Chapter 8
The arrived a few days later. The ship broke its way through the ice and to the surface, only allowing the top hull to be exposed.
The league stood on the top in big white coats to help keep them warm from the cold. Nemo, Allan, and Mina all had binoculars, looking for M's factory. Sawyer, Layla and Henry all stood towards the back.
"Peasant settlements." said Allan. "They're all deserted."
"Why deserted?" asked Mina.
"Fear no doubt." said Nemo raising his binoculars again.
They exited the ship, and walked through the blistering cold, through the mountains and came upon a factory.
"M's summer retreat." said Sawyer over the blistering winds.
"This is where Skinner signaled he's meet us." said Allan. "So we wait."
They found a small cave in the side of the mountain where they built a small fire to try and keep warm. Everyone sat, propped up against a wall while Henry stood, and Allan sat watch.
Allan thought he heard something in the snow and readied his gun.
"Skinner?" he asked.
Growling was heard and in the distance came a white tiger. Layla heard something from outside and went to check it out.
"Layla?" asked Sawyer.
"Stay here." she said.
She walked outside and saw a white tiger glaring at her father while he had a gun trained on her. Allan sighed and lowered his gun, and the tiger ran away.
"You all right?" asked Layla.
"We heard a noise." said Mina coming out from the cave.
"It was nothing. And I'm fine." said Allan.
Nemo looked out and saw the tiger retreating. Nemo and Mina stepped outside the cave, Mina coming to stand next to Layla.
"Just an old tiger sensing his end?" said Nemo.
"Perhaps this was not his time to die after all." said Allan.
They stood there for a moment when Mina and Layla felt something grab them from behind. They both gasped as they jumped away.
"I've been waiting all week to do that." said Skinner.
"Skinner! I'm going to kill you!" said Layla as she went to hit him, but was held back by Sawyer wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Wow. Slow down." he said.
"Get a grip, man." said Allan.
"I thought I just did." said Skinner.
Layla went to hit him again, but was held back by Sawyer once more. Mina slapped him across the face and Layla half smiled.
"Now how come she gets to hit him and I don't." said Layla.
"Because you weren't going to just hit him." whispered Sawyer in her ear.
Layla growled and relaxed, sending murderous glares towards Skinner.
"Ooh, Mina." said Skinner.
"Report." demanded Nemo.
"Well, hello to you too." said Skinner. "And need I remind you I am naked in the snow. I can't feel any of my extremities. And I mean any of them."
"We get the point Skinner." said Layla.
Skinner pushed past everyone and went inside the cave to warm up. Everyone followed and gathered around, waiting to here what Skinner had to say.
"With all the suspicion on the ship, I knew you wouldn't believe I wasn't the spy. Well, I thought it was best to disappear." said Skinner.
"So, what are we dealing with?" asked Allan.
"The fortress is vast. Furnaces produce iron for making M's weapons of destruction. They're pieced together on the factory floor by a private army of ruthless men who share his vision. But the worst was to come. In the dry dock, M's best minds pervert Nemo's dream." said Skinner.
"The Nautilus?" asked Nemo, hurt.
"Nautili. There's eight for now." said Skinner.
"What about the kidnapped scientists?" asked Nemo.
"M holds their families hostage. The men work or the women and children die." said Skinner.
Layla lowered her head at the image of what could happen.
"Monstrous." said Nemo, disgusted.
"Well, that isn't the half of it. The scientists are forced to work night and day to make new versions of us. Invisible spies, an army of Hydes, vampiric assassins. M leaves for Europe today with a sample case of the chemicals to sell to the most eager nation." said Skinner.
"I'll not let my evil infect the world." said Henry.
"Do you think any of us feel differently?" asked Mina, angrily.
"Chimney pipes lace the buildings, and bombs in the furnaces would make quite a bang. But someone needs to blow that place to hell. And I am least likely to be seen." said Skinner.
"Skinner, I didn't know that you were such a barefaced liar." said Allan. "All that time pretending that you weren't a hero."
"Well, shut up, or I'll come to my senses." said Skinner with a smile. "Well, besides, any more like me and I'll lose the franchise."
Sawyer got up and cocked his gun, ready to go out and fight but was stopped by Allan.
"This cannot be a hunt to the death, more's the pity." said Allan. "We must take M alive if his secrets are to be uncovered."
"Not Gray." said Mina. "He's lived long enough."
"Oh, I'll handle him." said Sawyer.
"No." threatened Mina.
"Nemo, you and Hyde will free the prisoners. Sawyer, Layla, and I will deal with M. Then the game is on." said Allan.
