Season 1, Episode 7: Here
Ye Be Pirates
Part 8 of 8
Feeling
the salty breeze of the ocean, while riding on the jet and following Jay’s lead
to the nearest mainland, Nick was once again left alone with his thoughts and a
bitter battle with his conscience. And
though he wasn’t entirely happy to admit it, the decision he had made was
eating his heart out.
“So I gotta ask for one, huge
favor...” Aly spoke, once they were done with their usual bickering.
“Anything, babe, just tell me
and consider it done,” Nick replied in his flirtatious voice, wiggling his
eyebrows as if Aly could see.
And for the first time in many
years of their friendship, Aly did not scoff, nor respond with a lame or
smartass comment.
Instead, she just sighed.
“I don’t know how I actually
got the courage to call you up to actually propose this to you, when I actually
know how you will react, and when it is actually not something that I’d ever-”
“You talk too much and still
say nothing, ACTUALLY, so just tell me.”
“-ever imagined proposing, but
I’ve thought this through, long and hard. I even tried to do it on my own, but seriously,
my mind is just not working anymore, and you and I are on the same side-”
“We’re not on the same side,
babe, but you’re more than welcomed to join as our ally; we never say no to
fresh faces. Tell me.”
“- and I know how hard it is
to do something against the book when you are-“
“JUST TELL ME, ALY!” Nick
raised his voice exasperatedly. “Just tell me, babe. What do you want me to
do?”
Another deep sigh.
“Let my brother go.”
As
Nick’s mind replayed the conversation he’d had a few days ago, word by word, he
felt an invisible hand tightening its grip on his throat. His vision was a blur, his ears were growing
deaf because of the blaring motor sounds of the jets, and his tight grip on the
handles was turning his knuckles white. Yet,
his knees were feeling wobbly.
He
should have hung up on her immediately, the second he heard those words. He shouldn’t have let her continue; he
shouldn’t have let her count all of her excuses and try to knock her reasoning
into him. He wasn’t the person who did
everything by the book, but he wasn’t the type to let go of a criminal either. There was nothing that could be said in his defense
if the incident was discovered. He
should have taken him hostage; the agency wouldn’t have hurt him, anyway, if
he’d been cooperative and given them the information needed. They would have even let him go then.
He
should have told that to Aly as well; he should have persuaded her that that would be the best for everyone.
But
no, he’d wanted to play the hero. The
knight in fucking shining armor.
Now it was his time to sigh.
“I know,” Aly continued,
gaining confidence from his one- second pause, “it’s not the easiest thing to
do, and I shouldn’t have even considered you for this, but you’re gonna be on
the mission, and you’re the only person that I can count on. I can’t do it myself. I don’t know if I’d be able to go undercover
there without him noticing me, and he just wouldn’t listen to me, anyway, if I
told him to run away…”
Nick was still silent on the
other end.
“All I’m asking from you,” Aly
took a deep breath, “is to tell him to just disappear when you come across him.
Tell him to let go and go back home.” Nick heard her gulping, probably swallowing
back her tears. “I can’t lose him, Nick.
I can’t bear losing him when I know what
he’s up to. I can’t just sit here and do
nothing. He’s the only family I have. I know he’s been in deep shit, but he’s a good
person deep down, and he’ll go back to being a normal man if I can be there for
him more.”
Nick let out another deep
sigh.
“You know, I’d do the same if
your family was in a similar situation, Nick.” Aly was sniffing now. Very odd for the woman he had known for years.
“If you had a sister, who was messing
with the wrong people, doing the wrong things, I’d do everything in my power to
save her.”
And
just like that, she’d had him. He’d felt
like a string was ripped from his heart when she’d said the words. And the worst thing was, he didn’t have one
single, tiny, piece of doubt in his mind that Aly would ever dodge if she were
in his shoes.
He cleared his throat.
“Nick?” Aly’s voice was now
full of hope.
A woman’s a woman, always,
Nick thought to himself. Erratic change
of moods, in mere seconds. In the
hopelessness of the situation, he found himself cracking a smile.
“You’re gonna pay me back.”
“So you’ll do it?!”
“I said you’re gonna pay me
back.”
“Anything you want, consider
it done.”
“Be careful what you agree to,
Sapphire.” Nick couldn’t help but softly
chuckle at her sudden thrill.
“Just say it, and it’s a
deal.” Aly was sounding more content,
and he realized he preferred her to stay that way, always.
“Just sing for me, one night
at the club, any song you want, but it’s going to be a private performance for
me only. Been awhile since I’ve seen you
sing.”
