(Untitled)
Hot and hazy, night settles over Singapore with an ominous quiet, wreathing the docks and narrow waterways in shadows. Not many people are about, and in the absence of voices, the sound of a sharp cleaver making short work of a fish echoes dully around the creaking wooden boards of bridges and buildings. Below, the soft swish of water against
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Gibbs was at the middle of the pack, herding the most motley crew of reprobates he’d ever been with. Ragetti and Pintell ahead, Marty and Cotton behind. So far, so good. No one had noticed them. No one had seen them reach the edge of the sewers.
If their timing is right - an iffy proposotion - the music would be starting any second…
And there it is. The sounds of an organ grinder. Tia knows what she’s doing. “All right,” Gibbs says, and out come the files. None wanted this job, this dull, menial task, but Gibbs knew none needed reminding that it had to be done.
To their surprise and relief, however, the grate gives way fast. Gibbs declares in a low voice, “We're through! Make ready!” As one, the pirates pull the grate away and scurry down the tunnel.
The directions Gibbs was given prove accurate. Soon the gang is under Sao Feng’s chambers. They can hear Barbossa and the fearsome Singaporean in discussion. They can feel the heat of the sauna. And they can see a fat man tending a boiler. A fat man who doesn’t seem to notice them as he passes. Ragetti, showing the valor that has earned him the respect of none, tries to run off. Gibbs grabs his arm.
”None of that! If things don't go the way we want then we're the only chance they've got!” If… Were Jack with them, he’d be sure that it would all go wrong. But with Barbossa? That he finds Jack’s inevitable need to improvise a comfort is, he thinks, not fully a comfort, is it?
Ragetti falls back into line, and all are silent as the grave while the servants shovels coal into a furnace.
They listen again as things seem to go badly. Sao Feng is not buying any of it. He doesn’t trust Barbossa, wisely doesn’t trust Miss Swann, and seems to be half a step ahead of both.
No, make that several steps, as Will Turner is revealed. In a way, Gibbs is relieved now. The worst is about to happen after all.
There’s another call for steam. But the attendant seems to have gone away. Or passed out. Cotton is standing there, confused. It’s not his job, after all. Ragetti gets it, though. There had better be steam, or someone will come down and see what’s going on. He and Pintell try to emulate what they saw the fat man do, but it’s useless. A voice - Sao Feng’s, no doubt - calls again for steam. Cotton tries this time. Marty, however, is happily seated on the attendant. Who gets hits with his own shovel. Gibbs doesn’t recall Marty starting up with the fat man, but it’s just as well.
For it’s time to make ready. Things are falling to pieces above. Will’s usual skill for being in the wrong place has undermined any hope of Barbossa getting anything. Or Barbossa getting out alive. Unless the crew is ready. Each takes a gun. Gibbs takes two, in fact, as does Ragetti. “Wait for the signal.” He hopes none get trigger happy.
Ragetti, stepping under a slit between the planks in the right place at the wrong time, looks up. And sees Miss Swann, who has apparently learned too much from the shamefully dressed women of the future and is devoid of a decent skirt or even trousers. Gibbs hears Ragetti leer to Pintell, and shakes his head. Pirate or not, there are still some standards one should keep.
Above, the discussion grows ever more heated. Miss Swann shows her usual lack of discretion or calm and challenges Sao Feng. Will chimes in. Below, Gibbs knows that soon thing will reach a head. He ignores Pintell, who’s shoved aside Ragetti to see Miss Swann but who only sees a fat and homely lackey. He signals that the swords should be made ready. Each stands in place, two below Barbossa and two below Miss Swann.
And then, acting as one, they shove the swords through the slits and into the air. Barbossa and Miss Swann catch them. The plan works.
Later, Gibbs would wonder what signal they all thought Barbossa was giving. And he would conclude that each pirate, men of the sea with keen senses, knew what was about to happen next. Knew that all hell would be breaking loose.
