Ch. 11 The Next Push
"He won't be a problem anymore." Tauros had just reported to Flint on Blaze's status. "Now that he knows what he is, there's nothing left to kill." Flint rolled his shoulders in front of the mirror on his ship.
"Good." Flint reached up to his forehead and rubbed in between his eyes. Not even a scratch after that good a shot. "I'll give Brave this, he kept his promise. With one arm, to boot." He turned around and walked out of his cabin. "Everyone's coming this time around. They're overconfident and drunk off of their first victory. They'll all fall like dominos." Tauros nodded and left to prep his gear.
"Will, do you see anything?" Jordan called from the guard tower across from him. Peering out into the distance, the assassin could make out the outlines of seven frigates.
"Seven ships. Tell everyone to have their weapons ready." Jordan turned around, raised her pistol, and fired three shots. She quickly reloaded and drew her scythe. "I still don't see how someone so small can carry a weapon that big."
"It's not easy," Jordan stated as she twirled it around behind her, "But I manage."
"Show off," Will scoffed.
"Are you ready?" Adam turned and saw Brave, rifle slung over his back, walking to the battlefield. The young pirate clipped his belt around his waist and grabbed some extra ammo.
"Always." He looked a Blaze, once again acknowledging the missing appendage. "I was wrong to doubt you. Two arms or no; you're still a force to be reckoned with."
"Took you long enough." Brave turned to walk away.
"He's my uncle."
"What?" Brave was taken aback by this confession. "Flint?"
"Sagittarius said that he knows how to control dark energy, that it keeps him young. He's my dad's older brother." Adam rubbed his face, feeling the stubble that had accumulated over the past few days. "It feels like I'm always fighting my family. Why couldn't I have just had a normal life?"
"It's just the hand you've been dealt." Brave chuckled, "I've only got one." Adam couldn't help but laugh. "Now let's end this fight." The two musketeers walked out of Avery's Court. Adam looked back and smiled.
"We can do this."
"Dad!" Riley ran up to Brave and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Be safe."
"I always am." Brave grinned and followed Adam out. Brave looked into the distance and saw Will and Jordan in their towers, weapons ready. He looked further and saw seven ships making their way to the island.
"Everyone, be ready!" Adam looked over the crowd. "We're stronger and this is our home. They won't take it so easily."
"Merciless Adam Silver!" The voice of Flint boomed from the front ship. "This is your last chance to leave unharmed."
"Do you think seven ships full of pirates and clockworks are going to scare us?"
"Final chance." Flint's ship hit the docks and clockworks and dark pirates took to the beach. Flint stepped out in front of his army, his inner circle following suit. The inhabitants of Skull Island stood, undeterred. "Attack!" Adam drew his pistol and opened fire.
"This is your home! Defend it!" Adam turned to the line of musketeers. "Time your shots. Go for the clockwork's first." He turned to Ryan. "Ryan, you sneak behind enemy lines and pick them off from the shadows. Lenora," he turned to his girlfriend, "You're with me. Everyone else, do what you do best." Ryan started his way to the edge of the main battlefield.
"Adam's right, we can win this." Ryan stopped to catch his breath. But what if I run into Pedro? Ryan shook the thought out of his mind. No, it doesn't matter. I won't let him harm anyone else. Ryan continued. He looked into the fray and saw a clockwork on its own. He teleported to it and brought it away, destroying it separately from the rest. "Take that you bucket of bolts."
"Maybe I'll offer a better challenge." Pedro appeared, wielding his axe with his new dark energy hand. "I've waited a long time for this."
"New hand, same old arrogance." Ryan flicked his wrists, activating his blades.
"I don't want to fight you, Ryan," Pedro stated, "But I still have a score to settle."
"This again," Ryan grumbled, "You're not getting Autumn." Ryan charged forward and slashed at Pedro's right arm, cutting open the sleeve. Pedro smashed his axe into the ground, nearly severing one of Ryan's toes. "Good, but not good enough."
"Shut up!" Pedro swung his axe, but Ryan quickly dodged.
