Dead Reckoning

Chapter Sixteen

"Look at what we've caught, gentlemen," one of Bishop's men jeered smugly, looking down at the beautiful blonde still unconscious within his arms as he and a few of the other pirates returned aboard their ship which was tucked safely near the town's cliffs and out of sight of any of the folk who lived there. "We've got ourselves that pirate's woman. We're going to finally have ourselves some fun tonight!"

"Only if we can repair enough of the damage caused by that filthy pirate we've come to kill so we can return to Neverland," another of the crewmen responded more curtly, as he and the rest of them all raised their heads to look up at the top of the main mast that was now split in two, the upper half hanging loosely within the twisted riggings just before it had struck the deck in the attack. "If we try to enjoy ourselves before the work is done, Bishop will have our heads."

Another of them asked, "How are we supposed to fix this ship well enough to sail all the way back to the island? Without a main mast, we won't get any further than the little we've managed to come already just so we can hide. The damage is too extensive and it would take weeks to repair what's been done. Weeks, we clearly don't have. I say we just steal ourselves another ship and leave while we can, before we can be discovered."

Most of the men nodded in agreement when the first crew member to speak up replied, "The only problem is, I'm guessing we just destroyed the only ship here in this strange world. There didn't appear to be any others within the harbor. Just smaller boats. What are Bishop's orders now?"

"We may not have a ship to return to Neverland in, but I'm certain our Captain has a plan to get us back there," the second answered confidently. "Until he returns, we are to continue to do what he wanted us to do. Bring Hook's woman down to the brig. We can have fun with her so long as she's still unconscious anyways."

"That's no way to treat a lady, especially one who's far above the likes of you," a voice responded strongly, when the pirates all turned to face the stranger who spoke as he boarded their ship without permission to do so, followed closely by several other members of his own crew. "You will lay her down gently and back away, or my men and I will charge and lay waste to this vessel just as you did to my brother's ship, and send all of you to a place I don't believe you'll enjoy quite as much as this world, or your own. Do it now!"

One of the pirates glared at the newcomer while he raised a pistol from his belt, then replied, "We outnumber you and your men. What makes you think you can come aboard our ship and threaten us?"

Liam looked between the crew standing with him and smiled, then he turned back to the man who spoke up for the others before them as he answered, "Because… you can't kill a dead man, which we just so happen to be."

More than one of the pirates fired off a shot to try to kill the invaders, but like their Captain had claimed, the musket balls struck their targets and yet they did no damage, as Liam and his men suddenly charged the pirates. The man still holding the Savior within his arms immediately laid her down on the deck as the battle began. The force from which he had done so jarred Emma awake as she struggled to regain her bearings, but when she saw Liam and his men fighting against men she didn't recognize onboard a ship, she quickly stood and rushed forward to join with her husband's brother.

"What the hell is going… on?!" she asked Liam curtly as she struggled against one of the pirates until she managed to shove him over the ship's side, stealing his sword from the man's hands as she did so, then went on to fight against another.

"Exactly what it looks like," the former Captain of the Royal Navy responded smugly as he ran his own cutlass through another of the men's chest as the pirate attempted to kill Emma from behind her. "We've come to rescue you. Unfortunately, the leader of these bastards doesn't appear to have returned from attacking you and Killian."

Emma quickly looked around for any sign of her husband and when she didn't see him, she asked worryingly, "Where is he? Killian… Why isn't he here?"

The older Jones fought off a man who thrust a dagger through his shoulder and when the smaller blade failed to kill the ghost like all the rest of the pirates' attempts to do so, Liam swiftly pulled it out of his form to kill his attacker, then he turned back to his brother's wife again as he replied sadly, "He was hurt after you were knocked unconscious. But your father and the others are taking care of him. I believe they said he was taking him to a place called… a hospital? Let's finish this battle quickly and then find my brother."

"I couldn't agree more," she answered, knocking another of the pirates overboard.

When she had a moment between her assailants, the Savior moved into the center of the ship's deck while she closed her eyes to concentrate and then summoned her magic within her to begin pulling apart the ship around her and her friends plank by plank, just as she had seen Regina do to the bridge so long ago as the former Evil Queen had helped her train in magic. Most of the pirates who still lived jumped overboard themselves in fear, while others fell through the floorboards before they could flee. Finally, the battle was over and Emma, as well as Liam and his men remained floating on the planks above the water beneath them.

