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Chapter Text

Chapter 1. The Boy in the Water

A young, redheaded girl stood on the forecastle deck, staring into the water. With only old men around there wasn’t much to do for a young lady, she was bored out of her mind. They had been on the water for days and it would take several more before they would finally arrive. The ten year old Natasha already read all her books and she hated embroidery. She had thrown it overboard the twentieth time she pricked her finger. Natasha just wasn’t much of a lady, but her father wouldn’t allow her to help around. The dark-skinned man wasn’t her real father, but he had brought her up, she had to be grateful for that, so she listened to him.

‘Why can’t we meet a bunch of pirates,’ Natasha muttered under her breath.

‘What were you saying?’ Captain Rhodes, who appeared next to her, asked.

‘Nothing, Captain,’ she said with a sweet smile. The smile usually worked, but Rhodes frowned.

‘You were talking about pirates, that’s dangerous business, especially in these waters, young lady. You know how many ships went down here? If we meet pirates here, none of us will ever get home again. They will kill us all and burn down the ship.’

‘What are you telling my daughter, Captain Rhodes?’ Nick Fury asked. ‘You don’t tell girls stories of fire and blood! She’s too young for that.’

‘She wished to meet pirates, sir,’ the captain said calmly. ‘I only told her that she shouldn’t wish for such dangerous things.’

‘You…’ Fury started, but he was interrupted by his daughter.

‘A boy, there is a boy in the water!’ Natasha said as she pointed. ‘Over there, on the barrel.’

‘GET HIM OUT OF THE WATER!’ Captain Rhodes shouted and immediately his crew went to work. Within a minute the boy was on the deck and a few men checked to see if his  

heart was still beating and if he was still breathing. His skin felt extremely cold, but other than that he seemed to be alright. Natasha curiously looked at the blond kid as they wrapped several blankets around him to get him warm and dry.

‘Where could he have come from?’ Fury asked.

‘I don’t know, but like I said, these are dangerous waters. Who knows what has happened here in the fog,’ the Captain answered. ‘We have to keep our eyes open.

‘Natasha, I want you to look after the kid,’ Fury said. ‘Try to find out who he is and what happened to him. Feed him, if he wakes up.

‘Yes, father,’ Natasha said, before she sighed. The excitement was over already, so she dutifully sat down next to the kid. It took about an hour before the boy finally woke up. With a gasp he sat up straight and breathed heavily. He looked around with panic in his eyes, until he noticed the redheaded girl sitting next to him.

‘Where am I?’ he asked, before coughing the last water out of his lungs. Natasha patted his back until he was able to speak again. ‘How did I get here?’

‘We found you in the water,’ she explained. ‘Who are you? How did you get in the water?’

‘Steve Rogers,’ the kid said, before coughing again. He lay back down, shivering, pulling the blankets tighter around his small frame. He closed his eyes and was out again. Natasha gently shook him, but he didn’t open his eyes anymore. She quickly checked, but he was still breathing. Carefully she peeled the blankets aside. When Steve sat up, she noticed something interesting. She took a golden necklace from under the blankets. No, not a necklace, a medallion. There was a skull on the medallion, a skull, like she had seen on the flags of pirates. Her eyes widened. Steve was a pirate.

‘Did you find out anything?’ Fury asked.

‘No, no, not much,’ Natasha said as she hid the medallion in her dress. ‘His name is Steve Rogers, but he passed out before he could say anything else.’

~

Natasha woke up with a loud gasp. It had been years since she had dreamed about that day, the first day she met Steve. Quickly she stepped out of bed and walked to her closet. She pulled open one of the drawers and took her jewelry box out. Hidden by expensive things she had only worn once was the medallion. Natasha had wanted to give it back to Steve as soon as they were back on land, but it was more than ten years later and she still had it. Somehow she couldn’t believe Steve had been a pirate. He was one of the nicest and friendliest guys she ever met. Maybe he didn’t remember? He sure had never mentioned it in all those years.

‘Natasha, are you decent?’ Fury asked her from the other side of her bedroom door.

Natasha hung the medallion around her neck and hid it inside her nightgown. ‘Yes father, you can come in,’ she answered as she put the jewelry box back in the drawer.

Nick Fury walked in, a big box in his arms. He placed the box on her bed and gestured her to open it. Wearily Natasha walked to the bed and opened the box. There was a dress inside. There was always a dress inside. Her father should know by now that she didn’t care about clothes, but apparently he cared.

‘It’s really nice, thank you,’ she said, as she had been taught.

‘Latest fashion from Europe,’ Fury said. ‘Apparently all the girls in France wear it. Now hurry up and get dressed, today James Barnes will become commodore and you need to be there. In that dress.’

‘I’ll be there in time!’ she answered.

Fury left her room as a maid walked in, to help Natasha with her clothes. The maid helped her into the different layers of heavy fabric, before pulling the string of the corset tightly. Natasha gasped for air. What kind of fashion was this? This was torture! Couldn’t she just wear one of her normal dresses? She looked in the mirror and sighed. It did look very good on her, especially if she pulled up her hair, but was it really worth not being able to breath?

Bucky, or James Barnes, as her father called him, was one of her friends. The guy was an amazing sword fighter and he could shoot a target that was a hundred feet away. He was one of the only people that was better at fighting than she was, so he was the man for the job. He’d be an amazing commodore. He was the only reason she didn’t rip the strings of the corset with a knife already. Bucky was head over heels for her, so his reward for becoming commodore was that he could ogle at her in this dress. Maybe it would convince him to give her one of the navy’s new guns. She just hoped she would get enough air to actually arrive at the ceremony to ask him.

When she was done, Natasha carefully walked down the stairs. She didn’t want to step on the dress and trip. Halfway down she heard a familiar voice. Steve. Steve was downstairs. She walked a little faster, so she could see her friend. Steve and Fury were talking, but they both looked up when they heard footsteps.

‘Steve, it’s been ages! I dreamed about you last night.’

The huge blond man, with big arms, a broad chest and strong hands, looked nothing like the scrawny kid they got out of the water so many years ago. Becoming a blacksmith had helped with that. He had grown to become this specimen that all the girls were talking about.

‘I hope it were nice dreams,’ Steve said, a friendly smile on his face. He kissed her hand shortly when she arrived downstairs, always the gentleman.

‘See, Rogers here knows how you should behave. You don’t go around telling men you dreamed about them, Natasha,’ Fury said.

Natasha rolled her eyes. ‘What are you doing here, Steve?’

‘Today is the day James will become commodore. Your father asked my boss to make him a present. I’m here to deliver it,’ Steve said, before turning to Fury. ‘Would you like to see it, sir?’

Fury nodded and Steve carefully opened the big, black box. There was a long, fine sword in it, shining beautifully. It was nicely decorated and looked perfectly sharp. Fury took the sword out of the box and felt the weight. He swung it around a few times before he put it back.

‘A very nice sword,’ he said. ‘Tell your boss he did a great job. One of the servants will come to pay you. Thank you very much, mister Rogers.’

‘Thank you, mister Fury,’ Steve said, bowing slightly. He watched the man leave before he turned to Natasha. ‘It’s nice to see you again, Nat. You look great in that dress, but it also looks uncomfortable. You okay?’

‘It’s hell, I can hardly breathe,’ she complained. ‘I don’t even dare to eat breakfast. Those strings might snap if I take a single bite. But my beloved father got it for me, imported from France, especially for this day, so Bucky can see me wear it.’

‘Don’t you mean, commodore James Barnes?’ Steve asked.

Natasha snorted. ‘Yeah, that’s the one I’m talking about. Don’t you love it when he is suddenly a very neat boy when my father is around? Nothing like the guy who used to drink too much, who played stupid games, and somehow always lost his money on dumb bets. He can be such an idiot.’

Steve laughed. ‘Yeah, it’s amazing that guy will be our commodore. But he’ll love to see you dressed up for him. I hope his eyes won’t fall out of his head. Your breasts look very impressive in the corset. Too bad I won’t be able to see his reaction.’

‘You’re not coming?’ Natasha asked.

‘I’m not invited,’ Steve said. ‘I can make the present, I don’t get credit for making it, I get paid and I go home. That’s the life of a blacksmith. But you have to tell me if he embarrassed himself in front of everyone, alright? I saw him this morning and he was really nervous. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tripped over nothing.’

‘You’re proud of him,’ Natasha said. It wasn’t a question.

‘Yes, I am. He’s one of my best friends. Just an ordinary orphan, and look what he accomplished! Commodore! I’m very proud of him. Too bad he will be overseas even more often now. We never have much time to hang out anymore.’

‘I’ll talk to him for you,’ Natasha promised. ‘Only because you’re the only man in the world who’s eyes don’t fall out of his head when seeing me in this dress.’

Steve chuckled. ‘Thanks Nat, you’re an amazing friend.’

Chapter Text

Chapter 2. Captain Tony Stark

A small boat, with a ripped, dirty sail, sailed into the harbor of Port Royale. There was only one passenger, a man, who was trying to get the water out of the little boat, using a bucket with holes. The boat was only taking on more water and slowly sunk lower and lower. His boots were soaked and by the time the water reached his pants, the man decided to find higher grounds. He climbed the mast and stood on top of it as the boat slowly sailed into the harbor. When the boat sunk so low that almost the entire mast was under water as well, he arrived at the dock and the man could step on dry land, just before his feet would disappear in the water again. With a smug expression he looked at all the baffled people.

‘Sir, you have to pay two shillings for that boat,’ said the dock master. ‘And I’ll need your name.’

‘What about I pay you four shillings and you make up a name?’ the man asked, putting four shillings in the hand of the dock master.

‘Of course, welcome to Port Royale, mister Smith.’

‘Mister Smith’ never left the docks. Somehow it was really quiet and he could use that for the activities that he had planned out. He heard a single shot of a cannon, somewhere not too far away, but since it was just that single one, he didn’t really pay attention to it. Probably some official ceremony going on. Good, very good, he could use that. He slowly made his way to the other side of the docks, where the big, military ships were harbored. There were only two at the moment. One was in the docks and a bunch of guys were working on it, repairs, things like that. The other one was a bit further away, a few hundred yards out of the harbor, completely ready to sail away. The man had his eyes on the ship that was ready to go, when suddenly two guards popped up.

‘Excuse me, sir, but these docks are off limit for civilians,’ said one guard.

‘Give us your name and state your purpose, sir,’ the other said.

‘Alright, gentlemen, since you asked nicely, my name is Captain Tony Stark,’ the man said. ‘I’m here to recruit a crew, steal a ship, and take your wives.’

The two guards laughed and Tony laughed with them.

‘Alright, without any jokes this time, sir, what are you doing here?’

‘Just admiring these two magnificent ships,’ Tony said. ‘The royal navy always has the best things, but these boats surely are the highest form of perfection that can be achieved when it comes to ships. Please tell me a little about them.’

‘Well, this one here came back from a small battle with a pirate ship a few days ago,’ explained the first guard. ‘It’s being repaired now. Strongest and sturdiest ship in the world, sir, that’s why it’s called The Shield. The one further away is ready to sail, the new commodore will leave tomorrow. It’s called The Avenger, it’s the fastest ship in the seven seas!’

‘Fascinating!’ Tony said. ‘But is it faster than The Iron Man?’

‘The Iron Man doesn’t exist, The Avenger does,’ said one of the guards with a frown. ‘Nobody has ever actually seen it. There are just stories about how everyone who has seen the ship dies.’

‘If everyone who sees it dies, then where do the stories come from?’ Tony asked. Neither of the guards had an answer for that. ‘So, we don’t know if it’s faster than The Iron Man. But, something you do probably know about, what is going on in the city. Why the cannon shots? Something big happening today?’

‘Yes, we’re getting a new commodore, the one who will be sailing out tomorrow,’ said the guard. ‘A good man, I spoke to him once.’

‘And you two were not invited to the little party they’re having up there?’

‘Well, someone has to guard the docks, right?’

~

Natasha couldn’t really follow what was going on during the ceremony. She had a hard time breathing and she tried everything to move her dress a little, just to get some air. The moment Bucky walked in she put on her smile and his reaction was worth it all. He tried his very best to keep a straight face, but he was blushing and his eyes kept moving back to her until she was completely out of sight. That moment Natasha returned to taking short, quick breaths. She saw how Bucky walked past all his men, who saluted him. She saw how they placed the sword on his shoulder, but she couldn’t hear the words. It didn’t help that it was so ridiculously hot today.

The ceremony seemed to take forever. After the cannon was shot and Fury named Bucky the new commodore, almost every single one of his men wanted to congratulate him and take a look at his pretty new sword. Natasha just wanted to sit down, but there were no chairs anywhere, and she knew she’d get scolded if she just sat down on the ground again. So she waited and she waited, but then finally Bucky stood in front of her, goofy smile on his face, and asked her if she wanted to go for a little walk.

‘So, commodore Barnes, doesn’t sound bad,’ Natasha said as they walked up to the high walls of the building, so they could look at the sea.

‘No, I still can’t really believe it though. Why would they make me the commodore?’ Bucky laughed. ‘But here I am, in the fancy costume. Too bad Steve couldn’t be here.’

‘I saw him this morning, he is very proud of you,’ Natasha said, breathing a bit heavy.

Bucky smiled widely. They reached the top and for a few seconds he stared at the big ships in the harbor. ‘He also made the sword, didn’t he. He is such a great friend. You too, Nat, you’re amazing. And you look great in that dress, couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I guess there is something I want to ask you before I leave tomorrow. Probably really bad timing and all, but…’

Natasha tried her best to listen to her friend, but she really needed air.

‘…and I really like you and I wanted to ask you…’

Natasha felt the strains as he tried to take a deep breath. Her ribs hurt and she felt a little light headed.

‘…if you want to marry me?’

Natasha gasped. ‘I can’t breathe,’ she whispered.

Bucky thought she was talking about the proposal and a wide grin spread across his face, until Natasha fell over, her legs hitting the small wall, toppling over it, falling down in the water below.

‘Nat!’ Bucky shouted. He was about to jump in when one of this men stopped him.

‘Sir, the rocks, it’s a miracle she didn’t hit them, you can’t jump here!’

‘LET SOMEONE GET HER OUT!’ Bucky shouted and he ran downstairs as quickly as he could.

~

Down at the docks Tony was still arguing with the two dumb guards. He was sure this was the perfect time to get one of those ships, with everyone else partying. Until they heard a loud splash and a lot of shouting. Someone had fallen into the water. The guards looked at each other and then at Tony, but didn’t move.

‘Go save her!’ Tony said.

‘I can’t swim,’ said one guard.

‘Me neither,’ said the other.

‘Calling themselves the fucking navy!’ Tony muttered as he dropped his belt with his gun, left his hat and boots and jumped into the water. He dove deeper and deeper. It hurt to open his eyes, the salt water stung, but he had to see where she was, he had to find her. The moment Tony spotted the girl, he swam towards her and pulled her corset off. He had seen them before, he had seen what they could do. With the corset gone he swam back to the surface, pulling the girl along. It didn’t go fast, he could use only one of his arms, but when he resurfaced a group of navy soldiers were rowing towards him, getting them both in their little boat.

Natasha coughed up water. She was breathing heavily, but she was still alive. She opened her eyes and noticed the wet man beside her. She coughed some more, before she felt two strong arms help her up on solid ground again. It was Bucky.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked, fear in his eyes.

‘Yeah, not thanks to you though,’ she bit back.

‘You’re welcome, no problem,’ Tony said as he stepped off the boat as well. ‘Gotta save a damsel in distress when I see one. My advice; you look great in those dresses, but they are more for sitting down than for walking around in hot weather.’

‘Thank you, mister…’ Bucky said.

‘Stark! Captain Tony Stark. You must be the new commodore. Congratulations. The job and the girl. Well done, my friend, well done.’

