Blood in the Water (Part 4/?) [FanFic]
Title: Blood in the Water (Part 4/?)
Author: Tooks
Pairing: Team, James Norrington, Mercer, Gibbs, Lil Foyet, mentions of Cutler Beckett and Jack Sparrow
Rating: FRT
Summary: Kali's voice was clear, pure, but no less thunderous on Captain Hotchner's soul. “I have a mission for you. You will do it. Now.”
Notes: Fourth part of the first big "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" AU piece. It's a little shorter than the others but, hey, it happens, haha! There's some violence, cursing, adult talk, and a hint of animal cruelty (off-screen), but this chapter is pretty tame otherwise.
Lil watched with cold eyes as they stood in a row on the platform. There were five and she knew them all. Her best guess was that Cutler knew it too, that he sought out these five because she knew them. He made one miscalculation though…she didn’t care. What affected her wasn’t these people suffering in her stay, it was that Cutler had made a deal with her and he’d gone back on it.
She half-listened as Norrington reeked of fear and guilt while he read the trumped up charges. It made her wonder if he was actually worth helping, or if he even could be, with such a lack of spine. Not man enough to stand up for what he believed, not one to play the strong man when asked by his superiors. How ever did he get the balls to follow a man like Jack Sparrow into a hurricane the first time?
She scanned the display of prisoners. All were silent, most averted eyes, Austin the Bartender shook, but none looked anywhere near confessing to their charges. Sometimes people would do that, confess and beg mercy even when they’ve done nothing. That wasn’t the case here, but then she imagined that was for the best…Cutler was the type to have the confessor tortured to death for more information.
The young woman slipped through the crowd and to its outskirts where a few guards stood before an enclave where one could watch the proceedings without being out in the open. She walked until the guards stopped her. “I wish to speak to Lord Beckett.”
“He is not taking visitors,” one of the guards replied formally for which he received a cutting glare.
“I’m sorry, did that sound like a request?”
“No, Miss, but…” the man tried to stand firm, but he wilted fast as the woman stepped forward.
“Get Cutler now.”
The guard left a moment only to return with Beckett’s violent right hand, Mercer. “Miss Lil,” the clerk smiled politely.
“Get Cutler now,” Lil repeated.
“I’m afraid you no longer have business with him.”
“He broke the deal.”
“No, he renegotiated the aspects of your agreement.”
“Is that so?” Those weren’t Mercer’s words; they were Beckett’s and Lil knew it.
Mercer gave a formal nod in the face of a devious smile. He knew all to well what came of a smile like that…destruction. Beckett felt his interactions with the whore over, but Mercer could tell now they’d only just begun. She was the type of woman who brought down empires…Greek Goddess Artemis personified and Artemis was a spiteful bitch when defied.
Lil’s smile grew; she stepped forward and tilted her head back and up a touch as if it would better catch Mercer’s eyes. “Tell your master he has made a grave error in this.”
“Is that a threat, Miss Lil?”
Lil stepped back with a smile. “Threatening is not in my nature.”
Threats were too weak for her taste.
***
“So, uh…explain to me again why we’re going to Tortuga,” Dr Reid sat in the tiny rowboat doing his best to remain still. He’d grown accustomed to large ships over the years, but smaller boats still made him nervous. Nervous he’d capsize and be drowned; it was times like this he really wished he’d learned to swim.
Rossi smiled a little. “Told you, I have a friend who has something that can help us find that Foyet guy.”
“A friend?”
“I can have friends,” Rossi smile a touch more.
“You know I, uh…I grew up in Tortuga, Mr Rossi, I know the type of men that make that island their…home.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Rossi gave a nod. “Good for you.” He wasn’t going to give anything away and so kept rowing. He’d have had the surgeon do it, he wasn’t a fan of manual labor, but he wasn’t sure the lad even had the upper-body strength.
Once the boat was moored the two men headed up into the wild, brawling, streets of the city. It was just as both had recalled it.
