Alrighty, thank you tangleddove15 for your review, and thanks for sticking with the story for so long! And now, here's the next chapter!
Marla hovered in one spot, her hands folded behind her back and a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth. She inhaled heavy amounts of smoke and exhaled them through the other corner as she stared intently out at the rough ocean water through the porthole window in Captain Hooks cabin. Behind her stood Hook himself, and in front of him stood the large, one-eyed pirate who had been guarding the torture room. He was trembling uncontrollably, a terrified look on his face as Hook glared at him menacingly.
"You mean to tell me, Tubbs, that you remained at your post the whole time, never leaving it once, and you failed to notice any sign of Tinkerbell escaping!" Hook shouted angrily at him.
"N-n-no, Captain, I-I didn't s-see a thing! I d-don't know hos she d-did it!" Tubbs responded, shaking even harder.
Marla closed her eyes and shook her head. How could Hook have so stupid as to allow a one-eyed pirate to guard such a high-value target? They had been planning this whole operation for several months, they had gone over every last aspect of it with a fine-tooth comb, they considered all the things that could go wrong and made extra sure to plan ahead for them in case they occurred, and it all went down the crapper because Hook trusted a stupid, moronic, one-eyed, fat-ass with one of the most important jobs. The moment she first saw him, she knew there was going to be a problem. She tried to explain to Hook that it was unwise to trust a pirate who couldn't see out of one eye with such an important job, but he ignored her completely. And now, though she kept her rage to herself at this time, she tried to show it in her face how angry she was whenever she looked Hook in the eye.
The door to the cabin burst open and a gangly looking pirate came in and strode up to Hook, who turned to face him. The pirate brought his hand up in a salute.
"Captain, we've searched the entire ship top to bottom, and we've found no sign of the pixie. It seems likely that she is no longer on the ship." He said hastily.
Hooks face turned bright red, his lip quivered in rage. Without warning, he slammed his hook hand onto the luxurious wooden table he was standing behind.
"BLAST!" He roared.
The two pirates flinched at this, but Marla made no movement whatsoever. She did let out a small, quiet giggle though. Hook was so amusing to her when he was angry. Hook managed to calm down a bit before speaking again.
"Well, that's it then, isn't it, we've failed! She probably drowned herself in the merciless sea to make sure she would never tell! That scurvy brat Pan will be the end of me now, I just know it!" Hook said, sounding like he was about to bawl his eyes out.
Tubbs stuttered a bit, then managed to blurt something out.
"Please sir, I don't know how she managed to get past me, I swear! I only looked away for a moment when I went after a bit of gold that came rolling out of nowhere!" He said desperately.
At hearing this, Marla turned away from the window and glared angrily at him. Hook, who had just been close to crying hysterically, now looked as though he were about to explode with rage. Tubbs just stood there looking confused as they glared at him.
"What? Did I do wrong? It was only a few seconds I was gone! She couldn't have... could she?" He said, his voice trembling.
Hook and Marla didn't say anything for a few moments, they just continued to glare at him. Tubbs became even more and more terrified every second. Finally, Hook was able to find his voice.
"Tubbs, did the coin roll out from under the door you were gaurding?" He asked, his voice shaking with rage.
Tubbs began stuttering again, incomprehensible words poured out of his mouth. Eventually, Marla, who hadn't said a word since she discovered the escape, lashed out at him.
"ANSWER THE QUESTION, PORKY!" She snapped, her cigarette nearly falling out of her mouth.
Tubbs was now shaking harder than ever, sweat poured down him profusely.
"I-I'm n-n-not sure, ex-exactly w-where it came f-f-from!" He cried. "I-I g-guess it's possible that it c-could have come from the r-room..."
Hook looked over at Marla, as if wanting to know what she thought of all this. She merely gave him a look that clearly said "I told you so!" At this point, Hook had heard enough. He grabbed a bottle of rum and slowly circled around the table toward him. The gangly pirate quickly removed himself from the room. He knew where this was going, and he didn't want to see it. Hook approached the terrified pirate, Marla hovering just over his shoulder.