“I’ll make sure to pick your favorite tunes.”
“Followed by a lap dance?”
The familiar scoff was heard
on Aly’s end. “In your dreams, pervert.”
Theirs was a love/hate
relationship.
The
sudden sound of an explosion jolted him, detracting his attention from his
thoughts. Turning his head backwards, Nick
saw the Kraken blowing up for the last time before submerging into the deep
blues of the Bermuda Triangle.
And
it was gone. So were the uneasy feelings
he’d had about his decision. He believed
that he’d taken the initiative to decide what would result in one human being’s
own good.
What
was done was done, anyway.
He
shook his head and rode the water jet in full throttle to catch up with Emerald
and Jay.
± ± ±
A
couple scribbles here and there. A
little bit of a sharpening on the chin and the neck... Darkening the shades of the hair to enhance
the contrast with the skin... Adding a
richer blue color, just to emphasize the effect... There you go.
Nick
had just put his pen down, when his phone rang, only to take him out of the
depths of his soul and make him realize that his butt had gone numb from
sitting in the same position for a long time. Long enough to see that the sun was setting,
and the room was dim. He shifted lightly
and reached to his nightstand to grab his phone.
His
eyes lit up when he saw the caller ID.
“I
have to admit, I’m getting used to hearing from you this often, Sapph.” He spoke roguishly,
eyeing the sketch he’d been drawing. Nearly
perfect.
“Hush,”
the caller requested in a soft tone. “Just
let me say what I want to say before you open up your big mouth and say
something stupid to ruin my mood.”
Nick
opened his mouth to protest, but she knew better.
“Thank
you,” Aly expressed sincerely. “Thank
you so much, for blessing my brother and letting him go.”
Having
one of his rare moments, when he was speechless and actually shy to receive any
kind of appreciation, Nick cleared his throat loudly.
“Nah,
it’s not a big deal, Sapph…” he said, trying to sound
as nonchalant as he could. If there was
one person to whom he wouldn’t brag about the stuff he did, it was Aly. Then again, he couldn’t really find anything
to brag about what he had done anyway.
“Don’t
try to underestimate what you did, Nick,” she stated clearly. “You put your ass on the line, and you did it
for me. And I appreciate it. Know and accept that before I tell you to
shove your pride up your ass.”
He
laughed heartily and looked down to his sketch once more. It felt like he was having a conversation with
her face to face. He hadn’t seen her in a
while, yet, he was pretty damn sure that she was still wearing that sad look on
her face, her blue eyes reflecting the pain and the struggle she’d been through.
Her lips, curved downwards, full and
cherry red. And her hair, that black,
thick hair, cascading down to her shoulders…
“So
how was the mission?” Aly asked, trying to ease the intensity of the situation,
without knowing she had also distracted Nick from his thoughts of her.
“Salty.”
“Salty?”
“And
a bit bloody and explody.” Nick sighed, rubbing his temple with his
thumb. “You know how it usually goes. And I don’t think you’d like pirates at all;
they are meany.”
“I
think you swallowed too much sea water on this mission.” Aly couldn’t help but chuckle. “But really, Nick, how could you manage to let
him go without the others noticing it?”
“They
were too busy flirting with each other; they wouldn’t have noticed if I’d let
go of a shark. So your brother wasn’t
that much trouble.” He shifted uncomfortably
on his bed. He didn’t feel like talking
about this any longer; he’d been pondering about it enough on his mind already.
“He
said you gave him a spare raft and told him to bail during a distraction.”
“Exactly
what I meant when I said the mission was a little explody.
It wasn’t hard to lose track of him,”
Nick explained. “So you spoke to him?”
“Yeah,
he called me the other day, to tell me he was safe. Apparently, after you let go of him, he came
across a cruise ship, and he managed to make them believe that he was a
fisherman whose boat had been shipwrecked during the battle.” Aly sighed. “That’s him for ya. He can convince anyone to do anything, and
he’ll make it sound like the right thing to do.”
“Runs
in the Mendez family, I believe.”
Aly
was silent on the other end for a second. “I’m gonna meet him in a little while. I want to see him with my own eyes, to believe
that he’s actually doing okay. All of
this happening lately is like a bad dream.”
Nick
nodded to himself, as if she could see him.
“Thank
you again, Nick. I will never forget
this. I owe you.”
“Speaking
of gratitude…” Nick piped up. His face
suddenly beamed, remembering their deal.
“Right,
right. How does next Saturday sound?”
“Doable.”
“Be
at the club at ten,” Aly replied. “I’ll
start with your favorite song.”
“And
finish off with a lap dance?”