“Do, uh, do you even know where to find this friend of yours?” The young surgeon asked as he slipped between a bottle and its target just before the two met with a glass-shattering blow.
“The Faithful Bride,” Rossi called out over the chaotic revelry around them. “His name’s Gibbs, Joshamee Gibbs.”
“Jack Sparrow’s friend?”
“Jack who?” Rossi winked out.
The two men pressed on through the crowds and while Rossi would confess being impressed with the surgeons skill at keeping up Reid thought nothing of it. This was his home, after all. He’d grown up on these streets, with these people, and he knew every inch and activity of the island like he did a human body…inside and out, healthy and damaged. This afternoon Tortuga was a healthy, rousing, youth full of rum and hormones.
“You know it, uh, it might be better to go the back roads and past, uh, where the old Belladonna is,” Reid offered as the roads became increasingly clogged.
“You know about The Belladonna?”
Reid smiled. “I know someone who worked there.” And he was there when Lil burnt it to the ground.
***
James Norrington could swear he felt their blood, he scrubbed his hands raw to try and wash it all off, but the feeling remained even as there was never any there. It was the guilt, the knowledge that he’d allowed the punishment of the innocent that pushed him to wash his hands raw. Innocent blood was shed, he oversaw it, and nothing could change that now.
The commodore straightened up. No. This was not his fault, he would not blame himself…not completely anyway. He was given an order and he followed it just like a good British Naval officer should. It was Lord Beckett who ordered the floggings and it was from Miss Lil he got the idea. They were far more at fault than he; they should suffer this guilt, not he.
Norrington went in search of the one who he could confront, finding the whore back at her small apartment in the pleasure district. “We need to talk.”
“Do we?” Lil’s mouth smirked to greet him.
“Yes.” The commodore pushed his way into the room and turned on her. “Are you pleased with yourself?”
“Pleased?”
“You caused this.”
Lil’s smile grew as she closed the door and headed over to the man. “Did I?” The whore set her hands to play at his labels. “I thought it was Cutler who gave you the order.”
James brushed her hands off and, when she went for him again, he grabbed her wrists. “And you gave him the idea.”
“To not kill. Would you have rather I didn’t?”
“I told you to let me talk.”
“You did and it was little help to anyone.”
“But no harm.”
Lil laughed and snapped Norrington’s hold on her. “You’re a bloody fool if you think that.” She passed him for a bottle of rum. “You dismissed and devalued me, you told Cutler I wasn’t worth keeping around. If it weren’t for me I’d’ve been hanged and you…” a snort and a swig, “you’d have come off even more pathetic than you already do.”
“Pathetic?”
“Yes!”
“Me?!” How dare she express the exact feelings he had for himself these days.
“You do yourself harm every time you open that dumbly plaintive mouth of yours to him! You cater and cower and appear ever weaker!” Lil set the bottle down and crowded in on the man with storm eyes. “No wonder the Swann girl turned you down, she wanted a husband, not some whore of a wife.”
The commodore’s hand flew without thought or consideration, but it connected with a mighty crack. The back of his hand stung as he brought it back to examine, shocked at its behavior.
Lil wobbled a few steps to her side before she could right herself. Her cheek and lips burned, but no skin was broken. She smiled at the officer. “Atta boy, James,” she laughed a touch. “Now why couldn’t you show that aggression, that boldness, with the lord?”
If the young woman had seemed remotely upset by the slap Norrington would have apologized, but instead she seemed amused, impressed, and so he grew cold. “Because I know my place.”
“Under Beckett.”
“And above you.”
“Don’t you mean on top of me?”
Norrinton stood, glaring his indecision.
Lil slapped his face and grabbed his jaw. “Your place, James, is wherever I put you if want to regain any respectability you once had. Whether you like it or not I’m the one that protected you, don’t forget that.”
“How’s that?”
