The League (small-ish group) (open, no need for a writing sample)

(But really, I am like, really sorry.)

(It's alright! No harm done :)

(also, do you need me to reply or do we want to wait for Ice?)

(I don’t care what you do.)

(It's alright! No harm done :)

:)

"Mina's on th' roof!" Tom bellowed, unsure if the words had been meant for him or not, but replying anyway. "Kinda scary that she can do that." his Missouri drawl was still thick in his voice, and he hoped Dorian could understand him. If not…well, that would kinda suck. For everyone.

Another gunshot. It missed, but it let Mina know that the gunmen hadn’t just given up. They finally reached the roof, and she rushed to meet them. Grumbling something about getting wounded and dirty, she resorted to using her claws and quick reflexes to take them out. She slashed the first two across the chest, and another managed to shoot her in the shoulder. It did little more than anger her, and she swiped the gun out of his hand and bashed his head.
As she fought them, she tried to lead them further and further to the edge of the roof.

Dorian grabbed a sword from the umbrella stand that was, curiously, nowhere near the door, and ran after to Mina. He jumped out a window and onto the roof, where he swiftly killed all the remaining gunmen with a combination of a sword and the element of surprise. "Mina, darling, you've gotten slow." he grinned, and then laughed. "What, have you been picking off children to feed now? Is that the level you've stooped to? Your fighting skill certainly shows it." his chest was riddled with bulletholes and his shirt beyond repair, he looked strangely handsome that way.

She moved out of the way as Dorian joined her and scowled as he slayed the gunmen. After he was done, she closed the distance between them.
He wasn’t wrong. Decades of living in isolation and memories made her sluggish. An old feeling of competition rose in her, a need to be better than him, but she knew not to feed it. She was already better than him.
Glancing at the bodies beneath them, she sighed. She had only wanted them incapacitated, not dead.
“I take no pride in killing,” she spat, adjusting her spectacles. “I did not want to fight. I left those days behind me, Dorian, and I can’t go back now. Also, I have not gotten much sleep in recent days. What happened with the Phantom?”

Dorian ignored Mina’s more pointed comments, instead focusing on her last question. “Escaped, although I’d prefer to say I let him live.” he shrugged. That was for him to always feel shame over. “And since when did you become such a bore anyways? Always talking about morals, good, evil, the like. You used to be fun, Mina, what happened?”

(For the sake of making things less fucking chaotic, who wants to make some character deaths happen over the course of each story arc?)

Mina reached to dig out the bullet still in her shoulder. When she looked back at Dorian, fingering the shell, strange sorrow replaced the competitive feeling. “And you stayed the same,” she murmured quietly, then sighed. “Do you really want to talk about this now?” She threw the bullet to the side. “Dorian… a lot happened, and I’m tired. You didn’t know me when I was human and I just— I just want to be myself again. Alright?”

(I wouldn’t mind that! It feels weird thinking about that this early tho)

(Idk I just like to plan ahead lol. Will post soon.)

Mina reached to dig out the bullet still in her shoulder. When she looked back at Dorian, fingering the shell, strange sorrow replaced the competitive feeling. “And you stayed the same,” she murmured quietly, then sighed. “Do you really want to talk about this now?” She threw the bullet to the side. “Dorian… a lot happened, and I’m tired. You didn’t know me when I was human and I just— I just want to be myself again. Alright?”

The bullets in Dorian’s chest turned to dust, which flowed out of the wounds which in turn quickly closed. “This is what you are now, Mina. I didn’t change because I’m just perfect the way I am. Maybe you should start to accept that, or at least accept how you’re meant to be.” he said, climbing back in through the window. Sanger meanwhile was trying not to touch any of the mess around him, bullet holes in every surface. He was surprised nobody had gotten shot.

(Lol cuz like Dorian probably will die, if only from being gay and doing drugs (and crimes) but like, Quartermain died in the original movie and like, I probably want to do away with at least one more of my characters, idk??)