"Take care of those who were killed here," the older Jones said quietly when he turned to his own right-hand and a few of the other men with him, while Emma made her way back to the shore using the wood beneath her feet to float her there. "Make sure they get to where they belong within the Underworld, or help them to move on if they can. Then return here as soon as you can."

The crewman nodded as he responded, "We'll be back soon. Be careful, Liam."

The Captain smiled and then replied, "I always am."

In the distance, from the cliffs' surface, no one saw Bishop and the remainder of his men standing there watching as the battle below took place. Nor did they see Rufio's shadow as it floated around the pirates he had joined with in order to get its own revenge. Upon their arrival in Storybrooke, the entity separated from Bishop in order to observe the strange new land they found themselves in, but upon overhearing Liam mention he was coming to rescue the woman the pirates had taken prisoner, it flew off to find Bishop in order to warn him not to return to his ship.

"I did warn you not to attack Hook earlier and this is what happens when you don't listen to me," the shadow stated angrily. "You could have ruined everything!"

"Perhaps so, but it still worked out," the brute answered coldly after he finally turned away and started walking back towards town where they hoped to be able to find someplace to hide until they could leave. "I used the steel brand on Hook just as we planned to do."

The entity followed as it responded, "You're lucky he was rescued from the ocean by his ghost brother. If he hadn't, all of this would have been for nothing. You know how important that steel you hold in your hand is. Without it, you wouldn't have been able to be restored to the child you were when you were banished. And I wouldn't have been able to have my own vengeance against Hook."

Bishop glared up at the shadow as it flew above his head and then replied, "At least Hook would have been dead either way. But it is as you said, all is not lost. I have branded him and now it is only a matter of time before we both have what we want."

Meanwhile, inside Storybrooke's hospital…

Dr. Whale was treating another of his patients who had a deep laceration in the palm of her hand from cutting it open with a knife when David and several others rushed into the emergency room with their severely wounded friend among them. The doctor immediately grabbed one of his nurses to take over stitching up the cut, then rushed forward to help the pirate as he struggled to get between the men while they continued to carry Killian inside and into an empty room so he could find out what was wrong with him.

"Other than the cuts and bruises you can see, doc… we're not sure what's wrong with him," David called out with concern for his son-in-law in his voice while he rushed alongside Killian and Anton to keep close by. "He was attacked by some magical artifact. Oh, and it made his eyes turn milky white. He said he couldn't see."

"Did you witness the attack?" Whale asked the Prince, who wasn't really his friend, but whom he had finally been able to put his disdain for behind him as David had done as well. "Did Hook tell you anything else that could help me figure out the cause of whatever this is faster?"

August answered quickly, "We only arrived at the tail end of the fight between Hook and this big brute. Whatever the villain used to burn Hook's chest with, it happened before we could get there."

After they carefully laid Killian down on the bed as they entered his room, Dr. Whale leaned over him and carefully pulled back Hook's jacket and the now tattered shirt he was wearing to get a better look at the strange burn over his chest as the seared edges glowed a bright green and he nodded, then responded, "It looks like this brute branded him. But you're right about whatever was used having magical effects."

"I'm not sure if they'll be anything I can do about whatever's going to happen to him because of it, but I will certainly do my best to treat him in any way I can," Whale continued as he quickly pulled his stethoscope from around his neck, then used it to listen to his patient's chest and heard how dangerously fast and erratic his heart was beating. "This isn't good. I'm going to need to get the machines in… Unless you can get Emma or Her Majesty to heal him?"

"Emma's been taken by the men who attacked them," David replied worryingly as he kept his eyes trained on Killian. "But she'll be here soon. Others are helping her. I'll call Regina."

All of a sudden, the Queen and David's wife, with Neal in her arms, appeared within a cloud of purple smoke among them, then immediately answered, "There's no need. I'm here. What the hell happened out there?"

Grumpy shook his head as he responded, "We don't really know, Your Majesty. Most of the fight happened before we could get there to help Hook."