Bucky grabbed Tony’s hand. ‘No, really thank you,’ he said, with a friendly smile. Then his expression changed and he moved up Tony’s sleeve, revealing a P burned into his skin. ‘Thank you, mister pirate, but you’ll hang. Handcuff him!’

‘I save your girl from drowning and you’ll hang me?’ Tony asked, glaring at the handcuffs. ‘Such a nice place Port Royale is. Definitely coming back here for a vacation or something. Maybe on your wedding day. I love weddings, free drinks, oh it’s been too long since I had a drink. Can I have one before you hang me?’

Distracting everyone with his babbling Tony suddenly wrapped his arms around Natasha’s neck, the cuffs against her throat, holding her in a tight grip. Immediately all the soldiers grabbed  their swords and guns and pointed them at the pirate. Tony grinned at all of them, shielding himself with Natasha. If they wanted to hurt him, they had to hurt her. Slowly he stepped closer to the water.

‘Alright, so now that I have your attention, I would like to have my stuff back. My hat, shoes, belt, everything. Or I’ll drag this lovely girl into the water with me.’

‘Give them to him,’ Bucky hissed through his teeth.

The two guards he had talked to before came running with his things and handed them to Tony.

‘Help me out here, beautiful?’ Tony asked.

Natasha turned around in his grip, facing her captor. She helped him with his boots, buckled his belt around his hips, and placed the hat on his head. She looked him straight in the eyes and kicked him in the balls. Tony cried out and Natasha quickly removed his hands from around her neck. She gave him a little push and made him fall backwards in the water, disappearing under the surface.

‘No! He doesn’t get away with this!’ Bucky shouted and told his men to shoot that bloody pirate. They fired their guns at the place where Tony had gone under, but nothing happened. The pirate was gone.

‘Why did you do that, Nat? He escaped!’ Bucky said angry. ‘He threatened you.’

‘He also saved me,’ Natasha said simply. ‘He saved my life, I saved his. I don’t like debts. Also, you’re a smart guy, commodore, you’ll find him again.’

In her wet underdress she walked away from the docks.

~

Tony didn’t drown. He was a pretty good swimmer, used to holding his breath for a long time. He had resurfaced behind a few boats, away from the prying eyes of the navy men. He hid for a while, so he could dry up a little, before he went into town to find a way to get rid of the handcuffs. It was hard enough to walk around unnoticed with all the guards around, but with the handcuffs it was even harder. They were very visible and made way too much noise.

It took him a while, but after crossing half of the city, Tony finally found a smithy. He peeked through one of the windows and noticed nobody was around. Perfect. This was his chance. He might be able to get rid of these chains before anyone would walk in on him. Tony quickly sneaked inside and started searching for materials. He was startled when he found a man, sleeping in his chair, but he seemed to be so drunk that no sound was loud enough to wake him.

Tony slapped the mule’s ass, making it walk, putting everything in motion. He put the chains in the machinery and as the big wheels spun, they crushed the chain, giving Tony a bit more space to move his arms. The cuffs were still around his wrists though. He grabbed a wire and tried to pick the lock. It was easy on his left arm, he could work with his right hand, but removing the cuff on the right wrist proved to be a bit more difficult. He almost got it when suddenly the door opened and a blond man walked in.

Steve stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the pirate in the smithy. He dropped his bags in surprise.

‘Love, I can promise you, this is not the worst thing people caught me doing,’ Tony joked.

The long coat, the belt, the boots, the head band and the goatee, Steve knew immediately that this guy had to be a pirate. The pirate. The one Bucky just told him about, the one that saved Natasha, before he threatened her. This guy escaped and Steve would help his friend to lock him up.

‘You’re the pirate they’re looking for,’ Steve said as he took one of his swords from the wall. ‘Surrender and I’ll deliver you to the guards unharmed.’

Tony got up and took a sword as well. He swung it around, a smirk on his lips. Without hesitation he attacked Steve, but Steve managed to block everything easily. He even managed to put in a few attacks of his own, but Tony was good and he dodged them.

‘You’re more than just a pretty face then,’ Tony grinned. ‘I like it. Show me what else you can do.’

Steve attacked first this time, aiming for Tony’s weaker spots, but he didn’t manage to get him down or to make him drop his weapon. They moved through the entire work shop as they sparred, scaring the mule.

‘I’m a blacksmith,’ Steve said. ‘I can’t make swords if I don’t know how to use them. I practiced with them, every day, with the commodore, actually.’

Tony was all over the place. He moved around, jumped on top of boxes, only to jump off again when Steve’s sword got close to him. His movements were quick and graceful, but Steve was fast too, and flexible, so he easily could keep up with the other man.

‘You have fancy friends, for a blacksmith,’ Tony noted. ‘The commodore himself. I’m impressed. He found himself a pretty girl. I might even be a bit jealous. Then again, you’re very nice on the eyes as well.’

Steve got a bit angry when the pirate started talking about his two best friends. It was stupid of him to talk about them, this guy shouldn’t know about any of his weaknesses. Then again, this guy liked his looks, maybe he should use that to his advantage.

‘Yes, I have some nice friends, they’re all looking for you. It won’t be long before they find you,’ Steve commented. ‘Maybe you should stop fighting and just surrender. You wouldn’t want to hurt my pretty face, do you?’

Tony kept running around. He loved how this guy could keep up with him. He was good, really good, and he could still joke around when he fought, Tony liked that in a guy. Too bad they had to meet like this.

‘Can’t do that, honey, can’t have my own good looks locked up in some dark prison. It would be a crime against humanity!’

Steve had to be careful, his opponent started playing dirty. He had thrown several things at Steve and he stepped on lose floor boards, hoping they would flip up on the other side and kick Steve in the shins, or worse, having the wrong kind of wood between his legs. Steve stepped up his game and moved quicker.

‘I think humanity will survive without seeing your face,’ Steve said.

Tony laughed. He jumped from a barrel to one of the cupboards, but he wasn’t quick enough. Steve grabbed his leg and pulled him back down. They both fell on the floor. Tony rolled away from the blacksmith, but Steve grabbed his coat. Tony slid out of the garment like a snake, picked his sword up and turned back to his attacker.

‘But can you still do without me?’ Tony said, making eyes at Steve. He was about to make another sarcastic comment when something hit his head and he fell unconscious on the floor.

Steve looked surprised at the pirate, then at his boss, who stood there with a broken bottle in his hand. He had smashed it on the pirates head.

‘Bloody people always trying to sneak into my smithy,’ the man mumbled before he sat down in his lazy chair again.

Steve didn’t really like winning this way. He preferred a fair fight, but what’s done is done. He quickly went to alarm one of the guards and not much later Bucky arrived at the smithy with a group of his men.

‘Well done, Stevie,’ he said as he looked how the pirate got cuffed again, hands behind his back this time. ‘You should have become part of the guard as well. We can always use men like you.’

‘It wasn’t me,’ Steve said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. ‘I was fighting him, but he was pretty good. My boss hit him with an empty bottle.’

Bucky laughed. ‘Oh, this is brilliant. You are way too nice and honest for this world, Steve. You know hundreds of dirty tricks, you could have gotten him a long time ago, but you just had to win fair and square, didn’t you? Well, at least we got him and you’re unharmed.’

‘Yeah, just don’t let him escape again, mister commodore, not even when it’s the beautiful Natasha that  tries to set him free.’

Chapter Text

Chapter 3. The Iron Man

Natasha went to bed early that night. Her maid helped her to get out of her clothes and prepared the bed. Natasha herself was standing on her balcony, looking at the sea. It had been too long since she had gone out there to see the world.

‘What are you daydreaming about?’ the maid asked. They had known each other for two decades already and Natasha trusted her. ‘Is it about the proposal of commodore Barnes? Is he the one you want to marry, if you don’t mind me being so free to ask.’

‘No, it’s alright, I wasn’t thinking about him, or his proposal,’ Natasha said as he walked back inside and closed the doors.

‘You don’t look very happy. Is it because you would rather marry the blond blacksmith, what is his name again? Mister Rogers?’ the maid asked curiously.

Natasha raised her eyebrows. ‘You do speak too freely,’ she said shortly. ‘But no, I wasn’t thinking about him either. Now, if you don’t mind, I want to go to bed.’

‘I’m sorry, milady,’ the maid said quickly. She wanted to leave the room, but at that moment there was a loud explosion. It wasn’t too close by, but they could feel the vibrations, the ground was shaking. Natasha hurried back to the balcony, just in time to see another explosion in the city. By the light of the fire she could see an unknown ship in the harbor. Probably pirates.

Now that the sound of the explosion had faded, Natasha could hear the ruckus in the city. People were screaming and fighting and running around. One by one the buildings caught fire and the city started burning.

‘Shit,’ Natasha muttered. ‘We gotta do something.’

She was about to grab a weapon and go into the city, when she noticed a bunch of guys climbing the path towards her house. There was a lot to get in their mansion, but that was not what Natasha was worried about. Most of the staff was helpless and Fury was not around at the moment. They all depended on her.

She pulled open one of the drawers and grabbed some weapons she had hidden underneath her clothes. She gave her maid a knife and told her to defend herself if necessary, before she walked out of the room. With several guns, a sword and a few knives, Natasha ran down the stairs. The pirates had already managed to kick in the door and stood in the hallway. Natasha fired one of the guns at them, but her shots missed. She threw the gun away and used some knives instead. She had always been better with knives.

They hit their targets. Two men fell down and another tried to run with two knives in his leg. Natasha shot him in the back before running after the others, who hid in the living room. She kicked the doors open and looked around. Four guys were searching through drawers and cupboards, while one was waiting for her, weapons in hand. He started shooting at her the moment she walked through the doors. Natasha dove aside, rolled over the floor and hid behind the furniture. Instead of shooting back at her opponent, she shot the other four down first. At least she didn’t have to worry about them suddenly attacking her. She got up from behind her hiding place and ran to the other side of the room, shooting with her left hand and throwing a knife with her right. She hit her target; the knife hit the pirate in his chest and he fell backwards on the ground.

With a small smirk Natasha went to collect her knives. She had to go into town and help the people there, but to do so she needed her weapons. Steve probably had some things lying around as well, but it was good to be prepared. It had been a while since the two of them went pirate hunting together. She was looking forward to it.

As she pulled the knife out of the pirate’s chest, the dead body moved and grabbed her wrist. Natasha let out a yelp, but quickly recovered and stabbed him again. Apparently she hadn’t hit his heart the first time, but that wouldn’t happen again. She stood up straight again when suddenly several arms grabbed her and took her weapons away from her. Natasha tried to kick all hands away, but more pirates showed up and held her arms and legs. She struggled to get away, using every fighting technique she ever learned to get away.

‘Fight all you want, poppy, you’re not getting away from us!’ said one of the pirates who had a weirdly blueish skin.

Natasha looked at him and her eyes widened at what she saw. The guy that was talking to her was the one she shot straight through the head in the hallway. Yet here he was, completely unharmed. The same for the others. All the pirates she had killed were back on their feet and they slowly dragged her out of the house. How was that possible? She was sure she killed all of them! How could they be alive?

‘Is it really her?’ asked one of the pirates with a weird accent. ‘Does she have the medallion?’

‘She does,’ said a very pale guy with dark eyes. ‘I can feel it. She has it.’

He grabbed the chain of her necklace and pulled it out of her nightgown. The gold medallion glistened in the weak light of the moon.

‘What’s your name, poppy?’ asked the blue-skinned one.

‘None of your fucking business!’ Natasha said, kicking him in the crotch.

‘Oh, but it is our business,’ said another, pulling her arms tighter behind her. ‘What is your name?!’

‘Natasha,’ she said. ‘Natasha Rogers.’

‘Rogers! You hear that guys? Take her to the ship! We got what we came for!’

~

Steve was still working when he heard the explosion. People were screaming and crying and deep voices shouted to take whatever they could carry.

Pirates!

Immediately Steve was on his feet. He took his favorite sword, grabbed a few knives, and ran onto the streets. There were people everywhere, running away from the explosions, trying to find a safe place. Others came out with weapons as well, attacking the pirates that were roaming the streets. Steve stabbed one that walked past him with a knife. The pirate fell face first on the ground. Steve stepped over his dead body and moved on to the next one. Normally he was a gentle person, but he hated bullies.

He fought his way through the crowds, making sure he only took down the bad guys. Slowly he made his way towards the harbor, where a lot of Bucky’s guards were fighting, but it seemed like they were struggling. Steve had almost reached them, when suddenly a rather tall pirate stepped in front of him, a big grin on his face. Steve attacked him with his sword. They fought for a few minutes, when Steve finally managed to stab his sword in his opponent’s chest. The pirate fell on the ground and Steve made was on his way towards the guards again.

He had cuts on his arms and legs, but he kept going, he had seen too many citizens die already. Steve found himself another pirate and tried to disarm him. It didn’t work, he lost his own sword instead, but Steve was all but useless without weapons. With a single kick in the chest he got the pirate in the water. Steve didn’t stay to watch him drown. He quickly picked his sword back up, only to stand face to face with the tall pirate again, the one he had stabbed in the chest. There was no blood on him, he had no wounds at all. What kind of sorcery was this?

Steve had no time to think about it. Something hit his head hard and he fell unconscious on the ground.

~

Tony sat in his cell. He was locked up only a few hours ago, but he was already bored out of his mind. The guys in the cell next to him had saved parts of their dinner and were trying to get the dog to come closer. Tony had wondered why they would want the dog, but then he noticed the furry animal had keys around his neck. The keys of their cells. Tony rolled his eyes. It wasn’t like the dog would ever come to them, the animal was trained.

‘Can’t you see he isn’t hungry?’ Tony asked. ‘He is better fed than most of you, so could you shut it and be quiet, for like fucking five minutes?’

‘You just got here, we’ve been here for days, we’d like to get out of here,’ said one of the other prisoners angry.

‘Oh, you think I like it here? Because yeah, why not, my cell is just like a hotel compared to yours,’ Tony said, sarcasm dripping in his voice. ‘You’ve been here for days and the fucking dog never even looked your way. It’s not going to work, so…’

Nobody heard the rest of his sentence, because the loud sound of a cannon crashed through the air. All of the prisoners hurried to the tiny window to see what was going on. Tony’s eyes had widened, but he hadn’t moved. He knew that sound. He knew that sound all too well. Slowly he got up and peeked through his own window. He was right, there she was, his beautiful ship, The Iron Man.

Bloody Justin Hammer.

Tony watched how the pirates took over the city in no time. They swarmed through the place like bugs and took whatever they wanted. Another cannon was fired and all the prisoners dove away from the window. The metal ball smashed through the wall of the prison, crushed the door of the cell and came to a stop against the next wall, damaging it beyond repair.

The prisoners cheered when they notice the huge hole in the wall. It was big enough for them to climb through and one by one they escaped, running into the chaotic city. Everyone, except Tony.

‘Not your lucky day, mate,’ one of the other prisoners said before he climbed outside.

There were metal bars separating Tony from his freedom. The cannon made a small hole in his cell as well, but hardly enough for him to climb through. He’d pierce his own body on the pointy ends of the bars if he tried. Tony cursed softly as he sat back down. He noticed the bone the others had used to get the dog’s attention. Tony shrugged, took the bone, and whistled at the dog, trying to get him to look this way. For a few seconds the dog looked at him, before he ran off.

Tony cursed loudly.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4. Leaving Port Royale

Natasha was pulled on the unfamiliar ship. She was still fighting these pirates, even though she knew they were pretty hard to kill. If she could make them let go of her arms she could escape. She was fast, she could probably outrun them all. But at least two guys were holding her at all time and no matter what she did or what dirty things she offered them, they wouldn’t let her go.

