Episode 7: Here Ye Be Pirates
Part 8
Feeling the salty breeze of the ocean while riding on the jet ski, 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 said 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-”
“Actually, you talk too much without saying anything, so just tell me.”
“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 welcome 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 blurred, his ears went deaf because of the blaring motor sounds of the jet skis, and his grip tightened on the handles, turning his knuckles white. Yet, his knees felt 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 a criminal go 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 if he’d been cooperative and given them the information needed. They would have even let him go then.
He should have told Aly that; 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 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 without him noticing me, and he just wouldn’t listen to me if I told him to run away anyway…”
Nick remained 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 sniffled, which was 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; those words ripped his heart apart. 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 asked, 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 sounded 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 a while since I’ve seen you sing.”
“I’ll make sure to pick your favorite tunes.”
“Followed by a lap dance?”
He heard the familiar scoff 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. Glancing his head over his shoulder, Nick saw the remnants of the last explosion before the kraken submerged into the deep blues of the Bermuda Triangle.
Just as it disappeared, so too did 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 shading on the hair to enhance the contrast with the skin. Adding a richer blue color just to emphasize the effect. Perfect.
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, making the room dim. He shifted 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 he 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 said. “You put your ass on the line 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 at 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 still wore 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, while her thick, black hair cascaded 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’re… meany.”
“I think you swallowed too much seawater on this mission.” Aly couldn’t help but chuckle. “But really, Nick, how could you manage to let him go without the others noticing?”
“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 run it through his mind enough times 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 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, except for a few squawking seagulls. The sun had started to set, filling the sky with an orange-ish hue.
Mimicking the beach, Aly felt empty and lonely. Everything still felt so anti-climatic. What had she gained from this? Not a damn thing.
The sound of the waves crashing along the shore was almost melodic. Everything seemed so insignificant to her just then. For a mere 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. When she turned away from the ocean, she spotted her brother preparing to leave. They stared at each other in silence, then walked toward each other.
“So… I guess this is it… See you later, okay?” Aly asked softly.
He continued to stare silently, then turned to leave.
“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 grumbled.
Aly winced, but her eyes grew wide when he whirled on her with a cold stare.
“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? Words escaped her.
“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, wanting to do anything to keep him near her.
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 turned and walked away. Her heart was pounding so hard, she could hear it in her ears. She couldn’t let it end this way.
“Wait!”
He froze at her words as she rushed toward him, wrapping him in a tight hug. Though he flinched at her embrace, 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, and he gently untangled himself. After a few steps backward, he hurried down the deserted sand. This time, she didn’t stop him.
As she watched him disappear around the cliffside, 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 beneath her trailing footsteps.
***
A full moon had risen over the Gulf of Mexico. In the swampland of the Everglades, some twenty miles inland, Dr. Rough watched bright moonbeams stream through the cypress trees from the bay window inside the FANS headquarters.
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 a meandering cloud smothered the moon.
“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 twisted the expression into a smirk. Sexi 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 in 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 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 to 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 communicator beeped. He flipped open the panel on his black wrist cuff to see their four leering mugs filling the built-in screen.
“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 Canada,” he affirmed. “I’ll be waiting for your signal. Take care, you four. May the FANS be with you.”
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.
***