"Tubbs, my good man, I'm afraid your failure to guard Tinkerbell during this most important operation is quite unforgivable." Hook said calmly.
"Captain, Captain please... gah!" Was all Tubbs could get out before Hook smashed the rum bottle on top off his head.
Glass and alcohol flew everywhere. Tubbs gripped his head and thrashed around, howling with pain, he was soaked in alcohol. Hook turned to Marla and gave her a small nod. A cruel smile formed on her face as she slowly hovered over to the writhing pirate. When Tubbs looked up to see Marla approaching him with that sadistic grin on her face, he lost whatever dignity he had left and began screaming and crying relentlessly.
"NO! NO CAPTAIN, PLEASE DON'T LET HER HAVE HER WAY WITH ME! THROW ME OVERBOARD, PUT ME IN THE BRIGG, JUST DON'T LET HER HURT ME! NOT HER!" He screamed.
Marla watched this, looking highly amused. Tubbs tried to back away from her, but she still managed to get right up in his face. She sent a solid kick to his chin that sent him flying backwards and crashing to the ground. He trembled from head to toe, still dripping with rum.
"Hey, HEY!" Marla shouted at him.
Tubbs looked up slowly, a tear came down from his one eye. Marla took one more big drag of her cigarette, the end of it glowed bright red as she did. She pulled the cigarette out of her mouth and dangled it above him for a moment.
"Lighten up..." She said leisurely, and with a quick flick of her fingers, the cigarette plummeted toward him.
Tubbs barely had time to scream in horror before the cigarette hit. Instantly, his alcohol soaked body burst into flames. His scream was loud and horrible. He rooled around on the floor, writhing with pain, pleading incomprehensible words. His body became black anf charred incredibly quickly, and his screaming began to weaken. Marla and Hook looked down at him. Hooks expression was one of revulsion and disgust, but Marlas was one of sheer joy. She did so love burning people alive, it was what she wanted to do with Tinkerbell once she had found out what she wanted from her. At least five minutes had passed before Tubb's writhing came to a stop and he lay there completely still.
"Whoa-ho-ho, he lasted longer than the last guy!" Marla said, laughing happily.
Hook ignored her as he dumped a bucket of water used for swabbing decks on the still burning body. He called for two other pirate henchmen, who came in and dragged the body away to be fed to the sharks.
"You should hang him from the crows nest or something, let him serve as an example to the rest of the imbecils." Marla suggested.
"That won't be necessary, my face alone should be enough to intimidate them!" Hook shouted, slaming his fist on the table.
Marla wasn't scared by this, she just shrugged her shoulders and scoffed.
"Whatever, just tryin' to be helpful." She said lazily.
Hook shot her a quick, angry glare. Her "help" was what nearly cost them a shot at finding Peters hideout. She had almost killed Tink before getting the info out of her. But it didn't matter now, Tink was gone, as was theit only hope of finishing off Peter. Marla, who was hovering over the table now, slowly began to drop in height. She flapped her wings harder to stay airborne, but eventually came into contact with the table top.
"Hook, I need a refill!" She snapped.
Hook glared even harder at her for a few seconds, and she glared back impatiently. Eventually, Hook turned from her and walked up to a cage in the corner of the room. In this cage was a badly bloodied and mutilated fairy laying spralled out on the floor, barely breathing. It was one that Marla had been having some fun with for the past few days, and now she was about to serve her purpose. Hook reached into the cage and grabbed her tightly in his fist. The fairy made any struggling movements she could, but she was simply too weak to do much. Hook approached Marla and held the fairy over her. He then proceeded to squeeze her as hard as he could. The fairy wailed and moaned as her body was crushed. Below her stood Marla with her arms out and looking up with a content expression on her face as pixie dust and blood fell onto her body. Hook squeezed and squeezed until the fairy was completely silent and still, and the last bit of dust had fallen from her body.
Hook tossed the dead fairy carelessly aside as Marla took off in the air again.
