Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Disney owns them. Juno's mine, though!

Chapter 5: Short Shorts

"Captain Fairfield. We are concerned about our investment," an important looking man was saying.

Robert Fairfield was not pleased. He looked at the screen and wish he could just turn it off. "You have nothing to worry about, sir. We're well on our way to reclaiming her."

"That was not the impression I received when I read the report my subordinate gave me. It says here that our project escaped with the one tool that we could use to control it. And that the means of escape was a malfunctioning Pod that is now destroyed and there is almost no way of gaining the data back from it to find out where she was dropped. This is unacceptable, Robert! I would like to strip you right now of your rank, and demote you back down to the bottom! However, the committee thinks otherwise. You are to bring Juno Alex back from wherever she is, and you will use whatever means necessary. We must have her in our possession. Do you understand?"

Fairfield was seething. He was going to make Juno pay when he found her. "Yes sir. I understand."

…..

"We've recovered the black box. Or what's left of it. I believe the data just might be salvageable, but it's going to take some time," said Link, one of the engineers.

"Recover it. Work day and work nights. I don't care. We need to find her!"

"Robert, you realize she's probably not even in our own time anymore, right? This is going to take a lot of time. Besides, even if we find out where she was dropped, she's taken out her locator. It must have been hard, cutting it out of her thigh. We buried it deep in there, remember? But it doesn't matter. It's not there anymore, and we can't locate her."

Fairfield looked at his friend. "I know, Link. But this isn't just some normal girl we're looking for. She was bred to be the ultimate fighting machine. I personally oversaw her design. I know what she's capable of."

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"She's perfect?"

"She's perfect, Link. In every way. Every sense was heightened, her agility, her strength, her healing capabilities. The way her head thinks while in battle. There's no cloudiness, no second thoughts. But all of that is hidden away. Unless she's triggered, she's almost a normal human being. I thought about teaching her to merge herself, so she wouldn't need a trigger. But she'd be too dangerous." Robert paused here. "I think we may have made her too perfect, Link. If she ever did manage to merge the weapon part of herself with her normal personality…she'd finally realize she doesn't have to do as we tell her to. But then again, that's why we made the Restrainer for her."

"I hate watching you use that. I saw it once, and I don't want to see it again. I don't know how you stand her screams. But for the sake of your job, we'll find her, Rob. Don't worry."

…..

"We're here, sir."

Davy Jones was up early the next morning. He was up early because he couldn't sleep anymore. Thoughts of Juno from the day before were swirling in his head. He kept flashing back to when he had asked why she had killed the four men. She had been silent, and only looked at the floor. Then, for a single moment, time froze for Davy Jones. She had touched him. It wasn't just a casual thing, like a brush of the shoulder, or anything like that. Juno had been gentle. He remembered looking at her. Her eyes were looking down, but he had watched her hands. He had seen those hands proficient with blades, and now, they were so different, so small and delicate.

"Sir? We're here." Hadras was still in front of the Captain.

"What? Oh, yes. The usual then. Restock, resupply. We'll spend the night here."

"We're not looking for the chest anymore?"

"Of course we are! But I don't know where it is. And as circumstance would have it, we're running low on supplies, and we're running low on the crew's morale. So we're going to have a little night off. If you don't want it, I can arrange otherwise!" yelled Jones.

Hadras managed a hasty 'yes sir' and ran off. Jones sighed and leaned against the railing of the ship. He watched as the crew prepared the longboats and made their way to the shore. He had moved everything from the Isla Cruces to another island. They had used Isla Cruces as a drop off for stolen supplies and the like. That way, whenever the Dutchman was running low on gunpowder, or other things, they just made a run to the island. Davy wouldn't have admitted it to anyone except perhaps his first mate, but he was getting tired of this. First, Sparrow had the chest, then it was Norrington, and now finally that stupid Company.

As Jones walked around his ship, he noticed that he hadn't seen Juno since the night before. Telling himself that he wasn't worried at all about her and that his walk around the ship was just taking him in the direction of the brig, he made his way in the direction of Juno's room. She wasn't there…

…..

Juno Alex had also woken up early the next morning. She was also up early because she couldn't sleep anymore. Her thoughts were plagued with the Captain. She had killed men for him. And the worst part of was: It wasn't just because it was her duty. She had felt real anger seeing those men attack him. She had felt worry when she saw that he might get hurt. A part of her wanted to believe that she had done it all just because. But there was a feeling she was not familiar with lurking within her as well. After the attack, when he had asked why, she had felt warmth. She didn't know how to say it. But she felt that if she looked into his eyes, she would have exploded. So instead, she just looked at the floor. Not wanting to be plagued with these thoughts the whole day, Juno got up.

Perfect was far from what she was feeling when she got up. She felt filthy. And Juno was indeed, quite filthy. Her hair was filthy, her skin was filthy, and her clothes were filthy. I need a bath! She scrounged around in her case, and pulled out a pair of short shorts and a tank top. Juno hunted around for soap, but there was none. Instead, she grabbed some deck soap (the same soap she used a few days ago to clean the deck) and headed outside. She knew they were near land, as she heard someone announce to the Captain. Well, if he let them go, I'm sure he won't mind it if I take off for a few… She followed Maccus and stepped into the longboat.

"Captain know you're with us?"

"I wanna take a bath," Juno whispered. Her eyes looked pleadingly at Maccus, who succumbed to the look, and let her on the boat.

