Author's note: Thank you soooooo much for all of your reviews! I absolutely
love feedback! It makes me feel so wonderful. I know that I don't update
very often but it's not because I don't like all your marvellous feedback
prompting me to update, it's cause I've been trying to write more! But
never fear this week I am caving into your demands and posting two, yes TWO
chapters! One today and one tomorrow. Oh and the following response is to
Kimmy whom I can't reply to via e-mail.
Thank you Kimmy G, I really enjoy feedback and rest assured I will post more soon! In order to upload your document try saving it as a .doc document, like my first chapter was called Introductions.doc and then it worked when I uploaded the chapter, I don't know I'm on a mac most of the time so it may be a little different. You may want to ask fanfiction.net directly, they will probably know how to help you further. Oh and when you do post your story tell me where to find it so that I can read yours! thanks for the comments!
*****
Will caught Elizabeth before she could hit the ground but was balked as Bradford came up from behind and grabbed her listless body from his hands,
"Don't you touch her!" said Bradford with a maturity that Will had not expected in such a childish man. "Hey haven't I seen you before?"
Will realized that this man still hadn't figured out who he was and so tried to keep it that way by changing the subject. "I am not the one who thought it would be appropriate to assault my friend in a deserted alleyway, especially since she seems to have injured her arm." Will disliked Bradford from the moment he saw him, but Elizabeth said to get into the apartment, so Will would go along with him for a while.
"Yeah well, what would you do if you'd left your assignment alone for one minute only to return and find her being held captive by a strange man in Pirate clothes after hearing a blood curdling scream," Bradford mumbled under his breath as they rounded the corner and headed toward the building.
"Hey I'm not a Pirate I'm a blac.!" Will cut himself off before Bradford could notice his slip and quickly moved to change the subject. Than the meaning of Bradford's statement sunk in. "Your assignment?"
Bradford suddenly looked uncomfortable and glanced around sheepishly getting out a pair of keys. "Hey we should get inside before anyone notices that were carrying an unconscious women into a strange apartment building hey?" And before Will could protest Bradford was dragging Elizabeth and Will attached through the door and into the lobby.
"Hey how did you get keys to Elizabeth's apartment building?" Will asked as he followed Bradford to a small room in the back.
"Umm it's a long story," Bradford said as a set of doors whooshed close behind Will, startling him immensely.
"Chill out man, you act as though you've never been in an elevator before." Will decided it would be best to not let anything startle him lest he blow Elizabeth's secret.
"Sorry I'm still a little wound up over being attacked by four strangers in an alleyway." Will said plainly.
"Four! Who were the other three?" Bradford said as the doors whooshed open once more.
"It's a long story, come inside and I'll tell you the details," Will said as he stepped out into the hallway by Elizabeth's apartment, secretly amazed that he had been transported there so quickly. The wonders that this world had created!
Bradford moved to Elizabeth's door and took out another key; much to the surprise of Will who was sizing up some was to break off the door handle.
"Excuse me, how did you," Will started.
"You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine," Bradford finished as he got Will to swing the door open and lead them inside.
Once they entered the apartment Bradford took the still unconscious form of Elizabeth and placed her on the bed gingerly.
"So what happened to her?" Bradford said with disgust as he started to examine Elizabeth's arm, and throwing Will a look that gave him the impression this was all his fault.
"She was attacked in the alleyway and I was staying up here and saw her. I came to her rescue and we were about to return here when you came out of nowhere." Will sat on the bed beside Elizabeth and took her good hand, stroking it lovingly. Bradford would have none of it and snatched the arm away.
"I meant what happened to her arm." He said in a patronizing tone.
"Oh of course, she was being held captive and they swung a large club into her upper arm, she said something about it being dislocated." He looked down in shame at his failure to protect her from harm, the one thing he was suited for and he couldn't even do it correctly. Bradford's sarcasm wasn't helping.
"Where were you on that one," Bradford mumbled under his breath, knowing full well that Will could hear.
"I'll have you know that they would have shattered her knee caps if I hadn't been there," Will tried to defend himself, but wound up sounding pretty pathetic.
"Yeah you're just lucky there's no permanent damage, now hold her down while I set her arm." Bradford grabbed Elizabeth's shoulder and started to twist.