“I didn’t suggest you be in charge of the floggings for a laugh, I was giving you a chance to show that you were still tough on piracy.” She let go of his jaw. “It’s not my fault you blew it.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Very well then.” Lil stepped back and headed to open her door. “Good luck convincing Beckett you’re worth keeping around on your own.”
“I’m not done with you yet.”
“That so?” She arched a brow. “”You going to make it worth my while, Commodore?”
Norrington closed in on the woman as she let the door shut with a smirk. “Worth your while?”
She kissed him hard. “Show me what you’re truly capable of, James. Let your animal out. I wanna see it.” Lil smiled. “Make it worth my while.”
The man might not accept her help willingly, but the woman was always one to find ways around obstacles.
***
The Faithful Bride was as rowdy as the surgeon remembered it and even some of the faces were the same, though years of hard living aged them. “What if he’s not here?” Dr Reid called to Rossi over the crowd.
“He’ll be here,” Rossi replied with complete confidence as they reached the bar. The elder sailor turned to Reid. “But he’s a bit…wary of outsiders so I should talk to him alone.”
“Pirate?” The question was rhetorical and Rossi took it that way as he left the surgeon with a wink and a smile.
The old salt headed towards a back corner of the tavern where plants and pillars blocked the most lines of sights. A single man sat there with salt-and-pepper hair and white muttonchops and two mugs of rum. He had a wary look about him before he saw Rossi.
“Rossi?” the pirate with two glasses of rum could barely believe his eyes.
Rossi smiled as he sat opposite the surprised man. “Gibbs.”
“I thought ye’d been lost ta Davey Jones.”
“Me?” Rossi scoffed as he took one of Gibbs mugs for himself. “Never.”
Reid knew, remembered, every square inch of the bar and so angled himself to watch Rossi interact with the other man, a man who was a well-known pirate. He could discern that they were old friends, could probably reminisce for hours, but there was only a short exchange of friendship before their appearance turned conspiratorial. The skinny surgeon slipped through the crowd and tucked himself within hearing distance.
“I know you have it, Gibbs,” Rossi insisted after the second shrug off of his request.
“Aye, but ‘tis not mine to give.”
“I just need to borrow it, is all.”
“It’s Jack’s.”
“Gibbs, you know me, I’m as honest as they come.” Rossi received a disbelieving look that caused him to chuckle heavily. “For those in our profession, anyway.”
Gibbs smiled and then went silent, wary in thought, before he spoke once again. “Maybe, if I was to join yer crew and be able ta keep an eye on the compass, I’d be more willin’ ta part wit’ it.”
“Deal!” Rossi declared.
Reid began to shake his head. To say Captain Hotchner would take the news of this deal poorly was an understatement.
***
She preferred not to get this messy, there was a lot of risk in it, but clearly the lord was someone who needed to lose a little for him to learn. Happened a lot with the vaguely rich and powerful, they grew entitled and presumed themselves untouchable. Sometimes one had no option but to bring the mighty down a few pegs. Just a single, unmistakable, statement that the great Lord Beckett was equally capable of losing…and that she would be the one he’d lose to if he didn’t keep the deals he made with her.
Orange and yellow licked the darkening sky, lapped at the grey clouds floating by, and turned the enveloped walls black. Dogs howled along with the crackling of the flames that held them at bay from freedom and life. Lil had nearly forgotten how beautiful fires could be; of course she hadn’t enjoyed one on this scale in quite some time, not since her hold home in Tortuga.
Sadly, like before, Lil didn’t have time to truly enjoy it. The kennel was still on Lord Beckett’s property, rather close to the main house, and the young woman had no doubt the blaze would be spotted soon.
The young woman looked down at the collar in her hand. It was beautiful, gold with soft cloth lining the inside, and a tag with “B” engraved into it. Lil guessed it cost more than the dog that was wearing it. Not that she was about to sell it; she had different plans in taking possession of the dog collar.
