Ch. 7 First Wave
"He's trying to break out, isn't he?" Flint watched as Tauros' body froze up and his aura shimmered. "You should stay here until you regain control."
"NO!" Tauros shouted. "I'll be fine. He has many more memories to fight through before I have to deal with him personally."
"All the same," Flint responded, "Stay here. I don't want any risks during the first attack." Flint went to the bridge of his ship, leaving Tauros below deck. "How long until we reach Skull Island?"
"About ten minutes." Jinx answered, "The first platoon is ready to attack." Noticing the rest of the crew was looking at the two, Jinx leaned in and whispered into his ear. "It's a shame that they're all going to die."
"A necessary sacrifice." Kristen finished for Flint. "No one will remember them when we take Skull Island anyhow." The musketeer planted a kiss on Jinx's left cheek. "Think of it: An entire island all for ourselves."
"How are the defenses coming along?" Adam wanted to avoid any casualties in the first attack.
"Walls are up and we have lookouts on every building, Cap'n," Ratbeard informed. "The only way this Flint guy is getting in here is if he blasts his way in."
"He might do that; we need to be ready if that does happen. No one stands guard on that wall."
"What can I do?" Adam turned around and was surprised to see Brave, leaning on his daughter's shoulder.
"You can go back and get your rest. We can handle this."
"Flint has an army backing him up. You need all of the help you can get. I don't need both arms to shoot a spark thrower."
"No, but you do need two to shoot a sniper rifle." Adam saw the look of desperation in Brave's eyes. "Look, I know you want to help, but you're in no condition to fight. I need everyone at their best and right now you're not. I'm sorry, but that's my final word."
"What about me?" Riley asked. Adam grinned and kneeled down to talk to her.
"You can keep an eye on your dad for me. Keep him from getting into trouble." Riley smiled.
"Okay, got it." The young pirate walked away with her dad. As she left, Adam could hear her talking to Brave. "Adam is pretty cool. His girlfriend told me that he had made you a special sniper rifle. Do you wanna see it?"
"Sure. At least I can do something with a weapon." Adam saw them walk to Avery's Court and went back to assisting with the defenses.
After two hours, every pirate in Skull Island had geared up and were ready for whatever Flint threw at them. Adam had his sword on his belt and his old grapple gun in his boot. Lenora had equipped her flame routers and all of her new equipment, as did everyone else. They didn't like waiting to be attacked.
"Do you see anything, Bonnie?" Jordan called up to the fox, who was standing watch in one of the towers surrounding Avery's Court.
"Nothing yet," she replied. Then, Bonnie Anne saw something glimmer on the horizon. "Wait. I see something." The fox sniper looked down the scope of her rifle and saw three ships enter the docks of Skull Island. "Three ships. They look full to capacity." She watched as hundreds of pirates and clockworks flowed from the ships and onto Skull Island soil with Flint leading the way right through the wall. Kyle, Jinx, and Kristen followed him, towing Will, Autumn, Morgan, and Sirena behind them. Lenora was the first to notice the hostages.
"Mom! Dad!" The swashbuckler ran down the hill to get her parents.
"Lenora, don't!" Adam followed her and pulled her back as a spark bullet landed at his feet.
"That's far enough." Flint held a recently fired spark pistol in his left hand. "I really don't want any blood stains on my old home."
"So you've lived here before."
"Yes. I remember when the first few houses were built here. I helped build the Kraken Skulls Tavern. I put up the bridge that connects Avery's Court to Skull Mountain." Flint grimaced. "Avery's Court. I don't know why I let that fool name it after himself."
"Don't talk about my dad that way!"
"I can talk about your side of the family any way I want to! Your mother got what was coming to her and Blaze is a weak-willed child that was so easy to manipulate. I'm sure he's enjoying his time stuck inside his own head."
"He really is alive?" Flint's words went right over Adam's head until the young musketeer stopped and reviewed what he'd said. "What do you mean 'my side of the family'?"
