A few days later, the five men moved into a town house in London, just as the active Operatives of the League were leaving the country. The town house stood seven blocks away from the League's headquarters. It had eight rooms, and five were occupied were used as sleeping quarters thus far. A den was converted into a make shift operations center.
A door bell rang and Logan answered the door, the newcomer was an attractive woman with black hair who struggled to lift several bags.
"Mr. Skinner?" she asked in a Russian accent.
"No." said Logan, without continuing to introduce himself, "Who are you?"
"Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova," she said as she extended her hand for a handshake, "I'm the systems specialist."
Back inside, Jekyll and Skinner had noticed what was going on.
"Whose she?" asked Jekyll.
"She's a Russian Computer Systems Specialist, a real good one too. I got her through an old friend." said Skinner.
"And she's joining us, why?"
"Money, I promised to give her tons of it."
"Good god, Skinner!"
"Don't worry, she's squeaky clean."
"I'll see what I can do about that!" said McGregor as he suddenly appeared, grinning as Natalya walked in, with Logan carrying her luggage.
"She's a pretty li'el thing, isn't she? I bet she shags like a minx!" continued McGregor as he watched her from a distance.
"You really are a Fat Bastard!" said Jekyll.
"That's right!" answered McGregor, taking it as a complement.
"Miss Simonova," said Skinner as he shook hands with Natalya, "I'm Rodney Skinner, these are Logan, Henry Jekyll and Michael McGregor."
"Pleasure." said Natalya as she tried to avoid staring at McGregor, "Is this all?"
"No," said Jekyll, "Where is Turkish?"
"Still sleeping." said Logan.
"Very well," said Skinner, "McGregor, go and wake him up, we'll start the debriefing in the den in a short while."
----------------------------
In the dark den, a projector was turned on, Natalya, Jekyll and Logan sat at the scattered seats, while Skinner stood by the wall where the light was falling. McGregor and Turkish soon walked through the door and took their seats.
"Most of you aren't familiar with the League," said Skinner, "so I'll begin by explaining its concept and composition."
Skinner clicked on the remote control he was carrying, an image of the first league was projected, "In 1899, Prof. James Moriarty, a scientists and criminal mastermind attacked several European cities, kidnapped scientists and pushed European countries against each other until they were on a brink of a global war, simultaneously, he formed a League of individuals with unique traits to investigate the matter and put a stop to his alter ego, The Phantom. The League consisted of Myself, Dr. Jekyll a Mr. Dorian Gray and some others. As it turns out, Dorian Gray, an Immortal, was a mole working for Moriarty, to harvest our abilities. Long story short, he was stopped, Gray was killed, and the world didn't go to war. Months later, we were officially recruited by Campion Bond of the British government to work under the Special Branch of MI6. Several years later, most of the League was killed in a military operation. Only I and Jekyll survived, as a side effect, out lifespan was extended greatly."
Logan, Turkish and Natalya were surprised at how casually Skinner was talking about the matter and how he didn't care to elaborate.
"Jekyll and I left the league, and a new team was handpicked, Dorian Gray soon resurfaced and joined the League as well."
Skinner clicked on the remote control again and a picture of Dorian was projected, "In the wake of WWII, Dorian becomes the Leader of the League, which has distanced itself from MI6 more and more as the years passed. He established three departments within the League, A-Dep, E-Dep and O-Dep. They handle Assassinations, Espionage and the Occult, respectively.
"Dorian Gray had a portrait drawn of him, and somehow, he is magically immortal, all aging, wounds of all kind, burns are inflicted onto the painting. The first time he was killed was through his exposure to said portrait. How he was resurrected and how is his existence maintain currently in unknown to us. The current roaster of the League consist of,"
Skinner clicked and an image of the dark haired woman from the meeting was shown.
"Sofie Fatale, Japanese-French Attorney, Oxford Graduate, for a while was second in command to the boss of the Yakuza Crime Syndicate in Tokyo. She serves mostly in an Administrative role, although not skilled in combat, she is very resourceful and cunning. She has had an arm amputated, the League implanted her with another arm in exchange for her agreement to serve them, she's Dorian Gray's second in command and lover, as it is rumored."
Skinner clicked and an image of the Blonde woman from the meeting was shown.
"Elle Driver, master swordswoman and excellent shot, was a member of the notorious Deadly Viper Assassination Squad; she had both her eyes gouged out, several years apart. The League offered to restore her eye sight, using both magic and advanced technology if she would join their Assassination Department."
Skinner clicked and the rubbery visage of Cain appeared.
"Dr. Sebastian Cain, scientist once working on a project for the pentagon to achieve invisibility. He was successful and performed the procedure on himself, the transformation unlike the one performed on the simian test-subjects, was irreversible. He went on a rampage, raping his neighbor, killing his partners and was presumed dead after falling down an elevator shaft. He suffers a god complex. He is very intelligent, immoral and dangerous. He is currently a member of the Assassination and Espionage Department."
Skinner clicked and the image of a Hispanic man with long hair appeared.
"Miguel Bain, Spanish mercenary and Assassin, very accurate. Supposedly killed a man from the distance of 2.5 kilometers. Assassination Department."
Skinner clicked again, and the man in the gas mask appeared.
"Karl Ruprech Kroenen, born in Munich, 1897. Occultist, Assassin, Gestapo Officer, head of the Thule Occult Society. Worked on the Ragnarok project that would have won the world war 2 for the Nazi if the Allied forces hadn't foiled it. He suffers a surgical addiction, his right hand is missing and was replaced by a mechanical one. His heart is missing and was replaced by a clockwork mechanism. He lives on because of sheer force of will. Very resourceful, Very lethal. Active member of the Occult and Assassination Department."
