Chapter 2:
The Stocks
†Author's Notes†
Well, day one of having my story on the air, and I'm already getting called on my lack of detail and ideas. That I might be able to fix my dear readers, that I might be able to fix. Also, a tour threw the LXG section on or whatever it is, has convinced me that a few things need to be said before people take my characters and spork them to death. I have read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" "The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde", and "Dracula" before. Yet I must state, they were the abridged versions due to the fact that they were all I had laying around. I will make an attempt to read the full and unabridged stories about all of the characters forthcoming. I am doing my best to make each of the League sound as they should, without killing the characters and my dictionary. I am going by the movie verse at this time, and might incorporate parts of the graphic novel into it. It is not my wish to see these characters under a spork or my name mentioned at someone's sporking party. I have also been called on my spelling mistakes. I am not a good speller, and the typing program I am using is not tuff stuff. It is good, but the spell check is not the best. In fact it remains awful. So if this annoys you, please know that I'm trying. This story is also a rewrite of my other story, "Teen Heroes". I stopped it because of my inspiration ran out. Unless something random happens and my muse for that area of life steps back in, "Teen Heroes" will remain at a standstill. These characters are the same ones with somewhat different names thrown into the LXGverse. … Anything I've missed?
†
The stocks, also known also as "the brig". In other words, an on vessel prison. Like the rest of the Nautilus, it was white. The décor was decreased, and that was putting it lightly. It was a room. A white hall led to another door, and then, the outside world. It had no windows, unless into the wall. The outside ocean wasn't seen, and only a lantern lit the walls. There were built in benches and beds from the wall on one side of the room, also white, and they cast shadows on the ground that made the room seam more alive with shadows then it was. The tweens filed in, taking stock of their surroundings as they walked in. A blue robed man stepped out behind them, closed and locked the inside door, then walked down the hallway, out the other door and shut and locked it behind him. Hearing taps of his feet fade quickly under the doors, the sextet slowly unwound.
"Well this is a grand situation," said Kriss bitingly. Kali rounded on him.
"Is that something against me?" she asked, her voice hard.
"Did I say that?" he asked. Kali kept her eyes on his, the danger in them not abating. "Still." he continued. "It's a definite right predicament." This time, she didn't attack him, but went to one of the corners in the room and laid down on one of the bedlike shelves. Filing themselves around the room, the atmosphere got very quiet, till Kriss spoke again.
"Did you have to say what you said?" Kali opened her eyes. "I mean, I know you were stumped, but "students from the future?" Isn't that a little overdoing it?"
"I tried my best. I didn't see you coming up with any bright ideas Kurusaka." He fell silent at this.
Snapping followed around the room. After about 30 seconds of the same noise, Maya sat up and looked around for the source. It was Art.
"What are you trying to do?" she asked.
"Well, call me crazy, but I have nothing else to do, and I want to see if I can do something I did once again," she said. The snapping continued. Maya watched her for a few more minuets before asking something else.
"What was it that you did once?"
"I-" began Art as her fingers produced sparks and flames exploded from her hand into a ball of the flame that burnt over her hand. "That." she finished. Maya gaped. All who weren't too tired to watch, watched as she made it dance, expanded it, put it out, and conjured it again. Her flame suddenly flared into a giant column. Maya threw up her hands to cover the woodwork and the floor with her telekinetic abilities. Art just watched it as it blossomed into water then drifted into leaves on the floor. Kie watched the fire do this with amazement on his face.
"Was that you?" he asked quietly. Art shook her head vigorously no as Kriss grinned. He shifted his hands, and the ball of fire appeared before her again in the shape it had taken when she had first conjured it. Maya let her shield down as they watched Kriss smirk.
"So what would that count as?" asked Art. "Elemental control?"
"I was thinking," he started, and paused pulling a few pieces of fruit out of the air. "Magic." he finished and passed them around to the rest of those who wanted them.
"This must take you a step above Criss Angel then Kriss," said a mocking voice. He looked at Maya whose cheeky smile gave him all the information he needed.
"Or a stairway above." he said. Laughter ensued. Only Kali and Ryder didn't laugh. Kali looked to be asleep, until she sat up with a light shriek.
"What?" asked several voices.