They all went up to the factory. Skinner walked up to a man who was standing guard outside.
"Do you mind?" he said grabbing the gun and knocking the guy unconscious. "Night-night."
Mina, who had transformed into bats, went flying into the grates, while Hyde walked up to another guard who had run to help his friend.
Hyde opened a door, following him were Nemo and a few soldiers. Allan, Layla, and Sawyer followed them in along with Skinner and Mina.
Hyde walked over to Nemo and put his hand in the middle. Everyone followed suit, and soon everyone's hands were in the center.
Everyone coming to a mutual understanding split up, going there seperate ways.
Alla, Layla and Sawyer were walking through the halls, trying to find their direction.
"Skinner said turn right at the column." said Allan.
"That really narrows it down." said Layla.
"Which one?" asked Sawyer.
They ran through the columns when Allan told them to turn.
"This way." he said.
They ran through an opening when Sawyer told Allan he'd follow.
"Layla, in between us, always." said Allan.
Layla annoyed, only nodded. This wasn't the time to strike up an argument. They all came to a halting stop when they came upon an open room.
"The scientists." said Sawyer.
"They're for Nemo." said Allan.
They kept on running, looking for M. They came upon another room that had iron cars on the ground.
"Prepare the armaments for shipment." said a man over the P.A.
"They're moving out." said Layla.
"Let's hope Skinner's up to the task." said Allan.
Skinner ran through the basement, leaving bombs here and there while Nemo found the hostages and let them free, sending them back to the ship.
Allan, Layla and Sawyer were walking through what looked to be small home. They opened the doors and walked their way through the hall into a dining room. They looked to the right to see M getting a shave in a small room off to the side. A door to their left burst open causing them to cower back behind a wall.
"James! Here's your box of tricks." said a man. "The brute's potion, the vampire's blood, the Indian's science, and mounted samples of invisible skin. They'll be all the rage in Europe. The Nautiloid is fueled and ready."
"We have trouble." said Nemo as he ran up to Hyde.
"Trouble?" asked Hyde. "I call it sport."
"Intruders! Indians!" yelled a man, running into M's chambers. "I think it's Captain Nemo and his men. The prisoners are escaping."
"How many times do I have to kill these cretins?" said M. "Make this the last."
"Damn them." said a soldier.
Hyde through open a door as Nemo and his soldiers fired there guns towards the enemy.
"Nemo, get the scientists!" yelled Hyde. "Is that all you've got?"
Nemo went to save the scientists. He jumped down, attacking any man that got in his way. He dodge gunfire as he worked his way towards the scientists.
M put on his coat and grabbed his mask to leave when a shotgun was placed right to the back of his skull.
"Going somewhere?" asked Layla as she aimed he rifle towards the side of M, as Sawyer took the other.
"Do not move M." said Allan. "Or would you prefer Professor James Moriarty? Hmm?"
"James Moriarty? The so-called Napoleon of crime? That man died at Reichenbach Falls. He died, and I was reborn."
"Sawyer!" yelled Layla as she saw a man sneeking up behind him.
Sawyer knocked him out, as M ducked from Allan's gun and ran out the door, not before throwing a dagger.
"Look out!" he yelled as he tackled Layla to the ground.
"Eye's open girl. Can't protect you all the time." said Sawyer.
"Shut up." she said as she pushed him off.
"Come on!" yelled Allan.
Layla grabbed the dagger from the wall and sheathed it in her boot. They ran from the room, after M. He wound through corridor after corridor, when Sawyer bumped into something.
"Skinner?" he asked.
Layla and Allan stopped and turned towards Sawyer.
"It's okay, it's Skinner." he said.
Layla and Allan turned and ran after M once more.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Sawyer.
"What makes you think I'm Skinner, hmm?" said Reeds voice.
A dagger was pulled from nowhere and instantly sought out Sawyer. Sawyer dodged many of the blows when he finally kicked him away and fired his rifle.
Layla heard the shots and stopped.
"Sawyer." she whispered.
She turned back to her father.
"Go." he said.
She turned and ran back to where they had left him. Gunfire was still being heard as she ran down the hall, coming to a sliding halt and ramming into the wall.
"Ow." she said. She looked up to see a dagger in mid air coming towards Sawyer. "That can't be Skinner."
She went to run towards Sawyer but found she was stuck on something. Her coat was caught on a peg in the wall.
"Oh I can't believe this." she mumbled.
Sawyer didn't have time to load his gun and was soon defending himself but blocking every blow the man threw his way. Sawyer knocked into a room towards the right and went to go after him.