"What?" Will said as he quickly tried to stop Bradford from wrenching Elizabeth's arm out of her socket.
"You dolt!" cried an enraged Bradford. "Do you want me to break her arm?"
"It looks like your accomplishing that task easily by yourself!" Will cried in disbelief.
"Look I'm trained medically, so you can either sit back and watch me do this and risk Elizabeth thrashing around and doing more damage, or you can help me out by holding her down while I do this." Bradford turned from Will and went back to the shoulder.
"Alright what do I do," Will said as he moved over to Elizabeth and sat down on the bed.
"Grab her other shoulder and make sure she can't squirm around," Bradford was concentrating now and Will cringed as he heard moving bone inside of Elizabeth. He felt resistance as she started to regain consciousness and was almost thrown off the bed as a loud crack sliced through the air and Elizabeth bolted upright in bed.
"aihfeinfiaitifirahtoihck!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She babbled incoherently as she screamed out in pain.
"Elizabeth! What have you done to her?" Will cried as he lunged for Bradford.
"She's fine," Bradford called. "That's just the mother load of pain going through her arm right now. Hey weren't you supposed to be restraining her?"
Will realized that he had left incoherent Elizabeth back babbling on the bed and quickly rushed to her side. "Elizabeth are you alright?" He called to her.
"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow,!!!!!!!!!!" Elizabeth yelled to herself.
"Elizabeth look at me!" Will started to panic like he had when she had been babbling before. He contemplated grabbing her face again, but didn't know how Bradford would take it.
However, Bradford had different plans and quickly pulled a tiny syringe out of his pocket. Will took one look at it and threw himself across Elizabeth acting as a human shield. "What is that?"
"Relax, it's s tiny sedative, it'll calm her right down, just try and pry your iron grip off her for a second, I think you're hurting her." Bradford was calm as if the mad house surrounding him was perfectly normal.
"Absolutely not! I don't trust you!" Will was adamant in his protection of Elizabeth who was still cradling her hurt arm, locked in the stifling grip of shock.
"Look, you're going to have to if you want her to get better so just move aside," Bradford said the tension in his voice rising.
"You will not come near her while brandishing that thing," Will said, his face deadest.
"Then I'll just use it on you first!" Bradford said as he lunged at Will with the syringe.
Will dodged quickly but failed to hold his position over Elizabeth allowing Bradford to hit his real target, sending the syringe straight into her damaged arm.
"Elizabeth!" Will said, realising he had been tricked.
"Thanks for letting me through," Bradford chuckled as he threw the empty syringe into a bin beside the bed.
"How dare you!" Will said as he tackled Bradford, sending him flying off the bed and onto the ground below. The two of them began beating each other, punching here and head-butting there. Only the sharp voice from above could stop them.
"How many times have I told you Will Turner," Elizabeth said sharply.
Both Bradford and Will stopped suddenly and looked up at Elizabeth who had suddenly burst upright on the bed with a crazed expression on her face.
"Elizabeth, I..." Will began.
"Play nicely with the other boys," She said as her face went slack and she crumbled back on the bed, breathing softly as if in a deep sleep.
"Elizabeth?" Will said, puzzlement washing over him, as he stood and moved beside her.
"She'll be awake in an hour or so Will, I've used that stuff before, it's pretty mild, and besides..." Bradford's face screwed up in puzzlement and then dawned with a sudden realization. "You're that guy from the MOVIE!"
Will realised that Elizabeth had just blown his cover involuntarily, and scrambled to make up any excuse.
"No I'm not, I'm her second cousin's Aunt's nephew, twice removed... I'm just visiting, really!" Will tried to look innocent but wound up looking idiotic.
"You came out of the screen when that laser thingy fired!" Bradford was making fast connections now, his mind swimming with realization.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Will said pathetically but indignantly.
"Yeah you do, you look just like him, and you're dressed like a Pirate!" Bradford advanced on Will menacingly.
"I'm not a Pirate, I'm a Blacksmith!" Will yelled, and then balked, realizing he'd just confirmed Braford's suspicion.
"Ah HA!" cried Bradford triumphantly, then, he realized something and fell back into a chair. "Why didn't Elizabeth tell me?"
