Mac awoke to the sound of heavy pounding at the door. He groaned, turning over and wrapping a blanket tightly around his body. “Jack, don’t hog the pancakes,” he grumbled, shutting his eyes once more.

“Oi! Get off your lazy arse right now before I put my boot up it!” shouted Darris, slamming harder against the door. “We’ve found her!”

That snapped him awake. He stumbled to his feet and moved to the door, tossing the chair he had blockaded himself in with to the side--he sure as hell didn’t trust these guys enough to sleep unguarded. He threw the door opened and stepped out on deck. “Where?”

“There, you big dummy.” Darris pointed into the distance, right ahead of them. It was dark, way too dark for Mac’s liking, but he could just make out tiny lights in the distance.

“They docked?”

“Looks like it,” Jim said, coming up to them. “We’ll come up close, then you do whatever crazy shit you gotta do.”

Mac nodded. “Lifeboat? Jus’ row on over?”

“That’s the plan. Darris.” He nodded to his companion, who began untying a small wooden boat from the ship, dropping it into the water. With a pair of oars, he went down, Jim following. “Climb in.”

Mac gave a small pat at his side for his gun then nodded, following after the two. Darris took a hold of the oars and moved them through the water with powerful strokes, his muscles bulging.
The closer they got to the ship, the more impressive it got. And for every bit it got magnificent, it became twice as terrifying.

“Alright,” the farmer whispered to the others. “We climb up the anchor line and keep quiet. Anyone on deck we either subdue or kill. Y’all follow?”

“Shit… we really doin’ this?” Darris questioned, looking up at the vessel. “Must be over a hundred guys in there.”

“Don’t mean shit if we’ve got surprise on our side.” Jim took a hold of the anchor line, grinning. “Which we do.” He shook the rope a little, gesturing to Mac. “You first.”

The giant of a man wordlessly nodded, taking the rope and giving it a small pull to make sure it was secure. Then, with a shrug, he began climbing, going hand over hand and using his feet to brace against the ships wall. He climbed until he reached the end of the rope and reached, struggling hard until he finally got his fingertips on the railing above the anchorline. A few tugs on the rope indicated that the others had followed. They quietly hopped on deck, daggers and guns drawn.

Mac scanned the area. On the starboard side was a guard, ideally watching the ocean. Mac swore, gesturing quickly to Darris and Jim, then to the guard. He ran a thumb across his neck. Jim nodded, then crept up to the man. In one swift motion, the guard’s neck was cut open, Jim’s hand over his mouth as he gently laid him down.

He nodded at their work, then gestured at the cabin’s door nearby. Mac pointed at the men and made a walking motion with his fingers and gestured around the deck, then pointed at himself, then towards the cabin doors. The two nodded, sticking close as they patrolled the deck, on the lookout for others.

Mac took a few careful, quiet steps towards the cabin and turned the handle, only to have it twist under his hand. The door flew open; he stumbled forward just as a knee slammed into his groin. His survival instincts kicked into high-gear. He blindly shoved his assailant back and reached into his pocket, pulling out his gun, just as he heard the ‘click’ of a spring. A knife sat a mere inch from his throat, as his gun was held tightly in his palm, ready to fire at a frame’s notice.

“Who the fuck are you?” a voice called to him. He glanced away from the blade and stared at the woman holding it, a woman with an expression so fierce and furious, it made every time Dash was upset look like child’s play. He could guess instantly who this woman was.

“Gilda. Captain Gilda,” Mac drawled out. She clenched her hand tight around the blade.

“No, you shitbird, what’s your name?”

“Ya have somethin’ that belongs ta me,” Mac drawled out, staring evenly at the woman.

“I’ve got a knife ready for your gut. Talk.”

“Yer forgettin’ who has the gun here,” the giant growled out.

“Try,” Gilda said. Before Mac could even react, she lunged forward; Mac twisted to the side as she thrust her blade--it cut through his shirt and left a superficial wound across his torso just as he fired a round that went wild--putting a hole in the wall and drawing a loud, panicked gasp from deeper inside. There was movement, the sounding of bedsheets being rustled.

“Aw shit!” Darris shouted, literally getting thrown across the deck. Will glanced between the two, his hand reaching for the pistol he kept at his side as he sprinted at an almost nightmarish pace towards Jim. He slapped the man’s gun away and grabbed him in one powerful hand, lifting him high in the air and squeezing tight on his windpipe.

“Drop it if you want your friend to live,” he said, not even glancing towards the other man. Darris rubbed his head, getting up from the broken barrels he found himself lying with. He crept up upon Will, dagger drawn, then raised his hand and plunged the weapon into Will’s shoulder blade.

He didn’t even flinch as the blade punctured into his dark flesh; rather he snapped his arm, cracking Darris across the mouth with the barrel of his pistol and dropping him to the floor. The sound of the rest of the crew getting roused from their sleep started to fill the ship as dozens of footsteps echoed throughout the decks.

“Bad choice,” Will said, holstering his gun and grimly pulling out the blade from his body. He threw it into the ground, embedding it inches away from Darris’s head. “If the captain’s injured, I’m skinning you alive,” he said in a low, menacing growl, not even a trace of jest in his tone.

Macintosh grabbed Gilda by the wrist and neck; he twisted and slammed her against the wall, shaking the blade free from her hand. “Where is she?” Mac barked, spittle flying from his mouth.

“R-right here, Mac,” Alice said, shaking slightly in her boots.

His expression died as he stared, almost unbelieving towards his sister. “Alice…” he quietly said, his grip relaxing on Gilda.

