(no subject)

[bringmethatnpc]

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 pylons and stilts is ever present.

There's a sense of uneasy anticipation, as if the city herself knows that tonight, the war for the seas is coming to Singapore.

Comments

[turned_captain]

Sao Feng is still talking, pacing away from Elizabeth and back up to his dais.

"...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?"

[bringmethatnpc]

As if Will's question was their cue, the doors from all directions seem to explode inwards under the force of the charging Navy - and after a split second of shock the pirates join battle with a furious roar. It's messy and rapidly turns ugly in the cramped space. Will ducks, using the pole shackling his hands together as a makeship weapon until a conveniently-timed sword swing cuts through his ropes, and he can untangle himself to catch the sword Elizabeth throws him.

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.

[clumsy_auror]

Tonks bellows spell after spell, mostly Stunning Spells and Full-Body Binds, and it isn't long before most everyone is giving her a rather wide berth, because witch. Such women are feared, and she's giving them enough reason for the reputation to stand firm. One of Sao Feng's henchmen darts past her, and she spies a familiar gun in his hand: it's Mal's, she's sure of it.

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.

[mr-mercer.livejournal.com]

From the hole blown in the floor come Gibbs and Ragetti leading the rest of the crew, firing their pistols into the fight as they run. Behind them, Marty climbs out of the hole with a miniature cannon; taking aim at a group of Company soldiers, he fires, but is immediately thrown back through the hole in the floor by the recoil.

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."

[bringmethatnpc]

In the midst of such a fight, who stops to pay attention to a barrel organ and a monkey?

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.

[bringmethatnpc]

For some the burning is a cause for panic and others they stride through as though it were nothing; as it seems for Will Turner and the brand of men who rounded the corner at the end of the fireworks exploding outward everywhere. His stride was that of someone in control of their situation, expression is serious, but unphased as he finally met up again with his comrades.

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.

[try_corsets]

And where's Mal?

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.