Although, Gibbs might concede, it’s also likely that the pirates were just jumpy.
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There's a skill and art to being a pirate, and an even bigger skill and art to being Pirate Lord of Singapore. No small part of that has to do with lying very well and knowing when others are lying... badly. When he sees the flicker of recognition on the girl's face, he knows exactly what's going on.
And since a pirate is never unprepared and that rule holds doubly so for a lord among pirates, he draws out a metal stake from a hidden pocket -- one of many -- and holds it to Turner's throat.
"Then I guess he has no further need for it." Stabbing one in the neck is so effective, if not the quickest way to kill. And that draws an expected gasp from the female with Barbossa, from Elizabeth Swann. Turning to her, he smiles -- not pleasantly -- and puts the weapon away. "You come into my city, and you betray my hospitality."
Barbossa makes noises about how wrong he is with his Sao Feng, I assure you, I had no idea... but he is never wrong on this kind of assessment. At an invisible signal, the guards stand tall.
"That he would get caught!" There is mockery there, well-intended: it takes a thief to know a thief. "You intend to attempt a voyage to Davy Jones' locker. But I cannot help but wonder why."
The movement is automatic when Barbossa throws something to him through the air. He catches it, long fingernails clearing one another in a practiced move: a piece of eight. He blows on it, holds it to his ear, and listens.
It rings.
Barbossa explains, as if it's necessary. "The song has been sung. The time is upon us. We must convene the Brethren Court. As one of the nine pirate lords, you must honour the call."
This bears consideration. "More steam." His orders are always obeyed, and obeyed immediately. When his woman pulls the signal cord and no steam issues, he grows annoyed: what good are servants if they do not serve? "More steam!"
That's better.
"There is a price on all our heads. It is true. It seems the only way a pirate can turn a profit any more is by betraying other pirates." He turns to Will, not kindly: he hates a thief who almost gets away with it.
Again, Barbossa continues with his pleasantries masking demands. "It be time to put our differences aside. The first Brethren Court gave us rule over the seas. Now that rule is being challenged by Lord Cutler Beckett."
If there's one thing he despises more than a bad pirate, it's Beckett and his men. "Against the East India Trading Company, what value is the Brethren Court? What can any of us do?"
And then, finally, Elizabeth talks. "You can fight!"
This is interesting: she has unexpected fire in her eyes and that, in a woman, signals unexpected passion. It's what helps her break free of his man and struggle forward to face him as few women have dared face the Pirate Lord of Singapore.
"Get off me! You are Sao Feng, the pirate lord of Singapore. You command in an age of piracy where... where bold captains sail free waters, where waves aren't measured in feet... and those who have passed the test become legend. Would you have that era come to end on your watch? The most notorious pirates from around the world are uniting against our enemy and yet you sit here cowering in your bathwater?"
Stepping forward, shaking off his own women, he eyes her up and down and back up again with great deliberation and no small amount of appreciation. He's used to taking exactly what he wants: few dare argue. "Elizabeth Swann." Her name rolls off his tongue as if there were suddenly flowers in the room. "There is more to you than meets the eye, isn't there? And the eye does not go wanting. But I cannot but notice you have failed to answer my question. What is it you seek in Davy Jones' Locker?"
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He might lament having lost control of the situation, had he ever fooled himself into think he had control to start with, but that was never really the intention. What he sees now is that no one has control, and Sao Feng and Barbossa in particular, strong willed Pirate Lords that they are, they're striving for the upper hand. The hours Will spent 'enjoying' Singaporean hospitality have shown him that - Sao Feng tried so hard to show William Turner he wasn't in charge, that Will now has no doubt the Pirate Lord of Singapore fears his own diminished power.
This was fine, as far as Will is concerned. He'd been willing to watch the altercation of words between Sao Feng and Barbossa, confident that eventually they'll get the crew and ship they want and Will could get the Pearl he so badly needs to save his father.
