Chapter 12: Pirates

Oswald shifted on the cold rock he was sitting on and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs and cupping his chin with his hands as he stared at the horizon ahead.

The rabbit frowned at the sight of three tall Blurs walking in circles in the center of the pirates' territory, also known as Skull Island. It had been a pretty liberal place before, where anyone could wander around and sail through the endless seas surrounding the place. Now it was a Pirate-Droid-Blur base.

He turned to look at his team, who were lost in a deep slumber inside of the cave they had claimed for the night. He didn't really blame them. They were exhausted and needed to rest. He knew he needed as well; Ginny had snapped at him earlier when he denied it, pointing out the dark circles underneath his eyes. He just couldn't allow himself the luxury of sleeping when Ortensia was still captured in God-knew where.

So, the Lucky Rabbit decided to stay as a lookout. His mind kept wandering to thoughts he always tried to push away, though. Like, if Ortensia was hurt, or stuck in a dungeon, or… he wouldn't even entertain the last thought. The other rebels' wellbeing was another thing that concerned him greatly. No doubt they would have a 'special treatment'. He cringed as so many different ways of torture rushed through his mind.

Oswald felt the pain in his chest worsen at the thought of Gus and Jamface. He liked Jamface a whole lot, but he would be damned if he lost Gus. The gremlin was his best friend, his most trusted ally. The one he could always rely on. He couldn't lose him and Ortensia, he just couldn't.

Great. Now he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep. Ginny was going to murder him. But if he wasn't going to get any rest, he might as well make himself useful and come up with a plan to find Hook so they could get the hell out of there.

He looked up at the big skull-shaped rock that gave the island its name and wondered if the Captain was somewhere up there. He knew there were some hidings up above those rocks.

They definitely should check them out, once the others decided to wake up.

Pleased with his little plan, Oswald glanced at the multiple chaperones marching around the beach. He had never seen so many inky minions before. However, the Hunters couldn't really fight them; they would probably wind up being captured or attract unwanted attention. That was always something avoidable. But maybe if they went around the island behind the rocks they'd go unnoticed…

It was worth a shot trying.

:::

Ginny craned her neck around the rock they were currently hiding behind and tightened her grip on Jack as she felt him try to pry her arm off of him, ignoring his sound of protest. There was no way she'd let him wander around in a place as dangerous as Skull Island.

"Jesus Christ, there's too many of them." Jack mused as the rebels looked at the center of the island, to the various Pirate-Blurs chaperoning the place. Ginny turned to Oswald, the confident smirk he had moments ago replaced with a thoughtful expression.

He had woken them up a few minutes ago and told them about some half-assed plan he had cooked up while they were sleeping. Basically, he had ignored her advice to take a nap and now he looked like he was about to pass out, the adrenaline probably being the only thing keeping him awake. She constantly wondered who the adult was in their group.

"No offense, but what were you smoking when you imagined the possibility of passing by the Nazguls over there unnoticed?" she inquired, genuinely confused.

"I agree with Batty, rabbit." Horace turned to Oswald as well. "Unless you have some teleporting device, I can honestly say that I have no clue as to how you intend to do this."

"Well, we'll just have to be slick. And quiet." Oswald replied, turning to the horse as he said that last part.

"Screw you, bunny, I-"

"Didn't you hear him? Quiet." Jack said cheekily and earned a glare from the sleuth.

"You sure this'll work?" Mickey asked in a worried tone.

"No." Oswald replied.

"Works for me. Let's move." Prescott urged. Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering how they had managed to stay alive this long.

As they made their way behind each rock around the edge of the island, Ginny casted a look at the big rock that was slowly getting closer. Oswald thought Hook was somewhere up there. She sincerely hoped he was right, or else this whole trip would be for nothing.

She glanced at the clueless Blurs walking around and had to bite back a laugh. She couldn't believe the inkblots didn't even notice them creeping from one of the rocks surrounding the middle of the island to another. How stupid could they be?

Ginny turned to look at her mates and followed suit as they slowly got up and hastily made their way towards one of those paint/thinner pipes. They huddled together, panting and not making a sound. Ginny followed Oswald's gaze as the rabbit looked up, seeing that they were precisely beside the skull-shaped rock. She was actually amazed to see some terraces up the rock. That must be the way to the hidings Oswald was so excited about.

Without saying a word, her leader made his way up, Mickey following suit. Prescott began to 'fly' up the rock and then Horace went next. Jack began his climb and Ginny brought up the rear.

Jack pushed her up as soon as the rebels reached a small ledge, her ears perking up as a loud yelp sounded. She instinctively held Jack protectively and gazed at the source of the noise. Saying she was shocked was an understatement.

"Mr. Smee?!" the toons all exclaimed at the same time.

:::

Jack's mouth was agape as he stared at Captain Hook's right hand man. He and Ginny had met him once, when they were still homeless. They had stolen some coins from his pocket when the pirates had been visiting Mean Street. Needless to say, they'd had the pirates up their asses ever since.

Smee looked worse than he remembered, though. His clothes were torn and he had bruises and cuts all over his body. He figured it was the result of the pirate's attempt at escaping the captured toons' fate. Jack was rather surprised that Captain Hook would treat his most trusted ally like this, though.

"W-what the hell are ye all doin' here?!" Smee screeched, looking at each of the toon rebels in front of him. "Ye're supposed to be dead! Ah Christ, this ain't good…"

"What's the matter, Smee?" Mickey asked, raising an eyebrow.

Smee sniffed loudly before looking down the ledge and standing up. "It ain't safe here. C'mon."

