Chapter 15: Escape
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Jack Sparrow made himself to be as small as he possibly could against the mast, almost ducking behind one of the papery sails as he watched the Luna Ghost and everyone aboard to see their reactions. He had hoped Gibbs managed to get word to their crewmembers in time.
The moment he was waiting for finally came to task. Several people had turned to the direction of the smoke and the Empress and shouted in both English and Chinese. He swore he heard fire mentioned at least once.
“That’s right,” Jack said under breath. “Lets all go and look at the pretty smoke.” It was almost time for action. He had grabbed onto some of the rope, an extremely long piece. It should be enough
The crew of the Empress ran towards the side of the deck first, crowding around the railing while Jack’s crew ran up behind them. Several people grabbed at the Chinese pirates, removing swords while they ran into them. It was enough to cause a few of Feng’s people to fall forward and land in the water.
“My turn,” Still holding onto his piece of rope, Jack jumped off the end of the mast, towards the direction of the Ghost The rope was the right length, enough for him to be able to swing towards the direction of Anamaria’s ship, but not enough to land on deck. Jack released his grip on the rope, as his feet were about to hit the railing and Feng’s crew. He used that to his advantage and did land on one man, using him as a springboard before he jumped on deck and sent that same man into the water.
The rest of the enemy crew turned around to face Jack and the others. All of them reached or their swords, some discovered they were missing. Jack’s crew managed to swipe the enemies’ swords when they retrieved their own.
The small victory was brief. Feng’s crew out numbered Jack’s and a handful of them carried two swords. Those that were still armed attacked while the others either went to see about those who were in the water or ran around looking for something that could be used as a weapon.
One man came straight for Jack, brandishing his sword and uttering a sting of what Jack could only guess to be swears and insults at him.
Jack brought his sword up against the other man’s sword, blocking his attack, before he stepped to the side and swung again. His opponent had some skill with the blade, but was nowhere near the same class as Jack and was disarmed within the matter of seconds. Jack knocked the other man out. He would be more useful alive than dead.
No sooner had he just defeated his opponent than another man tried to attack. His skill level was the same as the first and was as easily defeated.
Jack turned when he heard a cry of anguish come from Elizabeth. She was fighting a man who hadn’t had any of his weapons removed and was using two swords. The blades she was using were knocked out of her hands. At last he will have a real challenge, except his excitement was only to be short lived.
“Elizabeth!” Turner had defeated another man, and like the foolish gallant hero he was, he just had to come to the rescue of his beloved fiancé and ruin Jack’s chance at a decent fight.
Jack turned away from them just in time to catch another blade, as it was about to come down on him. Jack brought up his own sword, just in time.
“I should have never left you alone with Captain Feng,” it was Yan Hui. His face was set into a snarl, lips pulled back to expose a mouth full of rotted teeth. He disengaged his sword from Sparrow’s and sung again, only to be blocked once more.
“Yan?” Jack blinked as he tried to strike the man only to be blocked himself. “You are trying to fight me?” Before the leg brace, Yan Hui would have been a better opponent. One who would have lasted much longer, but now?
“Did you forget me?” Yan asked as they continued to strike steel against each other.
“I never would forget a face as frightening as yours,” Jack jumped back. “I just didn’t think you would be up to it.”
“That is your first mistake,” Yan hobbled after him as fast as he could and swung before Jack could have a chance jump again.
“And what would be my second?” He smiled when he saw Yan’s questioning stare. “Because you really can’t have a first mistake without at least a second, otherwise it would be my only mistake, or merely my-“ He would have continued if he hadn’t felt the pain of a blunt object striking against his le, just behind the knee with enough force to stumble forward and land on his knees.
“This is your second mistake,” Yan lowered the offending cane that had struck him. “Did you not forget I had it?” He brought his sword down on Jack.
“And that would be your mistake,” Jack said as he rolled away. “You forgot I am-“
“Captain Jack Sparrow,” Yan rolled his eyes. “I cannot forget, not when you keep reminding everyone at every time.” He tried to attack again.