Skinner clicked again, a man of his late forties appeared.
"Ethan Rayne, Magician, worships chaos. Was liberated by the League from a US army prison in Nevada to work in their Occult Department."
Skinner clicked again; an image of an afro-American man wearing a suit appeared.
"Kevin Trick, a vampire. He is one of few vampires to have ever been resurrected. Occult Department."
Skinner clicked again, another man's face appeared.
"Sheldon Jeffrey Sands, formerly of the CIA, was involved in a military coup aimed to overthrow the president of Mexico, but the tables were turned on him and he lost both eyes, then the CIA disavowed him. Just like Elle Driver, his sight was restored and he now works for the Espionage Department."
Skinner clicked once again, the face of a handsome man with short black hair and a chiseled jaw.
"James Bond, 007. Great Grandson to Campion Bond. Was a recruit to the Espionage Department before running off with some of their records, copies of them ended up in the possession of Mr. McGregor, and that's how we know what we know. As of recently, he's dead, killed in Cairo by a League Operative."
Skinner clicked once more, and a picture of the League's windowless headquarter appeared.
"This is the League's H-Q. It stands seven city blocks away from here, it contains the offices and the most valuable assets of theirs. It has no windows. It has a backup power station to supply electricity in case of a black out. It is virtually impossible to penetrate."
Skinner turned off the projector and Henry turned up the lights.
"One of the League's valuable assets is the All Seeing Eye; a supercomputer. It monitors the movements of dozens possible recruits around the world, and issues an alarm whenever a recruit is in a situation where he is likely to agree to enlist.
"Dorian Gray takes his orders from a powerful individual known as Big Brother, it is unknown who he is or what position does he assume. Of all League members, Dorian Gray and possible Sofie Fatale is the only one to have laid eyes on him.
Over the course if this summer, we will attempt to blow the League into oblivion."
Skinner paused, letting his words sink in, "Men, we are outnumbered, outgunned and out funded. The League has a small army of competent Agents and Soldiers. Has many skilled Computer technicians, Scientists and specialists. Be certain that some of us will die if we attempt to do this, so unless you're willing to take that chance, I suggest you leave this house."
Not a single movement.
"Our funeral."
----------------------------
"What kind of Supercomputer are they using?" asked Natalya as the five scrambled out of the den.
"I don't know." said Skinner.
"Well if you expect me to judge what kind of computer should I get -"
"What's wrong with the one you already have?"
"Nothing, If I plan on hacking into your e-mail account."
"Alright. McGregor, Help Natalya."
"Yessir."
"You haven't hacked into my e-mail account, did you?"
"Turkish." called Jekyll.
"Mmm." mumbled Turkish.
"You, Skinner, Logan and I have our own work for the night."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, we're shopping for the Hardware, Guns, Explosives, the works. We need you to come and judge."
"Alright."
----------------------------
Turkish lit a cigarette as he and Logan walked towards the warehouse at nightime, right Behind Skinner and Jekyll.
"Max Zorba is an enemy of our enemy," said Skinner, "He used to be a millionaire, he owned a company that designed explosives and such. The League confiscated his assets and reduced him to a common thug. Seeing as how he can be regarded as sympathetic to our cause, He's giving us a discount, so let's not piss him off."
As they walked in, they were instantly met with the smell of wine and smoke. A few men decked in leather jackets approached them.
"Whose Skinner?" asked a young well built man with a Greek accent.
"I Am." said Skinner.
"We said no company."
"Well you can't expect me to show up in the middle of the night at an arms dealer's doorstep all be my onesies, can you?"
"Fine, whatever. I'll have to search you for weapons."
"Go ahead, but no cupping."
The man ran a metal detector all over Skinner's body, which detected his keys and nothing else. Next was Jekyll, then the Turkish who had to surrender a butterfly knife. Followed by Logan, whose metallic laced skeleton set of the metal detector.
"What the hell?"
"I have several corrective nails in my skeleton." said Logan, which prompted the young man to run one over his bare arm, and when he heard the buzzing decided that he was telling the truth.
"We'll be watching you, so don't do anything funny. He's at the corner."
The man at the corner was of his sixties, heavily bearded and had a build of a man who was a Juggernaut in his youth. He sat at a table, surrounded by armed bodyguards, sipping Greek coffee and taking occasional bites from a Mediterranean dish.
"Mr. Skinner, how are you?" he said in a Greek accent.
"Surviving, Max. Just surviving."
"What do you want?"
"A good woman and a great meal. But I need weapons."
"I suspect that's why you came to me, what do you need exactly?"
"Sniper riffles, Pistols, Grenades. A lot of Explosives."
"I have some Petris and Geldsmachers."
"No, that won't do." said Turkish.
"Excuse me?" asked Max.
"We require Desert Eagle handguns," said Turkish as he began peeking into the surrounding crates, "Ingrams, and a silenced Hampton Carbine or a Tobuk if you don't have that. And fifty kilograms of C4 and remote detenators."
"Who is this guy?" asked Max, not comfortable all of a sudden.
"He's the Turkish." said Skinner.
"You brought the Turkish in here?" asked one of surrounding thugs.
"Why?" asked Jekyll, "Turkish, did you do anything to these nice people?"
"Perhaps, it's difficult to keep track these days. Maybe it's just a Greek-Turkish thing."
"All right, whatever he did, I'm sure he's very sorry." said Skinner, "Max, do we have a deal?"
"Tony, Nick," ordered Max, "Get them what they want. The price is seventeen thousand quid. I need some time to get the C4, but you can get the guns today. And that's the last time you bring that Devil in here."