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Duo had barely begun to pick the lock on Jack's cell when he heard running footsteps headed their way. He jerked his picks out of the lock and lunged for the shadows as Jack threw himself back onto the floor.
When Will barreled into the holding area, followed closely by Heero, the only thing they saw was Jack apparently comatose on the floor. Will didn't care where the other one was; he assumed Maxwell had escaped and left Jack behind. According to the navy, pirates didn't have personal loyalties, after all
Heero felt a sharp stab of disappointment, and tried to tell himself that it wasn't because Maxwell looked to be gone. When that failed, he told himself that he was only disappointed at loosing a potential information source.
That worked slightly better.
Will, who was so deeply entrenched in his worry for Dorothy that he was ignoring everything not immediately pertaining to her rescue, raced over to Jack's cell. "You, Sparrow!"
"Ay?" mumbled Jack from his prone position. No need to reveal that he was fully awake and aware.
"You are familiar with that ship, The Black Pearl?" Will demanded.
"I've heard of it," Jack conceded with a smirk. Heero looked at him suspiciously- from what those pirates by the house had said, Sparrow had more then 'heard' of it.
Will was still focused on the pirate in the cell. "Where does it make berth?"
Said pirate raised his head, to all appearances quite shocked. "Where does it make berth? Have you not heard the stories?"
His interrogator's only response was to narrow his eyes in a clear demand for more information.
Jack settled back onto his not-so-comfortable floor, still smirking. "Captain Barbossa, and his crew of miscreants, sail from the dreaded Isla de Muerta. It's an island that cannot be found- except, by those who already know where it is."
"The ship's real enough," Will grated out. "Therefore, its anchorage must be a real place. Where is it?"
"Why ask me?"
Will gritted his teeth, but answered anyway. "Because you're a pirate."
"And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?" First rule of bargaining- if you're calmer then your opponent, you have an advantage. Second rule- if you can provoke them further, you can have a bigger advantage.
Will rose to the bait. Slamming the iron bars of the cell, he all but snarled his reply: "Never."
Jack didn't move from his position on the floor. He clearly wasn't going to say any more until Will answered his question.
While this debate had been going on, Heero had been going over something in his mind. The pirate he had met last night had seemed... different. Maxwell had helped him, and for no good reason- or at least, for no reason that seemed self-serving. Someone like that wouldn't be expected to leave a partner- and to all appearances, a friend- trapped like this while they ran free. It simply didn't make sense.
As he pondered this, Heero's eyes fell onto the cell next to Jacks. Or, more specifically, it fell onto the picked lock of the open door. He looked from the lock... to the gaping hole in the wall... then back to the lock... and smirked to himself. Of course. Maxwell had come back here- just not back to the same cell. So: where was he now?
Duo had been behind the two blacksmiths, doing his best impression of nothing. The discussion between Jack and the gung-ho smith was amusing, but he was happier staring at the delicious Heero Yuy. Really, he was drop-dead gorgeous from any angle...
It was just as well that we was focusing on the younger smith instead of the argument between Jack and Will- he saw Heero looking from the hole to the lock, and could almost feel him putting two and two together. Uh-oh. Moving quickly and silently, he slid to another, more secure, hiding place. Now he was fully hidden from any eyes sweeping the area.
The move was just in time, too- while Jack was asking just why Will wanted information on the Pearl, Heero turned around and began to scan the stone room. If Maxwell had come here, he couldn't have gone far.
As the silent game of hide-and-seek was played out behind him, Will answered Jack's question. "They took Miss Swan."
"Oh, so it is the 'found' girl!" Jack crowed, sitting up all the way. "I see. Well, if you're intending to brave all, hasten to her rescue, and so win the fair lady's heart, you'll have to do it alone, mate. I see no profit in it for me." Unlike Duo, Jack could and did cheerfully lie through his teeth. He wanted nothing more then to go after the Pearl- and Will was an essential part of that plan.
Will looked at him considering. "I can get you out of here."
Heero jerked. Will was ready to break a pirate out of jail? He was more desperate then Heero had first thought.
"How's that, th' keys run off," Jack snorted.
"I helped build these cells. These are half-pin barrel hinges," Will explained, whipping around and picking up a bench that had been resting near the wall. Duo was glad he had moved earlier; Will would have wound up looking right at him if he hadn't.
