Chapter 33: Exchange

"It will all turn out fine. Trust us, we've done missions like this before." Lancelot told Mal.

They were standing on the shore of Auradon Bay, which was the point from where Lancelot would first teleport Freddie and later temporarily disable the barrier. Mal had changed back into her regular villain kid outfit, complete with leather jacket. She had also brought along her scooter, which she would spell in order to get to the isle.

"You've never even been to the isle." Mal replied.

Lancelot shrugged. "Still, we like to consider ourselves experts."

"I trust you, really I do. I'm just nervous. If anything happens to Freddie, or any of you, then that's on me. And I'm not sure if I will be able to live with that kind of guilt." Mal told Lancelot.

"Just be calm and stick to the plan. Don't let them know in any way that we will try to get you out, just go along at first with whatever they want you to do. We have plans for multiple outcomes, and we are good at planning. There's no real danger for Freddie, and basically the minimum amount for you. Should things get shaky however, there's no one you would rather have by your side then the righteous sons, trust me." He replied.

"Lance! Just be quiet and let me think for a second, please." Mal said.

Lancelot looked kind of offended. "Alright, sure. Who am I after all to just offer to teleport someone from the most dangerous place on the planet? And for free as well. Not someone deserving of any sort of gratitude, surely."

"Alright, alright. Jeez, I know how much all you guys are doing and I can't thank you enough for it, but please let me prepare on my own way." Mal pleaded.

Lancelot nodded. "Of course milady, apologies."

"Dammit, it's okay. And please stop with all the 'milady' and all that. Makes me feel old." Mal complained.

Lancelot chuckled.

"What?" Mal asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just something I noticed." Lancelot replied.

"What is it? Come on, spill it."

"Just, you and Ben. You are perfect together. In some ways you are complete opposites who cancel each other out, but you also both have incredible qualities that only get amplified when you're together. I hope to find something similar, some day." Lancelot said.

"Wow, that might actually be one of the nicest things I have ever heard." Mal replied with a smile. "And don't worry. You will. You're young and there are plenty of fish in the sea." She added as she patted him on the shoulder.

"Nice to always get reassurances from the people you confess your doubts to." Lancelot replied.

"I know." Mal said as she looked back at her former home. "How long?" she then asked.

Lancelot checked his watch. "It's almost a quarter to twelve, how long do you need to get to the isle?"

"Just a few minutes, but after that I'll still need to get to the Lost Revenge." Mal answered.

"Then I suggest you get going." Lancelot said. "Good luck."

"You too." Mal replied as she donned her helmet and stepped on her scooter. "Noble steed, proud and fair, you shall take me anywhere." She said as she spelled her scooter and stepped on the gas. She drove off the shore and into the water, but instead of sinking as it should, the scooter bounced over the waves as if it were a boat.

On her way to the isle, Mal passed the boat where Archer, Aden, Alex and Royce were waiting. She saw all of them raise their hands as a sign of good luck, she gave them a thumbs up and continued.

Only now did the real fear and excitement of the situation kick in. She was about to set foot onto the isle again, inarguably the most dangerous place for her to pay a visit. Besides her fear, she was also driven by fierce determination and anger. If Uma was behind all of this, if she had taken a person she held dear for a second time, then she would pay.

Mal knew that if Ben was informed of the situation, he would either forgive Uma, or suggest a milder punishment. This was a side of him Mal both loved and hated. On the one hand, she loved that he was so caring and always tried to see the best in people, but in cases like these it could so easily get him into trouble. And sometimes people just do not have that good of a side.

She then started worrying again about the inevitable fight she and Ben would have when she would return from the isle. She hoped that his happiness for her safe return would somehow overshadow his anger that she had put both Freddie and herself in such a dangerous position.

Then another harrowing thought popped up in her mind. What if she would not return? What if Archer and his troop would be unable to retrieve her and she would be left at the mercy of whoever wanted her dead on the isle? Ben would lose her, and she would have never been able to explain her reasons behind not telling him. Then the last feeling he would ever associate with her would be distrust.

Mal shook her head, trying to ban these incriminating thoughts out of her head. She could not stop the faces of Evie, Carlos and Jay from popping up in her head as well. It would be the same with them, although Mal hoped that they would somewhat understand her reasoning.

While these thoughts were all harrowing, they did give her more strength. She had to escape the isle! She just had to! Not only for herself, but for her friends, and Ben. Especially Ben.

As she moved closer to the isle, she was able to distinguish several people waiting near the shore. Were these all people who worked together with Harry and maybe Uma? No, they couldn't be. Uma did not have a gang this large. So, either the word had spread that Mal would once again return to the isle, or a large group of people had switched sides since the last time she was here.

