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Chapter 15: Another Deal With a Pirate

(On board the Dauntless, Charlie is reunited with Governor Lucifer and Commodore Seviathan von Eldritch. Alastor is arrested again and is being guarded by Razzle and Dazzle. They told them everything that had happened since she was abducted. Now they wish to go back home, but Charlie refuses to without doing something first.)

Charlie: (desperately) But we've got to save Vaggie!

Lucifer: (firmly) No! You're safe now. We will return to Port Royal immediately, not go gallivanting after pirates.

Charlie: Then we condemn her to death!

(Lucifer and Seviathan give her a look of disapproval.)

Lucifer: The girl's fate is regrettable... But then, so is her decision to engage in piracy.

Charlie: To rescue ME! To prevent anything from happening to me!

(Alastor walks up to them. Razzle and Dazzle immediately walk up beside him to keep guard.)

Alastor: If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion. The Pearl was listing near to scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely she'll be able to make good time. (to Seviathan) Think about it. The Black Pearl... the last real pirate threat in the sea of Hell, mate. How can you pass that up, eh?

Seviathan: (insistently) By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself.

(He turns away and walks up to the upper deck. Charlie follows him still determined to rescue Vaggie.)

Charlie: Commodore, I beg you. Please do this. For me... as a wedding gift.

(Seviathan stops and turns back to her. Everyone is surprised by what she said.)

Lucifer: (stunned) Charlie... are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?

(Charlie realizes that she'd do anything for Vaggie as she did for her.)

Charlie: I am.

Alastor: (cheerfully) A wedding! I love weddings! Drinks all around!

(Seviathan gives him a cold look and he quiets down and holds his hands up.)

Alastor: I know. "Clap him in irons", right?

Seviathan: (firmly) Mr. Sparrow. You will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with a bearing to Isla de Muerta. You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase "silent as the grave". Do I make myself clear?

(Alastor is intimidated by his attitude smiles innocently.)

Alastor: Inescapably clear.

(Razzle and Dazzle escort him to the upper deck. Charlie is relieved that he agreed to save Vaggie. Lucifer is more skeptical.)

Lucifer: Commodore, I must question the wisdom of this.

Seviathan: With all due respect, Governor... Miss Turner is a subject of the society of Hell, and therefore under my protection.

(Lucifer doesn't like it but accepts it as the right thing. He's also pleased that his daughter accepted his proposal.)

Lucifer: (smiles) Rightly so. Take care of her.

(Seviathan nods and Lucifer walks off. Seviathan turns to Charlie feeling a little unsatisfied about her acceptance. They walk over to the railing and stare out at the sea.)

Seviathan: Charlie. I'm concerned that your answer was perhaps... less than sincere.

Charlie: (assuringly) I would not give my word lightly.

Seviathan: Yes, I understand. But is it so wrong that I shall want it given unconditionally?

Charlie: It is not a condition. It is a request. Your answer would not change mine. You are a fine man, Seviathan.

(She seems reluctant to look at him while saying that but does so and smiles. Seviathan fully accepts her response and smiles back.)

Seviathan: Very well. Excellent.

(On board the Black Pearl, Moxxie and Millie are down in the hold spreading tar on the floor with mops. Alastor's crew are in cells around them including Angel Dust, Cherri Bomb, Niffty, Husk and even Sergio.)

Sergio: (squawks) Shiver me timbers!

(Angel looks out at Moxxie and Millie.)

Angel Dust: (mockingly) Husk here says you missed bit.

(Millie giggles while Moxxie gets annoyed and slaps his mop against the cell.)

Niffty: (disgusted) That's no way to clean a ship.

(They ignore her and keep mopping. Vaggie is alone in another cell and has an important question for the pirates.)

Vaggie: (curious) You knew William Turner?

(Moxxie and Millie stop mopping and face her.)

Moxxie: (grins) Ol' Bootstrap Bill. We knew him.

(Vaggie leans on her cell door and listens with intrigue.)

Moxxie: (somberly) Never sat well with Bootstrap, what we did to Alastor Sparrow. The mutiny and all. He was the only one of us against it. Said it wasn't right with the Code. That's why after we discovered we were cursed, he sent off a piece of the treasure to you, as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed... and remain cursed.

(Vaggie is stunned from just learning about this after so many years. Despite her father being a pirate, he still had a sense of honor. The rest of the crew however, felt differently about it.)

Millie: (mumbles) Stupid sad sack.

Angel Dust: (bitterly) Good man. I would've done the same to you shitsacks.

(Moxxie glares at Angel then back to Vaggie and continues the story.)

Moxxie: But as you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with the captain.

Millie: (smirks) That didn't sit too well with the captain at all. Tell her what Pentious did!

Moxxie: (annoyed) I'm telling the story! (to Vaggie) So what the captain did, he strapped a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps.