Will tried to read the puzzled look on Bradford's face but was lost to the emotion present there. "She probably thought you'd be in danger like her," he said trying to offer comfort, and keep him stable at the same time.
He failed and Bradford rose quickly and sharply, pulling out a mobile phone as he did so.
"Yeah, concern for me, that'll be the day. You made her do it!" Will was struck by this accusation and tried to deny it but was interrupted before he could even start.
"She's been obsessed with you forever, watching that movie over and over. There's no way she could stand against you! She'd buy anything you said. You probably planned this from the start, as a way of fulfilling your twisted fantasies, just cause you can't get your own girl; you're trying to steal mine. Yeah, well you're going right back to that movie buddy, as soon as we find that laser thingy you can kiss your piratey butt good bye." Bradford was highly irrational, but managed to dial the phone anyway.
"Yeah, get me the General, yeah I'll hol..." But Bradford was cut off as Will's folded steel pressed against his throat. Bradford's eyes widened and a look of sheer hatred crossed his face, daring Will to move an inch closer.
"Rest assured Bradford, that I do not wish to kill you, but will send your head rolling across the floor swiftly if you do not cease your attempt to relay a message right now." Will held his sword firmly and calmly as Bradford's expression became fiercer.
"You wouldn't dare." Bradford said as he listened to the soft rock on the other side of the phone line, wishing the General to pick up.
"If I'm the crazed Pirate you say I am, I'd be quite willing to do away with you don't you think?" Will put on a Jack Sparrow impression and tried to look crazy, it worked.
"I knew it!" Bradford said as he started to jump but was quickly stopped by the increasing pressure of Will's blade.
Suddenly the line cleared and the General came on the other end.
"General!" Braford said quickly, but changed his mind as he saw Will prepare to drive a sword into his neck. "Everything's fine, just wanted to check up!" And then quickly hung up before Will could slice off his head.
"There! You happy?" Bradford asked as he backed away slowly. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you."
"It's that General you shouldn't be trusting, sit down and listen to me." Will said, his patience for Bradford's stupidity waning.
"Why should I?...Or...shouldn't I." Bradford said as he tried to work out what he wanted to say. He quickly gave up and went back to accusations. "So you can fill my head with the same trumped up stories you probably told Elizabeth?" Bradford said defiantly.
"It wasn't a request, it was a command," Will commanded as he brandished his sword again.
"Right then," said Bradford as he took a seat.
"I'm not trying to fill your head with 'trumped up stories' as you call them. I'm trying to go home and Elizabeth was helping me, before she was attacked by Augustine's goons and then you." Will explained as plainly as he could.
"But why would Augustine's goons attack her if they have the laser thing?"
"Because we have the laser thing," Will said as he went to the bathroom and brought out the computer.
"That's impossible, Elizabeth would have told someone, she would have turned it in. She wouldn't go down that path again." Will was intrigued by 'again' but moved the conversation forward anyway.
"She would if she thought she would be betrayed," Will said as he took off the still unscrewed cover plate on the back and handed it to Bradford. Will watched as Bradford read it and the look of shock registered on his face.
"But this can't be! They would never do this, they're the good guys!" Bradford yelled incredulously.
"Not all of them it would seem" said Will soberly as he sat down on the bed next to Elizabeth and watched her sleeping gently.
Bradford took one look at the situation and decided he didn't like it. "Hey! Don't you have a different girlfriend already?" Bradford questioned.
Will's mind was momentarily distracted and focused back on His Elizabeth. Waves of melancholy washed over him as he thought of her and he went into a reverie, dropping Elizabeth Cartwright's hand, much to Bradford's delight.
"She left me," Will said sadly.
"Oh, that's probably why Elizabeth likes your movie so much, you wind up single in the end." Bradford said innocently hinting at Elizabeth's obsession with Will.
"What?" Will didn't understand the meaning of Bradford's innuendo.
"She's completely obsessed with you, she probably thinks your her little fantasy boy," Bradford was throwing tact aside in hopes of discrediting Elizabeth enough to curb Will's affection toward her. He didn't deserve her he was a Pirate!
"She certainly does not act like your accusations," Will said a tad disappointed, he wouldn't mind doting on Elizabeth, putting an innocent perspective on Bradford's otherwise crude insinuation.
