Taken In Again

A/N: I used the Martian info from Wikipedia, taken from the LOEG2 comic.

Disclaimer: It's a fanfiction, what do you expect? I own whatever wasn't invented already.

The league entered the secret annexe of the British Museum, down the grey halls and descending staircase. Rodney still limped a bit in Alisha's arms. They must have taken Campion by surprise, for he looked up with a startled expression from looking through some papers?

"Well that was fast."

The league came in and made themselves comfortable. Captain Nemo faced Bond with a firm appearance.

"We were attacked."

"What?"

"The Martians attacked the town with their heat-rays. The site is in ruins."

"And the crowd?"

"Dead, mostly…burned to death."

Rodney shuddered.

"My God…"

Alisha stepped in. "We destroyed the Martians when we could, but we weren't able to find any survivors."

"What about the ship?"

"It's still there."

"I see. Well good work, all of you. I'll send my men over to the site immediately. But stay in the area until further notice…I recommend an inn close by the battle sight. There's one called The Bleak House not too far from Horsell common. You should stay there for the night."

Captain Nemo nodded.

"I'll send one of my Majors to meet you there. I'm shall put him in charge of guarding the remains of the crater."

"We'll check in immediately."

"Good. He should meet you there. Be careful, all of you."

And the league left.

And sure enough, the Bleak House lay outside the skirts of Horsell Common. It stood tall, surrounded by other shops and public buildings. The sign above the inn was torn and rusted from old age. The automobile parked on the curb of the street and went inside. Inside the Bleak House there stood a bar on the right wall, and three table and chairs on the left wall, next to an open archway. Giant clean windows let in enormous amounts of light on the back wall where the league came in, on each side of the wooden door. Beside each window stood an extra table and two matching chairs. The walls were covered in a wood paneling, and the floor was a similar dark wood. A large brown and red patterned rug accompanied the cold floor. The front wall stood another archway and a spiral staircase.

As Mina, leading the group, opened the old wooden door her eyes met the face of a few members of a confident looking military division lead by a pompous, irascible, jingoistic and stereotypically British, overweight, bald man. He stood tall and straight, and had a moustache long enough to hang past his neck. He wore a professional military uniform, and eyed each member as they walked in. The other men copied his position, and wore similar, but less ranked uniforms.

"My name is Major Blimp." he introduced.

"You must be the league of extraordinary gentlemen. Campion had informed me of your…intervention at the site."

The bartender glimpsed to the conversation.

"He has assigned me the mission to have my men defend the crater."

"Right, I think he mentioned something like that." Rodney tried to speak.

"Are you alright, my boy?"

"Fine, fine."

"Well, I just thought I would introduce myself, then. And these are a few of my best officials…Sanderson, Hasseldorf, Groglerdon, Kester and Fender.

A few nodded, the others stood still. The man named Kester eyed Alisha. She eyed him back with a curious look on her face. He copied her expression.

"We will be at the site then, if you need our assistance."

The league simply nodded. The general and his division then left the league in the cold wood barroom.

"So I guess we should check in to our cabins, then?" Rodney said, now reassembling himself from the witch and attempting to sit up straight. She helped him level up and about, and then backed herself away from being ill at ease.

"Right." said Henry.

The bartender wiped his hands on a nearby cloth, stretched his hands out to his sides and rested them on the counter. "You kids need a room?"

"Kids?" Alisha said, raising her eyebrows.

The man chuckled. "My name is Sire Richenbach. I'm the owner of this inn."

Captain Nemo addressed Richenbach. "Yes, we would like to stay for the night."

"Alright. How many," he counted with his finger. "Six?"

Captain Nemo handed the innkeeper several bills. Richenbach counted as his face glowed with the wonder of six new customers. "Here you are." he gave the captain his approximate change. He handed each member a key with a random number on it, and showed them their rooms. He led them up the spiral staircase, and signaled to their rooms left and right of the dark hallway.

Tom and Rodney exchanged room numbers as I read mine: 6. Mina, Henry, Nemo and I walked to our rooms immediately. I walked to the left down the hallway, where Richenbach said the room would be. When I reached to the door that said 6, I unlocked the door with my key and walked inside. The room was small, and the first thing I noticed was the huge window at the back. It was enclosed with thick brown curtains. The walls were of light beige wallpaper, some parts slightly ripped. On the left wall lay a wooden desk and chair accompanied by a quill and some writing paper, a few leather chests, and a small wardrobe. The right wall had a double bed that contained two small side-tables at its sides with a clock at each end. The floor was of a beige carpet very bland and the exact same color as the walls. As my feet sank into the plush flooring I walked to the bed and sat down, puffing out the day's intensity. I saw the small bathroom bulging out of the wall next to the door and looked inside. The walls and floor were not exactly to my surprise, but white tiled, a little worn…and bland, mild, and tasteless. Ugh.

