Legends 3

Endgame

By Emerald

Swarthy

"Show no mercy! I don't want see a single building standing, do you hear me?!" Glyde Heirkine shouted orders to his apocalyptic air fleet. On the monitor in front of the famed air pirate, numerous explosions tore through a hapless cityscape. Now homeless, citizens fled into the streets where they met a line of tanks that would halt their feeble progress.

"Keke. Calm down, Glyde." a watching Bird-bot made it's presence known, peeved at his master's juvenile behavior. "It's just a video game."

"What, will the small comfort of winning in a virtual world be taken away from me as well?" the pirate put down the controller to his brand new RTS game long enough to turn around and answer his subordinate. It seemed that 'Starcraft 3', just released last year, would have to be put on hold again.

"Glyde, you've gotta stop this little pity party you've been holding for the past six months. Kekeke!" the robot continued, it's awkward speech impediment making it hard for the once feared pirate lord to take it seriously.

"Yeah. Squawk!" another of the robot birds spoke up. "I'm mean, just because you were fired from the Loath family, went completely bankrupt, were forced to live in your airship, can't strike fear into the heart of a fly, and lost in your new video game…"

"I didn't lose in my game!" Glyde cut-off his Bird-bot in mid-sentence. Then he turned around to check on the screen, and watched in horror as the two most hated words in the English dictionary, 'Game Over', scrolled down the screen. "No! I forgot to pause!"

"Give me a break. Ke…" the first Bird-bot sighed, and then went back to pretending to watch the ship's scanners. Meanwhile, the noble Heirkine was close to tears and cursing his 'forgetful fingers'.

Suddenly, the sound of a large explosion and the rocking of the airship alerted the robotic crew to what was perhaps the first eventful thing to happen to them since being betrayed by the Bonnes on Yosyonke island.

"Squawk! Turn down that damned television!" an irate Bird-bot squealed, and immediately went on a search for the remote control that Glyde typically kept hidden. When it saw that his master's face was perfectly serious, and that the videogame system had been powered off, it realized the gravity of the situation.

Wordlessly, Glyde and a number of crew members jumped from their seats in the 'living room' of the ship and headed towards the lower deck. Once there, they looked out of side window and scanned the clouds for the attacking vessel. Nothing showed up on the starboard side of Glyde's ship, but a squawk from one of the two port-side window proved that it wasn't just a false alarm. Glyde waded through the sea of Bird-bots that now infested the hallway, and tried vainly to look out one of the windows.

"Who's attacking us? What does their ship look like?" the commander demanded as he tried to push past a few of his minions, receiving a metal wing to the face in response. The commotion was becoming almost unbearable, and the tension made Glyde begin to sweat. They hardly had any weapons, they were so vulnerable…

"Uhh, keke, it's a pirate ship." a Bird-bot answered unhelpfully, infuriating Glyde with it's vagueness. He wished he could has smacked the bird, but couldn't reach him through the throngs of robots that blocked his path.

"No, I never would have guessed!" Glyde replied sarcastically as he tried to pry one of the robot birds off of a window-sill. "I need you to be specific!"

"I don't think I can be any more specific than that." the answer came one second too short, and Glyde had already cleared a space for his head to look out. The Bird-bot's meaning became perfectly clear.

The ship, or rather, the boat was crafted entirely out of wood. Gigantic masts rose up from the center, and equally impressive ruby red silk sheets served as sails. An enormous, rusted iron anchor trailed the craft and hung suspended in the air, slicing through the clouds below. The only modern equipment apparent on the ship were the six ball-jointed jet engines that lined both sides of the ships, which were spread out like the legs of an insect.

On the front of the boat, a nearly pre-historic artillery cannon poked out of the keel and faced Glyde's airship. Standing atop the ancient weapon, the captain of the ship stood ramrod stiff as he faced into the wind.

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"Would you like some tea, Captain…?"

"Amadeus. Captain Amadeus, scourge of the eight skies! And no thank ya; I've brought my own drink." came the reply, and then the pirate took out a leather satchel and poured some of the highly alcoholic contents down his throat.

The only thing that could have been possibly more surprising than the appearance of the wooden ship was that of it's captain. Captain Amadeus was an imposing figure, to say the least, standing nearly six feet tall and owning a wide muscular build. This brawn was downplayed somewhat by the flowing garments he wore, three layers of red and black coats obscuring the form underneath. His black pants would have been simple by comparison, if not for the numerous white belts that criss-crossed their waistline.

His skin was tanned, the characteristic trait of a sailor, and overall he appeared to be around the age as Teasel Bonne. A cleanly cut angular jaw was covered with a year's growth of dark, almost dyed, spiky black beard. The hair on the top of Amadeus' head was covered by his humongous hat, which he had not taken off since entering the ship. It, like the majority of his clothing, was blood red, and shaped like the sun rising above the horizon. The emblem of a four-horned skull was emblazoned on the front of the cap, and completed his over-the-top appearance.

