A/N: It only took two years, but I'm finally diving into the TP fandom with, what else? Whump! (Admit it, some of you were thinking amnesia, but nope. Not this time!)
It jumps right into the scene when Jim and B.E.N are sabotaging the ship, and Jim's about to float away into space. The AU of Jim getting hurt was inspired by one of the live-action Treasure Island movies, where Jim is injured when he goes onto the ship to cut the anchor.
"Say hello to Mr. Arrow for me," Scoop sneered as his claw sawed slowly through the rope.
Thinking quickly, Jim climbed up -no, down, zero gravity was weird- the flag and grabbed the flagpole. Scroop snarled and abandoned the rope to recklessly throw himself at Jim.
Jim kicked himself toward the spider-man, shouting, "Tell him yourself!"
Jim soared over Scroop's head and pushed himself down his back. Something scraped his side and caught his leg, but Jim jerked free. He scrambled to grab the wooden pole and kicked Scroop away. There was a snap, and Jim quickly looked up.
Scroop had gone right into the flat with enough force to break the frayed rope. While Jim stared, Scroop ripped his way out of the flag. His sneer turned to confusion, then horror when he saw that he was drifting into space.
"No!" Mr. Scroop's scream faded as he vanished into the mist.
Jim stared after him, panting. Long after Scroop's voice faded, Jim finally blinked and turned his head down. He started to tug himself down the pole, then paused.
Something was wrong. His left leg felt odd and sluggish, but he put that to the adrenaline wearing off. It was the stabbing pain just under his ribs on that side that had him more concerned…
Before he could investigate, Jim's body suddenly grew heavy. His arms slipped as the gravity sent him falling back into the crow's nest. Habit of past falls brought his hands and feet down to break his fall.
As he struck the deck, his left leg slid out to the side, slamming his body onto the floor. A ragged scream ripped out of Jim's mouth when the impact sent a massive wave of pain up his body and darkened his vision.
Jim wasn't sure if he completely passed out, but he opened his eyes to see Morph hovering in his face. The little shapeshifter was chirping and cooing at Jim, eyes darting around.
"Hey, Morph," Jim said with a grunt. "It's okay. I just got the wind knocked out of me."
"Cannons disabled, Captain Jimmy, sir!" B.E.N. called from below.
"Good job, B.E.N.," Jim called down.
There was a short silence, then B.E.N. asked, "Are you okay, Jimmy?"
"I'm fine."
Ignoring B.E.N's protest that he didn't sound okay, Jim made himself sit up. A breathless cry escaped him and he clutched his side, which was warm and wet. Jim pulled his hand away to see blood on his palm. His eyes widened in alarm as he looked down.
There was a cut from his ribs clear down the his knees on his left side. It was mostly shallow, but the part above his hip was flowing blood. The cut was jagged on the side of his knee, which was keeping his leg from moving quite right.
Jim clamped the hand back to his side. "Uh… B.E.N.? I'm maybe not completely okay."
"What?! What happened, Jimmy?!" B.E.N. called, already panicking.
"I got cut!" Jim yelled down. "Listen, I need you to find the infirmary and get some bandages."
"Oh, Jimmy, how bad is it?! You can't die!"
"I might if that bucket of bolts doesn't hurry," Jim muttered to Morph. Louder, he called down, "I'll be fine, just get some bandages, okay?"
Jim heard B.E.N.'s flustered yelping, then he was gone. Hopefully, the nervous robot would be able to quickly find what he needed.
"Okay, Morph," Jim said, gritting his teeth. "Here goes nothing."
Jim reached up and grabbed the edge of the railing with his left hand, keeping his right firmly against his side. He dragged himself up, gasping and panting, to stand on his right foot. Blinking hard against the spots dancing across his vision, Jim leaned against the railing.
When the ground finally stopped spinning, Jim took a deep breath. He braced himself against the railing and slid his right leg over it, letting all his weight rest dangerously on his right hip. His left arm, shaking much more than it should have been, kept him balanced as Jim maneuvered himself onto the rigging.
Jim couldn't remember climbing down, but he somehow found himself sitting on the deck. He leaned tiredly against the mast, trying to breathe steadily against the pulsing pain.
Morph cooed and burrowed into Jim's hair. He couldn't help, but Jim appreciated his concern.
Hesitantly, Jim dragged his gaze down to his side. His hand was coated with blood, and he was… already sitting in a puddle of red. Everything started to blur and spin. Jim laid his head back, wondering where B.E.N was and if it would hurt to just close his eyes for a bit...
"Jimmy!"
Jim startled, eyes snapping open. B.E.N. was hovering right in his personal space.
"B.E.N," Jim grunted, raising a hand to push him away. "Did you get the bandages?"
B.E.N babbled something about bandages and locked doors and no medicine, but he did hold up roles and roles of white bandages that Jim thought might have been overkill.
"Okay," Jim interrupted. "Give them to me, and I'll wrap this up."
B.E.N held the bandages out of reach. "No, no, Jimmy, just hold still. I've got this."
Jim managed a smirk. "You're a doctor?"