In truth, it was nothing save her back.
"Oh, nothing." she said quietly. The intense pain flying threw her spine and into her shoulder blades. Hiding the evidence of the pain, she looked around. Kie, Art, Kriss, and Maya all had something in way of a power now, as did she. The only one left to gain anything was-
A light moan caught her attention. Her eyes flicked to Ryder who was lying down on one of the bedlike shelves adjacent to her. Like her, he was hiding the pain as best he could. On knee raised on top of the shelf, his other leg thrown off the edge and his coat spread accordingly. He had his hands folded on top of his stomach, and his body looked relaxed, until you looked at it again. Even in the half-light of the room, he had a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, and his hands were pressed together in an effort to keep him from crying out. Kali knew his sense of pride, had been the victim of it more then once. She could not go and help him without them not knowing. He wouldn't like it, and she didn't want any weird thoughts in her friend's heads. Much as they had all aged past their present ages in their time, Kali had doubts that they had mentally aged to the estimated 20 years.
She watched the behaviour of her friends. Somehow, it seamed almost typical. Art and Kie relaxing in a corner, leaning on each other, being typical of themselves. Maya, pacing. Her speed didn't increase, but the pounding of her feet sounded as if she was trying to abate the energy that came from being cooped up without a computer. Kriss had pulled up his knees and had his head back against the wall. Looking as if to be sleeping, when he lifted his head back up, Kali knew he wasn't. Only attempting to escape confinement, if only mentally. None of them liked to be cooped up. Kriss felt this was wrong, Maya was getting restless, Art was also getting touchy, but the presence of Kie calmed her slightly. Getting bored of the laying down position, Kali spun up, catching her side on a few things on her belt, and something long in her pocket. Her back flashed in pain, running down her spine and spreading to her ribs this time. She bit her tongue almost hard enough to bleed to keep from crying out, and turned to Ryder. She figured that her empathy was still not pure, she could probably only feel the medium to worst of it, while he got the entire batch. Why did she think that? She had a painful buzzing in her bones, and flashes of pain that brought her to crying out. While if you turned to him, he was digging his nails into his hands to keep from crying out, almost constantly.
She felt down her belt to figure out what had caught her side. She felt something very long and thin in a sheath, it was probably very sharp. A few other long objects sat beside it. They were not as thin as the other was and their sheaths were lighter. However, they were lighter. A slight grin came to her lips. Three throwing knives, what looked to be a stiletto, and … what was this last thing on her belt? She yanked it out. In 2007, it would be a pocket knife. Except for the fact that it very much longer then any she had seen. There was no catch on the blade to pull it out. Not even a knob like her dad's knife had. Then again, her dad's knife was much smaller then this one. Examining the black handle inlaid with … at this, she gasped, as another wave of pain hit her. It was more intense then the others, and she found herself dropping the knife, bent over holding her chest with a slight choking sound. Looking over at Ryder as inconspicuously as she could, she found he had rolled off the bench and was on his knees doing the same as she.
Maya and Kriss had gotten into an argument and had not noticed the situation as of yet. Art and Kie had and were just getting up. Kali shook her head at them as much as she could. Both of them registered looks of confusion as they looked at her for clarification. She could not give them a decent answer without verbal explanation, but after forcing her teeth together to deal with the pain and fighting it down, she shook her head at them again. They obeyed, but kept an eye on the two of them. Their eyes speaking what their mouths had been asked not to. Fear.
†
After the sextet of visitors had been escorted down and away from sight, the remainder of the League had looked at each other with tired confusion. They almost seamed to be asking each other if the other had seen the same thing as they had. The atmosphere of dejected sadness abated slightly with Nemo speaking.
"I can offer the conference room with some tea as the best place to speak of this." Mina and Jekyll nodded. Tom set his gun down on the floor with a thud. Holding it at arms length with his other hand on his hip; he stared at the floor. Henry came towards the lad and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on Tom." he said quietly, guiding the agent down the hall with the rest of them.
