Chapter 6: The Plan

"Alright, you ready Alice?" Jim whispered.

Alice nodded and Jim opened the broken cell door. The couple raced up the steps of the brig and onto the deck. Jim checked to make sure no one was on deck and they emerged from below. Alice followed close to Jim's trail as they traveled closer to the captain's cabin. Jim entered the room first, quietly checking his surroundings for any danger, then after giving his wife the signal, they proceeded into the room. The captain was no where in sight.

'Strange,' Jim thought to himself. 'Barbossa's always in here, unless he's patrolling the deck.' He then felt a sudden panic as he realized how quickly their absence could be noticed. "Alice, we need to hurry."

Alice nodded and patted pocket of her apron to let Morph know that it was his turn to help in the plan. Morph immediately transformed into the perfect sized key for Jim to retrieve and use. After they unlocked the door, Jim rushed Alice inside and shut the door behind them.

"Athena-uh-I mean-Your Majesty, it's Jim Hawkins. Are you awake?" Jim stammered as he was unsure about how to address the queen.

"Yes," the mermaid whispered. She then lit up her tank with her magic and completely distracted Alice from the plan.

"Wow!" Alice gaped. "How do you do that?"

Athena laughed lightly. "I am the queen of the mer-people my dear. Magic is kind of necessary for me to do my job."

Alice was consumed entirely of her fascination with the creature. "How do you breathe under water? Do you have gills? Can you talk to fish? Does your skin get all wrinkly under water? How do you urinate? Is your hair always that beautiful under water? Do you eat people? What does your diet consist of? How-"

"Alice! Calm down. I'm sure when you get home," he reminded her, "you can go to the library and research it on your own."

Alice blushed out of embarrassment. "I'm so sorry your majesty. I was just curious."

"I could tell," Athena laughed, partially at herself for being so distraught after all of the girl's questions. After she composed herself again, she realized the task that she would have to perform. It would not be an easy one. "Alright. Let's get you home, shall we?"

Jim and Alice simultaneously nodded, then turned to face each other, both dreading this good bye. Neither of them said a word, they just stared into one another's blue eyes in a dead silence that seemed to go on for ages. 'I love you,' Alice mouthed, her voice unable to escape her throat.

Jim smiled sadly in reply. "I love you too, Alice," he said out loud. He grabbed her by her waist and pulled her into his embrace. He buried his face in her neck, not wanting to let go.

"Oh how touching," said an unwanted voice from the door. The couple jumped and turned to see Barbossa standing by the door, holding a pistol. "Did you really think you could escape my ship without me knowing'?" he said as he loaded his weapon.

Jim pushed Alice behind him as he looked around for a weapon of his own. He grabbed a sword off the floor that was by the mermaid's tank and took his stance. He knew that his sword was no match for a bullet but what other choice did he have?

Barbossa walked slowly toward his opponent and grinned evilly as he knew the odds of the fight. He held up the gun and pulled the trigger.

Jim ducked before the captain even shot at him. The bullet hit some bottles of rum in the back of the room, making glass shatter all along the floor. Jim took no time at all as he stood up and swung at the captain. The captain dodged Jim's attacks and laughed at his attempts, which only angered Jim more. Barbossa then drew his own sword, just to make the match more even. They swords clashed as the duel grew more intense.

While the men were brawling, Alice knew she had to do something to help Jim. She crawled around on the glass covered floor trying to find a useful weapon of her own. She ignored the cuts and gashes that were forming on her hands and knees and focused on helping her husband.

Jim was getting tired. He knew this fight would end soon. It was only a matter of time. Barbossa wasn't even breaking a sweat, not to mention the years of experience he had with the sword. He was now in defense mode, blocking all of the captain's swings. As this continued, Barbossa managed to corner his young opponent, giving him yet another advantage. Jim knew he was going to die soon. He had no way out from the captain's blade. As Barbossa raised his sword for the death blow, something stopped him from succeeding.

