"Talk?" Nova asked meekly. Black Stache strode over to the bench that was pressed against the wall and sat down, crossing his legs and patting the spot next to him. "Sit." He instructed her. She didn't move. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice before repeating himself. "I said sit."
Nova had no choice but to take a seat near Black Stache as he glared at her with a smirk on his face. She sat down on the farthest edge of the bench that she could. Nova could hear Tinkerbell's twinkling noises getting further and further away; Peter and the boys didn't dare stick around and risk getting caught. Nova was now truly alone with Black Stache.
"What are we going to talk about?" Nova ventured, and Black Stache, pleased to have gotten a response, smiled.
"My favorite subject is most often myself, but I'd like to know just how you got to Peter's island. Who are you, and why are you here?" Nova was perhaps too nervous to construct another lie, so she decided to tell Black Stache more of a half-truth.
"My name is Nova, and I have no idea how I got here. I woke up this morning and I was on the beach." Black Stache went silent for several minutes squinting at Nova, who was very uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Black Stache burst out laughing.
"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" He continued to chuckle in amusement while Nova remained completely silent. "Come on now, tell me the truth. I know what you are, another girl come to help Peter get his hands on more starstuff! Why else would I have captured you?" Nova's eyes widened at the prospect. She wasn't a starcatcher, not even half of one- she wasn't anything of the sort.
"That is the truth!" She defended. Black Stache stood suddenly, towering over Nova as she shrunk back in fear.
"No one raises their voice at Black Stache!" He roared, inches away from her face. "You have a place, girl, and you need to know it! Is. That. Understood?!" Black Stache reverted to her old name of 'Girl', and all Nova could do was nod. He grabbed her arm, causing goosebumps to raise up on her skin. He was so close to her face that Nova could feel the edges of his mustache touching the tip of her nose, and she could see almost nothing except for his brown eyes boring into hers. She felt very conflicted, because although this looked like the same hilarious and (sometimes) friendly student who played Black Stache in the highschool's production, this wasn't the same person. But they seemed the same at times, and that confused Nova greatly. He turned on his heel and left the room without a word, slamming the door behind him.
Black Stache stormed up the stairs, muttering angrily to himself.
"Smee!" He yelled.
"Yes sir?" Smee popped out from behind a corner. Stache jumped slightly and grimaced.
"Don't do that, Smee." Black Stache chided. Smee hung his head in shame.
"Sorry sir...stupid Smee, stupid..." He blubbered. Black Stache rolled his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that day.
"Quiet, Smee, I need your advice." Black Stache twirled his mustache absentmindedly as the two walked along the deck, the boards of the wooden Wasp creaking with their every step. Stache stopped to breath in the splendid salty air, clearing his mind of everything but that girl and Peter Pan. "Pop quiz, Smee: how might one go about getting information from an insufferable and insistent little lady like the one we have downstairs?" Smee thought long and hard, leaning over the deck and watching the waves as he did so.
When he finally came to a conclusion, he shouted "Aha!" Smee was so excited at the prospect of pleasing Black Stache with a sufficient answer that he nearly fell overboard as he jumped in celebration.
"Smee, you fool!" Black Stache shouted in exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. "Give me an answer without going deep sea diving, will you?" Smee apologized meekly once more. "Nevermind that, do you have an answer?" Smee nodded, eager to redeem himself.
"You force the answer out of her!" Smee cheered, as though the subject were a much lighter one than torturous interrogation.
"And what is my favorite method of doing so?" Black Stache inquired, just to humor himself.
"Swords!" Smee cried.
"Yes, Smee, you're absolutely right!" Black Stache cheered along with his shipmate. "When she sees my sword she'll be giving me answers to questions that I have yet to ask!" Black Stache laughed as he walked away, grabbing his trusty sword from his cabin before rushing down the stairs again. He stood outside the door and listened for the usual sounds that came from most of the cells: crying, begging, even screaming in the most severe cases. But he didn't hear any of those things- and what he did hear surprised him greatly.
Whispering.
On the other side of the door, Nova was once again talking to Peter and the boys. Peter had his head through the porthole while Ted and Prentiss hovered behind him, listening in on the conversation.