She didn’t make a sound when they threw her on the deck of their ship. She simply got up and glared at them. Slowly all the pirates came back from the city, some empty handed, others with arms full of gold. The moment all of them were back a door opened and a blond man stepped out. He didn’t look impressive, especially not compared to the other pirates. His clothes were pretty normal, he didn’t carry any weapons, he had no scars and he wasn’t particularly tall or broad. Natasha knew she could snap him in two with her thighs if they gave her the chance.

The man had a smirk on his face as he slowly approached her. He looked at her from head to toe and then grinned at his men.

‘You sure this is the one we’re looking for?’ he asked. ‘Or did you guys just searched for the prettiest little thing you could find and dragged that back here. Because you know we’re on an actual mission here, right?’

‘She has the medallion,’ shouted one of the pirates who attacked Natasha in her house. ‘She has the right name. She is the one we’re looking for. Her looks are just a little something extra.’

‘Show me the medallion,’ the captain ordered.

‘Who are you and why do you want to see it?’ Natasha asked.

The whole crew laughed, but Natasha didn’t budge. She just looked the captain in the eyes and waited for an answer. The captain was still grinning as he made his way towards her.

‘Wouldn’t you like to know,’ he told her, his face close to hers.

Natasha spit in his face before she kicked him in the chest, making him fly several feet away from her. Immediately the other pirates grabbed her arms and kept her in place. One of them hit her, but she didn’t give them the satisfaction of making a sound.

‘You can’t do that to Captain Hammer!’ one of the pirates hissed at her. She gave him a sceptic look, because she just did that to his precious captain anyway.

‘Do we kill her?’ asked a guy wearing purple and black, as the captain got back on his feet again.

‘No Ronan, not yet. Tell me your name witch, and I will tell mine,’ the captain sneered at her, ignoring his men.

‘I’m Natasha Rogers,’ she said simply. ‘And I have the medallion you’re looking for.’

‘Well, I’m Captain Justin Hammer. I will make them let go of you if you promise to be a good girl,’ the captain spoke.

‘Sure,’ Natasha said. Anything to get rid of these stinking guys. As the pirates backed away from her, she slowly took the necklace from around her neck and pulled the medallion out of her cleavage. ‘Why do you need this?’

‘We don’t really need it,’ the captain said. ‘It’s a nice thing, will bring in a lot of money, we can buy a round of booze, but we don’t need it, you know. You can keep it around your neck if you like, we’re not setting foot on land anytime soon anyway.’

Natasha noticed that the boat had started moving. They were slowly sailing away from the coast. Not good. She had to do something, she could jump in the water and swim back to the shore, now that it was still close enough.

‘I never really liked the medallion actually,’ she said nonchalantly. ‘Doesn’t suit any of my dresses. So if you guys don’t want it either I guess I’ll just throw it overboard. You stole enough from Port Royale to buy enough booze to get you all drunk  for several days anyway.’

She held her hand above the water and dropped the medallion.

‘NO!’ all the pirates said in chorus, taking a step towards her.

The medallion hung above the water, the chain still in Natasha’s hand. She smirked when she saw all the scared faces. They wouldn’t have dragged her all the way here if they didn’t care about the medallion, but it was nice to know just how important it was to them. She let the chain slip a little further and immediately one of the pirates pulled her away from the water.

‘So I guess it’s not just a useless piece of gold for buying booze, is it?’ she asked the captain.

‘Lock her in one of the rooms and get this ship out of that bloody harbor!’ captain Hammer shouted.

Two strong hands wrapped around Natasha’s as they dragged her inside.

~

Steve woke up on the ground, in the middle of the city. There was blood and dirt in his hair and he groaned as he got up. All his muscles hurt. Everyone around him was cleaning up. There were no more fires and the burned houses were already getting repaired. The streets were getting cleaned up and the wounded were bandaged. Steve checked himself, but other than some cuts and bruises he was totally fine. He helped some of his neighbors with their damage, since the smithy and his own place had gotten out of this unharmed.

When the city looked a bit more decent again Steve took a bath. He scrubbed the sweat and dirt from his body until he was completely clean again. Steve got out of the tub and dried himself off. After a small breakfast he went outside again to see if he could help out. Since the royal navy was in charge of rebuilding the city, he tried to find Bucky. Of course his friend wasn’t home, not when something like this had happened. But he wasn’t at the base of the royal navy either.

‘Where is commodore Barnes?’ he asked one of the guards.

‘I heard Lord Fury wanted to talk to him, so I’d look for him there,’ the guard answered.

Steve was already on his way. It wasn’t unusual for Fury to discuss the safety of the city with the guards or the navy, but Steve was surprised they gathered so quickly after the attack already. Worried he made his way to the big house on top of the hill. He ran all the way.

Out of breath he arrived at the house. Two guards stood in front of the doors. They tried to stop him, both the commodore and Lord Fury had to be protected, but Steve tried to talk them into letting him in. He was about to convince them with his fists when one of the other guards recognized him and they opened the gates for him.

‘Steve, what are you doing here?’ Bucky asked when his best friend entered the room. ‘Did someone tell you what happened?’

‘No, but I couldn’t find you, so I figured something happened,’ Steve answered.

‘You’re just a civilian, mister Rogers,’ Fury said, not sounding too happy about Steve’s presence. ‘I want you to leave.’

‘Yeah, maybe you should go,’ Bucky sighed. ‘You’re not part of the navy and we’re in a hurry. I know you want to help, and you’re a great tactician, but we have to deal with this now.’

‘Where is Natasha?’ Steve asked when he didn’t see his friend anywhere. Natasha would always be there if they were planning how to fight back pirates. She was one of the best fighters in the city and wouldn’t even let her father send her away. ‘This has something to do with Nat and I want to know.’

Steve crossed his arms and refused to move. He was not leaving before he knew what was going on.

‘The pirates that attacked last night took her away,’ Bucky said. ‘One of the maids saw it happen. Natasha was fighting a bunch of them, but there were too many. They took her to the ship.’

‘Too many? She could beat twelve men with her bare hands if she wanted to!’ Steve said, anger in his voice. ‘How many were there? How many bodies did you find? What happened that she couldn’t fight them, or at least escape?’

‘We don’t know either,’ Fury said. ‘But apparently they were pretty difficult to kill. ‘We’re trying to find out the details.’

‘Excuse me?’ Steve asked. ‘Why don’t you go after her? She was kidnapped by pirates! Why didn’t you take The Avenger and go after her? Who knows what they did to her! We can’t just let them go.’

‘I know,’ Bucky said, worry in his voice. ‘But we have to plan this out. We can’t make any mistakes. We know Nat can take care of herself, she will be alright. She’d hate it if we’d go after her like she is some damsel in distress. We have to catch all of these pirates while we’re at it, Steve.’

‘Lord Fury, she is your daughter!’ Steve said. ‘You’re really letting this happen? Your own daughter?’

‘Like commodore Barnes just said, my daughter can take care of herself,’ Fury said. ‘She will be fine. We will get her back. Now you either help us plan this out, or leave.’

Steve looked from the one man to the other and back to the first again. He couldn’t believe his ears. He was normally a man to plan things out, but not in situations like this, not when there was no time. They should try to catch up with the pirates. They could plan things out while they were on their way. Steve turned around and walked out of the door.

‘Steve, no!’ Bucky shouted after him.

But Steve didn’t listen. He ran back down the hill. He was not letting those bloody pirates get away with this.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5. The Chase

Steve walked into the prison. The building was abandoned and damaged by last night’s attack and all the guards were helping rebuild the city. A dog ran past his legs, running across the street, disappearing between the people. Steve didn’t pay attention to it, he was looking for someone else. He needed help and if Bucky didn’t want to help, he didn’t really know who else to ask. All the cells were empty though, except for one. Tony lay on the ground, an arm covering his face. It looked like he was asleep.

‘Wake up!’ Steve said loudly.

‘I’m awake,’ came the reply, but the pirate didn’t move an inch. ‘Are you going to let me out.’

‘Maybe,’ Steve said.

That made Tony move up. He put his hat on top of his head and looked at the person who wanted his attention. Surprise flashed through his eyes. ‘You’re the guy from the smithy.’

‘Yes, and I need your help,’ Steve said hastily.

‘Thought you didn’t like pirates very much, why should I trust you. Where is the dog? He has the keys. How will you get me out of here without the keys? I don’t trust you,’ Tony ranted, laying back down again.

‘That attack last night! Do you know anything about the person who is behind this?’ Steve asked. ‘Do you have any idea where they might go? They have taken one of my friends and I have to get her back.’

Tony smirked. ‘They got your little girlfriend? Poor boy. Well, that ship was The Iron Man and you can’t chase it. It’s faster than any other boat in the world. You need a really good sailor if you want to catch up with that beauty.’

‘That’s why I’m here,’ Steve said. ‘You were the only person I could think of who would be able to help me out. You know about ships, you know the seas. I need someone like you. The royal navy is absolutely useless.’

‘Keep stroking my ego, my love,’ Tony moaned. ‘Flattery will get you everywhere. What’s in it for me?’

‘Apart from your freedom?’ Steve asked. ‘A ship, I guess. When my friend and I are back home safely, you can take the boat and do whatever you want.’

‘Freedom and a boat?’ Tony asked. ‘I was hoping for a tumble in the hay as well, but I guess freedom and a nice ship will have to do. Alright, you got yourself a deal. Get me out of here and we’ll go pirate hunting!’

Steve grabbed the sides of the door. It was easy to hold on to the metal bars. He gripped them tightly and used all his strength. He pulled the door out, like it was made of paper.

Tony simply stared at Steve. ‘And here I thought you were going to use some nice trick, but no, brute force. That is kind of a turn on. Those muscles aren’t just for show. Good to know. Now let’s get the hell out of here.’

The two of them made their way to the docks. Steve knew exactly how to get there without being seen by anybody and he knew where the guards were waiting. He easily led them around all of them until they stood next to The Shield. But from there he didn’t know what to do either.

‘That ship is not ready to go,’ he whispered. ‘There is no food, no water, nothing. We would only last for a day or three. How are we going to fix that?’

‘We’re not,’ Tony grinned. ‘How many men up there, you think?’

‘Not many,’ Steve answered. ‘They are preparing The Avenger, so I guess three or four on this one, at least ten on The Avenger, probably more. If we sail away with this one, they will come after us with The Avenger immediately.’

‘That’s the plan,’ Tony said simply. ‘Come on, these guards are part of the navy, they can probably swim. When you see one, hit him, and throw him in the water or something. We can’t have them on the ship.’

‘Shouldn’t be a problem,’ Steve said.

They climbed on the ship and managed to get up there without being seen. Steve quickly got rid of the few guards that were up there, trying his best not to kill them, while Tony cut the ropes and let the boat drift away. He had been captain of big ships before, he knew what he was doing. Without any problems they got away. Guards that were on land were shooting at them, but all bullets missed. They slowly sailed out of reach.

‘Okay, now what?’ Steve asked as he popped up on deck again. He did a quick check to see if anyone was downstairs, but he didn’t find anything.

‘Knowing those navy guys they will try to stop us, using The Avenger. Since it’s faster than The Shield they will catch up quickly and use ropes to get aboard. While they are searching for us here, we make our way to The Avenger, deal with the guards left behind, and sail into the sunset,’ Tony explained.

Steve watched how Tony steered the big boat out of the bay, into the ocean. He heard how the guards on The Avenger were warned and noticed how it started moving only moments later. Tony had a big grin on his face. He just loved how predictable these people were. Steve prepared two ropes they could use to swing to the other ship. It didn’t take long before The Avenger had caught up with them and Steve and Tony quickly hid.

From their hiding place they watched as the guards climbed on board and searched the entire ship for them.

Then, Tony got into action.

He ran to the ropes, grabbed one, and in one, graceful swing, he ended up on the deck of The Avenger. Steve followed suit. There were five guards left on The Avenger, but Steve easily dealt with them, throwing them overboard, as Tony took over control of the ship and sailed away from The Shield. He shouted orders to Steve, and Steve did everything he asked.

The guards on The Shield noticed that The Avenger was suddenly moving away. Some of them tried to swing back, but most of them ended in the water, and the others were pushed away by Steve. Within a minute they were out of reach of the guns and they sailed into safety.

‘Great job!’ Steve said, a big grin plastered on his face.

‘You too,’ Tony said, and he high fived his new friend.

From the house up on the hill Bucky was looking at them through his binoculars.

‘Oh, Steve, what have you done?’

~

‘Hey poppy, the captain wants to talk to you,’ said one of the pirates to Natasha. ‘He got you a dress. Can’t dine with a captain in your nightwear, now, can you?’

Natasha eyed the dress. It didn’t look too bad, but she didn’t want to deal with this captain right now. He was an idiot. She had been searching for a way out of the room, and she was almost there. The room was dark, and had only one window. It was the only weak spot. The window was locked, but she was sure she could get out of there, even without smashing in the glass. She really didn’t want to go to eat with that captain right now.

‘No thank you, I’m not hungry,’ she said simply.

‘You don’t have a choice, girl,’ the other pirate said. ‘You eat with him in the dress, or you eat with us, wearing nothing at all. Staying here is not an option.’

For a moment Natasha wanted to choose to eat with the crew. They would probably tell her a lot more interesting things than the captain, but she didn’t really like the whole naked thing, so she took the dress and started to put it on. She ignored the disappointed noises coming from the pirates.

When Natasha was done she followed the guy to another room, a bit like hers, but this one had more windows, and a table full of food. The captain sat at the head of the table, a smile on his face.

‘I knew she’d pick this option,’ he said. ‘Welcome, miss Rogers. I think you and I need to have another little chat. Why don’t you sit down. Eat whatever you like, it has been a while, you must be hungry.’

Natasha sat down and watched how the captain gestured the other pirates to leave. She still didn’t understand how this tiny, uncharismatic, and probably weak, guy managed to give all the rough men orders. He wasn’t more clever or stronger than the other ones, so how did he end up as their leader? What was it that made them all obey his orders instead of hitting his teeth out of his mouth and taking over control of the ship.

‘You look lovely in that dress,’ Hammer disturbed her thoughts. ‘I hope my men have treated you well. They can be such…. men, at times. But what to expect from a bunch of pirates, right? But really, eat something. I didn’t poison it or anything. We still need you, so I won’t kill you. Yet.’

Natasha acted like she wasn’t threatened at all. She took some of the food and put it on her plate. She completely ignored the cutlery and ate with her hands. A subtle way to let him know she was no ordinary rich girl.

‘We are very glad we finally found you,’ Hammer said as he stood up and started walking through the room. ‘We have searched half of the world for you, and that medallion. You probably wonder why we need you, so let me explain. We’re pirates, you know that much, and now and then we steal something. Once we heard about a treasure, hidden so well that nobody would be able to find it. You shouldn’t say things like that to a pirate, we take it as a challenge. And we found it. Took some time, but we found the treasure!’

The captain sat down for a second, picked an apple from a plate and inspected it. Then he stood up again and walked past Natasha. When he had his back to her, she took a knife from the table and hid it in her dress.

‘But some treasures are cursed. This treasure was cursed and we got cursed. Now, to get rid of this curse we had to return  all the gold coins we stole. That took us a very long time. We spent them all over the world, in bars and brothels. But we have them all now. The one around your neck is the very last one of them. We will be relieved from our curse again!’

‘If you only needed the golden coins, why did you take me? If you have no use for me, you could have let me stay in Port Royale,’ Natasha argued. She didn’t like to be dragged around like some toy, especially not by men.

‘Oh, but we do need you,’ Hammer said, a wicked grin on his face. He sat down closely to Natasha, looking her straight in the eyes. ‘We need the blood of a sacrifice. That’s where you come in.’

Natasha took the knife from her skirt and stabbed it in the captain’s heart. His eyes widened in shock and he fell backwards on the floor. Natasha quickly got up and ran to the door to leave the room. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to kill the beloved captain in the middle of the sea. She had nowhere to go. Maybe she could convince the men he was a dumb asshole and that one of them could do a way better job as a captain. It was not like it wasn’t true.