"Peyton, watch out!" Autumn pushed her out of the way of a spark bullet.
"Thanks. That was close." Autumn stabbed a clockwork that had gotten close to her.
"Don't mention it." The privateer tossed a gravity bomb and motioned for a line of musketeers to open fire. She turned to the edge of the battlefield and saw Ryan and Pedro fighting. Ryan looked like he was winning. "Oh, no. Not now." Peyton turned and saw the skirmish.
"I'll handle those two; you hold the line here." Before she could argue, Peyton ran off. Don't do this, Ryan. It's not worth it. Peyton activated her magnetic gloves and propelled herself up to where Ryan was using the remains of the defeated marine.
"I made a mistake not killing you again!" Ryan's right blade was held against Pedro's neck. "I'm going to correct that." Ryan sheathed the blade and grabbed at the handle of Pedro's axe. Twisting the buccaneer's arm, the assassin disarmed his target and kicked Pedro to the ground. Standing over him, Ryan held the axe to Pedro's neck.
"Ryan!" He turned and saw Peyton. There was a disappointed look on her face. "After all you said the other day, this is how you're going to end this?" Ryan had fire in his eyes. "Don't become a monster." Ryan blinked and the fire was gone. He quickly looked at Peyton, then to Pedro. Seeing that he was holding his axe, he dropped the weapon.
"No," Ryan sighed, "I'm not a monster. Thank you, Peyton." Pedro opened his eyes and saw Ryan, his hand outstretched to help him up. "I'm not going to fight you anymore, Pedro. I want my best friend back." Pedro stared at the hand.
Kyle was right. Pedro took the hand and pulled himself up. Ryan smiled. Then Pedro drew his pistol, pointing it in Ryan's direction, and the smile disappeared. "Duck." The assassin got to the ground and Pedro shot the battle angel that had snuck up behind him. Ryan stood back up and stared at Pedro. "You're my brother. What I did was horrible, but I'm going to do my best to make up for it." Ryan held Pedro's hand in camaraderie. "I'm not leaving your side again." The assassin turned to Peyton.
"We'll pick them off. You help out in the main battlefield." Peyton nodded and headed off. The privateer returned just in time to smash her blade into the skull of a dark pirate. Struggling to pull it out, Peyton used her magnetic gloves to steal a marine's axe. She threw the axe in a spinning motion into the crowd, using the time she'd just bought herself to get her sword free. She made her way over to Autumn, who was fighting alongside Mary.
"Pedro won't be a problem anymore." Autumn looked up and saw her husband and his best friend fighting off clockworks, back to back.
"I never thought I'd see the day." Autumn thrust her sword through a pirate's chest and threw off the body. Mary cast a shield to surround them, blocking a heavy burst of spark thrower and cannon fire from a line of marksmen and dragoons. Autumn bent over and picked up a fallen musketeer's rifle. Running up the wall of a nearby building, the privateer shot at the dragoon's. While she distracted them, Bonnie, from her tower, started to pick them off with her Sparquebus.
"Dad," Lenora shouted, "Please don't do this." Adam and Lenora had been fighting through the onslaught of clockworks and pirates until they ran into Kyle. The swashbuckler lowered his claws.
"I'm not." Reactivating his claws, the elder Noble drove the blades into the two dark pirates behind him. "I heard what you said at the docks. I'm not going to fight you." Kyle handed Adam a pistol containing a strange spark bullet. "The spark bullet is fused with dark energy. It's the only thing that can kill Flint. If you shoot him now, this all ends."
"Thank you, Kyle."
"End this fight first, then you can thank me." The three of them went back into the fray to locate Flint. They found Will, who was locked in combat with Kristen, holding back the assassin's daggers with her rifle. Adam looked at the ground and saw that Will's shield generator had been damaged. Kyle unleashed his claws and stabbed into Kristen's arm, making her collapse in pain.
"What are you doing?!" Kristen struggled to her feet.
"Finishing this fight. Pedro and I are done fighting against our people." Will was stunned. He turned and saw Ryan and Pedro fighting together instead of against each other.
