A dying vampire. A gender-shifting warrior. A pirate captain. A former maid with a new tattoo. An Intelligence director.

What do they have in common?

Now

Royale-les-Eaux, France

"Bugger."

The Englishman ran his hands through his thick brown hair and leaned back in his chair as he saw what the dice had landed on.

"Easy Eight. I'm sorry, my Lord." Said the croupier.

"It's alright, Henri." Said the Lord as he picked his cot off the shoulders of a young woman nearby who was only too glad to be rid of it once she'd seen the lord loose all his earnings.

The lord walked away from the table and across the floor of Casino Royale, making a beeline for the bar, when suddenly a particular shade of auburn caught his attention, it was a familiar shade he was fond of and had not seen in a few years, and it adorned the hair surrounding a familiar face.

"Willy?" asked the lord as he stopped dead in his track.

"For goodness sake, Lando. Don't call me that, you know I don't like it."

A wide smile spread across Lord Orlando's face as he turned around and pulled Mina into an embrace followed with a kiss on each cheek, before he wrapped her arms around her, picked her up and spun her around.

"Orlando…" said Mina, trying to hold back laughter, "People are looking."

"Oh, let them. I just lost my shirt at the tables, have been for the past week."

"Well…" said Mina as her boots touched the ground, "Alright then."

"And look! You're a redhead again! I never liked you as a Blond, I'm glad you no longer walk that dreadful path."

"And look! You're a man again."

"Yeah, I know." Said Orlando with a chuckle, "It's been an odd year, I was a woman a few months ago, became a man over night and remained so for a week and then changed back. I'm a man again as of last week."

"Shame, I was looking forward to the company of Lady Orlando."

"I'm sure Lady Orlando would have been just as eager, but alas, you'll have to settle for me. So what brings you to France, Will, business or pleasure?"

"I'm here just to see you actually."

"Oh?"

San Francisco, California

"…And we're done."

Jenny got up from the bench she was laying on face down, holding the sheet close to her chest, then put on her blouse as the tattoo artist turned away to clean her instruments.

Jenny looked over her shoulder with her back t the mirror, to look upon the newly inked tattoo on her left shoulder blade, one of a bleeding rose with a contorted black stem.

"You like?" asked the artist, a heavyset woman of forty and a pierced nose.

"Yes, it's brilliant." Said Jenny as she put her jacket on and dropped what money she owed on the counter.

Outside, Barbossa was waiting. He leaned against a wall watching passersby, young lovers walking hand-in-hand without a care in the world, oblivious to an oncoming end of the world. He was in his mind making guesses on how many of them would get to bring someone else into the world, and of those how many would get to see their first steps.

"Hector…"

"Oh, all done, pet?"

"Yes. D'ya feel like getting some lunch?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Fish and chips?"

"You've read my mind." Said Barbossa as the two walked side by side down the street, "You know, Jenny, you don't need a tattoo. You're perfect the way you are."

"You silver-tongued demon, you. It'd be easier if the fountain didn't burn the blasted thing every time we take a dip."

"But why do it?"

"I've had it since before we met. I do it so that I don't forget where I had come from."

"And why would you want to remember such a place?"

"So that I never turn a blind eye."

The pair walked silently for a few moments before Jenny said,

"Hector, do you ever think about growing old together?"

"It's all I want."

"I'm not talking about us staying forever; I'm talking about actually getting old. I'm talking about my hair turning gray, my arse tripling in size and my breasts sagging."

"Hmmm. Your arse tripling in size, eh? That does sound tempting."

"I'm serious."

"What? You want to stop using the fountain?"

"No, maybe. I'm not sure. I just don't know If I want to be at sea forever. I love it out there, Hector, I love it as much as you do. Back when I was scrubbing floors in Cornwall, being stowed away on a pirate ship was all I could dream of.

"It would be nice to take a break of it all, I feel like I might be missing out on something."

"Alright."

"What?"

"In a year or two from now, if and when the League is done for…. We'll leave the Pearl in Costas' command; spend as much time on land as you want, no fountain or anything, for as long as you want."

"Even if as long as I want means fifty, sixty years?"

"As long as you want, love."

"Wow. I'm not really sure that's what I want Hector, I'm definitely not going to want to do it in a year or two. But that you'd give it all up for me is…"

Jenny was at a loss of words.

"Oy," said Barbossa, looking into Jenny's blue eyes lovingly as they stood outside a fish and chips restaurant,

"If it gets you to stop acting like a girl, I'm mostly doing it because I really want to meet gray-haired, triple-arsed, sagged-breasted Jenny Diver."

Jenny laughed and wrapped her arms around Barbossa's neck as he kissed her.

"Alright," said Jenny as their lips parted, "Our fish and chips await us."

"After you, Madam Mate."

Royale-les-Eaux, France

Mina wrapped her scarf tight around her neck as she strolled with Orlando alongside the Royale River.

"Did you not bring Mindy?" asked Orlando.

"Mindy?"

"Mindy. Yes, Mindy, your girlfriend."

"It's Mandy, with an A. No, I didn't even tell her that I was coming here."

"I'm not the authority on being responsible, but isn't that a mite tardy, abandoning your post?"

"I suppose. But they can't fire me, can they?"

"Is everything alright between you two?"

Mina sighed.

"You know how being in a relationship with a mortal can be."

"Oh, do I. Being in any form of relationship with a mortal is a terrible ordeal."

"That's a bit harsh."

