Chapter 12

It was as if time stood completely still. Every member of the Black Pearl gazed down into the lone gun barrel which was pointed directly at young Michael Turner. Then, the stillness was broken by Will and Elizabeth, both of whom stepped protectively in front of their child, shielding him from danger. Henry Morgan merely shook his head, almost as if he pitied his victims.

"Don't try anything noble," he waned. "I assure all of you that I will not hesitate in pulling this trigger in order to get what I want." His voice was unusually calm. "Give me the scroll," he reiterated.

"Here," Will said suddenly, snatching the scroll from Jack's grasp and holding it out at arm's length. Morgan approached him cautiously.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Jack whispered angrily into Will's ear.

"Trust me," Will told Jack out the corner of his mouth.

Henry Morgan finally reached Will. He switched his weapon to the opposite hand, and used his free one to gracefully take the scroll in between his fingers. Aware of the parchment's possible fragileness, Morgan attempted to gently pry the scroll from Will's hand, but Will tightened his grip instead of relinquishing it. Starting to get slightly perturbed, Morgan pulled harder and harder, but to no avail. Will's hopes were finally realized when, upon Morgan's latest tug, a ripping noise filled the air and the scroll split entirely in two.

Furious, Morgan placed the barrel of his pistol at Will's head, breathing heavily through his yellowed teeth. "Bastard!" he seethed vehemently. "You've ruined the map!"

"Exactly," Will smiled, despite his situation. "What you have in your hands is utterly useless in its current form."

Morgan kept his gun trained on Will's forehead. "Give me the other half."

"Only if you let everyone else go free."

"Will –" Elizabeth began, but she was cut off by Will raising his hand to silence her.

For a few moments, Morgan said nothing, His eyes darted to Michael, who had stepped from behind his parents and was holding Elizabeth's hand. Then, quick as lightning, Morgan grabbed Michael's arm and pulled him toward him, his gun now pointed at Michael's head.

"I have a better idea," Morgan said through gritted teeth, "either you give me what I want, or I'll kill the boy. He would be your son, wouldn't he?"

Will did not respond, he just stared at Morgan with narrow and scornful eyes.

"It's only another bullet to me. Make your decision."

Will's face had become a mask of pure hatred. His hand shaking with rage, Will slowly held out the other half of the scroll, only to have it snatched away by Jack.

"I have a proposal," he announced.

As Will glared daggers at Jack, Morgan eyed him with interest. "Go on," he prompted.

"I'll tell you that proposal at sunrise tomorrow. You can keep the boy as collateral until then."

Morgan smiled. "Can I, now? It is true what they say of you, then, Sparrow. You operate in unpredictable ways."

"We just need a place to meet."

Tia Dalma cleared her throat. "There's an old church temple about two miles north from here."

"Very well, then. Be there."

"I most certainly will. And I eagerly anticipate hearing this proposal of yours."

With that said, Henry Morgan and his crew cautiously backed away, Michael Turner in tow. At first, the young boy desperately struggled to free himself, but after a few minutes of this, Morgan simply picked Michael up and carried him the rest of the way over to the awaiting Atlantis hovercrafts. Out of four, the first two took off effortlessly, followed by the third.

By the time the fourth hovercraft was slowly departing from the earth, Will was unable to control himself. Without giving it any thought, he bounded forward and grabbed hold of the last hovercraft just as it was preparing to soar away. And when it did, it took Will, still dangling from it, along for the ride.

"WILL!" Elizabeth shouted after her husband, but it was too late. Elizabeth made a move, as if to dash after the craft, but Jack placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"I have a better idea, luv." He motioned toward the other hovercrafts.

Without so much as a second thought, everyone remaining quickly jumped into the crafts and tore off after the others in hot pursuit.

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The hovercraft that Will was hanging onto for dear life was flying at a breakneck speed. Using all of his muscular strength, Will pulled himself onto the hovercraft until he was no longer in danger of plummeting to the ground below. He slowly stood up, making sure to keep his balance, and prepared himself for a fight.

Will drew his sword, causing one of the pirates inhabiting the hovercraft to turn around in curiosity; there were three of them in there. The one who spotted Will abruptly got to his feet and drew his sword and came toward the intruder. Immediately, Will engaged this pirate in a sword fight, all the while maintaining his balance. Despite Will's anger, he was still able to fight his opponent expertly, matching each move of the sword easily. Then, with his latest blow, Will managed to knock his adversary's blade away, the sword falling to the earth. Now without protection, the pirate made a daring move by lunging at Will, but Will had been anticipating this and he moved aside, letting the brute plummet down to the island.

Next, Will was met with the sight of a more brawnier opponent facing him, ready for battle. Will lunged with his sword, but the hulking man dodged it in time and grabbed Will by the wrist. He then pried the sword from Will's grasp and tossed it away. Will watched his blade fall to the ground, but out of nowhere, another hovercraft came in under it, catching it just in time. Will looked closer to see who was in this new hovercraft, and saw Jack, Elizabeth, and Tia Dalma in it. But Will did not let his focus waver, he turned his attention back to the huge pirate in front of him and shrugged. Will leapt toward the pirate, but received a hard blow to the gut. Just as Will was attempting to recover his breath, the pirate punched him hard in the side of his face. Will staggered back two steps, tasting blood in his mouth. Will caught himself just in time from falling off the edge of the hovercraft and stepped forward once more.

