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New York City, New York
"So how do you plan on recruiting this Doctor?" asked Amatera as the Taxi Cab slowed down.
"It's finding him that'll prove to be a task." said Mina, "Though he can't go too long without his other half's handy-work becoming public knowledge."
The cab came to a full stop and the driver stated what was due to him, and Mina paid him in full before she and her Scottish-Italian companion stepped out into the street.
Very soon, they were standing at the door on a two story house that was in the area, the door opened soon after they knocked and a man of his late fifties stood with a brown hair and beard facing them.
He scanned their faces carefully, as if examining them to see if they fit some kind of standard, he then asked in a slight Irish accent, "Who are you?"
"It's your nephews, Betty and Alan." said Mina.
The man nodded in understanding, all the time his expression was rigid and formal.
"How was the trip?"
"The trip was refreshingly tropical, and how is Aunt Pauline?" said Amatera.
The man smiled slightly and said, "Aunt Pauline is in Gray."
He then stepped aside and opened the door wide for them to enter each with his suitcase, "Come on in."
The entire conversation up to that point was an identity confirmation protocol, and once it was done all disguise would come off.
"Charlie Burnes," said the man with a thicker Irish accent as he closed the door and led the pair to the living room, "At you service."
"I'm Qu-" started Amatera till Burnes interrupted him, saying, "Don't tell me! As far as I'm concerned you two are Betty and Alan Fleming, my nephews from my sister in England."
"Well excuse me." said Amatera, who didn't appreciate looking foolish.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a third, the Sub-mariner?"
"Captain Pepper opted to stay on ship for the moment, but he'll join us later."
"Let's get down to business. You're here to arrest the Doctor, correct?"
"Recruit, actually."
"I'm afraid you're going to have to arrest him, a man like him won't be easily swayed to your side." said Burnes
"I have ways of achieving that." said Mina as she remembered Jekyll's failed attempts at wining her over, he probably still had feelings for her, and if he did, she'd exploit them.
"Are you sure?" asked Burnes.
"Yes, given I am able to meet the Doctor and not the Beast. Do you have any idea about his whereabouts?"
"He's in Manhattan, that's the extent of my knowledge. He arrived here eleven months ago, at first he committed minor crimes, barely more gruesome than the ones usually seen around here. However two months ago he had an altercation with one of the local criminal syndicates. He murdered seven of them which turned him into their main concern at the moment. Since then, the Doctor had been the dominant personality and has been in hiding."
"What is this Syndicate?" asked Amatera.
"They call themselves the Dead Rabbits; they have a presence here for about seventy years. They're mostly Irish immigrants headed by a man called Amsterdam Vallon."
"And do they know of the Doctor's dual nature?"
"No. They just know that the two are closely associated, and that the Brute can be reached through the Doctor."
"That should exacerbate things." said Alan.
"On the contrary, Mr. Amatera," said Mina, "Doctor Jekyll will welcome our offer to trade in his skills for safe passage out of New York"
"We'll have to find him first." said Amatera.
"I'm well aware of that." said Mina, and then turned to address the spy, "Do you know where his most recent known residence was?"
Mina stood in Doctor Jekyll's old apartment in the Bronx at midnight, when her powers were in full bloom, she took a lungful of air and held her breath as she analyzed and separated the accumulated scents and odors, of wine, vomit, sweat, bodily fluids and excrement. She could sense how they were different yet similar, and she could remember which was Jekyll's and which was Hyde's.
Amatera was waiting outside the apartment with his twin pistols just incase someone came looking for trouble. He had proved to be more than meets the eye earlier in the night when he took Mina's abilities in stride.
Something about Amatera was vaguely familiarly annoying, what could it be?
Mina shook those thought off and started to focus on tracking Jekyll, she slowly walked to the window after she became familiar with the scent to track. The cloud of bats exploded out of the window frame and soared off into the night.
In her current form, Mina's sense of smell was enhanced greatly and she could trail Jekyll's trail over the city, which proved to be a difficult task, but over two hours later, she arrived at a small shack in Greenwich Village, and looking through the window, she could see Jekyll's frame sleeping on the floor.
"What do you man you had a look and left?" asked Amatera in disbelief thirty minutes later as he and Mina descended down the stairs on their way back to Burnes'.
"I'm not about to wake the poor bastard up and pressgang him into joining us, I'll contact him soon and offer the position then"
"What if the Dead Rabbits get to him before that"
"That seems very remote"
"Alright, when do we attempt to meet him"
"I will be meeting him within forty-eight hours."
Doctor Jekyll sat at the corner of the cafe, nervously eating and attempting to not draw any attention to himself, looking around intently to see if any Irish gangsters were near, but even with all his caution, he was completely surprised when he raised his eyes to see someone he hadn't seen in a decade.
"Jesus..." he said in a near whisper, Mina was standing in front of him, looking as cold, threatening and young as ever. And she could see that despite a generally disheveled appearance and some bags under his eyes and more paleness than usual, he hadn't aged a bit, a side effect to his peculiar condition, making him look like he was in his late thirties while he actually was over seventy years old in reality.
"Doctor Jekyll, it's good to see you. May I sit down?"
Five minutes later...
"How is Tom?" asked Jekyll, who became calmer and more relaxed with the arrival of his old partner in crime. The question filled Mina with bitter memories she preferred to leave behind.
"I haven't seen him for almost a decade. He's back in the Service I believe."
"Do you keep track of the others?"
"There are no others," said Mina, "They're dead."
"Dead? Nemo, is he-"
"He died of Natural causes while at sea, or so British Intelligence has informed me."
"And Skinner?"
"He died fighting the Martians during the Invasion."
"Good god."
"What about you"
"I've seen better days to tell the truth, but then again I've seen worse days as well."
"I know."
"What do you mean you know?"
"I know about your recent troubles with the Dead Rabbits. That's what I'm here for. I have a proposition."
"What?"
"It's quit simple really. Your country wants you back, I've been appointed as the leader of a newly formed gyration of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."
"Have you?" asked Jekyll with a wry smile.
"Right now there are two other members in the city, one of which has a means of transportation that'll take us away undetected. I am officially offering your return to your former position in the League, in return you will receive protection in England from prosecution for any crimes you have committed, as well as-"
"No." said Jekyll firmly.
"I beg your Pardon?"
"Sorry, I'm not interested."
"May I inquire why?"
"I'm too tired for all this tripe." said Jekyll as he rested his forehead on his palm, "Masquerading Villainous Arms-Dealers, Pirates, thieves, assassins, I'm just sick of it all. I want nothing to do with it."
"Doctor Jekyll, you're hardly in a position to be refuse!"
"Hyde and I can handle a handful of paddy thugs. It's being with the lot of you that I fear." said Jekyll as he stood up and raised his coat collar and put a hat atop his head.
"Goodbye."
"Is this how you treat an old friend?"
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Harker, I'm out of practice."
Charles Burnes is Guy Piece's character from the 2005 movie "The Proposition" by Nick Cave.
Amsterdam Vallon and the Dead Rabbits are from Director Martin Scorsesse's 2002 Movie "Gangs of New York.
Jekyll's age of seventy is explained as follows; in the book he was mentioned as being fifty years of age, and if we assume the events of the novel end on its publishing year, one can assume that he was 52 in 1886, making him around seventy-five in 1909.
And Gotham is a nickname of New York given by Washington Irving.