Chapter Text
They stuck Katie in a fairly normal room, all things considered.
There was a bookshelf tucked into one corner, stuffed with old records and hardbound manuals. A window overlooked the harbor beyond, pale afternoon light spilling across the floorboards in long strips of gold. If she ignored the ropes biting into her wrists and the ache spreading through her shoulders, it almost looked like an office someone actually worked in.
Katie’s head turned towards the door as it was pushed open. A young man walked in. He was clearly Federation, indicated by the stupid white uniform. It was so incredibly impractical. White was like the easiest thing to stain. Now that she thought about it, Katie was getting sick of seeing it everywhere.
“Katie,” the young officer began, “You have saved me a lot of trouble.”
She raised a brow at that. “And you aren’t who I was expecting.” Katie had assumed that Cucurucho would be the one most interested in her, mostly because she had stolen from him.
Katie guessed he knew who she was referring to, but chose to pay the comment no mind.
His expression didn’t change. “You’ve caused a considerable amount of trouble.”
“Allegedly.”
“We have reason to believe you’re in possession of–”
“Oh, is this about the stealing?” she cut in, words spilling out before her brain could stop them. “Because I swear I’ve never stolen a day in my life. Orphan’s honor.”
“You do not have any honor.” He cut in. “You are a liar and a known thief. But we both know this is not about petty items you have looted from your fellow citizens. This is about the artifact.”
Artifact? That caused her to hesitate, briefly. He was obviously talking about the map, but why would he call it an artifact?
She mentally shrugged. It didn’t matter what he called it. She had it, and he didn’t. Well, she didn’t have it on her at this very moment, which was honestly for the best, but the idea was the same.
Katie figured playing ditzy was going to be her best bet, “I can’t say that rings any bells.”
The man stared at her, dumfounded, trying to decide if she was stupid or plain irritating. At this moment, she was going for the latter.
He tapped his figures impaintenly on the wooden desk. “You’ll cooperate.”
Katie rocked back as much as the chair allowed. She could feel her wings press against the wooden back. “Or?”
He didn’t see it fit to entertain her with an answer.
Before she could poke at him again, another soldier slipped into the room and whispered something into his ear. The officer nodded, then dismissed them. When he looked back at Katie, there was something almost pleased in his expression.
“It seems our mutual friend had been notified of your capture.” Mutual friend? She doubted there was any overlap in who they chose to associate with. “I am sure the admiral will be able to make you much more cooperative. After all, I heard he made quick work of your accomplice.”
Max.
She swallowed, mouth dry. All earlier bravo abandoning her.
“Ah, it seems like something finally managed to shut you up,” the man sounded proud of himself. “While we wait for our dear friend, perhaps you could explain this.” He sat down the note Don had given to her.
The paper was crumpled, but the ink was still legible.
Katie looked at it. “I don’t know what it says.”
“We pulled it off of you.”
“So?” She challenged. “I still don’t know what it says. Your guess would be as good as mine. Why don’t you try to read it if you are so curious?”
“For some reason, I do not believe you.” He pushed it forward, “Read it.”
She looked down at the foreign letters, then back up. “Dude, I seriously have no idea how to read it.”
“I will not ask again.”
Katie was not trying to push his buttons. At least not at this moment. She had no idea why he hoped to gain by having her read it out. It's not like she knew what the translation for the strange word was.
“Fine, since you are so pushy,” she eyed the letters (symbols?), trying to figure out how to say them. After bouncing a few ideas back and forth in her head, she settled on something that she thought was moderately close. “⎓⚍ꖎᒲ╎リᔑℸ ̣ ╎𝙹リ.”
The symbols burned into the paper, scarring the table the note was resting on. Each one flared to life, sharp and violent, searing into her vision. All around her, the air began to taste slightly metallic.
Light tore through the room in a blinding surge. Heat followed, sharp and immediate, the force of it ripping outward in a violent wave.
The chair splintered beneath her.
Sound vanished.
Then came roaring back all at once.
–––
Don was halfway to where he assumed they had taken Katie when an explosion erupted.
