"Mr. Smee?" I greet the always nervous young man standing awkwardly on the footpath, wringing his sleeves despite them straining already against his protruding muscles.

"Aye cap- I mean, sir. D'oh! I mean-"

"Are you okay?" I smirked at the bumbling young man who who to this very day struggled to adjust to change, including a modern world. Something different from Neverland or even just the era he had lived in before becoming an Ne'ather.

"Sorry-"

"No need to apologize, Smee. I tell you this all the time, you may call me whatever suits you best-" I walk past him towards the mansion.

"But you prefer casual and I still tend-" I held up my hand at the young man, halting his stutters and flustering stammers.

"As I said, many times before buddy, call me captain if you prefer. Just not in public. I don't think we need more confused people passing us on the streets." Smee started to open his mouth, to no doubt continue his protests and I quickly cut in before we went another circle. "You had something to discuss with me?" His brown eyes widened, mouth popping open as he slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Y-Yes, of course. Well, you see, cap'n-sir, it's just-" He followed after me, his shorter legs moving quickly to hurry after me as as I opened the doors to the mansion I had bought with much of the treasure I had earned as Captain Hook and working in this world. A place, a secure place for the rest of my crew who continued to stand beside me. There wasn't many in sight except a couple of them lounging in the lounge room, the T.V. on and watching intently. Until they noticed me standing there and quickly shut it off or changed the channel. My mood darkened immensely.

The mood was dark. Really dark, especially when a couple of other men shifted into view from the corridors, speaking subtly, looking mostly nervous and sparks of anger in their muttered words. I closed the door with a soft bang that had Smee flinch and my eyes glowered coolly down at him.

"I take it you have bad news to share."

"Aye sir- Yes, sir, cap'n. It's um...it's Nigel sir."

Nigel?

"Nigel? My cousin Nigel. Is everything okay?" I knew instantly nothing was going to be okay and Smee and my men looked exactly how they should. "Explain. Now." My voice dropped coldly and Smee swallowed heavily.

"Ni-Nigel and his family were attacked sir. In-in their home, late...five nights ago, sir."

"Ho-How, what? No." I shook my head slowly. "No, are they-"

"Nigel called us, Hook." My second in command, Finnigan approached from the back rooms, his face dark and mournful but his words clear and blunt. "He called us this morning. He is alive and okay as his wife. His son..." He trailed off. "His son is not so good, they-"

"Send them however much they need and whatever they need. Send whoever you want! I don't care! I'm assuming based it was not some random attack." I could barely grind out the words, fist clenched tightly, my hand was cramping painfully and I taste iron in my mouth as I paced back and forth.

"No sir, it was not. The child was the main interest. Nigel intervened. And they left a message." Fin approached closer, the laptop open in his his arms and an image splayed out on screen of a kids bedroom. It looked like an ordinary little boys room, with some dinosaur and a couple sports posters on the blue walls with toys and a messy bed.

Except for the red lettering painted over the walls.

Tick Tock

"Son of a motherfucking bitch!" I storm past Fin and Smee, slamming my fist on the desk and sweeping everything off in fury and fright. "I'll can't wait to hook that little shit."

"Nigel says it wasn't a person, Hook." I froze, turning slightly as I stare at my men, confused and waiting. "It was a Mimic."

Fuck!

"I assume your day was reasonable until you arrived, Hook." I could hear Fin placing some spreadsheets on my desk behind me while I stared out the window onto the lively streets. It was a simple, nice day outside, where it was free from the dark thoughts, the mournful anger of one of their own being attacked. Outside, a couple walked on the street with their dog leading the way, cars drove past, a wind rustled the trees softly. A female jogger ran past, her blonde hair in a ponytail swinging side-to-side as I couldn't help watch.

Damn, my weakness.

"I wouldn't say it was a great day but it was amazing compared to what I ended up finding out." I kept my voice calm and collected as I watched the outside, seeing it as nothing more but a playground for a dark force. I was ready for anything. Come what may.

"I ran into an old foe." I couldn't help smirking faintly at the thought but the smirk faded as both current and past thoughts collided. Two faces with a similar figure in the past, one who had obviously been broken and another who had just been.

"Do tell." I heard the scratch of the chair as Fin pulled it up and sat himself down and I slowly turned around to face him. Smee strode in handing a book with bank statements in them.

"The money was sent, Cap- I mean-"

"Thank you, Smee." I cut him smoothly and easily and sighing heavily as I faced the two men. "It was none other than T's-anril." Smee was frowning deeply while Fin's usually blank face was briefly stunned, eyes wide and mouth dropped slightly as he straightened.

"Really?"

"Yes. Happened to see her a couple days ago and ran into her again today. To put it lightly, she is not happy to see me. Hurtful, indeed." I tried to rub it off but after today, my mood was shot thinking what else that boy had done.

"Um, who is Tis any, something or rather-"

"Tinkerbell, Smee. Or Tippytoe we often called her." Smee's eyes widened and he chuckled while stunned.

"Ah, Miss Bell. It's been a while." Smee frowned, focusing on me. "But cap'n she'll tell Peter about us and we can't afford to be found-"

"He's right." Fin cut over him sharply, glaring at me. "You shouldn't have faced her. It's been years without seeing her around, goodness knows what she and Peter are about to-"

"Trust me on this. We don't need to worry about her talkin to Peter. At all." I cut them both off, my voice rising harshly over theirs and they immediately shut up.

"How can you be sure?"

"Because...the first time I ran into her, she was determined to not know me. And today...I don't know what happened between those two but I know without a doubt that Tink has no plans to find Pan. She's terrified to her core. I asked for her help, she was not for it. She wants nothing to do with us or Pan."

"Christ, seriously? Peter was never cruel towards Tink, they were close as any friends. Maybe more-"

"Not a chance." My mood dropped further. "Peter cared for Tink but he was also very manipulative in every way. Tink was sassy and also manipulative. They did that too each other. I don't need to ask her what went wrong but whatever happened, I understand now why she is terrified. I am too now." My eyes hardened as I stared at my desk with my hands clenching tightly over my chairs backrest. "I'm terrified for my cousin and his family. But I'm furious. He wants war, then war has begun."

"And Tink then," Smee stammered, swallowing heavily. "What of her? If Pan comes here and she is here-"

"Yeah, I've already made that plain and clear to her. And he will hunt her down. That's not settling well for her. But, I know she will reach out. It's only a matter of when."

Once Fin and Smee left to myself, did I settle in my desk chair and with a heavy sigh, I pulled out the spare phone in my locked drawer and found the number I needed.

It rang a few times before answering.

"Codfish?" The voice was gruff on the other end and I couldn't help smiling faintly at the familiar voice.

"Crocodile." The sigh on the other end dropped into a sigh, followed by a few harsh sniffles. "Nigel," I greeted softly.

"James, brother."

"You can have whatever you need, I'll give it."

"I only have one thing I want, brother." Nigel's voice grew dark and dangerous and I grin darkly, because I know what he wants.

"Anything, Nigel. Anything for you, for Mary and Andy."

"I want in. I want this fucking bastard's head on a platter."