"Well," Flint chuckled, "Your father wasn't the only Silver to live on Skull Island. Like I said, I helped build this place. He and I made it what it is today. My full name is Dark Flint Silver." Adam stepped back.
"No. You're way too young to have helped build Skull Island. There's no way what you're saying is true."
"Take a good look at me." Flint spread out his arms, begging Adam to get a good look. His sleek black hair matched his own black hair. Adam knew that what Flint said was true. Suddenly, Flint dropped to the ground. Adam looked at him and saw a spark bullet between his eyes. Adam looked up at Bonnie, but he knew it wasn't her; the angle of the shot was wrong. He looked off in the distance and saw Brave with his new sniper rifle. Riley was standing over him, a pistol in her hands, surveying the area.
"I made him a promise. Right between the eyes." Brave stood up, rifle in hand. He shouted, "I told you I could help!" Adam turned back to the opposing force. He ducked down just as Kyle slashed out with his claw blades.
"It's over, Kyle." Adam drew his sword and slid the blade between the claws, locking their weapons.
"No, it's only just begun." Kyle flicked his wrist and Jillian kicked the hostages onto the ground. Kristen lined up her rifle against their heads.
"Ryan, now!" The swashbuckler teleported and stabbed his daggers into Kristen's rifle and watched as the shot backfired into the gun's firing mechanism, exploding both weapons.
"Dang it!" Ryan back flipped and kicked Jinx's feet out from under her. He ran to the four pirates and teleported all of them back to Avery's Court. "I don't get it, how does someone with enhanced speed get caught?" Will ripped off his shackles.
"I'm still working on it."
"Here, take these." Ryan handed Autumn and Will their portable shields and the power grenades. "Shields and power grenades. Be careful, the shields are vulnerable in the very center of the generator." They grabbed their weapons and went back to join Adam in the fight. Ryan detoured, however, and checked in on Brave. "Good to see losing your arm didn't stop you from fighting."
"Doesn't matter if I've only got one arm; you need people. I can't just sit back when there are hundreds of pirates fighting to protect this place." Brave enveloped the bayonet in electricity and sent it into the fight, stabbing an attacking pirate in the heart and recalling it back to his rifle. "Besides, I think I'm getting the hang of this." Ryan nodded and ran around the towers and jumped in the middle of a group of clockworks.
"Mind if I cut in?" The marines swung their axes at the assassin, but Ryan swooped down and used his bare hands to redirect their attacks, making them attack each other. He went for his daggers before realizing they had been destroyed when he stabbed Kristen's rifle. "Dang it." Then he remembered his gauntlets. The brown haired swashbuckler flicked his wrists and stabbed two of the marines in their faceplates, bringing them offline. One of the remaining marines slashed down at Ryan, but the two blades severed the blade of the axe from the staff. Ryan continued to destroy the squad of marines while Adam and Lenora dealt with Kyle, Jinx, and Kristen.
"Kristen," Kyle ordered, "Take Flint's body and go!" Kristen nodded and picked up the corpse, fleeing from the battlefield. "Two on two. Though I was hoping to be fighting alongside Flint."
"Ah, shut it, ya pansy," the British privateer sneered as she drew her cutlass. "We can easily take them." Lenora turned on the flame routers and activated her fire power, creating two flame whips. Wide-eyed, Jillian took a step back. "On second thought, you attack first." Kyle shook his head in shame.
"I don't want to hurt you, Lenora." Kyle lashed out with his claw blades, cutting her sleeve. "But orders are orders. I won't let you keep us from taking what is ours." Lenora launched her whip and hit Kyle's left leg, burning it.
"How can you be my father?" Lenora attacked again. "A real father wouldn't be trying to kill his own daughter. A real father would help her!" Lenora smashed her whips into the ground, sending two columns of fire towards Flint's lieutenants.