A blast of light erupted from one of the Federation buildings, bright enough to bleach the world colorless for an instant before thunder followed after it. Windows shattered up and down the street.
Coughing, he pressed on to the building.
–––
Katie hit the ground hard, lungs emptying on impact. The chair she was tied to broke into small pieces, taking the brunt of the fall.
The whole world around her was blurry. Her ears rang loudly like old church bells.
Slowly, painfully, the world bled back into focus.
Smoke or ash curled through the air. The walls, or what was left of them, were cracked and blackened. It looked as if a strike of lightning had blasted it. Bodies lay scattered, unmoving or groaning, in the street. Glancing down, Katie saw the young officer who had told her to read the note, or what was left of him.
His body was completely charred, smoke still wafting off of it. The potent smell of sulfur spilled from the room.
Katie retched at the sight, as her guts spilled onto the floor.
“…Okay,” she rasped, pushing herself up on shaking arms. “That’s…new.”
Her entire body was trembling.
Something felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. Like a snake had crawled beneath her skin and wrapped itself around her bones.
“What did I do?” She cried as the snake receded. “What did I do?!”
“KATIE!”
She turned. Don was picking his way through the wreckage toward her, eyes wide with something between disbelief and frustration.
“You… what happened ?” he demanded, looking at the crumbling building.
“I– i read the note,” she said, barely above a whisper.
“You what?”
“The note. I read the note you gave me,” she said, forcing herself to stand, even as her legs protested. “Did you know?”
“Know what?” he questioned as he helped her get her footing.
“Did you know that the note would do this?”
“Of course not!”
She shook her head. Something didn’t feel right. None of this made any sense.
“Katie, we don’t have time for this!” Don said, grabbing her wrist to pull her over the rubble. “We need to go–” As if on cue, distant shouts echoed through the street. Reinforcements. And a lot of them at that. “Now!”
That was enough for Katie to finally snap out of it. She followed Don as they ran for their lives.
The run back to her hideout was a blur of motion and noise.
The port was falling apart. In all directions people were fleeing, soldiers flooding in, the explosion drawing all the attention.
Katie pushed forward on instinct, ducking into side alleys, vaulting over crates, cutting through paths she barely remembered choosing.
Her lungs burned, and her head pounded. She pushed ahead of Don, so that he was following her.
“Where are we going?” Don called behind her.
“My place!” she shot back. “I need something!”
“That’s a terrible idea–”
“Yeah, well, it’s the one I’ve got! I’m not asking you to stick around!”
They slipped inside just ahead of another patrol sweeping past the alley.
Katie dropped immediately, yanking the rug back with frantic hands.
“Come on, come on…”
The chest opened. Inside the map and crystal sat untouched.
Relief hit her as she quickly pocketed the items. “Got it.”
Don exhaled. “Good. Because we are officially out of time.”
–––
Katie’s lungs squeezed in her chest. “You know,” she began, between gasps for air, “this is the third time in the past week I’ve had to run from the Federation!”
“Maybe you are very unlucky!” Don offered as he looked over his shoulder to see four guards in hot pursuit.
“I’m starting to think the world hates me or something,” she lamented as they darted down the cobblestone paths.
Katie wasn’t sure if she was following Don or if he was following her anymore. They didn’t do a lot of communicating before taking off for a second time.
The gears in her head slowly started to turn as salty air hit her nose.
“Follow me!”
“Do you have a plan?” Don shouted as he jumped over a cart.
“I have the outline of one!”
“That's not a plan!!!”
“Do you have a better one?” she shot back, to which he stayed silent.
That’s what she thought.
In all honesty, she was not thinking too straight. She had just blown up a building without TNT, escaped from the Federation, and killed a soldier. Her current plan consisted of making it to the docks and stealing a boat.
She was mildly confident that she would be able to apply what she had learned from Schlatt and Quackity over the past week and get them to a different port. After that, she had no idea what she was going to do.
The docks came into view.
Resting in the water, making ripples was a small boat, a schooner if she guessed right, resting unattended.
“There!” She pointed to the small craft.
“Do you even know how to sail that thing?”
“I hope so,” she said, jumping onto it. “Cut the rope!”
