Chapter 8: Encountering Scroop
Rose sat down at her desk and began to write up more notes about plants and medicines. Artemis stood by her mistress and sat on the surface of the desk. The girl smiled as her pale fingers reached over to gently pet her chameleon. The reptile stretched out her body as if she were a kitten, enjoying the tender strokes.
After spending a few minutes, Rose began to grow bored and decided to watch from the window of the door. She saw Jim slumping over as he began to mop the deck and his expression was indeed pouty. She watched to see him get shoved by the largest member of the crew and the large alien told him to watch it, before walking away.
The boy managed to stand up and brush off the threat. Before he could go back to mopping, he looked over to see Onus, Gwenge, and another member whispering to each other. Jim kept a guarded expression and looked at them suspiciously. Gwenge noticed Jim staring at them and motioned to his companions to be quiet.
Then Rose saw the sight of another alien crawling down from the shrouds, and the sight of him made the hairs on her neck stand up and gave a gasp. The red alien was a mixture of a spider and a lobster with a brown cap, a purple vest, and a purple belt. His long gray hair was ragged, his upper body was muscular, his teeth were sharp, and his golden eyes spelled danger within them.
She watched as the spiden confronted the boy, and whatever Jim had said to the alien, made him angry. The spiden picked up Jim by the blouse and said something belittling, only for the boy to say something that was reckless and caused the spiden to fly into a fury!
The spiden shoved Jim against the mast and the boy struggled to break free. The other crew members cheered and encouraged the spiden to harm the boy. Rose gasped in terror, and wanted to run out and help Jim, but she felt a force of fear trapping her inside the medical bunks.
Scroop began to inch one of his pinchers towards Jim's neck with a malicious smile. But he was stopped by Silver, with the cyborg clamping his metal hand on the spiden's arm. Silver gave a little monologue as he took a bite from a purp, before squeezing the spiden's arm very tight, forcing him to release Jim.
As the spiden clutched his crushed arm, Mr. Arrow arrived and gave the crew a reprimanding, and warned them of the consequences if there were to be future brawling on the ship. The First Mate leaned into the spiden, known as Scroop with a glare and asked if he was clear. The spiden glared back and wanted to attack Mr. Arrow, but only to receive a flashing red light and glare from Silver. So, the spiden responded back to the First Mate with a hiss.
Mr. Arrow gave one final glance, before leaving with his back turned to the crew. They gave him dirty looks and Scroop continued to glare at the First Mate until he was out of sight. Once the crew left the deck, Silver began to scold the lad; Jim argued back until Silver yelled back, and ordered the boy to get back to work. Before leaving, he instructed Morph to keep an eye on Jim. Morph's eyes grew large and began to watch the annoyed cabin boy.
Back in the medical bunks, Rose released a breath that she didn't realize she was holding in. She was relieved to see that Jim wasn't killed. But she began to worry about the spiden, and how he acted around Jim.
"I must remind myself to stay out of that alien's way," she said to herself. "I would not want to cause trouble around him."
The girl continued to work around the medical bunks and decided to take a quick break. She looked at her chameleon as a smile laced her lips.
"Artemis, would you like to play hide-and-seek?"
The chameleon nodded, turning gold in excitement. They went into the secret room and played their game for a while. After three rounds, Rose began to think of continuing their game on the deck. She remembered that she was not allowed to go on deck alone without one of her guardians. After a brief moment of thinking, she decided to only go on the deck for a little while, do a quick round, and go back to the medical bunks, without her guardians knowing.
"Why don't we try hide-and-seek on the deck?" she asked. "But only for a little bit. I'll count to thirty, and you go hide."
The chameleon nodded, and Rose knelt down on the ground allowing her pet to walk off her palm. The redhead slowly opened the door and the chameleon ran out, and the girl closed her eyes beginning her count.
"One, two, three, four, five…"
Artemis rushed across the deck, looking both ways to find a good place to hide. She avoided the huge stomping feet of the crew, hoping she would not get stepped on. She noticed the middle mast and figured it would be a great place to blend in.
A few crewmembers noticed the chameleon climbing up on the mast, and in return, she gave them a hiss and changed to the color, red. They flinched and jumped back at the sound of her hissing, and she camouflaged into the brown wood. In the meantime, Rose had finished counting to thirty.
"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty. Ready or not, here I come!" Rose gave a sly grin and came outside from the medical bunks. She looked both ways and saw that everything was quiet. So far, so good, there was no danger. She slowly walked around the deck, wondering where her pet was hiding.
A group of aliens were busy chatting with each other, and one of them was lighting a cigar with a match. Rose walked pass them and was a few feet away, but when she saw the match with a lite flame, she gave a little scream and jumped away in terror. The alien stared at the girl in confusion, raising his eyebrows at her.
Thinking she made a mistake and had to go back, Rose attempted to run and hide, but she ended up bumping into someone. She looked up and froze in horror, hoping she wouldn't run into the same alien as Jim did. In front of her was Scroop. He turned around and stared at the redhead and gave a glare with his yellow eyes glowing sadistically.
"Hey Misssssy, didn't ya watch where you were going?" he asked.
"Uhhh… well… I was lost in my thoughts," she stammered as she tried to be polite and swallowed the lump in her throat. "So please excuse me, I'll be on my way. Sorry to bother you."
Scroop grinned and decided to harass the redhead further. The girl attempted to leave and hide but the spiden gripped Rose by her arm and halted her.
"Wait! What are you doing?" she asked, her anxiety rising in her chest. "Please, let me go!"