Bradford was shocked by Will's acceptance of his lies; he was a rouge! So he changed his opinion, deciding he would give Will everything he DIDN'T want to hear. "That's cause she's probably bored with you."
"You think I'm boring?" Will said visibly hurt.
Bradford almost cheered when he found Will's weakness. "Absolutely, I mean, no offence, I'm sure you're very happening in the seventeen hundreds, but Elizabeth is a real twenty-first century girl." He was lying through his teeth, but Bradford was willing to compromise his integrity if it meant keeping a certain dashing pirate/blacksmith away from His Elizabeth.
Will, sweet, innocent Will, bought every lick of Bradford's deceitful story and retreated further into his melancholy. Only the tiny thought in the back of his mind kept him from retreating into full brood mode.
"Before, you said Elizabeth wouldn't go into something 'again' what did you mean?" Despite her obvious rejection of him, Elizabeth had been kind to Will, and he would try his best to protect her. That meant he needed to know about her past, as well as present.
*****
Now, it was Bradford's turn to feel melancholic.
"I meant I thought she would never go back to hacking again." Bradford suddenly became engrossed in the past and barely heard Will's next question.
"So Elizabeth was a Pirate... or hacker." Will said, realizing that, of course he would seem boring to an ex-pirate.
"Yes, and a good one," Bradford said reliving his first memories of Elizabeth.
"But she got in over her head and wanted out, so she called us." Bradford stared at Elizabeth as if trying to apologize for some wrong deed.
"What happened?" Asked Will.
"Two agents were assigned to protect her before she went to trial, but she was worried about her parents, you see they didn't know about her 'outside college funding' and she didn't want them to, so two ghosts were assigned to protect them."
"Ghosts?" Will said, picturing an undead pirate.
"Invisible Ops, special division. They're not supposed to exist, no one is to know who they are, or where they go, absolute secrecy. But one of them was a rookie, and his pride got the better of him, he messed up and her parents paid the price." Bradford hung his head in shame.
"They were killed?" Will guessed.
"Yes, but not before being paraded in front of Elizabeth."
"How did this happen? I mean if these guys were supposed to be the best?" Will couldn't understand why Bradford had suddenly opened up.
"Betrayal, miss-information, stupidity mostly. Elizabeth was told to finish the project or her parents would be killed, Elizabeth thought she had the backing of the Ghosts and so confronted the Thugs outright, but a Ghost was betrayed and given wrong directions. He arrived too late, after Elizabeth's parents had been strangled as she watched helplessly. He shot at the Thugs but the ringleader was able to escape. The Ghost still had to remain invisible so just left her there alone until back up could come. It took years of therapy to cure Elizabeth of the experience and she still has a problem with direct confrontation." Bradford hung his head in utter shame, realizing that he had failed Elizabeth yet again, that he had willingly sabotaged her relationship with this strange pirate guy and again realized that he had caused her pain.
Will realized why Bradford had opened up. "You were the Ghost weren't you?" Will said, understanding the depth of Bradford's concern for Elizabeth.
"Yes, and I was demoted for my stupidity, it was rightly deserved. So now, I tackle smaller assignments and guard Elizabeth, which was how I came to interrupt you two in the alley." Bradford looked at Will his hatred of him decreasing slightly, or in the least, his care of Elizabeth, softening his blinding rage and jealousy slightly.
"Well, we're one the same side Bradford, we're both just protecting Elizabeth." Will said.
Bradford was about to confess about his earlier accusations against Will, he realised that Will cared for Elizabeth and that she deserved a cool dashing Pirate like him. However, before he could speak, Elizabeth stirred and started to struggle. Suddenly her eyes fluttered open.
"Don't!" She cried to no one in particular.
"Elizabeth!" Will said as he took her hand once more.
"Don't let the flower get me," she said groggily as she tried to sit up.
Will gave Elizabeth a strange, almost Jackish look but kept her hand in his as he guided her gently back down to the bed, smiling warmly.
Bradford decided to leave before he could cause any more trouble. "Look, if I don't report back, the General is going to get suspicious so I'd better go." He rose and took one last look at Elizabeth before heading out the door. Will was entirely focused on Elizabeth who was now drifting contently back to sleep.
"Take good care of her Will," He said as he opened the door, realising that he was nowhere near comparable to the dashing Will Turner. "Call me if you need me."