The smith wasn't aware of this, however- he was focused on Jack, and his continuing explanation. "With the right leverage, and the proper application of strength, -" he braced one set of the bench's legs in the bars of the door- "the door will lift free."
Jack studied to arrangement, then looked up at Will. "What's your name?"
"Will Turner."
Duo nearly choked. Will Turner?!
Jack seemed unfazed, however. "That would be short for 'William,' I imagine," he commented, finally sitting all the way up. "Good strong name... No doubt named for your father, aye?"
Both Will and Heero cast Jack suspicious looks, but Will did answer. "Yes."
"Uh-huh." Jack seemed to be thinking over something. After a moment, he fully got to his feet. "Well, Mister Turner, I've changed me mind. Get me out of here, and I swear on pain of death, I will take you to The Black Pearl, and your bonny lass." With or without his agreement. It was just as well that Will wanted to go... "Do we have and accord?" He stuck his hand through the bars.
After a slight hesitation, Will took it. "Agreed."
"Agreed. Get me out!"
Will motioned to Heero, who, after one last glance around the cell, came over to help. The two smiths braced themselves, and pulled back on their makeshift lever. With a metallic screech and a thud, the door came off. Heero yanked the heavy portal off to one side, where it fell with another loud thump.
"Hurry," he grunted. "Someone will have heard that."
"Not without my effects," Jack replied, grabbing his things from the shelf where they had been stored.
"Or your partner!" added Duo from behind the two smiths. They whirled, and he grinned at them. "What? You get two guides for the price of one. A bargain! Now come on, time's a'wasting!" Without giving them a chance to reply, he darted after Jack.
The smith's followed. Will didn't really care- it was all a way to get to Dorothy after all. Heero, meanwhile, was trying to beat down an entirely unexpected sense of... gladness at seeing that idiotic pirate again. He finally managed to defeat it by focusing on his annoyance at the fact that Maxwell had successfully hidden from him in the jail- how had he done it?
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
The four of them managed to sneak out of the jail with no trouble- all the guards were either doing something else, or falling asleep on their feet. It had been easy to get by them.
The entire group of them was now splashing through the shallows under the bridge that Jack and Duo had run across the day before. They reached the far end and peered out from behind it- Jack and Duo at a certain ship, and Heero and Will at Jack and Duo.
Several army grunts were running up and down the dock to The Interceptor, the fastest ship in the fleet, clearing loading and readying it for the pursuit. Will's attention locked onto it.
"We're going to steal the ship?" he demanded of Jack. He didn't get an answer, from either Duo or Jack. Heero, behind him, merely gave an inaudible snort. Not even the best pirate could steal a ship with army men swarming it like ants.
Curious at not receiving an answer, Will glanced at the pirate pair, and followed their eyes to the looming, imposing Dauntless, anchored farther out in the bay.
"Commandeer," Jack corrected absently and gesturing to The Interceptor without taking his eyes off of The Dauntless. "We're going to commandeer that ship."
"Nautical term," Duo explained to the still confused looking smith with a wink.
"A question about your business, boy," Jack drawled turning away from the sea in front of him, "or there's no use going. This girl. How far are you willing to go to save her?"
"I'd die for her," Will snarled, glaring at the dirty pirate who had dared to question his devotion to Dorothy.
"Oh, good!" Jack chimed in brightly. He turned back to looking at the ships. "Now, where were we?"
Heero frowned. More things weren't adding up. The pirates obviously knew a great deal more about those cursed pirates and their ship then they were willing to tell- and just as obviously knew something of Will's father. And now Sparrow questioned Will's motives, but not his? Not that that was a bad thing- he wasn't entirely sure of them himself. He repeated that mantra firmly in his mind as he watched the long cinnamon braid in front of him swing with every movement of its owner.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Throughout it's history, the British army has been noted for it's disciplined marching. The members of its ranks trot along at a brisk pace, guns held in front of them, packs at their sides, eyes never wavering from strait ahead. Had any of a small patrol of four, after passing the army's collection of long boats, done the unthinkable and thought to glance around, or worse, turn his head, then there might have been trouble for the unlikely band of pirates and smiths.
But, as it was, not one person noticed two long boats sprout two pairs of legs each and scurry down into the water.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Will and Jack held one boat over their head and trapping air in it, while Heero and Duo took the other. Same height made this trick easier. Calmly, they strolled along the bottom of the ocean, and out to where the great bulk of The Dauntless was moored.
