Four Days Ago
Doomstadt, Latveria
Father Mackenzie sat in the confession booth, slid the window pane and said,
"How long has it been since your last confession?"
"I don't speak Dutch, father. Can you speak English?"
"Yes. How long has it been since your last confession?"
"Oh, it's been ages, Dorian."
Mackenzie, or Dorian Gray as he was known decades ago froze for a second. He heard whoever was on the other side exit. He had to find out who it was.
Bolting out of the booth, Dorian was surprised to see three men standing before him, one he did not know, one he was familiar with and one he had believed t be dead for a long time.
"Hello, Father." Said Mashu uncomfortably.
"Father Gray," said the man that Dorian never met in a mild Scottish accent, "We need to chat."
At the moment, Dorian was fixated on the third man was leaning against the booth's door.
"Captain Nemo. You're alive…"
"I was worried you wouldn't recognize me, with the beard gone and all that. Mister O'Shaughnessy you already know, that's my associate John Mason."
"Call me Jack."
"What do you want?" asked Dorian nervously.
"A few minutes of your time. We need to tell you something very important."
Dorian hesitated for a few moments before walked away.
"We can talk in my office."
1905
Vauxhall Cross, London
The prisoner was unceremoniously pushed onto the chair with such force that he bounced right off and hit the granite floor, his nose breaking on impact, the bone protruded from his flesh. The less-than-merciful hands of his guards grabbed hold of him quickly, lifting him up and then slamming him back on the chair, then fastening a dozen shackles around his arms and legs. The guards let go and backed away, by that point the prisoner's wounded nose had already healed.
In that windowless interrogation room in British Intelligence's building, Campion Bond calmly watched all this as it took place. Once the prisoner was secured, Bond opened the dossier on the table between him and the prisoner, reading aloud,
"Dorian Horatio Gray, you have been found guilty by special tribunal of crimes against the crown, including treason, conspiring to abuse the powers of a public office, conspiring to sell advanced weaponry to the enemy and conspiring to endanger the welfare of the royal family. The punishment for all that is a lifetime sentence of imprisonment with hard labor."
"You got me out of my cell to tell me this?"
"Your life's purpose is about to become turning big rocks into smaller rocks. Life… that takes an especially different meaning when you're Immortal."
"You know, all those charges mean nothing." Said Gray with a cocky smirk, "The reason you want to imprison me is that you don't want the truth to get out."
"Oh, and what truth is that?"
"That the Martians in East London didn't die of influenza as the authorities reported. I was in East London when the bombing started; I saw that artillery shells fired and then saw the people start dying. What was in those shells anyway? Some kind of biological weapon, I would wager."
"That's preposterous." Said Bond with an arrogant smirk, "You're just bitter you got caught as the only living person in a city filled with corpses. I must admit, if it wasn't for that pleasant coincidence, we would have never caught you."
"C'est la vie."
"To answer your question, Mister Gray, the reason we pulled you out of your cell isn't to simply read you your verdict. The truth is there is a matter that has not been resolved, one that we wish you could illuminate."
"Why would I?"
"There is the matter of where to put you. We can place you in a work camp in Scotland, or one here in England. I would bet you aren't looking forward for life imprisonment among the Scots."
Gray stared hard and long at Bond, then rolled his eyes and said,
"What is it?"
"It's simply the matter of your reemergence; Mrs. Wilhelmina Murray-Jekyll has-"
"Mina married Jekyll? She married that little twat?!"
"Yes she did, and Doctor Jekyll died for this country as a true Hero. Something you have no chance of ever understanding. Mrs. Jekyll reported that she pinned you to a wall in James Moriarty's base in Mongolia, then revealing your portrait to you, killed you. How did you manage to undo that?"
Gray snickered long and loud.
"Please… Like I would be dim enough to tell anyone what the way to defeat me would be. I mean come on; looking at my own portrait will kill me? That makes no sense, how do they think I found out that it has started aging in my place?"
"Alright, so looking at your portrait cannot kill you. What happened?"
"I would expect British Intelligence to realize that during my protracted life I would have unavoidably learned a few things that normal folk rarely do, like basic magic. I never did die in Mongolia, what Mina saw was simple illusion. Yes, she pinned my to a wall. Yes, she showed me my portrait. But everything from that point on was smoke and mirrors, I faked an absurdly unconvincing death, I'm afraid I've never been much of an actor. But through her eyes she saw me turn into a crumbling skeleton and my portrait turn into my youthful image. Neither had really changed, it was just an illusion."
"Why didn't you just kill her? Why the act?"
"I prepared the illusion as a last resort, in case she ever gained the upper-hand, which she did."
"I see."
"Besides, I still hope to nail her one more time."
Now
"I must admit, I was expecting the second coming more than you coming today." Said Dorian as he presented Nemo with a glass of orange juice, then went t pour a second for Mason.
"Believe me; I was equally stunned when I learned what had become of you."
"I would imagine."
Dorian sat behind his desk, placed his elbows on top and put his hand together against his chin with interlocking fingers.
"What can I do for you?"
"You could start by telling us the nature of your relationship with the League." Said Nemo.
"There isn't any."
"Oh?"
"Not since the late thirties."
"Would you mind telling us what happened exactly?" asked Mason, "Don't be afraid to bore us."
"As you know, the man Mina Harker killed in Mongolia was nothing more than a doppelganger." Said Dorian, and then took a long pause, he seemed like he stopped but then continued.
"I was arrested for treason and conspiring to bring war to the United Kingdom by MI-5 in 1904, a month before the Martian invasion. I wasn't released until 1916, after the second League had gone under. British Intelligence decided to create a third incarnation of the team that had more stamina, a team that would last a very long time."
"The League of Immortals."
