Hyde and go seek

"Still drinking that quaint little drink of yours, I see," said Lucy to the well-dressed Englishman she knew as Dr. Henry Jekyll.

"But of course," said Dr. Jekyll. "I trust you're well-acquainted with its effects."

"Am I?" asked Lucy.

"Of course you are," said Dr. Jekyll. "You stole a drink from this very flask the last time we saw each other."

"Oh, that," said Lucy. "As I recall, that was... interesting."

"Interesting, you say," said Dr. Jekyll. "In that case, you should be very interested in what happens next."

But before he could say anything more, two naked women ran up to the table. One was a tall Germanic blonde. The other was a short French brunette who wore nothing but a cross around her neck.

"Mademoiselle Westenra," said the brunette. "The invisible man stole our clothes!"

"He did?" cried Lucy. "How dare he?"

"How dare he, indeed," said Dr. Jekyll. "Anyway, as I was saying --"

Dr. Jekyll's speech was interrupted by a loud ripping sound. At this point Lucy looked down and saw that her dress had been torn off.

"Oh, bother," said Lucy. "It looks like he's already here."

"No, wait!" cried an increasingly hairy Dr. Jekyll. "He can't be here right now. I'm supposed to be tearing off that dress, not him."

"Oh, shut up, Dr. Jekyll," said Lucy. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"Mistress Westenra!" cried Tara from across the table. "Your pantaloons!"

"What about my pantaloons?" asked Lucy.

Then she looked down and said, "Oh, my! I seem to be suddenly not wearing any. I wonder how that happened."

Herr Flick glanced over at the increasingly undressed Lucy Westenra and said, "Fraulein, I must ask you to refrain from undressing in public. We are tolerant of many things here in Austria-Hungary but indecent exposure --"

"Oh, no!" cried Mina. "Now my dress is being torn off."

"Well, don't just sit there, Herr Flick," said Lucy. "Do something."

"Do something?" asked Herr Flick. "What can I possibly do? As I told you before, the Austro-Hungarian Empire does not recognize the existence of invisible people. You can't very well expect me to arrest something that doesn't legally exist."

"Well, at least make some effort to do something," said Lucy.

"No need," said the one-armed policeman who called himself Inspector Kamp. "I think I've got him... Ow! No, I don't."

"I'll get the interfering little bastard," said the by-now extremely hairy Dr. Jekyll.

"You?" asked Herr Flick. "What could you do? You have no authority to perform law enforcement activities in this country as far as I can tell, Herr Jekyll."

"Actually, the name is not Herr Jekyll," said the wolfish figure that used to be Dr. Henry Jekyll. "The name is --Ow!"

"Ow?" asked Lucy. "That's an odd name."

"It's not my name, you silly bint," said the wolfish figure. "It's an exclamation. That invisible man hit me in the unmentionables."

"Well, where is he now?" asked Lucy.

"How the hell should I know?" asked the wolfish figure.

"Perhaps he's hiding in the cellar," said Tara.

The wolfish figure smiled. "But of course."

Before anyone else could move, the wolfish figure ran to the back of the tavern and kicked open the first door that looked like it might lead to a cellar.

"I'll get you now, you bastard," said the wolfish figure as he closed the cellar door behind him and lit a match.

"Oh, jeez," said a little blonde girl lying on the cellar floor. "Can't this wait till later? Some of us are trying to get to sleep."

"It's daytime outside, little girl," said the wolfish figure as he made his way down the cellar stairs. "Little girls like you should be wide awake anyway."

"Well, it just so happens I'm a special little girl," said the blonde girl. "Now are you going to allow me to get to sleep or do I have to get rough with you?"

"You?" asked the wolfish figure. "Rough? With me? Don't make me laugh, little girl. Now where is he?"

"Who?" asked the blonde girl.

"Don't make owl noises at me," said the wolfish figure. "Where is he? The invisible man who has been tearing off ladies' dresses upstairs?"

"Oh, him," said the blonde girl. "I chased him out of here."

"Sure you did," said the wolfish figure as he blew out one match and started to light another.

"Okay, please feel free to not believe me if you wish," said the blonde girl. "However, if I were you, I would not keep lighting matches down here."

"And why should I not do that?" asked the wolfish figure. "Are you going to do something to me? To me, Edward Hyde, one of the most evil men in England?"

"Hello, Mr. Hyde," said the blonde girl. "My name is Claudia. I've heard a great deal about you. Unfortunately, I've also heard a lot about the other resident of this cellar. You might know him as the Frankenstein Monster."

"The Frankenstein Monster," Edward Hyde said with a laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows that there is no such thing as a Frankenstein --"

Then a loud voice behind Hyde cried, "Fire! Fire!"

And before Hyde could turn to see who was speaking, a massive left fist crashed into his face and plunged him into darkness.