A Breakthrough

Nemo was stood in quiet contemplation at the helm of the Nautilus. His hands gently wrapped around the ships' wheel and his eyes fixed at the endless blue seascape before them. The life beneath the waves that went unnoticed by the rest of the world was passing them by and created a bubble of calm despite their situation as fugitives.

With no sign, as yet, of their enemies and their destination still leagues away, the crew of the Nautilus sat in relative calm. Suyin, Kai and Boniface stood at the controls directly behind the wheel, occasionally muttering to each other. Loti and Ranbir were sat playing cards around the plush sofas overlooking the window while beside them, Blaster watched with Archie at his side. Turan was scribbling poetry in his notebook with a contented smile.

On the waves high above them, a storm raged on, but below, all was peace and tranquility.

Until the echoing sound of running footsteps and heels hitting the metal floor broke that peace.

"Nemo!" they heard Humility yell out as she ran closer through the corridors towards them. "It worked!" she cried out happily with a laugh.

The Captain turned to face the door, just as she reached them. She burst into the room like a hurricane of wild energy, clutching a piece of paper in one hand, and one of the flares in the other. She was breathless, wide eyes and smiling. Her hair was frazzled, the mess of curls barely held back by a blue scarf, her clothes were rumpled and grease stained but she looked triumphant and excited.

"You look like a mad woman," Loti remarked dryly.

"It worked!" Humility reiterated, ignoring Loti's comment and jumping up and down on the spot like an overexcited child.

Then she scurried over to Nemo and grabbed his arm happily. "It worked! It actually worked! The flare worked for an hour and it's only just lost power!" she declared, holding up the flare and waving it in the air.

"The whole hour?" he reiterated, a smile of understanding slowly breaking on his face.

"The whole hour!" she laughed. "I tested it twice just to be sure!"

"But this is wonderful news."

"Exactly!" Humility smiled and let out a happy little squeak of pride. She reached up and patted the side of his face. "You, sir are a genius. Well…half a genius. I'm more so…together we make an excellent team," she declared

"So glad to hear it," Nemo drawled. "But…why precisely am I a genius?" he asked, looking confused.

"I will not stand here…on a ship that you helped to build, I might add, and feed your ego. But don't you remember? The solutions we talked about for the flares?! Last night!"

"Ah, yes, you all but blinded me when you pushed those papers into my face," he drawled.

"An accident, the ship lurched and…"

"Do not blame the Nautilus for your over excitement. If you had not barged your way into my quarters…"

"If I hadn't, then we'd still be without a solution," Humility interrupted him.

"Oh? The captains' quarters, eh?" Loti shot her a sly glance. The others smirked but they too, were ignored.

"Besides, I brought you tea, didn't I?" Humility rolled her eyes at Nemo.

"It was an hour past midnight! Who desires tea at such an hour?"

"Does it even matter what time it is when we're in the Nautilus under the waves like this? It's impossible to tell it anyway," she remarked.

"Of course, it still matters. We have many clocks and I was asleep. A man needs his rest!"

"Stop being such a drama queen," Humility scoffed. "I needed a second opinion. I couldn't sleep and I'd been staring at those plans for hours, so…"

"And you that thought that my rest was a worthy sacrifice in the pursuit of answers?"

"Oh, hush," she gave his shoulder a gentle shove. "It worked, so stop complaining," she said.

Nemo scrubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. "What precisely was it that worked? My severe lack of sleep makes it difficult to concentrate," he mocked.

"This one," she pointed at the piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Ah, my idea," he grinned at her. "You could simply have said so from the beginning," he said.

"Nonsense, it was a team effort," she said.

"It is written in Hindi. That clearly is mine and mine alone," he retorted.

"Yes, and your handwriting was terrible, incidentally. Poor Ranbir nearly went cross eyed translating it for me," Humility said.

"Ah, recognition of my struggle, thank you!" Ranbir called out.

"My handwriting is terrible when I am moments from sleep, I am sure even yours cannot be perfect when…hmmm…I don't even recall writing this part," Nemo trailed off as he read over his own words.

The writing was indeed atrocious. Scrawled with a blunt pencil, the letters were all over the place and haphazard across the crumpled page.

"Well, more fool you then, because it was brilliant!" Humility smiled.

"Should I be thanking you or should I be insulted for that comment?"

"Neither. You should come with me to the engine room and run some more tests."

"Right now?" he asked with a laugh of disbelief.

"Yes, now! I might also have a solution to fighting those creatures too," she said.

"And what is that?"

"A flame thrower!" Humility declared and pulled out another piece of paper from her waistcoat.

"A what?" Nemo blinked as he looked at the paper.

"I rather thought the name was fairly self explanatory. A flame thrower. Like a welding torch but…well, more fire!" she waved her hands in the air.

"Please tell me you have not tested anything like this on the Nautilus?" Nemo blanched as he stared at her after scanning through her notes and a rather poorly drawn diagram.

"Of course not. It doesn't even exist yet. So I couldn't even if I wanted to. But it will exist…soon. I shall require Blaster's help for the pyrotechnics, of course."

"That sounds brilliant!" Blaster grinned happily.

Nemo sighed but it didn't deter Humility's excitement at all.

"Come on!" she said and tugged at his arm, trying to lure him away from the helm. "I've work to do and I require your genius brain to assist me!" she declared.

"Now I am relegated to the position of assistant?" Nemo scoffed.

"Assistant, partner in crime and in advanced pyrotechnics, whichever you prefer. And who knows what sort of a mess I could make unsupervised in the engine room and dealing with these sorts of inventions?" she mockingly held up her diagram.

"Now that really is a poor attempt at…"

"But personally, I like a little company while I work," she gave an innocent shrug.

"How flattering," he said dryly.

"Well, one does try one's best. Now, do relinquish the helm at once and come with me," she said again.

"That could be interpreted as mutiny," Nemo mocked.

"You really are a difficult little prima donna without your eight hours of sleep, aren't you?" she lamented.

"Part of being a prince, I suppose," Blaster giggled.

"Are you honestly going to admit that this doesn't intrigue you…not even remotely?" Humility held up the flare and her papers.

He pursed his lip and his eyes flickered away from her. That was enough for her to claim her victory.

"I knew it! Success! Come along!" she laughed triumphantly and dragged him, much more forcibly, away from the wheel. Though it helped that he didn't actually seem to put up much of a fight.

"Ah…Boniface, the helm…" Nemo glanced over at the much amused first mate as Humility led him out of the room.

"Of course, Captain," Boniface chuckled.

A.N According to Google, the flame thrower was invented around 1900. So along with everything else they've invented early on the Nautilus, it's not so far fetched for them to invent this early too.