Pirates, Witches & Banks! Oh My!
The next morning, the sun shone brightly over the island of Saint Martin and a crowd was gathered to see Mayor Dix unvail the new bank. Mayor Dix was the newly appointed mayor of Saint Martin and he knew if he added something like a new bank to the town it would solidify his reputation as a man of great importance. Having a secure bank with ties to it's contents, means more people would approve of Saint Martin and Mayor Dix could rid the island of riffraff and make it a living destination for the wealthy and upperclass.
Unfortunately for him, the crew of the Dying Gull were having none of it. Although at the moment things weren't going exactly according to plan, the Captain had not returned from his date the night before. And as the crew got into their positions behind the bank, Maggie began to worry. Where was her father?
Maggie crept around to the front of the bank as Mayor Dix began making his speech.
"Today we dedicate the Royal Bank Of Saint Martin" he announced to the gathered crowd. "The most secure banking intuition in the Caribbean!"
As Maggie dashed into the crowd in front of the bank, trying to spot her father and not get caught, two guards opened the bank to reveal the shiny new vault. The crowd oohed and ahhed in admiration. Maggie rolled her eyes at the overreaction.
"Our new vault is five inches thick and weighs an imperial ton!" Mayor Dix explained, visibly impressed with the crowds reaction."With this bank the town of Saint Martin enters the modern world! No man, nor army can ever rob the gold of Saint Martin! Open the vault!" He shouted as the crowd cheered.
The bank manager nodded, pulling down on the handle and swinging open the door of the vault.
The crowd's cheers fell silent as the door opened and a few gasped. Maggie peered into the banks entrance and noticed exactly what all the excitement was about... Her father had fallen asleep in the vault itself and was snoring away on a pile of gold!
So much for the element of surprise... Maggie thought bitterly.
"Pirate!" One lady standing beside her shouted.
"What's it to ye?" Maggie automatically retorted.
The crowd turned to her and gasped.
Maggie's eyes widened, realizing her cover was blown. "I mean..." she stammered. "Pirates! Goodness gracious!"
"Two pirates!" The same lady gasped.
"Two pirates... ha!" Captain Jack muttered in his sleep. Then his eyes popped open "Pirates!" He toppled off the vault shelf and onto the banks floor.
The crowd gasped and Maggie took the opportunity to run up beside her father. Captain Jack had just stumbled to his feet as she reached him, not spilling a drop of rum as he did either. Maggie and Jack both faced the crowd awkwardly.
"This may seem a peculiar request" Jack slurred. "But could someone explain to me as to why I'm here...?"
Instead of a response, the guards filed out and aimed their guns straight at them both.
Maggie gulped "Uh... Daddy?"
"No! Wait, it's coming to me..." Jack told her. "Just need a moment to clear me head!" He took another long swig from his bottle.
"Dad, you already can't remember what you're doing here!" Maggie scolded him, trying to take away the bottle.
Suddenly Maggie turned and saw a woman waking up in the vault as well.
"Hold your fire!" The Captain of the Guard shouted. "There's a woman with him in the vault!"
Maggie gagged in realization at why the lady and her dad were together in that vault.
"He can't hide behind that trollope!" Mayor Dix yelled.
"Sir..." A man said. "I believe... that's your wife..."
Maggie narrowed her eyes at her father. "Seriously Dad?!" She scolded him. "The Mayor's wife?!"
"I didn't know she was married to him!" Jack told her. "I mean I assumed she was married, usually that's the case... but not to him!"
The woman gasped upon realizing her surroundings and quickly got up and rushed out of the bank. She stopped when she saw her husband.
"Frances?!" Mayor Dix yelped.
She gasped and ran into the crowd.
"Daddy, we've gotta hurry!" Maggie whispered.
"Hush, Luv" Jack said "Daddy's trying to think..."
"But we gotta hurry up and rob the bank!" Maggie hissed.
"No, that's not it..." He shook his head.
"But Daddy!" Maggie exclaimed.
"Wait... I've got it!" Captain Jack said, turning to the crowd. "I've got it! I'm robbing the bank!"
"Mmm..." Maggie rolled her eyes.
"SHOOT THEM!" Mayor Dix ordered, fuming now more than ever.
Jack and Maggie barely had time to gasp as the bullets started to fly, they hit the floor and covered their heads.
As the gunfire seized for a moment, Maggie glanced behind her and noticed the ropes tied to the vault were growing taunt. The vault was yanked to the back wall of the building, but it didn't go through it as they planned. Soon the wood lining around the foundation of the bank began to crack and splinter up the walls. Then there was an ear-splitting creaking sound before the bank... got pulled straight off it's foundation?!
Maggie and her father got up off the floor and watched as the bank got pulled away by the team of horses and into the streets of Saint Martin. The father-daughter duo were just as stunned as the crowd of bystanders.
"How?!" Was all Maggie could manage.
Captain Jack turned to face the crowd. "That was not part of the plan!" He told them.
However as he said this, Jack had no idea their was a stray rope attached to the bank growing taunt around his ankle. He was soon yanked off his feet and dragged along behind the bank.
Maggie watched as the soldiers rushed forward, she ducked into a nearby alleyway and began running away from the soldiers. Although most of them seemed to be after her father and his runaway bank.
Maggie darted through the back streets of Saint Martin, trying to stay out of sight from the soldiers and catch up to her father. She finally stopped to catch her breath beside a staircase behind some houses. She squinted in the sunlight, trying to see the bank or her father, but she had lost them both.
