Alright, I'm still not getting much reviews, but I'm going to let it go due to the increase in the number of hits per chapter. Enjoy.

The Following Morning…

The Shadows all sat eating around the kitchen island, last night was a bitter occurrence for most of them, on count of the injuries they received or the awkwardness that followed that kiss of Turkish and Natalya's which they have kept for themselves.

Their escape was difficult, Logan punctured the tires of all cars of the League so they couldn't follow them, but he missed a couple so they were chased back to London and only managed to shake them off by ditching their car and carjacking a group of passing teenagers. Chas the cab driver had aided in helping Natalya and Turkish in moving to their new apartment. Once they managed to return, Jekyll tended to everyone's injuries and they retired to get some much needed rest.

"The man who attacked Jekyll is a mutant," said Logan as he ate, "His names is Caine Marko, but they call him the Juggernaut."

"Did you ever fight him?" asked Skinner.

"Yeah, I fought him…" said Logan, "And lost."

"Do you know anyone who defeated him?" asked Jekyll.

"Yeah, I do..." said Logan awkwardly, "There was this girl…"

"She must've been Huuuge!" commented Judas.

"Not really, she was skinny and… ehem… five feet tall."

Silence fell upon the group, and then they burst laughing.

"Oh, that's bloody priceless!"

"Pass the pancakes."

Logan's statement seemed to lighten up the mood and spirits were not so low anymore as they brushed last night off and started thinking ahead.

"Did any of you see that Ministry of Defense car?" asked Logan.

"Come again?" asked Jekyll.

"There was a Benz with a ministry license plate by the facility, what do you think of it?"

"I don't know, but… Jesus!"

"What?"

"I totally forgot! I saw Big Brother last night."

"You saw who?" asked Jekyll as silence fell once again.

"He was in the cabin with Dorian and Sofie, he got out quickly though."

"Is it safe to assume that Big Brother words for M.O.D.?"

"I would think so."

"FATE must be really serious in that case." said Natalya, "Does any of it strike a cord with anyone?"

"I've got nothing," said Judas, "Though it looked like they were mixing the occult with cutting edge technology."

"Probably a weapon." Turkish mumbled.

"That's very likely." said Skinner, "We need to get the film I shot analyzed, show it to someone who knows about these things."

"We also need to investigate that facility in West Sussex, It must have some significance since it would have been easier to do it in London." said Jekyll.

"Good idea. Natalya, I need you to come up with Big Brother's identity. His first name is Adam, he's five feet-nine inches tall, in his late forties to early fifties, dark haired and Caucasian. Search within the Ministry of Defense."

"Okay."

"How is the decrypting going on?"

"I need more time, maybe a day or two."

"You better hurry, time is running out. Whatever FATE is, I suspect they're going to get it back in working order very soon and I don't want to be in the dark when it does."

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L.H.Q.

"They caused a lot of damages, mainly to the computer system, but all vital machines are still functional." said Sofie as she sat at Dorian's side in her office, "The damages will require a few days to fix before it's transported to Asgard, after that it will be fully functional."

"Good, have Big Brother made any contact?"

"No, not at all, probably still too outraged."

"Yes, well… We can't do much about the old fop, can we?"

"We just need to keep standing for this week, once FATE is in full motion, the Shadows will be gone."

"Hmm. The more I hear about that, the better I feel about this job."

They both smiled as they got closer to each other, their lips met for a deep kiss.

There was a knock on the door so they parted and Dorian got up and walked out.

"I'll see you tonight." he said as Sofie's secretary walked in with an envelope.

"This just came in for you."

"Thank you, Zoë."

She opened the envelope as Zoë left and pulled out a picture.

Horrified, shocked and disgusted, she looked at the picture which showed Dorian, nude, in bed with two young and equally nude women.

"Oh no…"

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"Commander," said Tanner, "I have news."

Both Tanner and the tall handsome man were staying in an expensive suite the Ritz Hotel.