“I have to admit mate, I am impressed.” Jack had thought the brace would have slowed his opponent down. Yan Hui wasn’t exactly the skilled fighter that Jack had remembered, but his injury hadn’t slowed him down that much. “You still can fight, better than some of my men.”
“I turn my weaknesses into strengths.”
“Unlike me who turns other people’s weaknesses into my strengths.” He noticed Yan was slowing down. “You never asked about where Sao is?”
Yan didn’t reply and only tried to swing harder and faster, tiring himself out even more
The door to the cabin opened with a slam. “Ssssparrow Ssssscum.” Sao Feng leaned against the frame for support. His eyes were completely bloodshot and half open. He held into the bottle of Nectar. Only a quarter of the liquid remained. “What did you say to my crew, Liu kou shui de biao zi he hou zi de ben er zi ?”
“Captain?” Yan Hui stared blankly at Sao Feng. It was long enough distraction for Jack to disarm his opponent.
“You know his weakness,” Jack smiled at the shocked expression on Yan. “And you should know to never turn your back on myself.” He pointed both blades at the Chinese pirate. “Don’t move, unless you want to go keep your captain from kissing the deck, which he may do after he throws up on it.” His eyes widened in sudden alarm. “He may have thrown up in the cabin. Oh wait, this is not my ship.” He relaxed.
“Not finished,” Sao slurred as he swaggered forward.
“Captain,” Yan Hui limped towards him, not caring to see if Jack would harm him or not. “Why?”
“He needs to know why I am going to kill him,” Sao pointed at him, or tried to. His arm did not rise fully.
Jack chuckled. “Do not need to worry about it, mate. Lady Phoenix and I had a nice heart to heart.”
“You touch her?” Sao asked before he turned to his ship. “Why is there smoke coming from my ship?”
“You will have to discuss it with the very same woman who caused it,” Jack answered. “She is not pleased with the whole Dragon Lady act.”
“Why are you all standing around?” Sao tried to stare at his men. As soon as he had stepped out of the cabin the fighting had ceased. Both crews were still pointing their weapons at each other, but no one was fighting. “Get back to The Empress.”
Jack turned to stare at the bewildered pirate crews. “Well you heard em. Go on.” He made the motions to shoo away with his hands.
“Jack?” Anamaria raised her eyebrows.
“Let them take care of their own ship. We will be concerned about our own.”
Barbossa nodded. “Aye. We have bigger concerns at hand.”
Yan Hui called two more men over to him and together they carried Sao to the railing before they carefully began to climb down with him. The Rest of Sao’s crew followed, leaving those who were dead or unconscious behind.
“Not too difficult.” Jack rubbed his hands together. He stared at the men, decorating the deck. Some were dead, a bit of a shame, but he understood what had to be done. There were still others who were still alive. “Raise the anchor.”
“You heard him,” Anamaria shouted. “Raise the anchor.”
“Set sail for the Pearl,” Barbossa added. “What shall we do about the bodies?”
“Throw the dead ones over,” Jack instructed. “They are no good being dead. Toss the others into the brig. They can join after a while or be dropped off in the middle of the ocean in just a longboat.” He smiled. “We will threaten them with something worse, something frightening. We’ll make it up later.”
“All you had to do was get him drunk?” Elizabeth asked him.
“Get him drunk and rely on a woman,” Jack raised his eyebrows. “Which seems to happen more often these days.” He noticed everyone was just standing around. Only a few people have grabbed onto the corpses. “Come on get to work, wont take them long until they have taken care of the distraction and fix the rudder chain.” He turned to Barbossa. “And what have you done to my ship?”
-
Malcolm Reynolds ran his fingers over the ornate pattern of the knife’s handle. The blade was long, sharp and clean. It reflected everything and everyone perfectly. Mal saw how much damage Jayne had caused to his nose.
“That uptight commodore took River, made us come here and you just shook his hand?” Jayne asked. He also wasn’t looking too good. There were bruises on his face from where Mal struck him. “Over that little thing?”