If her last suspicion was the case, the plan she and the righteous sons had thought of might have been jeopardized. She had told them that Uma's crew was around twenty large, and as far she had known this was true. If Uma's crew had somehow grown exponentially during her absence, this could well become a much more dangerous mission. The five of them against the entire isle could not really be called a fair fight, no matter how formidable Archer and his friends were.

The moment she passed the barrier, she felt her scooter suddenly dip down as the spell wore off. Luckily for her, she was at such a close range to the isle's shore that she simply landed on the edge.

Once she again felt solid ground under her tires, Mal stopped the scooter and looked around. A large number of isle inhabitants stared at her, most with sick pleasure or amusement.

Mal decided to ignore them as she stepped off her scooter and simply left it where she had arrived. She then cautiously started walking in the direction of the Lost Revenge, the hungry eyes of the isle's inhabitants never leaving her.

Even though she knew that she had nothing to fear from them, Uma or Harry would never allow anyone else to harm her since they wanted to do so themselves, Mal felt uneasy with so many eyes leering at her. In her youth, most of these people would not have dared to show her any form of disrespect, mainly due to her mother, but now they all looked at her like she was some circus freak.

"Traitor." Someone suddenly whispered.

Mal felt a shock go through her when she heard the comment but decided to ignore it.

The first was then followed by many more.

"Traitor!"

"Turncoat!"

"Auradonian!"

Mal just kept on walking, as the persistent taunting of the people kept on growing louder. Most had let their discretion pass and were now openly yelling at her. Mal tried to ban out her emotions, mostly because she could feel tears of both anger and sadness start to swell up. Carefully, she breathed in and out, thinking about how the righteous sons would help her escape. She was surprised when she felt some form of delight when thinking of leaving these people here.

A man suddenly obstructed her passage and she looked up at him.

"Can you move out of the way?" She asked annoyed.

"Oh, by all means, your highness." He grinned before he gave a large, sarcastic bow.

"Thanks." Mal replied equally sarcastic as the rest of her audience started laughing loudly at the man's disrespect towards her.

Luckily for Mal, it only took about one more minute before she reached the docks that gave access to the Lost Revenge. She indeed saw a much larger number of pirates on the ship's deck than the last time, all of whom had loudly started cheering when they first caught sight of her.

In the center, standing right before the bridge that gave access to the ship, stood Harry Hook. He spread out his arms and gave Mal a broad smile.

"Welcome! Once again. You should really come by more often." He said grinning.

Mal did not dignify his greeting with a response and simply walked right to the other end of the bridge.

"Oh, what's wrong Mal? Did ya lose ya tongue?" Harry teased as the rest of his crew started bellowing.

"Where's Freddie?" Mal asked straight to the point.

"Trust me, you'll see her soon enough. Now, I know you suspect that I could have never planned this ingenious plot by myself. So, why don't we call upon the real mastermind of this entire operation." Harry announced with the air of a showman. "The captain of the Lost Revenge and most villainous of all villain kids, you all know her and what's her name?"

"UMA!" Every crew member yelled at the top of their lungs.

And there she was, stepping out from below deck, and even though Mal had expected that she would be back, it still shocked her. Her appearance had changed very little since that faithful night at cotillion, with her blue green hair still in long braids.

"Hey there princess, long time no see." She grinned.

"Shrimpy." Mal greeted coolly.

This remark wiped the smirks clean off both Uma's and Harry's face, and the latter threateningly scraped his hook over the bridge's railing.

"You would be wise to keep your temper under control if you wanna see your little friend again." Uma threatened.

"Where is she?" Mal asked again.

"Below deck, and safe. For now." Uma answered.

"Get her out here, let's get this over with." Mal said sharply.

"Ooh, she is quite eager." Harry smirked as he leaned over Uma's shoulder.

"She sure is." Uma replied with a sinister smile. "Should we maybe keep her in suspense a little longer?"

"I did not come here to play games!" Mal loudly said.

"Neither did we, trust me." Uma replied, still with that sinister smile. "I see that you've come alone, it remains to be seen if that was a wise choice."

"Well, your lackey here told me to." Mal said with a nod to Harry, who shot her a foul glare.

"And you were wise enough to oblige, good. If not, we would have already seen how well Freddie fares in shark-infested waters." Uma teased.

"Give her back. We had a deal. I'm here, all alone. Now you let Freddie go." Mal snapped.

Uma kept her large grin on her face as she gave Harry a small nod. Harry then whistled loudly and immediately Mal heard vague sounds of a struggle below deck. Soon Freddie appeared, being carried on the shoulder by Gil. Her hands and feet were tied but she was screaming as if her life depended on it.