Smee rounded the curve of the rock and Mickey and Oswald hurried after him. Jack shared a look with Ginny, who shrugged, before following them. He snorted once an obscenity and a complaint about 'not staying put one goddamn minute' sounded from behind.

"Will you shut up, already?" Prescott snapped at Horace.

"What? I'm just pointing out the facts, blue-boy-"

"Shh." Oswald hissed. "What's goin' on, Smee? Why are all these Blurs-"

"Shh! It ain't safe here, Goddammit!" the old pirate cut the rabbit off. "Follow me." he said before opening what looked like a curtain of leaves and stepped inside the dark hole behind it, standing aside to let his unexpected guests pass.

Jack took a look around this new place. It was a small yet surprisingly well hidden cave. In the middle of the poorly lit room were five pirates sitting around a small table, drinking and playing some card game. They all had the same aspect as Smee: torn clothes and bruises gracing their skin. Jack had assumed there weren't any refugees after the attack, so seeing these toons here made him jump slightly in shock. He had always figured the pirates were so stupidly loyal to Hook that they would follow him anywhere he went.

He really needed to start giving these morons some more credit.

"What the hell are those twerps doin' in our property?" a pirate dressed in green asked snidely as he turned to glare at the six intruders.

"They're toon allies, Starkey." Mr. Smee said.

"Oh, suck my balls and call me a bitch." An old pirate said in awe, squinting at them. "Ain't that that ole faggot Mickey Mouse?"

"Hey!" Mickey snapped indignantly with a frown.

"D-don't call him that, Billy." Smee sighed impatiently. "I'm sorry, fellas. This's been hard to us all."

"What happened?" Oswald asked. "What are you all doing here?"

"Ain't it obvious? Hook's gone mad and we ran away like chickens." Starkey responded in a bitter tone. "And you? Weren't you supposed to be dead or somethin'?"

"We came back recently. Satan says hi." Ginny shot back.

"Ginny, hush." Oswald hissed sternly.

"No, let her talk. There's not much we can do now. Might as well enjoy our last moments of freedom." Starkey said dismissively, staring at the stone wall in front of him. Damn, this guy's pretty fucked up. Jack thought.

"Yeah, yeah, my heart bleeds for you. Now can we focus on the issues at hand?" Prescott urged irritably.

"Do you know where Hook is?" Oswald asked.

The pirates shared glances. Starkey took a long sip out of a bottle of rum. Jack envied him; he'd always wanted to try strong drinks, but Ginny wouldn't let him. It sucked, being young.

"If ye're looking for Hook, then ye're kinda outta luck." a portly tall pirate replied after a moment.

"What do you mean? He isn't here?" Ginny asked.

"Dammit, just what we needed." Horace muttered, shifting from one foot to the other.

"He's been at the Jolly Roger all day." Starkey said. "Took our crew and left his minions here in case we decided to make our presence known."

"He'll probably be up your asses once he finds out you're alive." Billy said casually while glaring at a bottle of vodka. "I'd recommend you to leave him be if ye want to keep breathin'. Or at least don't lure those wretched inksplots to our hiding."

"As you might imagine, it isn't our intention to give your location away or anything." Oswald assured. "We're all on the same side."

Starkey raised an eyebrow and looked them all up and down. Jack felt terribly uncomfortable, mainly because this guy looked more dangerous than Smee.

"What do ye want from the Cap'n, then?" Billy demanded after spitting to the side. Jack cringed in disgust. Why did the pirates have to be so lousy?

"He's one of the Doc's most trusted allies; therefore he must know where he is." Prescott explained casually while examining his gloved hands.

"I see." Starkey said, taking another sip from the bottle. "Ye want to find the Doc then."

"You figured that out all by yourself, huh?" Horace spat irritably, crossing his arms.

"Horace!" Mickey hissed. Horace just shrugged.

"Goddammit, Horace, do you ever shut up?" Oswald sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No, it's fine. As Smee said, this's been hard to us all." Starkey said, putting the bottle on the table and standing up. "I'll show you the way to the Jolly Roger."

Jack widened his eyes. Had he heard well? Was this pirate willing to help them this easily? There had to be some catch; the pirates never helped anybody without some kind of reward afterwards.

"Gosh, really?" Mickey said in bewilderment.

"In one condition."

Here we go. Jack thought, rolling his eyes. He just couldn't wait to hear what Starkey could possibly want.

"What is it?" Oswald urged.

"You draw the inkblots' attention away from our hiding. We ain't got any weapons whatsoever, so we wouldn't put up a big fight and I don't know about you, but I don't feel like becoming a Blur, or whatever the hell they're called, anytime soon."

"Deal." Oswald nodded.

"Wait." Billy cut in, also standing up. "Make that two conditions." The pirate approached the rabbit and looked him straight in the eye. "I'll help ye too. But when you become king again, rabbit, we want a reward." Billy said.

"Look, you can have whatever you want after this is over, okay?" Oswald sighed, exasperatedly. It was obvious that he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Starkey shared a knowing look with Billy and the other pirates. Jack didn't like their expressions one bit; they looked like a pack of wolves deciding what to do with their prey.

"We have a deal." Starkey eventually declared. Jack could only imagine what kind of reward the pirates would want.

.:END OF CHAPTER 12:.

A/N: I want you all to know that I did not intend to offend anybody when I used the word 'faggot' in this chapter. It was just something I imagined the pirates would say, since I don't consider any of them to have any manners whatsoever. I respect each and every person as they are and I would never call anyone that word (unless they pissed me off too much ;)).