Chapter 11, Into the Fire
This couldn't be happening. Will stood dumfounded as Jack practically begged the crazed Doctor to shoot him.
"You want to be shot?" The Doctor asked the pirate.
"Nothin' else to do today." The pirate answered with a shrug.
Nothing else to do today? Was the man completely insane? Will wanted to scream at Jack and demand an explanation. However, he did not move, and he did not say a word. Neither did Anamaria. Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw her wearing an expression he imagined to be much like his own.
Up until that point, he might have been able to convince him self and say, 'Jack's got a plan, right?' Jack always seemed to have a plan, even when he didn't have a plan. Will always just assumed there had to be a deeper motive to the pirates' actions. Usually he was right in that, deeper motives ran natural to a man like Jack, but this time Will couldn't see what that motive could be. And apparently Anamaria didn't know what he was planning either.
"Think about it- here ya are, up against a pirate, and naught but one shot t' take 'im down with. Ye'll be a hero, mate." Jack leaned back against the door and seemed to be waiting for the Doctor to shoot him.
What kind of ludicrous plan was that?
Even the Commodore looked perplexed by the turn of events.
"Just one question though, mate, did yer other victims know they were going t' die t' serve a higher educational purpose?" Was it Will's imagination or did Jack look ill? The words were delivered in the same cocky style the pirate always spoke in, but Will got the impression that somehow Jack wasn't all that sure of what was going on around him anymore.
"Does a scientist need to tell the rat what experiment they'll be using it for?"
In hindsight, Will cursed himself a fool for not acting sooner; leaving him to watch in horror as the Doctor's hand steadied briefly as he aimed his pistol directly at Jack's chest. The shot fired. There wasn't enough time to act in his friends defence; not even Anamaria could make it to her Captain in time.
Only the Commodore anticipated the Doctor's intentions, for as the Doctor's hand steadied, he jumped in to save the pirates life.
Literally.
In an act of selfless nobility, Commodore Norrington all but tackled the pirate. And save him he did. A sizable hole splintered the wood door barely a second after both men fell to the floor.
The shot still echoed in the room as time persisted with shocking speed through the multitude of events. Anamaria pounced on the Doctor. She held a knife tightly clenched in her fist, and the blade pressed dangerously close to the man's throat while she leaned in close and murmured threats into the Doctor's ear. Will could barely hear half of what she said, but his blood ran cold from the description of what did reach him.
Across the room, the Commodore struggled to disentangle him self from Jack.
Unsure whether his intension was to help her carry out said threats on the Doctor, or ask her to stop, Will took a step towards Anamaria.
"Don't ye dare try t' stop me, Will Turner."
"Withdraw from that man, now." Finally on his feet, Norrington advanced on Anamaria with his sword held ready, and she in turn focused her attention on him.
"Ye've no right to interfere in this. Jack tol' ye what this man's been doing, an' you heard for yerself he don't deny it."
"It is not only my right, but it is my duty to interfere. The law will deal with this man, and I give you my word that Justice will be served. Murder in any form is a hanging offence, as is piracy."
The Doctor looked ready to faint.
That was when Will caught sight of Jack. He lay where he fell, rolled slightly on his side away from the action taking place around him. He knew his friend was not shot, he saw the bullet hit the door rather than a person with his own eyes, but something was obviously wrong.
One thought did occur to him: why was it Jack always seemed to be the one injured? Not that Will wanted to get injured instead, but the best outcome would be if no one got injured at all. It just always seemed whenever trouble started, Jack managed stumble right into the center of it.
The closer he got, the more Will worried that maybe he'd been wrong about the bullet. Maybe the bullet did hit Jack after all; maybe the hole in the door was caused by something other than the lead shot.
"Jack?" Will knelt down, and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. He could see now that Jack lay with one arm protectively wrapped over his chest, with the other supporting his weight on the ground.
Wary of the possibility of a gunshot wound, but unable to find the blood evidence of such an injury, Will carefully took hold of Jack's shoulder and lifted. He felt the pirate's muscles tense under his hands at the movement, and stopped; worried he might be causing more harm than good. And now too, Will became aware of the struggle Jack was going through to draw in breath.
"Is it Morris? Are you fighting him?"
The pirate shook his head no.
"Are you shot?" Will asked, but before receiving an answer, the racket of the heated debate between Anamaria and the Commodore reached a crescendo.
"He deserves to die!" Anamaria yelled at Norrington yet again.
