Hello fellow readers, I am now at the middle of "Treasure Planet" and I hope I'll finish it within a few weeks. I updated chapter 19, due to forgetting to write about Scroop overhearing Rose's conversation of her past. I may also update the prologue a bit and I'm thinking of writing a sequel, inspired by the cancelled sequel to Treasure Planet. Stay tuned for more!
Chapter 22: Silver's Deal
It was nearly sunset when Jim, Rose, Delbert, Amelia, Morph, and Artemis arrived at B.E.N.'s home. Delbert was carrying Amelia in his arms bridal style and her left arm was in a sling. Inside, it was a bit of a mess, full of remains of an old ship and a collection of junk.
"Uh, pardon the mess, people," B.E.N. started, he threw a chess board off a barrel and picked up a pair of pink polka dot underwear and hid it behind his back. "You'd think in a hundred years... I would've dusted a little more often…" he chuckled. "But, you know, when you're batchin' it... you tend to, uh, let things go."
The robot watched Delbert carrying in Amelia with Jim taking Rose by the hands and pulled her into the building.
"Aw, isn't that sweet? I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" B.E.N. gushed.
The doctor gently laid the captain against a rock, while Rose pulled out a first aid kit that was salvaged from the longboat and began to treat her adopted mother's wound.
B.E.N. pulled out a tray of two mugs with filled with like oil. "How about drinks for the happy couple?
"Oh, uh, ooh. Uh, no," Delbert said, chuckling and staring at the drinks. He removed his coat and fashioned it into a pillow. "Thank you, we don't drink... and, uh, we're not a couple."
He looked back at Captain Amelia who smiling back at him. It was clear to them that there was something they haven't felt before.
Rose naively looked at them, thinking they were just friends and focused back to her work.
Delbert glanced up and noticed that there were carved markings on the ceiling.
"Ahem. Look at these markings," Delbert said. "They're identical to the ones on the map. I suspect these are the hieroglyphic remnants of an ancient culture."
Jim and Rose looked at the markings and were intrigued.
"Mr. Hawkins," Captain Amelia said, in a strained voice and struggled to sit up, "Stop anyone who tries to approach. Ohh!" She winced and leaned back in pain.
"Stay down, Mother," Rose said, placing her hands on the feline's shoulders gently. "You'll make your injuries worse."
"Yes, yes," Delbert agreed with a stern tone and his coat made into a pillow behind the captain's head to cushion it and lies her back down. "Now listen to me and to Rose, stop giving orders for a few milliseconds, and lie still."
"Very forceful, Doctor," Amelia said and flirted back. "Go on. Say something else."
Delbert smiles at her. It was obvious that there was more chemistry building up between them. Then, they noticed B.E.N. was standing by the entrance of his home.
"Hey, look! There's some more of your buddies!" B.E.N. said to them. He looked back and yelled, "Hey, fellas! We're over here, fellas!"
Unbeknownst to B.E.N., the pirates were looking for the survivors and looked straight at the robot jumping up and down and waving his arms. The pirates immediately began to fire at B.E.N. and he dodged their shots.
Jim hastily pulled the robot down, and fired back at them.
Rose crawled straight towards the robot and gave him a glare.
"B.E.N. are you crazy?!" the auburn-redhead exclaimed.
"Stop wastin' your fire!" A familiar voice shouted, making the pirates halt.
Back in the hideout, Jim reloaded his gun and prepared himself to attack.
"Hello, up there!" Rose recognized the voice as Silver's. The boy looked over the edge of the window and the girl had her turquoise irises peered out to see a makeshift white flag waving from behind a hill. "Jimbo?" The cyborg reappeared as he climbed up with his robotic arm as a cane. "If it's all right with the captain, I'd like a short word with ya. No tricks, just a little palaver."
Jim and Rose looked at each other, before turning back to the adults.
"Come to bargain for the map, doubtless," Amelia growled, attempting to stand up to give the pirate captain a piece of her mind. "Pestilential…Ugh!"
"Captain," Delbert scolded, his tone becoming firmer.
"That means..." Jim thinks out loud, before smiling. "That he thinks we still have it."
"I'm going with you," Rose said, clenching her fists.
"No, Rose," Jim said. "It's too dangerous. Silver might try to harm you."
"I'm not afraid," she stated. "I have a few words to say to Silver, myself. A few words that I believe he deserves to hear."
Jim hesitated for a moment, but decided to allow the girl to come with him, as long as she stayed behind him.
Jim and Rose made their way down the hill to meet up with Silver. They were accompanied by Morph and Artemis. The chameleon perched on her mistress's head and turned red that would make her camouflage with the girl's long tresses. Morph, on the other hand, flew over to the ursid and chirped happily to see his master again. The pink blob cuddled against Silver's cheek and swiveled around his enormous finger.
"Ah, Morphy! I wondered where you lit off to," Silver smiled.
The cyborg sat down on a rock and groaned. He rubbed his mechanical leg as it was still in pain from Jim stabbing it on the ship. He took off his hat and switched his cane back into his arm. The teenagers finally reached the cyborg and stopped, keeping up their guard.
"Ooh. Oh, this poor old leg's downright snarky since that game attack we had in the galley," Silver said, giving a nervous chuckle.
Both of the teens maintained their glare at the cyborg. Rose stood next to Jim and crossed her arms. Silver's smile turned to a frown, realizing they were both still hurt and angry about the betrayal.