Or at least, Jack and Duo were calm, having used this little trick on any number of occasions. Heero was trying hard not to think of all the water over their heads, and Will had managed to restrain his comments to one: "This is either madness, or brains."
Jack took this as a roundabout complement. "It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide."
The only little spot of bother that the group encountered was a product of having only a very limited idea of where they were going: Will stepped into a lobster trap. There was no lobster in it (which was fortunately, or the young smith would have been very uncomfortable) but he wasn't able to get his foot free from it and wound up dragging the thing with them all the way to the ship.
The marker bobbing across the bay raised a few eyebrows, but no one tried to investigate.
The trap and the long rope attached to it came in handy, however, when they reached the ship. Once the rope had been tied to the rudder (and after the rudder chains had been unhooked), they tossed the marker up over the railing and climbed up. Heero was surprised to see just how agile Duo was- the braided pirate didn't even bother with the rope, just climbed the ship itself.
Once everyone had reached the top deck, Jack signaled for them to move forward. "Everyone stay calm, we are taking over this ship!" He announced, striding down the stairs from the upper deck. He looked commanding, in control, calm...
Then Will leapt over the railing after him and called out "Aye! Avast!"
The other three members of the raiding party looked at him in disgust, while the crew on the ship burst out laughing, led by Lieutenant Gillet.
Lieutenant Gillet was the youngest son of local family of aristocrats. He had grown up fully believing that he deserved his station in life, and that no one else did. His officer training, once he had purchased a commission for the navy, had merely reinforced this. The end result was a smug young snot who thought he knew everything, and who most people felt like hitting at one time or another. To top it off, he was a great admirer of Commodore Norington's ability to turn a phrase and insult his opponents. He copied the trait whenever possible, thus ensuring that he annoyed everyone in his acquaintance at least once.
He stepped forward, smirking. "This ship cannot be crewed by two men and two boys," he sneered. "You'll never make it out of the bay."
Heero had been wondering about that himself, but Jack just smirked right back and leveled his pistol at the smug young Lieutenant's head. "Son," he drawled, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"
Gillet gulped audibly, staring at the muzzle aimed between his eyes.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Commodore Norington was on the dock, supervising the final loading of The Interceptor, and accompanied by one of his far less annoying Lieutenants- Lieutenant Caller. A bright young man, if a little too quick to speak his mind. It was he who called out "Commodore," and pointed over the harbor to where Gillet and his minimal crew were making their way to the dock in single long boat. Norington pulled his attention away from the damaged supplies he was inspecting and looked out over the water.
Gillet was standing at the bow of the little boat (the rowers right behind him were very sorely tempted by this opportunity) and calling across the harbor "Commodore! They've taken The Dauntless! Sparrow and Turner, they've taken the ship!"
Norington grabbed his spyglass and focused on the deck of the ship- his ship- where Sparrow seemed to be yelling at Turner for getting two ropes snarled while trying to adjust a sail. They both looked completely incompetent. On the other side, it looked like Maxwell and Yuy were doing the same thing. Obviously, Turner had freed Sparrow to go after Miss Swan, and somehow talked Yuy into going with them. Sparrow had then, with true pirate instincts, tried to steal the grandest ship in the bay.
"Rash Turner," he mumbled. "Too rash." He put the spyglass way. That is without doubt the worst pirate I've ever seen," he added to Caller." Turning, he ordered The Interceptor prepared for launch.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Will had moved his ropes to one end of the ship and left them there. Racing back up to the helm where the other three waited, he motioned over their shoulders to the approaching ship, coming up fast behind the little long boat. "Here they come."
Duo and Jack glanced back- and grinned.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
The Interceptor quickly passed Gillet's small craft, leaving him screaming "Bring her around! Bring her around!" at his beleaguered men- he didn't want miss any of the action and glory that were sure to be had in the apprehending of a dangerous criminal. His oarsmen thought even more longingly of "accidentally" knocking him overboard.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
The Interceptor came alongside the larger craft, and immediately grappling hooks shot out to secure them together. Boards were laid across the gap to climb, and even more sailors swung across on handy ropes. Soldiers and officers swarmed aboard.
"Search every cabin, every hold, down to the bilge!" Norington bellowed as he strode onto the larger ship's deck.