"Report."

"There was an assault by the Shadows on a League-run research facility in Crawley, West Sussex."

"Project FATE?"

"Yes, Sir. They managed to do some damage but were injured as well, they barely escaped and their headquarters was discovered, they had vacated it in the last second."

"Do you believe they might know what FATE is?"

"Not likely, their acts were probably a result of their instincts."

"Right, well, do you know where their new quarters are? I must contact them."

"I'm working on that, Sir."

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"Did you find anything useful?" asked Jekyll.

"Yes! In early February of forty-three a line of bombs fell on the town centre of Crawley killing two people. This area has yet to be rebuilt. "

"Lot's of boring shite, eh?"

Jekyll and Kemp were sitting in a library amidst dozens of books and manuscripts detailing the mind numbing history of Sussex and Crawley, they were the only ones there with the exception of a snoozing young scholar and the old librarian doing the crossword puzzle.

"You know, we could sneak in a case of bear."

"Alright, that's enough banter. Focus on the books."

Judas jadedly pulled another manuscript towards him which read, 'The Mystical Significance of Sussex by Trevor Bruttenholm, PhD'.

He went on reading for ten minutes before alerting Jekyll.

"I think I've found somethin'."

"What is it?"

"It seems Crawley is a regular Mecca for those into the occult, It's been reported to have been visited by such noted supernaturalists such as Ambrose Bierce, Sar Dubonal, Roderick Burgess and a Doctor Sax. It had some major significance for pagan tribes before Christianity due to a high concentration of ley lines."

"Ley lines?"

"They're hypothetical alignments of a number of places of interest, such as ancient monuments and the likes, though some believe them to have mystical value as well, and apparently, some magnetic energy to it as well. The theory is, if you travel along some of these lines, you're going to experience some sort of ethereal connection to the cosmos."

"So, you're saying that they chose Crawley as a location for the facility because it hold a powerful magical energy."

"Yeah, it sounds like a load of tripe if you ask me, but it's worth looking into."

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Natalya sat before the laptop as it revealed the identity of Big Brother after hours of searching.

"Hi." said Turkish as he walked in.

"Oh, hi. I discovered who Big Brother is." said Natalya.

"Oh?"

Turkish leaned over her shoulder and stared at the screen, reading aloud, "Rear Admiral Adam Sutler … Falkland Isles … Ministry of Defense … Fundamentalist Conservative with ties to the B.N.P. . Sounds like a real prince."

"Where is everyone?" she asked as he straightened up and stepped back.

"Out, Logan is still here."

"How is your hand?"

"Not so bad."

Natalya turned around in her chair to speak to him as he sat at a chair by the window.

"Listen, about last night…"

"Do you want to pretend it never happened?"

"No! Nothing like that. Why, do you?"

"No, not at all. So what do you want to do?"

"Skinner gave me a speech that day about getting emotionally involved with…"

"I know, he gave me the same sermon."

"I figured he did. The fact is: he's not wrong."

"Oh."

"I don't mean that in a bad way, I'm just saying that we should keep it professional until this is all over."

"Alright, I can handle that."

"Or at least try to look professional."

"Oh, good. Because I'm not sure I could have handled being professional."

Natalya smiled as both leaned forward in their chairs for a kiss when suddenly as the were centimeters apart, they heard a groan from the outside, they both sprang back as Logan walked in.

"What the hell were you doing?" he asked.

"Err."

"Natalya discovered who Big Brother is."

"Oh yeah?"

Logan read the vitals on the screen.

"Oh, you really did. Did you know there is no beer in the fridge?"

"I haven't noticed."

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Skinner walked by shop fronts as he spoke with Jekyll on his cell phone.

"Did you find anything?" asked Skinner.

"Jude came up with a lot of information about ley lines and mysticism and bog I don't understand, you?"

