2004_ _The_League_of_Extraordinary

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Chains dangling from winches and pulleys raised the heavy iron pieces and shuttled them over to a
maze of lathes, drills, and presses on the factory floor, where they were pieced together. Some workers
constructed massive land ironclads, such as the one that had smashed through the Bank of England
vault; others assembled monstrous long-barreled cannons, smaller guns, and rocket-launching tubes.
Outside in the frigid daylight, teams test-fired the weapons, launching explosive artillery shells and
shrieking rockets, using the empty peasant dwellings as makeshift targets.
"Worst of all," Skinner continued, "in the dry dock beneath the fortress, I saw M supervising laborers
riveting hull plates in the diabolic heat and shadow. The vessels are still under construction, but soon M
will have a fleet of armored submarine warships of his own."
"They've copied my Nautilus, "Nemo said, pained.
"Nautili, actually. Eight of them for now," Skinner said. "But, heh, I'm sure he'll build more."
Even in the firelight, Sawyer's face was flushed with anger. "Nemo, can you fire rockets from your own
ship, like you did in Venice? Blow that whole place to Hell?"
"We are out of range, Mr. Sawyer. And all those people inside& surely some of them must be innocent
slaves." Nemo turned to Skinner. "What of the kidnapped scientists?"
"M holds their families hostage inside the fortress. The men are forced to work, or the women and
children die. Simple and straightforward."
Nemos face darkened with fury, and he shook his head. "Monstrous. I see M has learned much from his
barbaric predecessors."
The invisible man rubbed his unseen hands together. "Aheh! That isn't the half of it. M isn't just
mechanically inclined when he designs his new weapons. He uses biology, as well. He's forcing the
captive scientists to work night and day to make new versions of us. As if one of me wasn't quite
enough."
"What do you mean?" Quatermain said.
"You should see the chemicals and substances he is mass-producing. All distilled from our best aheh!
traits. He will create invisible spies, an army of Hydes, vampiric assassins& and send them all off to
wage war in a fleet of unstoppable submersibles." Skinner turned the tinted lenses of his glasses toward
them. "Delightful, eh?"
Jekyll knotted his hands together, and his face sank in dismay. "I won't let my evil infect the world."
"Think any of us feel differently?" Mina looked at her pale palm, where the cut from the broken glass
had long since healed, leaving no scar whatsoever. She felt as if Dorian Gray had violated her again.
Sawyer was impatient. "I'm tired of just sitting here in the cold, when we know M is just over there all
cozy inside his fortress. What are we going to do?"
"We put an end to him," Nemo said with quiet force.
The invisible man, at least, continued to think pleasant thoughts. "Chimney pipes lace the buildings,
factories, and foundries so a few well-placed bombs in the furnaces would make quite a bang. Heh!"
As if in agreement, the wood in the small campfire suddenly crackled and snapped. Skinner held his
transparent hands over the warmth. "I know the way down, and I'm least likely to be seen."
"Skinner, I didn't know you were such a barefaced liar." Quatermain surprised the invisible man, then
gave him a sly smile. "All this time, declaring you weren't a hero."
"Shut up, or I'll come to my senses." The invisible thief actually seemed embarrassed. "Besides, any
more like me, and I lose the franchise."
Tom Sawyer, holding his Winchester rifle, cocked it suddenly with a loud sound. Ready to go, he stood.
"That man killed Huck Finn. I'm not gonna let that pass. He's mine."
But Quatermain reluctantly touched the young agents rifle barrel, forced him to lower it. "This cannot
be a hunt to the death, lad. Mores the pity." Sawyer looked as if the old adventurer had betrayed him,
but Quatermain remained firm. "We must take M alive, if his secrets are to be uncovered."
Mina's green eyes looked feral in the firelight. "Not Gray, though." She stood, like a vengeful spirit
rising from the grave. "He's lived long enough."
"I'll handle him " Sawyer said.
"No," said Mina. "Dorian is& my business."
Sawyer understood and nodded grimly.
The storm outside seemed to be lessening, but their work had just begun. Quatermain said, "M decided
that he could use our particular abilities to help him wage war its time we demonstrate just how right
he is. Only we'll be waging war on him."
"Right!" Sawyer shouldered his Winchester. "If we work together, getting into that fortress of his should
be a piece of cake."
Quatermain strode to the cave opening and led the way out. "The game is on."
THIRTY NINE
M's Fortress
With the first light of morning dazzling on the fresh snow, a Mongolian guard stood vigil at the foot of
the black fortress. He had dark eyes, a long drooping mustache, and stiff leather armor that kept out
arrows and knife blades, but not the cold. He carried a sleek new-design automatic weapon from the
master's arsenal.
When he stamped his feet, the iron nails of his boot soles rang on the stone path. His toes were numb,
his belly rumbled with queasy hunger, and his head pounded from the effects of too much drink the
night before. Though no enemy had crossed the empty windswept wasteland in recent memory, he stood
at his post and kept guard.
He would rather face an onrushing horde alone than incur the Fantom's anger. The masked man was a
demon, the stuff of nightmares.
The guard was stationed at the opening to a roaring meltwater sluice. A canal diverted part of the river
channel into the foundry forges and the factories, and dumped water into turbines and storage tanks. The
air was bitterly cold, and spray from the surging water rimed the fortress's dark stones with thick frost
and coated the walkway with treacherous ice.
One of his fellow guards took up a post deeper inside the sluice tunnel, where the surging flow made the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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