oh my god. I – could see that, oh so easily. All they’d really have to do is convince Gates that it’s not a suicide mission to go after him once they find out where he’s being held, and for that, they’d need Billy’s help, which Silver would know but Miranda wouldn’t unless he tells her. Silver and Miranda together is a truly terrifying thought. No one would be able to refuse them, because what one didn’t think of the other would, much like him and Flint. And then you re-add Flint back into the mix after he escapes/is rescued and oh gods. The British never stood a chance (provided of course that he can see his way to working with Silver, which shouldn’t be that hard because the man will have just helped save his life). *Cackles alarmingly*
WAIT BUT IT GETS BETTER!
while Team Miranda is plotting, Flint is carried off to England, instead of Eleanor in s2 (bc she kinda took his place in canon!) Team Miranda is too late!
cut to the cell with Flint, enter Admiral Hennessey like TIMES HAVE CHANGED COME BACK SON I WILL FORGIVE EVERYTHING have a pardon/privateering commission (acts like he doesn’t know who offed Alfred).
Flint: fuck you, the Navy was never my home thx bye *escapes*
THEN he finds Thomas (idk amnesiac in the countryside bc I can’t handle laudanum addict Thomas aus) and happy reunion tears OH SHIT MIRANDA
they come to Boston first, Miranda is not there AWW HELL
back to Nassau, they arrive in panic. Meanwhile, Miranda…. has united everyone under FUCK YOU ENGLAND banners, using Flint as a symbol of how England can creep in and fuck you up. Eleanor wants to throw her off the cliff but like, works together. idk about Granny and Dufresne, they also plot. The gold has been delivered into the fort ofc. so like Miranda & Silver (who are probably lovers by then) have achieved in a couple of months what Flint has failed to do for a DECADE HELLO
Flint: … shit I knew I should have been the stay at home one. MIRANDA HAVE A THOMAS
Or, if one wanted to go for Hennessy getting his head out of his ass entirely, one could go for him trying to offer Flint a pardon/commission, being rejected, and coming out of the cell, only to nod at someone sadly, hopes somewhat dashed, as if to say, “you were right, he’s not willing to listen to me, let’s try it your way.” Cut back to Flint, who is sitting in the cell being broody, then the door opening to reveal the person Hennessy nodded at – Thomas, who has been pulled out of Bedlam by Hennessy (too little too late but I’d like to think he’s had ten years to really, sincerely regret what he’s done. Heck, maybe James’ capture was enough impetus for him to look into Thomas just to find out what happened to the man he condemned to Bedlam and discover that he’s actually still alive). Hennessy’s letting them go, since that’s all he can do for James at this point. They proceed to return to Nassau for the above mentioned reunion with Miranda.
As for Dufresne and Granny – you know, I’m honestly not sure how Granny would react if Gates were still alive and Flint were gone. For all I know he would be content if someone just handed him his wretched chair back and gave him a vote in whatever war council Miranda and Silver would have pulled together by then. Dufresne would still be a part of the Walrus crew, too, since there would have been no mutiny against Flint that Dufresne would have been a part of as of the Andromache fight. Then there’s the question of what Vane would do if literally everything suddenly swung his way, with absolutely no one seriously proposing reconciliation with England.