A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chappie! This one is kinda long and action-filled! Or at least that's what it sounded like in my brain...-_-
Enjoy! And don't forget to review!
Ele
XxX
It's only when Nellie wakes up in the morning feeling rather cold that she realizes that Sweeney isn't in bed with her. Confused, she stands and stretches, before hurriedly changing into a dress. She figures he probably started work early, and is in his shop shaving some man without a name. but then again, she fell asleep waiting up on him to come back from the market, and she doesn't recall him ever coming to bed. She frowns and makes her way towards the door, but when she opens it, she finds that the shop is eerily quiet. She closes the door and looks around, expecting Sweeney to come out of anywhere, maybe he's just trying to scare her. Unfortunately, no floorboards creak, not a single sound is made in the apartment except for her light breathing.
Suddenly she hears a creak and the door opens, and she spins with a greeting for him on her lips.
"Sweeney-" she cuts short as soon as she sees that the man currently standing in front of her is not Mr. Todd.
"Ah, Good Morning, Mrs. Todd," the Beadle says in his sniveling voice.
"Beadle Bamford, what brings you here so early?" she asks, confused.
He pays her no mind, going about setting his coat down and walking around the room, stopping at the vanity and running his fingers over the bottles of cologne and shaving cream Sweeney kept there.
"You know, Mrs. Todd, ever since we first met in the market, I always fancied you. You are a beautiful creature, Mrs. Todd," he said almost conversationally.
"Uh, yes, be that as it may, sir, I am married-"
He cut her off.
"Ah yes, Mr. Todd. You know, funny thing, Mrs. Todd, last night, I happened to encounter Mr. Todd coming home rather late, and he seemed to be hiding something," he continued, turning to look at her.
She fixed him with a level stare.
"Sir, where is my husband?" she said lowly, her voice dangerous.
"Yes, well, when I accosted him, he had a string of fine pearls on his person. Well, not to doubt your financial security, ma'am, but you see, those pearls were worth over two hundred quid! Of course, when I asked him, Mr. Todd insisted that he had paid for it himself, and he was to give it to you. But alas, the poor Mr. Todd had actually stolen the pearls, and of course, we can't have any kind of law breaking, so I had to take him straight down to the police station," he told her with faux sympathy.
"Where is my husband, Beadle Bamford?" she growled.
"Unfortunately for Mr. Todd, he was immediately sent to the holdings of one of our ships that is to leave later today. He shall be shipped off to one of our penal colonies in Australia," he said, waving his hand as though it was a dismissive thought.
She narrowed her eyes.
"You're lying. I hate pearls, and Mr. Todd knows that," she said venomously.
Suddenly, he rammed her up against the vanity, one hand pressed harshly down on her mouth.
"Now, Mrs. Todd, Mr. Todd will never be coming back. So I suggest you do as I tell you to. Besides, with Judge Turpin gone, you may be looking at the brand new Judge Bamford," he said with a nasty grin.
She glared at him and bit down on his hand, hard. He swore as she drew blood, ripping his hand away. She used the opportunity to fumble for one of Sweeney's razors behind her, quickly flipping it open. Just as the Beadle stood back up, she plunged it into the side of his neck. Both pairs of eyes opened, and Nellie watched as he looked at her incredulously, blood soaking his shirt collar a bright red as it spurted from his fat neck. She gasped as he started to sink and pushed him away, letting him fall with a thump to the floor. She suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs and watched as Mrs. Lovett's dirty blonde hair came into sight. She burst through the door, stopping in her tracks as her blue eyes widened almost comically.
"You…what the bloody hell have you done?" she said, pointing an accusing finger at Nellie.
"I- he…Mr. Todd was taken from me, just so that this bastard could have his way with me!" she said indignantly.
Lucy rolled her eyes, stepping closer with a venomous look on her face.
"You didn't even deserve Mr. Todd. He's too beautiful to stay with a whore like you," she hissed, stalking closer to Nellie.
"Oh yes, because I'm sure he wants you," Nellie started sarcastically, "you can't even keep your business afloat, far less for managing the withering husk you call your body!"
Lucy reddened in anger.
"You shut your mouth, you bitch! Mr. Todd is beautiful, I love him, he deserves someone who loves him!" she shouted, suddenly lunging for Nellie and knocking them both to the ground.
They hit the floor with a painful bump, and Nellie groaned as Lucy pinned her to the floor.
"Yes, this will do nicely, I'll just tell poor Mr. Todd that his wife went mad, killed the Beadle and then herself out of guilt. And then, of course he'll love me!" she giggled madly to herself.
She wrapped her hands around Nellie's throat, cutting off her air supply easily. Nellie thrashed in her strong grip, her vision was becoming hazy. She looked over and saw the silver handle of the razor sticking out of the Beadle's neck next to her. She reached up, weakly grabbing the cool metal, before giving a final heave and kicking Lucy off and onto the hard wooden floor. She wheezed for a minute, massaging the sore flesh of her neck, before she tackled Lucy back down, pressing the razor down on her neck sharply. The woman's eyes widened in fear.