She grabbed the doorknob to pull open the door, but a hand pushed it close again. Slowly she turned to look around, only to find the captain standing there, the knife in his hand, a smile on his face. There was no blood on his shirt, nothing, like he had never been stabbed at all.

‘What were you going to do if you had actually killed me?’ he asked. ‘You think my men would have simply let you go? Like I told you, we are cursed.’

He pushed the door open, revealing a bunch of pirates scrubbing the decks in the moonlight. They looked like zombies, skeletons, dead, but living. There was little flesh left on their bones, like they were slowly rotting away, their clothes hung like rags on their bony shoulders. The wine they poured in their mouths splashed down on the deck between their feet, sinking right through their bodies. They  laughed at her fear. Pushed her around, so she could see what they looked like. All of them were dead, but it only showed in the moonlight.

‘The witch tried to stab me!’ Captain Hammer said, trying to make his crew angry, but they simply laughed at him, saying that he was lucky he couldn’t die. Joking how she was a way better fighter than the captain had ever been.

Natasha didn’t say anything. This explained why she hadn’t been able to kill them back in the mansion. These guys were already dead, the daylight just didn’t show it. This was their curse. They couldn’t eat, they couldn’t drink, they probably couldn’t even sleep anymore. All the small things that made a pirates life more fun were taken from them by the curse and they needed her blood to go back to normal.

She knew she had to escape. She didn’t want to be slaughtered like some goat. But at the same time she could only get rid of these guys when they would go back to normal. If they only needed a little of her blood, she might be able to kill at least ten of them. She needed a new plan, she needed a better plan.

Without showing any fear she pulled her arms away from the skeletons that were holding her and she made her way back to her room.

~

Tony and Steve were running around their big ship, to make sure they stayed on the right course. They navigated and steered and made sure all the right sails were open at the right time. It was a lot of work, but they managed somehow. Steve even managed to get them a proper meal from the tiny kitchen. Tony didn’t really want to leave the wheel, but Steve took over and showed him he could handle it. Tony took the plate and ate, but he stayed on the poop deck to watch.

‘We broke out of prison together and stole ourselves a ship,’ Tony said. ‘And I don’t even know your name. I did a lot of things with people whose names I never learned, but never something this big. So tell me, or I’ll keep calling you big beauty.’

‘Steve Rogers,’ Steve introduced himself.

‘Captain Tony Stark,’ Tony said after he swallowed some wine. ‘You are very good with ships like these, Rogers, for a blacksmith. Do you have any other hidden talents? Fighting, cooking, sailing. Anything you can’t do?’

‘When I was young I spend a lot of time sailing,’ Steve explained. ‘I normally had to help out the cook, but they also taught me how to sail the ship. They could use the help, you probably know how there is never enough staff on a ship. And I told you it was the commodore himself who helped me with my sword-fighting skills. Really, nothing surprising about any of that. I left sailing behind me and tried to learn something else. I was lucky enough the blacksmith wanted me. I used to be a scrawny kid.’

‘Okay, that is something I can’t imagine,’ Tony said as he eyed Steve from head to toe. ‘You sure it’s your past we’re talking about here. The guy with all the muscles and the tight butt?’

‘Tight butt was always there,’ Steve laughed. ‘The muscles came after working in the smithy.’

‘You said you also helped out on a boat, that’s hard work too,’ Tony said. ‘Or didn’t you have to do any of the heavy stuff, seeing that your father was the captain of the ship.’

‘My father was not a sailor,’ Steve said surprised. ‘What makes you say that? I never knew the man, but I think he worked in some tavern.’

‘No, I don’t think so. If you sailed from a young age, you have to be the son of the famous pirate Captain Rogers. There are rumors that he was one of the biggest pirates ever known. Died an early death, but that only helps to make him a real legend. From all that I heard about him, you look exactly like him. Strong-willed, or stubborn as hell, I guess, rare blond hair, perfect set of teeth, an amazing fighter, and an aura that screams ‘power’. It’s exactly your description. Did you sail with the great Captain Rogers, mister Rogers?’

‘No, it’s nonsense, my father was a normal man, with a decent job. He was not a pirate,’ Steve defended his family.

‘You just said you never met him!’ Tony argued. ‘How would you know if he is a decent man or not. Believe me, you gotta be family of the famous Rogers.’

‘Have you ever seen this Captain Rogers?’ Steve asked. ‘Because if it’s all just rumors, you know just as much of my father as I do.’

‘No, it’s a legend. I’ve never seen him with my own eyes.’

‘See, you don’t know about him either,’ Steve said, smug smile on his face. ‘And I do know, because it was my mother who sailed the seven seas, and not my father. My mother was the famous Rogers who brought fear in the hearts of men. Not all men, or I wouldn’t have been here, but she was the feared Pirate Queen. I did sail on her ship, and that was the reason they taught me how to sail, even though I was small and often sick. Mom died the way she wanted, in one of the most heavy battles ever fought between the navy and her small fleet.’

‘Wow,’ Tony said, eyes open wide in surprise. ‘Your mother, huh? Must have been something. You didn’t want to follow in her footsteps and rob the rich of their possessions?’

‘I never liked sailing as much as she did,’ Steve smiled. ‘I think she loved my father, but she loved the sea even more. Every member of our crew went down in that final battle, except me. I’m the only one to survive. Some people fished me out of the water and that was the beginning of a better life for me. Wasn’t going to ruin that by saying I had been a pirate my entire life.’

‘There is more to you that meets the eye,’ Tony laughed. ‘So good boy Steve was once bad boy Steve. Good to know, we might have to bring up that pirate side of you.’

‘Tell me your story, Captain Stark,’ Steve said. ‘You’re a captain, but where is your boat?’

‘Really? You really want to hear that embarrassing story?’

‘Now that I know it’s embarrassing I definitely want to hear it,’ Steve laughed.

‘Alright,’ Tony sighed. ‘I was the captain, but well, mutiny. I got thrown of my own ship and my entire crew followed this asshole guy, who was literally the worst captain ever. Only because I didn’t want to go and get a treasure from some dangerous islands. I heard the place was cursed and I don’t like magic. Science you can trust, boats you can trust, but magic is a different story. I'mnotgoing there!’

‘That’s harsh,’ Steve said. ‘Which ship was it?’

‘The Iron Man, the one that we are following,’ Tony said with a smirk. ‘You will get your girl back and I will get my boat back, everybody’s happy.’

‘How are we going to do that with just the two of us?’ Steve asked, not sure how they could beat an entire crew of pirates together and steal their ship.

‘Not just the two of us. We’re going to get ourselves a new crew. We are going to Tortuga!’

Chapter Text

Chapter 6. The New Crew

Steve and Tony got off the boat in Tortuga and made their way into the city. It was night and that was the busiesttime in this city. Everyone was drinking, eating and making love, everywhere. It was chaotic and loud, but both men enjoyed it. Tony loved the sea, but if he had to come to land, Tortuga was the place to be. This was almost like home.

They arrived in the city center without getting into fights and without getting hit on, when a blond girl made her way towards them and slapped Tony in the face.

‘Asshole!’ she hissed before walking away again.

‘Nice to see you too, Christine,’ Tony shouted after her.

‘Do I want to know what that was for?’ Steve asked.

‘I didn’t deserve that,’ Tony said with a pout. ‘She practically threw herself at me. How was I going to resist? And she knew I’d be gone again the next day, I’m a bloody pirate, I don’t stay on land!’

Steve rolled his eyes. It got worse when they stepped into a tavern and a second woman hit Tony in the face.

‘I’m really sorry Maya, forgive me?’ Tony asked.

‘You didn’t deserve that either?’ Steve asked sarcastically.

‘No, I actually deserved that,’ Tony sighed. ‘Long story, that I'm not going to tell you now. It probably doesn’t help that I’m dragging eye candy around, they all think I’ve been shagging you, but that I actually do make you stay. Jealous bitches. Can’t you be a bit uglier if you’re not going to have a night of fun with me?’

‘Can’t really turn off my looks,’ Steve commented. ‘We’re not here for sex or women. We are here for a crew. What or whom are we looking for exactly?’

‘A friend of mine, he should be somewhere in this city,’ Tony answered. He asked around a little, but nobody seemed to have seen the guy they were looking for. At least, not this night. Until one barman directed them towards the stables behind the tavern. He had seen the man there when he went to get some extra food and another barrel of beer.

Steve and Tony made their way to the backside of the tavern and found a few small stables with pigs in there. Somewhere between the pigs, in the mud, a man was sleeping. His soft snores were covered by the sounds of the city. Tony sighed, grabbed a bucket of water and threw it over his friend. With a loud gasp the man sat up and looked around. The moment he spotted Tony he slumped back down in the mud.

‘Asshole,’ he muttered.

‘Come on Rhodey-bear, I need your help,’ Tony said, grinning widely. ‘Beer’s on me tonight. But no more than three, seeing that you’re already sleeping with pigs instead of the beauties that walk around here.’

‘Seems like you found yourself one already,’ Rhodey muttered as he let Tony help him back on his feet.

‘Yes, he looks very nice, but he is for looking only, no touching. He’ll probably snap my neck like a twig if I try touching. Life is so unfair sometimes, Rhodey my love. At least I have you.’

Rhodey rolled his eyes and introduced himself to Steve. As Steve introduced himself as well, Tony’s eyes were twinkling.

‘You know that name, right?’ he asked. ‘The famous Captain Rogers was a woman and she was his mother! He might look like a decent guy now, but piracy is in his blood. We can trust him. Also, he is super strong, we’ll keep him as our secret weapon. So, let’s find ourselves a proper place to talk.’

Steve followed the two friends into one of the taverns that was less crowded than most of the other ones. Tony got beer for the three of them, before he joined them at the table. There were no greetings and no life stories, they went straight to business.

‘Rhodey, I need a crew,’ Tony stated.

‘Right, and why are you telling me that?’ Rhodey asked, gulping down his beer and immediately requesting another. ‘Do you even have a ship?’

‘I wouldn’t ask for a crew if I didn’t have a ship!’ Tony said, paying for the next beer. ‘You know the people here, you know who are looking for a job, you know who we can trust and more importantly, you know who aren’t scared to go after The Iron Man.’

‘Tones, what the hell, The Iron Man, really? Why would you be so stupid to go after The Iron Man? Nobody will want to join your crew.’

‘Hammer kidnapped Steve’s friend and he is getting her back. While we’re at it, I’m going to get The Iron Man back and get Hammer out of my way forever. Of course there is a treasure,’ Tony added quickly. ‘Must be something in it for the crew as well, of course, so yeah, treasure too. Isn’t that convincing enough to drag a few idiots along with us?’

‘You better buy me another beer, because I really don’t know if I’m going to be able to convince anyone to join this suicide mission!’ Rhodey said, waving for one of the maids to get him another drink. ‘You two are insane.’

‘Yeah, but imagine all the possibilities once we accomplished this mission?!’ Tony said enthusiastically. ‘You will never be sleeping with the pigs again. You might even be able to get yourself a fancy house. Maybe you could even get your fancy job back!’

‘Get your job back?’ Steve asked.

‘Yeah, Rhodey here used to be part of the royal navy,’ Tony laughed. ‘Unbelievable, huh? I think he does better as a pirate.’

‘Yeah, yeah, stop with the compliments, I’ll try to get you your damn crew,’ Rhodey sighed. ‘Let’s meet up at the docks tomorrow morning, alright? I’ll see what I can do.’

~

Steve and Tony slept on the ship that night. It hadn’t really been a peaceful night, with all the sounds of the city, but at least they had some rest for a few hours. Steve made them a small breakfast before they took a look at the docks, to see if Rhodey had already arrived. Since Rhodey didn’t know which ship was theirs, he stood far away from them, looking at a boat that was almost sinking. Tony hopped off The Avenger and walked towards his friend.

‘So, you got some guys together?’ he asked.

‘Bloody hell, Tones, why are you so cheerful, so early in the morning?’

‘I can hold my liquor,’ Tony joked. ‘And that rotting thing is not my boat. The big one over there, that’s my boat. You think I’d chase The Iron Man with a sinking thing like that?’

‘You stole a boat from the royal navy,’ Rhodey sighed. ‘I’m not even surprised. Well, at least it’s good quality. Can’t really say that of your crew. I couldn’t find many people who wanted to join this weird ass trip with you. You've made a little too many enemies in the past few years.’

‘You either love me or you hate me,’ Tony said. ‘Now, introduce me and Steve to our new crew.’

Rhodey brought them to a group of people, who were hanging around, small bags in their hands, ready to go. They didn’t look like pirates, they didn’t even look like they could sail, but Tony couldn’t complain in his situation. He had done this together with Steve, having a bunch of others around could only make it easier.

‘Okay, well, this is Peter Parker,’ Rhodey said, pointing at a young man, with brown curly hair. ‘He hasn’t been out at sea often, but he is a hard worker and he learns quickly. Also, he is a great fighter and we could probably use that.’

Tony nodded at the young boy. He was thin and didn’t look very strong, but maybe he was flexible. His hands were calloused, probably by ropes, so maybe he was a climber, and they could always use that on a big boat like The Avenger.

‘Next up is Darcy, all I can say is that she is as dangerous as she looks,’ Rhodey said, keeping his distance from the dark haired girl with the even darker lipstick. She gave a wicked smile as Tony greeted her.

‘I’m Clint Barton,’ the next guy introduced himself. ‘I only use bow and arrows to fight with, and a small sword now and then. Guns are not my style.’

Tony eyed the man with the short blond hair. This guy seemed to be all about style. Unlike most pirates it looked like he actually made an effort to look presentable, but in a very casual way. His bow and arrow were on his back, like he was never  separated from them.

‘He was very drunk when I found him,’ Rhodey apologized. ‘He still beat up six guys in a bar fight though. He doesn’t seem to hear much, but he had other qualities to make up for that. So, yeah, okay, moving on, this is Thor. He fights with… a hammer, most of the time. I think it’s because he is a smith, but, I’m not really sure. He’s good with a sword too.’

Tony eyed the huge man in front of him. He was taller than Steve and his arms were even bigger. This man was impossible and Tony was just glad they were on the same side at the moment.

‘Nice to meet you?’ he said, not sure what to expect from such an angry looking man.

A broad smile appeared on Thor’s face and he pulled Tony in a tight hug. ‘Nice to meet you too, Captain Stark! It’s an honor to fight by your side!’

‘Thanks,’ Tony said, before quickly moving on to the next person in line. Behind him he heard Steve enthusiastically talking to the big hugger. Of course it was about their work as a smith, so Tony ignored it and looked at the next girl. Her face was hidden by a big, flappy hat and she didn’t look up as he stepped in front of her. He carefully lifted the hat a little, only to get slapped in the face.

‘You stole my boat!’

Tony put his hand on his face and looked up, surprise and fear in his eyes.

‘Is that the one I saw drowning in the harbor of Port Royale?’ Steve asked.

‘Not helping, Steve!’ Tony bit back.

‘You sunk my boat?!’ the blond girl asked. She had thrown her hat off by now, so she could make full use of her fierce glare.

‘Pepper, honey, sweetie, beautiful Pepper, my love, you know me, I’ll give you another one. A better one. When I have The Iron Man back, you can have The Avenger, alright? Look at how beautiful it is! It even suits your hair, it’s just perfect.’

‘Your blond bimbo is not in the running for it as well?’ she asked, eyeing Steve skeptically.

‘Steve? No, Stevie is a very respectable man, a blacksmith,’ Tony said quickly. ‘Once he’s got his friend back he will go back home and be a good boy. Unless in between now and then I can convince him to…’

‘We’re going to save his friend?’ Pepper interrupted. ‘This is a mission to safe some princess from a bunch of evil pirates?’

