Come on! Throw a dog a frickin' bone here, I've checked my ststs page and I'm getting 25 hits per chapter, yet I havn't ghad a single review in seven chapters. Do it, for my sake, it won't hurt.

Mr. Trick woke up a few hours prior to Midnight, he walked to the kitchen draped in a silk robe and poured some water and coffee into the coffee maker, took a bag of blood from the freezer and tossed into the microwave and walked out to the bathroom where he took of the robe, marveled at his lack of reflection and walked into the shower. All the time he was thinking about the Shadows and how they had returned with a bang, a bang that was accompanied by the firing of a bullet that ended up in Bain's skull.

Unlike most of the other members of the League, Mr. Trick never did underestimate what they were capable of. He knew they could kill at least most of them if they wanted to, but were too wise to do something rash like that.

He turned on the water as he was thinking of Judas Kemp, and how they would eventually settle their unfinished business when the sensation hit him.

The water burned him like concentrated acid and Hellfire, the pain was so terrible that it prevented him from thinking of screaming, he finally jumped out of the stream and curled on the floor looking at his blistered skin.

"Holy Water?" he mused, "Oh, very cute. Someone is gonna pay for this, This is very uncool!"

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Dorian walked into the conference room the following morning where all other Operatives were gathered, all in a bad mode, as he was, having still not understood what had happened two nights ago.

"We should just kill them!" Sebastian Cain the Invisible man said, "What's the use of all those spies if you can't find six people you already know everything about."

"What's wrong, Mr. Cain, do you miss your Reflection?"

"The Shadow Ass-Monkeys, that's what's wrong!" Elle Driver said, her blue eyes widening in rage.

"They've been pulling some pranks lately." said Trick calmly, as he was still slightly burned, "They blessed the water in my building."

"They cleared out my bank account!" said Elle.

"They stole my cat!" said Ethan.

"Good god!" said Dorian then turned to Sofie and said, "Sofie, fetch me a violin."

The room calmed down a bit, with the exception of Kroenen sounding of something from behind his gas mask that could be a grunt of disapproval.

"They also totaled my car. They're playing mind games, and you're living up to their wildest dreams, get a grip."

"Well, we can't just let them run loose and pretend the problem is going to solve itself. We should have picked them up days ago." said Sands.

"I must confess," started Dorian, "I was rather ignorant to have underestimated them two moths ago. The truth is, they are formidable opponents. The Sniper managed to outdraw and outshoot half a dozen of agents, Dr. Jekyll managed to reduce dozens of demons to a heap of dislocated organs, I know of personal experience what James Howlett is capable of, and while Skinner used to be nothing more than a crude drunk, he has developed an advanced sense of leadership and strategic skills."

"But, we're still better than them. We have the upper hand and don't you forget that, and in a few days, we'll be able to locate them with ease, until then, assume a state of alertness and stay calm."

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Ethan Rayne's cat was an orange Tabei. Judas stroke its neck as it drank from a bowl of milk, Logan stood by in the kitchen by the fridge watching in bewilderment.

"What is that thing still doing here?" asked Logan.

"She has nowhere else to go, silly sausage."

"You're keeping it?"

"Oh, yes. I used to have a Siamese before I was locked up, I named him Theo. What does she look like to you?"

"It looks like a cat from where I'm standing."

"Helen maybe?" wondered Judas, "Or Sandy?"

"How about…" started Logan as he was trying to come up with a proper name and picking out a couple of bottles of beer, "Aw, throw it out, Jude. This is too creepy!"

Logan walked away and joined a very bored looking Turkish as he sat watching his heavily bandaged hand.

"OOO!" Judas hollered, "You look like a Peta, Yes! Peta shall be your name, Peta Kemp."

Judas paused, looking at the feline fondly as it drank.

"I'll tell you a secret, Peta. I plan on drinking you dry one of these days."

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"How's the hand?" asked Logan.

"Hurts." said Turkish.

"We're moving out tomorrow, to a house in Putney."

"I heard."

"Beer?"

"I don't drink."

"Religious thing?"

"Yeah, but go ahead."

Logan bit the cap off and poured the liquid into his mouth and kept silent for several minutes.

"Did Jekyll clear you for action?"

"No."

"Well, you're a regular chatter box." said Logan, to which Turkish faintly smiled as the pair fell into silence again for a minute.

"Don't you remember anything from your past life?" asked Turkish as he felt in a mood for conversation.

"Just fragments, I remember being in Canada for some time, I remember growing up in a mansion."

"But no memory of family?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Have you tried jump-starting your memory?"

"I tried hypnosis, medication, magic, zen masters and everything except plumbing. It rarely does anything worth the trouble. Sometimes if I see a face I've seen before or I hear something I've heard before, I get memory flashes about it, but that rarely ever happens. It's all my fault."

"How so?"

"I volunteered to a military experiment to give me my claws, the trauma and the pain wiped out my memory."

"That bad, huh? I'll say, you must be rather frightened about finding out who you were."

"What d you mean?"

"Well, what if you learned you were not the noblest of men, or even in the top ninety percent? What if you learned you caused a lot of misery back in the day? I'm surprised you hadn't thought about that."

Logan took a swig of beer and looked ahead at the switched-off TV.

"Or didn't you?" asked Turkish.