“Wh-what are ya…” she trailed off, staring between him and Gilda, sharing his disbelief. Gilda took advantage of the moment; she leaned forward, biting Mac on the nose and snapping her arm forward, cracking him in the throat. He stumbled backwards, clutching at his neck and gasping for breath. Gilda roared and jumped onto him, knocking him through the door and slamming him to the ground on the deck. “Mac!” Alice screamed, going after them.

Gilda cracked her fist across the man’s cheek, then struck again and again. With a grunt, Mac shot up and wrapped his body tightly against hers, stopping her blows. He squeezed harder, until he heard a hard, deep pop from Gilda’s body. She let out a choked gasp and struggled against his bear hug as he adjusted himself and rose to a knee.

The sound of dozens of footsteps rang across the deck and a deep, booming man’s voice called out.

“Let her go,” Will commanded. He marched towards the two, his gun raised in warning.

Alice bit her lip, watching the scene unfold. She took a deep, shuddered breath. “... do it, Mac.”

Mac swore under his breath, but relaxed his grip; Gilda took a gasp of air, coughing hard. She rose, looking down on the man. She snapped her leg forward, kicking him in the chest. Mac let out a gasp and clutched at his ribs.

“Fucker!” she shouted. Alice flinched.

Will walked to her. “You alright?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the man.

“Fine. Bastard just tried to kill me, is all.” She spat, landing it directly onto Mac’s face.

“I’m here fer the girl. That’s it,” Mac said, brushing the spit away with his palm. Gilda paused, realization slowly coming to her. She bit at a lip and glanced over at the kid again.

“Why would he want the girl?” one of the crew asked.

“He’s, er…” Alice gazed at the hard faces of the crew. She could lie, but look at where that got her? Plus, to lie in front of her kin… “Ma br--.”

“It’s obvious what he is,” Gilda said, glaring down at him. “What else would go after a girl that young?”

Mac turned red. He all but quivered in indignation at her words.

She gave a casual shrug. “He saw my protege at port and thought to himself, ‘Maybe I could stowaway and get a piece of that.’” Gilda crossed her arms and sneered. “Shame he didn’t realize what we do to stowaways.” Her hard expression briefly flickered as she met his eyes and glanced towards Alice. “All stowaways.”

The farmer wasn’t a fool by any means. Just because he didn’t speak often, that didn’t mean he was slow. He knew what Gilda was trying to hint at with the stowaway line. Why she was protecting the girl? He couldn’t say. But for now, he could only play along with her hints.

“Read me like a book,” he plainly replied, exhaling and glancing over towards Alice. “Ya know how ta train ‘em--I’m sure she’s a helluva student.”

“Er… sure am,” Alice said, scratching the back of her head. It was odd to see her brother lying to another person’s face, but if he was doing it, that probably meant it was free game to lie through her teeth.

“The best I’ve had,” Gilda said, sneering. “And you’re not touching her.”

“Reckon not.”

Gilda looked to her men, gesturing up. “And what do we do to men like that?”

“Hang ‘em!” someone called out.

“Quarter ‘em!” came another.

“Castrate ‘em!” A third. Gilda held up her hands, silencing the sailors.

“Why do that, when we can do the funner method?” She looked at Will, then stared hard northeast, for a good long while. Mac looked over her shoulder. There, in the distance, was the faint, misty vision of an island. Once she noticed Mac had looked where she had, she turned to her men. “How about walking the plank?”

A cheer went around the pirates at the idea, several took to wrapping their arms around one-another’s shoulders and laughing as Gilda stared at Mac.

Alice scrunched up her nose. “I thought that was jus’ somethin’ they did on cartoons…”

Will shrugged. On seeing everyone else was distracted, he quickly spoke in a hushed whisper. “It was either that, or a bullet in his skull.” The girl quickly fell silent after that.

“Get a board and some rope!” Gilda called out to the men. “We’ll have ourselves a little party!”

Several of the men ran downstairs to search for supplies, leaving only a handful on deck. Gilda walked over to Mac and stared at him.

“I’m doing what I can,” she said in a whispered hiss, jabbing a finger at him.

Before Mac could respond, she stomped back to the remainder of the crew, just as more returned to deck, a long board and a healthy length of rope around one of their shoulders.

“Tie ‘em up!” one called out. They approached, the rope at the ready.

“I’ll handle the tie-up, men! That’s an order!” Gilda called out, much to the disappointment of the crew. Will gave Mac a hard shove, pushing him towards the captain. Mac stumbled forward just as Gilda grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along towards the boat’s deck.

Alice wasn’t watching; it was too frightening to see her brother being treated like that, and yet… something felt off. Given Will’s words and how Gilda had acted towards her recently, plus the fact she was doing the tying, it seemed fairly reasonable to assume that maybe she was giving Mac a chance. That might’ve made her smile, were it not for the fact that this would probably be the last time she’d see him. And she couldn’t even say goodbye, lest she arouse suspicion.

Gilda led Mac up to the plank, a pistol aimed squarely at his back.

“March,” she spat.

Mac stepped up to the plank and took a few slow, shuffling steps forward, flexing and wiggling the arms tied behind his back in a desperate bid to free himself.

“March,” Gilda spat out again.

He took another step forward, pausing for only a moment to look apologetically over at his sister. Gilda gave him but a second before raising the pistol and bringing it crashing down on his back. He didn’t even flinch at the strike, but did walk a few more half-hearted steps toward the edge of the plank. Sucking in a quick breath, he stepped off.

Alice reached for him, held in place only by her own survival instinct. Will grimaced, putting a hand on her head as they heard Mac hit the water and sink like a stone.