‘Don’t say that to her face,’ Steve chuckled. ‘She might be the daughter of a rich man, but she is absolutely not a princess. She’s beat me in one on one fights hundreds of times.’

‘Think you and me are going to have a one on one battle sometime soon?’ Tony asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

‘Sure,’ Steve said. He grabbed Tony’s arm, flipped the smaller man over his head and made him end up on his back on the ground. ‘I win.’

‘That was so unfair!’

‘Pirates don’t play fair,’ said the next man in line as he helped Tony back on his feet. Then he turned his attention to Steve. ‘And that was a really nice move. We should practice that sometime, because I need to learn it. Sam Wilson, nice to meet you.’

‘Steve Rogers, nice to meet you too.’

‘What a happy bunch of people we have gathered. So, yes, next one please, make it quick.’

‘Jane Foster. I’m a science expert. I know everything about bombs.’

‘Now that is what I like to hear,’ Tony said happily. ‘We can use people like you, Foster!’

He made quick work of the rest of the line, they didn’t have all day. The Avenger was fast, but The Iron Man was still faster. The last of the bunch were a goofy guy named Peter Quill, two fierce looking ladies who went by the names Sif and Gamora, a kind of short, but broad guy named Drax and a frail looking blond girl that was called Sharon. She kept making eyes at Steve, but luckily for Tony, Steve was discussing fighting technics with Sif, not paying attention to the blonde at all.

‘He is MINE!,’ Tony told Sharon, pointedly. ‘No touchy!’

The whole crew went on board of The Avenger and soon they were on the right course again. Tony stood next to Rhodey, who was at the wheel, with a big smile on his face.

‘You look happy,’ Rhodey noted.

‘I have a ship with a pretty decent crew. I’m here with my best friend and a bunch of hot people I can try to get in my bed. But best of all: we’re catching up on The Iron Man.’

Chapter Text

Chapter 7. Isla de Muerta

By the time Natasha was dragged back on deck again they had almost reached their destination. She wasn’t completely sure why she had to be around, because all the captain did was brag about his accomplishments. Sure, there were about a hundred boats around, all crashed on the pointy rocks and half sunk in the water, and they were still sailing, but these guys were immortal, even if they would crash and sink, they would live. Natasha just wasn’t impressed.

‘Don’t look so sour, beautiful girls should smile!’ Hammer said when he saw her face.

Natasha looked, if possible, even darker when he said that, but she didn’t say a word.

The captain laughed nervously and kept blabbering about all the ladies he had in the past, especially the beautiful Christine, until Natasha had enough of it.

‘Shut up, or I’ll cut off your balls the very moment that curse is lifted.’

A few of the pirates laughed when they saw Hammer’s shocked face. Even when the captain scolded them and told them to piss off, Natasha could hear them chuckle. It was good to know that the crew felt the same about their captain as she did; they didn’t respect him.

‘So, yeah, maybe you and I can have a little fun, when the curse is lifted,’ Hammer continued, like nothing had happened.

‘Sure, I could stab you in the chest again. Only, with a bigger knife this time,’ Natasha offered. ‘Christine might be devastated, but she’s far away, she won’t have to find out.’

Justin Hammer flushed bright red as he quickly walked away from Natasha and started shouting orders at his men. Soon the ship came to a stop and everyone started gathering boxes and barrels. Natasha just watched how they loaded everything into the smaller boats, until they told her to get in as well. She did as she was told and let the guys row her to one of the bigger islands. There was a lot of fog, but they found their way safely to the shore.

The men pushed a box with gold into Natasha’s arms and ordered her to carry it into the caves. She followed the others into the darkness until they stood in a big open space with huge piles of gold. There was crowns and goblets, coins and jewelry, all made of gold. There was  stones, the most rarest of diamonds and rubies. There was so much that it was difficult to find a path through all of it. The pirates put down the boxes and chest they had gathered from the ship. One of them took the box from Natasha and emptied it on the floor.

‘It’s all here, we brought it all back!’ Hammer said. He stood on top of one of the biggest piles of gold. ‘ We sailed across all seven seas. We visited all the places where we had spent this gold. We took it all back. We did it. We returned every single piece!’

He looked at Natasha.

‘And now it’s time to lift our curse! We’ve deserved it.’

~

‘Do you know where we are going?’ Steve asked Tony. They were in the middle of the ocean and they hadn’t seen land for hours. Tony had said it wasn’t too far away, but he never mentioned what exactly wasn’t too far away.

‘Yes, I know where we’re going,’ Tony answered, looking at his compass and giving Pepper, who was at the wheel, a few new directions.

‘Because your compass isn’t working,’ Steve noted. ‘It doesn’t point North.’

‘Steve, honey, my dick doesn’t point north at the moment, but I can assure you it’s still working pretty fine, alright? You’re free to test it whenever you want it, but you don’t touch my compass. We’ll get there in a few hours and we’ll get your girl back.’

Steve sighed, shook his head, and walked away from their captain. Tony had done a lot for him, but he really couldn’t stand the man sometimes. Rhodey smiled at him, sympathy in his eyes.

‘He’s always like that, Steve,’ he said. ‘Better get used to it. He's had that compass for as long as I can remember. He talks to it sometimes, or maybe I should call it ‘arguing’. Like he’s discussing where to go with that… thing. I think he even gave it a name, but he never told me.’

‘How does he know where we have to go if it doesn’t point North?’ Steve asked.

‘I really don’t know, man,’ Rhodey said. ‘But in all those years that I sailed with him, we never got lost even once. Just wait and see, we’ll get to wherever we're going soon enough and he’s going to make his ‘I told you so’ face. It’s bad, really bad, prepare yourself, because you will have to fight the urge to hit him.’

Steve chuckled. ‘Worst thing is; I can actually imagine that happening. I’ll try my best not to hit him.’

‘Good, because we probably still need him. His people skills might be lacking, but he is a genius when it comes to boats and the seas,’ Rhodey said. ‘Have you heard the story of his pistol?’

‘No,’ Steve said, a bit surprised. ‘The one he is carrying around all the time? It doesn’t look special.’

‘It’s not special,’ Rhodey said. ‘Not to any of us. It is to him. There is only one bullet in his pistol. You know he was captain of The Iron Man, right? Mutiny happened, his crew took over his ship, he was locked up. There was one guy in his crew, Justin Hammer, who was the one who organized this mutiny. Tony had been kind enough to give him a place on the ship, even though he was a terrible sailor and an even worse pirate. He got paid back by Hammer stabbing him in the back and taking over his ship.’

‘If he was such a terrible pirate, why did the rest of the crew follow him?’ Steve asked.

‘Because he found out about a treasure, a cursed treasure,’ Rhodey explained. ‘Tony had known for a long time where it was, but he always refused to say anything about it. Tones hates magic. Unlike the rest of them, he actually believed the curse was real. So, when Hammer found out where they could find the treasure, they kicked Tony off the ship and made Hammer their new captain. And I mean, they literally kicked him off the ship. They sailed to a tiny island in the middle of the ocean and made him walk the plank there. All they gave him was that pistol, with one bullet, so he could kill himself when the hunger and heat became too much. He still has that bullet. It's reserved for Justin Hammer.’

‘How did he get off the island?’ Steve asked, one eyebrow raised, not sure how much he should believe of this story.

‘He told me he stood in the water for days and let all the animals there get used to him,’ Rhodey said with a chuckle. ‘He hates animals, but whatever, you know? It seemed that especially the big sea turtles loved him. He tied them together and sailed away. Well, with his compass he could find his way everywhere, so I guess that’s how he found land, with actual people on it.’

Steve laughed. ‘How did he tie sea turtles together if all he had was a gun with one bullet? He didn’t have any rope.’

‘Why do you think my beard is so short?’ Tony asked, as he suddenly showed up behind them. ‘It used to be beautiful and long, almost reached my hips, but I had to give it up to survive. I could grow it out again, but I keep it this way, as a reminder of that day.’

Steve smiled. ‘Don’t grow it out after you killed Hammer either. I think you look a lot better like this. Very handsome.’

Steve walked away to talk to Sam, leaving a surprised Tony behind.

‘Is that a blush I see on the face of the mighty captain Tony Stark?’ Rhodey asked, a huge grin on his face. ‘Because a beautiful blond blacksmith gave you a compliment?’

Tony hit his best friend in the side with his elbow. ‘Not a blacksmith, he is a pirate.’

~

It was only a few hours later when they sailed into a thick fog. They could hardly see a thing and when someone noticed sharp rocks Tony stopped the boat. They couldn’t move on like this, they couldn’t risk sinking the ship. He couldn’t risk any lives. So he called everyone around and told them his plan.

‘We’re close to the island,’ Tony started. ‘We can’t all go there. It’s easier to sneak in with a few people and get Steve’s friend out of there. We can’t have this turn into a big fight. You’re all very nice people, but the crew of The Iron Man is…. yeah, well, just way stronger than we are. Steve and I will go in there, while you lot prepare the ship, so we can leave the moment we return. If necessary, stick to the code.’

‘The ‘Everyone who stays behind is left behind’ code?’ Steve asked, remembering many codes from the days he was a pirate.

‘Exactly that code,’ Tony answered as he got up and got the things he needed.

‘But Tony…,’ Steve said, walking after him.

‘No, Steve, stick to the code, alright? No discussion!’

‘Alright,’ Steve sighed, not liking it one bit, especially since it were only the two of them who would go to the shore.

The crew prepared a small boat for them and let it into the water. Steve rowed them carefully to the shore, making sure he didn’t hit any rocks. They pulled the boat on land together before they slowly entered the dark caves. They heard voices shouting, calling for blood and demanding a sacrifice. Steve’s eyes widened. Tony started running andSteve followed quickly. The pirates were so busy yelling, they probably wouldn’t even hear the two of them.

It didn’t take them long to find the crew of The Iron Man. They were in a huge cave, filled to the brink with gold. Steve and Tony had to blink a few times to let their eyes adjust to the light that was reflected by the treasure.

Steve noticed Natasha. She was standing next to one of the pirates, on top of a pile of gold. In front of them was a chest full of medallions. One of those medallions hung around Natasha’s neck. Steve gasped when he saw it.

‘That’s mine,’ he whispered.

‘That guy is Hammer,’ Tony said, ignoring Steve’s words. ‘The one who is having one of his famous monologues.’

Just like the crew, Steve and Tony listened carefully to the little speech captain Hammer was giving.

‘Men, today is the day we will be freed from our curse! We brought everything back, every single piece of gold we spent on booze and women, it’s finally back here in this cave! The only things left is the blood sacrifice of the child of the famous Captain Rogers! And here she is! Today we will be free!’

Steve watched in horror how Hammer took a knife. He ripped the necklace from Natasha and showed it to his cheering crew. He grabbed Natasha’s hand, slid it open with the knife, put some of the blood on the medallion and dropped the piece of gold in the chest. It was so silent that even Steve and Tony could hear it fall on top of the other coins.

‘That’s it?’ Natasha asked. ‘That was all you needed? You didn’t have to drag me all the way here for that.’

‘Did it even work?’ Crossbones asked. ‘I don’t really feel any different.’

Ronan took his gun and shot Crossbones in the chest. Nothing happened. The pirate just looked at the hole in his clothes and got angry with the guy who shot him.

‘You shot me, you asshole! I could have been dead!’

‘But you’re not, because the fucking sacrifice didn’t work! I say we spill all her blood! Let those coins drown in it! That might work!’

‘Girl, what is your name?’ Hammer asked.

At that moment Natasha looked Steve straight in the eyes, like she had known he was there. ‘Natasha Romanoff.’

‘Damn it!’ Hammer shouted as he hit her in the face. Natasha fell and rolled down the pile of gold. Steve could see she faked that, because the captain didn’t hit her that hard. She could handle way worse than that.

Steve moved away from his hiding place and got down to where the pirates were discussing what to do next. There was water in the caves, pretty deep water, so Steve slowly slipped in, without making a sound, and swam underwater towards Natasha. He only got up again when he was sure he was hidden by gold so that the pirates couldn’t see him. Natasha was still lying on the ground, looking around, searching for Steve. The moment she spotted him, she slowly moved into the water as well and followed Steve out of the cave.

Within a few minutes they were back at Steve’s original hiding spot, but Tony wasn’t there anymore. Steve looked around, but the captain was nowhere in sight. Meanwhile they heard Justin Hammer shouting that they would spill all of Natasha’s blood, just to see if it would work.

‘Shit!’ Steve muttered. ‘Tony? Tony where are you?’ he whispered, but there was no reply.

‘SHE’S GONE!’ shouted one of the pirates. 

‘She can’t be far! Find her!’ Hammer yelled.

‘We gotta go,’ Steve said. He was pissed, because Tony had planned this. He had told him to stick to the code, because he had planned to go and do something stupid. He had known Steve would search for him, so he made Steve promise he would leave him behind.

Together with Natasha he made his way to the boat. They quickly got in and Steve rowed them back to the ship as fast as he could. They could still hear the pirates shouting in the fog, but they couldn’t see them. One good thing: the pirates couldn’t see them either.

When they got back at The Avenger, Rhodey helped them back up on board.

‘Where is Tony?’ he asked.

‘He was gone when I went to help Natasha,’ Steve sighed. ‘I called for him, but we couldn’t find him and then those pirates figured out their sacrifice was gone, so we had to run. He asked to be left behind, so we will have to leave him here. We gotta get moving. Now!’

~

‘AFTER HER!’ Justin Hammer shouted at his men. Most of them started searching for the missing girl, but a few started complaining, about how Hammer had been a terrible captain and how he couldn’t even lift the curse.

‘She said her name was Rogers! She had the last coin! What else were we supposed to think?’ Hammer asked his men. ‘Just fucking find her, so we can make her tell us about the real Rogers!’

Hammer and the men around him looked up when there was a lot of noise coming from one of the underground paths. Stumbling, talking, fighting, shouting. Not even a minute later the pirates walked back into the big cave, dragging someone in between them: Captain Tony Stark.

‘Stark?!’ Hammer asked. ‘What the hell are you doing here? How the hell did you even get of that damned island?!’

‘Magic?’ Tony said, a big smile on his face. He pulled his arms out of the grip of the two guys and started walking around a little. ‘You don’t get rid of me that easily, honey. And, for the record, I have totally forgiven you for taking over my ship and my crew and left me to die. You know I’m not one to hold grudges. So yeah, here I am, not really the person you were looking for, but I couldn’t help but notice your curse couldn’t really be lifted by the blood of that pretty girl. A shame, really. A shame to slaughter her and spill all her blood, I mean, because she is not the one you’re looking for.’

Tony picked up a crown and put it on his head. He posed with it, then grinned to himself, before putting it back down. He let his fingers slide through the many golden coins, picked a few up, only to drop them back down one by one. He tried on a few rings, looked at his fingers, and completely ignored all the angry glares he was getting from his former crew.

‘I just can’t believe you guys abandoned me on an island, only to follow that idiot straight into a life changing curse,’ Tony commented. ‘Or maybe that is a bad choice of words, since you’re not really alive anymore. I could help out, you know, but I probably shouldn’t.’

One of the pirates grabbed Tony’s shirt and lifted him off his feet.

‘If you know a way to get rid of this curse, you will tell us right now. Remember you’re the only one here that can actually die.’

‘Ronan, you haven’t changed at all,’ Tony said, like nothing happened. ‘Will you put me down? Thank you. Because killing me would be really not a good idea, since I’m the only one who can help you right now.’

‘Speak up, you miserable worm, or we’ll torture the answers out of you,’ another pirate spoke.

‘Johan, or no, do you still go by the name Red Skull? Sorry, slipped my mind. Well, no need to torture me, because I will tell you. I just want to know what’s in it for me. Not saying anything if you’re going to drop me on some island again.’

‘Why shouldn’t we? We will find a way, we have all the time in the world,’ a guy with a blueish skin said.