And then Sao Feng turned his attention to Elizabeth. He used her name, and Will recognised in him something stronger and darker than anything he'd seen in the other pirates around his fiancée. Will has encountered a lot of rivals for Elizabeth - won her from all but one - but one thing all men who associate with her- Jack, Norrington, even Pintel - have in common is a hard-earned respect, and a fondness, even love for the woman she is.
Sao Feng whispers in her ear, and Will sees none of that. He just sees lust, fierce, untempered, and more dangerous for her person than anything he's seen her face before. Even when she was first captured by Barbossa, thanks in part to the Aztec curse, there were some things she's been kept safe from. And now this pirate, with knowledge of her gleaned from Will's own mutterings while half drowned, threatens her so completely with one sentence.
Will struggles against his bonds, but the yoke doesn't shift. They've spent too long talking. It's time they moved.
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"...but I cannot but notice you have failed to answer my question. What is it you seek in Davy Jones' Locker?"
"Jack Sparrow," Will cuts in, breaking his silence. He's had enough of talking; it's time they came to a conclusion, and the women - Elizabeth in particular, apparently pregnant women mean as little to Sao Feng as one of his bath tubs - have been exposed to him enough.
Sao Feng's slave girls giggle in unison, and the Pirate Lord looks from one to the other in frustration.
"He's one of the Pirate Lords," Will adds as explanation. It ties in well enough with Barbossa's story, anyway.
Sao Feng's resultant anger is expected, but given he's had time to process Will's own proposal by now, the prisoner suspects it an act.
"He only reason I would want Jack Sparrow brought back from the land of the dead," the Captain fumes, "is so I could send him back myself!" The last word is almost shouted, and he kicks at a stool, demolishing it with the force of his anger. For a second, Will worries he might have overplayed it, but the other three don't seem to suspect. It's hard to tell with Barbossa, though, as that man still has his back to Will, and when he crosses the room to talk face to face with Sao Feng, his hat obscures both their faces. Will allows himself a quick look to Elizabeth, watching the captains, and Tonks, who is still scanning the room probably looking for Mal.
"Jack Sparrow holds one of the nine pieces of eight!" Barbossa is saying. "He failed to pass it along to a successor before he died. So we must go and get him back."
"So," Sao Feng says slowly, "you admit you have deceived me. Weapons!"
He draws his sword right in Barbossa's face, and the bath house erupts with piratical cries as men leap out of all the baths, brandishing their own swords. Barbossa is forced back, he and Elizabeth flanking Tonks.
"Sao Feng," Barbossa says quickly, hands spread in supplication, "I assure you our intentions are strictly honourable."
His words are belayed, however, by the four swords that come flying vertically up through the floorboards, caught expertly by Barbossa and Elizabeth. Will still feels a burst of pride when he sees how adaptable and ready she is for all circumstances. Tonks simply raises her hand, and the piece of wood she's been handling innocuously becomes a raised magic wand.
Sao Feng frowns at the sudden change in circumstances, and Barbossa grunts a token admission of guilt. Nevertheless, Sao Feng reacts quickly, grabbing a bath attendant who until now had been standing inconspicuously to the side. Will hadn't even sparred him a second glance, but apparently something has made Sao Feng suspicious of him, for the Pirate Lord has his sword to his neck.
"Drop your weapons! Or I kill the man!"
Barbossa looks back to Tonks, who looks to Elizabeth, who gives only a glance to Will, before both women shake their heads, and Barbossa turns back to Sao Feng.
"Kill him," he says indifferently. "He's not our man."
"If he's not with you," and if challenged, Will's not sure whether 'you' refers to Sao Feng or to Barbossa, "and he's not with us... who's he with?"
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But the fight is going badly as more and more of the Navy arrive, led by Mr. Mercer, fighting with bullets, as well as swords. One of Sao Feng's twin concubines drops from a bullet through her skull that had been aimed at Elizabeth, and the armed Navymen form a barrier between most of the crew and the exit, advancing with muskets drawn.