Author's note. again: I don't know about that chapter, Bradford is such a weird character to write! And Will somehow seemed less Willish in this chapter, am I crazy? Tell me what you think!
Thank you Kimmy G, I really enjoy feedback and rest assured I will post more soon! In order to upload your document try saving it as a .doc document, like my first chapter was called Introductions.doc and then it worked when I uploaded the chapter, I don't know I'm on a mac most of the time so it may be a little different. You may want to ask fanfiction.net directly, they will probably know how to help you further. Oh and when you do post your story tell me where to find it so that I can read yours! thanks for the comments!
*****
Will caught Elizabeth before she could hit the ground but was balked as Bradford came up from behind and grabbed her listless body from his hands,
"Don't you touch her!" said Bradford with a maturity that Will had not expected in such a childish man. "Hey haven't I seen you before?"
Will realized that this man still hadn't figured out who he was and so tried to keep it that way by changing the subject. "I am not the one who thought it would be appropriate to assault my friend in a deserted alleyway, especially since she seems to have injured her arm." Will disliked Bradford from the moment he saw him, but Elizabeth said to get into the apartment, so Will would go along with him for a while.
"Yeah well, what would you do if you'd left your assignment alone for one minute only to return and find her being held captive by a strange man in Pirate clothes after hearing a blood curdling scream," Bradford mumbled under his breath as they rounded the corner and headed toward the building.
"Hey I'm not a Pirate I'm a blac.!" Will cut himself off before Bradford could notice his slip and quickly moved to change the subject. Than the meaning of Bradford's statement sunk in. "Your assignment?"
Bradford suddenly looked uncomfortable and glanced around sheepishly getting out a pair of keys. "Hey we should get inside before anyone notices that were carrying an unconscious women into a strange apartment building hey?" And before Will could protest Bradford was dragging Elizabeth and Will attached through the door and into the lobby.
"Hey how did you get keys to Elizabeth's apartment building?" Will asked as he followed Bradford to a small room in the back.
"Umm it's a long story," Bradford said as a set of doors whooshed close behind Will, startling him immensely.
"Chill out man, you act as though you've never been in an elevator before." Will decided it would be best to not let anything startle him lest he blow Elizabeth's secret.
"Sorry I'm still a little wound up over being attacked by four strangers in an alleyway." Will said plainly.
"Four! Who were the other three?" Bradford said as the doors whooshed open once more.
"It's a long story, come inside and I'll tell you the details," Will said as he stepped out into the hallway by Elizabeth's apartment, secretly amazed that he had been transported there so quickly. The wonders that this world had created!
Bradford moved to Elizabeth's door and took out another key; much to the surprise of Will who was sizing up some was to break off the door handle.
"Excuse me, how did you," Will started.
"You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine," Bradford finished as he got Will to swing the door open and lead them inside.
Once they entered the apartment Bradford took the still unconscious form of Elizabeth and placed her on the bed gingerly.
"So what happened to her?" Bradford said with disgust as he started to examine Elizabeth's arm, and throwing Will a look that gave him the impression this was all his fault.
"She was attacked in the alleyway and I was staying up here and saw her. I came to her rescue and we were about to return here when you came out of nowhere." Will sat on the bed beside Elizabeth and took her good hand, stroking it lovingly. Bradford would have none of it and snatched the arm away.
"I meant what happened to her arm." He said in a patronizing tone.
"Oh of course, she was being held captive and they swung a large club into her upper arm, she said something about it being dislocated." He looked down in shame at his failure to protect her from harm, the one thing he was suited for and he couldn't even do it correctly. Bradford's sarcasm wasn't helping.
"Where were you on that one," Bradford mumbled under his breath, knowing full well that Will could hear.
"I'll have you know that they would have shattered her knee caps if I hadn't been there," Will tried to defend himself, but wound up sounding pretty pathetic.
"Yeah you're just lucky there's no permanent damage, now hold her down while I set her arm." Bradford grabbed Elizabeth's shoulder and started to twist.
"What?" Will said as he quickly tried to stop Bradford from wrenching Elizabeth's arm out of her socket.
"You dolt!" cried an enraged Bradford. "Do you want me to break her arm?"