There was a shower in the back, a toilet on the side next to a sink with an attached cabinet, and a mirror above. But other than that, it was just a basic bathroom.

I went back to the bed and sat down again. I looked at the door and wondered why it hadn't opened yet, revealing my roommate. But as soon as I came up with the idea he walked in…

I wasn't shocked.

"Hey, roommate." Rodney sauntered in the room and took is coat off, throwing it on the bed post.

"Why…am I not surprised?" I shook my head in disbelief.

"What, that we'd get the same room?"

I gave him a 'what-do-you-think' look.

"Well I guess we're inseparable after all." He smiled.

"Right…well I'm pretty tired. I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Ya' sure? You don't want to chat a bit? We just settled in…"

"I'm sure. Campion wouldn't want us to get ourselves all worked up. He might need us tomorrow."

"Screw Campion. He aint the boss of us."

"Uh…he kind of is."

"You know what I mean…" Rodney walked into the bathroom and I heard the water turn on. Probably washing off the grease paint.

I lay on the right side of the bed, stretching my aching legs out in front of me, and my tender arms behind my head. The position reminded me of Tom on a summer day taking a nap. It made me snicker.

Rodney came out wearing only his hat and glasses. He made his way to his side of the bed, took off his remaining attire, and placed them on the bed-side-table. He lay on the bed next to me.

"Long day, huh?"

I shifted my position by moving my arms under me as I turned my body to face him. I think he did the same.

I exhaled…a bit loudly, I would say. "Rodney…"

"Yeah."

"What happened back there?"

"What do you mean?" his tone skipped a bit.

"You know the whole 'me having to support you' thing…and 'you all hyperventilating about fire', and all that."

He was silent for a bit, and then finally gave out a sigh. He was forcing his words out.

"In our last mission…in Mongolia."

I nodded.

"There was a fire."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.

"My job was to plant bombs around the furnace. I could smell the smoke from down the hall…I walked in the blazing room, the heat making it hard to bear anything…but then I saw Tom through the fire on the other side of the room, and one of M's armored soldiers."

This time I didn't say anything. I let him finish anything that he needed to say.

"I risked my life to save Tom's…I destroyed the soldier's flame-thrower by hitting the gas pump on his back. I told him to run for his life, as I ran for mine."

"Oh my god."

"I got burned pretty badly…third degree, Henry told me. He healed me during the time we had before Allan's funeral…but even though I saved Tom's life…I mean, don't get me wrong I don't regret it…but…"

"But what?" my voice was almost a whisper now.

"I almost died for Tom…and Allan did die. I feel bad for the lad."

"Well what does that have to do with this evening?"

"I don't know. I guess the heat-rays reminded me of the pain from the burns."

"So the invisible man is afraid of fire?"

"Heh, I guess so."

"Huh…well, now that we've had the 'chat' you wanted, If you don't mind I'm going to sleep."

"Right."

Mina entered her cabin and went to the window. She pulled back the blinds to look out to the streets of London. She almost didn't hear the faint sound of the door closing. Turning around, Mina saw Henry Jekyll shyly looking at the vampiress.

"Hello."

"Hi Henry."

A silence lasted between the gaze for minutes.

"Um…"

"You and Edward did a good job today, fighting off those aliens."

"Oh well that was really just Edward…" Henry fiddled with his watch and looked down to avoid the woman's eyes.

Mina glanced at the watch. It seemed like a long time she was watching the doctor fool around with the thing.

"Henry?"

He looked up.

"Yes?"

"What happened between you and Alisha the other night…when she…healed you, you said?"

"Oh…well, nothing…really. I-I woke up in her house, and she took me back to the Nautilus."

"Oh."

"Why?" the response was almost too sudden.

"Just wondering…you two seem to be close, you know."

"Do we?"

Mina nodded. Henry became very nervous and started to play with his watch again. He looked down, then back up to her again.

"I-I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Me too." She smiled sweetly.