In all the commotion, no one noticed the small figures swinging the wrong way- from The Dauntless to The Interceptor. And there was no one left on the smaller ship to sound the alarm.
Will strolled up the railing, hacking the grappling ropes away with his axe, while Duo and Heero quickly tightened the sails and Jack manned the helm. Freed from the slower ship's side, The Interceptor quickly began to pull away. The boards that had served as ramps from ship to ship were dislodged, and fell with a mighty thud and splash.
It was this noise, heard faintly over the cacophony of searching, that caught Norington's ear. He whipped around, roaring, "Sailors back to The Interceptor! NOW!"
Without the hooks and planks, however, the only way back was to swing. Swing onto a small, swiftly moving target. From a great height above it. Only one man was actually brave (or stupid) enough to try it; after executing a perfect flip from the rope, he fell into the wake made by the departing ship.
Norington glared furiously at the receding pirates. From the helm, Jack swept off his hat. "Thank you Commodore, for getting us ready to
make way!" he whooped.
"We'd 've had a hard with her by ourselves!" Duo added from his position on one of the masts.
The only answer was volleys from the muskets, but all four of them had been ready for this. They instantly ducked behind whatever cover was necessary, and didn't get so much as a scratch.
Norington turned striding toward the helm. "Set top-sails and clear up this mess!" he snarled.
"But the wind acouse from the stern, we won't catch them-" began Caller at his side.
"I don't need to catch them, just get them in range of the long nines."
"Aft, come about! Run out the guns!" the junior officer called obediently. "We are to fire on our own ship, sir?" he asked quietly.
"I'd rather see her at the bottom of the ocean than in the hands of a pirate," was the soft reply.
However, Jack had planed for this. "Commodore!" the sailor at the helm called. "He's disabled th' rudder chains, sir!" The ship was unable to steer.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
As fortunate as this was for the band aboard The Interceptor, it was anything but for young Lieutenant Gillet. Still intent on joining his commanding officer, he was headed strait for The Dauntless- which was heading strait for them. He had about one second to spot the hull bearing down on them before screaming "ABANDON SHIP!" and diving overboard. His oarsmen, while following, thanked Heaven and the Good Lord Above for granting their wish.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
Back aboard The Dauntless, Norington hung his head. He was beaten, and he knew it. The pirates had gotten away with one of the best ships in the fleet, fully provisioned and scott-free.
"That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen."
Norington fought very, very hard to stop himself from demoting Caller all the way back to the lowest cabin boy on the fleet's worst ship. "So it would seem," he growled.
Will, Heero, Duo, and Jack were gone.
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A/N: Well, they journey's begun! I was sorry that I had to eliminate the scene where Jack's trying to pick the lock with the bone, but with Duo there, there was no point to it, even it was freaking funny. Oh! And next chapter, we're going to meet Trowa and Quatre. I'm sorry, but they're going to be something of side characters here- I want to focus on Duo and Heero, mainly. Though I think you'll like what I've done with them...
On another note, everybody NEEDS to send in their votes for who they want the girls to be! (See last chapter notes for an explination) I'll add that whatever G-girl winds up in Anna-maria's place is probably going to be paired up with Wufei. Choose carefully! And now, thank yous to my reviewers:
Shayde-chan:
It's alright- you're the first reviewer on this chapter, anyway. Thanks
for complementing my 'pirates in the moonlight' scenes- I was living
out of my theasaurus for that one. I love the statue! (And this one,
Catclaws can't do anything major too...) Catspurr and I shared the
chocolate over a romace novel. Hope you like the new chapter!
crazy-lil-nae-nae:
Thank you! I hope you like he latest chapter. And I'll most definatly be trying to keep it up.
p-chan:
Thanks for the votes! They're the only ones I've gotten so far... My
leanings so far have been Une for Scarlett (because of hair color and
temperment), Sally for Gizel (mainly for hair color and style, too...
man, that sounds shallow), and I agree with you on Hilde... that way, I
can get jealousy for two couples. Muahaha!
Shaeric Draconis:
My great secret for timing is to follow the movie exactly. My family
being computer obsessed, we have a DVD player on our machine. I've got
the movie running the background at all times to use as a reference.
; And I agree with you about Heero. Watching him delude himself is
so much fun... and thank you for complementing my characters. They're
just so much FUN to write!