Lucy looked at the marmalade skies high above, then looked over at the river's banks, with their tangerine trees and their towering cellophane flowers as the gondola floated down the river.
"I didn't expect to be come here." she said with a chuckle, "What happened?"
The Angel spread his blackened wings to cover her with their massive shadow, and gently rubbed her shoulders.
"Some minds, child, must never be read." he said in a near whisper.
Lucy turned around to look at the Angel clad in his old fashioned dinner suit, though he wore no jacket.
"Is that it?" asked Lucy, "I was ejected from my plane to here because the man I read is that evil?"
"He may not be evil, child, some people carry all the horrors of mankind in them, yet its not always a part of them. Some nobly spend their lives battling those unsacred parts of them."
"You sound certain."
"I am certain, after all, I was once su-"
"YOU FEED THAT WHORE LIES!"
Lucy frightfully backed away, toward the Angel and away from the Beast, who sat at the front of the boat. A hulking demon, dressed in tattered rags and an old rusty helmet covering his face.
"He. Is. Evil!!!!" growled the Demon.
"Do excuse my friend, Lucy." said the Angel, unfazed by the Demon's outburst, "He thinks all the souls we collect are evil and worthy of punishment. Anyway, I was saying that I am certain of what I said, I was a man such as that in a past life."
"Wait, I've been here before, but..." said Lucy, "Who are you?"
"We are deaths emissaries, one of many through the ages tasked by the Archangel Azrael with escorting the souls of the departed into the afterlife. I, the reigning Angel of Death ferry the worthy into the Silver city, Heaven. My associate drags the damned to the valley of darkened pits, Inferno."
"Wait a minute, there is more than one personification of death?"
"We are called psychopomps," said the Angel, "and yes, there are many of us. There is a psychopomp for those who die at sea, his name is Turner, and there is a psychopomp for nations and empires, the horrible, epic deaths, the regicides and the genocides, he is Azrael, who commands us all."
"And whose death is yours?" asked Lucy as she spied a bridge appearing ahead of them suddenly.
"Those of the souls of those that have died in battle, thoe who have made their purpose to save or damn all others."
"So, if you weren't always an angel, then someone else must have been doing your job before you?"
"Yes, She was a Valkyrie, the last of her kind. None of us will last for ever. None of us was the first, and none of us will be the last. Only Azrael remains the constant."
"So why are you two doing this?"
"Its... complicated." said the Angel, "We have a debt to settle before myself and my friend can move on, we have this duty to perform for a few hundred years. After that, someone else will have to take my wings and go about this task."
"This is odd," said Lucy, "I don't know why I never asked you all this before."
"You have," said the Angel as he looked at his watch, "You have asked me that and more, but you always forget once you've returned home, remembering only that you met us. And sadly, that is about to happen again, child. Its time for you to go home."
Now
The Island
Jenny rushed to where everyone was huddled on the north side of the camp. Penetrating the crowd, she saw Lucy slumped on the ground, unconscious. Doctor Robert, an oddly bearded man and the Yellow Submarine's medical officer was checking her vitals.
"What happened?" asked Jenny.
"It'd alright, Miss Diver." said Robert in a Liverpool accent, "She just fainted. She's starting to come to."
"All right everyone," commanded Jenny, "Sod off, okay? Give the girl some room to breathe."
The crowd scattered in a hurry, as Jenny was a notoriously persuasive and commanding woman. She and Robert helped Lucy to her feet.
"Are you alright, luv?" asked Jenny as she held Lucy's arm to support her.
"I'm... I'm fine. I just fainted. It must be the sun."
"Alright, Doctor Robert, you may leave."
"Yes, ma'am." said Robert as he took his leave, once he was out of an earshot Jenny turned to Lucy and asked,
"What happened?"
"I was reading everyone, secretly like Captain Nemo said, and then I blacked out."
"Who were you last talking to?"
"Umm... I'm not sure, I think it was the vampire, that Priest person."
"Okay. Can you walk?"
"Yes. I'm fine, honestly."
"Alright, then. Get some rest, that's an older. And don't read anyone until tomorrow."
As Lucy left, Jenny headed toward one of the two tents at the far northern side of the camp.
"You!" Jenny said as she got in.
"Hello Jenny." Priest said as he sat in the corner drinking his vodka.
"What did you do to Lucy?"
"Nothing. She just came in here, acting strange. I offered her a drink, she didn't want one. And then two seconds later she has an odd look on her face and she staggers out. What the hell happened to her?"
"She fainted."
"Is she okay?"
"She'll be alright."
"Hm."
Jenny eyeballed Priest as he took a swig. Priest in turn starred into Jenny's green eyes. Neither were wavering in their animosity or their hard-headedness.
"Jenn, if you've got anything else to say to me, then by all means..."
"I'm shopping you, Priest."
A few moments later Jenny simply retreated, making a point of not shutting the slit in the tent behind her.
"Oh, poor Hector."
Las Vegas, Nevada
A.J. Cooper, supposed owner and manager of the of the Montecito casino, hotel and resort stepped up to where the limousine had pulled up, put on a smile as a valet opened the back door.
