain," they suddenly heard Ishmael yell from behind them. Everyone quickly ran over to him, Sawyer picked Adeline up and took her over as well. Jekyll quickly caught Ishmael before he fell, he was dying. "It was Gray, not Skinner. Gray's tricked us all." Adeline covered her mouth as Ishmael died right there in front of them.
A loud metal sound echoed through the air, "What is it?" Sawyer demanded.
Nemo looked furious, "The sound of treachery." They all ran inside and down the halls until they came to nearly the end of the ship and stepped out to see a sort of pod, shaped like a jellyfish, drop into the water. The glass moved and they saw Gray piloting the pod.
"What is that thing?" Sawyer questioned.
Nemo stared at his creation, "My expiration pod."
Gray blew them a kiss before sailing away. "Can we track it?" Adeline asked from Sawyer's arms.
"I intend to catch it!" Nemo shouted before they all raced back inside. The followed Nemo into the drawing room, there he pointed at a moving map with two points as the ship pulled out of Venice. "That is us, that is the Nautiloid. We will be upon them soon."
Sawyer set Adeline on one of the chairs, "You okay?"
Adeline nodded, "Yeah, fine."
Jekyll quickly came over with a bandage and began to wrap up Adeline's abdomen. "This should help, I'll get a splint for your leg here in a m-" he gasped in pain and grabbed his ears as a loud ringing noise echoed throughout the ship.
"Nemo?" Quartermain questioned.
The captain shook his head, "It is nothing of mine."
One of Nemo's men ran in holding some sort of parcel, "Captain, the noise came from this."
"A recording disk?" Nemo wondered as he pulled a record out of the parcel and placed it on the record player. Jekyll finished wrapping Adeline's injured ribs as Nemo put the needle on the record.
"Ready Professor?" a female voice sounded. "Recording."
"Gentlemen," the voice of M followed. "If you're hearing this, the every step leading up to it has gone as planned."
"And I've intruded the goals set to me," Gray's voice added. "Yes, it's me, Dorian. As you know by now I'm no loyal summon of the empire. As a matter of fact, my loyalty to Mr. M comes in no small part from his possession of something I hold very dear to my heart. Something I would do anything to regain."
"Are you all right?" Mina asked Jekyll causing the others to glance their direction.
"My ears hurt, it's nothing," Jekyll insisted, but there was something in his expression that made Adeline think otherwise.
"Everything so far has been misdirection," M continued. "Sanderson Reed, the assassins in Kenya, the recruitment admission, the secret conference, a myth. Even the League itself…there is no League, there never was. It was a ruse to get me closer to my goal."
"Likes the sound of his own voice, doesn't he?" Sawyer commented snidely causing Adeline to smirk.
"See I want you, each of you, even tired old Quartermain, because he'll capture Hyde where all others have failed," M admitted. "The question is why, why all this mask and mystery? Because in the weapon to come, I intend to wield the greatest weapon of all…the power of the League itself." Adeline's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "To that end I set my wolf upon your sheep."
"Growl," Gray mocked.
"To gain your trust and lead you astray," M explained.
"And all the while I collect you, the parts of you I need. Nemo and Adeline's science-" Gray maintained.
"Magnesium Phosphorus," Mina gasped. Adeline's mind was reeling, the powder she'd found in her room, it was from a camera.
"Skinner's skin sample, Jekyll's potion, and Mina's blood," the devil listed off as they all glanced around at each other.
"If you fail to save Venice, then I get my war," M announced. "If you succeed, well it's a small price to pay for a great task. War will come, sooner or later. It is inevitable. Now all of you, will pause to ask why I'm letting you know all this, what fool reveals his strategy before the game is over. It is over, for you. Because my voice isn't the only sound being made. While I've rambled on, a secondary layer of inaudible sound, higher than humans can hear, audible to dogs, has been heard by crystal sensors about your vessel."
"Sense detect the bomb," Gray declared. "Bomb voyage."
Nemo threw the record player on the floor, effectively breaking it but it was too late.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!