‘Laufey, didn’t your son know how to use magic? Couldn’t you ask him to find a way to get rid of the curse? Silly me, you probably asked him, but even the powerful Loki couldn’t help out. If even Loki can’t help and you will kill me, you might be sailing around for a few more decades, maybe even centuries, before you find a way. Only vaguely remembering what being drunk on rum was like, how good meat tasted, or how satisfying a woman could be.’

‘Alright, Stark, we get it,’ Hammer said. ‘What do you propose?’

‘How nice of you to ask,’ Tony said. ‘I arrived here with a boat. Not just a boat, The Avenger, the fastest ship of the royal navy. The royal navy that you hate so much, Hammer, since they didn’t want to do business with you. You can sail around in their best ship now and they will never be able to catch you. You can start your own fleet! You will no longer be a captain, you will be a commodore! And while we’re at it, you make me captain of The Iron Man. Deal?’

‘You said you knew how to lift the curse,’ Hammer said unimpressed.

‘I do,’ Tony said. ‘I know who the real child of the famous Captain Rogers is! I know where we can find him.’

‘Tell us where we can find him.’

‘Only after you give me The Iron Man back.’

‘How do we know you’re not lying?’ asked Ronan. ‘You’ll be captain of the ship and sail away, while we’re still cursed. Not going to let that happen, Stark.’

‘Well, he told me a lot about his pirate past,’ Tony explained. ‘It wasn’t his father who was the famous captain, but his mother. She actually gave birth to him on a ship. He’s the real deal. And, because I’m not that bad a guy, I will tell you, he is on The Avenger at the moment.’

'Rogers' kid is on your ship?' Hammer asked. 'But you didn't bring him here? You could have negotiated if you had brought him!'

'I'm not that stupid. You would have killed us both,' Tony said. 'And I only heard a few minutes ago that you needed his blood. So, do we have a deal or not, commodore?'

'Take him to The Iron Man and lock him up!' the captain ordered. Immediately two pirates grabbed Tony's arms and dragged him out of the cave.

~

'Where are we going?' Pepper asked. She had started shouting commands the moment Steve told them Tony would stay behind, but she had no idea where to take them. It was always Tony who came up with the great escape plans.

'Anywhere,' Steve answered. 'The closest harbor. We need a city, we need people, we need to blend in! Anywhere with a lot of people. If they find us they will want Natasha back. These guys can't be killed, we can't fight them, we can't win. We need speed!'

Rhodey knew the sea better than any of them and he guided Pepper through the water and told her where to go, with a working compass. Meanwhile Sam approached Steve.

'Steve, if we want to make it in time, we need speed. We're too heavy, we need to get rid of everything we don't absolutely need. Why don't you make the crew throw everything overboard?'

'It's a good idea, Sam, but I don't want to leave a trail either,' Steve said. 'We can only throw things out that will sink.'

'Shall I?' Sam asked.

'Yeah, go,' Steve said.

Sam ran over the deck and started shouting orders at everyone who wasn't doing anything at the moment. He told them what to throw out and what to keep. Some people were protesting, but one look from Steve made them run.

Steve himself made his way to Natasha, who was trying to bind her bleeding hand unsuccessfully.

'Let me,' Steve said. He took over the bandages and wrapped her wound. It was a pretty big cut, but thankfully on her left hand, she could still wield a sword. 'Why did you tell those pirates your name was Rogers?'

'I didn't know what they were after,' Natasha answered. 'They could have kidnapped me to get money from my father. If I used his name, or my own, I could have been in more danger. Why did you come after me?'

'I heard from Bucky that the pirates took you,' Steve said. 'I told them to get on the ship and go after them already, but they were too busy with their maps and discussions. I told them they could plan on board, but that we had to move to catch up. They said you could protect yourself, and I know you can, but you would be at sea, you couldn't escape. Even if you could have killed all of them, you couldn't have sailed back on your own.'

'So you got that pirate out of prison, stole a ship from your best friend, got yourself a crew in Tortuga, only for me?' Natasha asked. 'If I didn't know better I'd say you were in love with me, but I guess this is how you grew up, right?'

'Yeah, I lived on ships most of my childhood,' Steve said, looking at the sea. 'It probably wouldn't have changed if our ship wasn't blown to pieces and if you hadn't found me. I'm glad you found me, I would have died otherwise, but I'm really angry that you took my medallion. It was the last thing I had that once belonged to my mother. I thought I lost it in the water.'

Natasha showed him the medallion. 'I'm sorry I took it. I couldn't let Fury know you were a pirate, or captain Rhodes. You would have been locked up. I wanted to give it back to you, but somehow I kept forgetting about it. Here, take it.'

'It's cursed,' Steve said as he took it from her. 'I'll have to return it, or I might get cursed as well. Did you know that our Rhodey was captain Rhodes?'

'I suspected it. He makes a better pirate than he was a captain, Natasha chuckled.

Steve smiled as he put the medallion around his neck. 'I guess so. Let's help the others.'

'PIRATES!' Clint shouted from the top of the mast. He quickly slid down. 'They caught up on us, we need a new plan!'

Steve jumped up and ran to Pepper. He looked around, and when he saw what he was searching for, he pointed.

'There, the water isn't as deep there,' he said. 'They're heavier, they're deeper in the water, they can't follow us there!'

Pepper did everything she could, but they just weren't fast enough. The Iron Man was catching up.

'We're not gonna make it, Cap,' Pepper shouted. 'Is there a plan C?'

'If we have to fight, let’s give them a surprise!' Natasha said, when she noticed Steve was out of ideas. 'Turn the ship around, let's attack them.'

'Yes, it's all we can do for now,' Steve sighed. 'Fill the starboard cannons! Prepare to fight!'

'We don't have any cannonballs left!' Jane shouted back. 'Most of them were thrown overboard!'

'Fill them with anything you can find!' Steve told her. 'Anything metal or wood! We need something that can blow a hole in that ship, something that can keep them away from us long enough!'

Jane ran away and started giving the guys at the cannons orders. Everyone started running around searching for things to shoot with. The boat was chaotic, but Steve only had eyes for the ship that was approaching them. He had to admit The Iron Man was beautiful, but intimidating.

'Cannons are ready!' Jane yelled.

'Alright, Drax, Gamora, on my signal, drop the anchor!' Steve said. 'The moment the anchor hits the bottom, you turn the wheel, Pepper! Turn us around a hundred and eighty degrees. Shoot the cannons as we sail past them, Jane, at your command!'

Everyone got in position and waited for Steve. They waited, and waited as the other ship came closer and closer.

'NOW!' Steve yelled.

The anchor was dropped and Pepper pulled the wheel. Everyone had to hold on, so they wouldn't fall overboard. They turned the ship around. The moment they had turned, they sailed past The Iron Man. Jane gave her call and the cannons were fired, attacking their enemies with cutlery and broken board planks.

Unfortunately the pirates of The Iron Man were prepared and fired their cannons as well. Only they had proper cannon balls and damaged the flank of the ship and a mast. Jane called again, letting the cannons shoot again.

On deck everyone prepared themselves for the attack. They knew the others would enter their ship sooner or later, they were waiting for them. Steve stood among them, sword in his hand, but the impact of the cannon ball was so strong that almost everyone on deck fell over.

Jane brought her group up. Some decks below were badly damaged and it was too dangerous to stay there. They helped everyone up and did a quick check to see if everyone was still around.

'Fuck, where is Peter?' Clint asked.

'He was helping downstairs!' Jane said, ready to jump back in again. Steve stopped her.

'He might be stuck, let me go. Natasha, you give the orders now!'

Steve climbed inside, as quickly as he could. He pushed wood aside, breaking some of it to get through. He found Peter, stuck under a piece of mast. Steve grabbed the wood and pulled until Peter could free his ankle.

'Is it broken?' Steve asked?

'No, I can walk,' Peter said.

Steve helped him through the mess and lifted him onto the upper deck. He was about to climb out himself when another shot hit the boat and Steve fell back down. The wood came crashing down on him. He tried to free himself, but then he heard the water. They had a leak, a big leak. Desperately Steve tried to pull himself free, but the wood wouldn't budge. Steve felt his knees getting wet already.

He heard the sounds of swords clattering against each other. The fight had already started. Steve pulled and pushed, but still no movement. He took a deep breath and went under. He tried to find a way out there, maybe he could swim through the hole. But Steve couldn't see the hole and he had to go up for air again.

Meanwhile on deck Natasha was doing whatever she could to keep the pirates off their ship. It was an impossible task to fight immortal enemies, but Natasha held them off as long as possible. In the end it was in vain. Hammer’s pirates took over their ship and threatened the crew. They drove them all in a corner and pointing their guns at them. Hammer climbed on The Avenger as well, pulling Tony along. The captain hadn’t fought with his crew, but simply watched. Now it was his turn.

‘Well, well, well, if that isn’t the beautiful Natasha,’ he said with a smirk as he walked past the redhead. He lifted her chin up with one finger and grinned. ‘You didn’t get very far, did you? But we don’t need you anymore, you can stay with this pathetic crew you call pirates. I need Rogers. Which one of you is Rogers?’

Nobody replied. They all looked at the stairs to the lower decks, which were closed off by the fabric of one of the sails of the fallen mast. Steve hadn’t come up on deck after he saved Peter. They all became a little pale when they realized he either drowned or got impaled.

‘Do we really have to do this the hard way?’ Hammer asked with a deep sigh. ‘None of you wants to join my crew and betray Rogers?’

There was still no answer. The pirates were looking at each other, wondering what they should do, but nobody dared to speak. After a minute Natasha stepped forward.

‘Rogers was here with us on the ship, but you killed him. Also, he had the last medallion. I stole mine back when you hit me. You really should know better than to hit a lady. It’s your own fault that both things you need are at the bottom of the ocean now. Good luck getting rid of that curse.’

Hammer was furious. He stomped towards her and grabbed her neck, pressing hard enough to make breathing difficult, but not hard enough to choke her.

‘Where is he?!’

‘He is really not here, Hammer,’ Tony said from behind him, his arms in handcuffs. ‘She’s telling the truth. None of these guys is the one you’re looking for, but I know he was on this ship. He must have been blown off by one of your cannons. You should have listened to me.’

Hammer grabbed his gun from his belt and pointed it at Tony. ‘You lied to me. Give me one good reason to let you live?’

‘If you shoot him, I will kill myself and I will actually end up on the bottom of the ocean,’ someone said from behind them.

Everyone looked up, only to find a very wet Steve Rogers standing on the edge of the boat, a knife against his own throat. He held the medallion up in his hand and there was a challenging look in his eyes. Natasha knew that look, she had seen it many times before. Steve could be a stubborn bastard. And a stupid one, because really, he should have stayed away and acted along with the story of him being dead.

‘You are the child of the famous Rogers?’

‘Captain Rogers the pirate queen?’ Steve asked. ‘Yes, that is me. I heard you need me. My mother used to treat hostages with respect, I want to ask you to do the same if you want me to come with you.’

‘Get him!’ Hammer ordered.

Crossbones and Malekith stepped forward to get Steve, but the blond pushed the knife against his throat and leaned dangerously far backwards. The closer they came, the closer Steve moved to the water. When a single drop of blood rolled down his neck Hammer stopped his men.

‘Alright, alright, what do you want?!’

‘Let Natasha go unharmed,’ Steve started. ‘Tony as well. And the rest of the crew. Give them their ship back and let them go.’

‘That’s it?’ Hammer asked. ‘Nothing for yourself?’

‘You need the medallion, you need my blood. You will get it in exchange of their freedom and safety.’

‘You got yourself a deal!’

~

‘This is not fair, you promised their safety!’ Steve shouted. It was not even half an hour after he made the deal with Hammer and the captain of The Iron Man made Tony and Natasha walk the plank. Four men had to hold Steve back, but he kept struggling.

‘Oh, but we don’t harm them at all, mister Rogers,’ Ronan said with a smirk. ‘The water is deep enough here and they can both swim. They are completely safe.’

‘Hammer!’ Steve shouted.

Justin Hammer simply smiled at Steve and gestured that they should push Natasha off already.

‘No wait, stop,’ he suddenly said. ‘That dress, I need it back.’

Natasha took a knife from under her skirts and ripped the dress off her body, leaving her in her nightgown again. She threw the damaged dress back at a very pissed off captain.

‘You didn’t say how you wanted it back,’ she said, before she jumped in the water.

Vanko pushed Tony towards the plank. Tony put up a fight and tried to push back, but the other man was stronger.

‘Wait, before I go, it’s only fair if you give us another bullet. I still have my first one, but since there are two of us now, we deserve two bullets,’ he said.

‘Stark, be the man you want to be so badly and give the lady the gun. You can die of hunger,’ Hammer said. ‘I get hard thinking about it.’

Tony raised an eyebrow at the other man. ‘Well, I do have that effect on people.’

He couldn’t say another word, because Vanko pushed him into the water, throwing his gun after him. The gun sunk slowly to the bottom and Tony had to dive in deeper to get it back, before he quickly made his way back up again. He gasped for air, took a few deep breaths, before he swam to the little island. He fell down in the sand and watched his boat sail away.

‘That didn’t go as expected,’ he sighed.

‘What did you even plan?’ Natasha asked. ‘You think Hammer would have given you The Iron Man? In return for what? Our lives? Steve? He trusted you, you know? If you ever see him again, he is going to be really pissed.’

‘He made them save my life,’ said Tony, brows knitted together. ‘If he really was that pissed at me he would have let them lock me up again.’

‘Because he also likes you,’ stated Natasha. ‘Beats me why, but he does. So, how did you get away last time you were here?’

‘This island is used by smugglers,’ Tony said. He looked around, picked out a palm tree, and started digging there. Soon he pulled out two bottles of rum. ‘I drank rum for a few days, in the sun, and that’s how the smugglers found me. They took me on their boat and that’s how I got back to the world of the living.’

‘Drinking rum, yeah that sounds like you,’ Natasha sighed. She ripped off the lowest part of her skirts, making it barely reach her knees. ‘Annoying thing,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘So is this what you’re planning to do now as well? Drinking rum on the beach? Because I need a bottle too if you do that.’

With a grin Tony handed her one of the bottles and together they found a nice spot in the sand. They drank the entire day, mostly telling stupid stories about Steve and how fucking nice he was. The more they drank, the more they talked and laughed. It took a while, but by the time the sun was setting they were both drunk. They made a fire on the beach and at a certain time Tony ended up dancing around it. Luckily he didn’t remember it the next morning. Or more like the next afternoon, because he slept in.

When he did finally wake up, something smelled weird. It took him a while to open his eyes, he really drank way too much. Why did rum taste so good? Rum! That was what he smelled. But not just a bottle of the good stuff, this was different. Tony sat up and noticed all the palm trees around them were on fire. He groaned loudly.

‘Really? She set fire to the rum?’ he asked himself. Tony looked around and noticed all the bottles were empty. He cried out pathetically.

‘Good morning,’ Natasha said.

‘What the hell are you doing?! I though you liked the rum too! Why are you using it to burn down the damn trees? What is there left for breakfast now? I need breakfast!’ Tony whined.

Natasha smirked. ‘You’re terrible. If you really want to impress Steve you gotta do better than this, or you’re not ever getting close to his treasure cave.’

‘I hate you,’ Tony cursed. ‘Why are you even burning trees? Is this some magic ritual? Are you summoning a ship?’

‘Yes I am,’ Natasha smirked. ‘It will be right here. Here's your breakfast.’ She threw a bottle and it landed in the soft sand next to Tony. 'Your smugglers were obviously put out of business, thanks to the royal navy, so I thought I’d make said navy get us out of here this time.'

Tony took a big gulp from the rum. 'You're doing a smoke signal thing? You think they're around?’

'I'm the daughter of the governor, of course they’re around,' stated Natasha. 'They all think they might get a reward if they save me. Obviously, they've never met my father.'