Millie: (snickers) Bootstrap's bootstraps.

Moxxie: And last we saw of Ol' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushing black oblivion of the seas of Hell!

(The crew are disturbed by the tale.)

Moxxie: (shrugs) 'Course, it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse.

Millie: That's what you call "ironic".

(The pair laugh as Vaggie stares at them angrily. Then Pentious and several other pirates enter the hold. The captain throws them the keys to the cell.)

Pentious: (sternly) Bring her.

(Night has fallen as the Dauntless arrives at Isla de Muerta. It quietly floats past the ship graveyard and approaches the cave leading into the island. Alastor stands at the rail alone looking out at the island. He knows that he will finally unfold the plan he had all this time regarding Vaggie, Pentious, and the Black Pearl. Charlie walks up next to him. She's now out of her bedroom dress and in woman's sailor's clothes.)

Charlie: You didn't tell him about the curse.

Alastor: I noticed neither did you. For the same reason, I imagine.

Charlie: (softly) He wouldn't have risked it.

Alastor: (smirks) You could've gotten him drunk.

(She looks at him in slight disgust.)

Alastor: Don't get me wrong, my dear. I admire a person who's willing to do whatever's necessary.

Charlie: (smiles) You're a smart man, Alastor... but I don't entirely trust you.

(He puts his arm around her shoulder mutually.)

Alastor: Peas in a pod, darling.

(Seviathan walks up and Charlie steps back.)

Seviathan: With me, Sparrow.

(Alastor gives Charlie a quick look of assurance as he leaves with the commodore. They get into longboats with Lieutenant Blitzo and dozens of soldiers including Razzle and Dazzle. They row out near the entrance of the cave and see the Black Pearl anchored nearby. Seviathan looks at the pirate ship through a telescope and sees no signs of life. They know the crew must already be on the island.)

Seviathan: (skeptical) I don't care for the situation. Any attempt to storm the cave could turn into an ambush.

Alastor: Not if you're the one doing the ambushing. I go in, I convince Pentious to send his mates out with their little boats, you and your mates return to the Dauntless and blast the bejesus out of them with your little cannons. What do you have to lose?

(He puts his arm on Seviathan's shoulder and Seviathan shoves it off.)

Seviathan: (grumbles) Nothing I'd lament being rid of.

Alastor: (cautiously) Now, to be quite honest with you, there's still a slight risk to those aboard the Dauntless, which includes the future Mrs. Commodore.

(Seviathan considers his word. He sends word to the Dauntless and immediately Charlie is forced inside the cabin by two soldiers as Lieutenant Stolas opens the door for her.)

Stolas: Sorry, but it's for your own safety.

Charlie: (frantically) I don't care what the Commodore ordered! I have to tell him! The pirates, they're cursed! They can't be killed!

(They shove her in the cabin.)

Stolas: (jokingly) Don't worry miss, he's already informed of that. A little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story.

(Stolas snickers and closes the door locking her inside.)

Charlie: This is Alastor Sparrow's doing!

(She leans against the door exasperated. Meanwhile, Alastor rows in boat all by himself into the cave ready to lure Pentious' crew out so he can enact his own agenda. The crew themselves enter the large cavern with the piles of treasure. Pentious leads the way tossing an apple and putting away ready to eat it after they lift the curse. Vaggie is escorted by Moxxie and Millie with her hands tied behind her back.)

Moxxie: (comfortingly) No reason to fret. Just a prick of the finger. A few drops of blood.

(Baxter and Travis moves past them.)

Baxter: (aggressively) No mistakes this time. She's only half Turner. We spill it all!

(They take Vaggie to towards the stone chest. Moxxie and Millie snicker at each other.)

Moxxie: I guess there is reason to fret.

(Travis and Baxter take her in front of the chest and hold her down. The medallion hangs from her neck. Pentious stands next to them with the stone knife. The crew chants excitedly now that they know for sure they have the right person.)

Crew: Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood!

(Vaggie puts up a brave face for this. From the back of the cave, Alastor makes his way through the crowd of pirates. They stop chanting and stare in shock as he passes them.)

Alastor: (casually) Excuse me. Pardon me. Beg your pardon.

(Pentious raises the knife at the ready.)

Pentious: (lively) Begun by blood, the blood un-

(He sees Alastor emerge from the front of the crowd that gets all quiet now. He and stares at him in bewilderment.)

Vaggie: (stunned) Alastor!

Pentious: (bewildered) It's not possible.

Alastor: (smirks) Not "probable".

Vaggie: (concerned) Where's Charlie?!

Alastor: (assuringly) She's safe, just like I promised. And she's all set to marry von Eldritch just like she promised.

(Vaggie is surprised by that news as he keeps talking.)

Alastor: And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really. Well, except for you and Charlie, who are, in fact, two women.