"Blue, green, grey, white, or black; smooth, ruffled, or mountainous; that ocean is not silent." ~ H. P. Lovecraft
Chapter 5
OR
Start the journey from the beginning here
Author: Tooks
Pairing: Team, James Norrington, Mercer, Gibbs, Lil Foyet, mentions of Cutler Beckett and Jack Sparrow
Rating: FRT
Summary: Kali's voice was clear, pure, but no less thunderous on Captain Hotchner's soul. “I have a mission for you. You will do it. Now.”
Notes: Fourth part of the first big "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" AU piece. It's a little shorter than the others but, hey, it happens, haha! There's some violence, cursing, adult talk, and a hint of animal cruelty (off-screen), but this chapter is pretty tame otherwise.
Lil watched with cold eyes as they stood in a row on the platform. There were five and she knew them all. Her best guess was that Cutler knew it too, that he sought out these five because she knew them. He made one miscalculation though…she didn’t care. What affected her wasn’t these people suffering in her stay, it was that Cutler had made a deal with her and he’d gone back on it.
She half-listened as Norrington reeked of fear and guilt while he read the trumped up charges. It made her wonder if he was actually worth helping, or if he even could be, with such a lack of spine. Not man enough to stand up for what he believed, not one to play the strong man when asked by his superiors. How ever did he get the balls to follow a man like Jack Sparrow into a hurricane the first time?
She scanned the display of prisoners. All were silent, most averted eyes, Austin the Bartender shook, but none looked anywhere near confessing to their charges. Sometimes people would do that, confess and beg mercy even when they’ve done nothing. That wasn’t the case here, but then she imagined that was for the best…Cutler was the type to have the confessor tortured to death for more information.
The young woman slipped through the crowd and to its outskirts where a few guards stood before an enclave where one could watch the proceedings without being out in the open. She walked until the guards stopped her. “I wish to speak to Lord Beckett.”
“He is not taking visitors,” one of the guards replied formally for which he received a cutting glare.
“I’m sorry, did that sound like a request?”
“No, Miss, but…” the man tried to stand firm, but he wilted fast as the woman stepped forward.
“Get Cutler now.”
The guard left a moment only to return with Beckett’s violent right hand, Mercer. “Miss Lil,” the clerk smiled politely.
“Get Cutler now,” Lil repeated.
“I’m afraid you no longer have business with him.”
“He broke the deal.”
“No, he renegotiated the aspects of your agreement.”
“Is that so?” Those weren’t Mercer’s words; they were Beckett’s and Lil knew it.
Mercer gave a formal nod in the face of a devious smile. He knew all to well what came of a smile like that…destruction. Beckett felt his interactions with the whore over, but Mercer could tell now they’d only just begun. She was the type of woman who brought down empires…Greek Goddess Artemis personified and Artemis was a spiteful bitch when defied.
Lil’s smile grew; she stepped forward and tilted her head back and up a touch as if it would better catch Mercer’s eyes. “Tell your master he has made a grave error in this.”
“Is that a threat, Miss Lil?”
Lil stepped back with a smile. “Threatening is not in my nature.”
Threats were too weak for her taste.
***
“So, uh…explain to me again why we’re going to Tortuga,” Dr Reid sat in the tiny rowboat doing his best to remain still. He’d grown accustomed to large ships over the years, but smaller boats still made him nervous. Nervous he’d capsize and be drowned; it was times like this he really wished he’d learned to swim.
Rossi smiled a little. “Told you, I have a friend who has something that can help us find that Foyet guy.”
“A friend?”
“I can have friends,” Rossi smile a touch more.
“You know I, uh…I grew up in Tortuga, Mr Rossi, I know the type of men that make that island their…home.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Rossi gave a nod. “Good for you.” He wasn’t going to give anything away and so kept rowing. He’d have had the surgeon do it, he wasn’t a fan of manual labor, but he wasn’t sure the lad even had the upper-body strength.
Once the boat was moored the two men headed up into the wild, brawling, streets of the city. It was just as both had recalled it.