Just as well, really, that Marty picked just then to light a fuse and scurry out of the way just in time for the resulting explosion to take out the floor beneath their feet, leaving a gap big enough for the pirates to get out. Sao Feng calls for retreat, charts in hand, and the battle begins flooding through the streets of Singapore. The Navy are in hot pursuit, and in the open space, weapons of a more explosive kind are brought into play, filling the night with louder cracks above the gunfire and the sounds of splintering wood and bodies hitting the water.
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Cursing under her breath, she easily ducks a badly-parried sword and wonders again where Mal is. He should be here, and someone else carrying around a gun he'd be loathe to part with is a very, very bad sign. Tonks is very pale as she hurries to catch up with Elizabeth, reaching out one hand to steady her friend's shoulder as they run, pale from fear and pale from exhaustion. Charlotte is a heavy weight in her belly, today.
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Barbossa, Elizabeth and Will fight as they run, the fight spreading into the marketplace. Elizabeth kicks an East India Company man before slicing him with her sword, continuing to run as the fight crashes through the fruit and vegetable stalls. Barbossa, upon being charged by a Company soldier, calls encouragement and then neatly flips him over his shoulder and into the river. Will is busy with his own fight, elsewhere, for in the confusion of the fray the three of them have become separated.
In a nearby building, the panicked please of Sao Feng's remaining concubine are cut short by a quick and efficient bullet to the heart, effectively putting an end to her attempt to avenge her twin's death. Mercer turns as the smoke clears, pulling the concubine's pair of steel chopsticks from his left shoulder with a brief look of irritation. As he begins to leave, however, he catches sight of Sao Feng shoving Will up against the wall beside the door of the same building, holding a long knife against Will's throat. Mercer quickly crouches behind a nearby barrel, taking careful aim with his pistol as he listens.
Both are breathing heavily from the exertions of battle, but it is Sao Feng who speaks first, accusingly. "It's an odd coincidence, isn't it? The East India Trading Company finds me the day you show up in Singapore.
Will's voice is flat, "It's coincidence only." With a swift movement, Will clears himself of Sao Feng's hold and has Bootstrap's knife at Sao Feng's throat. "If you want to make a deal with Beckett, you need what I offer."
Mercer's eyes narrow from where he watches, and he withdraws his pistol.
"You would cross Barbossa," Sao Feng near-hisses at Will. "You are willing to cross Jack Sparrow. Why should I expect any better?"
Will looks him in the eye. "I need the Black Pearl to free my father." Point made, he withdraws the knife. "You're helping me to get it."
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As the combatants spill out of the bathhouse and onto narrow streets and docks, a well-hidden Tia Dalma calmly observes the barrel organ she'd left parked on a bridge. It plays a soft, sad tune, one the pirates would recognize if they had the presence of mind to listen. She sways gently to the music, like sea grass in a salty breeze, waiting, waiting...
A formation of riflemen appears on the bridge, pirates in their sights. They take careful aim, waiting for the order to fire, but it never comes; the barrel organ explodes. Slowly lowering her head, Tia Dalma smiles.
Elsewhere, Jack the monkey has discovered a stash of fireworks.
He takes a rocket, the largest he can find, and sets it on a crate against a railing. "Uh oh," says Cotton's parrot, but Jack won't be deterred. He's been watching and learning, and when he returns to the firework with a candle, he knows to drop it on the fuse and back away -- several paces away. Recalling a loud noise, he thinks it's also probably wise to clap his tiny hands over his ears.
"Fire in the hole!" the parrot screeches, watching the fuse shorten.
With a whistle and flash of sparks, the rocket takes flight, sailing quickly downriver. Jack leaps up on the crate and grips the railing, bouncing a little in his excitement. His mouth opens around a silent cry when the rocket passes directly between the Captain and his Navy opponent, but all worry is soon forgotten. It lands in a building containing hundreds of other rockets, and the resulting explosion, conflagration, is beautiful to behold.