"Dad, where are you?" She asked, exasperated. "I swear that man can go from one place to another so quick! Next thing you know he'll fall right out the sky!"
Then as if on cue, there was a racket in the house above her and the screeching of a cat, followed by Captain Jack falling down the flight of stairs and landing headfirst at her feet.
Maggie stared up the sky. "It's raining pirates" she muttered to herself. "Hallelujah!"
Jack stood up, looking dazed from landing on his head. "I fell off the bank, Gibbs" he said, patting Maggie's head.
"Daddy, I'm Maggie" she reminded him.
"Yeah! I fell off the bank, Gibbs!" Jack told her, still dazed.
"Daddy, I'm Maggie!" She told him again.
"Not now, Master Gibbs!" Jack said "I got a bank to catch and rum to drink."
"Daddy!" Maggie stormed off after him, knowing he would get caught.
Captain Jack stumbled into the street, drinking from his bottle. Maggie's breath hitched as a whole pack of Guards came and... ran right past him?
Maggie rolled her eyes. "There they go! Saint Martin's finest!" She mumbled sarcastically.
Maggie followed her father as he stumbled into a cartographery shop called Swift & Son's Chart House. As soon as the two strolled inside, they stumbled upon a young woman in a blue dress with black hair and blue eyes and a fidgety looking man pointing a gun at her.
"Help! There's a witch in my shop!" He shouted. Then his eyes fell on Jack and Maggie "And two pirates! There's a witch and two pirates in my shop!"
"Is this anything like the joke about the rabbi and the priest in a bar?" Maggie asked. "Cause I've heard it already!"
"Have either of the four of you seen our bank?" Captain Jack asked.
Just then the runaway bank smashed into the building, demolishing the front end of the shop!
"Found it!" Jack yelled over the sound of falling debris.
Captain Jack grabbed Maggie and the witch and pulled them out of the shop and into the back alley to escape.
"Jack and Maggie Sparrow!"
"Carina Smyth!"
...Unfortunately, he also led them right into view of Guards, who up until that point had thought they lost track of the pirates and the witch. Now seeing their prey they chased after them, Jack, Maggie and Carina ran in the opposite direction, turning corners when they could.
"Were you part of the plan?" Jack asked Carina in confusion.
"I'm not looking for trouble" Carina assured him.
"What a horrible way to live!" Jack told her.
The trio turned another corner and came to a stone wall, they were trapped! Maggie looked all over for something to escape with...
"Daddy!" Maggie pointed to a shop with headless mannequins in it's display window.
As the Guards finally caught up, they were confused to find the pirates and their witch were gone. However, they failed to notice that they were posing behind the mannequins in the window to look like the heads.
"I need to escape" Carina whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "Can you help me?"
"That man back there called you a witch" Maggie muttered. "Witch aren't the type of thing we like to get mixed up in."
"Witches are bad luck at sea" Captain Jack nodded in agreement.
"We're not at sea" Carina replied.
"True... but we are pirates" Maggie told her.
"But I am clearly not a witch" Carina retorted.
"Then someone here is very confused" Jack told them.
"There they are!" One Guard spotted them in the window.
The trio tore out of the shop window and out the back door, which led them to a rickety wooden ladder. They climbed to the roof and stared down at the town and the Guards were swarming all around them.
"We're trapped!" Carina breathed "What do we do?"
Maggie stared at the supposed witch and then at the guards and then at the ground below. She shot her father a questioning look.
Captain Jack gave her nod of approval back.
Maggie tugged on Carina's skirt and motioned for her to come closer to her. "Come here, I have something to tell you" she said "Some information that might just save your life..."
Carina bent down to the younger girl's height. Maggie grabbed her shoulders and made Carina face her.
"First of all, take a deep breath..." Maggie told her.
Carina inhaled deeply...
"Now scream!" Maggie said quickly, before shoving Carina off the roof as if she were nothing of consequence.
And scream Carina did! Before landing onto the back of a straw wagon, passing by. The guards, having heard her scream, now took off after her!
Carina stared back at Jack and Maggie who were now safe and out of harm's way.
"You filthy pirates!" She shouted back at them.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, dearie!" Maggie hollered back.
The bank was now being pulled parallel to them as Jack and Maggie ran across the rooftops after it.
As he ran Captain Jack grabbed Maggie and picked her up. He took a running leap before grabbing a hold of a flagpole and swinging off the flag and toppling onto the rooftop of the bank.
Maggie shakily stood on top of the roof of the bank, smiling up at her father. This was it! They were finally gonna get their money! They were finally getting out of Saint Martin! They were gonna pull this off!
"JACK!" Mr. Gibbs shouted warning to her father.
Maggie and her father looked ahead to see a low hanging bridge near the town limits.
"Daddy..." Maggie said, her voice shaking with nerves.
"Bridge?" Jack said in confusion.
Captain Jack grabbed Maggie, who buried her head in the crook of his neck. As the bank collided with the bridge, Jack jumped and ran over the stone bridge as the bank was destroyed upon collision. Jack and Maggie screamed until they fell directly onto the vault, which was the only thing left of the bank. The remains of the destroyed bank blocked the guards way and halted their chase.
Maggie grinned. This was it, mind you not everything went exactly according to plan. But in the end, they got the bank vault, they lost the guards and now, Maggie was certain her Daddy's luck had returned!
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