"It looks like your accomplishing that task easily by yourself!" Will cried in disbelief.
"Look I'm trained medically, so you can either sit back and watch me do this and risk Elizabeth thrashing around and doing more damage, or you can help me out by holding her down while I do this." Bradford turned from Will and went back to the shoulder.
"Alright what do I do," Will said as he moved over to Elizabeth and sat down on the bed.
"Grab her other shoulder and make sure she can't squirm around," Bradford was concentrating now and Will cringed as he heard moving bone inside of Elizabeth. He felt resistance as she started to regain consciousness and was almost thrown off the bed as a loud crack sliced through the air and Elizabeth bolted upright in bed.
"aihfeinfiaitifirahtoihck!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She babbled incoherently as she screamed out in pain.
"Elizabeth! What have you done to her?" Will cried as he lunged for Bradford.
"She's fine," Bradford called. "That's just the mother load of pain going through her arm right now. Hey weren't you supposed to be restraining her?"
Will realized that he had left incoherent Elizabeth back babbling on the bed and quickly rushed to her side. "Elizabeth are you alright?" He called to her.
"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow,!!!!!!!!!!" Elizabeth yelled to herself.
"Elizabeth look at me!" Will started to panic like he had when she had been babbling before. He contemplated grabbing her face again, but didn't know how Bradford would take it.
However, Bradford had different plans and quickly pulled a tiny syringe out of his pocket. Will took one look at it and threw himself across Elizabeth acting as a human shield. "What is that?"
"Relax, it's s tiny sedative, it'll calm her right down, just try and pry your iron grip off her for a second, I think you're hurting her." Bradford was calm as if the mad house surrounding him was perfectly normal.
"Absolutely not! I don't trust you!" Will was adamant in his protection of Elizabeth who was still cradling her hurt arm, locked in the stifling grip of shock.
"Look, you're going to have to if you want her to get better so just move aside," Bradford said the tension in his voice rising.
"You will not come near her while brandishing that thing," Will said, his face deadest.
"Then I'll just use it on you first!" Bradford said as he lunged at Will with the syringe.
Will dodged quickly but failed to hold his position over Elizabeth allowing Bradford to hit his real target, sending the syringe straight into her damaged arm.
"Elizabeth!" Will said, realising he had been tricked.
"Thanks for letting me through," Bradford chuckled as he threw the empty syringe into a bin beside the bed.
"How dare you!" Will said as he tackled Bradford, sending him flying off the bed and onto the ground below. The two of them began beating each other, punching here and head-butting there. Only the sharp voice from above could stop them.
"How many times have I told you Will Turner," Elizabeth said sharply.
Both Bradford and Will stopped suddenly and looked up at Elizabeth who had suddenly burst upright on the bed with a crazed expression on her face.
"Elizabeth, I..." Will began.
"Play nicely with the other boys," She said as her face went slack and she crumbled back on the bed, breathing softly as if in a deep sleep.
"Elizabeth?" Will said, puzzlement washing over him, as he stood and moved beside her.
"She'll be awake in an hour or so Will, I've used that stuff before, it's pretty mild, and besides..." Bradford's face screwed up in puzzlement and then dawned with a sudden realization. "You're that guy from the MOVIE!"
Will realised that Elizabeth had just blown his cover involuntarily, and scrambled to make up any excuse.
"No I'm not, I'm her second cousin's Aunt's nephew, twice removed... I'm just visiting, really!" Will tried to look innocent but wound up looking idiotic.
"You came out of the screen when that laser thingy fired!" Bradford was making fast connections now, his mind swimming with realization.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Will said pathetically but indignantly.
"Yeah you do, you look just like him, and you're dressed like a Pirate!" Bradford advanced on Will menacingly.
"I'm not a Pirate, I'm a Blacksmith!" Will yelled, and then balked, realizing he'd just confirmed Braford's suspicion.
"Ah HA!" cried Bradford triumphantly, then, he realized something and fell back into a chair. "Why didn't Elizabeth tell me?"
Will tried to read the puzzled look on Bradford's face but was lost to the emotion present there. "She probably thought you'd be in danger like her," he said trying to offer comfort, and keep him stable at the same time.
He failed and Bradford rose quickly and sharply, pulling out a mobile phone as he did so.