"Nice try wench!" Scroop hissed, giving an evil grin. "But I think we sssshould have ssssome fun with you!"
The redhead attempted to run, breaking free from the spiden's grasp, but she ended up tripping on the deck. Scoop picked her up by the back of her shirt, dragged her to the mast, and trapped her thin wrists within his pinchers. One of the pirates came up and tore one of her sleeves, ripping it down. Bird Brain Mary yanked the ribbon out from her hair. The girl yelped as her hair felt it was about to be ripped from her scalp.
Scroop grinned madly, enjoying on torturing the redhead. Then, he decided to hurt her. He released one of his claws and used his free one to slice her right arm, forming a cut and blood dripped down her skin. Rose cried out from the shocking pain.
"Leave me alone! Please!" Rose cried and begged.
The crewmembers jeered and laughed cruelly. They picked up rotten food from nearby barrels and began to pelt her, staining her clothes, and one rotten vegetable hit her in the face.
"Here girlie," Gwenge said, picking up two lite matches. "How 'bout a little fire?" He held the matches a few inches from her face and the poor girl began to scream in horror!
Jim looked up from his mopping to see the spiden and the crew harassing and humiliating the poor girl. The boy's eyes widened in horror and Morph chirped with fright.
"Morph! Get Silver!" Jim said.
The pink blob made a gesture and flew away to his master. Jim knew it would be risky, but he had to stand in to help Rose. The only weapon he had with him was his mop. He hurried towards the scene with the mop gripped tightly in his hands.
"Hey! Get away from her!" he yelled, waving his mop at the spiden and hit him in the back of the head. Scroop whipped back, keeping his grip on the redhead and glared hard at the boy.
"Stay out of thissss cabin boy!" the spiden snapped as he shoved the boy away.
Artemis peered from the mast and chirped in anger to see her mistress getting attacked. She hopped from the mast, climbed up the redhead, and landed on Scroop's face. The lizard stuck her tongue out and struck at Scroop in the eye. The spiden stepped back and yelled in pain, clutching his injured eye. He grabbed the chameleon off from his face and threw her off. Artemis landed on the deck with a thud, and managed to recover before running back to protect the girl as the crew continued to assault Rose. Scroop lifted up his claw and inched it towards Rose's neck, ready for the kill.
"STOP!" a familiar voice bellowed. The crew stopped what they were doing and looked at the source of the voice. It was Silver. "T'at is enough humiliation!"
The cyborg walked towards them with an angry glance. The crew began to flinch in fear, not wanting to face his fiery temper. He continued to make his way to where Scroop was continuing to hold Rose's wrists.
"Scroop," Silver said, filled with warning. "Release her."
The spiden gave the cyborg a glare and giving a look of defeat, slowly placed the auburn-haired girl down. The redhead started shaking and her hand reached over to the cut, attempting to stop the bleeding. She landed on her knees and had to hold in her emotions. Jim knelt down next to the girl taking her hands.
"I'm sorry this happened to you," he said softly.
"What is the meaning of this?" a stern voice called.
They all looked up to the pounding footsteps from Mr. Arrow's boots. The First Mate arrived to see Jim kneeling next to Rose as she was trembling uncontrollably. His eyes widened in shock and horror to see his ward in a terrible mess.
"What happened here?" he demanded.
Jim helped a quivering Rose up to her feet as she looked at her guardian at first. She looked down in shame, knowing that she was in trouble.
"She was attacked," Jim explained. "Scroop attempted to assault her, and I tried to defend her, until Silver came."
Mr. Arrow's concerned face turned to anger as he looked at the crew. He stood up straight and gave a very serious expression. His voice was calm, but also had a hint of anger.
"I thought I had made the rules very clear on no brawling. But harming and humiliating the Captain's daughter is a very serious offense. For that, I believe that a punishment should be in order. You will all be given extra work for two weeks, and if there is any slacking off during your punishment, you will be confined to the brig."
The crew flinched from the First Mate in fear and shame, and nodded with a few groans. However, Scroop continued with his sharp glare at Mr. Arrow and was prepared to attack him, until Silver grabbed his arm and shook his head. The spiden backed off and kept his composure with a deep hatred for the First Mate. Rose managed to regain her mind and looked at the spiden, and hissed, "How could you?"
The girl gave a gasp of sorrow and sprinted away from the scene. She entered the medical bunks and slammed the door. Everyone looked towards where the redhead disappeared. Jim gave a look of concern and wanted to go after Rose, but he felt something heavy placed on his shoulder. Silver looked at the boy and gave him a firm look, before mouthing, 'later'.
"Now all of you go back to your duties!" Mr. Arrow ordered.
With that order, the crew scattered away like rats. Once everyone was gone, Mr. Arrow took a deep breath and looked at Jim and Silver. Artemis appeared from the mast and came up to Mr. Arrow. The first mate knelt down and allowed the chameleon to crawl on his hand. He got up and came up to the two men.
"Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Silver," he said. "I may have heard that you two stood up for Rose. For what you have done for her, you two are excused from the punishment."
"Aye Mr. Arrow sir. I'll make sure t'at in t'e future that Rosie will not be 'armed again," the cyborg said, with a loyal expression.
Jim nodded, and deep down, he was relieved that standing up for Rose wasn't reckless and didn't get him into anymore trouble. He wanted to find a way to talk to her and felt an instinct of caring and for a strange feeling, wanted to know her more. Mr. Arrow bowed his head and walked away with Artemis to pay his ward a visit and inform the Captain of what has occurred on the R.L.S. Legacy.
