First off, my apologies for such a lengthy delay. Thanks to everyone who is reading and especially those who review.

Special thanks to those who inspire and continue to play with me in the Warehouse.


Valda, the pirate Captain, slowly walked forward until he was looking down on the group of pirates and the strangely dressed stowaways, captured and in chains. To Steve, Valda seemed to retain all of the smug and pompous nature that Pete told him about. In artifact pirate form, it was downright frightening.

"How did you get on my ship?" His British accent was muddled with the sloppy talk of pirates.

Steve and Leena glanced at each other. Steve knew that there was no way the pirates would believe them. The agent debated using the pirate's suspicion of witches, but doubted that would end well. He decided to try to reason with the guy, hoping that Pete over reacted on his description of the dead regent.

"We are from a different world from you; brought here by your ship." Steve said loudly, making Leena cringe and hold her breath at his tactic.

"And this?" Valda waved to the canister that Artie still held.

"Our way back home." Steve thought that it was close enough to the truth. If they could get the captain to let them neutralize the spar, maybe the artifact power would be lost and he and Leena would be transported back to the Warehouse. Or maybe they'd be stuck there forever. Steve acknowledged that possibility too.

"Steve, are you sure?" Leena whispered to him.

"No." He whispered back before they both got poked painfully from behind with the butt of a sword in their kidneys.

The captain narrowed his eyes and growled. "Throw it overboard."

"NO! We need that!" Steve moved forward, but there was nowhere to go. He ended up looking straight up at Valda. The captain nodded to pirate-Artie who chucked the container over board. Steve watched the silver goo container sail through the air before he heard a splash a second later.

Steve turned see a desperate look from Leena as the pirates cheered their captain. He tried not to show his very real concern for their predicament. Leena saw the container sail over board as helplessly as he did. Leena didn't meet Steve's eyes, but watched the container float away from the boat, along with their hopes of getting home.

Then, Leena said, "Steve! Did you see that?"

"What?" He walked up to her to hear her over the crowd.

"It disappeared." Leena said excitedly.

"You mean sunk?" A pirate grabbed Steve to turn him around to face the captain again as the cheers die down.

"No. Disappeared!" Leena restated emphatically. Steve frowned in thought.

Valda, the Captain yelled, "And now for the stowaways! To the sea with them!" Steve was deafened by a rousing cheer from the pirates, but the agent was busy thinking about what Leena said.

His attention was suddenly demanded again when he realized that they being shoved and poked to the edge of the boat. Adrenaline flooded into him when he saw a young pirate, no more than 12, slide a plank to reach out into the sea. As cool as walking the plank was to Steve, it wasn't something that he wanted to experience firsthand.

Out of the crowd, a thin female pirate with jet black hair and wielding a sword pushed her way through the crowd. Steve saw the movement and stopped walking. He got a shove, but Steve shoved back with his shoulder until Leena got in front of him, putting Steve between her and the pirates, especially the one with the sword. The female pirate yelled wordlessly at him, showing off her gap in her teeth. Steve flinched at the woman in her yellow stained blouse then did a double take. She had an uncanny resemblance to HG Wells.

The other pirates gave the black haired, pale skin pirate room. Steve guessed that she was as crazy in this reality as in his. He smiled at the HG, but she yelled and poked him with the tip of her rusty sword. "Hey!" He slapped the side of the rusty sword away.

Leena stopped, and Steve bumped into her, having been paying attention to the mob of pirates. He saw that they were being forced on to a two foot plank of wood that stuck out the side of the boat above the crystal clear blue water.

"Oh crap." Steve let out in a low voice.

Leena said, "I had a stronger four letter word in mind; but yes."