Sparrow's Bargain
Summary: A different take on AWE. How would the story differ if there had been a different Pirate King? If Beckett couldn't make a deal with Jack and instead tried to hang him? If Norrington objected when he saw his true face and survived instead of dying on the FD? If more enemies were thrown into the fray? Read to find out! Sparrington
"Curious," Lord Cutler Beckett commented when his prisoner was brought into his cabin aboard the Endeavour. "The last time I saw that ship, she was up in flames, sinking to the bottom of the ocean, hoping her traitorous Captain had gone down with her." The smaller man turned around to look at said Captain, who was busy riffling through the room, picking up this and that, making sure to look and touch everything there. "Equally curious, though, is that your friends seem quite desperate, Jack. Perhaps they no longer believe that a gathering of squabbling pirates can defeat the Flying Dutchman. And so despair leads to betrayal. But you and I are not strangers to betrayal, are we, Jack?"
The infamously famous Jack Sparrow, Captain of the by now legendary Black Pearl, just recently rescued from Devy Jones' Locker, turned his full focus to the little British man, none of his usual humor on his face, only that catching, sharp intelligence that took you by surprise considering his normal antics and animated features. Beckett, however, wasn't surprised to have that look directed at him. He, unlike most, had seen early on the potential in Jack Sparrow when he had first met him when the pirate was still considered just a boy. The intensity of the other man's gaze could be quite unnerving when not accompanied by his silliness or cheer or drunken drawl. Beckett, had he not been so discomforted at being put on the spot by that bird like gaze, would have preened at being worthy of Sparrow's discarding of his many masks and pretenses at being nothing more than a drunken buffoon in order to be taken seriously.
However, the problem with being taken seriously by Jack Sparrow was that it usually didn't end well for you. Barbossa's death by that one shot meant for him said as much.
"I've told ye I wou'dn' be yer slave transporter boy and yet ye made m' do it." Jack said in his usual drawl, as though this was some boring matter preventing him from enjoying the company of one of Tortuga's whores, but his eyes spoke of a different story. "I don' condone slavery, mate. Makin' me sail dat ship ... Doin' what ye did to 'er ... One day, I swear by the Code, ye will pay fer dat."
"I believe your exact words were 'It's just a ship,' no?" The Lord hummed as if in thought, a sardonic smirk curling his lips.
Sparrow was not amused. "An' ye knew it was s' much more an' ye still took 'er from me." The man looked about ready to draw either his sword or his pistol, yet he made no move to do so, most curious indeed. Beckett kept a sharp eye on the savvy pirate Captain, wondering how he should go about this.
It was a sad fact but the East India Trading Company, as well as the British or any other Navy, knew next to nothing about the real life these sea bound outlaws led, since rare few commanders bothered to try and interrogate the pirates they managed to catch before presenting them to the crowds of whatever settlement with a swift 'drop and sudden stop'. Beckett had despaired at how many of his own men had kept doing that until he had to order them all, quite literally, to stop doing so. Even now he had similar issues with Davy Jones and his crew on the Flying Dutchman. It's why he had stationed formerly disgraced Commodore and now Admiral James L. Norrington and the heart that very same man had brought to him on the ship to ensure Jones sailed as he wanted, not that fishface who was now nothing more than his obedient mutt. Jones was a great source of information regarding some aspects of the pirates' way of life, which was how he had first learned of the significance of the Brethren Court and the Pirate Lords. However, his original knowledge of them came from none other than Sparrow and his information was much more detailed and actual than Jones'. Jones was there when the Brethren Court had first come into existence but he had had very little to do with them since. Sparrow, on the other hand, had been there when the third Court had been called to deal with El Matador Del Mar, if Beckett's history was correct. Sparrow had even sailed in that last battle against the Spaniard and had come out of it as the Captain of his beloved ship with a crew so loyal to him that they had actually loved their young Captain and had followed him even when he started sailing for the EITC, despite how their ilk was treated by the Company.
And Sparrow had repaid them by not allowing them to sail with him during his last voyage for the Company, saving their lives in the process. No men had ever served their Captain so loyally and stubbornly as those sailors had Jack Sparrow.
But Beckett shook off thoughts about Sparrow's old crew and instead concentrated on the matter at hand. Seeing how their last meeting went - branding Jack with the P mark as a pirate and an outlaw, burning his beloved ship and leaving him to die out on the open sea - Cutler had great doubts that he could come to an agreement - an accord, as his companion preferred - with him. Jack Sparrow was as wild and untamable as the sea, but Beckett was working on taming the seas to his liking already. Devy Jones was, after all, his puppet. However, Sparrow was a different story. He was all about life and freedom and he would do anything to keep both with that razor sharp silver tongue of his.
But the one thing he loved even above his own life was his ship. The ship Beckett had had sunk. The likeliness Sparrow would cooperate were minimal. If he were to threaten the Black Pearl now, they were inexistent, as would be his head or heart, too, if he were to try. He was rather irritated that his men were all so incompetent. How could they have forgotten to disarm a pirate before letting him come in here, to be with him alone? Truly, he was surrounded by idiots. Sparrow could kill him twenty times over before anyone could react. Yes, he had a pistol on him, but so did Jack and Beckett had seen a few times just how quickly and fluidly the man could draw his without anyone being the wiser about it before it was too late.