Tony chuckled. 'Steve should get that reward. He is the one who actually got you out of that cave.'

'He freed you from prison and stole a ship, he is not getting a reward from my father. Steve is lucky if they don’t hang him. Oh, look at that, they found us.'

Tony drank some more before he threw the bottle away and joined Natasha.

'Bloody hell,' he muttered. He had been sure this wouldn't work, but there was a ship coming closer and it unmistakably, had a British flag on top.

Half an hour later they actually set foot on the ship and a very worried commodore came running out of his room. His eyes widened as he looked at Natasha and he immediately wrapped his coat around her.

'What happened to you?' Bucky asked, looking at her bare legs. 'Someone get her some spare clothes!'

'I got dragged away in my nightgown,' Natasha noted. 'It took a bit of damage, but you know, pirates. Just give me some pants and I'll be fine.'

'Did he do anything to you?' Bucky asked, nodding at Tony.

'Stark? No, he didn't touch me. He likes rum better.'

'I pick rum over a girl any day,' Tony said. 'I've been a good boy, do I really need to be handcuffed again? I helped saving your girl! Steve couldn't have done it without me.'

'Where is Steve anyway?' Bucky asked. 'Did they leave him on another island?'

'No, they took him in my place, so we gotta go after them,' Natasha said. She took the clothes that were offered to her and quickly changed into them. It was a navy uniform, but she couldn't care less. Bucky and Tony were already discussing where exactly they had to go. The route to Isla de Muerta was a tricky one.

'We're going back home,' Fury said. The man stepped out of Bucky's little office and glared at the crew. 'We are not chasing pirates, especially not with my daughter on board!'

'Are you kidding me?' Tony asked. 'You would have no daughter if not for him!'

'He is speaking the truth,' Natasha said. 'We have to help him. I'll marry the commodore if we will go and save Steve.'

Fury didn't stop glaring. He looked from Natasha to Bucky to Tony and ended up looking at his daughter again.

'Alright.'

'Yes,' Bucky cheered before he ran off and started shouting orders. The ship slowly turned around and sailed in the opposite direction.

'Stark, I need you up here!' Bucky shouted. 'I don't want to end up on the rocks!'

Fury growled. He had planned to lock Tony away, but after Bucky's request he let the pirate go. For now.

'One day you'll hang, pirate,' he muttered.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8. The New Sacrifice

Steve sat in a corner of his makeshift cell. It was really just more of a cage with hay on the floor. It made him feel like an animal. But it was his own fault. He offered to go with Hammer if he let his friends go. Said friends were then thrown in the water and Steve had tried to fight his way out. The only positive thing is that he might have broken a few bones and kicked out a few teeth out.

He sighed and let his head rest against the wall. He shouldn't worry. Tony had escaped from the island before and Natasha was a clever girl. They would get off the island somehow. He just hoped they wouldn’t kill each other before that happened.

Steve sighed again. He just hoped these pirates wouldn't kill him. He looked up when he heard footsteps on the stairs.

'Here, food,' said one of the pirates. He was one of the dumber and less strong ones. He might even be worse than Hammer, Steve decided. Maybe he could use him.

'Thanks.'

'No problem, we can't eat food anyway, it would only go to waste,' said a second pirate, equally dumb. 'Say, are you really the son of Captain Rogers? Was the captain really a woman?'

Steve picked his food. Some of the things on the tray didn't really looked edible, so he just ate some fruit. 'Pretty sure my mother was woman, yes,' he said after tasting the fruit. It wasn't bad. 'Is it that unbelievable that the most feared pirate on earth was a woman? Every opponent saw her as a weak girl, before she cut them in two with her sword. She used it to her advantage. Those she couldn't beat, she seduced.'

'She must have been ugly,' the first pirate said. 'No pretty girl goes roaming the sea.'

'She was quite beautiful, actually,' Steve said, taking small bites of the meat. 'Made it a lot easier to get what she wanted.'

'And she always got what she wanted, didn't she?' a man said as he walked down the stairs. He was pretty old, for a pirate, kinda fat, and he had a short, grey beard.

'I met her once,' the man said. 'My name is Obadiah Stane, she might have mentioned me.'

Steve shook his head. He didn't like this man. 'Nope, never heard her talk about you.'

'Really? She gave me this,' Stane said as he pulled his shirt up. There was a scar from his hip to his chest. 'Almost killed me, but she was worth it.'

'You had sex with her?' one of the others asked. 'Was she any good?'

'Oh, she was wild!' Stane laughed. 'Unsatisfiable! She kept asking for more, couldn't stay away from me. No one could know that she was addicted to me, she had a reputation to maintain. So when she could finally tear herself away from me she gave me the scar. Like she hated me. Absolutely worth it.'

Steve snorted. 'You wish! I remember that day. I was there, you know, the day you attacked her. We slaughtered your crew. I remember you cried when you begged for your life. My mother let you live, to spread the word of her strength. That's why she gave you the scar, as a reminder. She threw away that sword afterwards.'

'You disgusting little worm! I'm gonna kill you!' Stane shouted.

Steve didn't move, he simply continued eating. Once he swallowed his bite he looked up at the man who tried to pull the door of the cage open without keys.

'If you kill me, the rest of your crew won't be happy. I don't have a child. Kill me and there won't be any blood to sacrifice.'

The two pirates who brought the food laughed at Stane, which only irritated him more.

'I'll get my revenge,' he said. 'You just wait and see.'

~

'You can't just march in there!' Tony said to Bucky. The commodore was preparing his men to storm into the caves, take out all pirates, and rescue Steve.

'Why not?' Bucky asked.

'The paths through there are small. By the time the last ones are finally through the first of your men will already be chopped in pieces! Especially if you don't know your way around there.'

Bucky sighed. 'Nat, is it true?'

'It is,' she said simply. 'And since they can't die, all of your men will end up dead.'

'What do you mean 'can't die'?' the commodore asked. 'What kind of creatures can't die? How are we supposed to get Steve out of there?'

'We hope they already sacrificed him?' Tony asked.

'WHAT?!' Bucky asked. Natasha had to calm him down and explained what was going on and why the pirates had Steve.

'Okay, so they either killed Steve and we can kill them, or we're in time to safe Steve and have to face a small army of immortal pirates?' Bucky asked. 'I'm not sure what I'm hoping for.'

'Hope that they decided to use a little blood, so Steve will be alive and we can hurt them,' Tony suggested.

'How will we know I the curse is lifted?' Bucky asked. 'I don't want to risk the lives of my men for nothing. I can’t have them all in danger for the life of one man, even if that man is Steve.’

‘That’s why you need me,’ Tony said. ‘I know my way through those caves, I can get in unnoticed and check what they are doing. I know these men. Just let me go and see if I can talk sense into them, to see if they plan on spilling all of his blood, I might even be able to save Steve.’

‘Yes, because you’re a tactical genius,’ Natasha said. ‘You’re not going anywhere if you don’t tell us exactly what you’re planning, Stark!’

‘Alright, easy there, babe, I’m not going to do anything to hurt Stevie, you know I have plans for him. With him,’ Tony defended himself. ‘If they’re only taking a little of his blood, I’ll let them do it and then inform them you’re waiting for them out here. They will fight you, you will destroy them. If they try to kill Steve, I’ll convince them somehow that it was magic that got me off the island and that magic doesn’t need a lot of blood. Then  I’ll send them out here for you to capture. Whatever happens, in the end I will send them straight into your waiting army. Is that convincing enough for you?’

‘Not at all,’ said Bucky. ‘But we don’t have another option. I’ll let you go, but I promise you, if you do anything stupid, you will hang! You won’t talk your way out of that.’

‘That’s probably fair,’ Tony agreed. ‘We have a deal then. Take those handcuffs off me and I’ll be on my way. I’ll be back before you know it, with your beloved friend, of course.’

‘You better,’ muttered Natasha. ‘He will hang you, but I will do worse if I find out you just lied to us.’

They got Tony into one of the boats and he rowed himself to the treasure island.

~

Steve stood in the familiar cave, all the gold was glittering in the light of the setting sun. He wasn’t really sure how he was going to get himself out of this situation, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to get killed in here. Not for a bunch of idiots who got themselves cursed.

He was brought to the chest with the gold and as he stood there, hands tied with ropes, captain Hammer held a short, but incredibly boring speech. He spoke about how their cursed days were finally over and that now it was time to enjoy life again. He tried to get his crew all excited, but they were all eyeing him suspiciously. It hadn’t worked last time and they weren’t completely convinced that it was going to work this time.

‘Who wants the honor?’ Hammer asked as he threw the medallion in the chest. ‘Who wants to kill our sacrifice and give us our lives back?’

‘I will do it!’ Stane said. He pulled out a knife and approached the pile of gold where Steve was waiting. ‘Not a few drops of blood this time. I will spill it all. I’m not taking another chance, we will end this tonight!’

Obadiah Stane pushed Steve on his knees, his head above the chest. The pirate showed the others his super sharp knife and gave them a toothy grin. At that moment Steve used all his power and tore the ropes around his arms apart. He got up, head butted Stane’s nose and kicked him in the stomach, making him drop the knife and roll down the pile of gold. Steve grabbed the knife, ran down on the other side of the pile and dove into the water.

Immediately all the other pirates grabbed their weapons and went after him. They all ran around like maniacs, screaming at each other, pushing each other aside. They all thought they could do a better job at finding their sacrifice than any of the others.

Steve swam the same route as he had done when he got Natasha out of there. He knew where he could go up again without being seen. When he arrived at his hiding place he got out of the water and started running. He had a good memory, he knew exactly how to get out of there. The only thing he worried about was that he couldn’t find a boat. He could try and take The Iron Man, but it would take him a while to get it sailing, since he was all alone. He could try to get away in one of the smaller boats, but he would have to row. He could row pretty quickly, but he wasn’t sure if the pirates of The Avenger were close enough to pick him up and escape. The Iron Man would probably catch up on him before that.

There wasn’t any good solution and Steve wondered if he had done the right thing. He could have tried to talk to Stane and give a little blood to lift the curse. Stane wouldn’t have listened though, especially not after Steve’s insults on the boat. Steve just decided to row and jump out when The Iron Man would come too close. He could swim pretty far and he could stay under water for a very long time. They might think he drowned. He hoped he could pull it off, he….

He bumped into Tony Stark.

‘Steve! Where the hell are you going?’

‘Tony! What the hell are you doing here? Go, go, go, they’re after me!’

‘The curse?’

‘Not lifted, they wanted to kill me. RUN!’ hissed Steve.

Tony didn’t hesitate for a moment and started running back where he came from. He went as fast as he could, but it wasn’t fast enough for Steve. Steve grabbed Tony’s hand and pulled him along. If Tony was here that meant there was a ship close by. Maybe they had a chance to escape!

They ran and ran. They reached the water and jumped in one of the boats. Steve grabbed the paddles and tried to row away as quickly as possible, but several strong hands grabbed the boat and stopped it. They were both dragged out and pushed back into the caves. The pirates were all laughing loudly.

‘Stark! You got off the island and you decided to run straight back to us! You want to die that badly? Or did you want to see how we cut up blondie here!’ Crossbones laughed.

‘Yeah, he pulled a nice one, trying to run away from us.’

They were brought back into the big cave again, where Hammer was impatiently waiting. He looked up when the group walked in and his eyes widened when he noticed Tony.

‘How did you get off that island again?!’ he asked.

‘A unicorn,’ said Tony with a fake smile. ‘Drop me there again, it doesn’t matter, I’ll always come back. I’m like a curse as well. Or a blessing. More fun when I’m around. Sorry to interrupt your little slaughtering party, or maybe not sorry, since it was because of me that you caught your victim again!’

‘You tried to escape with him,’ Red Skull said. ‘We should kill him too.’

‘No, no,’ Tony said. ‘I bumped into him and actually slowed him down. But I can… Obadiah Stane, is that you? Wow, it’s been a long time. So you actually found yourself another job after you betrayed my father, killed him, and took all his money? Amazing that anyone ever trusted you again. I mean, pirates can’t be trusted, but you gotta trust your fellow pirate. I never did take revenge on you, did I? Maybe I should start planning that, give me a nice goal for my future.’

‘My mother actually took revenge for you,’ Steve said. ‘She killed his entire crew and hurt him badly; to set an example not to mess with her. He had a brand new boat at that time, I suspect it might have been your fathers. It was burned to the ground.’

‘I like that,’ Tony grinned. ‘Thanks. So, were you planning to continue your little ritual? Because I might have some news that might interest you. That was actually what I came here for. But if you want to go on, I’ll just stand here, shut up, and look kinda pretty.’

Justin Hammer groaned. ‘What is your news, Stark?’

‘So you do want to know!  Good, because you might want to wait with killing the pretty boy,’ Tony said. ‘The royal navy is waiting for you out there. One of their best ships, all of their best fighters. If you take his blood now and lift the curse you might get blown to pieces by the cannons of that beauty. They looked pretty impressive, couldn’t have made better ones myself. But, if you wait with the curse, you can get rid of the navy, get their ship, with the pretty cannons, and give yourself your life back afterwards. That will be one hell of a celebration!’

‘The royal navy is out there?’ Hammer asked. ‘How do you know?’

‘I flew by on my unicorn and noticed them, what the hell do you think?’ Tony asked. ‘I noticed them, I noticed where they were going and I thought I’d warn you. They didn’t see me, one tiny man in such a big ocean. They found The Iron Man though and no they are waiting for you to come out of the caves. They’re patient, they can wait, for days if necessary. They don’t know that you know they’re there though. I’d say, take another route out of these caves, go to your boat, prepare everything, and surprise them!’

‘Alright men,’ Hammer said. ‘Go for a walk.’

Chapter Text

Chapter 9. The Final Battle

‘What’s your plan?’ Natasha asked. ‘You’re not going to listen to Stark’s plan, are you?’

‘No, I trust the man as far as I can throw him,’ Bucky complained. ‘But we had no other choice than to let him go. He knows more about these guys than we do, but that doesn’t mean we’re listening to his orders. I’m locking him up with the others the moment we catch them.’

‘You might want to change your attitude towards him a little,’ Natasha said. ‘Steve likes him.’

Bucky groaned. ‘Are you kidding me? Of all the people in the world Steve had to pick him? He deserves so much better than some degraded pirate captain. Have you tried talking to him? No, of course you didn’t. I’ll try talking to him.’

‘No need, you know he is stubborn as hell. He won’t listen,’ Natasha smirked. ‘Besides, you’re just as bad as he is, you fell for me. Now who's the stupid one?’

Bucky had a goofy smile on his face. ‘You might be right, there. Alright, here’s the plan. I take a group of my men and row to those rocks over there. We can hide there and when those pirates show their faces, we give them a nice surprise. Your father will stay here with the other half of my men and guard the ship.’

‘What about me?’ Natasha asked.

‘You stay here?’ Bucky asked nervously. He hadn’t thought about a position for his fiancée.

‘I think you should go and warn the pirates on The Avenger,’ Natasha said. ‘They’re right over there, probably feeling guilty for what they did to Steve. You should use them.’

‘They’re pirates, I’m not going to ask them for help,’ Bucky stated. ‘I’m the commodore, Nat, how will it look if I go and beg some pirates for help? I can’t do that! Your father would kill me.’

‘Buck, really, we need the help. You haven’t met the pirates we’re fighting. Even if they’re no longer immortal, it’s not going to be easy. If you’re not going, I’m going.’

‘No, we’re not asking them for help,’ Bucky stated, before he walked away to prepare his men and to see which of them would come with him.

Natasha glared at him. She knew Stark was up to something and they needed all the help they could get. She was not letting her father’s pride be the thing that would end up killing them all. Natasha got herself into one of the boats. No one noticed her, as they were too busy following Bucky’s orders. Without any problems she rowed to The Avenger. Pepper was happily surprised to see her and helped her on board.