"She was a fun one, her screams were almost musical." Marla said, sighing contently.
Hook once again ignored her as he dropped into a chair in front of the table and placed his head face down on top of it. Now Marla was annoyed.
"Okay, you'd better not be blaming me for what happened! It wasn't my idea to put a one-eyed idiot in charge of guarding that room, I mean honestly, Hook, What were you thinking?" Marla said exasperatedly.
"I' d rather not talk about it right now. The only thing that matters now is that it's over; Tinkerbells gone forever!" Hook cried, and now he was starting to bawl.
Marla rolled her eyes at this pathetic sight.
"How do you know she's dead? She could've found a way back to Neverland." Marla said.
"How? How could she have made it back to the island? Fairies can't swim!" Hook shouted back at her, sobbing even harder.
Marla trew her hands up in surrender.
"Okay, shit, she's dead! Go ahead and cry like bitch about it! You want me to breast feed you? Would that calm you down?" She taunted.
Hook jumped to his feet, now burning red with rage, he aimed his hook menecingly at Marla.
"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME THAT WAY!" He roared.
But Marla wasn't the least bit intimidated by him. In fact, she laughed uproariously at his outburst.
"Oh Hook, when will you learn that I am the one whom you should be intimidated by, not the other way around?" She asked menecingly.
Hook was so insane with rage that he couldn't get out any comprensible words. He stuttered for at least a minute when Marla finally silenced with a click of her tongue. Hook stopped immediately, a look of fear flooded across his face. Marla smiled wickedly and clicked her tongue again, and again, making a noise similar to that of a ticking clock, a noise Hook was all too familiar with. He put his hands over his ears and pressed them hard.
"Stop it!" He snapped in a whisper.
But Marla continued to click it louder and faster. Hook was now starting to sweat, his face was now becoming pale.
"Stop it, please!" He said louder and in a more pleading tone.
Marla now had look of pure enjoyment on her face as she watched Hook become more and more unstable. Her loudend and intensified. Finally, Hook could bear it no longer. He fell to his knees and buried his head into the floor.
"STOP IT! STOP IT, PLEASE! I BEG YOU! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" He screamed.
Marla stopped abruptly and gazed down at his cowering form with a mixture of pity and disgust. She lowered herself down to him and gently ran her fingers through his greasy, black hair. Hook trembled even harder at her touch. She stroked his hair for about half a minute when, without warning, she firmly grabbed a chunk of it and yanked him to his feet. She snapped his head in the direction of her face and stared deeply into his eyes. Hook stared back just as intently. Her eyes were almost completely black, they were like bottomless pits. Hook shuddered a bit, but he couldn't help notice how beautiful they were, at least to him. They stared at each other for what seemed like a century before Marla finally spoke.
"You don't want to die, do you? You don't want that boy to beat you?" She asked him in almost a motherly tone.
Hook couldn't find his voice, but managed to nod a bit. Marla expression became hard and uncompromising.
"Then we cannot simply cast Tinkerbell aside yet, not until we're 100% certain she's dead!" She said confidently. "Now, let's think about this for a moment; where would Tinkerbell go first if she somehow made it off the boat?"
Hook still wasn't able to get any words out, but Marla answered for him.
"Her home over in fairy land or pixie palace or whatever it's called -I keep forgetting- anyway, why don't we get the crew together, launch a full-on attack on that place and see if we can find her and get what we need out of her. Watching her people suffer and die at our hands might just convince her to spill her guts." She suggested.
Now Hook was able to find his voice, he wretched his head out of her grip and gave her a horrified look.
"Attack Pixie Hollow? Are you mad, woman? Me men won't go within a mile of that place!" Hook shouted indignantly.
Marla frowned at him.
"Why the hell not?" She asked angrily.
Hook gave looked at her as if she were a a total idiot.
"Do you have any idea of how dangerous fairies can be?" He asked.
Marla scoffed at hearing this.
"Fairies, dangerous? Those little ditzies actually scare you?" She said in a mocking tone.