"I did, a lot. My students tell me that was a totally different person and that whoever I turned out to have been, It won't change who I am to then."

"That's very enlightened of them."

"What the hell do they know? They're sixteen for Christ's sake!"

Turkish chuckled.

"What about you, I heard Natalya say you used to be a photographer."

"Natalya? Does she usually talk about me?" asked Turkish with some eagerness.

"No, she told Skinner you used to be a photographer so he'd tell you to photograph Dorian with his pants down, how did that go by the way?"

"I went, I saw, I took pictures. That Dorian is one big sex maniac. What were we talking about?"

"How did…."

"…I become an assassin, quit right. Well, I used to be an independent photographer, I was working in India at the time. I came upon a group of foreigners executing some natives, I took pictures of it all. I don't know why they did it, and I don't know who they were, But they managed to get me locked up. I was malnourished and half-mad from all the solitary confinement, which is why you people find me generally laconic."

"Jesus!"

"But there was a man who saved me. His name was Ra's Al Ghul, have you ever heard of him?"

"No."

"Anyway, he offered me a home and a position in his army of Vigilantes who were called the League of Shadow, I was taught how to fight and exact violent justice, I was specifically trained to be a sharpshooter. After serving for some years, I became disenchanted with the whole thing and drifted away from them, Why? Because they were all mad as Arseholes! Now ask me why did I join you."

"Why did you?"

"Prior to my Departure, Ra's Al Ghul informed me he would need my help in obliterating a villainous opposing organization that has committed various crimes against humanity, the organization he was planning to wage war against was the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. However, Ra's and the League of Shadows were destroyed during a failed attempt at destroying Gotham City, which proves they were really crazy bastards."

"That doesn't answer my question, you said you drifted apart from them, so why continue their plans?"

"I really loved Ra's, he saved my life and was the closest thing to family that I had. And he was right in his position, the world would be better if not for the League."

"Well, I gotta tell you, hearing all that makes me feel a lot better."

"Why?"

"Oh, Judas and me were having this bet that you were a mole and that you'd kill us all, I didn't think so, though."

Turkish looked over his shoulder at Judas who was playing with Peta the cat.

"Well, he's mad as Arseholes himself. Did Skinner actually tell him to steal Rayne's cat?"

"No, he did it on his own."

They were both silent for a few moments before Logan said, "So, you and Natalya, huh?" with a grin.

"Sorry? There's no me and Natalya." Turkish retorted quickly with a slight stammer.

"Come on, we heard about you two having dinner together. You were really concerned about her when she got back from Italy. I've seen how you look at her, plus, your face lit up when I said she was talking about you."

"I'm that obvious, eh?"

"Yeah, did you sleep with her?"

"No, can't say that I have. Does anyone else know?"

"Jude suspects it, but he also suspects something going on with Jekyll and Skinner, Skinner knows, Jekyll knows but doesn't care, I think Dorian knows too!"

"Ha ha. Speaking of the devil, does seeing Dorian stir up any memories in you?"

"It actually did," said Logan, "I was focusing on his picture and I remember catching him off guard sometime in the fifties."

"What do you mean?"

"He was awkward, like I found out something about him that he wanted hidden. I think… I think I might know his weakness."

"Did you try remembering it?"

"There is no chance in hell I could do that."

"How about seeing him in person, did that do anything?"

"It made me remember how I really hated him."

There was a long pause.

"Does Natalya know?" asked Turkish.

"I don't think so. But then again, who knows women? Of course, you could tell her."

"I can't, Skinner told me to keep it to myself. Besides, I don't think she'll be too fond of me, seeing as how I almost got her rapped."

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Sofie opened the envelope that was sent to her apartment, it had no return address on it. She looked into it and saw nothing but a single photo.

The picture was dark and grainy and it depicted a man in bed during carnal experience with two young women, the man's face was turned away but she could tell that he had dark black hair.

She instantly knew who it was intended to be, and who sent it. It was another of the Shadows' shenanigans, meant to mess with her trust of Dorian. She instantly walked away, deciding she wouldn't think about it, since it was such a devious and pathetic thing to dwell about.

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"We're making headway." said Natalya.

"Some good news at last," said Jekyll as he hovered above Natalya's shoulder as she sat at her computer, "What is it?"

"I've decrypted some of the files, the supposed meeting is happening tonight at midnight."

"Jesus," said Skinner, "That's four hours from now!"

"What about a location?"

"It should be coming up right about…now."

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Crawley, West Sussex

The building that most locales knew absolutely nothing abut was seeing strange activity at this time of night, as several cars and trucks drove in and out, several Agents crossed the surrounding area making sure no one would breach the vicinity.

A black Mercedes Benz with a Ministry of Defense license plate drove up to the building and a few Government Agents, whose appearance matched that of the League's except their suits were brown.

One of the Agents opened the door and out stepped Big Brother himself, dressed in well tailored clothes and displaying a general attitude sophistication and his sense of superiority.

Dorian Gray walked over to him and shook his hand.

"Good to finally meet again after all these years, Big Brother."

"Likewise, Mr. Gray."

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Heathrow Airport

Two men walked out last out of their plane, they walked down onto British soil, a young pleasant woman was already on the runway.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Commander?"

"Yes, Tanner, It's good to be home."

R&R, or I'llkill someone very dead off.