The
familiar scoff.
“If I
had given you a penny every time you mentioned that-”
Nick
grinned devilishly. “I’d be a fucking
Rockefeller, baby.”
Theirs
was a love/hate relationship, after all. And it felt comfortable.
± ± ±
The
beach was deserted. Just the sounds of
seagulls filled the air. The sun was
starting to set, setting an orange-ish hue.
For
some reason, Aly felt empty, empty and lonely.
Everything still felt so anti-climatic.
What had she gained from this?
Nothing. Not a damn thing.
Turning,
she stared at the water. The sound of
the waves crashing along the shore was almost melodic. Everything seemed so insignificant to her
just then. Just for a moment, she could
pretend everything was okay, that her life was normal.
Just
for a moment.
Aly sighed heavily; it was over, for now, at least. Turning, she stopped. There he was. He looked like he was getting ready to leave,
when suddenly, he spotted her.
They stared at each other a moment before slowly making
their way towards one another.
“So…I guess this is it, huh?” Aly said softly.
He said nothing, just stared at her.
“Well, I’ll see you later then, okay?”
Her brother stared at her a moment before turning, starting
to walk off.
“That’s it, huh? You’re
not going to say anything to me, even after I…”
“I never asked you to do anything for me, got that?” he
said softly.
Aly winced, her eyes widening suddenly when he whirled
around, staring at her coldly.
“You didn’t have to do anything, you hear me? This was my doing. Mine. You didn’t need to be… You shouldn’t have…”
“Well, I’m sorry, but you’re my brother; I couldn’t just
let you…”
“Yes… yes you could’ve.”
“No, you see, that’s where we’re different. I couldn’t just leave you; I couldn’t let
anything happen to you.”
“And why’s that, huh? Cause you’re good and pure, right? Right?! We‘re on two different paths; we cannot change
that. Would you be willing to join me? Could
you do that?”
Her eyes started burning; she opened her mouth to say…
what? She couldn’t get the words out,
but she didn’t even know what those words were.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he muttered, starting to
turn away.
“But it doesn’t have to be that way! You could join us… join me…” Aly blurted out
suddenly, wanting to do anything to keep him there, to keep some kind of hold
on him.
He shook his head. “No,
I don’t think I can.”
“But…”
“Aly,” he sighed, “don’t, okay? Just stop. Nothing’s going to change, okay? So forget it. I‘m happy doing what I do; I like it. End of
story.”
Aly watched as he did turn, this time, and start away. She watched him walk away, her heart pounding
so hard, she could hear it in her ears. She
couldn’t let it end this way.
“Wait!”
He stopped and turned, his eyes widening as she hurried
over to him, rushing into his arms, hugging him fiercely.
He stilled, slowly lowering his gaze to her, her slight but
strong arms squeezing him tightly, and his gaze softened.
“Aly,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“Stay safe,” she murmured, her face buried in his chest.
His lips turned up in a slight smile. “I will… just for you, okay?”
Aly nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She felt his arms drop away from her suddenly,
and he gently untangled himself and took a step back and then another. Abruptly, he turned, walking off down the
empty stretch of beach, and this time, she didn’t stop him.
As she watched him disappear around the cliff side, she
wondered if it was all worth it. Fighting
for the world and protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. Was it worth it? Was it enough?
In the end, she wasn’t sure. She’d lost so much because of her choices,
and every time, it got harder and harder, the loss bigger, greater, than
before. She’d let her brother walk away
this time, but would there be a next time? And if there was, would she be able to let him
walk away and not follow?
Aly stared at the spot in the sand where her brother had
just stood. She didn’t notice the single
tear that made its way down her cheek, splashing like a raindrop on the ground,
before she, herself, turned and walked off.
± ±
±
A full
moon had risen over the
As
the blue light spilled over his face, he sighed and stroked the ferret on his
shoulder. Dr. Twitches closed his eyes
in contentment, and Dr. Rough smiled crookedly at their reflection in the
glass. “Yes, Twitches,” he murmured, “night
has fallen once again. But soon enough, the
sun will return. It will rise on a new
mission, a new day for Dr. Rough to wreak havoc upon the world! You see… our hopes are never darkened for
long.”
A
shadow passed over his eyes, as the moon was smothered by a meandering cloud.
“We
have a new hope, don’t we, my pet? We
were wise to plant the seed early, now that our dear Drums is unable to… lend a
hand. And when it’s time for our little
seed to spring forth and blossom, Himitsu Takana won’t know what hit
them.” He sniggered malevolently.