"This is for Mr. Todd, Lord knows you've been harassing him for the few months that we've lived here for. And this is also for tryin' to kill me, ya crazy bitch!"
With that, Nellie dragged the razor across her throat, cringing in disgust as her blood spattered against her face. She dropped off her limp body to the side, her muscles aching from the strain as she blew out slowly. She was exhausted, but a sudden thought popped into her mind.
Mr. Todd…ship…Australia…SHIT!
She flew up, staring around at the blood spattered room, and the two bodies. She felt disgusted. She had never truly killed someone. Injure them, yes. But she didn't think she had actually killed them. She shook it off. The Beadle was a well-known man, just like the Judge. People would surely be looking for them. What to do with the bodies?
She grinned.
"Thanks for the idea, you old wench," Nellie muttered as she dragged Lucy's body closer to the Beadle's. She curled her still warm palm around the second razor, curling it against her throat. Hopefully, that would throw off the police. Now, all that was left was to sign out of Mrs. Lovett's ledger, and grab all their clothes and money.
It took about two hours to complete everything and find the most trusted crew members and board them onto the ship. Dawson had thankfully discovered that the ship full of prisoners wasn't due to depart until three o' clock in the afternoon. After carefully looking over her map, Nellie discovered the perfect place for the ship to wait before they ambushed the slaver.
She sighs, praying that this ludicrous plan of hers doesn't get them all killed.
XxX
It's nearly dark when Connolly announces that the slaver is about to pass the cove where they are hidden. Standing at the wheel, she calls for the anchor to be risen and they float out, before catching a wind in their sails. Luckily, it brings them right next to the slaver, which moves slowly as a result of its heavy load. She calls for Dawson to stand at the wheel, and she loads her gun as she drops a rope ladder over the side and clambers onto the wide wooden banister of her ship, looking down on the slaver, as her ship is considerably taller.
"OI! Who's the captain of this 'ere ship?" she calls out loudly, standing with her hands on her hips, her leather duster swirling about her calves in the wind.
"Tha' woul' be me. An' who, pray tell, is callin'?" comes a gravelly voice from below her. She looks down at him.
"Anchor your ship," she commands.
"Who the bloody 'ell are you t'tell me wot t'do?" he asks angrily.
"Anchor your ship, or I'll blow you to pieces," she sneers, pointing at where Anthony and Connolly have loaded all the canons pointing at the slaver. The captain pales a bit, knowing they aren't equipped to retaliate, and shouts for the anchor. He looks back at her angrily.
"Well, wot d'you want then, bloody w'man? If'n yer lookin' fer money, we ain't got none. We don' transport that," he said.
She smiled cattily, easily hopping from her ship to their deck, about a foot below.
"Gentlemen," she said as her boot met their deck, " I believe you have something that belongs to me," she cocked her gun, "And I'd like it back."
The man swallowed as she pointed it at him.
"There's a prisoner aboard this ship that owes a debt to me. If her goes to jail, I lose my money. Instead, he comes with me, and I allow you to go your way without returning your ship to a pile of woodchips," she told him, her face dead serious.
"What's his name then?" he asks impatiently.
"Todd. Look for the one they call Todd," she says, " and any funny business, and you are all dead."
The captain motions for someone from his crew to go down and find the prisoner she wants.
"So glad we could come to an accord," she says with a wicked grin.
XxX
Todd was mad. Really, he was seriously pissed off. That noise he heard had just turned out to be the goddamn Beadle with a policeman's baton. One clunk on his head and he was out like a light, only to wake up shackled next to a hundred or more other filthy men.
He was outraged. So help him, if he ever made it back to see that squirmy little rat of a man he was going to stick one of his razors where the sun don't shine.
His murderous mental ramblings were suddenly interrupted when the door burst open. Frantically, the crew member called out,
"Where's the one they call Todd? Which of you ruddy bastards is Todd?"
Surprised, Sweeney said,
"That would be me."
The man came over, hastily unlocking his shackles and dragging him to his feet, pushing him out the door. He could swear he heard mutterings about a 'crazy bloody pirate lady.'
When he was pushed onto the deck minutes later, it was to a scowling captain. He looked past the sweaty man to se Nellie there, his Nellie, looking at him with a passive face. Her arms were folded across her chest, tapping her gun against her shoulder impatiently. Gods, she was gorgeous.
"Get on the ship you bloody dog," she said harshly, pointing at the rope ladder that hung over the side. She winked imperceptibly at him.
He climbed up, and once he was on her ship he heard her say,
"So thanks you could be of assistance, love, you've no idea how long I've been tracking this scoundrel." Her tone was sickly sweet, and he figured that she probably only did it to annoy the captain of the slaver.
A few seconds later, she reappeared on her deck, and gave the order to pull up the anchor and sail off. Todd could only stare incredulously at her. He didn't know how she had managed to do everything she had, but he had the feeling that there was a very big story to what had happened after he was captured. He looked at her, but her eyes screamed that she would talk to him later, and not now. He nodded, eagerly awaiting their talk.