The conference room doubled as a dinning room. Large, spacious, white, the columns where part of the decoration that was patterned throughout the vessel. The black table in the middle was long enough for the entire League when it was complete, and more. During the first few days of the voyage to Venice, none of the League had ever eaten dinner here together. After Gray's betrayal of them, and Skinner's disappearance no pun intended with M and Gray himself, they had started to eat together, become … friends, even with their disagreements. Captain Nemo sat at the head, by the gramophone that had been repaired. None of them even touched it now, not after the bombs going off from the recording disk placed by Gray. Old habits die hard, and the fear from that experience had never left. Jekyll pulled out a chair for Mina as she came up. Passing a slight smile to her lips for him, she sat. He moved around the table to sit himself, Sawyer probably would have retaliated somehow, if he had noticed anything had happened there. Rifle over his shoulders, he hung his hands on it, looking down at the floor as he leaned against a column beside Jekyll. Tea arrived swiftly, and was poured. Sawyer declined, but the rest had a cup, Henry sat drinking it, as if he had nothing else to do or say. Both Mina and Nemo just watched it steam.
"Where's Skinner, do you think?" the southern drawl brought them out of the silence.
"Well since seeing him is slightly impossible," said Mina curtly.
"I noticed food disappearing last night, I believe he ate with us at dinner." stated the doctor. Nemo shrugged.
"So. What are we going to do about them?" asked Sawyer. Silence reigned for a minuet.
"I don't like this, and I don't trust them. How do we know it isn't a trick?" asked Mina.
"They told us about us. I do not believe anyone outside Africa knows that Allan is dead. This means that either they are telling the truth, or someone is pulling strings. How else could they get on the Nautilus? I've never heard of anyone that can just appear in different places," said Jekyll. Being a doctor, he might know.
"No one could get onto my Lady when she was locked up as she is now," said Nemo, forestalling any question on the matter.
"Why didn't we ask them about our future then?" asked Mina. Silence reigned for a moment as they attempted to come up with an answer.
"I wish to not know of what my future holds. I desire to find out myself, without another to inform me," said the captain quietly.
"I agree with Nemo," said Jekyll.
"My future, is something I want to find on my own. I might like to know what the future holds though. Not mine, but in general. What is coming? What of the dreams we have now? Will they be true in the world as they are in our heads?" Mina looked up at Sawyer with a shocked expression as he looked up wistfully at the ceiling. She had never before heard him be that poetic.
"What of the League's future?" asked Jekyll. The subject pulled a silence string.
"Well from our adventures prior to now, it looks like we are far from danger-free. It might be a good idea to make sure they have a bit of knowledge under their belts about a weapon here until they go back to their own time," said Tom. Nemo and Jekyll nodded in agreement.
"Perhaps, we could also teach them some of our trades if they wish to learn. I have not had a student for a time, and if they may prove themselves worthy, we may be able to teach them much for them to take back to their own time." suggested Mina.
"Somethin' tells me that I think they might be even able to help us improve our crafts," said Sawyer. They looked at him. He shrugged. "Well, you never know."
"Hmm… Perhaps, if the occasion calls for it, we may be able to use them for the League," ventured Nemo. The others blinked, or looked curiously at him. Mina's ice blue eyes widened slightly as she looked at the brave Indian.
"What proof do you have that they could make the gaps in our ranks lessen?" she asked sharply. She instantly regretted her tone as she closed her lips. She meant the words, but she liked the man, he had done her no wrong and had been friends with Allan as she had. Much as she missed the crotchety old arrogant man, she knew he did too. Nemo looked up at the ceiling.
"The lady, the one with the different names. I have yet to hear of the name "Kalypso" or, what was it, "Kal"? However, I know of "Kali". She is the goddess of death in my country, something tells me that she and her friends are as extraordinary as we are. I would rather have that power on our side protecting my back, rather then attacking my throat." Wisdom was heard in the man's words, with or without the knowledge of the Goddess.
"I don't trust them Captain. Something about this doesn't add up, we don't know them, and yet here we are talking about inducting them into the League." stated Mina.