“Do, uh, do you even know where to find this friend of yours?” The young surgeon asked as he slipped between a bottle and its target just before the two met with a glass-shattering blow.
“The Faithful Bride,” Rossi called out over the chaotic revelry around them. “His name’s Gibbs, Joshamee Gibbs.”
“Jack Sparrow’s friend?”
“Jack who?” Rossi winked out.
The two men pressed on through the crowds and while Rossi would confess being impressed with the surgeons skill at keeping up Reid thought nothing of it. This was his home, after all. He’d grown up on these streets, with these people, and he knew every inch and activity of the island like he did a human body…inside and out, healthy and damaged. This afternoon Tortuga was a healthy, rousing, youth full of rum and hormones.
“You know it, uh, it might be better to go the back roads and past, uh, where the old Belladonna is,” Reid offered as the roads became increasingly clogged.
“You know about The Belladonna?”
Reid smiled. “I know someone who worked there.” And he was there when Lil burnt it to the ground.
***
James Norrington could swear he felt their blood, he scrubbed his hands raw to try and wash it all off, but the feeling remained even as there was never any there. It was the guilt, the knowledge that he’d allowed the punishment of the innocent that pushed him to wash his hands raw. Innocent blood was shed, he oversaw it, and nothing could change that now.
The commodore straightened up. No. This was not his fault, he would not blame himself…not completely anyway. He was given an order and he followed it just like a good British Naval officer should. It was Lord Beckett who ordered the floggings and it was from Miss Lil he got the idea. They were far more at fault than he; they should suffer this guilt, not he.
Norrington went in search of the one who he could confront, finding the whore back at her small apartment in the pleasure district. “We need to talk.”
“Do we?” Lil’s mouth smirked to greet him.
“Yes.” The commodore pushed his way into the room and turned on her. “Are you pleased with yourself?”
“Pleased?”
“You caused this.”
Lil’s smile grew as she closed the door and headed over to the man. “Did I?” The whore set her hands to play at his labels. “I thought it was Cutler who gave you the order.”
James brushed her hands off and, when she went for him again, he grabbed her wrists. “And you gave him the idea.”
“To not kill. Would you have rather I didn’t?”
“I told you to let me talk.”
“You did and it was little help to anyone.”
“But no harm.”
Lil laughed and snapped Norrington’s hold on her. “You’re a bloody fool if you think that.” She passed him for a bottle of rum. “You dismissed and devalued me, you told Cutler I wasn’t worth keeping around. If it weren’t for me I’d’ve been hanged and you…” a snort and a swig, “you’d have come off even more pathetic than you already do.”
“Pathetic?”
“Yes!”
“Me?!” How dare she express the exact feelings he had for himself these days.
“You do yourself harm every time you open that dumbly plaintive mouth of yours to him! You cater and cower and appear ever weaker!” Lil set the bottle down and crowded in on the man with storm eyes. “No wonder the Swann girl turned you down, she wanted a husband, not some whore of a wife.”
The commodore’s hand flew without thought or consideration, but it connected with a mighty crack. The back of his hand stung as he brought it back to examine, shocked at its behavior.
Lil wobbled a few steps to her side before she could right herself. Her cheek and lips burned, but no skin was broken. She smiled at the officer. “Atta boy, James,” she laughed a touch. “Now why couldn’t you show that aggression, that boldness, with the lord?”
If the young woman had seemed remotely upset by the slap Norrington would have apologized, but instead she seemed amused, impressed, and so he grew cold. “Because I know my place.”
“Under Beckett.”
“And above you.”
“Don’t you mean on top of me?”
Norrinton stood, glaring his indecision.
Lil slapped his face and grabbed his jaw. “Your place, James, is wherever I put you if want to regain any respectability you once had. Whether you like it or not I’m the one that protected you, don’t forget that.”
“How’s that?”
“I didn’t suggest you be in charge of the floggings for a laugh, I was giving you a chance to show that you were still tough on piracy.” She let go of his jaw. “It’s not my fault you blew it.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Very well then.” Lil stepped back and headed to open her door. “Good luck convincing Beckett you’re worth keeping around on your own.”
