Ch. 5 Upgrades
"I came here trying to find you." It was almost five hours later and Riley was in a chair by Brave's bed. They had patched up his wound and moved him into Adam's office, but he was still unconscious from blood loss. "I'd heard that you had worked with Merciless Adam Silver and was going to ask him for help finding you." Riley quickly wiped away a tear. "I guess I found you, but I didn't expect this to happen." Riley put her hand on Brave's stump. "Please don't die when I just found you." Hearing footsteps, Riley turned around. Lenora and Adam walked in to check in on the girl.
"Hey," Adam said, "How're you holding up?"
"I've been better," Riley admitted. She turned back to Brave.
"He never stopped looking for you, you know." Adam walked up to his friend. "He's one of the toughest soldiers I know; he'll pull through this." The three pirates heard a groaning sound come from Brave's mouth. Lenora rushed up to the other pirates.
"Agh," Brave moaned, "What happened?" The sniper opened his eyes and looked around the room. He saw Adam and Lenora first, glad to be among friends again. "Hey guys, what's going on?" Brave tilted his head down and saw Riley. "Riley?" He couldn't believe his eyes. The young girl jumped into Brave's lap and hugged his torso. Brave attempted to hug his daughter, but quickly noticed that only one arm wrapped around her. Breaking the embrace, Brave moved his hand to the missing appendage. All he could do was stare.
"I'm sorry, Brave," Adam apologized, "If I'd just given the order to kill those people, you'd still have your arm." Brave continued to gasp.
"It wasn't your fault," Brave consoled, "That Flint guy is insane. It didn't matter what you had chosen to do; he was going to take my arm from the get go. Besides, you need him to get back everyone else."
"Who else does he have?" Lenora was worried for her parents.
"Their faces were covered, but Pedro said Morgan and Sirena." Lenora took a step back. Adam, noticing her start to fall to the ground, caught his girlfriend and helped her into a chair.
"No," Lenora groaned, "This can't be happening. First my father turns out to be evil, now he's got my parents." She looked up at Adam. "We have to get them back."
"And my wife and Will." Everyone turned to the door and saw Ryan enter the room. "They have my family, too."
"And we'll get them back," Adam assured his friend. "I'm going to get everyone ready to fight. We'll have a regular patrol on the docks to watch for incoming ships. Flint tried to negotiate before; he might try to again. If that's the case, we need to be ready to take them back before he hurts or kills them." Adam stood up and turned to Brave and Riley. "You two need to stay here and rest. You've both had a long day."
"I won't say 'no' to lying down. Besides," Brave stated, "It'll give me time to catch up with my daughter." Adam, Lenora, and Ryan left the room.
"Adam, we're going to need more than just an army if we're going to take on this psychopath. Golden clockworks, an army, and what is basically a group of terrorists are going to be tough to deal with alone, not to mention your brother."
"That thing isn't my brother. If I saw what he's become now, I don't know what I'd say." Adam stopped in his tracks. "Mary said that he had seen his mistakes; I have to believe that he can come back from this. I just have to." Lenora touched Adam's shoulder.
"I want to believe that Adam, but it's a long shot." Adam turned his head to meet the swashbuckler's eyes. "Mary also said that Tauros took control of his body. There might not be a Blaze to come back."
"All of this is well and good, but we need to be thinking about how to get the edge over this army of Flint's."
"Follow me." The two swashbucklers followed Adam into The Commodore's office, which doubled as the privateer training center. The rest of the crew were waiting for them. "After our new powers manifested themselves, I decided that we needed a major equipment overhaul." Adam put his right hand on the table. "I started working on these when we got back to Skull Island. They're all made using small portions of the gold from El Dorado." Adam removed the blanket that covered the table. He took the first item, two tubes that had bands to attach at someone's wrists, and handed it to Lenora. "These are flame routers. You can use them to create whips of fire." He picked up the next item and handed it to Ryan. It was a pair of thin gauntlets that each had two retractable blades. "Hidden blades so that your attacks are never seen and deadlier than ever. The gold is in the blades, which will make them effective against those golden clockworks." Ryan stuck the gauntlets on his arms.
"I'll wear them, but I don't think I'll need to use them. My daggers still work just fine." Adam nodded and moved on to the next item.
"These bombs have been calibrated to trigger our powers at a range. For example, if Ratbeard were to use one, it would send out a shockwave, knocking down anyone in its path." Moving on to the next item, Adam picked up several small square plates. He handed them out to everyone. "We'll give these to the others when we get them back. These use our powers to form a temporary shield around us, absorbing any attacks that may hurt us. The only place that you need to be worried about getting hit is the very center of the device. It's the only place that I couldn't get the gold into without compromising its viability." Adam was far from done; He continued to hand out weapons: there was a new scythe for Jordan that, when the parts were readjusted, could form a high-powered spark launcher, a new pistol for Bonnie that had the same amount of power as a spark sniper rifle, a special blade for Ratbeard that, when activated, sent out three, bladed, spinning disks, a new hat for Wing Chun that would shoot concentrated beams of energy generated by his powers, and, given the circumstances, Adam also gave Mary the new grapple pistol that he had designed with an indestructible ascension cable.
"Hey," Jordan said, "What's that last thing?" Adam turned and saw the last item: a high-powered sniper rifle with what appeared to be a bayonet on the end. Picking up the rifle, Adam explained how it worked.
"This was supposed to be for Brave. He can control spark shots so I designed a bayonet that envelops itself with electricity." Adam set the rifle back down. "This would have let him move the bayonet to slash or stab at enemies at a distance, but without his right arm, the only thing viable would be the bayonet. In other words, it's only going to collect dust." The crew finished admiring their new weapons and added them to their arsenal. "I'd get some practice in if I were you. Flint said that he'd be back. If he wants a fight, you can bet your lives we're going to give it to him."