"Yeah, concern for me, that'll be the day. You made her do it!" Will was struck by this accusation and tried to deny it but was interrupted before he could even start.
"She's been obsessed with you forever, watching that movie over and over. There's no way she could stand against you! She'd buy anything you said. You probably planned this from the start, as a way of fulfilling your twisted fantasies, just cause you can't get your own girl; you're trying to steal mine. Yeah, well you're going right back to that movie buddy, as soon as we find that laser thingy you can kiss your piratey butt good bye." Bradford was highly irrational, but managed to dial the phone anyway.
"Yeah, get me the General, yeah I'll hol..." But Bradford was cut off as Will's folded steel pressed against his throat. Bradford's eyes widened and a look of sheer hatred crossed his face, daring Will to move an inch closer.
"Rest assured Bradford, that I do not wish to kill you, but will send your head rolling across the floor swiftly if you do not cease your attempt to relay a message right now." Will held his sword firmly and calmly as Bradford's expression became fiercer.
"You wouldn't dare." Bradford said as he listened to the soft rock on the other side of the phone line, wishing the General to pick up.
"If I'm the crazed Pirate you say I am, I'd be quite willing to do away with you don't you think?" Will put on a Jack Sparrow impression and tried to look crazy, it worked.
"I knew it!" Bradford said as he started to jump but was quickly stopped by the increasing pressure of Will's blade.
Suddenly the line cleared and the General came on the other end.
"General!" Braford said quickly, but changed his mind as he saw Will prepare to drive a sword into his neck. "Everything's fine, just wanted to check up!" And then quickly hung up before Will could slice off his head.
"There! You happy?" Bradford asked as he backed away slowly. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you."
"It's that General you shouldn't be trusting, sit down and listen to me." Will said, his patience for Bradford's stupidity waning.
"Why should I?...Or...shouldn't I." Bradford said as he tried to work out what he wanted to say. He quickly gave up and went back to accusations. "So you can fill my head with the same trumped up stories you probably told Elizabeth?" Bradford said defiantly.
"It wasn't a request, it was a command," Will commanded as he brandished his sword again.
"Right then," said Bradford as he took a seat.
"I'm not trying to fill your head with 'trumped up stories' as you call them. I'm trying to go home and Elizabeth was helping me, before she was attacked by Augustine's goons and then you." Will explained as plainly as he could.
"But why would Augustine's goons attack her if they have the laser thing?"
"Because we have the laser thing," Will said as he went to the bathroom and brought out the computer.
"That's impossible, Elizabeth would have told someone, she would have turned it in. She wouldn't go down that path again." Will was intrigued by 'again' but moved the conversation forward anyway.
"She would if she thought she would be betrayed," Will said as he took off the still unscrewed cover plate on the back and handed it to Bradford. Will watched as Bradford read it and the look of shock registered on his face.
"But this can't be! They would never do this, they're the good guys!" Bradford yelled incredulously.
"Not all of them it would seem" said Will soberly as he sat down on the bed next to Elizabeth and watched her sleeping gently.
Bradford took one look at the situation and decided he didn't like it. "Hey! Don't you have a different girlfriend already?" Bradford questioned.
Will's mind was momentarily distracted and focused back on His Elizabeth. Waves of melancholy washed over him as he thought of her and he went into a reverie, dropping Elizabeth Cartwright's hand, much to Bradford's delight.
"She left me," Will said sadly.
"Oh, that's probably why Elizabeth likes your movie so much, you wind up single in the end." Bradford said innocently hinting at Elizabeth's obsession with Will.
"What?" Will didn't understand the meaning of Bradford's innuendo.
"She's completely obsessed with you, she probably thinks your her little fantasy boy," Bradford was throwing tact aside in hopes of discrediting Elizabeth enough to curb Will's affection toward her. He didn't deserve her he was a Pirate!
"She certainly does not act like your accusations," Will said a tad disappointed, he wouldn't mind doting on Elizabeth, putting an innocent perspective on Bradford's otherwise crude insinuation.
Bradford was shocked by Will's acceptance of his lies; he was a rouge! So he changed his opinion, deciding he would give Will everything he DIDN'T want to hear. "That's cause she's probably bored with you."
"You think I'm boring?" Will said visibly hurt.