Alice smashed the rum bottle on the back of the captain's head just in time. Barbossa fell to the floor unconscious. Alice looked up at Jim, smiling triumphantly. She walked over and gave him another long hug. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he replied, catching his breath. "Are you?"

"Yes," she laughed. "but we should probably hurry since he could wake up soon."

"Right."

They walked over to the mermaid, who had witnessed the whole battle and was waiting for their quick return. "Jim, I need you to step away."

Jim obeyed and watched as the mermaid started to conjure a now blue light from her fingers. The light twisted its way up out of the tank and entangled his wife. The light grew brighter and brighter and in a flash, both Alice and the light were gone.

Alice woke up on the ground right in front of the Benbow Inn. 'It worked!' she said as she stood up and ran inside the house. "Sarah! Silver! B.E.N.!" she called. In less than thirty seconds, Sarah rushed out from the back and ran over to her daughter-in-law.

"Alice!" she cried as she hugged Alice. "We thought we had lost you! Where's Jim?" she asked, noticing her son's absence.

"He had to stay behind. But we have a plan and I need B.E.N. to help me with it."

At that moment, B.E.N. rolled out of the kitchen with plates of food ready to serve. As soon as he realized what the commotion was about, he dropped the food and ran over to Alice as well. "Alice!" he cheered, as the plates shattered on the ground behind him.

"B.E.N.!" Sarah cried as the plates fell.

B.E.N. looked down and saw the mess that he had just created. "Oops," he said with a sheepish smile. His robot arms quickly cleaned it up as he headed back to the kitchen. He then emerged again, empty handed so that he could hug his friend. "Where's Jimmy?" he asked.

"Jim had to stay behind. B.E.N., I need you to come with me to the I.S.U. We need to tell them information that could save Jim and the Queen of Atlantica."

Jim woke up below deck alone in his cell. His heart was still aching just like it had the previous night when Alice was transported back to the inn. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, still feeling groggy. 'It's fine.' he told himself. 'She knows what to do when she gets home. You'll be with her again soon.' He knew his conscience was right, he just wasn't expecting so much anxiety and heart ache from sending her home. Just then, the pair of aliens that loved snatching prisoners came down to retrieve Jim for the captain.

"Yes captain?" Jim asked as he entered the familiar cabin.

"I need another heading," the captain replied, looking away from the light coming from the door.

"Uh, sir, are you alright?" he asked, noticing the captain's strange behavior. Barbossa was acting like he had no recollection of the events that took place the previous night.

"I'm fine," he said. "Stop yelling at me you piece of bloody trash!"

'Oh,' Jim thought as he pieced it all together. Barbossa was drunk last night. He was so drunk that he didn't remember anything at all. That explained why Barbossa wanted to kill him, since he needed someone to open the map. He was just drunk. He fought amazing for a drunk. Did he even know that Alice was gone? 'I guess we'll find out soon.' He obeyed the captains orders and gave him another heading with the map. He was then brought back down to the brig.

"Why isn't it worth it, Sir?" Alice asked furiously.

Norrington kept his composure as he tried to persuade this young lady of how absurd her suggestion was. "Because, Miss Hawkins, That ship is already a few days ahead of us. By the time we reached it, your husband and the queen will already be dead."

"Wasn't that your mission in the first place? To save the queen? Why would this be any different?" Alice noted.

"It is different because we don't have another captain like James. No one could catch up to that ship even if they tried." Norrington countered.

Alice sighed and looked over at the robot. "What if there was someone who could help you take a short cut?"

"I beg your pardon?"

B.E.N. stood up and unlocked his giant compass from his chest piece. "Sir, with this navigation device that I have, I can tell you exactly where Jimmy is and if we know the coordinates, I can show you a short cut to get there faster."

Norrington sat silent for a moment, contemplating the possible outcomes. After waiting for a few minutes, Alice finally got an answer.