"Can you help him?" David asked their friend with concern as Snow wrapped her arm around her husband while she continued to hold their son in the other. "There was some kind of magic used to brand him with."

"I'll certainly try," Regina replied quietly as she stepped forward and leaned down over their friend while everyone else stepped back, then slowly waved her hand over Hook's body like she would do to heal him and to see what might be causing his pain.

However, she let out a deep sigh of frustration and then raised herself upright to look at David as she spoke again saying, "Unfortunately, my magic isn't enough for whatever this is. If we knew who these men were who attacked Hook, or where they're from, then maybe we would have more to go on. I just know that I've never seen anything like this branding. Did he manage to tell you anything before you brought him in here, or lost consciousness?"

David ran his hand through his hair and tightened his grip around Snow, then answered, "Only that it caused him to become blind. His eyes are clouded over. He also begged us to help Emma, who was taken."

"Killian!" the Savior shouted as she suddenly came charging into the room that had once occupied her father when she first arrived in Storybrooke years ago, followed closely by Liam and two of the men still with him, then Emma leaned down over her husband to see for herself what happened to him, roaming her hands over him to try to heal him as Regina had done. "What happened? Why aren't my powers healing him?"

"None of us know what happened out there," her father responded in frustration. "We all arrived too late and you were already gone before we did."

Emma reached up to the puncture mark left behind in her neck as she replied, "I was struck with something in the neck. It must have been some kind of blow dart. Killian told me once that the Lost Boys use them to knock their prey out before they attack. Tiger Lily too."

With surprise, Snow quickly stated, "The Lost Boys? Neverland. Whoever these enemies are, they must have come from Neverland."

"It makes sense," David continued in understanding. "Hook spent over two hundred years there. He made a lot of enemies. Any one of them could be a part of this pirate crew. He also brought us back to that island when Henry was taken by Greg and Tamara, and Pan eventually was killed in the fallout. This brute and his men might have come here to avenge that demon and see Hook as the man most responsible."

"Killian also nearly died in Neverland when he was trying to make his way back home to us just before we were married," the Savior added angrily. "They may definitely have come from Neverland, but we don't know the reason why they're here now. And it doesn't matter why. What does matter is finding a way to help Killian. The only person who knows anything about Neverland other than Killian is Gold. We need to talk to him. His powers might even be strong enough to heal him when ours can't, even if I don't condone him using the darkness for anything."

Liam looked over at his brother's wife darkly while he questioned skeptically, "The darkness? You mean this… Gold you speak of, he's the Dark One? The same Dark One who tormented Killian for over two hundred years, then took away his one chance to destroy the darkness once and for all?"

Emma looked into his eyes worryingly as she answered, "Yeah. He is. But believe me, things are different now. Gold isn't the villain he used to be anymore. He's trying to be a good man and his wife has brought him a long way. Killian's seen this and he's been able to let go a lot of the hate for Rumplestiltskin go. Liam, I know this might be difficult to understand right now, but trust me… he might be the only one who can help Killian now."

"While you guys figure out what you're going to do, I'll work on trying to make Hook as comfortable as I can and treat the damage done to him that I can treat," Dr. Whale interjected before anything else could be said, then stepped around everyone to get to work.

"Thank you, Whale," Emma responded and leaned down to kiss Killian's lips before they left as she tenderly laid her hand over the right side of his face, then whispered into his ear. "I promise you, we'll be back. We're going to get the men who did this to you, I swear. We will save you just like we always have. Just please don't leave me. Do you hear me?"

Snow smiled sadly at the love her daughter showed for her own husband and then she replied, "Don't worry. You, David, and Liam go and talk with Gold. I'll stay here with anyone else and if anyone attacks…"

Regina cut in saying, "If anyone attacks, we'll fight them off and apprehend them if we can. We won't let any more harm come to Hook."

"Thank you all," Liam then answered, touched by the entire town's compassion for his brother and their devotion to protecting him. "My brother is in even better hands than I believed him to be. My own men ought to be returning soon from their own mission I sent them on. They will help you to look after Killian for me."

"If these other pirates have magic like this, then we'll certainly take all the help we can get," Snow White said with a smile, then everyone watched as Emma, Liam, and David left to speak with the man who was still the Dark One despite his denial of the darkness' power.