"Mock them all you want, Marla, but those little "ditzies" don't mess around whe it comes to defending their land!" Hook said.
Marla looked at him as if she couldn't believe a word he was saying.
"Okay, how exactly are they dangerous?" She asked him.
"First off, the land surrounding Pixie Hollow is littered with booby traps! Snares, spiked pits, swinging logs, you can't take one step in that area without setting something off!" Hook explained.
Marla didn't seem too shaken by this fact. In fact, she looked rather unimpressed.
"Okay, what else?" She asked.
"Well, here's the real problem, even if we could get through the traps, the border of Pixie Hollow is well gaurded by the one's they call "scout talents" and they're armed with arrows dipped in some kind of venomous substance that can kill a full grown man in under 5 minutes!" Hook said exasperatedly.
"Well then, how do you always manage to find pixies to use for keeping my pixie dust filled?" Marla asked quizically.
"We find them when they're outside the hollow, like we did with Tinkerbell. And even that can be risky, a lone fairy can be very unpredictible. Just a few days ago, one of me men had his neck snapped by one of those fast-flying ones! I saw it with me own eyes! She wore purple and had long black hair in a ponytail. She'd have killed me too if I hadn't fired some shots to scare her off!" Hook said, shaking from head to toe.
Marla still didn't seem to be at all intimidated by this news, and Hook could tell, so he tried to expain even further.
"It's simply not worth the risk, me dear, I'd lose all me men if I were to attempt such a thing as invading their land." He said.
"Well, sometimes you gotta break a few legs- I mean eggs, to make an omelet." Marla said indifferently.
At hearing this, Hooks rage seemed to come rushing back to him.
"In case you are unaware, dearest, I need those blithering idiots to get things done around here! Besides, you've claimed more of their lives than anything else recently!" He sneered.
Marla coudn't help but laugh at this, and that was all she did, she didn't say anything. Hook was burning with rage again, he looked as if steam was about to shoot out of his ears.
"You think that's funny do you? Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to keep them in line when you're constantly murdering them over the smallest things? They're terrified of you, Marla, maybe even more so than they are of me." Hook said, he added the last part quietly.
But Marla still heard him, and she gave a spine-chilling chuckle.
"Good, they should be afraid of me, and you should be too, Hook." She said with a sneer.
She slowly advance toward Hook, who backed away from her until he came into contact with the corner of the room, where he was trapped by her. She edged closer and closer until she was right up in his face. She looked insanely gleeful at his fear.
"Because, "me dear" you need me a lot more than I need you." She whispered, moving her finger up and down his cheek.
Although he'd never admit it, Hook was petrified with fear. He felt as though he were at the mercy of a true psychopath. At any moment, she could pull a knife on him and put his eye's out, or slit his throat. But marla just continued to hover there, stroking his cheek. After a few minutes, she spoke.
"Who's my bitch?" She asked him mockingly.
Hook didn't say a word, he wasn't going to say what she wanted him to. He wouldn't give her that satisfaction.
"WHO'S- MY- BITCH?" Marla screamed in his ear.
Hook flinched noticeably. He opened his mouth and began to stutter profusely. Marla was beginning to look impatient. Suddenly, the door to the cabin burst open and the gangly pirate came running in. The two stopped what they were doing and looked over at him. Seemingly unaware of what was happening in here, the gangly pirate approached his captain and saluted.
"Captain, this note was just delivered here a few minutes ago. I was told to give it specifically to you." He said quickly as he held out a white piece of paper with writing on it.
Marla backed up a bit to allow Hook to step out of the corner. He took the note from the pirate and waved him from the room. He then began to read it, Marla peering at it from over his shoulder.
Hook,
You and I have been enemies for a long time now, and you've done some pretty despicable things during that time, but what you just did to my best friend is the lowest and most digusting thing of all! What did she EVER do to you? Your grudge is with me, you coward, not her! You've crossed the line, and now I'm ready to finish this once and for all! Meet me at Dead Mans Point tonight, bring all the men you want, I'll kill 'em all, and then I'll kill you! We're gonna settle this, Hook, one of us won't be leaving alive, and I'll make sure it's you! You'll pay for what you did to Tinkerbell, who is still alive just so you know! HA HA! Dead Mans Point, tonight, Don't flake out! Let's finish this!
