Prince and Jackdaw were more than happy to help her hunt him down. And this time, Jackdaw volunteered to watch Victory and Catcher. It would be Pearl and Passionate's full blood brother, HMS Prince. A First Rate Ship-of-the-Line of gigantic proportions. And he was out for blood. Pearl knew where to look and the first place she went was to the cove where the observatory was. She did find something but it wasn't Black Bart. It was a Royal Navy fleet, led by Alexander. "The Temple has been opened and the device is gone. The Sage must have taken it!" Alex snarled. "Shit! Hide!" Pearl cursed, ducking down behind the rocks. Prince bit his lip, having to hide behind the cove entrance where tall cliffs were. "What do we do? He's not here, and Alex is!" "Call Campe?" Pearl suggested, knowing they could not take him on. "For what reason? Not like killing him will get us closer to finding Black Bart." Prince sighed, "If anything it'll make us that much farther if he did have a lead." "I wasn't suggesting that we kill him. Only that we created a distraction to slip away." "Do you have an idea where Black Bart is? If not it may actually be in our best interest to ask Alex. The enemy of my enemy..." "Is my friend." Pearl finished. "Precisely." Prince nodded. "Okay." Pearl was not keen on going to Alex but she would do so to avenge her daughter. "Should I reveal myself to him as still alive or do you think you can speak to him alone?" "I'll go to him. Raise the white flag. You stay hidden but be ready to intervene when Alex turns on us." "Understood. I'll keep watch from a distance. Be safe..."
Pearl had a good idea as to where Alex was and so she headed in that direction. It was incredibly risky as to what she was going to do. Her uncle was unpredictable and although it was doubtful he would fire upon her right away, he was still a Royal Navy man o'war and she, a pirate. Nonetheless, upon sighting him she sailed towards him with the white flag waving. "Alex!" one of his escorts hissed, and he quickly turned. He looked surprised, but saw the white. "Weapons trained, don't fire unless you want me to shoot you too... Black Shadow? What are you doing here?" "You're looking for Royal Fortunate, so am I." She said. She would not say it out loud that she sought an alliance with him. He cocked an eye, "You're in a lot of trouble. You know we can't let you go, even if we did aid one another on this." "I am aware." She replied, keeping her voice level. She would not dare reveal anything that might expose Prince. "Well...why should we trust you? How do we know you aren't helping him to kill me?" "Alex, he killed Passionate. The last ship I want to kill right now is you." She replied. He opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. "Very well. If he isn't here then he must be in his hunting grounds. Principe, Africa." "That is his most likely hideout." Pearl agreed, making a mental note to contact Campe as soon as she was able so she could contact Reaper and have him on standby when a quick getaway was in order.
The voyage to Africa was long and difficult with hurricanes every which way. It was as frustrating as it was stormy. It was awkward sailing with the British once more, especially since they made her fly the Union Jack. She hated it but she tolerated it with the knowledge that Black Bart would soon be dead and she could give them a beating they'd never forget. They approached the coast of Africa and Pearl guided them to the cove where she had seen Bart in before. He was there, but had seen them coming through that device... "Come for me at last, have you?" he laughed, sailing down along the shore, heading south. The British and Pearl gave chase but he began throwing mines behind him. Pearl was quick and nimble and more able to dodge than Alex was. She leaped and tackled him. "You killed my daughter, now you are going to pay." She snarled, striking him again and again. He threw her off and she would have landed on the rocks, but to her surprise Alex caught her. The rain began to fall as the last hurricane they sailed through was now catching up. He slung her back at Bart. Pearl bared her teeth, happy to charge him again. She did not falter in her course even as lightning set fire to her foretopmast. "I will take what is mine!" She snarled, tearing the skull from him. He headbutted her and his rigging snaked to grab the skull back. She shied away from him, moving back to allow Alex to give Bart a broadside. The two man o wars exchanged walls of fire and to everyone's shock, Bart was the better shot. Steel and Fire rained along with the falling water from the dark skies above. Wood splinters and blood went flying. Alex snarled in pain, but it gave Pearl an opening while Bart was distracted. She didn't hesitate. Her attacks were not to defend Alex, she could care less about him. But Bart needed to die! She sank her teeth into his decks. He teared and bucked to throw her off, snarling. She would not let go. Every move he made only made her grip harder. "Finish him!" She cried to Alex. He fired another broadside, and Bart turned to put her between him and the shots. Pearl howled as the shots struck her, once again reminded of the accuracy of the Royal Navy. She put her shoulder into Bart and rolled him over. In one swift move she had her teeth around his throat. His eyes widened before he chuckled. "A short life and a merry one, as promised..."