Pentious: (irritated) Shut up! You're next!

(Travis and Baxter hold Vaggie's head over the chest and Pentious brings the knife to her throat.)

Alastor: (warningly) You don't want to be doing that, mate.

(Pentious glares back at him.)

Pentious: No, I really think I do.

Alastor: (shrugs) Your funeral.

(Pentious holds the blade to her throat but stops. He knows it's best not to take any chances with Alastor. He rolls his eyes in annoyance and turns back to him.)

Pentious: Why don't I want to be doing it?

(Alastor steps forward.)

Alastor: Well, because... the H.M.S. Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just off shore, waiting for you.

(Pentious and his crew become shocked and mutter around each other. They realize if they become mortal again now, they'll be killed or captured by the Navy.)

(Outside, Seviathan and his men stay where they are in the boats at the side of the cave entrance waiting for anyone to come out. Seviathan stands at the front of the lead boat. Razzle and Dazzle sit behind him.)

Razzle: (whispers) What are we doing here?

Dazzle: (whispers) The pirates come out, unprepared and unawares, we catch 'em in a crossfire and send 'em to the watery grave.

Razzle: I know why we're here... I meant, why aren't we doing what it was... what Mr. Sparrow said we should do? With the cannons and all?

Seviathan: Because it was Mr. Sparrow who said it.

Dazzle: You think he wasn't telling the truth?

(Seviathan didn't exactly trust Alastor's plan so he went against it. Back in the cavern, Pentious listens to Alastor's proposition.)

Alastor: Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out to the Dauntless, they do what they do best...

(They crew chuckles evilly at that remark.)

Alastor: Robert's your uncle, Fannie's your aunt, there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet. Of course, you'll take the grandest as your flagship, and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl?

(He smiles and gets closer to the chest.)

Alastor: Name me Captain. I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder, and you get to introduce yourself as "Commodore Pentious". Savvy?

Pentious: (amused) And I suppose in exchange, you want me not to kill this bitch?

(He refers to Vaggie who just stands there confused at the whole exchange.)

Alastor: No, no, no, not at all. By all means, kill the bitch. Just not yet. (slyly) Wait to lift the curse... until the opportune moment.

(He looks Vaggie in the eye as he spoke that last sentence. Vaggie is even more confused. She's heard that phrase from him before and is unsure which side Alastor is on. He keeps talking.)

Alastor: For instance...

(He reaches down into the chest and scoops up some cursed Aztec coins but doesn't remove them from the perimeter of the chest which doesn't actually curse someone. He looks at Pentious so his gaze stays on him and not the chest.)

Alastor: After you've killed von Eldritch's men...

(He drops a coin back on top of the others for each word he speaks.)

Alastor: Every... Last... One.

(Pentious thinks deeply about his offer. Vaggie, however, looks down at Alastor's hand and catches a glimpse of a coin being tucked away in his sleeve. She's not entirely sure but she heavily suspects that he actually did take a coin from the chest and became cursed. She then realized that his true intention was never to give her up in exchange for the Pearl, but something else entirely.)

Vaggie: (shocked) You've been planning this from the beginning. Ever since you learned my name.

Alastor: (smirks) Yeah.

(Pentious thinks she means what Alastor just offered to him. He comes to a decision.)

Pentious: I want fifty percent of your plunder.

Alastor: Fifteen.

Pentious: Forty.

Alastor: Twenty-five, and I'll buy you the hat. A really big one... Commodore. So it's a deal then?

(He holds out his hand and Pentious shakes it.)

Pentious: (smiles) We have an accord.

Alastor: (ecstatic) This is going to be very entertaining!

(He turns to the crew.)

Alastor: All hands to the boats!

(They all stare awkwardly at him. Pentious shoots him a glare.)

Alastor: (sheepishly) Apologies, you give the orders.

(Pentious faces the crew.)

Pentious: Mates... take a walk!

(The crew shuffles towards the cave entrance eager to attack the Dauntless. Alastor gets confused.)

Alastor: Not to the boats?

(Pentious gives him a conniving smile. Moxxie and Millie head over to leave the cave with the others when an umbrella suddenly sticks out in front of them. They see Vortex holding it and grinning. The crew get to the shore of the cave and line up. They draw their weapons and walk right into the water until they submerge and disappear beneath it.)

(The moon appears in the sky from behind the clouds and the light shines down into the water. The crew of the Black Pearl ominously march along the ocean floor in their skeletal forms unable to drown. They slip past the soldiers in the boats as they're unable to see them. Then they approach the Dauntless and walk underneath it. They step out of the moonlight and return to their normal state momentarily before reaching the other side of the ship. Travis, Baxter, Vortex and the rest step into the moonlight become skeletons again ready to attack.)

We've just about reached the climactic final battle!