Chapter 14: Agreements

The journey to the isle took but a few minutes with Uma's large tentacles allowing them to quickly move through the water.

A problem neither of them had taken into account was that when they broke through the barrier, which was accessible from outside, Uma lost her magical abilities and she immediately changed back into her human form. After quickly overcoming their surprise, the duo made it through the final few meters quite easily.

When they eventually ended up back on shore, soaking wet, they gratuitously looked around at their familiar surroundings. Solomon hadn't been back here for over seven months, but the state of the isle seemed to have not changed all that much. Neither him nor Uma was particularly happy to be back on the isle though, since it was as much a prison as it was their home.

They had agreed to both gather their gangs and informs them of the situation. On the isle it did not help to try and keep the cauldron's presence a secret. They would combine their forces and try and prepare as much as possible for the upcoming war with Auradon.

As Solomon and Uma made their way through the isle, their arrival did not go unnoticed since they were both leaders of respective gangs. They were soon approached by members of both their gangs, whose questions about their previous whereabouts were quickly cut short.

"The time for questions is later, if it ever comes at all!" Solomon said loudly to his subordinate. "Right now, gather the whole gang. Yes! Everyone! And you do the same!" he said with authority to Uma. "We'll meet at your bar."

Uma allowed him to give her this one command, since she as well considered it to be useful to quickly make everyone aware of the plan. "Gather all the pirates!" she said to her gang member. "Will they all be at Hook's inlet?" She asked as well.

At this question the pirate stuttered, and this didn't go unnoticed by both Uma and Solomon. "W-w-well, y-you s-see c-c-captain…" the pirate barely managed to speak.

"Speak up!" Solomon thundered, which caused Uma to pull his shoulder.

"No one gives them orders but me!" she snarled at him. With a small cough, it was Solomon's gang member who answered.

"Hook's inlet is no longer your territory Uma, in the time that you've been gone Harriet Hook has claimed it, along with troll town."

This visibly angered Uma. "That psychotic bitch, that no good sack of shit..." and some more swearwords came out of her mouth as she turned her back to the group and punched a wall.

Solomon pondered this. He had assumed that in the few months he had been gone there would have been some shifts of power on the isle, so this was not a major blow to his plan. "You go to Harriet and tell her I've returned and am organizing a talk with all the VK gang leaders at Uma's." He said to his gang member. "Tell her to be there in an hour or she'll miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime." The gang member gave a small bow and hurried off alongside Uma's pirate.

"You know she won't listen to reason." Uma said to Solomon. "We do not need her."

Solomon gave no indication that he'd heard her but answered. "The way we plan things right now means that there will inevitably be a fight. No matter how powerful the cauldron and our combined strength is, it is never a bad idea to have some 'spare' soldiers, you know, expendables." He said and gave Uma a sideways look.

A small smirk appeared on her face. "Well you better come up with a good lie to get her on board, give her proper motivations, you know she despises pretty much everyone."

"That's what I'm counting on." Solomon said mysteriously before walking away towards Ursula's fish & chips.

There was a loud murmuring sound throughout Ursula's fish & chips as it was packed with people who all took part in loudly whispered conversations. CJ Hook took no part in these, she sat on the edge on one of the roof beams and looked down on the three groups that had formed.

On her right side below her sat the gang of thieves from the other part of the island. This gang had been led by Solomon, but in his absence Zevon, Yzma's son, had largely taken over the commanding position. Other familiar faces she noticed in this group were Ginny Gothel and Mad Maddy, who were surrounded by around 15 other members.

Right below her sat her big sister Harriet Hook and her personal gang of pirates, thieves and general misfits. She sat in between her two lieutenants Anthony Tremaine and Clay Clayton, who's hand-made shotgun was attached to his back. They were having a silent conversation between the three of them, with both Clay and Harriet looking suspicious and Anthony simply looking bored as always. Their group consisted of almost 25 people.

On CJ's left side sat Uma's pirate crew. Right now, the only one she could distinct was Gil, who was admiring his own muscles as always and seemingly being unaware of the seriousness of the situation. Uma's crew was around 15 large.

CJ herself was not part of any group. Both Uma and Harriet had always despised her, and she seldom had any contact with VK's from the other side of the isle. She had mostly hung out with Freddie, who was pretty much the only one she could consider a friend before Freddie was chosen as one of the VK's eligible to go to Auradon prep.

Right now, she stared at the bar at the front center of Ursula's restaurant. Uma, Solomon and her brother Harry Hook were having a silent conversation, probably planning on what they were going to say.

Harriet had thus far only noticed that she was here and had afterwards not given her a second look, god how CJ hated her. CJ had noticed that Harry would often glance in either her or Harriet's direction and when their eyes met she simply scowled at him. Hers and Harry's was a strained relationship. The amount of times they had helped each other or had screwed one another over just about evened out, but CJ had yet to forgive him for the latest trick he pulled.