As soon as she was on shore, Juno waved to Maccus and set off to find the perfect spot to take her little bath.

She had walked at least a good hours walk around when she came upon it. She rounded a corner and was greeted with a beautiful sight. It was a secluded lagoon, with inviting green waters and white sand. She set her stuff down on a rock and ran around, enjoying herself. Carefully, she inspected the surrounding areas, and when she was satisfied, peeled off her layers of filthy clothing. She would wash them later. She stood on the beach, naked as the day she was born. Smiling, Juno took a little swim around the lagoon before settling down to get herself squeaky clean. She began with her hair, which was now getting a bit longer. She decided she would have to cut it as soon as she got back on the ship. Juno preferred to have her hair chin length, or shorter. As she was washing, she noticed her normally olive coloured skin was darker now, because of the sun over the past few days. When she finished cleaning herself, she put her short shorts and tank top over her still-damp skin, and began to wash all her other dirty clothes.

…..

Back aboard the Dutchman, Jones was almost frantic. He had asked the remaining crew members that were still on board whether they had seen her. Every time, the answer was 'no'. He had noticed that most of the clothing in her case was gone. Has she run away? That little wench! After all that stupid talk about serving me she runs away!

Though Davy Jones could not step foot on land, he was able to walk around the shallows of the island. And that is what he did, looking for Juno. He was grumbling to himself and almost didn't notice when he had finally come upon her. It was only when he heard small splashes that he slowed down. Someone's on the other side of this corner.

It was a funny sight to see, (if one saw it, of course), Davy Jones cautiously peering around a corner to see what was on the other side. He saw Juno, and almost fell backward. The girl hadn't the decency to put on any clothes! Well, she wasn't completely naked, but she might as well have been. He had never seen a girl so careless in her dress. All the women around in the world and everywhere (as Davy thought) wore dresses or were like Elizabeth and dressed like a boy. But this was neither! She was wearing the shortest breeches he had ever seen, and the shirt she was wearing was missing fabric from the bottom, and from the top, and it was at least 2 sizes too small for her. However, as he peered around again, it was clear she could care less. What is she doing? Juno was just running around in seeming random circles in the shallow waters. Then, as he looked closer, he saw: She was trying to catch the small fish that were swimming around. Jones emitted some sort of grunting noise as he watched Juno. Never before in his life had he seen a girl so happy to be dancing around in water wearing no clothes.

Jones cleared his throat loudly as he came around the corner. "Miss Alex?"

Juno stopped where she was. Oh no! He's probably mad I stole all that deck soap!

"Where are all your clothes?" he asked, incredulously.

"I washed them. They were filthy. I think I smelled bad."

"Well why don't you put them back on?"

"I did."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"Don't argue with me, lass, you did NOT!" Jones yelled. Although Juno could see a sort of glint in his eye. He's just joking with me…

"Then you're standing there staring at a naked girl, and that's not very nice." Juno crossed her arms in front of her and put on her best smug face.

Davy opened his mouth to say something, but stopped.

"Besides, I'm wearing shorts!"

"SHORTS?! Now, that is truly an understatement, missy. Shorts would have been a sight of your ankle, but this? This is more like-" Davy was walking closer to Juno, and as he was, a breeze had begun to blow downwind from her. Jones paused. He sniffed the air. Twice. Raising his eyebrow, he looked at Juno. "Why do you smell like a newly swabbed deck?"

Embarrassed, Juno turned her eyes downward, and like all people do when they are embarrassed, clasped her hands behind her back, and begun to dig one of her toes into the sand. "I washed myself with deck soap?"

"You did, did you now?" There was a hint of a smile on his face as Jones walked closer to Juno, and sniffed her once again. This was followed by a burst of his one syllable laughter and a volley of snorts. In fact, he had to put his hands on his knees he was laughing so hard.

Juno just stood there, watching her Captain laugh at her. She would never have said it, but she thought it was cute. The way he snorted whenever he laughed.

When Jones had finally calmed down, he looked at Juno once more. Up and down. "This is certainly not the same girl who stood in front of me after incapacitating four grown men."

This comment struck a chord in Juno. She looked down at her feet. "I disappoint you then."

The Captain began to walk around her, but kept his eye on her. "That is not what I said, Miss Alex. What I'm trying to say is that here," his claw hand reached up and tapped her on the head, "inside this pretty little head of yours, seems to be a trigger of some sort. One moment, you're an innocent little girl. Then the next, you're a weapon!" Here, he stopped. He had gestured with his arms, and the way he stood now made Juno feel uncomfortable. He's so imposing… Jones walked behind Juno, and leaned in close. "I think, it would be in your best interests to somehow…merge little girl with trained killer. A seamless mix between the two."

Juno turned around to face her Captain. He had gotten close enough that when she did so, her face was so close to his, she could feel his breath. Why does he do this?! It makes me feel so small. Her heart hammered in her ears as she stood, frozen. She inhaled sharply as a tentacle or two brushed her face.

Davy Jones could see in her face that she wasn't afraid of him in the sense that most people were. It wasn't a horrified sense of fear he saw. It was fear of the unknown. He quickly drew back as he noticed a large flush come across her cheeks. She was biting her bottom lip.

"I don't know how," she spoke quietly.

Instantly regaining his composure, Jones said, "Well then why don't you tell me why you did what you did. You have to know what exactly triggers it." He sat down on a nearby rock protruding from the water, and waited.

Why indeed…