"Sagittarius, give me my bow." Adam's golden energy bow appeared in front of him, with an arrow forming as well. He aimed and shot Jinx in the knee. The privateer screamed out in pain. Adam charged with his sword and slashed the rest of the arrow off, embedding the arrowhead into her body.
"Jinx!" Kyle turned and knew that Kristen would kill him herself if he didn't get her wife to safety. Kyle disengaged and picked up the privateer, carrying her back to the docks. Lenora started to follow, but Adam pulled her back.
"What are you doing? We need to end this!"
"Flint is dead. They're nothing without their leader. We need to clear out the rest of these attackers." Lenora wanted to argue, but knew he was right. She nodded in acknowledgement and they joined the rest of the pirates in the fray.
"Come on you pasty faced patsies!" Ratbeard shot two of his disks from his sword and watched them decapitate an entire row of clockworks.
"Good one, Rat," Wing commented as he shot two energy beams from his hat, blasting two fist sized holes in two dark pirates. Autumn joined them and tossed a gravity bomb, pulling a dozen clockworks into its field of range.
"They're all yours, Bonnie." The fox nodded and changed her Sparquebus into a spark launcher. She aimed and watched as the clockworks were blasted into oblivion. Bonnie looked into the distance and saw Flint's lieutenants fleeing the battle, leaving their troops to die.
"They're stuck here. Let's finish this!" shouted Bonnie. She drew her pistol and started to pick off clockworks and dark pirates alike. Adam stabbed his sword into a pirate's chest and charged in front of a line of clockwork marksmen, using the body as a shield. He threw the pirate into one of the clockworks and proceeded to hack and slash at the remaining spark thrower users. Jordan followed quickly behind him and threw her scythe into the crowd, cutting about twenty dark pirates in half. As she picked up her weapon, a spark bullet whizzed by the buccaneer's ear, bringing down a battle angel that had snuck up on her. Bonnie sighed and continued to take shots into the fray.
"This island is ours," one of the dark pirates shouted, "And no one is going to stand in our way." As he prepared to stab his blade into Peyton, a cloaked figure grabbed onto him and took him into the air.
"Not so fast, bud," Will said, "You've got more important things to deal with." The pirate looked down and screamed as he began his descent. Will teleported to the ledge where Brave was sniping from. Will noticed that the Rajan pirate was missing his right arm. "Brave! What happened to you?" The sniper got up and embraced the assassin.
"Flint happened." Brave put his hand on Will's face and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I'm just glad he didn't hurt you." The two heard a cough and turned to Riley.
"So I'm guessing that this is Riley." Will bent down on his knees and grinned. "Nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too." Riley looked behind the assassin and saw that there were only a dozen dark pirates left. "Wow, that was quick." Brave turned and noticed the battlefield.
"I'm going to help them finish off the rest." Will chimed, "Be back soon." Brave put his rifle on his back and turned around to see Riley staring at him.
"What?"
"Nothing," Riley replied, "Just didn't think I'd see you with another guy." Brave grinned.
"Come on, let's see if we can help anyone that may have gotten wounded." The two walked to Avery's Court.
"We did it." Adam looked out at the bodies that were scattered throughout the business district of Skull Island. "Do you think that's the end of it?"
"No," Sagittarius appeared over Adam's left shoulder, "I thought Flint was dead decades ago. If I know him, he's just getting started." Adam nodded in acknowledgement.
"Everyone," Adam talked to the people of Skull Island, "We did good today, but Flint will be back. Get some rest while you can." Adam walked up to Avery's Court and saw about a dozen or so pirates getting patched up. He looked at the wooden bridge that connected Avery's Court to Troggy territory and saw Lenora with her parents. "Are you okay, Lenora?" She didn't say a word. All the young swashbuckler could do was hold tightly to Adam.
"She's still a bit shaken," Sirena responded. "I knew what her father was capable of, but I didn't think he'd do this."
"Family is a funny thing; you think you know them all and when you least expect it, it gets bigger." Adam stretched his shoulders. "You two should get some rest. It's going to be a long night."