"Lord John, welcome back."
Lord John Byrd stepped out, he was a somewhat tall, slim man of his late thirties, his hair was brown and he had a neatly trimmed goatee. He wore a blaringly expensive coat and held a walking stick in his hand. He was followed by an older, fatter gentleman in a suit.
"Edward! It is always a pleasure." said Lord John in cheerfully, in a sophisticated British accent, "Thank you for having me. Tell me, how is my hotel?"
"Josh, you look great." said Cooper, addressing Lord John's manservant.
"Mister Cooper, you are too kind." said Josh.
"The Montecito is as in good a hand as it has always have. Your suite has been prepared and you as always have to simply ask and you shall receive."
"Thank you, A.J.. I knew it would be. So tell me, what's on schedule for this week, in term of entertainment?"
"Well, it just so happens that you're in time for the World Title match, Balboa Vs. Coolidge."
"How about Lorne?" asked Lord John, "The gent with the green skin and the fake little red horns?"
"He's on for tomorrow night. Also, Johnny Fontaine, coming out of retirement."
"Marvelous."
"So, how was Singapore?"
The Island
Lucy sat on a wicker chair, holding a mug full of coffee as she asked,
"Did something happen to Kroenen? When I blacked out, I might have lost control over him."
"Kroenen is under control, he's still idle, back in the Black Pearl. What did you learn?"
"I read more than half of everyone. A few have psychic blocks, like Mister Talbot, but that's to be expected. I didn't find anyone who might be the mole. I will read the rest tomorrow."
"But one of the ones with a block might be our mole?"
"Perhaps. Psychic reading in not an exact science, and what scientists know for sure tends not to get published. There might be methods of evading my readings that I am not aware of."
"Fair enough, what about Priest?"
"As I said, I was reading him then something happened. It's a blur. Maybe it is because of what he is."
"Alright, anything else?"
"Hhhh...Everyone seems to be troubled, they're not sure what is going on. They're paranoid, each group trusting none of the others. Everyone feels... doomed."
Barbossa hung his head.
"Perhaps that will change if we learn that all our labor was not for nothing, Herr Barbossa."
"I hope so, Lucy." said Barbossa as he left.
"The files were disturbed." said Nemo, speaking to Raimus and Mason as they stood in a secluded spot on the beach, "Whoever did it made sure to be very subtle, but I can tell. Someone had been in my office, going through my papers."
"Just like you suspected." said Mason, "Any idea who?"
"None, whatsoever."
"Do you know what they got?"
"What I thought they would go after. The culprit could have had a pick of some misleading information I left laying around, but he couldn't send it anyway. The intelligence he or she has collected is of immediate relevance."
"Excellent."
"Yes, it is. Now, we have to decide what is to be done once we've sorted everything out. We're going to have to build an entire network from scratch, we'll have to get someone to run it, take Sands' place. He need to restaff all the cells, it'll probably take a year or so."
"Not necessarily," said Mason with a smile, "I have someone in mind. A specialist in intel insertion, capable of building our network in less than two months."
"Sounds ideal," said Nemo, "But such a person would surely not be in excess of free time."
"You may be right, but the man will definitely lend us his ears, once he knows who we represent. Or more importantly, who we oppose."
"Who is this man?" asked Raimus.
"I will tell you, but not yet. Suffice to say he's very good, the League tried to recruit him several times, and were rebuffed every time."
"Sounds like a man after my heart."
"Also, I expect you might have heard of him yourself, Marko."
"Have I?" asked Raimus "Where from?"
"Afghanistan."
Later. After the sunset
"Aisha, stop it!" yelled Sayid.
"No! Don't stop!" roared Aladdin Sane, as paranoid and insane as he'd been for months, "He's one of them! Kill him, Aisha! Feed him his balls!"
Aisha hit Priest in the jaw with a powerful right jab that sent him reeling back, she hit him once again with a left hook.
"Crazy bitch!" cursed Priest with a bloody mouth as he punched Aisha, hitting her in the jaw and knocking her off her feet.
"What the bloody hell's going on?" Shaun asked O'Brien.
"I dunno, man! They were just arguing quietly and then the arab chick started beating that dude up!" said O'Brien, "God, she is hot!!"
"Isn't anyone going to stop them?" asked Shaun.
"Don't you dare!" said Sayid, "She's likely to tear your arms off!"
Priest kicked Aisha in the stomach, then as she leaned over he grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head up, only for Aisha to chop him in the throat, nearly crushing his windpipe. Priest was stunned long enough for Aisha to jump and aim a spinning heel kick to Priest's jaw, flipping him over till he landed on his face.
"Ooh!" and "Aah!" sounded the spectators, while Aisha straddled Priest and started clobbering him with punch after punch after punch.
Mona and Jenny, who were a distance away during the fight came running. They pulled the angered Aisha off of Priest and struggled to restrain her, as Shaun, O'Brien and Gump tried to help Priest up. O'Brien, curiously enough, stretched his arms, wrapping several time around Priest's torso.