"Mrs Harker, I mention the League in connection to them because however powerful they are, we together are more powerful then they. If they prove themselves trustworthy, and correct in their sayings, perhaps we may begin to trust them. From there, things could go anywhere, to any end. Like you, I do not trust them. But I see no problem with letting them prove to me they are right. If I learn they are lying to us, their blood will fly faster then you will see." said Nemo
"What about Skinner?" asked Jekyll. The thief had been well behaved as of late, his wanderings threw their belongings had lessoned, at least the evidence of his wanderings threw their belongings had lessoned. His burnt skin had healed, and he had been wearing actual clothes every so often. Still as cheeky as ever, he had started to associate with the crew as well as the League and had taught them all a few pick pocketing manuvers. "Just in case." he had said. Probably with a wink. "Shouldn't he be asked as well?" continued the doctor.
"Considering that he is not here at the moment," said Mina with a shrug.
"Ooh Mina, you ought to know better then that. You never say that I'm not there, 'cause you don't know if I am or not." the voice came from the corner beside Nemo. Soft padding feet moved past Mina and the black leather coat on a chair halfway down the table lifted into the air, and took the shape of the invisible man.
"Where have you been exactly?" asked Sawyer.
"Around Tom, I've been around. I heard everything you said, I even saw the buggers come in. Just appeared on the floor in a heap they did. I think that they normally aren't what they look like." said the invisible man, moving towards the other half of the table a bit more. His thick accent gave his voice a distinct flavour that was rich and interesting. Like Sawyer's southern drawl, it had made them feel better when they heard it.
"What do you mean?" asked Henry confused.
"I mean, that the girl had to make sure that everyone was alright. She seamed to need clarification around how the lads sounded. It looked like she had never heard them speak in the voices they had."
"So you're saying…" started Jekyll. Skinner nodded, forgetting he was invisible.
"That normally they look and sound different, in their own time at least." The thief's words really didn't change anything, just brought to the League's attention the fact he had brought up.
"Skinner, did they seam to normally be older or younger?" asked Nemo.
"Well they said they were students, didn't they Nemo? They sounded surprised that their voices had deepened, as if they were younger before coming here."
"How much younger?" asked the chemist.
"Maybe a few years, not by much."
"Skinner, go see what you can get out of them. They know of you, so be discrete. And don't spook them."
"Spook 'em? Mina, you know me better then that. I wouldn't dream of it. I'll be back soon, don't let your knickers get in a knot lads and lady." The coat moved out the door and down the hallway. Sawyer raised an eyebrow.
"Looks like this is going to be interesting."
"What, letting Skinner do some spying?" asked Mina. Sawyer gave a half smile.
"Yeah, that too."
†
The pain had not abated, but it had not gotten worse yet. Kali knew that Ryder was getting the worst of it, and it made her feel bad. She could share it with him, but she couldn't completely take it away. She focused her mind away to anything that could take her mind off the pain. Moving was slightly difficult to accomplish, so she ignored the idea of attempting to see what was in her pocket and what the knife on the floor was. Shutting her eyes, she breathed. Pulling her mind into a meditative stance, she pushed thoughts away. Her mind was a dark room. A wide domed room with darkness spreading around the edges like a fog. Anything that came into her mind was pushed away as you could gently push a cat away from you. Thoughts of the pain, of the slow dull ache that came from unrequited love, panic at if they would ever be able to return home, if they would disappear from not existing in this time. Her imagination was running away from her, until she just got fed up with it and put a clamp on it. She opened her eyes again, the arguing had stopped and all was dark. For a second Kali wondered if she had just kept her eyes closed. She blinked a few times before a spasm of pain took her again. She forgot about not crying out, and let out a pained moan.
"Kali?" came the voice of a scared Art. "Are you aright? Where are you?" Dealing with the pain, Kali opened her eyes. It was dark, even the half-light had disappeared. Ryder, it must be his power. But if this is his power, then why is he in so much pain? Calling verbally was at this point, impossible. She called to her friend in her mind. Maya. Maya perked up. Wondering what this voice in her head was. Kali? she asked. She wondered at the extent of her telepathy. Reading minds was to be part of it, obviously, but how could Kali contact her if she didn't have telepathy too? Maya realized that Kali was using her mind to call to her. She just heard it because of her telepathy.
Maya, I'm alright, its just my empathy. Stay where you are. I think I know what's going on. Make sure they know its ok, and not to panic. Things are going to be ok.
What? Tell me what the heck is going on Kali! But she couldn't link back to her friend's mind again. She growled and relayed the message. She really would like to know how Kali learned how to block her mind from telepathic sensing.