Peter, AKA Your worst nightmare!
Hook turned to look up at Marla. Her expression was one of pure excitement, his was one of shocking disbelief.
"I knew it! I knew she wasn't dead! The moment I first started torturing her, I knew she was a tough one! And now, it looks like it wasn't all in vain after all! We're finally gonna get our chance to take him out!" Marla exclaimed happily as she punched the air with her fist.
But Hook still looked disapointed.
"The whole point of this operation was to get the jump on Peter and take him by surprise. I knew if if we could do that, he'd stand no chance against us. But now that he knows we're coming, he'll just do what he does everytime we fight, humiliate me in front of me men! And this time he surly won't let me leave alive, I'm doomed!" Hook cried, throwing the back of his hand to his forehead and collapsing into a chair.
"Hook, have you forgotten you have me helping you this time? He doesn't know about me or what I'm capable of. I could take him out for you if you want." Marla offered in an almost kind voice.
Hook shook his head vigorously.
"No, you don't know him. He's a skilled fighter, not like those dunderheads who work for me. You may not be able to handle him. And besides, I want to be the one to kill him, the grudge is between him and I, not him and you!" He said strongly.
Marla was quiet now, but not because she seemed mad. She looked as though she was seriously pondering something. Then suddenly, her face lit up and she snapped her fingers.
"I have an idea, Hook!" She said as she reached for her boot and pulled what appeared to be a vile filled with a clear liquid out of a holder on the side of it. She held it up for Hook to see. He looked thouroghly confused.
"What is it?" He asked her.
"A neurotoxin." She answered. "Taken from the spines of a rare blow-fish. It causes complete paralysis, but leaves the nervous system completely intact."
Hook continued to gaze at her with that befuddled look on his face. Marla sighed irritably.
"In other words, anyone who get's this stuff inside them won't be able to move a muscle, but they'll still feel everything that happens to them, especially pain." Marla explained, smiling wickedly.
For the first time since Tink had escaped, a sinister smile spread across Hooks face. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.
"I sometimes use this on the fairies you capture, it's pretty hard to get, but I think I have just enough here for a young boy." Marla said sadistically.
Hook, now smiling gleefully jumped out of the chair and ran to the door. He stuck his head out and called for one of his men to come. A peg-legged Pirate hobbled up to him.
"Get the men together, tell them we're going to Dead Mans Point for a battle with Pan, and this time, we're finishing it!" Hook ordered.
"Aye, Captian!" The pirate said, and he took off up the hall shouting for others to come to him.
Hook went back into the room and unscrewed his silver hook from his arm. He reached into a glass case and pulled out his favorite gold hook, which he screwed quickly onto his arm. He then rushed to the door again, Marla following close behind him. But right before he got to it, he stopped abruptly and turned back to face her. He looked suddenly worried again.
"What if Tinkerbell's with him? Those two are nearly unstoppable when they're together." He said.
Marla looked at her finger, which still had marks on it from where Tink bit her, and she suddenly looked full of rage.
"Don't worry, if she's with him, I'll deal with her personally. I tried to be reasonable with her, explain to her everything I learned from you, but she chose to insult me instead, to lash out at me when I extended the hand of friendship. Now, she's going to learn what happens when you disrespect me like that! I have something truly horrific planned for her..." Marla sneered.
"And, what might that be?" Hook asked her, smiling wickedly again.
Marla gave him one of the most chillingly sinister smiles he'd ever seen; even more sinister than his own.
"Tell me, Hook, what's better than ten dead fairies nailed to a tree?" She asked quizically.
Hook didn't say anything, he honestly didn't know. But Marla answered for him.
"One dead fairy... nailed to ten trees."
Wow, a lot of cruelty in that chapter, huh? God, I love writing for Marla! Plenty more coming folks, see ya next time!