"Precisely. Mina was our unit' leader, like she was with the previous one. The other members were myself, Lord Orlando, Jack Sparrow and Tom Sawyer. God knows why he was there, he was a mortal, he aged normally for the time we were together. We operated efficiently until the thirties; that's when I quit."
"Why?" asked Nemo.
"Something was missing." Mused Dorian, "I no longer relished in the thrill of combat, I could no longer drink to excess, women's touch lost all its warmth…. Something was missing from me; a piece of my soul. I left to find myself, traveled to the far corners of the earth; I spent nine years in Tibet; learning at the hands of the Dali lama, I lived in the darkest regions of Australia, been to Istanbul, the Vatican, Africa and everywhere you can imagine seeking inner-peace, finally finding it in a Nigerian mission in the mid-fifties.
"For the fist time in my life I felt true love. I left my old life and my old name behind me and decided to embrace my purpose, make my life's work to bring the good lord to lives of the despaired."
"Huh. And did the League just allow you this freedom?"
"Oh, no. They offered my a job when they gained independence in the sixties, they promises me wealth and power and all that Dorian Gray would have welcomed, but when I refused they blackmailed me, and when did not relent they pulled the strings to excommunicate me. I had to start over, I became a priest again in the seventies under a new name; they got the message and realized they couldn't push me into it. I still get an offer once every few years, and I turn them on their ear every time.
"Now, I suppose that you've gained enough wisdom over both your lives to realize that I am telling you this for a reason. There are four kinds of people in the world, the League, the opposition, those who are unaware either exist, and people like me, those who ally themselves with neither; the third camp. I refuse to align myself with either party, as one actively tries to keep the world mediocre, to maintain status-quo, to keep the helpless helpless and the corrupt in power, give everyone less and less reasons to have faith everyday, while the other does nothing but scheme toward crushing the first, without doing anything to ease any suffering. Whatever you've come to ask, the answer is no."
"Well," said Mason, "That's disappointing."
"Yes, disappointing." Said Nemo, "But we were hoping to ask you a one or two more things."
"I don't know what could be that I would know that you wouldn't, but go ahead."
"Do you keep any contact with the League, or the intelligence community in general? Do you have any idea of the going-ons within the League?"
"Orlando. He or she comes to visit every now and then, Orlando still has plenty of friends who are spies and he tells e a few things. He is a member of the third camp as well, but the League does not harass him because they cannot predict what could happen if he or she ever felt cornered."
"So you know about the seven branches and all that?"
"Yes."
"How about Codename Josephine? Have you ever heard of her?"
"Yes. For the past three visits from the League everyone was her emissary. She runs one of the American branches, doesn't she?"
"Correct. Do you have any idea who she is?"
"No. Why, have we met?"
"Met? You've slept with her."
"Mister Mason, I am ashamed to admit that that does not narrow the field at all. I do not boast when I say that you're talking about literally thous-"
"Mina."
Dorian's features failed to convey his emotions, if Nemo and Mason didn't know better, they would think he seemed like he'd heard something he already knew. A lengthy silence followed, ending only when Dorian quietly said, "You're lying."
"No, we're not." Said Nemo as he took out an envelope and tossed it onto Dorian's desk. Dorian opened it and looked at recent pictures of Mina, taken only the week before by Alfred Pennyworth in Gotham.
"She's blond, now. But that's her. Your old squeeze."
Dorian emotionlessly placed the pictures back into the envelope and placed them on the edge of his desk.
"That was… Thank you for telling me, but I do not think that changes my mind."
"It should." Said Nemo as he got up, walked toward a window and looked out at the garden outside, "The third camp will cease to exist at some point, everyone will have t choose a side… There's a war coming."
For the next few minutes Mason and Nemo told Dorian about Project Phoenix in detail. He was not at all stunned; after all, he was there when the Napoleon of Crime planned to do the same thing for his personal gain.
"We'll have to take up arms. There's no other way, we'll have to take them all out."
"Again, what do you want from me?"
"Mina Jekyll is the only remaining member of the Vlad Dracula's blood line. She's very powerful, and more experienced than all the rest. If and when we go to war, she would have to be taken out early to keep her from taking control."
"Easier said than done."
"True. That's why we need you."
"You what?"
"We need you to kill the old bitch, Father." Said Mason.
"You…. You can't be serious!"
"Why not?"
"You're asking me to commit murder! That's preposterous."
"Is it really murder? She is undead, after all."
"Get out!"
Nemo turned around, and then walked toward the door, followed by Mason. But before he could touch the doorknob he stopped and turned back.
"Redemption isn't about just being a good boy, Dorian. You have to face up to the responsibilities of past sins. Part of who Mina is, who she has become, is your fault. Her sense of superiority, her indifference, her hatred… It isn't Dracula's doing, it's the world's. It was British Intelligence killing her husband; Jekyll. It was her husband leaving her because of what she became. But before all others, it was you… You had already set her on this path long before she crossed Dracula. What in the devil's name did you to her, MacKenzie?"
Nemo turned the knob and walked out.
"Nemo's right." Sid Mason, placing a card on the desk and picking up the envelope of Mina's pictures, "This mess is part yours, you should clean it up. When you've thought this through you contact us. Have a nice day, Father."
"Mister O'Shaughnessy," said Mason as he joined his former employee outside, "How have you been? Enjoying your current posting."
"It's alright, sir. I've grown fond of it."
"So you wouldn't welcome a different one, say.. In Japan?"
"God, no! I was lying, I hate it here."
"Have you learned your lesson about following orders?"
"Oh, you have no idea."
"Good. Come with us, Mashu. You'll be working for Captain Nemo from on."
R&R. I'm not just saying that.
Next Chapter: Shaun has a date with two women. Maybe, I dunno. You review and then we'll see.