(Yeah. I decided to read the summary of the movie and I kinda like the idea of Mina being the one to kill Dorian. Idk who else we could kill off though shrug)

She scoffed. “Well, I think I’m far from perfect. I want to change. I would rather die than live as the monster I am.” If she was being honest, she wouldn’t mind if she died at this very moment. At least that way she could see Jonathan again, even if she would be watching him in Heaven while she was in Hell. She followed him inside, putting her parasol away.

Dorian regained his composure, and settled into a bullet ridden chair. “Well, now that my house has been thoroughly demolished, I suppose I have no choice. I’ll pack.” he told the group, exiting the room in order to gather his things in some suitcases, then mark them each as his own as he knew many did with their luggage in trips to foreign lands. He came back after twenty minutes, carrying two suitcases of clothes and other necessities and two full of what looked to be a chemistry set and chemicals. “A man can have his hobbies, Mr…”

“Rainsford, sir. Sorry, sir.” the man in question looked down and away from Dorian.

Sherlock had been silent as he studied the goings-on. He had been unable to hear Dorian and Mina's conversation, which was a shame; he would have loved to hear the information they gave, even if most of it wouldn't have made sense to him. Tom still looked weirded out, his pistol in hand as he studied this strange, motley group.

Mina waited with the others. It was quite awkward, as a few of them were making glances in her direction. Efraim had fallen silent again, flipping through the notebook. The sketch of Dorian was gone, replaced by burned, blackened paper. Thankfully the fire hadn’t spread beyond the one page, but Efraim still silently mourned.
Quartermain was one of those who was giving weird looks. Multiple things about this didn’t make sense to him. They quietly put their pistol away, his attention moving to Dorian’s chemistry set.

Dorian shrugged. “Well? Will one of you big, strong, handsome men pick up my things and help me to your… boat wouldn’t describe it, I take it? I know about your mission, more than you do.” he chuckled, throwing a bag of clothes at Tom. “Including our next destination. To the home of the infamous Mr. Hyde, all the way in France. I take it the Nautilus can take us?”

Tom caught it out of reflex, nearly dropping his loaded gun in the process. "Don' throw your clothes at me!" he snapped, setting the bag on the ground in order to unload the pistol. "I coulda shot someone, an' then what d'you think will happen? Not everyone here can withstand bullets like you apparently can." his accent was thicker than ever, spurred on by anger and disbelief that Dorian would wilfully do something so unsafe.

Dorian shrugged. “Don’t worry so much about it, sweetheart. Honestly, Americans and their guns.” he laughed, and jumped off the balcony to the ground below. There was a crunch of bones, then a sound of them snapping back in place, and Dorian stood up unscathed, bags in hand. “Well, might as well get going then.”

Tom cursed at him, throwing the bag straight at his head. "I'm not carrying your damned bag." he retorted. "Not when you don't give a shit about everyone else's safety." the gun, now unloaded, was tucked back into the holster, the ammo in a separate pocket.

Mina wordlessly lead the way out, down the stairs and through the front door. As the others followed, a thought occurred to Efraim. They quickly wrote in a new page in the notebook. Deciding to show it to Sanger, the notebook read, Is this Mr. Hyde fellow the clue M. mentioned? How does this man know, if that’s the case?

“If you’re wondering,” Dorian began, peeking over Efraim’s shoulder, “M himself told me. I promised that I’d at least deliver the information necessary for you to continue on your mission, and if you could convince me to join, I’d come along.” he said, dragging his bags behind him. “But yes, Mr Hyde, and his lovely counterpart, the famed Doctor Jekyll. I’m surprised their story cycled out of the news so quickly, I would have expected it to be a legendary tale.” he chuckled to himself.

Efraim flinched. Mina’s gaze slid over to Dorian. “Oh, it hasn’t. I suspect it’s just Efraim here who hasn’t heard of them. Do you know about Hyde and Jekyll, Efraim?”
At first, they shook their head, then realized they wouldn’t be able to see. No, I don’t, they wrote. I don’t read the paper.
Truthfully, it was just that they were too poor to read the news. Sure, they could easily steal a newspaper, but their convictions and beliefs kept them from doing so. Reading the news wasn’t necessary for survival, after all.

(Seconded.)