After Uma had left the isle in an attempt to bring down the barrier, it had taken Harriet all but a few days to try and expand her territory. When she and her gang invaded Hook's inlet, which was her and Harry's sleeping spot at the time, Harry had wasted no time in escaping with some of Uma's pirates and had left her to fend for herself. If she hadn't been an exceptionally gifted swordsman, she might not have survived that day.

This day however, she had been standing lookout on a roof for something to steal, when a message suddenly went around between VK's of a big meeting at Uma's and being her own curious self, she went to investigate. She had not expected to see both Uma and Solomon back on the same day, nor had she expected to be under one roof with both her siblings again.

Before getting the chance to ponder about something else, Solomon's voice boomed through the room.

"Quiet!" he yelled, and all the chatter immediately died away. Solomon glared at every group for a second with his dark eyes before speaking. "I know you're all wondering why I've gathered you here today."

"WE!" Uma said sharply. "Why we have gathered you all here today.

Solomon gave her an annoyed look before resuming his speech. "It is quite simple, we have been given the opportunity of a lifetime! A chance to rain down all our evil on Auradon." This grabbed everyone's attention, even Anthony sat up slightly. CJ was doubtful however, every once in a while, there had been a villain who claimed to have the one way to defeat Auradon and every time they had been disappointed.

"As you all know, during baby beast's coronation, Mal had managed to bring down the barrier for a short period before joining with those sugary soft pussies." A disapproving growl went through the room, Mal and her group's betrayal still did not sit right with most inhabitants of the isle. "However, during this short period, my esteemed father managed to transfer some magic to me, magic that has allowed me to pass through the barrier."

Immediately a large tumult broke out.

"You kept this hidden from us?!" Mad Maddy shouted.

"Why did you not take us with you?!" Clay yelled.

"Can you not bring down the barrier?" one of Uma's pirates asked.

Solomon's eyes quickly darkened before he slammed his fist on one of the tables and yelled at everyone to be quiet again. "It doesn't matter what I did with this power here or what I could have done, what matters is that I escaped into Auradon and now have a way to bring that rotten fairyland down once and for all." Every eye in the room was on Solomon now and they hung onto his every word. "My father had given me very precise instructions which allowed me to find and bring back his old cauldron." He said before gesturing to his right where two of his thieves appeared out of a door, carrying the cauldron between them.

A large tumult broke out again with most people standing up to have a clear look at the cauldron. Even CJ couldn't help but be perplexed, the cauldron had been one of the most powerful magical items before and during the war, it supposedly had the power to call upon an undead army.

Solomon silenced everyone again by raising his hand. "When I was still in Auradon, I naturally tried to summon the army of the dead, but I quickly found out that there is some sort of specific ritual or spell needed to use it for its intended purpose, one I have not yet managed to find. It's either that or I need a more powerful source of magic to activate it, in its current state it's all but worthless." He said before having a look around the room again, his and CJ's eyes briefly crossing. "Now that I'm back here." He continued, "I will ask my father how to activate the cauldron, after which we can commence with our masterplan. I have gathered you all so can take your part in the conquest of Auradon."

A short silence followed before several gang members started conversing silently with each other again. It all died down again when Harriet Hook stood up.

"You've always been so full of shit Solomon! Why tell this to us? Why would you need us when your magic kettle can summon an entire undead army?" she spat at Solomon.

Solomon gave her a piercing stare, one that would cause most other VK's to look away, but she stared back persistently. "We had the cauldron during the war." He said as he slowly walked in her direction, "We had Maleficent's magic during the war, we had Jafar's magic, Ursula's and where did it get us, nowhere!" he spat. "It's so easy for us villains to think we have the upper hand and that we will achieve immediate victory. Why would I need you, you ask? Because in order for there to be an absolute certainty of my victory I will need as much of you to join me as possible."

Harriet seemed to ponder this for a second. "And what's to stop us from taking the cauldron and using it ourselves?" she said.

That comment made the tension boil over. Everyone quickly stood up, pulled out their weapons and pointed it to the nearest member of a rival gang. All except for Solomon, Uma and Harriet, who all slowly walked to the middle of the room.

"What would you do with this?" Solomon said to Harriet while putting a hand on the cauldron. "I have already told you that it's worthless in its current state and as far as I know you don't have any mages in your gang. Even I don't precisely know how to operate it, but I'm still your best shot at escaping this hell hole and having the revenge we've always dreamed about, so you either follow me or stay here bickering for scraps."

"We don't need him!" Anthony Tremaine said scornfully to Harriet. "He's just looking for some extra foot soldiers in his doomed army."

