Chapter 1
Arrghh…head swimming, must move... Jekyll clutched his head tightly, stumbling along the debris strewn floor feeling slightly disoriented. He had just transformed back to his original scrawny self from the monstrous being of Edward Hyde. His tattered and torn clothes hung loosely from his shoulders and chest. Bullets peppered the floor behind him, and it was a miracle that he was not hit at all.
"Jekyll, hurry up! The others have all gone through!" yelled Agent Tom Sawyer frantically, grabbing the doctor painfully on the arm and pushing him through an open doorway in front. Before following Jekyll, he spun around and loosed a series of bullets at their attackers above them. He did not really care if his bullets found their mark or not. They only served as a temporary distraction.
Slamming the battered door behind him and locking it with the ancient looking key protruding from the keyhole, Tom ran along the dank and dark passageway, following the path of Jekyll. He soon caught up with him.
"This battle is taking far too long. You only brought one of those…what's that word again…potions with you, right?" Tom puffed, wiping sweat off his brow. Jekyll gave a wry smile. "No, I brought more than that. But I'm not going to transform now," he said, gesturing at the low ceiling above them. "I wasn't too sure about this place being easy to capture, unlike those who sent us on this so-called "less than one hour needed" mission."
Hyde cackled in his head. Well, it seems like you're gaining at least a modicum of awareness of the world around you, worm. Jekyll sighed. I don't have time for this, Hyde. Just shut up.
"Yeah, those bloody fools." Tom laughed tiredly. "Luckily I brought along more magazine than the required amount. Surely they should have known that raiding the place of a villain who is housing the most dangerous and powerful weapon of all is going to be slightly more protected than little pop guns." Jekyll nodded in agreement, sweat pouring down his face. He did not have the strength to answer and was growing more and more tired. His tall and thin physique was certainly not built for athletic sports.
Hyde snorted. Look at you. You are so weak and pathetic. Let me out now and I will…
Jekyll interjected, finishing the sentence for him. …be crushed due to the tiny space in this corridor. You're not using your brain, Hyde. Bugger off. The doctor did not care if he was acting slightly out of character. He was tired, and Hyde's taunting voice in his brain was not making it any better.
"Do you know where the others are?"
Tom wrinkled up his forehead. "Mina told me that they were going this way. We should be meeting them soon. They told me to wait for you when they saw that your time limit as Hyde was up. We cannot let our dear master villain escape." Jekyll's eyes narrowed. "They've seen him?"
"Yup. But not his face. It was covered with some kind of fancy dark cloth." Tom shook his head. "Why villains even bother to come up with stupid names like the 'Fantom' and elaborately tailored 'bad guy' outfits is completely beside me."
"I was beginning to wonder when you two would finally get here," a voice said coolly.
Tom and Jekyll's heads jerked up at the new voice. Mina Harker stood before them, her hair and clothes slightly mussed up and not looking like the elegant lady she was. Impatience and frustration were etched all over her face. For once she did not seem perturbed by the fact that blood was dripping from her mouth and onto her trademark red scarf. Jekyll gulped slightly. "Don't stand there like idiots, hurry up! I'll tell you on the way." She quickly spun around and swept off, her dark dress trailing on the stone floor. Jekyll and Tom hurried to catch up.
"It's as we feared, he is planning to use the Time Machine to travel to the future and obtain new technology for his weapons," said Mina briskly. "He is very highly skilled and we need the whole league to deal with him. The suit he wears is made up of a new strange kind of metal. It is as hard as steel, yet soft like velvet. Nemo's sword can't even make a dent on it! He and Skinner are holding him up now, preventing him from reaching the machine. He was going to travel today!" The two men exchanged glances. Tampering with the future or the past was a very dangerous thing to do.
"Where is he now?" questioned Jekyll five minutes later, as Mina led them down yet another fork in the passageway. From the place where they met Mina, the whole corridor which was at first straight, twisted and branched out into many different directions to choose from.
"There."
Mina shoved a very old and tattered looking tapestry out of the way in front of her, revealing a blank wall. Speaking clearly, she incanted, "Delicin und Incombe Lestra!" For a few seconds nothing happened. Then the whole wall shook and formed the appearance of a door. Mina rested her long, delicate fingers on the doorknob. Tom tightened his grip on the trigger of his gun while Jekyll held a vial of his elixir at ready. Mina nodded at both of them and swung the door open hard.
The room the door led to was very dim. Jekyll paused for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. He could make out Nemo fighting with a man whose skills were also very excellent. The room was empty except for a large blue contraption that stood at one end. Skinner, being Skinner, was nowhere to be seen. The man was wearing a black mask and a silvery shiny suit. His strange glittering yellow eyes glinted out from the dark depths of the folds. At the sound of the door opening, Nemo turned, momentarily distracted. The masked man seized his chance. Knocking Nemo aside, he sprang towards the contraption and began punching in buttons located at the side of the thing. As one, the whole league sprang after him, weapons temporarily forgotten.
Nemo got to him first although he was still slightly dazed. Just as he reached the man, Nemo accidentally tripped. As he fell, he gripped tightly at the villain's shiny cloak. Jekyll, Tom and Mina were just behind Nemo when he fell. As a result, they all tripped over him. Jekyll felt his vial being knocked from his grasp. You clumsy fool! Hyde screamed angrily in his ear.
He looked up only to see the masked man pull down a lever. Nemo was still clutching his cloak. A sadistic, hideous laughter rang in Jekyll's ears, and he was not sure whether it came from Hyde or the villain. A blinding blue flash enveloped him and the room swirled before his very eyes. Something hard smashed into the side of his head. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he blacked out.
***
"Are you okay? Do you want me to take you to hospital?"
Jekyll felt someone shaking him. "W-what-?" Stirring feebly, he opened his eyelids which felt unusually heavy.
He blinked.
Author's Note: This is my first LXG fanfic so please be gentle with the flames! I would really appreciate your comments and reviews, they mean a lot to me!