Don obliged, and with one clean strike, set the ship free from the dock. Katie scrambled up the mast in a desperate attempt to unfurl the sails. They caught wind almost as soon as they opened, pushing the ship out to sea, despite the few bullet holes it endured courtesy of their escape
The pair watched as Federation soldiers clambered at the edge of the dock. Pivoting once they realized they were out of reach.
“I can’t believe that actually worked,” she let out a sigh of relief as she sloppily maneuvered the ship.
Don sucked in a breath as he looked back at the dock. “Uh… Katie?”
Pulling out of the docks was a Federation ship. A huge one. It was easily four times the size of their stolen schooner.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she cried when she saw it.
“Can you make this thing go faster?!”
“I barely know how to make it go straight!”
She jerked the wheel, hoping to catch a better breeze.
They were going to die, and it was going to be her fault.
–––
Schlatt had not left the port with haste. There was no reason to. He ensured that the ship was restocked; it had been a while since they had replenished supplies, and having an extra body on board had depleted faster than expected.
Thankfully, they did not run into any issues when they went to leave the port. There weren’t many guards to hassle them when they finally pulled out.
Despite little human interface, nature seemed to be against them. The winds, formerly healthy and strong, had completely vanished. Even the ever-flowing current had gone completely stale.
Safe to stay there, the ship has gone virtually dead in the water.
The natural drifting of waves was the only force pushing their ship out.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had this much trouble leaving port.”
That wasn’t exactly true, although those troubles had been of an entirely different variety.
“Just be ready when the freeze starts up again. I don’t like being a sitting duck.”
“I hear you there,” Quackity agreed.
Out in the distance, the world shook as an explosion blasted stone and brick high into the sky.
“What the hell was that?”
“Something that is going to cause us problems.” He grabbed the rope attached to the largest sail, losing it so that it formed a deep crescent shape. The lackluster wind caught the larger surface, and the ship finally began to trudge forward at a more acceptable pace.
Out in the distance, there seemed to be a commotion at the dock. More soldiers than he could count filled the marina.
A singular ship pulled out as bullets failed to hit anything of importance.
Whoever was behind the wheel was a poor sailor. The ship jerked around ineffectively. Behind them, a Federation frigate pulled behind them. Soon, it wasn't going to matter how fast their ship was. It was too small to outrun the bigger boat, nor was it going to be able to outgun it.
“Um… Schlatt?”
“What?” He grunted out.
“Is it just me, or does that person look like Katie?” He pointed to the red-haired, pink coat-wearing girl who was steering the small schooner.
“What has that girl gotten herself tied up in now?” The large battleship was obviously after Katie and whoever was with her.
Logically, he has no skin in this game. He could keep his course steady and let whatever was going to happen play out. Quackity might bitch and moan, but he’d get over himself. It would be so incredibly easy to do nothing.
He squeezed his eyes shut, contemplating his choices, when the wind’s direction shifted, picking up speed.
“Damn it all to hell,” he cursed under his breath. “Quackity,” the man’s head shot up, “be ready to grab them.”
If the Federation battleship didn’t get to her first, he was going to kill Katie.
Schlatt turned the steering wheel, letting the wind catch the sail, directing them closer to the runaway ship. He was careful to align the ships side by side.
Quackity tossed over a rope, temporarily conjoining the ships.
“What are you waiting for?” He yelled at them, the wind rippling by his ears. “We don’t have all day if we are going to outrun those fuckers!”
Katie quickly grabbed his outstretched hand, crossing over the restless sea below. The man she was with came over to the ship without any aid.
“You know those two?” The newcomer asked Katie.
She bobbed her head, “It’s a long story, but yes. Mr.J, Quackity, meet Don.”
He bit back a correction. Now was not the time for petty squabbles.
Schlatt moved to disconnect from this ship now that all the occupants were gone. It was only slowing them down, and that could quickly turn into a death sentence.
“Quackity! Take the wheel!”
“Got it, Captain!”
“Now,” focusing his attention back on Katie, “tell me what mess we are in, quickly.”