†
Moving slowly, Kali moved towards where she had last seen Ryder. She heard a ripping noise and a pained scream. Wincing with the sound, and falling to her knees again with the pain, she gripped her arms hard enough to leave bruises rather then make any noise. The others were spooked enough, it wouldn't help their panic to hear anything from her. Light sparked behind her. Two bursts came from where she knew her friends to be. One was white, the other was orange yellow. It would be Kriss and Art attempting to push back the darkness with their powers. Moving to her feet again, she moved as carefully and as quickly as she could. She needed to find Ryder before something else happened and she was struck with the pain again. The darkness grew blacker as she moved closer. Her toe touched something, and she knew she had found him. The pain ripped threw her back again, and she fell to her knees with a soft cry. It hurt more then the other ones had, because she was closer to him now then before. The pain let up for a second and she moved her hand towards him.
"Rye?" she asked quietly. A light moan was her answer. Her hand touched the leather of his jacket, and her other hand followed. Finding his shoulder, she moved her hand to where the pain was coming from. Something sprouted from his back. Large, soft and …feathery? She blinked. Wings. He had wings. That would explain much of the pain. Her touch on the strong new attachments to his body, made him shiver and want to scream. He knew who it was of course. No one else in this room would have the same revered touch, and will to make sure he was alright. Her left hand holding his left shoulder, her right feeling her wings and the soft feathers that covered them. The darkness steamed from him, but with his eyes closed and the pain getting to him, he thought it was just a fantasy brought about by a sick body and a fevered mind.
"Rye. I'm here. Its alright. The pain will stop, you just need to hold on." she said quietly into his ear. Another wave of pain took them both and they doubled over. His wings stretched out to full length. His left drifted along the wall and up to the ceiling. She still held his shoulder.
He didn't want the pain, he just wanted that to stop. Any thing that would make it stop. He wanted her to stop being such a goody two shoes. She had no idea what it felt like, why was she saying that it would stop? It hadn't stopped in the last 45 minutes, why would it stop now? As the pain abated, he wouldn't move his arms. He wanted Sora, Sora could help him. She couldn't.
The pain wasn't the only thing coming now, she felt his dislike of her build to hatred. She knew him well enough to know he didn't mean it, but he was strong enough to be incredibly dangerous when he wanted to be. Kali knew that she would probably be in danger if she stayed there with him while he was still under the influence of the pain, but she wouldn't leave. To leave would be to let him go, and to leave him with the pain would be cowardly. It wasn't who she was, and wasn't who she was going to be known as. Being able to sit up made things easier as she slipped her hand into his.
"I'm not leaving. Not until the pain is passed." she whispered in his ear. Much as he wanted her to leave, having something to hold onto, someone to tell him that despite the fact he wanted them away they were going to stay made him feel a bit better. His wings hadn't completely grown out yet however, and another bout of pain laced across his body as the feathers pulled from his skin. Touching his skin as this happened, she felt exactly the same amount of agony as he did, and cried out. His grip on her hand was bruising, to say the least. The darkness flared around them both as it took an almost solid form. Wrapping around the duo, it pulled them tighter together. He laid his head on her shoulder, he was so tired. Sooo… .tired…
Agony, and twin cries burst from them. In the midst of it, the solid darkness power that had seeped from him came back to be absorbed. Instead of being absorbed however, it curled around him. The loops that held Kali to him still held, but grew tighter. The pain was ebbing, she could feel that much, but the last bout would be the worst of all of it. It was harder to breath with the dark ropes around her body. He was probably getting the worst of it. She heard a choke for a second and lost her concentration. The pain hit them both like knives threw their bodies, and they both didn't even worry about the others, screams loosed from their throats that lasted a short second. But the pain wasn't done yet. It kept itself at a steady stream, hurting, but not enough to make them cry out. Kali heard choking for a second, as the ropes pulled from her. His power, it was strangling him. Panic surged threw her. What do I do? she thought frantically to herself. They don't exactly teach you how to free one of your friends from his power in the midst of getting a pair of wings to finish growing from his back. A jolt maybe? But what kind? I don't have electricity in my powers, and there's no time to call to Kriss and explain. Something to take his mind off his powers. That would do it, but what? In an instant, her mind was made up. He would probably hate her for this, and she would probably hate herself too, but it was the only thing she could think of at the time. She leaned over, and kissed him.