He sighed, and looked down at his feet. "Ahh... whatever you heard back there, at least the part concerning you two, I didn't mean a word of it."
This didn't erase the expressions off of the teens' faces.
"If that bloodthirsty lot had thought I'd gone soft...they'd have gutted us three," the cyborg gestured to his stomach.
"Mr. Silver, it was that spider psycho who killed Mr. Arrow!" Rose angrily declared. "And you knew it! But you didn't bother to tell Mother, or even defend Jim for it! Why didn't you?!"
"Look, Rosie," he said, looking remorseful. "I would've told yer mum about it. I wanted to, but she would've gotten suspicious about the mutiny."
"Is that so?" Rose scoffed. "I find it rather disappointing that Jim and I actually thought you were our friend. Only for you to stab us in the back." The girl shook her head and felt anger growing inside of her soul.
Jim stood by her and the glare never left his face.
The cyborg leaned in closer to the teenagers. "Listen to me," he whispered wrapping his arm around them, but Rose flinched from his robotic hand and took a few steps back. "If we play our cards right, we can both walk away from this rich as kings and a queen."
"Yeah?" Jim asked, rubbing his chin, thinking about it.
"Oh really?" Rose raised an eyebrow.
Silver chuckled. "You get me that map, and uh...an even portion of the treasure are yours." The ursid held out his mechanical hand for a handshake, in hopes he has made a truce with the teenagers.
But Rose kept up her guard. All of her respect and trust for the cyborg was gone. Even with the offer of the treasure, made her doubt Silver's honesty even more.
Jim smirked for a moment of the offer and shook his head.
"Boy," he mumbled. "You are really something..." he circled around the cyborg. "All that talk of greatness, light coming off my sails, what a joke."
Silver frowned and attempted to explain, "Now, just see here, Jimbo…"
"I mean, at least you taught me one thing. Stick to it, right?" The boy stopped and stood next to the auburn-redhead. "Well, that's just what Rose and I are gonna do. I'm gonna make sure that you never see one drabloon of my treasure!"
"T'at treasure is owed me, by thunder!" Silver yelled.
"Well, try to find it without MY map, by thunder!" Jim shouted, mocking the cyborg.
"If there is one fatal mistake Jim and I ever made on that voyage, it was meeting and trusting you!" Rose snapped.
"Oh, you still don't know how to pick your fights, do you, boy?" Silver growled, glaring. "And you don't know how to stand up for yerself, girl?"
This made the teenagers glare harder at the ursid, with Jim pushing Rose behind him. Artemis's color turned to darker red and hissed louder.
"Now, mark me," Silver put his hat back on, as Morph glanced back and forth in fear. "Either I get that map by dawn tomorrow, or so help me, I'll use the ship's cannons to blast ya all to kingdom come!" The cyborg began to march away and glanced back at the blob, "Morph, hop to it."
Morph floated still and grew fearful of his master's side.
"NOW!" Silver screamed.
The sudden shout caused the pink shapeshifter to scream and jump behind Jim's shoulder, he trembled with fear.
Rose jumped back from the sudden shout and clutched the boy's hand.
Jim glanced back at his friends with concern, before giving a scowl back at the cyborg.
"Oh, blast it!" Silver scowled and limped away from the teens.
Jim, Rose, Morph, and Artemis glanced back at the cyborg and start walking back to the building.
When he reached at the bottom of the hill, Silver looked back and his angry expression turned to remorse, he was feeling guilty for betraying the teenagers and that he really did have a soft spot for them.
"A fine talk we've had with him," Rose said, sarcastically.
"Yeah," the boy agreed. "Couldn't have been better. Let's just head back and think of another strategy."
The teenagers climbed up the moss that led up to the window, Jim went through and turned back, taking Rose's hands and pulling her up.
Once they were settled back on their legs, they looked back to see Delbert and Amelia sharing a kiss. The captain used her right hand to gently grasp the doctor's neck to pull him in.
Delbert was alarmed at first, with his eyes widening. Then they closed as he took in the kiss with passion.
Jim and Rose stood still in shock and silence, not thinking that their guardians would act intimate towards each other.
The adults separated as the feline laid back, closed her eyes, and smiled.
Delbert looked at her and smiled. His eyes turned to his peripheral and shot his head over to Jim and Rose, with their pets, staring at them. "Oh, sorry Jim and Rose," he said, blushing. "I didn't hear you coming back in. The captain is going for rest for a bit. How did it go with Silver?"
"Not great. He's threatening to send us to kingdom come if we don't give him the map tomorrow morning," Jim said, frowning.
"You got any other ideas Jimmy?" B.E.N. asked.
"No B.E.N.," the boy shook his head. "We need to think of something."
He turned to speak to Rose, but found her gone. Jim's eyes widened and they frantically looked for her until they stopped. He found the auburn-redhead sitting in the furthest corner away. She wrapped her arms around her legs and looked down with forlorn.
"Rose are you okay?" he asked.
"Rose budders? Got anything on your mind?" B.E.N. added.
"I… I need to be alone," she said. "I'm not in the mood to talk, right now."
The girl lowered her head into her knees and tears were pouring down her face. She was filled with more doubts about the outcomes; Mr. Arrow was dead, Silver betrayed her and Jim, they were all stranded on Treasure Planet, and now she had just witnessed her mother kissing the doctor.