"Wot d' ye want from me, Beckett? I hardly think this is a social call on yer part. I know ye better." Sparrow asked, cutting into Beckett's musings once again. He decided to forget about the past, for the moment, and instead focus on the present. Jack was a smart man cornered in a very unfavorable situation. He would recognize a good business offer when it was extended to him, surely.
"I am perfectly prepared to offer you a Letter of Marque and ensure your own safety, as well as return to you your ship, if," he made sure to stress that 'if' an extra bit to make his point. "You would be willing to divulge certain ... information. Think about it, Jack." He implored when the pirate made no indication of answering. "It would be just like before. Just you, your handpicked crew, your ship and the sea."
"Something tells me ye've grown rusty, mate, if ye seriously think an offer like dat is goin' to persuade me to tell you about the Brethren Court." The Pearl's Captain replied coolly, a fine black brow arched, dark eyes impassive, the air around him superior and unimpressed. "Me firs' concern is Devy Jones, whom you 'ave been keepin' on a leash if I've heard right, and yet ye didn't start off wiff dat. Ye're losing yer edge, mate. A blunt blade is of little use."
Beckett's lips thinned in annoyance when he received a rather ... predatory version of Sparrow's usual smile and he tried not to be disconcerted by it. "This is the only way you can keep your life, Jack. I control the sea now. My word is law."
"The sea can't be controlled by no one man, Beckett." Sparrow answered dismissively, returning to his studying if the room. "We're less than ants in 'er waters, after all. Humans are jus' foolish in thinkin' they can control 'er. An' even if they some'ow manage to do it, 'tis only temporary. The sea is everchangin' yet always the same, mate. It cannot be tamed, no matter wot we think."
"It can and it will be. As soon as I destroy the pirate meanace." Beckett snapped, losing his cool as he was wont to around this particular pirate. No one can stay stoic and unmoved in Jack Sparrow's presence. Beckett suspected even the legendary sphinx wouldn't last long with this madman.
"An' dat jus' makes me wanna tell ye 'bout the Court." Jack drawled, taking up a scepter, standing in front of Beckett's portrait and imitating it in an absurd fashion, irritating the Lord even more. Even when Sparrow had been in his service, the man had a way of getting under his skin, making him feel off balance and as though it was Sparrow who had the upper hand and not the other way around. There was no equal footing with Sparrow. He was always standing on solid ground while everyone else was trapped in quick sand, wholly dependent on him regarding how fast you will sink and how much of your freedom you might regain. It was that accursed silver tongue of his. The man could talk himself out of almost any situation.
"Why do you protect them so? When you entered my employ, you have been thrilled to be rid of them all. Why protect them now?"
"Simply, mate! I hate ye more than I hate them, so it's the lesser of two evils an' all dat." The grin with which Jack said this was getting on Beckett's last nerve. For all that the pirate had been one of his best investments, he had not missed the man at all. In fact, he would very gladly see this man dead, if he was given the opportunity. But he needed him, for now. He watched as the scoundrel continued looking around, opening drawers and cabinets now.
Beckett smirked. "It's not here, Jack, the heart of Devy Jones. I would never leave it somewhere so easily accessible to the likes of you."
Jack stopped everything he was doing to regard Beckett with a strange expression on his face, his eyes considering. Beckett arched an eyebrow when a smug grin appeared on the darker man's face. "It's on the Dutchman, ain't it, eh? A bit too predictable, isn't it?"
The Englishman's composure went rigid. All of his plans ... They all were put to waste by that single realization made by this particular pirate. This was the reason he had sought to employ the eighteen year old Captain above other, more experienced sailors some fifteen years ago. The man's wits cannot be matched easily. Even when you think you had him, luck or his own skill and intelligence saved him and turned the situation into his favor. If Sparrow knew the location of the Chest ... It was no longer safe. Rather, Sparrow was no longer a safe bet. He would have to get rid of him. Sparrow had a history of doing the impossible and sneaking onto the Dutchman wouldn't even be all that hard if he played his cards right. Jones was melancholy and did his best to avoid the Chest, which means it will be free for the taking to Sparrow, who would easily outwit anyone left in charge of guarding it.
Beckett was not pleased. Sparrow had been one of his best investments in the past and was his best bet now to find out some information on the Brethren Court. Yes, he could have made a bargain with Sao Feng, perhaps, had he not just broken his last deal with him by having his men take over the Pearl. Sao Feng won't be saying anything. The coward had probably left already, fleeing for his pathetic life.
No matter. The pirates can't hide forever. It was not a complete waste, all of this. Yes, he lost Jack Sparrow and whatever information he might have possessed or whatever services he could have gotten from the pirate had he been interested in the Letter of Marque, but he had in turn gained the fastest ship to ever sail the seven seas. The Black Pearl was his now. Too bad he will have to get rid of her Captain. Truly a loss, but not one he would mourn that much. Jack had cost him a lot, made a fool of him, tarnished his good name and reputation when he had freed those slaves.
"Guards," he called out as suddenly as he could and Sparrow almost jumped at the first sound he had uttered in the past five minutes. Two red uniformed marines swiftly entered the room, waiting orders. "Seize him, disarm him and put him in the brig. Tell the helm master to set course for the nearest English harbor.'' He met the condemned pirates eyes and smirked at him, enjoying the glower that earned him. ''Mr Sparrow has an appointment with the gallows."
Now, all he needed to do was figure out how he will get any sort of information about the Brethren Court. It can'be too hard, surely? After all, he had managed to catch the Captain Jack Sparrow.
Yes, it can't be that hard.