"Is there any way for you to get out?" Peter whispered, aware of the possibility that Black Stache might be listening.
"No!" Nova replied, being a little more careless with her volume level. "He locks the door every time he leaves. There's nothing I can do." Peter groaned in frustration.
"Hopefully Mother will be here soon!" Ted yelled to Nova, a little too loudly. Suddenly, the door burst open, and there stood an infuriated Black Stache. Peter and the boys flew out of the line of sight from the porthole immediately.
"Who were you talking to?" He demanded. Nova was at a loss for words, until she remembered a line from the script of the play.
"The porpoises!" She answered, trying not to appear too relieved that she came up with a sufficient lie. Black Stache immediately marched over the the porthole, and Nova held her breath.
Peter and the boys avoided being seen by crowding around the curved bottom of the ship, just above the water and where Black Stache couldn't see them.
"What porpoises? I don't see any porpoises!" Nova winced as she did every time the pirate raised his voice.
"They're gone now." She reasoned. Black Stache walked over to her and backed her up against the wall.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time to answer my question and answer it truthfully. How did you get here?" Nova was about to insist that she had told the truth again, but Black Stache stopped her before she could even utter one word. "And don't you dare repeat what you told me earlier, or you'll regret it, Nova."
"What do you mean, why would I regret it?" Nova asked, almost certain that she didn't want to know the answer. Black Stache said nothing, he only pulled his sword out from the sheath in his belt. At least, to him it looked like a sword. To Nova, it appeared to be something entirely different- it looked just like the plunger that they had used in her school play.
"What are you going to do?" She replied snarkily without thinking. "Bludgeon me with it?" Black Stache was taken aback and, perhaps with the same amount of thought, swiped the sword across her face like a slap, then slashed her arm in one swift movement. Nova was surprised by the stinging sensation, and even more so when she reached up and her hand became partially coated in a sticky dark red substance. That plunger cut like a real sword. Black Stache looked remorseful for a split second, or maybe it was Nova's imagination. But soon his hard exterior was recovered, and his air of authority was back.
"No, that's what I'll do with it." He said in a low voice. Nova trembled slightly, now deciding she was willing to comply.
"I was somewhere else entirely," She began, without being prompted to do so. Black Stache sat down and leaned back on the bench, very pleased with himself. "I was at school. We were doing a play called Peter and the Starcatcher. This is just a play! You're all characters, and now I'm in the world of the play. I was mopping the stage when something fell on me and I blacked out, and when I woke up I was on the beach!"
"How stupid do you think I am?!" Stache roared, raising the sword to deliver another blow.
"Wait, please!" Nova cried, immediately burying her face in her arms to shield herself. She couldn't see Black Stache's reaction to her sudden helplessness, but she was aware that he never brought the sword down upon her after her plea, so she peered out from under her arms at him. He still looked mad, but there was something in his eyes and expression that she couldn't place. "I can prove it." She whispered in a quivering voice.
"Go on, then. Tell me something that Peter or one of the boys couldn't have told you." Black Stache replied in a low but quiet voice. Nova tried her best to remember something that happened in a scene that didn't include Peter and the boys.
"The story you told your crew." She began in a raspy, scared whisper. "The ending...it went something like...'and the baby, had a big bushy handlebar, and he lived awfully ever after'." Black Stache seemed surprised.
"If that's the only explanation that you can offer, then I suppose it will suffice...for now."
Nova's heart rate refused to slow as Stache took a step away from her. He observed the scared girl cowering before him, but was strangely missing the sense of pride he normally felt when he proved to a prisoner that he was boss.
"I'll have Smee bring you some bandages." He said, finding it strenuous to keep an apologetic tone from seeping into his voice. Black Stache certainly didn't apologize! Not to anybody, even girls- not that he'd met any but Molly and Nova.
Nova was relieved, but her relief was soon cut short. She spotted Peter out the window, looking surprised and dangerously close to Black Stache's line of sight if he were to turn around. Before Nova could distract Black Stache, though, he turned to leave the room and instead came face-to-face with Peter.
"Pan!"