LXG 2: Above & Beyond
by Clez is essentially the sequel to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that was never made. Essentially an adaptation of the second volume of the comic series, the fic presents a new take on the war between the League and the Martians.
LXG 2: Above & Beyond contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Essentially, anyway; where the Invisible Man of the comics outright betrayed the League to the Martians, here Skinner remains loyal to the League and is instead framed by another Invisible Man.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Mina becomes romantically involved with Sawyer rather than Quatermain.
- Artistic Licence – Biology: Basically applies to Jekyll and Hyde; to justify Hyde spending so much time active when the film version is still dependent on the elixir to manifest; Jekyll’s transformation becomes more ingrained when a phial of the serum is crushed while in his pocket and the mixture enters his body directly.
- Ascended Extra: Thomas Marvel, a minor character in the original Invisible Man, is here revealed to have used the process on himself and is attempting to eliminate Skinner out of a warped sense of jealousy.
- Badass Normal: Tom Sawyer manages to destroy a Martian tripod practically by himself, armed with a standard gun while Mina just provided a distraction and Quartermain helped topple it.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: As in the original comic, the Martians form one with the Invisible Man, albeit Thomas Marvel rather than Skinner.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Sawyer and Mina get one after they take down a tripod.
- Bittersweet Ending: The fic concludes with the Martians defeated and Thomas Marvel dead, but only through the sacrifice of Edward Hyde. However, unlike in the original narrative, the League remained together even after resigning as government agents, with Nemo accepting Quartermain’s assurances that they didn’t know about the biological weapons and the rest of the League joining Nemo in resigning in protest at the government’s use of such weapons.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: In the end, Marvel’s plan is thwarted by this; he could have just waited for Hyde to kill Skinner, but his attempt to attack Hyde reveals the existence of a second invisible man and inspires Jekyll to retake control before Hyde can do more than break Skinner’s arm.
- The Bus Came Back: The fic opens with Quartermain returning to the League after his resurrection.
- Commuting on a Bus: Compared to the original comic, this basically describes Jekyll; an accident in the first confrontation with the Martians allows Hyde to manifest from Jekyll basically at will rather than just through drinking the potion, but Jekyll can still take back control rather than Hyde keeping Jekyll trapped for the duration of the crisis.
- Everyone Has Standards: The League officially resign from the service of the British Government when they learn that the Martians were defeated using an artificial disease that would have killed any humans still in the 'danger zone'.
- Evil Counterpart: Thomas Marvel is one to Rodney Skinner, regarding himself as the true invisible man and willing to even betray Earth just to be the only one with the title.
- Heroic Sacrifice: As in canon, Hyde gives his life to keep the Martians contained until the new hybrid can be deployed.
- Internalized Categorism: Sawyer dislikes it when Mina refers to herself as a ‘freak’, but doesn’t often have time to assure her he doesn’t mind about that.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite being set in a slightly more optimistic universe, the fic still features Dr. Alphone Moraeu running his little nightmare kingdom in the British countryside, indulging in his passion of creating horrific half-human, half-animal hybrids.
- Hyde still dies fighting the Martians to gain enough time to deploy Moreau's disease bombs.
- Kiss of the Vampire: Mina gives one to Sawyer during their sexual encounter; Quartermain is surprised when he realises what happened between the two the previous night, but decides to leave the matter alone as their relationship is their own concern.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the original source material; Skinner isn’t a traitor and survives the invasion, Sawyer is just beaten rather than raped, and the League as a whole stay together as independent operatives even after resigning from the government, although Hyde still dies.
- Likes Older Women: No clear sign if it’s a regular interest on Sawyer’s part, but he is certainly attracted to Mina despite her being somewhat older than him.
- Morality Pet: Skinner basically becomes this for Jekyll; when Hyde witnesses a second invisible man after he’s broken Skinner’s arm, Jekyll retakes control so that he can treat Skinner’s injury.
- Oh, Crap!: Skinner has a few of these, starting with his own understanding that he’ll be accused of Thomas Marvel’s actions and escalating from there, to the point where Hyde breaks his arm before Skinner is able to convince him of the truth.
- One-Steve Limit: Invoked; when Nemo learns that the boy he has just saved is named ‘Jimmy Grey’, he briefly wonders if the boy is some relation to Dorian Grey, but soon assures himself that there is no resemblance.
- Playing with Fire: As in canon, the Martians’ favoured weapons are their heat rays.
- Shipper on Deck: In his own quiet way, Quartermain shows support for Tom and Mina’s new relationship.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Hawley Griffin is long dead, and Skinner is far more heroic than the original Invisible Man ever was. Instead, Thomas Marvel takes the role as the evil Invisible Man, and the traitor to Earth.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sawyer openly asks why Skinner didn’t step in to fight Marvel when the other Invisible Man was attacking him, and is dissatisfied with Skinner’s explanation.