Bradford almost cheered when he found Will's weakness. "Absolutely, I mean, no offence, I'm sure you're very happening in the seventeen hundreds, but Elizabeth is a real twenty-first century girl." He was lying through his teeth, but Bradford was willing to compromise his integrity if it meant keeping a certain dashing pirate/blacksmith away from His Elizabeth.
Will, sweet, innocent Will, bought every lick of Bradford's deceitful story and retreated further into his melancholy. Only the tiny thought in the back of his mind kept him from retreating into full brood mode.
"Before, you said Elizabeth wouldn't go into something 'again' what did you mean?" Despite her obvious rejection of him, Elizabeth had been kind to Will, and he would try his best to protect her. That meant he needed to know about her past, as well as present.
*****
Now, it was Bradford's turn to feel melancholic.
"I meant I thought she would never go back to hacking again." Bradford suddenly became engrossed in the past and barely heard Will's next question.
"So Elizabeth was a Pirate... or hacker." Will said, realizing that, of course he would seem boring to an ex-pirate.
"Yes, and a good one," Bradford said reliving his first memories of Elizabeth.
"But she got in over her head and wanted out, so she called us." Bradford stared at Elizabeth as if trying to apologize for some wrong deed.
"What happened?" Asked Will.
"Two agents were assigned to protect her before she went to trial, but she was worried about her parents, you see they didn't know about her 'outside college funding' and she didn't want them to, so two ghosts were assigned to protect them."
"Ghosts?" Will said, picturing an undead pirate.
"Invisible Ops, special division. They're not supposed to exist, no one is to know who they are, or where they go, absolute secrecy. But one of them was a rookie, and his pride got the better of him, he messed up and her parents paid the price." Bradford hung his head in shame.
"They were killed?" Will guessed.
"Yes, but not before being paraded in front of Elizabeth."
"How did this happen? I mean if these guys were supposed to be the best?" Will couldn't understand why Bradford had suddenly opened up.
"Betrayal, miss-information, stupidity mostly. Elizabeth was told to finish the project or her parents would be killed, Elizabeth thought she had the backing of the Ghosts and so confronted the Thugs outright, but a Ghost was betrayed and given wrong directions. He arrived too late, after Elizabeth's parents had been strangled as she watched helplessly. He shot at the Thugs but the ringleader was able to escape. The Ghost still had to remain invisible so just left her there alone until back up could come. It took years of therapy to cure Elizabeth of the experience and she still has a problem with direct confrontation." Bradford hung his head in utter shame, realizing that he had failed Elizabeth yet again, that he had willingly sabotaged her relationship with this strange pirate guy and again realized that he had caused her pain.
Will realized why Bradford had opened up. "You were the Ghost weren't you?" Will said, understanding the depth of Bradford's concern for Elizabeth.
"Yes, and I was demoted for my stupidity, it was rightly deserved. So now, I tackle smaller assignments and guard Elizabeth, which was how I came to interrupt you two in the alley." Bradford looked at Will his hatred of him decreasing slightly, or in the least, his care of Elizabeth, softening his blinding rage and jealousy slightly.
"Well, we're one the same side Bradford, we're both just protecting Elizabeth." Will said.
Bradford was about to confess about his earlier accusations against Will, he realised that Will cared for Elizabeth and that she deserved a cool dashing Pirate like him. However, before he could speak, Elizabeth stirred and started to struggle. Suddenly her eyes fluttered open.
"Don't!" She cried to no one in particular.
"Elizabeth!" Will said as he took her hand once more.
"Don't let the flower get me," she said groggily as she tried to sit up.
Will gave Elizabeth a strange, almost Jackish look but kept her hand in his as he guided her gently back down to the bed, smiling warmly.
Bradford decided to leave before he could cause any more trouble. "Look, if I don't report back, the General is going to get suspicious so I'd better go." He rose and took one last look at Elizabeth before heading out the door. Will was entirely focused on Elizabeth who was now drifting contently back to sleep.
"Take good care of her Will," He said as he opened the door, realising that he was nowhere near comparable to the dashing Will Turner. "Call me if you need me."
Author's note. again: I don't know about that chapter, Bradford is such a weird character to write! And Will somehow seemed less Willish in this chapter, am I crazy? Tell me what you think!