Layla looked up as she heard a sound coming from the end of the hall.
"Oh Lord." she whispered. "Sawyer look out!"
Sawyer looked to see a huge tin man with a gun of fire coming towards him from the end of the hall. He pulled out his shooters and began firing away. But it didn't hinder the man. Sawyer ran out of bullets and stared to the man. He raised his gun and aimed.
"Oh God." whispered Layla. She tried to get her coat unhooked but it wouldn't budge.
"Whoa." said Sawyer as the man fired a blast of fire towards him. Sawyer grabbed Layla and took her with him, ripping her coat in the process and landed in the room towards the right.
They got up and ran through the room, which looked to be a small study room or library. The man in tin came in soon after them as they tried to find a way out, but all around them was fire. Soon, they were both cornered with nowhere to go. Sawyer grabbed something from the wall and went to hit the soldier, when Skinner's voice was heard.
"Sawyer, run for it!" he yelled.
Skinner jammed something into the pack on the tin man's back and so did Sawyer. He grabbed Layla and the ran for the door before the man blew up.
"Skinner?" asked Sawyer.
Layla ran over to what looked like burnt flesh in certain spots of Skinner.
"You all right?" she asked as she knelt next him.
"That's the last time I play with matches." he said.
Layla laughed but heard a dagger being unsheathed and Sawyer gulping. She looked over to see a dagger to Sawyer's throat, with no one behind him, except for a few shades of gray here and there.
Allan stepped slowly around a small room that seemed like an attic. He saw M a few steps away and aimed his gun.
"End of the line, Moriarty." he said. He shot his rifle but it ended up being a mirror.
He turned to block a blow from M which resulted in his rifle being broken in two.
"To the death. But you'll need Hyde to make it mine." said M.
"He'll be making his own fun." said Allan.
Hyde was busy defending himself against a bigger and more stronger him. A soldier had drunken the potion but it made him more stronger than Hyde himself.
Hyde was losing badly, but he still got in a few punches.
Allan and M were involved in a sword fight, each one wanting to kill the other. Both went down and got up very quickly. M grabbed a chain and began swinging it at Allan. Allan grabbed it and wrapped it around his neck.
"I hope I've got your fire when I'm your age." said M.
"You will not live beyond today. That I promise you." said Allan.
M got away but was soon receiving punches from Allan. Allan grabbed an axe that was placed next him and slowly approached M.
"You think you're gonna come in here and wreck all of this? We'll just rebuild it." said M. "There'll be others like me, Quartermain! You can't kill the future!"
Allan raised the axe, ready to kill, when the bombs that Skinner had placed went off, causing the whole building to shake and fall.
M got up during the distraction and went to leave, when Allan cocked his pistol and aimed.
"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" asked M. "The league, me, Skinner. Wrong. Wrong about your little American friend as well. Do you really think he's ready for action? I think you've trained him about as well as you trained your son."
M lifted the mask to Allan's face, and he saw Sawyer behind him, dagger to his neck. Allan whipped around and shot the man behind Sawyer. M took the distraction and jammed a dagger into Allan's back. Layla ran in just in time to see M do this.
"No!" she yelled.
M ran and jumped out of the building as Sawyer went after him. M landed on the ground as Sawyer glared at him from above. Sawyer turned and grabbed the rifle from the floor. Allan grabbed his glasses from his pockets to see that they were broken.
"Get him!" he ordered Sawyer.
Sawyer ran to the whole in the wall and aimed.
"It's too far." he said.
"Take your time." said Allan, his breathe getting weary. "You're ready."
Sawyer aimed again and waited.
"Take, your ti-" he stopped and fell to the ground.
"Dad." said Layla as she knelt next to him.
Sawyer shot the gun, and killed M. The box fell into the water as M fell dead to the ground.
"I got him!" exclaimed Sawyer, but stopped when he turned around.
Allan sat on the floor, breathing heavily, with Layla next to him.
"May this new century, be your son." said Allan.
Layla's eyes filled with tears.
"As the old one, was mine." he finished. He looked over to Layla and smiled.
"I love you." he said. "Take good care of him."
Layla smiled with tears flowing down her cheeks. "I will."
Allan smiled and went limp. Sawyer went to move but stopped. Tears flew more freely from her eyes as she moved closer.
"Dad?" she whispered. She started shaking her head. "No, no."
Sawyer went over to her and wrapped her in his arms. She cried freely as Sawyer held her, letting a lone tear fall from his own eyes.
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