Harriet pondered this. "I will need some reassurance, reassurance that when it comes to a fight, me and my crew will not be cannon food at the front line."

Solomon gave his trademark grin. "I cannot give you reassurances, only promises."

"What promises?" Harriet said.

"You know who's out there." Solomon said while pointing at the general direction of Auradon. "Everyone who hurt your father, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell. Our former associates, Mal, Evie, Jay, little Dizzy." He said with a nod to Anthony, who pulled his face in disgust. "Wouldn't you love to be the one to slit their throats and hang them from the front of your ship? Stick with me and you'll get all that and more." He started walking circles around Harriet and the cauldron. "Don't you see it? With the cauldron, I envision a future draped in darkness! Kingdoms covered in ash with us villains as the rulers."

"He's full of shit!" Anthony said, though less certain than before.

Harriet shushed him and kept looking back from the cauldron to Solomon. "What is your angle in all of this? What do you want to achieve?"

"Revenge will do for now." He replied darkly. "Revenge on the beast and king baby beast for locking us here, revenge on Mal and her gang for betraying us, and some personal business I happened upon in my time at Auradon." He said as he thought of the mystery swordsman.

Harriet squinted her eyes at him and looked at Uma. "And you? What has he promised you? Surely not a place as his queen." She said, and her crew snickered at her comment.

Uma glared at her. "Not that I would have wanted that anyway." She said with a sneer towards Solomon, who held his hand to his heart pretending to be hurt. "Solomon would break through the barrier and I will get the seas."

Harriet grinned evilly as she pointed a finger at Uma. "Now there's a problem, see, I would personally like to have some sea as well."

Before Uma could reply, Solomon stood between them. "When the barrier is down, and we are free to roam Auradon, you can settle this. Let's first combine our strength to fight a common enemy. Won't that be the most profitable solution for all of us?"

The silence between him, Uma and Harriet lasted terribly long after that. Both him and Uma stared at Harriet, whose eyes shifted from the cauldron to each of them, deep in thought. "Fine!" she eventually said, "Me and my crew will help with taking down the barrier, after that we'll go out on our own. We'll not become soldiers for you to command in the war. This is my only offer."

Solomon lingered at her. "Once the barrier is down I'll have no further need of you, what you do with your worthless lives couldn't interest me in the slightest. But until the barrier comes crashing down, you will follow my command!"

"OUR command!" Uma interfered once again. "Don't forget that you need me horns! Don't go all acting like you could have accomplished this all alone."

Solomon ignored her. "So, we are in agreement? We stop all violence between our gangs to reach our common goal. We activate the cauldron, bring down the barrier and defeat Auradon's forces, after that we can bicker amongst ourselves again." He said, and he put out his arm over the cauldron. Uma glared at him but followed. Harriet rolled her eyes and the three of them interlocked their arms, solidifying their pact.

An approving cheer went up from the crowd and cups were slammed on tables.

"Everyone will need to make preparations!" Solomon yelled. "Weapons, armor, cannonballs, increase production of everything! The stronger we are, the more we will be able to overrun whatever Auradon puts in our way! We will taste victory!" he yelled, and most people cheered.

CJ had seen enough and tried to leave through one of the windows as inconspicuously as possible. She hadn't noticed two pairs of eyes following her.

Solomon felt someone grab his shoulder and saw Uma nudging her head towards the kitchen. They left to talk more privately.

"That was quite a speech." She told him, leaning back against the counter.

"They ate it up like fruitcakes." Solomon grinned while sitting down on a stool.

Before being able to utter another word, Uma lunged forward and pressed a short knife to his throat. Solomon didn't even blink and simply grinned at Uma, who looked at him with pent up rage.

"Already having doubts?" Solomon inquired of her, not even bothering to look her in the eye.

"I just want to make sure you know where you stand, boy. I just want to make sure you know that I won't be blindly following your orders like a trained troll. Like it or not, we will be leading this army together, that was our deal and I intend to hold you to your end of the bargain."

"If you mean that you think that I'll send your little pirate crew to their deaths in this war, you are mistaken Uma. Whatever you may think of me, I do respect you, I am thankful for you bringing me back to the isle and I intend to honor our deal. Furthermore, I actually do need you in case I need a more powerful magic source, so expect no sly forms of betrayal from me." He said.

Uma scowled at him for one more second before removing the knife from his throat. "I just want to make sure we're on the same page. Not even you, Solomon, can think of betraying me and expect to escape my wrath."

"Noted." Solomon said before heading for the exit.

"One more thing." Uma said, and Solomon stopped and looked back. "What's my name?" she said with a threatening undertone.

Solomon grinned. "You really should have remembered it yourself by now." He said before closing the door behind him, right as the knife bored itself in the wood.