“I think they found Max, but they know about me and the map. I guess it is some special thing because they are going to a lot of trouble to retrieve it. I kinda blew up a building. Oh, and this is Don’” she rattled off in a single breath. “Not in that order.”
“Gods, kid. We literally parted ways a few hours ago!”
“I know!” she snapped, panic cracking through her voice. “Everything’s falling apart! I don’t know if Max is alive or not. I don’t know what is happening. I’m sorry, Mr. J. Now I’ve gone and gotten you dragged into my mess too.”
“Listen, moping won’t do any of us any good.” He glanced back to where the ship was gaining on them. “I need to know right now if you are willing to do what it takes to survive this.”
“What?”
“I’m telling you your boss is probably dead,” Schlatt said bluntly. “That map is the only leverage you’ve got left.” His eyes locked onto hers. “So I’ll ask again. Are you willing to do what it takes?”
“Y-yes.”
That’s all he needed to hear. “Welcome to the crew.”
“You,” pointing at Don, “Do you know how to fire a cannon?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then I’d recommend you get to it.” Schlatt turned away before either of them could respond. “If we make it through this, just know I am going to lord this over your head forever.”
Schlatt quickly ran to his quarters. Inside this room, he searched for a stone pendant. One that had been given to him a while ago. He had yet to use it out of pride, but it seemed that it was in short supply today.
“Well, Quackity,” he mumbled even though the man was far out of earshot, “looks like you’ll get your wish.”
With that, he traveled to the side of the ship, waves splashing every which way. Drawing his blade, he cut his hand, smearing the blood on the engravings before tossing it into the water.
“Was that supposed to do something?” Katie asked as she watched the item sink.
“I’d recommend you be quiet and help your friend with the cannon.”
Schlatt hauled himself to the helm, next to Quackity.
“You really did it, huh?”
“Let’s just hope he gets here in time.”
They had managed to put a small amount of additional distance between themselves and the much larger craft. It seemed the wind had chosen to be on their side.
At the thought of losing their prey, the Federation shot a cannonball. It splashed in the water, too close for comfort.
In the distance, Black sails unfurled against the sky, streaked with markings that shimmered violet in the light..
The ship moved faster than any ship should be able to.
It circled the Federation vessel, mercilessly firing its cannons; the Federation ship turned to meet it.
It was a barrage of thunder as the two grand ships fired on eachother.
Within moments, the mighty terror was reduced to a shinking shell.
“I hope we made the right choice,” Quackity said, looking at the carnage.
Schlatt couldn’t help but agree.
–––
The ship before Katie was incredible. It rivaled the Federation ship in sheer size and weaponry, but there was something else. Something within it thrummed. All over the body of the ship, small rune-like engravings decorated it.
Katie reached out to run her hand over the engravings. They felt familiar in a way she didn’t understand.
Has she seen them before?
Had she forgotten?
Schlatt stood with Quackity as a plank was placed down, connecting the two boats. The tension between the pair was visible. It made Katie nervous.
“Stay close,” Don whispered to her as the waters stilled.
She gave him a nod and tried to set her nerves aside. Mr. J had done something to call this ship for help, she was pretty sure, so surely all would be okay.
Crossing over the plankway, a man dressed in purple and gold. A single-shoulder black cape blew as it caught the wind behind him. The sun caught his face, revealing purple scarring around his eye.
“It has been a long time, Devil,” the newcomer greeted Schlatt. “I had given up hope that you would ever accept my offer.”
“I wasn’t sure if you would come when I called,” Jschlatt admitted. He stepped forward, looking the man up and down.
Did they know each other? Katie pondered.
Mr. J hadn’t said much about his past, and Quackity was not all that helpful himself. All she had managed to gather was that he was reluctant to seek excitement because of his ‘oh so tragic’ backstory. At least that’s what she had gleaned from the captain's melodrama.
“I see you have expanded your crew.” He turned his head, inspecting Katie and Don. “Last time we met, it was just you and your first mate."
“Oh, you know how it is.”
“That I do.” He stepped fully onto the deck. “Well, let’s not keep the others waiting.” A faint smile touched his lips. “Welcome to the Regime.”