“I
dunno, Dr. Rough, I think you may be underestimating ol’ HimTak. They’ve thwarted all your missions so far,
haven’t they?”
Dr.
Rough scowled, but when he turned around to face the owner of the voice, he’d
twisted the expression into a smirk.
Sexi was posed against the doorframe, eyeing him coolly. Were she one of his usual bumbling minions, he
might have shot her by now for daring to doubt him. Yet the sight of her, in a white mini-dress
that hugged her curves like a latex glove, soothed his usual rage and roused a
different sort of fire inside him.
“You
are wrong. It is HimTak who underestimates
me,” he replied. His voice was deathly
calm, though his heart was thundering in his chest. “But even if this hope should be dashed,” he
continued, “there is another, fail-proof plan already in effect. Four of our own are preparing to return to their
motherland as we speak. There, they
shall ‘set the stage’ for the unleashing of a biochemical weapon even more
deadly than-”
“Shh!”
Sexi suddenly hissed, pressing a taloned finger to her wine-colored lips. “Drums.”
Dr.
Rough fell silent, as his protégé shambled into the room. “Drums,” he repeated, offering an uneasy
smile. “Has Sexi nursed you back to
health?”
Sexi
smirked beneath her naughty nurse headdress, apparently pleased with herself.
Drums,
on the other hand, looked anything but pleased.
His expression was murderous.
“I’ma gut Carter wit dis,” he
spat, holding up the gleaming, silver hook Sexi had affixed to his stump. “If it be the last thang I do, I’ma live to
see dat boy wriggle like a worm on da end of dis for what he done to me, you
know what I’m sayin’?”
“I
know what you’re saying,” Dr. Rough assured him consolingly, resting a hand on
the shoulder of his good arm. “But don’t
you worry. The hook is only temporary. Dr. Rough will make you a new hand, a far
superior hand, just as he did with your eye.
Our friend 00Carter will soon find that, in maiming you, he has only
served to strengthen you once more.”
“And
in the meantime…” purred Sexi, trailing her fingernails very lightly down the
injured arm. (Drums shuddered with the
phantom sensation that continued all the way to the tips of his absent
fingers.) “… I think you’ll find that a
hook can come quite handy for some
things. No pun intended,” she tittered.
Drums’s
face fell into a scowl, but Sexi wiped it away with her index finger, which she
kissed before placing it tenderly on his lips.
Dr. Rough’s heart thundered louder as he watched her finger pull back,
curling seductively to beckon to Drums as she slunk away from him. He followed her as she strutted to the
window. “Scratching, for instance,” she
went on in her sex kitten’s purr, tossing her head so that her mane of hair
went swinging over one shoulder. She
drew her nails slowly down her exposed neck, leaving faint lines on her soft,
cocoa skin. “Tiger Lily’s got an itch. It’s down deep… somewhere she can’t
scratch. I bet you could reach it for
her, eh, Captain Hook?”
Drums
narrowed his one blue eye, looking furious and aroused at the same time. Behind them, Dr. Rough felt the same. But Sexi’s hungry gaze lingered only on
Drums.
“What,
you s’posed ta be Tiger Lily?” he asked.
“Just
switch this nurse cap for some feathers, and I’m your Indian princess,” she
murmured, sidling up to him.
Thankfully,
the nauseating scene playing out before Dr. Rough was interrupted by MJ, who
waddled in carrying a piece of paper in his beak. “Good boy, Michael,” cooed Dr. Rough,
unfolding the note. It read,
Dr. Rough,
We’ll be departing
shortly. We won’t let you down.
- M4
Forgetting
Sexi and Drums for the moment, Dr. Rough gasped and rushed back to the
window. He gazed out into the dusk and
saw a quartet of minions boarding one of the FANS airboats. A moment later, his wristwatch beeped, and
their four leering mugs appeared squeezed into its face.
“Dr.
Rough? We’re ready for takeoff,” said
the eldest of the group.
“Good
luck, minions,” Dr. Rough spoke into the watch.
“When
we make the necessary arrangements, we’ll contact you.”
Dr.
Rough nodded. “I’ll meet you at the
rendezvous point in
Down
below, he saw them wave in departure, and the propeller revved to life. He didn’t notice Drums put his arm around
Sexi, until she cried “Ow!” as the point of his hook dug into her right
shoulder.
“Sorry!”
Drums sputtered quickly. Dr. Rough
smiled to himself and reached down to pat MJ’s head.
There,
at the window, he and Dr. Twitches, MJ, Drums, and Sexi stood and watched, as
the airboat took off into the moonlit swamp.
± ± ±