"Nooo," B.E.N drew out the word while unrolling the bandages. "But I have experience from Captain Flint's crew! They never could keep a doctor on board. Did you know that pirates tend to shoot things that cause them pain?"
Jim blinked. "What?" He hissed when B.E.N lifted his shirt and pressed a wad of cloth to his bleeding side.
"Sorry!" B.E.N started wrapping a long bandage around Jim's middle. "No, it's true. Doctors know better than to join a pirate's crew. Of course, sometimes pirates don't look like pirates-"
"I'll say," Jim muttered.
"So I picked up a few things, and made the rest up as I went along and-"
"B.E.N."
The robot looked up from wrapping the bandages. "Yes, Jimmy?"
"You're rambling."
The wires poking out of B.E.N's head sparked. "Oh, right, silly me! Don't worry, Jimmy, we'll have you fixed up in no time!"
Before Jim could respond, B.E.N pulled the bandages tight. Jim hissed and clenched forward.
"Jimmy! Sorry, I didn't mean-"
Jim cut him off by raising a hand. "Just finish it," he hissed.
B.E.N made some other nervous noises, but finished wrapping the bandage around Jim's middle. Without stopping, he continued wrapping past Jim's hip and down his leg until the whole gash was covered. He then found himself with a loose end of cloth, but Morph easily remedied this by morphing into an oversized safety pin.
"Thanks, you two," Jim said with a slight smile.
Now that he wasn't steadily losing blood and the initial shock was wearing off, Jim was able to focus again. He looked at the still-dark sky, and wondered if he had time to rest.
Jim shook his head. It was too risky to stay put. If any of the pirates found their skiff missing, they'd storm B.E.N's home. Delbert and the captain would be defenseless.
Stifling a groan, Jim leaned forward and shifted to kneel on his good knee.
"I really don't think-" B.E.N started.
Jim scowled. "We need to make sure Dr. Delbert and the captain are okay."
"But-"
"B.E.N."
B.E.N sighed. He helped Jim stand, but complained the whole time. Jim ignored him, focusing on limping to the side of the deck where they had left the skiff. Getting into the skiff was a whole new mess, and the pair basically tumbled into the skiff with enough bumps and thumps that Jim was glad that the Legacy was empty just then.
"Alright, where to, Jimmy?" B.E.N asked, trying to get Jim to sit in the middle of the skiff.
Jim held himself up on the skiff's sides. "I'm flying."
"Jimmy, I must insist that I fly," B.E.N argued. "What if you get dizzy?" He suddenly leaned closer to Jim. "Do you see one or two of me?"
Jim shoved him away. "My vision's fine."
"I don't know. You passed out on deck and-"
"I didn't pass out," Jim said. "I was just resting my eyes."
The safety pin on his leg made a disbelieving raspberry sound.
"See?" B.E.N said.
"Do you even know how to fly this?" Jim asked skeptically.
"Well, yeah! You just…" B.E.N stared at the controls that, to him, were impossibly advanced.
"I'm flying," Jim said in finality, half-dragging B.E.N so he could sit at the controls.
"Jimmy!" B.E.N protested.
Jim ignored him once again, focusing on firing up the skiff to distract him from the pain in his side. He urged the skiff forward with a caution that he hadn't used since… well, ever. He told himself it was because B.E.N was still standing and he didn't want to dump the poor robot.
Jim eased his way toward B.E.N's home. As he soared as near to the pirates' camp as he dared, he glanced down. There were lumps still laying around the campfire remains, but Jim couldn't spare the time to give the camp a closer inspection. Despite what he'd told B.E.N, he was starting to feel dizzy as the last of the adrenaline wore off.
The skiff jolted to the ground near B.E.N's house, where B.E.N pointed out another trapdoor. Jim flinched at the impact, letting go of the controls to wrap his arms around himself.
"Jimmy?"
"I'm fine."
Jim made himself stand, and was just glad when his vision didn't blur or fuzz. It didn't make his body hurt any less, but at least he could see when he climbed out of the skiff.
Jim accepted B.E.N's help down the trapdoor and across wobbling catwalks, but climbed the ladder to the "back door" alone with growing excitement. Delbert and the captain would be so happy to see that he had the map and a skiff! They could fly away and be safe from the pirates.
No one seemed to be awake when Jim entered the house and leaned against the ball. They'd let the candles go out, but Jim could see a lump against the wall where he'd last seen Delbert.
"You okay, Jimmy?" B.E.N asked as he popped up beside the boy.
Waving him off, Jim pushed away from the ball. He limped hurriedly across the room and dropped to his knees with a pained huff in front of the doctor.
"Doc," Jim whispered, leaning stiffly to the side to find the map in his pocket. "Doc, I got the map."
The lump moved as Jim pulled out the map and proudly held it out. There was a pause. Then a mechanical hand that was definitely not Delbert's dropped over the map. A sneering face leaned into the dim moonlight.
"Thank you, lad," Silver said mockingly.
A/N: I did away with Silver's accent because I know if I'd tried, it would have been way too exaggerated.
Updates each Monday!