“I’m not done with you yet.”
“That so?” She arched a brow. “”You going to make it worth my while, Commodore?”
Norrington closed in on the woman as she let the door shut with a smirk. “Worth your while?”
She kissed him hard. “Show me what you’re truly capable of, James. Let your animal out. I wanna see it.” Lil smiled. “Make it worth my while.”
The man might not accept her help willingly, but the woman was always one to find ways around obstacles.
***
The Faithful Bride was as rowdy as the surgeon remembered it and even some of the faces were the same, though years of hard living aged them. “What if he’s not here?” Dr Reid called to Rossi over the crowd.
“He’ll be here,” Rossi replied with complete confidence as they reached the bar. The elder sailor turned to Reid. “But he’s a bit…wary of outsiders so I should talk to him alone.”
“Pirate?” The question was rhetorical and Rossi took it that way as he left the surgeon with a wink and a smile.
The old salt headed towards a back corner of the tavern where plants and pillars blocked the most lines of sights. A single man sat there with salt-and-pepper hair and white muttonchops and two mugs of rum. He had a wary look about him before he saw Rossi.
“Rossi?” the pirate with two glasses of rum could barely believe his eyes.
Rossi smiled as he sat opposite the surprised man. “Gibbs.”
“I thought ye’d been lost ta Davey Jones.”
“Me?” Rossi scoffed as he took one of Gibbs mugs for himself. “Never.”
Reid knew, remembered, every square inch of the bar and so angled himself to watch Rossi interact with the other man, a man who was a well-known pirate. He could discern that they were old friends, could probably reminisce for hours, but there was only a short exchange of friendship before their appearance turned conspiratorial. The skinny surgeon slipped through the crowd and tucked himself within hearing distance.
“I know you have it, Gibbs,” Rossi insisted after the second shrug off of his request.
“Aye, but ‘tis not mine to give.”
“I just need to borrow it, is all.”
“It’s Jack’s.”
“Gibbs, you know me, I’m as honest as they come.” Rossi received a disbelieving look that caused him to chuckle heavily. “For those in our profession, anyway.”
Gibbs smiled and then went silent, wary in thought, before he spoke once again. “Maybe, if I was to join yer crew and be able ta keep an eye on the compass, I’d be more willin’ ta part wit’ it.”
“Deal!” Rossi declared.
Reid began to shake his head. To say Captain Hotchner would take the news of this deal poorly was an understatement.
***
She preferred not to get this messy, there was a lot of risk in it, but clearly the lord was someone who needed to lose a little for him to learn. Happened a lot with the vaguely rich and powerful, they grew entitled and presumed themselves untouchable. Sometimes one had no option but to bring the mighty down a few pegs. Just a single, unmistakable, statement that the great Lord Beckett was equally capable of losing…and that she would be the one he’d lose to if he didn’t keep the deals he made with her.
Orange and yellow licked the darkening sky, lapped at the grey clouds floating by, and turned the enveloped walls black. Dogs howled along with the crackling of the flames that held them at bay from freedom and life. Lil had nearly forgotten how beautiful fires could be; of course she hadn’t enjoyed one on this scale in quite some time, not since her hold home in Tortuga.
Sadly, like before, Lil didn’t have time to truly enjoy it. The kennel was still on Lord Beckett’s property, rather close to the main house, and the young woman had no doubt the blaze would be spotted soon.
The young woman looked down at the collar in her hand. It was beautiful, gold with soft cloth lining the inside, and a tag with “B” engraved into it. Lil guessed it cost more than the dog that was wearing it. Not that she was about to sell it; she had different plans in taking possession of the dog collar.
"Blue, green, grey, white, or black; smooth, ruffled, or mountainous; that ocean is not silent." ~ H. P. Lovecraft
Chapter 5
OR
Start the journey from the beginning here