"You misunderstand; it's nothing about the mortals. You know me Mina; I'm ad addict for company. And just as fascinating and pleasurable companions mortals are, they all end up passing away. I'm three thousand, two-hundred and sixty-eight years old. You're not even a century and a half. That's why I cherish what few immortal friends I have; they're the only ones that'll stick around."

"Truer words have never been spoken. Do you keep up with all the others?"

"I haven't seen Jack Sparrow since the summer of love. God, the two of us got into such amazing larks that year. I met with Dorian a few years ago while he was attending some kind of convention in Italy. We chin-wagged and he tried to get me to renounce my decadent ways. It was funny, really."

"Ra's Al Ghul is dead." Said Mina.

"Is he? I always thought he was bonkers, so it's not a great loss. What about you?"

"Out of the loop, I'm afraid. Work has been murder, I just want to retire."

"Well, why don't you?"

Mina looked aside at Orlando before laughing and slapping him on the shoulder.

"Silly, I know."

"As of last week I am physically younger than Mandy. I pointed it out that in a few years she'll be the decidedly older one, I obviously meant it as a joke; she's been upset ever since."

"Ah. I will no doubt think myself a tool for saying this, months or years from now when I am a lady once more, but being a woman does involve an upper limit of sense sometimes."

New York City

"Go away." Priest said with a raspy voice, and then close his eyes tight and bobbed his head down as he emptied his stomach into the toilet.

"Priest..." Said Lucy as she stood in the doorway.

"Go." Said Priest as he put down the seat and flushed, then pushed himself up, "Show's over."

"Priest, I think you should tell them."

"Why?"

"Look, if this is contagious, they deserve to know."

"It's not. I've had it for eight years and I never passed it to anyone."

"Will you at least tell me what it is?"

"You know those diseases you get better from?"

"Yes."

"What about those incurable ones there's an experimental drug for?"

"Sure."

"Well, it's neither one of those." Said Priest as he stood in front of the sink and splashed cold water on his face.

"Is it cancer?"

"There's no name for it. It afflicts vampires alone… Very rare."

"So what's going to happen to you?"

"I don't know." Said Priest as he dried his face, "I get these episodes sometimes, they used to be far apart but they're more frequent these days."

"What kind of episodes?"

"Unholy migraines, feel like my brain is getting blow-torched. That time in Metropolis, when you did your little thing where everybody freaked out, only it took me a long time to recover. You triggered one of those episodes that day. Those episodes are the only constant; the other symptoms are more erratic."

"Like what?"

"Mostly, I feel like choking people when I'm bombarded with questions about my health." Answered Priest as he brushed past her as he got out

"Do you know what to do?" asked Mona as she handed him a small silver case the size of a lunchbox.

"Yeah, bug McNeil's bus."

"Are you going to screw this up?"

"Sure, if that's what you want."

"I'm not laughing. Don't forget to put on your suit."

Royale-les-Eaux, France

"Why are you here, Mina?" asked Orlando as he stood in his lofty penthouse, pouring a pair of drinks in crystal cups.

"Sorry, that sounded a bit rude. It's not that I don't enjoy the visit, it's that I can't fool myself thinking this is a social call anymore."

Mina stood before a painting that adorned one of the walls, examining ever square centimeter of it.

"It's alright; I would have done it a lot sooner if I were you. I'm here to offer you a job."

"What, seriously?"

Orlando laughed.

"Mina, you of all people should know how I feel about ever working for the League again, I-"

"This has nothing to do with the League. I'm here on my own business."

"…What?"

"I need you, Orlando."

"For what?"

"There is a war coming."

"With who, the opposition? They wouldn't dare."

"They would. And they will. And I'm not talking about a war with the opposition."

"Hang on, what are you talking about? In exactly what capacity are you here to enlist me?"

"I need a warrior, Orlando. A true warrior, to provide wise council."

"And I would not be working for the League, you say?"

"Exactly."

"Mina… Exactly who are you going to war against?"

Mina turned around toward Orlando and took one of the glasses from his hand.

"I can't tell you who, not before I know you're in."

"My warring days are over."

"No warrior's warring days are ever truly over. Just think about it for a few days, mull it over with a bottle of Scotch."

"I'm all out of Scotch."

With a smile, Mina took a bottle of MacCutcheon scotch out of her purse and handed it over to Orlando, who received it with wide eyes as he saw the year printed on the label.

"Oh, god's balls. 1924. This Scotch is so brilliant that if Admiral Anderson MacCutcheon himself asked for a bottle of this stuff he'd be denied. But this doesn't change my decision."

"Consider it a gift, then." Said Mina as she headed for the door.

"You're leaving already?"

"Definitely not. I didn't turn into a bat to fly across an ocean in three hours just to stay for less than a day. I'll meet you in the hotel lobby later on; we'll have diner and chin-wag."

"It's a date, then."

"Oh, Orlando." Said Mina as she stopped by the door, "Are there any other of us immortals you keep up with?"

"A few, I don't think you've met any of them."

"Are you familiar with a vampire known as Priest?"

"Jude Priest? Definitely. Yes yes, we met in 1899, at the Moulin Rouge. I didn't know what he was back then, neither did he myself. We met again during the Second World War during my stint with the RAF, he claimed at the time to be working for some secret branch of the American government. I still see now and then. Why the interest?"

"I've had a few dealings with him, nothing of much impotance. I'll see you tonight, Lando."

R&R.

Next Chapter

The city of New York give Senator Regan MacNeil a warm welcome, but among them are six who have an agenda of their own.