{ enchanted forest }

20. { the evil queen }

A bound and gagged Captain Hook was brought to the top of the clock tower by Greg and Tamara. He suggests that, if they try to torture him, they should try a little harder. The man remarks that they just want to offer him a job.

"Oh, and then you're going to let me go," Hook asks, bursting out in laughter. He explains he is sated, his thirst for vengeance quenched by the death of Rumplestiltskin. His work is done.

But Greg and Tamara reach for the armrests of his chair. "Oh, but I don't think so," Greg says before they both pull him forward. Tamara hands him his spyglass. He uses the little movement that his bound hands give him to raise the spyglass to his eye.

The three stare through the glass of the clock at the streets, where Rumplestiltskin was walking over the pavement with Belle. "No!" Hook roars in surprise and anger. He thought his quest was finally done, but it appeared the damned Crocodile was still alive.

Tamara and Greg pull him back. The two of them taunt him together, putting salt in his wounds by their words. Saying that he was beaten again. Greg tells him that he will never get another chance to take revenge upon Rumplestiltskin, but Hook argues that he will.

"Not unless we help you," Tamara adds. The pirate questions how they could help him. The woman explains that they know how to kill magical creatures. When Hook inquires about the price, Greg takes it upon himself to speak. "I need you to help me find someone. My father. He was taken in this town a long time ago."

Hook asks why the bloody hell the man would think he'd be able to help with that. Greg explains that he knows the woman who took him; Regina.

"Do we have a deal," Greg asks, holding his hook in front of him.

●

"Captain. You look like you've had a rough time."

Regina watches from her desk how the pirate stepped inside her office and closed the door behind him. "Indeed I have. I've come to ask you for your protection."

The Queen remarks that she is surprised to see him show his face around town, considering he failed in his attempt to kill the Dark One. He tells her that they have a much more dire problem and explains that Greg Mendell and some woman are working together and dragged him back into town, that they want him to have an alliance with her and then betray her.

He suggests they make an alliance and skip over the betrayal part. Regina asks him why she should trust him in this. Hook reminds her that he took up with her mother for a reason. He asks if they could reestablish their former alliance when the Queen informs him of the fact that her mother is death.

Hook gives her his condoleances and assures her that what Cora wanted most was to see her win. "Now, I failed in my revenge. The best tribute I could give her is to help you with yours." She remains silent for a moment, before asking him if she can show him something.

The pirate follows her to the corner of the room, where she was growing the bean that she stole from the field. She explains she will go back with the bean to the Enchanted Forest, taking Henry with her. If he helps her, she will take him along so they can escape the total destruction of Storybrooke. 

He asks if total destruction includes the destruction of the Crocodile. Regina ensures him Rumplestiltskin will die, if he helps her. Hook smirks at her. "Of course."

Regina nods approvingly and tells him to follow her. She leads them to the library, although what lies beneath it was what she was truly after.

The two of them step into the elevator, which brings them below the surface. Hook asks if the Queen ever wonders if their constant pursuit of revenge was the reason they had no one to care for them. He knows that, once he killed the Crocodile for good this time, he will have nothing to look forward to.

Without the hunt after the Crocodile, his life would be empty. Especially if his only companion then will be a sleeping teenager. But Regina tells him that it is different for her. She had Henry. Destroying Storybrooke was a small price for a happily ever after with her son.

Hook shrugs at her comment. He stretches his arm out to allow Regina to go ahead, but she caught sight of the leather cuff he was wearing. She knows it belonged to her mother and asks him about it. The pirate explains that Cora gifted him this one, enchanted so he may climb the bean stalk. Regina orders him to give it to her.

The captain asks her why she is worried over a scrap of cowhide when they are going to destroy the entire town. Regina reminds him that Cora was her mother and Hook reminds the dark haired woman that Cora was his friend. But without a word he offers up his wrist so she could take it from him.

Regina wore a pleased look on her face as she takes the cuff off and puts it onto her own wrist. She then leads them into the cavern where she hid the trigger, well-hidden and well-guarded. Hook inquires who is guarding the place. All Regina would let loose about it was that she is a friend.

She tells Hook to distract her while she will get the trigger. She then pushes him off the edge. With a painful groan the pirate hit the stone ground, where he was confronted with Maleficent. 

While he kept her occupied, Regina went to the glass coffin in which Snow White had spent her time under the Sleeping Curse and bashes into the cover, retrieving an ornate bag from the ruins. Inside was the trigger she had been looking for. A black diamond.

She returned to the elevator, leaving the pirate down below so she could make a clean escape. So it was very surprising to her when the elevator brought her back above the surface and she was face to face with Captain Hook.

"Startling, aren't I? Some people say striking," he smirks at her, laughing even. He was taunting her with every word and every move he made. Regina remarks that he could have never survived that. Maleficent would tear him to shreds.

He smiles at her. "Well, you should know by now, the one thing I excel at is surviving," he tells her. The man takes slow, tantalizing steps in her direction while the Queen was too startled to move. "The amazing thing is, you almost had me. All that stuff about a fresh, clean start, just killing them and moving on. It kind of touched me. For a moment there, I thought we had a real connection, and, honestly, I almost put a stop to my plan."

Regina leans back, a frown appearing on her face. "Your plan?" Hook shrugs his shoulders, pouting his lower lip. "Well, their plan. But I fancied it. And they did save me from that wretched.. whatever Maleficent is." He turns around to point at Tamara and Greg, who appeared behind him. 

"Do you know these two? Well, they have a way with magic. Or should I say, a way against magic," Hook explains while behind him the two stand in their positions. Regina was done with the threats and opens up the palm of her hand, ready to create one of her infamous fireballs.. but found herself unable to do so. 

Greg tells her that is not going to work anymore and Regina knew then what happened. The cuff was causing her inability to use magic. She glares at Hook, but he reminds her that she insisted on having it. Regina tries pulling it off, but Owen explains why it doesn't work like that.

Tamara pulls up her list of people of the town and asks who she was. Greg, also known as Owen, explains that she is the Evil Queen. He tells Tamara to bag her and the woman throws the bag over Regina's head.

They head outside and discreetly put Regina in the back of Greg's car to bring her to their secundary location. Tamara and Greg agree with Hook that they will call upon him when it is time for the next phase of their plan. Afterwards they get into the car together and watch the pirate leave.

As soon as he was out of sight, Tamara pulls up another paper.

"Still no sign of her," she asks, glancing at the drawing on the parchment. Greg shakes his head quietly. "No. But perhaps our royal guest may know more about her," he responds. He turns his head to look at his girlfriend. Both wore identical sinister smirks on their faces.

●

On the other side of Storybrooke Snow White, Charming and Grumpy went to the bean fields to continue their work. But upon their arrival there they found all the beans to be destroyed.

There was no way back to the Enchanted Forest now.