"We really can win this," Will sighed.
"Come on, let's find Flint and finish this," Adam stated. They left Kristen, leaving her to bleed on the ground.
"Kristen!" Jillian rushed to her wife.
"I'm fine, just kill that son of a sky snake." Jinx found a dark pirate and ordered him to take Kristen to safety. The buccaneer picked up her wife's rifle and took aim.
"Flint!" Adam rushed to the dark pirate. "You're finished." Flint smirked and released a quick burst of dark energy.
"You really think you have a chance of winning, don't you?" He drew his jet black sword. "I've read the prophecy and I know what happens next." Adam aimed the pistol and a lone gunshot rang out.
"Adam?" The musketeer turned to Will, a gaping bullet wound sizzling from his chest. The assassin fell to the ground. So this is how it's going to end. Adam, Lenora, and Kyle bent over him.
"No, no, no, no!" Adam tried to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on the wound, but blood was still flowing out. Will breathing became sharp. "Just hang on, Will. Just hang on!"
"Adam," Will sighed, "Tell Brave, 'Don't give up.'" The assassin's eyes started to glaze over. "Don't …. Give …." His head fell back, lifeless. His shadowy purple aura surrounded his body as he slowly disintegrated into nothing. The burst of purple light floated through the air, seeking its successor.
"Come on, bring it!" Pedro swung his axe into a dark pirate's stomach, slicing him open. He and Ryan had become separated by the onslaught of clockworks and dark pirates that had discovered their roles. The buccaneer moved his head just in time to dodge a spark bullet from a pirate's rifle.
"Never thought I'd see you again." Brave was looking down the scope of his rifle. "Get ready to die." Pedro got ready to fight as Ryan rushed to the sniper.
"Brave, no!" Ryan pushed the gun down, blasting away sand. "He saved me. He's with us." Brave nodded and walked over to Pedro.
"I've got my eyes on you." Pedro leaned on his axe.
"Just keep one of them on the real enemy." Pedro drew his pistol and shot a clockwork marine that had been sneaking up behind him.
"Flint!" The three pirates turned to the noise and saw Adam, Lenora, Kyle, and Will standing in front of Pedro's former leader. Brave surveyed the area and saw that the four of them had him pinned down. The sniper's eyes drifted and saw Jinx loading a spark bullet into her wife's rifle. She raised the rifle and aimed it at Adam's back.
"No!" Brave lifted his rifle and shot at the buccaneer. His shot hit her in the shoulder, making her shot veer to the right. At that moment, everyone looked back at Flint and saw Will fall to the ground. "Will!" Brave fell to the ground distraught. Tears ran down his eyes as he watch the young assassin's body disappear and watched his aura fly into the air. "I didn't mean for this to happen. Why? Why?!" The musketeer's mood quickly changed from grief to anger. "Flint's going to pay!" Pedro was still looking at Will's aura flying in the sky.
"I'm sorry, Will." At these words, the aura stopped swirling in the air and shot straight for Pedro. The purple aura entered the buccaneer's body, causing Pedro's dark energy hand to disappear. He clutched at the, once again, missing limb, and saw a bright purple hand replace it. He heard Will's voice echo in his head, requesting one last favor.
"Don't give up." Pedro looked up at the sky and smiled.
"I won't."
"Such a shame," Flint chuckled, "If only you'd surrendered, he could still be alive." Adam quickly stood up and shot at Flint. The dark pirate waved his hand and sent the bullet back into Kyle's leg.
"Argh!" The swashbuckler fell to the ground.
"And you. I trusted you. You are so going to regret crossing me." Flint's dark aura grew stronger and sent a burst of pure dark energy through Skull Island. Adam's uncle tapped a button on his wrist. "Tauros, bring our guests to Skull Island." Adam turned and saw a fourth ship land at the docks. The personality matrix was followed by dozens of golden clockworks. Adam opened fire, but none of the shots had any effect on them. They were invincible. "What are you going to do now, Merciless Adam Silver?" The pirate lowered his head.
"What do you think?" He drew his father's sword and slashed out at Flint.