"I see…" Glyde's answered, slightly nervously, as he poured a cup of tea for himself. As he dipped the tea-bag in and out of the hot cup, he sat down in front of his outlandish visitor hesitantly. "But aren't there only seven skies?"

"So what of it? Ya wouldn't be questionin' my word, would ye?" the Captain questioned, his white-gloved hand grasping the hilt of a green saber and brandishing it in an instant. When he saw Glyde spill his tea cup over in fear and surprise, Amadeus broke out into hardy laughter than had been written a thousand times in comic books as 'Har har har!'

"Just messin' with ya, young lass. If I'd a mind to kill ya, I would of done so from the safety of my ship." he chortled, pointing the blade away from his fellow air pirates' face but now holstering it on his belt buckle again. He seemed to prefer keeping it out, and twirled it around in his hands throughout the rest of the conversation.

"That reminds me; why did you shoot at my ship in the first place" Glyde asked, still not quite trusting the elder pirate. He also wondered what a 'lass' was, and whether or not he should be offended.

"Well, I don't have much in the way of fancy electronics on my brig, ya might say. Think of my little cannon fire as a friendly hit on the arm to get yer attention." Amadeus explained, physically punching Glyde's shoulder to drive home the analogy.

"Yes, that ship of yours does seem rather ancient." Glyde responded, rubbing his now hurting shoulder. He would add that injury to the tea-burn on his leg and the large indent on the side of his ship. "When was it made?"

"I made her myself, named her after an old flame of mine named 'Siri'. Fashioned 'er after the old pirate vessels of the 1970's. Now I know my modern jive and clothin' don't give it away, but I'm a bit stuck in the past." he smiled, still twirling his green saber as he watched Glyde's puzzled expression.

"I see. Captain Amadeus, it's not that this visit hasn't been… entertaining, but I'm going to cut to the chase." Glyde began, but was then cut off by a wave of Amadeus' hand. The experienced air pirate knew what was coming next.

"I know, I know. Ya wanna know why I'm here in the first place, don'tcha, young lass?" he correctly guessed, and Glyde nodded in agreement.

"Well, it is a little niggling question that's been at the back of my mind." the younger pirate confirmed, and several Bird-bot who were stationed behind the door readied their bazookas in case the red-coated pirate tried any funny business. They had almost busted down the door when Amadeus' sword first came out, but had decided to wait for the signal.

"It's like this; I'm a captain lacking anything resemblin' crew. I don't know why, but human minions just aren't as sturdy as robot ones like you got. Only one strong whack to the head, in a wee fit of rage, and…I digress." he cut himself off before he said too much, and then started over again. "Mr. Glyde, I'm willin' to join forces with yer troop, seeing as doing it all by myself ain't been working out too well. But I'll only do so if I join your little clan as an equal."

"This is certainly a surprise!" Glyde exclaimed, never once suspecting anything of the sort to be asked. He was dirt-poor; Amadeus had to know that. Hell, there were more terrifying gangs of children than the Glyde clan nowadays, though he would never admit it. "Uhm, what could you add to my air force, other than your vessel and yourself?"

"What, me and Siri ain't enough?" Amadeus asked, somewhat offended. But then his mouth twisted into another of his oddly immaculate smiles. "But yer right; there's more. I've heard that you've been havin' some… financial problems"

Sitting up and reaching into a large pocket in one of the three coats he wore, Amadeus pulled out a large, ruby red refractor shard. It gleamed in the lamp light, and something about the look in the older pirates eyes told Glyde that there was much, much more where that came from.

"Welcome aboard, co-Captain Amadeus!" Glyde answered almost immediately, standing and putting his hand forward only a second later. The white gloved hand of commander Zet closed around it in confirmation.

"Swarthy!" he replied, an exclamation of excitement and amusement.

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Authors Notes: Arg, this be chapter 4, land lubbers. Hope you didn't jump overboard during the wait. *cough* All bad jokes aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's definitely a challenge to introduce a new character to the Legends series, but with Captain Amadeus I think I've crafted a character that fits in pretty well with the already outstanding cast. With the Bonnes being forced by Roll to stop all illegal activities, the story needs some more humorous villains.

I wracked my brain trying to think up a good pirate name, and for some reason the Austrian song "Rock Me Amadeus" came into my head. Hey, it works for me. Also, Starcraft joke in there for all you RTS fans. Hey, if Capcom can exist in the future to pump out Resident Evil 43 (see Legends 2), anything is possible.

Readers Corner: Just one review this time, and it's Ri2 again! He loves the serve bots and thinks Roll should try to act more like them. Great idea! Next time I'll have 'Serve-bot 43' dress in yellow and blue, run around with her arms in the air, and blow up in a rocket ship. Well, maybe not…

Long live America! Read and review!