It worked. As soon as she felt his pain stop and his being go out like a light, she let go. Panting heavily, she caught him as he went slack. The darkness dissipated, and his wings spread out under him as she laid him on the floor. He still clutched her hand, which made it harder to do as she needed to. Sitting up, she regained her breath sort of as the others looked at her fearfully.
"What in bloody hell happened?" asked Kriss, mouth agape. Pushing the braids from her face. Kali answered.
"Ryder got his powers." Detaching her hand from his was harder then she thought. It was like he had entered rigor mortis and had a death grip on her hand. She finally got her hand back, making sure he was still alive and stood. Her knees were shaky, but she was still alive. Walking back to her original shelf like bed, the rest watched as she virtually collapsed on top of it. Kie and Art moved to her side.
"What in hell did you do?" asked Art.
"Helped a friend." she answered as she shifted onto her back in a comfortable position. "Kie, on the ground there should be a black and silver handle thing. Can you hand it to me?" Kie looked around under his feet. Then he saw it. A 5 inch handle like object. He picked it up and examined it. "That." said Kali.
"What is it?" he asked.
"A knife of some sort I imagine." he offered it to her "Thanks". Taking it from him, she examined it again. Raising an eyebrow at the thing, she shifted her hand over it, and touched something. A razor sharp blade shot out of one end. Grinning slightly, she looked at it. Found the button and pushed it again. The blade returned to the handle. "Switchblade."
"Incoming." said Maya, looking at the door. Kie and Art spun towards it. Kali pushed Kie out of the way so she could see between them as the door opened. A black jacket was thrown in and a blue robed man shut the door and locked it again.
"Coat?" asked Art.
"Don't touch it." said Kie. "Everybody stand still." nobody moved. Kali shifted into a sitting position despite Kie's order.
"So what are we waiting for again?" asked Maya.
"Hush!" said Kie. One of Ryder's feathers moved and something silver flashed. A throwing knife quivered in the wall above the recently moved feather.
"Stay away from him." growled Kali. Maya was confused.
"No one is there Kali, what's going on?" Hawk eyes watched for any sign of movement that wasn't visibly moved by a human they could see. Kali stood, and moved past Art and Kie to yank out her throwing knife. Apparently it only took her a few minuets to regain her strength. The black coat on the floor seamed to suddenly have a dent in it. A knife flew just above a normal man's head .
"Easy girl. I'm getting awfully tired of this darts game of yours." said a disembodied voice. Between Maya and Art, their eyes were wide as dinner plates. Kali's eyes narrowed. "I call a truce. Permission to not be attacked when moving?" asked the voice in a thick accent. Kali let the next knife in her belt drop back into the sheath and let her coat cover it. The black leather coat on the floor raised itself up and took the form of someone. Maya and Art's mouths dropped open. "Allow me to introduce myself. Rodney Skinner, Gentleman Thief. Currently, Rogue of the League." The disembodied voice, now seamed to have a body, although it was invisible. "No need to say anything children," he said to their silence. "I already know who you are." he said.
"Really now." said Kriss. "Well this should be interesting. Who are we Mr. Skinner?"
"You, my lad are the Magic Boy. Kriss. The lady on your other side is the telepath, I never did get your name, m'dear. Fire girl." he said. The sleeve pointed at Art. "You… seam to not have a power." he moved the empty sleeve at Kie, "Darkness boy is the winged one, and dart girl is the infamous Goddess of Death." Art raised an eyebrow.
" My name is Art Mr Skinner." she said curtly. "For a power, I might be called fire manipulation.
"I am Kie, and if I have a power, its sound manipulation."
"I am Maya, and I also have telekinesis."
"Telekinisisssss… right. Whatever that would be." said the thief. Kali grinned from the side of her mouth and held up her hand. Maya raised an eyebrow as the throwing knife yanked from the wall. Flying into Kali's hand, she inserted it back into her belt.
"Telekinesis, Mr Skinner, is the ability to move things with your mind. Telepathy is the ability to read other people's minds."