"Let me go! You, stupid brute! Let me-." She abruptly fell silent when she spotted Mal and her eyes widened. "No! NO! Mal! NO! Get out of here! Get out of here!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as she started struggling more violently.

Mal felt her voice get stuck in her throat as she watched Freddie desperately try to escape her captors. Gil was too strong for her though and he eventually positioned her right behind Uma and Harry.

"Don't worry Freddie, everything will be alright." Mal tried to reassure the still struggling Freddie.

"NO! Mal! You don't understand! They want you here to-." Was all Freddie managed to bring out before one of Uma's pirates pressed a cloth into her mouth, effectively silencing her.

"Hey! Stop that!" Mal yelled before directing herself to Uma. "You said she would not be harmed."

"Pff, she's fine. Isn't she? Just a bit loud. Now, how about we wrap up this little transaction?" Uma said rubbing her hands together.

"With pleasure." Mal growled.

"Here." Uma said, and she threw something at Mal.

"Handcuffs?" Mal questioned out loud as she studied the item.

"Yes, handcuffs. Here's how this goes down, you cuff yourself to the railing and we let Freddie walk out of here. The cuffs are just to make sure you won't bolt out of here with her." Uma explained.

"Smart." Mal replied, not impressed. "But here's how it will really go down." She grabbed a simple rock out of her pocket. From the corners of her eye, she could see several of Uma's pirates reaching for their bows in tension. "I have enchanted this. It will teleport Freddie back to Auradon. When she holds this in her hand, and only when she holds this in her hand will I cuff myself to this railing."

"And how will she get back?" Harry questioned. "You can't use magic here."

"You don't say?" Mal sarcastically replied. "I have someone waiting on the shore. In my other pocket I have a flare, which when activated signals my associate to trigger the teleportation."

"We told you to come alone!" Harry snapped.

"And I am. Look, all alone." Mal said as she gestured around herself.

"Sorry princess, but none of this was part of the deal." Uma scowled.

Mal gave an unamused laugh. "You think that I would be content with simply seeing Freddie walk out of here? There is a barrier, she wouldn't even be able to get away."

Uma and Harry gave each other a confused look.

"Didn't really think this plan out, did you?" Mal teased.

"You shut your mouth!" Harry threatened as he raised his hook.

"You want to make this deal? Then this is the only way." Mal loudly replied.

"And what is to stop us from simply taking you in right now and keeping Freddie as a nice bonus?" Uma then said with sparkling eyes.

This comment made Mal's heart skip a beat. None of the plans she and the guys had crafted had taken into account that the villains might not honor any part of their deal. She had to think fast.

"You don't really want to do that." Mal softly said.

"And why not?" Uma slowly said as she reached for her sword.

"Because, shrimpy, if Freddie isn't back in Auradon within the next hour, the entire isle will be overrun with more Auradon soldiers than you can imagine!" Mal spat, trying to sound convincing.

She saw some doubt flash across Uma's face, but it quickly made way for amusement. "You're bluffing. Your little beastie boy would never risk letting anything happen to you, he's too soft for that."

Mal impatiently clacked her tongue. "You know, it's only because of Ben that you might get out of this alive. If it was up to me, we would have gotten Freddie back and then have all of you sent down to a watery grave. Sadly, Ben is king and he's extremely forgiving. He is willing to let you guys off if, and only if, Freddie is safely released. And should you decided to keep us both, don't you think that he would do just about anything to get me back? Especially when you have dishonored a deal you yourself proposed?" Mal lied straight through her teeth.

Both Uma and Harry appeared thoughtful though. Mal could only hope that the threats she came up with were severe enough to persuade the duo from ruining her plan.

"Fine, you give Freddie your little rock." Uma snared before snapping her fingers.

Gil pushed Freddie forward so that she now stood in between Uma and Harry. Mal hesitated a second, but then threw the rock to them. Harry caught it and roughly pushed it into Freddie's still tied hands.

At the same moment, Mal cuffed herself to the railing, somewhat sealing her faith. Freddie's eyes became filled with tears when she saw this and she screamed through her gag.

"Don't forget to concentrate on Auradon, Freddie. The others will be there to pick you up. I'll be fine, trust me." Mal tried to reassure her.

Freddie only started struggling harder and Gil was apparently having trouble keeping her at bay.

"Do it now!" Uma commanded Mal.

Mal rolled her eyes but grabbed the flare out of her pocket nonetheless and turned it on. The flare emitted a bright, red light and red smoke drifted into the air.

The rock, which was still tightly grasped by Freddie, suddenly started radiating a bright, white light. Within a second Freddie had disappeared.