"Alright, then," he nodded as he wiped a trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.

Will landed a series of blows to his adversary's own face, relentless in each one. The pirate abruptly caught the next one, and clipped Will under the chin. The brute proceeded to knock it back into Will's own face before grabbing his throat. The villain lifted Will up off his feet and dangled him over the side. But before he could do anything else, Will brought his elbow down on the joint of the arm, which somewhat reduced the pressure of the death-grip. Will took the opportunity to punch the pirate full-on in the face again and he was able to regain footing on the hovercraft. Then, too fast for the pirate to see, Will kicked the brute's legs out from under him, causing the hulking plunderer to crash down onto his front; he slid down to the edge of the hovercraft. The pirate made a desperate attempt to grab the closest of Will's legs, but Will kicked the meaty hand away. Will watched impassively as the pirate's hands slowly began to slip off the stone hovercraft. Right before the brute fell down to the earth miles below them, he screamed in anger; those screams accompanied him all the way down to the ground.

Will then glanced toward the last remaining member of Henry Morgan's crew in the hovercraft. Suddenly, the pirate made the hovercraft dip down sharply, causing Will to lie down flat from the overpowering air that swept over him. As the crew member of Morgan's steadily leveled the craft out again, Will took the opportunity to haul himself into the small part of the hovercraft designed for its passengers. Without missing a beat, the pirate next to Will whipped out a dagger from inside his clothing and made to plunge it into Will's chest, but Will caught the sudden action. He blocked the blade by firmly grasping the pirate's wrist while the marauder attempted to force it down into Will's body. The two struggled that way for a moment until Will was finally able to shove the villain's arm away and land a hard punch straight to his gut. As the pirate gasped for air, Will took control of the hovercraft by grabbing a marble lever; the lever was able to maneuver in every which way possible. Looking ahead, Will spotted three more hovercrafts in the lead. Making sure to keep his opponent away from the controls, Will sped up. He passed the first hovercraft with little opposition, and came up beside the next one in a matter of seconds. But this one did wind up being quite an encumbrance.

The opposing craft swerved to its left, crashing into Will's hard. The massive reverberation caused the pirate whom Will had been fighting moments before to fall out of the craft from the side. The impact also put the craft on a new course; a thick palm tree was coming up fast in front of Will, but he was able to swerve safely around it just in time. Now in control once again, Will came back up beside the troublesome hovercraft and crashed into it himself. This one veered to the right momentarily before regaining power and coming back. Now, the pirates inside the craft all had pistols clutched in their hands, and they were all aimed toward Will. Will ducked down just in time as a barrage of bullets was sent his way; the bullets shot over his head, causing no damage whatsoever. As Will's head was down, the other hovercraft came closer, allowing it to deposit a solitary pirate into Will's craft. Will noticed this, however, and he swiftly spun around in his seat and kicked the fresh opponent directly under the knee. As the pirate crumpled down, Will used his foot to shove him out of the hovercraft. Will glanced up to see that the other hovercraft was gliding away in the opposite direction for some reason.

Will then looked ahead of him to see the craft Henry Morgan and Michael were in. Screwing up his face in determination, Will grasped the lever once again and pushed it forward, but oddly the hovercraft would not respond. Will examined the front immediately and realized grimly that the crystal that served as the source of power for the hovercraft was missing. Without it, there was no controlling the vehicle. Will gulped and once again stared in front of him to see Morgan's craft swerve out of the way of a large mountain.

Will's hovercraft was heading directly for this mass of craggily rock, and in the absence of the ability to control it, he would surely crash into the mountain head-on. Will desperately looked around him for an avenue of escape, and thankfully one came in the form of the hovercraft that was inhabited by his wife and comrades. Will could hear Jack shouting something.

"Jump! Will, you have to jump now!"

"Will, please jump!" cried Elizabeth.

Will knew that they were right; the mountain was approaching him at an alarming rate. Will noticed Jack pull the hovercraft directly under Will, preparing to catch him. Without a second thought, Will positioned himself correctly and jumped from the hovercraft only moments before it collided with the mountain and exploded in a ball of blue fire.

Will landed hard on Jack's hovercraft and felt many pairs of hands pulling him into the passenger compartment. He then felt another pair of arms envelop him in a tight, bone-crushing hug; it was Elizabeth. Will returned the comfort as he felt the hovercraft slowly lower to the ground. Once they were safely back on earth, Will spoke to Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, darling, I can't breathe," Will gasped.

Elizabeth obediently released her husband and gazed into his eyes with an expression full of meaning.

"I'm sorry," Will muttered. "I couldn't get Michael back."

"I don't blame you at all," Elizabeth replied genuinely. "I'm just happy you're safe after that whole ordeal." She kissed him.

"Relax," Jack said in an attempt to placate them, "if everything goes according to plan, you'll both have your dear son in your arms tomorrow morning."

Will broke off the kiss to fix Jack with an icy stare. Suddenly, he swiped the hat off Jack's head and tossed it away. As Will and Elizabeth went on comforting each other, Jack stalked after his hat, muttering something about respect for other people's property.