The city burns, and the tide turns in the pirates’ favor. On the next bridge over, Barbossa raises his almost singed eyebrows and turns to eye his monkey. "Thank you, Jack!" he bellows in his gravelly voice.
"Thank you, Jack!" the parrot repeats.
Pleased, Jack scurries away. Perhaps he'll be rewarded with a peanut later.
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Forgoing nothing but the important, Barbosa's greeted him with a single rough question. "You have the charts?"
"And better yet." Will's voice was smug, as he tossed the map tube to him, as the group was forming up behind him. "A ship and a crew."
Elizabeth, stepping up into the gathering, took only one look over the men following him before she had questions of her own. "Where's Sao Feng?"
She could do little to miss the one person who'd spent a good deal of time scrutinizing her and who had pushed to the misstep she'd made under his interrogation, or not to notice that Will was now leading them as though they were his without seeming anything amiss in that.
Will looked quickly once off toward the explosions still taking place, before back to the ground. "He'll cover our escape and meet us at Shipwreck Cove."
Tai Huang was not going to have any of this emotional muddle the two seemed to bear in any situation. The girl was clearly out of her depth as had been shown earlier, even if the weapons search had yet to leave off some impressiveness. He was to follow his Captain's plan, and that did not involve watching these two children speak plain words for other conversation which weren't important at the time being.
"This way." Tipping his head, he stuck his face in to get everyone attention. "Be quick!"
All the men funneled down the rickety bridges after his retreating figure, most of them missing the moment between Will and Elizabeth. There was a long look from one to the other that was more questioning than comforting, but both knew there was no time. Even so Will touched her shoulder as they, too, turned and were taken with the retreating crowd of men.
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There isn't time to ask, not about that or why Will is suddenly in possession of the charts, or how he secured Sao Feng’s cooperation. For all his inaction, the Pirate Lord hadn't seemed the type to scare easily.
Frustrated, Elizabeth gives Will a look and hurries to follow the others, choosing not to dwell on his brief touch. There are explanations she would demand, if she weren't keeping her own secrets. If she felt she still had the right. A glance behind at the destruction they've caused forces her to reevaluate her thoughts on Sao Feng. There's no need for lamps anymore; the city is ablaze, and there's nowhere left to hide.
As he directs them to their new ship, Elizabeth notices that Tai Huang is well armed. In addition to his sword, he has several pistols through his sash and three at his back. One looks a great deal like a pistol she had been carrying, before the humiliating confiscation, and the other...
Elizabeth scowls.
I'll have those back now, she thinks, lengthening her stride until she crashes into the pirate just as they reach the narrowest part of the street. Will bumps into them from behind, assisting her more than he knows. Once everyone has their balance, Elizabeth hisses, "Sorry" and keeps moving, tucking Mal’s gun underneath her robe. She'd only had time to grab the one, but at least it's something.
Mal would undoubtedly agree.
-- -- --
The night sky is bright with flames, but the sounds of explosions and collapsing timber fade into the distance as they sail out of Singapore. Some of the men stare at the burning city in their wake. Elizabeth would rather look ahead. She spies Tia Dalma at the rail, eyes fixed on the open sea, and approaches cautiously.
"There's no place left for Sao Feng to cower," Elizabeth observes. "Do you think he will honor the call?"
At first, Elizabeth thinks the other woman isn't going to acknowledge her presence.
"I cannot say," Tia Dalma replies at last, measuring each word as if it costs her. "There's an evil on these seas that even the most staunch and bloodthirsty pirates have come to fear."
Wondering at the pain and barely leashed anger in her voice, Elizabeth nods at Tia Dalma’s profile and likewise looks out to sea. They have another long journey to contemplate the meaning of those words. Nothing else need be said until after they rescue Jack.
And they will rescue Jack.
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