‘Natasha, you got off the island! How?’ she asked.

‘I knew the navy was searching for me,’  Natasha said. ‘I burned some trees, made a lot of smoke, and got us out of there. I convinced them to go and save Steve. Stark joined us and decided it was the best that he would go and talk to the pirates. See what he could accomplish. He's in there right now, but we don’t know what he’s up to.’

‘I doubt he knows what he'sup to,’ Rhodey joined their conversation. ‘Whatever he is doing there, we gotta prepare for the worst.’

‘What are the commodore’s plans?’ Pepper asked.

‘Ambush,’ Natasha said and she explained what Bucky had planned out. ‘He didn’t want to ask for your help, but if somehow these pirates are still cursed, we can’t deal with them on our own. We need your help.’

‘We’ll help,’ Rhodey offered. ‘Tony can be an ass, but he is our friend. I want to get him out of there alive as well. We’ll wait here and hide. When those pirates come out to fight you, we will launch a surprise attack.’

‘Great,’ Natasha said. ‘I’m going to the cave and see how Steve and Stark are doing. They might need to be rescued.’

‘Are you sure?’ Pepper asked. ‘You could stay here if you want. Fight with us.’

‘No, thank you, I think they could use some help.’

~

‘Why walk?’ Tony asked as he watched how almost all of the pirates left the cave. ‘You have a pretty boat, why not use it. Hey, if you don’t want it, can I have it?’

‘Shut it, Stark!’ Hammer shouted at him. ‘Why can you never just shut the hell up?!’

‘Why didn’t you say so before? If I had known it bothered you so much, I would have talked a lot more, pumpkin,’ Tony said. ‘So, what is with all the ropes? I know Steve is a very good looking man, but you used like ten ropes on him. Is this some kind of bondage thing? Didn’t think you were into that, Hammer. You’re a lot kinkier than you look!’

‘He broke his ties before, I’m not letting that happen again,’ captain Hammer said.

‘We need to spill his blood,’ Obadiah Stane whispered in Tony’s ear. ‘Your little friend is gonna die.’

‘Steve, you kinky bastard, you broke the ropes?’ Tony asked, completely ignoring Stane. ‘Can you do it again? I want to see it! Is it as much of a turn on as your fighting skills? Remember our fight in the smithy? That got me hard for days. Or you ripping the door out of my cell, that was hot too. Think you could do more of that, or shall I be your knight in shining armor today, reverse things a little?’

Steve raised his eyebrows at Tony. The man was rambling, but Steve felt like he was trying to tell him something. Tony kept walking around and that’s when Steve noticed it. Between all the gold were some weapons hidden. Some left by pirates, others part of the treasure, but they all looked sharp and usable. Tony was asking if he could get out of his ties and help him fight.

‘I might,’ Steve said. ‘But there are a lot this time, maybe it’s too much. I don’t want to ruin my skin.’

‘I think scars are sexy,’ Tony said. ‘Do you think they’re sexy, because I got quite a lot, to be honest. We’re going to have a little problem if you’re not into that. We can’t all be as perfect as you are, honey.’

‘I don’t mind scars,’ Steve said as he sat down on the chest with golden coins. ‘I want to see all of your scars and listen to the stories behind them as I trace them with my fingers. Or should I maybe lick them? Are they sensitive?’

Tony wanted to answer, but before he could even open his mouth Hammer told them to cut the crap and shut the hell up. Angrily he started walking around, his face red and his eyebrows knitted together.

‘I’m sorry captain Hammer,’ Steve said. ‘Did I make you jealous? Do you have any scars I can trace? I haven’t seen you fight even once since I met you. Mister Stane over there might be an asshole, but at least he is getting some work done.’

Hammer snapped. ‘I have been fighting all my life!’ he yelled. ‘I have been fighting against the Stark family, I have been fighting my way through these bloody pirates until I finally became their captain. I might not have any scars, but I can fight and I will!’

‘Great,’ Steve said as he simply broke all his ties, picked up the sword that was on the floor next to him, and cut Tony’s ropes. ‘Why don’t we fight a little then?’

~

The cursed pirates walked on the bottom of the ocean, slowly approaching The Shield. They climbed the anchor chain and slipped on board without making a sound. They spread over the decks and silenced the few guards that had been waiting there, but nothing could go past governor Fury. He was in his office, but he heard them. Within a minute he had all his guards on deck and they were fighting the immortal pirates.

‘Damn,’ Fury cursed as the pirate he just stabbed in the chest stood back up again. The clouds slowly drifted away and the light of the moon showed what these pirates really were like.

‘Warn the others!’ Fury shouted to his men. ‘Light something on fire, shoot a cannon, I don’t care, warn the other fuckers and make them come here right now!’

One of the guards fought his way through the pirates and went below deck. He prepared a cannon and shot it once. From their hiding space Bucky could clearly hear it.

‘Shit!’ he said as he looked at their ship. Now that the moon was out he could see small figures fighting on the deck. ‘We gotta go back! Row back to The Shield! Back! Now!’

On the other side the pirates on The Avenger had heard the cannon as well. Rhodey grabbed some binoculars and checked what was going on. The Shield was too far away from them to see many details, but there were no other ships around, so it had to be a warning shot.

‘They’re under attack!’ Rhodey shouted. ‘Pepper, we gotta move, now! Sam, wake everyone and get them prepared! We are going to fight!’

~

Natasha walked through the tunnels of the caves when she suddenly heard the sounds of swords clashing. It wasn’t Bucky group, they were too far away, it had to be in the caves. She ran further, staying low, so nobody would see her. She peeked over the gold and saw how Steve and Tony were fighting about ten pirates together. Tony was fully focused on Obadiah Stane, while Steve had driven Hammer in a corner and made him stay there, while fighting off the others that came his way.

With a big smirk Natasha stepped out of her hiding place, kicked one of the immortal pirates to the ground, pinned him down with her foot, and stole his sword.

‘Need some help?’ she asked.

‘Can’t let you miss out on the fun!’ Steve grinned. He was glad to see his friend. ‘Do you know what is going on outside?’

‘They’re all waiting for the pirates to come out, but seeing that here are only like ten of them, I assume they’re already on their way.’

She was hardly done speaking when the sound of a cannon made the floor shake.

‘I think they already reached The Shield,’ Natasha said, standing back to back with Steve, keeping the pirates at a distance. ‘My father must be fighting them now. Your pirate friends are around, they will help. They will be able to keep them busy for a while, but you gotta do something, Steve.’

At that moment Tony got stabbed in the chest. Obadiah was laughing manically.

‘I thought you wanted revenge, Stark? Is this your revenge, dying on me? This is what you deserved, Stark! This is what your little friend over  there deserved, watching you die slowly!’

Tony simply pulled the sword out of his chest and raised an eyebrow at the big man in front of him. Without a word he pulled a golden medallion out of his pocket and showed it to Stane.

‘I guess I’m a true pirate after all,’ he sighed. ‘I just couldn’t resist.’

‘So now what? Neither of us can die, but we keep fighting?’ Stane growled.

‘I’m not stopping you if you want to give up,’ Tony said. He put the coin back in his pocket and stepped away from his opponent, turning his back, like he was believing Stane really would give up.

Obadiah attacked again, tried to stab Tony in the back, but Tony wasn’t stupid. With a smirk he turned around and held his own sword up to defend himself. They battled, almost danced through the cave as they were fighting each other, neither of them backing away. It was impressive to see, but Steve and Natasha had a bunch of other pirates to worry about.

~

‘Commodore, enlighten me on what you are planning to do against these creatures!’ Fury said after Bucky and his men had come back on board again and were fighting the undead pirates as well. The men of the navy were good, very good, but they could only fight this  unfair fight for so long. Some were already hurt, few had already lost their life, things could only get worse.

‘I don’t know, as long as the curse isn’t lifted, there is nothing we can do!’ Bucky said. ‘We can only hope Steve will find a solution quickly.’

Slowly a boat approached, making both Bucky and Fury look up.

‘Is that The Avenger?’ Bucky asked.

‘What is it doing here and who….’ Fury started, but before he could finish his sentence a bunch of pirates entered the ship. Rhodey grinned at the governor.

‘Looks like you could do with some help!’

‘Captain Rhodes?’ Fury asked. ‘What the hell are you doing here and why do you have my ship?’

‘I’m not really a captain anymore, governor Fury,’ Rhodey said. ‘And I’m holding onto it for a friend, actually. He is probably the one who stole it from you. I’m sorry about that, but I think we have a bigger problem at the moment!’

Fury could block an attack from one of the pirates just in time. ‘I appreciate your help here, Rhodes, but you aren’t off the hook!’

‘Wouldn’t expect it, sir!’ Rhodey grinned, before he dove into the fight.

~

‘Tony, I really think we should try something else,’ Steve said as he walked past the other man. They were both still fighting with the undead pirates and it honestly was going to get a bit boring. ‘And I don’t like seeing you as a skeleton. Too skinny, it doesn’t suit you.’

‘Well, if that’s what you think, I should turn back into my gloriously, beautiful self then!’ laughed Tony. ‘But do you have a moment? This man is not giving me an inch!’

‘Stark, you’re just playing with the man!’ Natasha said. ‘It’s not nice to let an old man run around the place for such a long time. The moment this curse is lifted he is going to have a heart attack.’

Tony chuckled, danced out of Obadiah’s reach, and flipped the golden coin in the direction of the chest where it belonged. Steve was waiting there. He caught the coin, cut his hand with his sword and dropped the coin in the chest, together with a few drops of blood. The moment the coin dropped down, Tony took his gun from his belt and he shot Hammer in the chest. Steve ran down from the pile of gold and sliced Obadiah’s side open, from his shoulder all the way to his hip, like his mother had done so many years ago.

The moment the other pirates noticed the two men bleeding, they dropped their weapons. Natasha kicked their swords away, picked up two of the guns and pointed them at the pirates.

‘If you move, you die,’ she informed them. None of them dared to move.

Tony bent over Hammer, who slid down the wall and was sitting on the floor now, clutching his chest. His breathing was irregular and his face was pale.

‘You should have known better, Hammer,’ Tony said. ‘You should have known better.’

~

On The Shield, Sam was the first one who noticed the change. He cut the arm of the pirate that was closes to him, and blood was coming out. Sam’s eyes widened when he noticed it. He looked up and saw that the moon was shining and that the pirate he hit wasn’t a skeleton any longer.

‘THE CURSE IS LIFTED!’ he shouted. ‘THEY DID IT! THE CURSE IS GONE!’

That got his fellow pirates and Bucky’s men in great spirits. It didn’t take them long to disarm all of them and drive them all together in a corner of the ship. Their loud cheering could be heard in the caves.

~

‘Oh, come on, Steve, just pull the door out, you’ve done it before, you can do it again!’ whined Tony. He was locked up in a prison in Port Royale again. Tomorrow he would hang, but right now Steve was with him and refused to free him.

‘There are twelve guards out there, Tony,’ Steve sighed. ‘Even if we get past all of them, we have nowhere to go. The navy doesn’t have any ships ready for us at the moment, and I’m not rowing us all the way to a deserted island. I’m not going to let them hang you, don’t worry. Nat won’t let that happen either.’

‘Why? She hates me!’ Tony said, crossing his arms and sitting down in the corner furthest away from Steve. ‘And apparently you do too.’

‘No I don’t,’ Steve answered, rolling his eyes. ‘I promised to trace all your scars, but I don’t want to add some extra scars to your beautiful body. We’ll save that for when we do find ourselves a deserted island, after I've got you out of your trial, tomorrow.’

‘I guess tracing my scars through the bars is going to be difficult, heh?’ Tony asked, looking up with a hopeful expression.

‘No, but maybe we could…. kiss?’ Steve asked, not sure if it would work out. It didn’t matter, Tony jumped up, made his way to the bars and pressed his face against it.

‘This is really not going to be sexy at all,’ he complained. ‘But damn, you’re too hot and I cannot not do this! Now come over here and kiss me already, you promised!’

Steve chuckled. ‘I didn’t promise,’ he said. ‘But I will.’

They kissed. It was clumsy and awkward and really weird. They couldn’t position their faces the way they wanted, with the bars in the way. Using tongue made it even weirder, because they were just a little bit too far away from each other to make it work. But Tony refused to stop. They stayed like that for an hour. Kissing, and talking, and touching, but then the guards forced Steve to go.

The blacksmith stood up and looked at Tony. ‘I’m not going to let you die.’

~

Tony stood on a little platform on a big square. A lot of people had gathered to see how he would meet his death. Tony eyed the gallows next to him warily. Steve was nowhere in sight, even though he had promised to help him out. Natasha was there. She smirked and waved at him the moment she noticed he was looking at her. The commodore stood next to her, looking a tad nervous. Hell, Tony was nervous, but he definitely wasn’t showing it. He didn’t want to give any of the curious people the satisfaction.

When the executioner stepped on the platform, Tony did start sweating a little. He still had way too many things to do in life to die here. Where was Steve? Why wasn’t he around? The executioner put the rope around Tony’s neck and pulled it tight.

‘Any last words, Tony Stark?’ governor Fury asked.

‘Yeah, that’s Captain Tony Stark to you,’ Tony said. ‘And you’re welcome. I kinda enjoyed saving your daughter’s life. Twice. Steve Rogers did the same, he got away with it, but you’re hanging me? Tsk tsk tsk, governor Fury, you’re not being very consistent here!’

‘Hang him,’ Fury said.

The executioner pulled the lever and the floor disappeared under Tony’s feet. Just when he thought it was all over, he felt something else under his feet. Some kind of step, just at the right height. Tony could stand on it, without chocking himself. He peeked down and noticed several knives sticking in the wood. When he looked up again, Natasha was still smirking. She nodded at a man who made his way through the crowd. He was wearing a dark cloak, but as he got closer to the platform, he threw off the cloak, revealing blond hair and big muscles. Tony grinned as he saw Steve fighting off the executioner.

‘Sorry for the wait,’ Steve said. ‘I had to pull in a few favors!’ He cut the rope around Tony’s hands, before cutting the one around his neck. Now that he wasn’t held up anymore, Tony fell off the little knives, and almost ended up under the platform. Steve threw him a sword and together they fought off the approaching guards.

‘Do you have a plan?’ Tony asked. ‘You didn’t get me out yesterday, because we couldn’t escape twelve guards, and now we’re surrounded and I counted at least fifty.’

‘I know, I’m sorry,’ laughed Steve, not sounding very sorry at all. ‘This way.’

Steve led Tony up some stairs. The guards followed them, but Steve turned around and fought them off. The stairs were so small that only two guards could actually attack, and when Steve pushed them, they tumbled down the stairs, taking the other guards with them.

‘It’s a dead end up here!’ Tony shouted, waiting until Steve reached the dead end as well. It was the same place where Natasha had fallen off on the day they met. ‘Do you want us to jump? There are rocks down there.’

Steve ran towards Tony, took him in his arms and kissed him. He pulled away after a few seconds, way too quickly for Tony’s liking, but he let him.

‘Over here there are no rocks,’ Steve said as he pulled Tony to the other side. ‘And your ship is waiting for you, captain.’

There, in the water, was The Iron Man. Tony’s eyes widened. He pulled Steve into another kiss, but when the guards reached the top he quickly climbed on the wall and jumped into the water, Steve following behind him. They landed in the water below safely and swam towards their ship, where their friends were waiting for them.

‘Oh Steve, what have you done,’ Bucky sighed.

‘Let him go,’ Natasha said. ‘Let him have this. We saved each other’s lives, we all had an adventure together. Now they’re going on an adventure together, and so are we. Theirs is going to be more interesting though.’

‘Are you jealous?’ Bucky asked.

‘A little,’ Natasha said.

‘You really think he will be happy with that pirate?’ Bucky asked.

‘No,’ Natasha said. ‘He is going to be happy being a pirate. Again.’