"You...You crazy bitch!" cursed Priest spitting, a number oh his teeth out in the process, "You fucking crazy whore! I WILL KILL YOUUU!!! ARGHHH!"
The three struggled to keep a badly battered Priest back, Almasry and Costas joined them.
"What in god's name is going on?" asked Mason as he and Raimus arrived at the spot, "Why were you fighting?"
"That man touched my ass!" shouted Aisha as she tried to break away of Mona's grip.
"You fucking lie!" roared Priest, his fangs bulging.
"Let me be!" Aisha demanded, "Let me have the bastard's head!"
"I wouldn't let you have my head if you were the last woman on earth, sunshine!"
"Oh, goodness' sake." mumbled Raimus as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol, raised it upward and fired twice. The sound of gunshot caught their attention, and made Priest and Aisha calm down a notch.
"This is a tight-knit, global-scale covert operation, this is not a schoolyard." said Raimus in a commanding manner fit for a military man of his caliber, "No one is to attack anyone else. No one is to grope anyone else. If this matter persists, I will shoot all involved parties in the knees. Understood?"
Priest and Aisha simply glared at Raimus, said nothing and did not move as both were wrapped in the arms of others.
"Understood??"
"Yes." said Aisha, upon which Mona and Jenny loosened their hold.
"Yessir." said Priest in a near growl, then muttered a saucy Russian curse under his breath.
"Good." said Raimus as he turned around and walked away along with Mason, "As you were."
The crowd dispersed once more, Priest walked to the other side of the camp while Aisha remained with her group.
"They're getting restless," said Mason, "Much as Miss Wagner said."
"Quite. Do you think Nemo's plan is going to work?"
"It better."
Hyde Park, London
Mina walked up to the statue by serpentine lake, depicting a brutish man of immense stature in an evening suit. Beneath the hulk's bronze idol was a plaque that read 'Edward Hyde, 1835 - 1904', and there was some dull sentence that Mina barely gleaned, having read it before. The sentence was nothing of consequence, and though attributed to Hyde, he would never have said it, not that Hyde was a man of words. But then again, not even the statue was his.
The statue looked like an amalgamation of both sides of Henry Jekyll, the man who died so that England may soldier on. It looked like neither, not Henry nor Hyde. And after all, such a London landmark was Serpentine Park couldn't have a statue of a shirtless ape-man, could it?
"I miss you..." Mina whispered .
"I'm sorry I haven't been here... God, I haven't been here for three years. That was wrong; I was not fair to you... But that's the thing isn't it?" said Mina with a slight chuckle, "The reason that I'm here, visiting your so-called statue instead of your grave like any other widow... The reason you did what you did that awful day. You did it because you knew what I did; you knew what Tom and I were at behind your back. I'm sorry, Henry, if I was fair to you, we wouldn't be here... Our best years were taken away from us, because of me.
"Well, if it's any conciliation, life hasn't been too grand for me. I've come to some realizations in the past few days, about my place in the league, my place in life, my place in the world. My place in the grander scheme of things.
"I remember what you said once, that we were merely instruments of the Crown, not its citizens... I suppose your words are still true, I suppose I'm not really a part of the League, either. All these years, I thought I was achieving something... Well, I'm done being used. I've bled and served this organization since the very beginning and it only cost my everything I held dear. It's high time I took what's due."
Mina stepped toward the statue, placing down a red rose at the statue feet, then turned around and walked away, burying her hands into her coat's pockets before she changed, braking into a cluster of bats and flying into the infinite nigh.
"So long, my darling Henry."
The Island
Priest walked through the dark labyrinth of the jungle, brushing tree branches aside and going forward. A true predator, he was seeking something big and nasty to kill and dine on, much as he had done for the past few days. Perhaps bigger and nastier tha usual, to mend his wounded ego for having been beaten so soundly, by a girl no less, in that evening scrap. He stopped suddenly, and a split second later he could hear a twig being crushed, ten feet behind by the sound of it.
Priest turned around to look at who it was. With his superior sight, he could glimpse someone, a man wearing a high-tech looking set of goggles and holding something in his hands. Before Priest could recognize the gun, or make an attempt to flee or attack, his silent stalker had pulled the trigger twice in quick succession.
The shooter was no slouch marksman, his bullet hit its target, plunging into the vampire's non-beating heart and knocking him off of his feet.
As Priest lay there in the moonlight, groaning in pain, feeling the smooth touch of a snake as it slithered beneath his calf, he heard the sound of his stalker coming near him. Once he managed to stop wincing and open his eyes, the last thing he could see was a two-foot long wooden stake as it plunged toward his chest, Priest howled in agony as the stake penetrated him, broke through his chest, shattered his ribs, tore through his flesh and plunged into his heart. The stake pierced him all the way to the other side, coming out beneath him and pinning hi to the ground.
The stalker straightened up and looked at the predator that had become the pray, admiring his handwork. He tossed the silenced pistil aside.
Next Chapter: Death of a Ladies Man. The opposition deals with the loss of their deadliest member and realize the importance of finding the turncoat among them. Mona recounts her brief yet memorable friendship with Priest, recalling one steamy encounter on one cold and lonely night in Liverpool.