"I showed the tape to some academic types, one told me that computer used is the type used to regulate CCTV, some historian told me that the spinning machine is made of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts used to search for lost treasure."

"It all seems mismatched."

"Yeah, let's hope Natalya is about to earn her keep very soon. Are you done?"

"Yes, but Jude wants to consult some of his friends."

"Fine, I need to hit some of my contacts too. I'll be at the flat by evening."

"Alright, take care."

"Bye."

Unbeknownst to Skinner, he was being watched from across the street by Tanner and the Commander.

"Do you realize the future of the world may rest on that man's shoulders?" asked Tanner as he looked at Skinner as he walked into a shop.

"They're not his alone."

"Yes, but he leads them, I have to say I'm not going to bet the castle on a team lead by a man who is Rodney Skinner, sure, they've exceeded our expectation for some time, but their luck won't last forever."

"You never know, Tanner."

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The Shadows had gathered in the hall of their apartment as Jekyll and Skinner both displayed a worried expression, Jekyll stood before the group explaining what FATE had turned out to be.

"We had analyzed the tape, researched the location of the facility where FATE was being tested and fully decrypted all the disks. Putting all our findings together and using some deductive reasoning, we have discovered the purpose and nature of Project FATE. It is not a weapon, but something just as bad; it's a mass surveillance system. Apparently, it has the ability to discover the whereabouts and monitor any individual employing the use of Internet technology and magical divination rituals, which explains how they discovered our presence last night. They were trying it out and used Logan, Jude, Skinner andor myself as a subject."

"Wait, it doesn't sound that bad." said Judas.

"It is." said Skinner, "Once it's fully operational, the league will be able to spy on everything and everyone, more specifically, they will be able to eradicate every last Shadow Operative within a month."

"Oh, it is that bad." said Judas.

"Not to mention that simple privacy will be lost forever." said Logan.

Jekyll continued, "The two cornerstones of FATE are a machine composed of ancient artifacts that makes use of the ley lines concentrated in Crawley, and a computer that receives a limited data stream from the All-Seeing-Eye supercomputer, so it has it's limits and can only do s much. However, the aforementioned computer will be eventually replaced with the All-Seeing-Eye itself, in which case, it will need no Ley lines to operate, and at that point, it will have limitless power and will enable Big Brother or Adam Sutler as he is actually known to monitor every individual in England, and very soon, Europe; it's easy to figure out what would happen next."

Skinner stood up and faced the seated four and said, "We have wounded FATE but haven't killed it, we can not afford for it to heal and merge with 'The Eye', and so, we will wage our final battle against the league."

The statement was entirely sudden and questionable, and they all maintained their posture as they tried to figure out how to react.

"I know what you're thinking, we still haven't gotten back the intelligence we've been looking for all this time and we've been back for a little over a week, but we can't wait any longer."

Later…

Tanner, the Commander and the woman that had received them from the airport stood before the apartment building they had witnessed Skinner enter. It was time.

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The group had once again disassembled to contemplate matters each on their own, while Logan was engaging Jekyll and Skinner in a heated conversation, they didn't notice as the trio had walked in through the unlocked front door.

"The Shadow Brigade, I presume?" asked the tall handsome Commander with a smile.

First there was surprise, then there was confusion, then alarm, then hostility as Logan slowly extended his claws. Meanwhile, Jekyll was feeling that the handsome face with the chiseled jaw was oddly familiar.

"Now, Logan," said the commander, "It's not very hospitable to flash your claws at possible allies."

"Allies?" asked Skinner, "Before we kill, disfigure and dump you, would you mind telling us who the fuck are you?"

"Oh, please allow me to introduce myself…"

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Turkish had found Natalya in the kitchen, she smiled genuinely at him and after making sure no one was looking, he leaned to kiss her deeply.

"I've been waiting all day to do that." he said with a smile as they parted.

"James!" asked Natalya as she looked out the door.

"What?"

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"My name is Bond," said the commander, "James Bond."

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