“This little thing?” Mal showed the knife to the rest of his cellmates. Both Simon and Gavin’s eyes widened at the sight of it. “This little thing might what we are needin to get out of here.”
“It is a little thing,” Jayne glared at it. “Look at that handle, might have yearned to be a mean ole knife but they prettied it up. Other knives would make fun of it.”
“You are by far the strangest man I have met,” Gavin told him before he turned to Malcolm. “I believe I know what you may have planned.”
“Not exactly my plan,” Mal stared at the blade in his hand. “Idea was planted.”
“By who?” Jayne asked.
“Norrington,” Simon guessed. “I could pick up the hints by the way he voiced them.”
“So he wasn’t being truthful when he said he couldn’t help more?”
Mal just stared at him. “No, Jayne. He technically was. All he could do was give me this little piece of metal and an idea.” He stared down the direction where Norrington and the guards had come from. “I just gotta grab that guard’s attention.”
“I may be able to come up with a plan for a diversion,” Gavin suggested.
“I got’s me an idea too,” Jayne smiled. “Could always go for the naked diversion.”
Mal glared at Jayne before he turned to the face the other cells next to him. The men were getting rowdier once more, continuing to leer at Inara at the others. Gusty stomped up to one side and kicked at the bars with enough force to cause them to rattle, and the men to back up in fear.
“No naked plan,” Mal said. He was answered by a collective group of groans.
“I wasn’t talking about Zoe and the others,” Jayne said.
“He said no naked plan,” Simon pointed at him. “The captain said you are not going to get naked.” The same collective group answered him with, as before, only this time they were sighs of relief.
“You don’t want me naked?” Jayne asked.
Mal was beyond the end of the rope. He spun around to face him. “Nobody wants to see you naked.” His hands were curled into fists. “Now I don’t want to hear any more words out of that dirty mouth of yours. No more of your inane plans. You will do what I say.” Mal pointed at himself. “Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Jayne grunted and slid down. “What’s Gav’s plan?”
“For one part we get to keep our clothes on,” Gavin said, staring at Jayne with an annoyed glance. “It would require the ladies screaming at the top of their lungs.”
“I can be really loud,” Kaylee said. “When should we start screaming?”
“About now would be good.”
Not even a second went by before both Kaylee and Inara screamed at the top of their lungs followed by Zoe and then Gusty. Inara even added the movements of her hands rubbing her mid section and contorted her face, as if she was in pain.
“What is going on?” One of the red jacket wearing guards ran past the Mal’s cell and stopped in front of the women’s. “What is in your heads?”
“She needs a doctor,” Kaylee pointed at Inara.
The companion lowered herself to the ground, close to Mal’s cell. “The pain,” she choked out between sobs.
“Surely you are going to help us out,” Zoe asked. Her eyes were large and moist. Mal can’t remember the last time he saw here with such a pleading look in her eyes. “Want to keep us healthy for our court date?”
“I have heard about the exotic one,” the guard just glared at them. “She’s a whore, many of them get painful diseases from who knows where.”
Mal fought back every urge to throw himself at the bars and scream at the man. He had to wait until the guard was just a little bit closer.
“She needs a doctor,” Gusty glared into the guard’s eyes.
“I heard there is a doctor in the next cell,” the guard said. “I may let him out to see if you really need any healing.” He stepped closer to where Malcolm was standing and kneeled down. “I don’t-“ He froze when Mal grabbed the guard by the back of the collar and pulled him closer to Mal’s cell.
“Don’t you even think twice about hollering,” Mal instructed. He brought the blade against the guard’s neck. “You so as much as whisper and your pretty ruffled collar will be stained red. Don’t even try to move. Gavin get the keys.”
“Yes, Captain.” Gavin reached through the bars and removed the metal ring from the guard’s belt.
“Everyone else listen to me. Once Gavin unlocks our door do not run out. Gavin don’t unlock anymore doors.”
“Why not sir?” Gavin asked as he slid the key into their lock.
