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“You’re fucking kidding me….” Ed whispered in awe, as he stepped through the door of the blue box. A giant interior was revealed, a central console in the middle with all sorts of buttons, contraptions and what looked like some odd rectangular shapes with flashing images on them was the focal point of the room. There was a large column going to the roof of the room. There were corridors leading off to depths unknown and the walls had an orangey-hue to them.
“Edward, language!” Stede scalded, but his voice was equally enamoured at their surroundings. They stepped into the room towards the central column.
“Yes yes,” the man who merely called himself The Doctor rambled, waving a hand about his head. “It’s bigger on the inside, this is my ship and yes it flies. It also travels in time but we can’t deal with that right now.”
Stede raised an eyebrow at the confession that the ‘ship’ can apparently travel in time, but this enigmatic stranger was right - they didn’t exactly have time (ironically) to deal with that right now.
An marine alien race named the Sea Devils (or so the Doctor informed them) had been circling the Revenge all day, firing attacks at them, their weapons advanced beyond Ed and Stede’s wildest dreams. These fish-like humanoids were vicious and tactical. Despite the combined fighting power of three infamous pirate captains with Zheng and her ship nearby, they were losing badly. The Swede had been injured, Lucius and Pete were below deck desperately trying to keep the cannons stocked. Izzy had been fighting the ones closest to breaching the ship and he had done well to fend them off but he was getting tired. It was beginning to feel like it could all end very badly.
That had been until a blue box seemed to appear out of nowhere on the deck of the Revenge and a man jumped out, a small cylindrical object in hand. He was in a suit, but it looked like nothing Stede had ever seen before. A white shirt with a brown jacket on the top, a small red tie on his neck and swoopy black hair. He shouted “GET DOWN” and pressed the button, a whirring sound occurred. The Sea Devils seemed to shriek in pain, wincing and retreating.
For now.
“Come with me,” the man said. “My name is The Doctor. It won’t keep them back for long, they’ll regroup. Blackbeard. The Gentleman Pirate. I can help you.”
Ed had rushed to Stede’s side in the aftermath of the battle, dying down, grabbing his hand. “Babe, are you alright?” he’d asked, checking him over.
“I’m fine darling, are you?” Stede replied, grabbing hold of Ed tight too. Ed nodded and placed a quick kiss on Stede’s lips, grateful they were unscathed.
The Doctor looked at their conjoined hands and grinned. “Ooooh I love it when historical rumours get proved true.”
“Huh?” Stede had replied to this strange man who’d appeared from nowhere.
“Who are you?” Ed asked, the crew eyeing the man suspiciously from the bow of the ship.
"Your new best friend. I heard reports of a sea devil attack, they’re searching for something on your ship, I just need to work out what,” the Doctor explained. “Follow me.”
Ed and Stede had shrugged, but followed. This day had already been insane, what else could they do?
“Izzy,” Ed had called out. “Check everyone is okay and restock what you can.”
“Edward, are you sure this is wise? This man appeared from thin air.” Izzy said, a concerned look trained on the blue box.
Ed shrugged. “If Buttons can turn into a seagull, I think men can appear from thin air maybe.”
Izzy pulled a face but nodded, turning away, calling orders out to the crew. Roach was crouched down tending to the wound on The Swede’s arm.
“This is your ship?” Ed asked, an eyebrow raised once they were inside the blue box.
“Yes,” The Doctor said, flippantly. He was walking around the console, flicking switches and tutting at the rectangular screen.
Ed was fascinated as he stepped forward to look at the console, running his hand across the metal.
“What does this do?” he said, nodding towards a spiky circular object nestled in the middle.
“It’s very complicated. Far too complicated to explain and it’s very technical,” The Doctor babbled as he rushed around the ship, waving his hands around.
“It’s the wheel?” Ed asked after a moment.
The Doctor stopped, taken aback and frowned, looking up at Ed. “Well…. Atom accelerator.”
“But it… steers the ship?” Ed said knowingly.
“No. Well. Yes. Technically but -”
Ed pointed at various equipment on the console.
“Telescope. Astrolabe. Compass,” he said, a small smile on his face. Stede looked at him proudly, fondness running through his veins.
“Ship’s a ship,” Ed said, with a shrug.
The Doctor smirked. “Blackbeard, you really are as impressive as they say.”
Ed grinned. “Call me Ed mate.”
“Ed. Of course.” The Doctor said with a small smile. His console suddenly beeped loudly.
“Oh!” he exclaimed. He pulled the rectangle towards him and he let out a noise of excitement.
“Got it. They were tracking something, a piece of fabric. They’ve put a device on it, to lure sailors. And infamous pirates apparently” he said with a glance to the side. “To lure them into depths unknown.”
He turned the screen towards them. “Have you boys seen anything like this recently?”
Stede froze, his eyes widening. There was a picture of his lovely cursed red suit jacket…. That he may or may not have actually hidden in the auxiliary wardrobe rather than throwing away like he’d told Jim and the crew.
Ed looked at him with a stern but fond look in his eyes. “Babe… something you need to tell me?”
Stede smiled sheepishly. “Well in my defence, it looks really good on me.”