"Oh well, I shall take that into great consideration when I think of you then Maya." said Skinner, his tone said he was joking, but since he hadn't put his face paint on, you wouldn't have been able to see the half smile he wore.
"This is Ryder," said Kali quietly, drawing their minds back to the present. Bowing to the invisible man, "Kali, at your service."
"Ooh, formal one, a'int ya?" Kali made a slight face as she raised her torso up. She couldn't be sure if he saw it or not, but she kept her mouth shut as she waited for him to say something else.
"Has the League decided what to do with us yet Skinner?" asked Kie.
"No, they just told me to go in and take a look at ya. Figure out what was I could get outta ya and report back." the accent made him sound like he was dropping more consonants then he was. The tweens blinked and looked a little discouraged.
"Well that makes me feel… not great." said Kriss.
"What did you expect?" asked Maya a little irritably. "Strangers that drop out of the sky don't get treated very well when they get dumped on a tight knit group with no proof that their telling the truth."
"We do have proof." said Kriss.
"Yeah? What?" asked Maya. Kriss paused.
"We know what will happen in the future." he said triumphantly.
"What we know will happen in the future might only be a dream to them. We can tell them truth all we want about what's going to happen in the future, and they will still not believe us because it hasn't happened yet. If they live to see what we speak of, that is a different story, but our knowledge of the 20th century will probably include bits of information that wont happen to 1974. None of them save Mina will live that long." Kriss hadn't thought of this fact and was silenced as Maya finished. Kali sighed.
"The only real proof we have of our not being from this time is the clothes on our backs and whatever we have in our pockets or belts. We don't fit in here because of it, besides that is our speech. But the League have no reason to believe us, and we shouldn't be on their backs because they don't trust and believe us. By the sounds of it, it hasn't been long since Gray was here, and Allan just died. The only thing we can ask for and probably get in all senses of the words overdoing it, is food and lodging. After that, we cannot ask more without being rude." Skinner was impressed, he didn't think that he would be able to this calm if he was in the same predicament that they claimed to be in. Either they were telling the truth, or they were very good actors. Deciding to err on the side of caution, he cleared his throat.
"I'll see what the rest of them say about this. I intend to get back to you all soon enough. Cheerio chaps." said Skinner walking to the door and tapping on it. It unlocked a few seconds after his taps and the coat disappeared threw the door. It slammed shut after him, leaving the tweens again feeling dejected, alone, and if they had done wrong. Kriss sighed and sat down on one of the shelves.
"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say they didn't believe us." he said tiredly. Kie gave him an annoyed look.
"What was your first clue?" asked Maya.
"Could have been the fact that they locked us in again." said Art.
"I was thinking more to do with the fact they sent an invisible spy." grimaced Kriss.
"What else could they have done?" asked Kali. Kie answered her question with exhaustion in his voice.
"Well they could have sent us into the conference room."
"Under what, house arrest?" asked Maya. A light grin took her face. " Sorry, "boat" arrest." Art and Kie cracked a smile.
"What about "sub" arrest?" asked Kriss.
"Lady arrest." offered Kali.
"Vessel arrest." The smiles didn't last long, but a sarcastic voice shook them back into it.
"So I've been out for however long, and you guys have been chatting about being arrested?" Turning in surprise to the speaker's direction, they saw that Ryder was sitting up on the shelf, holding his head. His wings had disappeared, yet the rips in his coat were still very visible. He looked around at the crew. "I guess expecting you guys to be a little under control while I was gone was kind of overdoing it then?" Maya opened her mouth, yet when Kali held up a hand, she closed it.
"No fighting now, save your strength for a better thing."
"Well you're one to talk." mumbled Ryder. She looked at him.
"Don't make me kick you." she said to him.
"See?" he said, looking imploringly at the rest of them. "She's a bloody hypocrite."
"And you aren't?" asked Maya. Art coughed violently into her hand. It sounded suspiciously like she was trying to say "Damn right." Opening his mouth to retaliate, he was interrupted by the sound of a key turning in the lock. A navy blue robed man with a white turban over his dark hair opened the door and looked in.
"The captain will see you now."
†
†Author's Notes†
So it begins…