"He deserves what is entitled to any man, to face a jury of his peers and Just punishment."
The response to that was a harsh laugh. "Any man, eh? Women too? An' what about Pirates? What about common folk? I've yet to witness a trial set for someone not privileged."
"Then you will be pleased for the opportunity to attend your own trial once this is over."
"It'd not be a trial, an ye know it. I'd be facin' a court of one man already decided on my fate, without even allowing me an opportunity to speak in my own defense."
"Be that as it may, it is a trial none the less."
"If I leave 'im to yer justice, they'll send 'im back t' England with no more than a slap on the wrist. I won't allow that."
"Anamaria." Will shouted behind him. The argument halted, for the moment, replaced with stunned silence. As Anamaria's gaze leveled on Jack, the Doctor was all but forgotten, and she rushed to join Will at Jack's side.
"What happened to 'im?" She wasted no time. She pushed Will aside, took over and propped Jack into a sitting position, despite the obvious discomfort it caused. Finally, the pirate started to draw in deeper breaths. She sat directly in front of him. "Are ye shot?"
Anamaria didn't wait for an answer. She took hold of the arm Jack held protectively against his ribs and pried it away from his body. "No blood." She unbuttoned his shirt and looked closely at his chest.
Norrington joined the small huddle after securing the Doctor in irons.
"Hold his arm for me." Anamaria demanded.
Will took hold of Jack's wrist, trying to be as gentle as possible, and winced in sympathy as she placed her hand on Jack's chest, probing his ribs with her fingertips.
"This it?" She asked.
Norrington now held Jack's other arm, giving Anamaria free access to Jack's chest in order to assess the injury. When she pressed the spot again, Jack flinched and Will had to adjust his hold in order to keep Jack from pushing her away.
By the look of things, the pirate suffered several broken ribs. "That's the spot Ana, leave him be."
Anamaria adjusted her hand so that her fingers rested just gently over his ribs. "Take a deep breath, Jack. The whelp can't do this for you."
Jack's mouth opened, he looked about to say something.
"That's the idea, Jack. You can do it."
Jack sucked in as deep a breath as he was able, which Will could see was not very deep at all, and finally found his voice back. "Get t' hell off me."
"Another deep breath."
Having seen enough, Will released Jack's arm without bothering to wait for Anamaria's permission. In response, she glared at him, but said nothing. Immediately, Jack brought his arm back to rest over the sensitive area of his ribs.
Jack looked to be breathing a bit easier now, and Anamaria didn't look half as worried. "Are you going to be okay?" Will asked the pirate, hoping for some extra reassurance.
The voice carried barely more than a whisper. "I thought… I was shot. Wha' happened?"
"It's just a fracture, I think. The lungs are still filling with air, so far as I could feel. You just got the wind knocked out o' ye Jack, but by god you had me scared. I need ye t' try an' cough now."
"Wait jus' a… minute."
"No. Now Jack. Cough. I need to see that you can do it."
He took another deep breath, braced his ribs, and preformed more of a throat clearing than a cough. Nevertheless, Anamaria seemed satisfied, for the moment at least.
"Ye' d be shot If the Commodore hadn't 'o pushed ye out of the way, ye daft fool. What the hell were ye thinkin' Jack?"
No answer, but that didn't stop Anamaria from continuing. "Yer damn lucky yer not dead. Luckier yet that the weight of the Commodore crushing down on yer stupid self broke bone and not else, but that's yet t' be seen, ain't it. Damn it, Jack, if yer injured worse n' I think you are, I might just kill ye myself."
Shouts and booted steps could be heard down the hall, followed moments later by the door being swept open. Murtogg and Mullroy rushed inside, ready for action. "We heard the shot and came right away." They stared at Norrington, then at the Doctor, and then down to Jack; and that was where their eyes stayed.
"Sparrow?"
Jack looked up at hearing his name, recognized the men and tilted his head slightly to the side in greeting.
A cold knot of dread formed in the pit of Will's stomach as he watched Norrington clear his throat and get to his feet.
"Arrest these men." The Commodore commanded.
"All of 'em?" Murtogg asked.
"No. That one." Norrington pointed at the Doctor seated across the room.
"And Captain Sparrow?"
After a brief pause, so brief Will barely noticed, the Commodore answered. "Yes. Him too."
Author's note: Thanks to Jackfan2 who helped beta this the morning she rushed off to the beach!!!!! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed!!!