“Can’t attract too much attention,” Malcolm explained. “This commodore had set things up and it would be a shame to put that to waste. Jayne as soon as the door is open, knock out our friend here.”
“With pleasure,” Jayne slipped out of the cell once the door was open and headed straight for the guard.
“Remember what we said about quiet?” Mal asked when the guard squirmed. “Being knocked out is better than being dead.”
The guard didn’t say anything. He barely even whimpered before Jayne struck him in the head with enough force to knock him out.
“I can do that all night,” Jayne said as the guard slumped down.
“Only do that if you feel they are a threat,” Mal told him. “We don’t have all night. Bring him inside.”
“Why?” Jayne asked before he stared at Mal’s face. “Oh yeah because you said so. This time I spoke before I was thinking.”
“This time?” Zoe asked.
“Captain doesn’t want to me to say what I think.”
“See?” Mal pointed at himself. “Not so hard to follow orders.” He pointed at the guard. Bring him inside. You and Gavin are going to strip him down to his undies.”
“I aint taking a man’s clothes off.”
Mal rolled his eyes. “When we go back home do you want me to leave you here.”
“I’ll undress him,” Jayne sighed as he removed the guard’s hat and wig.
“I would say this fellow is about your size, doc.”
“I understand,” Simon removed his vest and shoes.
Jayne stared u as soon as he removed the guard’s red coat. “Now wait. Why can he get naked but not me? No one wants to see this, except for Kaylee.”
“You really are daft,” Horace said from the other cell.
“Not like they are switching clothes,” Jayne blinked. “Wait a minute.”
“We are not exactly switching clothes,” Simon said as he removed his pants and grabbed the guard’s breeches in exchange. “He’s not going to be wearing my clothes.
“If anyone is uncomfortable with the display then look away,” Mal instructed as he stared at the entrance. He was certain that any second there would be another guard or two or three running in.
“Simon, are you comfortable in that?” Kaylee asked Simon finished fastening the brocade. The doctor still needed to slip on the buckle shoes and place on the wig and the hat.
“It’s not too bad,” Simon said as he adjusted the neck ruffle. Mal can’t remember what it was called. “More comfortable than it appears.” He placed one of the shoes on. “The shoes are bit loose, but I think I can manage.”
“Good,” Mal said. “Give the sword to Gavin and hand the pistol over to Zoe.”
“Are you not going to leave him with some weapons?” Gavin asked.
“It would be safer for him if he didn’t,” Mal picked up the bayonet. “He still has this pokey little pea shooter. He will be fine. Won’t ya doc?”
“I will try to be,” Simon said once the wig was adjusted on his head and he placed the hat on. He held out his arms and paced around the cell. “At least I’m not wearing a dress.”
“It looks like a dress,” Jayne said. “You are not going to catch me wearing that get up.” He froze as soon as he said it. “Unless that is an order.” He gave Mal a pained expression.
“You don’t have to worry about it since you aint coming with us,” Mal told him. “The doc, Kaylee and I are going to be on the Intrepid. The rest of you are going to get back on the Haven and continue to the east and find Jack Sparrow. I’ll figure out a way for us to meet up so we can get back to Serenity.”
“I’m also coming,” Inara said.
“No,” Mal pointed at her. “You are not.”
“Yes I am,” Inara stared into his eyes. “I am not going to be ordered to stay away and be tucked away under some false pretense of safety.”
“Inara.”
“No, Malcolm. I can’t have you play pretend soldier while I worry about you, if you mess up.”
She was going to worry about him? He caught her mistake before she did and chose to ignore it. “I was a soldier.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Fine, you want to come with us then you will follow my orders. I hope you enjoy playing a servant girl.” He turned to Zoe. “I need to give you a few other things.” He removed his brown leather jacket and hat. “Keep these safe.”
“I’ll guard them with my life sir.”
Mal turned to face the hall. “Well folk we are going to be taking a couple of different paths. Some are going on a rescue mission and the rest will continue the original route to China or wherever Sparrow is.” He inhaled deeply as he stared at the entrance. The next few hours were going to be busy.