She didn't pause to question what that meant for he quickly died, his pulse of life fading. She let go of his corpse, pushing it away from her in disgust. Her eyes flickered to the coast where she knew Campe had assembled Reaper and Prince. Between the three of them, they could distract Alex long enough for her to escape. She turned to face her uncle. "Well done. You didn't do too bad. We make a good pair, you and I. Twin Devils!" he praised with a chuckle, "The Royal Navy could use your skills. It's what I can offer you to pardon you of your crimes against the Crown and Empire. Please. I don't want to kill more of my family..." For a moment Pearl was tempted, so tempted. The chance to stop fighting but then she thought of Passionate, of Britannia of the others who had died for her cause. It would not be right to surrender. For their sake the fight had to go on. She sighed. "You don't have a choice. I'm not giving you one. But I don't intend to die yet either." She growled and that's when Prince and Reaper emerged, guns blazing. Campe leaped out of the water and pinned Alex down. "Go, all of you!" She shouted. The British were taken off guard by this, and Alex especially was upset as he fought to get out from under Campe, something that shockingly almost succeeded. Reaper was lethally accurate, sinking two schooners with the same broadside and causing a frigate to list heavily. Canoe strained to hold him, hull groaning. A few plates split, causing very hot glowing blood to run down her sides and onto Alex. Pearl wanted to help her but she would've just been in the way. "Let's go!" She shouted to Reaper. "Go, I'll cover you!" he shouted back, wincing as Alex let out a horrific scream of pain, his hull searing and canvas catching fire around the area the blood from Campe dripped. Pearl nuzzled him. "You are as brave and crazy as ever." She said, all her sails set to retreat. "And you're even more so." he smirked in reply.
Reaper had a hell of a time trying to keep the Royal Navy off of Pearl but he had a helper in Campe. Campe was a beast! Once Alex had been subdued she turned her attentions to his new deputy. The third rate HMS Atlantic was a fierce fighter and cunning warrior, timing her shots perfectly and aiming to disable, not kill. The way she moved was like the Atlantic itself, unpredictable, and yet, natural, gentle, but firm. It would've disabled Campe for sure if she was a normal ship. But Campe was not a normal ship as the glowing blood could attest to. She dove underneath Atlantic but instead of pulling her down, she pushed her over before delivering a savage bite to the back of the neck. It severed her spinal chord and left her paralyzed and useless. Or so she would have thought, but was quickly proven wrong by the smaller man o war nimbly twisting around to grab her and throw her against the rocks. Atlantic smirked. "You've been quite a pain, you little shit, and we've grown wise." she revealed a reinforced beam along the length of her keel, which Campe had bitten into instead of her neck. "Now stay there!" she hissed, spinning around to pursue the pirates as Alex limped north towards Britain. Campe groaned, the rocks having cut into her hull. Where blood dripped into the sea, the water boiled. She strained to pull herself off the rocks. Now fully out of the water Reaper could see the Kraken for what she truly was. She was long and narrow in the beam. Her hull as dark as the midnight sky. Her eyes were golden amber. From her hull strange protrusions like limbs emerged. They had webbed fingers on the end. Fins! These fins now scrabbled to find purchase on the slippery coastline but it was no use. She was stuck here until the next high tide. "Reaper, go! Get after her!" Reaper nodded and swung around to fire a broadside into Atlantic, but she shrugged it off. She wasn't interested in him, but Pearl. They exchanged broadsides as they passed each other, with the Royal Navy Deputy's shots landing harder and more concentrated, leaving Reaper with a hard list as he limped to help Campe.
Campe struggled hard to wriggle herself off the rocks but she was well and truly stuck. One of the jagged stones had dug into her side effectively keeping her in place. Like a shrimp on a shiscobob. The more she struggled, the more she bled. Reaper was able to get close enough to get his rigging around her, and hauled her up and off the sharp rocks. She cried out as the jagged rock was removed but she hugged Reaper, kissing his cheek in thanks. "I have to stop Atlantic." She panted. "Neither of us are in good shape to do it. Pearl can outrun her. Come, we need to rest up." he panted, "I don't know what that ship was but she was a hell of a warrior...Britain is stepping up their training and shipbuilding..." "Perhaps its time to alert my sisters." Campe murmured, twisting to lick the wound in her side. As soon as she licked it clean fresh blood covered it again. She sighed. She limped ahead of him, heading for a cove that had sheltered her many times in the past. "Thank you Reaper." She rasped. "You're welcome. If you'll excuse me, I need to return to my fleet." he nodded, listing as he headed south, where he would go around Africa and head east into the Indian Ocean. "Be careful Reaper." She murmured, then set about contacting her sisters. Pearl and her fleet would need all the help they could get against this new threat. And Campe was determined to ensure she had the ability to survive it.
